Latest news with #BrookeVanVelden
RNZ News
20 hours ago
- Business
- RNZ News
WorkSafe changes will deter employees from raising concerns
Worksafe HQ in Wellington Central Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver The Council of Trade Unions says proposed changes to WorkSafe shifts rights away from workers and to their employers. The government is shifting WorkSafe's priorities from enforcement, to giving more advice . The safety regulator is getting a new letter of expectations, having its finances rearranged, and it's main purpose re-defined in legislation. The changes would not come with any new funding. Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff told Morning Report the changes will deter employees from raising concerns, out of fear of being blamed. "What we need is a culture where workers are able to talk about what needs to be done on the job and what needs to be made safe, not one where they can be blamed for [it]," Wagstaff said. "I think it just reflects a government and a minister who sees everything as needing rebalance and she tends to rebalance things towards employers..." The existing system needs to be strengthened not weakened, he said. While he did support making advice clearer and more available, Wagstaff said WorkSafe was under-resourced. "And I think WorkSafe understands that... what they need is resources to develop that guidance and promote it." Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said she expected the regulator to review its enforcement and prosecution decision-making to focus on "clear breaches and causation", and being even handed. This would include "strengthening its approach to worker breaches of duty". "I've been hearing there is a real culture of fear of people around WorkSafe, and I want people to feel like if they ask for help they will get that help - and so for any business or any worker who wants to know what it is that they should be doing to keep their workers safe, they will know where to go," Van Velden said. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks to media in New Delhi, India on 19 March 2025. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi She denied that this could mean slowing down the rate of prosecutions. Wagstaff said WorkSafe needs to have a reputation that it will enforce the law when required. "This really signals it's not intended to do so anymore." Council of Trade Unions was not properly consulted on the changes, he said. Christopher Luxon told Morning Report just being an enforcement agency wasn't the right approach. "What we're wanting to do is rebalance it so it puts more of its effort on guiding those businesses to help manage their critical risks, what we don't want is lots of rules that actually people in businesses are struggling to navigate and as a result don't focus on the critical things that actually cause harm at work," Luxon said. "At the moment you just don't want to have a whole bunch of guidance and rules out there everyone's trying to navigate and work out what the hell it all means. "We actually want small businesses focused particularly on the things that will hurt their employees." Luxon said the government hoped the number of people dying at work decreased. Asked why the responsibility was shifted away from bosses to employees, Luxon said it was "rebalancing it". Everyone needed to take individual responsibility, he said.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Brooke van Velden shifts WorkSafe's focus from enforcement to advice
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The government is shifting its work and safety regulator's priorities from enforcement to advice, saying this will help address concerns about underfunding and a "culture of fear". First steps include updating more than 50 guidance documents and launching the hotline - announced in March - for reporting excessive road cones . The restructure goes much deeper than that, though, with Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden issuing a new letter of expectations, rearranging the regulator's finances and redefining its main purpose in legislation. The government has cut $2.2 million from the agency's funding since 2023 - a 1.6 percent cut from $141.1m to $138.9m - with heightened inflation over that time further increasing costs. The government also set aside $7m for restructuring the regulator - paid for out of the Health and Safety at Work levy - this year's Budget confirming that "while WorkSafe progressed with its proposed restructure, this funding was not ultimately required". About 124 permanent roles have been cut since 2023 - from 724 to 600, a more than 17 percent trim - although a spokesperson said the agency was now approved for 675 staff and was recruiting for those roles, including new inspectors. Van Velden said she expected the regulator to review its enforcement and prosecution decision-making to focus on "clear breaches and causation", and being even handed. This would include "strengthening its approach to worker breaches of duty". "I've been hearing there is a real culture of fear of people around WorkSafe, and I want people to feel like if they ask for help they will get that help - and so for any business or any worker who wants to know what it is that they should be doing to keep their workers safe, they will know where to go." She denied that this could mean slowing down the rate of prosecutions, however. "No, prosecutions will still remain. I think it's important that we do have enforcement, but we do need to balance that correctly with the upfront guidance." The agency would now have a stronger focus on critical risk and providing consistent, practical advice and guidance for employers to comply with. Van Velden also set out expectations for greater use of codes of conduct. While WorkSafe would continue to work on these, industries would now be invited to draft their own for approval by the minister, making up the majority of new codes in future. "A culture where the regulator is feared for its punitive actions rather than appreciated for its ability to provide clear and consistent guidance is not conducive to positive outcomes in the workplace," she said. WorkSafe has been told to shift its focus from enforcement to advice. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Her proposal taken to Cabinet said the changes would shift WorkSafe "from an enforcement agency to one that engages early and well to support businesses and individuals to manage their risks". "I want to see a shift from a regulator that has a safety at all cost mentality, to a regulator that focusses on helping duty-holders do what is proportionate to the risks, including rooting out over-compliance." To support this and "increase fiscal transparency", the regulator's finances would be split into four categories: WorkSafe's other functions identified in the law would become secondary, with Van Velden saying this would help it "articulate the cost and effectiveness of its activities". The moves were prompted in part by feedback from businesses, collected during a series of roadshow meetings in 11 towns and cities and over 1000 submissions provided in response to a discussion document consulted on over five months. "For too long, businesses and employers have asked for more guidance and help from WorkSafe on how to comply with health and safety legislation, only to be told it's not WorkSafe's job," van Velden said. "WorkSafe has started slashing outdated guidance documents from its website and will be updating guidance where necessary. Fifty documents have already been removed and more will follow. These documents were identified as being no longer relevant, nor reflecting current practice and technology, or containing content that is covered by other more up-to-date guidance." Her Cabinet paper stated the changes would also "help address concerns heard during the consultation that WorkSafe may be underfunded" by making clearer where its resouces were being spent. She confirmed the changes would not come with any new funding. "No, there won't be any new funding. I've heard from people who have suggested there does need to be new funding, and I disagree ... WorkSafe has been funded well, but it's very difficult to find where exactly that money is going within WorkSafe," she told RNZ. "It's been very clear over a number of reviews into WorkSafe over the years that they have not been structuring their appropriation correctly. They got into a very big deficit. They've now pulled themselves out of that deficit and are in surplus. But there are still many, many questions as to, where are they spending that money." WorkSafe says it's concentrating on the sectors where the most serious harm occurs - agriculture, forestry, construction and manufacturing. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Her letter to the board set out an expectation the regulator would foster the use of Approved Codes of Practice. WorkSafe would need to provide advice to industries on how to develop and submit these for ministerial approval, while also conducting its own and starting new ones in industries "where there is no clear industry body representation". "While most future ACOPS will be industry-led, I still expect WorkSafe to develop ACOPs where appropriate." WorkSafe would also be expected to strengthen its oversight of other regulators, including "comprehensive monitoring of the third parties framework and addressing stakeholder concerns about inconsistent interpretations by third party certifiers". She expected cultural change to be reflected in its new statement of intent due out in October. Legislative change would be included in a Health and Safety at Work Reform Bill to be introduced later this year. In a statement, a WorkSafe spokesperson said it was working closely with the government on the changes. "We are well placed to deliver on the minister's expectations, via our new strategy and new leadership. WorkSafe is concentrating on the sectors where the most serious harm occurs - agriculture, forestry, construction and manufacturing - and on well-known causes of harm such as vehicles, machinery, working at height and harmful exposures. "Our Statement of Performance Expectations, due out in the coming weeks, will outline our strategic direction, budget, activities, and performance indicators for the 2025-26 year. Our most recent Impacts and Effectiveness Monitor report found 75 percent of businesses surveyed identified health and safety improvements due to their interactions with WorkSafe." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Gambling law changes will open the door to more addiction, advocate says
Law changes are underway to allow 15 online gambling companies to legally operate in the country from February next year, including allowing advertising. Photo: RNZ / Alex Robertson New Zealanders gamble away billions of dollars annually. Now they don't even have to slide into a pub and sit in front of the pokies - they can tap into online sites and lose money from the comfort of their homes . All but two of those sites - Lotto and the TAB - are unlicensed and run from overseas. Even the Auckland and Christchurch casinos run their sites from Malta. They are not illegal, but they are not licensed here so it is illegal for them to advertise to Kiwi punters. Law changes are in the wind. They won't block international organisations from operating in New Zealand, but they will allow 15 licensed operators to legally operate in the country from February next year, including allowing advertising. The aim of Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden's amendment to the 2003 Gambling Act is to harness tax revenue and gain some measure of harm-mitigation. In the 2022/2023 financial year Kiwis collectively lost $2.76 billion to gambling, and Andree Froude from the Problem Gambling Foundation said with the way the industry was evolving, that figure is only going to increase. "People are just being bombarded by gambling advertisements, so that tends to normalise gambling and make it seem like it's just a normal activity or a normal part of life," she said. Van Velden announced the online gambling bill at the end of last year. Its purpose is "to regulate online casino gambling to facilitate a safer and compliant regulated online gambling market", she said. In a statement she said that, more importantly, it will prevent and minimise online gambling harm and limit opportunities for crime and dishonesty. Limited online options here have led to a boom in New Zealanders who participate in offshore online gambling, Froude said. "Although we haven't got any hard data around it, we do know from bank transaction data that people are gambling on these offshore sites." She said gambling on these sites does come with added risk, which is why the government is looking to increase the number of licensed casinos. That would give companies SkyCity and Christchurch Casino the opportunity to move their business back to New Zealand. They were operating offshore "essentially to get around our law because they've been waiting for this regulation to happen", Froude said. However, it's unclear whether either company will be successful in obtaining one of these licences. Van Velden has made it clear that New Zealand companies will not get preferential treatment over international ones. "I have considered whether or not it should be domestic priority or offshore priority. I think it's fair just to allow anybody to bid for one of the licenses, rather than try and say, just because you're here and you've been established for years in New Zealand, you're necessarily a better operator," she told RNZ in March. The bill will also be tougher on the rule breakers, with the penalty for unlicensed offshore businesses caught advertising in New Zealand increasing to $5 million. But the penalty for individuals who promote offshore gambling sites will remain capped at $10,000, which Froude believes is not enough. "If they're promoting overseas gambling illegally then the fine should be much bigger than what it currently is ... we just need to set a benchmark because promoting overseas gambling, even though it is prohibited, we've just seen so much of it," she said. A popular method for offshore companies is to use Kiwi influencers to promote their games on social media. This is illegal and the Department of Internal Affairs is cracking down on users involved in this. Many of them have been issued formal warning letters, and one influencer, Millie Elder-Holmes, has been fined $5000 for repeatedly promoting online gambling despite repeated warnings from the department to stop. Ultimately Froude said the goal is for the number of Kiwis who gamble to go down. But with these new changes, she's expecting usage to increase. "Because it's new to New Zealand, it's licensed in New Zealand. We just want to make sure that the harm minimisation measures, and the host responsibility measures are absolutely robust," she says. There are several measures Froude said the Problem Gambling foundation would like to see mandated in this bill. "We'd like to see mandatory pre-commitment, so somebody pre-determines the amount of money and the amount of time they're going to spend gambling. We would like to see credit cards being banned because people gambling with credit is really risky. "So there's lots of things that we want to see happen to make sure that we do get this right because we have concerns around [the bill] despite that. And there's lots we don't know, the devil will be in the detail with some of this." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
The Spinoff
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Spinoff
Gone By Lunchtime: House of C****
Reflections on haka-triggered bans and column-propelled C-bombs, and a couple of thoughts about the budget. A last-minute adjournment has kicked the debate around the punishments imposed upon Te Pāti Māori MPs down the road and past the budget, avoiding a possible burst of filibuster activity. All of that follows a controversial Privileges Committee decision to serve up suspensions that go well beyond anything seen before in an episode stemming from an extraordinary day in parliament six months ago. The air in parliament was already thick after a newspaper column used the C-word to describe several senior MPs and their decision to change pay equity rules. Act MP Brooke Van Velden, who'd been on the defensive over the reforms, pushed through under urgency, found a new, powerful voice, and spoke without asterisks. It all prompted such disarray in the debating chamber that Winston Peters, doyen of parliamentary decorum, denounced a 'House of Chaos' (an accidental allusion to the popular monthly techno night at Firecrackers nightclub in Ashburton). All of that is on the slate for Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas in this latest episode of the Spinoff politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime. Plus: we exclusively read the full text of the Budget Policy Statement and Estimates of appropriations that are scheduled for publication tomorrow.
Scoop
18-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Government Must Commit To Pay Equity For Funded Health Sector: NZNO
Press Release – NZNO NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says the scrapping of the primary and community health care claim was devastating to nurses in the sector. The Coalition Government must confirm its commitment to fully-funding pay equity for the funded health sector, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki O Aotearoa (NZNO) says. After urgently changing the Equal Pay Act without public consultation and scrapping 33 pay equity claims overnight, the Coalition Government promised it had kept a 'fair pay equity scheme focused on genuine sex-based discrimination'. However, despite being asked in Parliament and by media, Cabinet ministers have refused to say whether a 2024 'pay equity reset' means the funded sector will not have pay equity claims funded by the Government. NZNO had 10 pay equity claims dumped including for the primary health care, hospice, Plunket and care and support funded sectors. NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says the scrapping of the primary and community health care claim was devastating to nurses in the sector. 'Primary and community health care nurses, like their hospice and Plunket counterparts, accepted lower wage increases in their collective agreements on the understanding they were about to receive pay equity payments. 'They then had the rug pulled out from under them with the Government ending their claims without warning or legitimate reason. 'Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke Van Velden has refused to say the Government will fund pay equity claims for the funded sector, simply pointing to an opaque 2024 Cabinet paper from Finance Minister Nicola Willis which says the funded sector can go cap in hand to the Government for each settlement. 'If the Coalition Government remains truly committed to a fair pay equity system, it should promise low-paid and hard-working health care workers in the funded sector such as primary and community care that they will fund their pay equity settlements,' Tracey Morgan says.
