Latest news with #Auckland-based
Otago Daily Times
8 hours ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
‘They told us to tip it' — late reprieve saves big bill
A father organising his late son's affairs has had a last-minute reprieve after potentially being landed with a big bill to dump $22,000 worth of excess medical supplies. After Peter Ashcroft's son died in June — for personal reasons, Mr Ashcroft did not wish to use his son's name in this article — the Mosgiel man was left stunned when he was told he would have to dump piles of unused medical supplies at a cost of $600. For the past 28 years Mr Ashcroft's son had been on ACC, which provided 24/7 carers after an accident left him a tetraplegic. As part of his care he was sent boxes upon boxes of medical supplies. Following his son's death, all left-over medication was returned to the chemist and then Mr Ashcroft rang Auckland-based company Onelink to to tell them to come and pick up the leftover non-perishable supplies, which he understood were worth a total of about $22,000. Mr Ashcroft said he was surprised to be told to take it all to the landfill. "$22,000 . . . it's a huge number, and they told us to tip it — that's $600 worth of bloody tip charges for us." He was "gobsmacked" by the waste, he said. "It didn't sit easy with me." After he spoke to the Otago Daily Times and questions were sent to Onelink, Mr Ashcroft received a call from ACC. He said he was told someone would come and collect the supplies and redistribute them to places such as the hospice that could use them. The items were collected this week. He had also been told ACC was working on changing the system so other families working with ACC would not be left in the same situation, which he was happy about. "It's a good outcome." Over the years his son required medical supplies, he was often sent more than was needed, Mr Ashcroft said. Three years ago the family managed to get a pile of surplus supplies sent back, but a mountain of extra items soon started to fill the house up again. He was pleased all the extras did not have to go to the landfill. A Onelink spokeswoman said once products were delivered to a patient, there was no control over how they were stored and handled as it "could create risk for other customers" if they were reused. "Our strict returns policy, built in conjunction with ACC, is intended to minimise the potential risks of contamination and compromised product integrity, and to protect our clients and staff by ensuring the safety of any products redistributed," she said.
Scoop
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Drawing From Memory: Auckland-Based Tongan Artist Brings Pacific Nostalgia To Life
Coco Lance, RNZ Pacific digital journalist Auckland-based artist and animator Luca Tu'avao Walton is an emerging voice in the Pacific creative landscape, with a distinctive style rooted in memory, identity, and the 'nostalgia' of island life. In fact, his work resonated so strongly that one woman messaged him directly, saying his portrayal of Pacific women inspired her to cancel a plastic surgery appointment she had made to change her "wide-set nose". Now, Walton's work is making its way to the big screen as part of an upcoming, yet anonymous New Zealand-Pacific feature film. From Tonga to Aotearoa Born in Lautoka in Fiji to a Tongan mother and a palagi father, Walton spent his early years in Mata'ika, a lagoon-side village in Tonga where his imagination bloomed. "We used to live right on a lagoon, which was just the best upbringing, among my cousins and family, swimming and kayaking all the time." It was there that Walton began to dream up the wondrous worlds that now define his art. "I would sit lagoon-side and just imagine all the mermaids that lived there, so I would draw mermaids a lot growing up. "My drawings bring to life a lot of what I imagined as a kid, growing up in Tonga, and a lot of my work is born from this idea of, what did I want to see as a kid? Then filling that gap." At age 10, Walton moved to Aotearoa for school. "Moving there was definitely a switch-up in my pace of life," he said. "I went from island life, which is slow and thoughtful, to being in the city and taking 40-minute buses each way to school." Despite the change in pace and lifestyle, Walton stuck with what he had always been good at - creating. His trajectory began early, nurtured by a supportive whānau. "My family likes to pretend I sprung up out of nowhere, because I draw and illustrate. But all my Tongan family are creative, they're singers, dancers. They make traditional toi (art). I'm the black sheep in that I am the only working creative, but they've all nurtured and rooted for me." Walton's memory is central to the creative process. Drawing on nostalgia, he said, is central to the Pacific island experience. "A lot of my work is about memory…belonging, nostalgia, feminism, recontextualising the past and imagining a new future. When I go into making a piece, I trawl through my memories. I don't try to be relatable, and yet I think when I tap into my realities, our people engage in that art." Family, especially the wāhine in his life, have inspired much of Walton's style. "My mum never put any expectation to be anything other than an I'm just drawing what I know at the end of the day. I think that's what a lot of artists do. "If I were to draw cool race cars, it would be a falsehood, because I was raised with my mum in front of the mirror, doing her makeup, her bangles clunking together, her GHD straightener sizzling her hair." "I was raised in a very feminine environment, I'm a feminine person myself, so my art is an expression of that femininity for me, which happens to be through a Pacific lens." Walton wasn't prepared for the response to his work, but it has been motivating nonethless. "It's always beautiful when you have kids, aunties, other creatives coming and saying, your work reminds me of home, makes me think of my Nana, or 'this looks like my mum back in the day. "Our people are such yearners, such sentimental people, and we're all family orientated. I feel there is a real hunger for work that feels familiar and is made with alofa and 'ofa. People can tell when it's made from within the culture, not just about it. People are craving more than just tokenism as well; we want the depth, the humour, the mamae, a bit of the sadness that comes with, you know, balancing our identities." Now, Walton's vision has led to his involvement in an upcoming film. The project is being spearheaded by Sāmoan-Māori creative Jessica "Coco" Hansell in collaboration with local animation Studio Ki'i'Pili (a Pacific take on Studio Ghibli), and is based out of Ōnehunga's creative hub, Wheke Fortress. Although it is still in its final stages and many details are yet to be revealed, Walton said it involves a collective of talented Pacific creatives, with the kaupapa being a Pacific-centric animated short film. "It has been a dream kaupapa, not just in what we are making, but how we are making it. It's an active experiment in the decolonisation process, working at a pace that honours the people involved. "I've been able to fully lean into my strengths without leaving anyone behind, a communal way of creating," Walton said. Looking forward, Walton emphasised animation as an accessible and important tool for equity in storytelling. "The government's putting big funding into animation right now. Pacific people need to take a big slice. "Individualism isn't natural to our people…being able to make myself useful to something bigger…turned my practice into a life path."
NZ Herald
19 hours ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Late selling drives NZ sharemarket down
'It's been a good week and the markets seem to be taking the US tariffs in their stride as we head into the reporting season next week,' he said. 'We are confident that we'll see an Official Cash Rate cut from the Reserve Bank [on August 20], which I think will be good for the market and the economy overall. 'We've managed to get through this week without any profit warnings, so that's good,' Lister said. Spark firmed 4c or 1.6% to $2.59 after a difficult period. Lister said the telco appeared to be enjoying the beginnings of a recovery after two years in the investment wilderness. 'It's still got a long way to go, but I think there is a general feeling among the analyst community that there might be a little bit of value there because it's fallen as much as it has,' he said. Also firming were KMD Brands, up 1c at 25c, and Sky TV, up 6c at $3.02. Infratil dropped by 18c or 1.59% to $11.84. The infrastructure investor earlier announced that it and the NZ Superannuation Fund had entered a binding agreement to sell their 100% interest in RetireAustralia to Invesco Real Estate, for A$845m ($925m). As of March 31, the carrying value of Infratil's investment in RetireAustralia was $404m, with the transaction expected to result in an accounting loss on sale of about $80m, the company said. Market heavyweight Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which has a 16% weighting on the S&P/NZX50 index, fell 31c to $36.69. Retirement village operator Summerset dropped by 25c (2.25%) to $11.08. Transport software specialist Eroad took back some of Thursday's gains, which were on the back of New Zealand's plan to introduce universal road user charges, the stock dropping 6c to $1.95. In the second-tier stocks, major apple exporter T&G Global rallied by 15c (6.7%) to $2.40 after posting a turnaround in its first half to a $1.7m profit from a loss of $18.76m in the previous comparable period. 'As we head into the second half of the year, T&G is in a strong position to build on this momentum,' the company said. 'We're confident in our ability to continue delivering improved financial performance.' T&G's majority owner, Germany's BayWa, has put its stake up for review. BayWa, which has interests ranging from food to construction and energy, first made its play in 2011 for what was then Turners and Growers, with the intention of a complete takeover. T&G's shares have gained 53% in the last 12 months. With a 15% tariff on New Zealand exports to the US now in place, ASB Bank expects beef, dairy and wine exports to be the most heavily affected. 'We think beef is currently under the most risk, but there are opportunities to mitigate the hit,' the bank said. Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Could Trump's tariffs force NZ to rethink its trade diversity?
Italy got the same deal as us, 15%. The Italian Institute of International Political Studies dug into the numbers and found that the country's agricultural, pharmaceutical, and automotive sectors are likely to be hit the hardest, with the country's GDP projected to dip by 0.2%. On the other hand, the likes of Australia and the UK have secured a 10% tariff. So, how will the duties actually affect Kiwi businesses? Or is it really American consumers who'll pay the price? University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Law Jane Kelsey told The Front Page it's hard to know the impact. 'It's very hard to be specific about what the consequences would be, and when people put figures on that, you should be quite skeptical. 'Tariffs are kind of blunt instruments, so it will mean that exports from New Zealand imports into the US will have a higher cost for importers in the US and consumers in the US. That could affect how much New Zealand goods they buy,' she said. She said New Zealand has a 'pretty basic export commodity model' and suggests that recent events should serve as a 'wake-up call to start thinking differently' about the diversification of our domestic market. 'There are real opportunities here, and we seem to have an aversion to taking those opportunities. 'It's not simply about diversifying to other markets, but it's also about rethinking our domestic economic model, which is currently based largely on the housing market and secondly on relatively low-value-added exports to a relatively small number of countries. 'But, we have a great difficulty generating that discussion here. There was a Productivity Commission report several years ago, before it was disbanded, that set out a process for diversification, which would thicken our domestic production, and that, unfortunately, seems to have fallen on deaf ears,' she said. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: Why the World Trade Organisation is 'in chaos'; The erosion of the rules-based trading system over successive US governments; And why it might be a mistake to view Trump's tariffs as purely economic. The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016. You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Techday NZ
3 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Dosh partners with Visa & Pismo to build NZ digital banking
Dosh has announced a collaboration with Visa and Pismo aimed at developing its digital banking platform in New Zealand. The Auckland-based digital wallet provider, established in 2021, is progressing towards becoming a registered bank and says its partnership with Visa and Pismo will support this next phase of its business. The collaboration is set to allow Dosh to deliver digital banking services with greater speed, security, and scalability to customers throughout New Zealand. Partnership details Dosh will use Pismo's cloud-native core banking and payments platform, which Visa acquired in 2024, to underpin its expanding financial offerings. Currently, the digital wallet serves more than 40,000 accounts, all of which are expected to be migrated to the Pismo platform by May 2026. According to the company, the migration will be seamless with no service disruption for existing users. "Working with Visa and Pismo allows us to move faster and scale with confidence," said Shane Marsh, CEO of Dosh. "As we step into this exciting next chapter, our focus is on offering New Zealanders a modern banking experience that's smart, simple, and puts value back in their pockets. This collaboration is a key step in that journey." Pismo's platform will allow Dosh to consolidate spend, save, and borrow features within a single banking application, giving it the infrastructure required to broaden its digital services and scale its user base over the coming years. Strategic goals Dosh's stated ambition is to become New Zealand's first fully digital, locally owned registered bank, with an application currently underway at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. By leveraging this new partnership, Dosh aims to offer solutions that it says are aligned to the needs and preferences of modern New Zealanders. Anthony Watson, Visa Country Manager for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, said: "We want Kiwi fintechs to thrive, so we're proud to support Dosh in their mission to bring more innovation and choice to New Zealanders. Their vision aligns closely with Visa's ongoing commitment to digital innovation and financial inclusion." This partnership marks the first client engagement for Pismo in New Zealand. Vishal Dalal, CEO at Pismo, commented: "Dosh is known for delivering a simple and intuitive customer experience. We're excited to help enable that with a modern, scalable platform powering it behind the scenes. We're also proud to welcome Dosh as our first client in New Zealand." Local focus with global technology Dosh highlighted the importance of a local customer focus while leveraging the expertise and technologies of international partners. The collaboration intends to merge global payments infrastructure with local requirements. Marsh said: "Collaborating directly with Visa, a global leader in payments innovation, reinforces our ambition to bring world-class digital banking technology to Kiwis. Together, with Pismo, we're building the foundation for the future of banking in New Zealand." Dosh is positioning its model to streamline costs, adopt new technologies including artificial intelligence, and offer a service described as tailored for New Zealand customers as it seeks regulatory approval to operate as a digital-only bank. Follow us on: Share on:
