Latest news with #GinnyAndersen
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Oral Questions for Thursday 15 May 2025
Questions to Ministers Hon BARBARA EDMONDS to the Minister of Finance: Does she stand by her statement about the pay equity changes that "the process that we have set up is fair. It's robust"; if so, how is cancelling 33 pay equity claims under urgency fair? CAMERON BREWER to the Associate Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen about tax and spending in New Zealand? RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH to the Minister of Health: Does he support GP services being free, publicly owned, and adequately resourced to reach underserved communities? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS to the Minister for Women: Has she sought advice on the impact on closing the gender pay gap from moving the pay equity claim threshold from a 60 percent to a 70 percent female-dominated workforce; if not, why not? SUZE REDMAYNE to the Minister of Education: What recent announcements has she made about supporting the Government's target of raising student achievement? Hon JAN TINETTI to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety: Is it accurate that 180,000 workers are affected by the cancelling of 33 pay equity claims? TEANAU TUIONO to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries: Does he believe bottom trawling is damaging; if so, should it be banned? TOM RUTHERFORD to the Minister of Justice: How is the Government progressing with its plan to restore law and order? Hon GINNY ANDERSEN to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Was cancelling 33 current pay equity claims consistent with her commitment to reduce persistent disadvantage as outlined in her employment action plan; if not, why not? NANCY LU to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs: What recent announcements has the Government made about increasing competition in banking? Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN to the Minister for Disability Issues: Does she stand by her statement, "That is why we are prioritising disabled people, their families and carers"; if so, why? Dr PARMJEET PARMAR to the Associate Minister of Agriculture: What recent announcements has he made about strengthening regulation to support the welfare of dogs? To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
Scoop
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Govt Better At Crushing Women's Rights Than Cars
Press Release – New Zealand Labour Party Reheating old policies wont make our communities safer. Theyre failing to address the nub of what is causing crime, while attempting the ultimate distraction. Rehashing old laws around boy racers is not going to make our communities safer, or distract New Zealanders from the appalling decision to cut women's pay. 'This Government is better at crushing the rights of working women than crushing cars,' Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. 'Putting out a press release talking about boy racers on Mother's Day isn't fooling anyone. New Zealanders value their mums and think they should be paid fairly. The debacle over women's pay this week isn't going away. 'So instead of addressing pay equity, they've announced tweaks to laws around boy racers, including making it easier to crush cars which didn't work last time they were in Government. Slightly increasing fines also hasn't historically changed behaviour in the long-term. 'This Government is yet again putting more work on frontline police without more resources. They're failing to meet their 500 police promise and are more focused on confiscating gang patches than tackling meth. 'Reheating old policies won't make our communities safer. They're failing to address the nub of what is causing crime, while attempting the ultimate distraction. 'Get proper policies and pay women what they're worth,' Ginny Andersen said.
Scoop
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Govt Better At Crushing Women's Rights Than Cars
Rehashing old laws around boy racers is not going to make our communities safer, or distract New Zealanders from the appalling decision to cut women's pay. 'This Government is better at crushing the rights of working women than crushing cars,' Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. 'Putting out a press release talking about boy racers on Mother's Day isn't fooling anyone. New Zealanders value their mums and think they should be paid fairly. The debacle over women's pay this week isn't going away. 'So instead of addressing pay equity, they've announced tweaks to laws around boy racers, including making it easier to crush cars which didn't work last time they were in Government. Slightly increasing fines also hasn't historically changed behaviour in the long-term. 'This Government is yet again putting more work on frontline police without more resources. They're failing to meet their 500 police promise and are more focused on confiscating gang patches than tackling meth. 'Reheating old policies won't make our communities safer. They're failing to address the nub of what is causing crime, while attempting the ultimate distraction. 'Get proper policies and pay women what they're worth,' Ginny Andersen said.
NZ Herald
21-04-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
500 extra police: Challenges of lower success rate, higher attrition, flagged with ministers
Police have also noted a slight decrease in attrition since the February report – 5.4%, at March 31 – but say they face significant pressure from Australian recruiters targeting New Zealand cops. But Labour's police spokeswoman Ginny Andersen says all reports indicate it won't be possible for the Government to meet its target of 500 cops by November. 'The increased applicants that police are receiving are simply not translating into recruits,' she said. 'I've had reports from people who say they're really struggling to get those recruits over the line and this [briefing] makes it really clear that they've even engaged some special training to give advice and support to recruits to help them pass that physical test.' This month NZME revealed a November briefing to incoming Police Commissioner Richard Chambers had projected the target would not be met until June next year, seven months after the initial deadline, assuming all recruit wings were full. The February aide-memoire, released to NZME under the Official Information Act, updated the ministers on initiatives under way to support the target of 500 police by November this year. It highlighted a significant increase in applicants – with more than 700 in January this year – but stated 'many recruit applicants are not meeting entry requirements when these are required'. It said the most common requirement frequently missed is the Physical Appraisal Test (PAT), stating it had engaged High Performance Sport New Zealand to help prepare a training guide for applicants, and police in many districts were providing run clubs. Superintendent Kelly Ryan told NZME the mention of High Performance Sport New Zealand was added to this briefing in error – with police physical education officers providing material for the training guide. The document said issues relating to recruit readiness (not limited to the PAT) had contributed to a 1% drop in success rate, for the period of July–December 2024, when compared to the same period the previous year. Ryan said police had expected a reduction in recruit readiness as it widened its candidate pool – allowing those on a resident visa and restricted driving licence to apply. 'We are also working hard to get applicants through the pipeline and into training as fast as possible,' Ryan said. 'This means that recruits previously had more time to train whilst in the recruitment pipeline, but now don't have as long to get prepared.' Ryan said fitness groups have been arranged in the Southern, Wellington, Bay of Plenty, Eastern and Waikato districts, with Waitematā, Northland and Waikato also running rehearsal PAT sessions. Advertise with NZME. Counties Manukau has also connected applicants with their local parkrun to help them prepare. Police said as of April 14 there was a total of 10,175 FTE police constables, not including 76 recruits due to graduate last Thursday. The Government had committed to training 500 more officers within two years, above the 10,211 police employed when the coalition agreements were signed in late 2023. Costello said police have continued to optimise the recruitment and training process – including recruiting leads co-ordinating activities in each district and creating opportunities for potential applicants to engage with local cops. 'With the applicant pool being so much larger and the timelines to prepare being faster, it's not surprising to see that there has been a very small reduction - of 1% - in recruit readiness when compared to the same period in 2023, before these changes were made.' Police briefed the ministers that 5,277 applications were received in the second half of last year – more than twice the number of applications for the same period in 2023 - with changes to eligibility criteria accounting for nearly 40% of them. The briefing also projected up to 100 former employees to re-join police this year.
