Latest news with #LouisCollins
RNZ News
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Freaky Friday: An unexpected visitor in Karori
Time for Freaky Friday. Our weekly showcase of your spooky stories. It could be unexplained apparitions, a freaky coincidence, or just something weird you can't explain. We've also mysterious religious experiences, healing hands, and a woman who found her recently deceased daughters name written on a rock. If you've got a story to share please get in touch. 2101 on the text or afternoons@ via email. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
Irish Independent
19-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Astellas celebrates significant award wins for sustainability efforts
Just last month, Astellas was awarded Sustainable BioPharmaChem Company of the Year at the inaugural BioPharmaChem Impact Awards, in recognition of the company's efforts in implementing sustainable and responsible practices in the biopharmachem industry. The awards were held by BioPharmaChem Ireland (BPCI), the Ibec group that represents the biopharmaceutical and chemical sectors in Ireland. In March, Astellas picked up the Commitment to Sustainability Award at the well-known IDA supported Invest in Ireland Awards. These awards reward excellence in the inward foreign direct investment sector in the Republic of Ireland. Astellas won the award in recognition of the environmental and sustainability stewardship the judges felt was at the heart of Astellas' operations. The awards acknowledged Astellas' significant investment in renewable energy, waste reduction and greener manufacturing practices which contributed to its win on the night. Astellas also enjoyed huge success at the Green Awards in February. With 140 companies submitting 280 entries to compete across 29 categories, Astellas received four awards on the night. These included Green Large Organisation of the Year, Sustainability Team of the Year, the Green Lifesciences Award and the Sustainable Energy Achievement Award. Speaking about the award wins, Louis Collins, Executive Director and Site Lead, Astellas Co. Ltd. said: 'Our strong culture of sustainability has been embedded in everything we do since the early 2000s. We're hugely aware of the role our work plays in patients' lives and the communities we operate in. With that in mind, our sustainability approach incorporates all of our key stakeholders, from patients and our community to our employees, with the understanding that our continued growth and success needs to be achieved as sustainably as possible. Through a range of initiatives and ongoing investment in renewable technologies, Astellas Kerry now meets 74% of its energy needs from renewable sources. Since 2005, we have achieved a 98% reduction in CO₂ emissions and a 70% reduction in the generation of non-hazardous waste. These award wins are a clear demonstration that our operations reflect our commitments to our stakeholders.'
Otago Daily Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Te Pāti Māori decision: Debate primed for filibuster
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke rips up a copy of the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill at the conclusion of the Bill's first reading last year. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins Labour is unlikely to engage in filibustering to slow progress of a debate into whether three Te Pāti Māori MPs should be suspended from Parliament after performing a haka during the first reading of the controversial Treaty Principles Bill. And the president of Te Pāti Māori says Parliament needs to recognise that society is evolving and tikanga Māori should be incorporated increasingly more into the House. It has been recommended to the Speaker of the House by the Privileges Committee that Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngārewa-Packer, and MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke (who led the haka Ka Mate but showed contrition) receive stand-downs of 21 and seven sitting days, respectively. The debate is set to begin on this afternoon and could go on well into the night - or even for weeks. The Treaty Principles Bill, introduced by the ACT party, aimed to clarify the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) and to establish a clear legal framework for how these principles should be understood and applied in New Zealand law. It was defeated at a second reading last month. Unusually for New Zealand's Parliament, it will be a debate primed for filibuster. Parliament's Speaker Gerry Brownlee set out the parameters last week, including that all 123 MPs will be allowed to speak. If any amendment is put forward, they would then be allowed to speak again. Such amendments could include a change to the length of the suspensions. Should the debate continue long enough, the Budget, to be delivered on Thursday, would take precedence over it and Te Pāti Māori MPs would be able to participate - including having their votes against the Budget recorded. Parliament's public gallery will be closed today, but a protest is planned on the forecourt in Wellington. Te Pāti Māori MPs Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke face ACT MPs as they perform the haka. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins Green Party musterer Ricardo Menéndez March said the proposed ban was unprecedented and of concern to all the party's MPs, so it was likely they would want to speak during the debate. "It raises really really serious concerns about whether this new standard only applies when haka, waiata or tikanga Māori is used in the House." The Greens were hoping to be able to speak with government MPs and ultimately be able to reduce the penalty that had been given, he said - but elected Te Pāti Māori MPs should be able to vote during the Budget procedures. "We will be using the tools available to us to ensure that we can challenge this decision however we can." Menéndez March said he would not accept "performative outrage" on the issue of filibustering from government MPs. "They're the ones who have chosen to deal an unprecedented punishment and are unable to reflect on the issue that many have been raising about how tikanga can be better incorporated in the House." Labour leader Chris Hipkins agreed the proposed punishment was disproportionate. Hipkins told RNZ's Morning Report programme today there should be some kind of sanction, but the penalty on the table was too extreme. "Two other MPs have been sanctioned in this term of Parliament for bullying and intimidating behaviour - one National MP and one Green MP. Neither of them was suspended from the service of the House at all." Te Pāti Māori had a right to protest against the Treaty Principles Bill, he believed. "Frankly if they'd done the haka 90 seconds later I would've supported it - because the vote would've been declared, they would've been doing the haka after the vote as a form of protest to the law that Parliament had just passed." Prime Minister Christopher Luxon yesterday ruled out any compromise, so a deal between the government and Opposition for a shorter debate seems unlikely. ACT leader David Seymour, whose bill prompted the haka, told RNZ Te Pāti Māori's actions showed its MPs believed their behaviour was acceptable. "I hope the debate will be over very quickly ... this is Budget week and New Zealanders deserve to see how the government will manage the economy over the coming year, not hijinks in response to very wrong hijinks of Te Pāti Māori. "These are unprecedented offences and they deserve unprecedented penalties." He said the previous record of three days suspension, handed to former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon for publicly criticising the Speaker of the House, was "very different from breaking ancient laws of our Parliament - tikanga if you like - that you should not leave your seat". "If they believe that is a legitimate way to do business, the punishment should be strong enough to persuade them of that belief, and I'd give them three months. "If it was up to me, a 90-day sentence of suspension but then subtract all the days they haven't shown up anyway. Like time served." New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who was on the Privileges Committee that proposed the punishments, has long decried what he sees as falling standards at Parliament, putting the first-reading haka into that category. It will therefore be up to the Speaker and the opposition parties how long the debate lasts, and Brownlee has stated his willingness to support the minority in this case. Whether the disruption to the government's agenda is worth potential backlash for time wasting will be the political calculation being made.
