Latest news with #vanVelden
Scoop
4 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
WorkSafe Makes Significant Shift To Rebalance Its Activities, Launches Road Cone Hotline
Press Release – New Zealand Government The tipline will be complemented by a joint engagement programme by WorkSafe with NZTA and key industry stakeholders, educating those involved with temporary traffic management to adopt a risk-based approach. Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety As part of a broader suite of health and safety reforms, the Government has agreed to a range of changes that will significantly refocus WorkSafe from an enforcement agency to one that engages early to support businesses and individuals to manage their critical risks, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says. 'During my public consultation, I heard many concerns from a wide range of Kiwi businesses and workers about WorkSafe's inconsistency, culture and lack of guidance. It was a constant theme on the roadshow from all parts of the country. 'I have listened to these concerns and today I am sharpening the focus of WorkSafe to change the culture of the agency. 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. '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. 'Changes begin with today's launch of WorkSafe's road cone tipline to look into and provide guidance on instances of over-compliance in temporary traffic management,' says Ms van Velden. The tipline will be complemented by a joint engagement programme by WorkSafe with NZTA and key industry stakeholders, educating those involved with temporary traffic management to adopt a risk-based approach. 'In addition, WorkSafe has started slashing outdated guidance documents from its website and will be updating guidance where necessary.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, not reflecting current practice and technology, or containing content that is covered by other more up-to-date guidance. Removing and replacing outdated guidance will make it much easier for people to find the help they're looking for and ensures WorkSafe is giving consistent and clear advice. 'I will also restructure WorkSafe's appropriation to increase fiscal transparency and support delivery of my expectations. 'For some time, WorkSafe has struggled to effectively articulate the cost and effectiveness of its activities, making it difficult to monitor and assess the value of activities or the merit of requests for further funding. 'To address this, I will split WorkSafe's appropriation into four new categories Supporting work health and safety practice Enforcing work health and safety compliance Authorising and monitoring work health and safety activities, and Energy safety. 'This change will come into effect later this year and will provide a clear framework that focuses WorkSafe through change in culture and expectations,' says Ms van Velden. 'I want to make sure that the public receives a better experience in their everyday interactions with WorkSafe. The public will be able to provide feedback on the timeliness and effectiveness of WorkSafe's guidance, inspections and other engagements. I expect this will promote continuous improvement,' says Ms van Velden. A Letter of Expectations has been sent to WorkSafe formalising the Minister's expectations of WorkSafe. 'I want to thank WorkSafe's Board, Chief Executive and staff for acknowledging the work ahead, making WorkSafe's work programme fit for purpose,' says Ms van Velden.
Scoop
4 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
WorkSafe Makes Significant Shift To Rebalance Its Activities, Launches Road Cone Hotline
Hon Brooke van Velden Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety As part of a broader suite of health and safety reforms, the Government has agreed to a range of changes that will significantly refocus WorkSafe from an enforcement agency to one that engages early to support businesses and individuals to manage their critical risks, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says. 'During my public consultation, I heard many concerns from a wide range of Kiwi businesses and workers about WorkSafe's inconsistency, culture and lack of guidance. It was a constant theme on the roadshow from all parts of the country. 'I have listened to these concerns and today I am sharpening the focus of WorkSafe to change the culture of the agency. 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. '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. 'Changes begin with today's launch of WorkSafe's road cone tipline to look into and provide guidance on instances of over-compliance in temporary traffic management,' says Ms van Velden. The tipline will be complemented by a joint engagement programme by WorkSafe with NZTA and key industry stakeholders, educating those involved with temporary traffic management to adopt a risk-based approach. 'In addition, 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, not reflecting current practice and technology, or containing content that is covered by other more up-to-date guidance. Removing and replacing outdated guidance will make it much easier for people to find the help they're looking for and ensures WorkSafe is giving consistent and clear advice. 'I will also restructure WorkSafe's appropriation to increase fiscal transparency and support delivery of my expectations. 'For some time, WorkSafe has struggled to effectively articulate the cost and effectiveness of its activities, making it difficult to monitor and assess the value of activities or the merit of requests for further funding. 'To address this, I will split WorkSafe's appropriation into four new categories Supporting work health and safety practice Enforcing work health and safety compliance Authorising and monitoring work health and safety activities, and Energy safety. 'This change will come into effect later this year and will provide a clear framework that focuses WorkSafe through change in culture and expectations,' says Ms van Velden. 'I want to make sure that the public receives a better experience in their everyday interactions with WorkSafe. The public will be able to provide feedback on the timeliness and effectiveness of WorkSafe's guidance, inspections and other engagements. I expect this will promote continuous improvement,' says Ms van Velden. A Letter of Expectations has been sent to WorkSafe formalising the Minister's expectations of WorkSafe. 'I want to thank WorkSafe's Board, Chief Executive and staff for acknowledging the work ahead, making WorkSafe's work programme fit for purpose,' says Ms van Velden.
NZ Herald
26-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Pay equity: Former National MP Marilyn Waring assembles ‘people's select committee'
Waring said the unofficial but rigorous committee would investigate evidence through public submissions, official information requests and Parliament's library instead of 'high flying cliches.' The committee would accept submissions until the end of July and produce a report by the end of the year. 'We have definitely friends inside Parliament who will lodge questions for us if we can't get the information any other way. We are a group of rigorous researchers,' Waring said. 'I think the thing that affects me most as a former member of Parliament and as a policy researcher is watching the House make changes to legislation on something that significant ... and there not [being] evidence before the House on which to make those changes.' Anonymity would be offered to submitters who required it. Waring said she expected information from the public and private sector to be supplied anonymously. 'I just have a lot of difficulty as a researcher in seeing pieces of legislation of such magnitude passed without evidence before the House.' The Herald previously confirmed with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment that there was no regulatory impact statement for the changes because of the tight timeframe. All 33 current claims would cease and those claimants would need to reapply under the new regime. Waring said those claimants would be invited to submit to the people's committee. Opponents to the Government's pay equity changes say it will make it harder for women in female-dominated industries to make a claim. But the Government has argued changes were necessary to ensure the workability of the regime, suggesting it was difficult to judge whether differences in groups' pay were down to sex-based discrimination or other market factors. In announcing the changes, van Velden said it was clear the current act was not working as intended while amendments made by the previous Labour Government had 'created issues'. 'Claims have been able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation and there have been very broad claims where it is difficult to tell whether differences in pay are due to sex-based discrimination or other factors.' She said the 'new and improved' system would 'provide greater confidence that genuine pay equity issues will be correctly identified and addressed.' Claims that meet the new threshold are still expected to be eventually settled – though that may take years - but the total amount of money paid out in settlements will be smaller. A key question surrounding the changes and bubbling away in the minds of analysts in the lead up to Budget 2025 was how much money the Government would save through its tightening-up of the pay equity scheme and changes to how the Government approached the funded sector. On Thursday, Budget 2025 revealed $12.8b previously set aside over the forecast period had been returned. 'Significant Budget savings have resulted from fixing Labour's flawed pay-equity regime and removing an assumption that the Government would fully fund potential settlements involving non-Government employers,' Finance Minister Nicola Willis said in a statement.
NZ Herald
21-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Budget 2025: Nicola Willis' focus on the Opposition shows she's feeling the pressure
Multiple unions are organising a protest at Parliament today at 1pm dubbed Protect Pay Equity. Focusing on the competition It was an unusual decision by Willis to lead off the general debate yesterday with a speech on the Labour Party and whether it will have a core Crown debt ceiling of 50% of GDP, as advised by Treasury. There were discrepancies between what leader Chris Hipkins said this week – no decision – and what finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds said last week – she supported the ceiling. It was hardly the issue of the day, one day before her much-anticipated second Budget. When she was at the Budget printers in Petone in the morning, Willis explicitly told media she was not focusing on the Opposition, then promptly went back into town and drafted a speech about them. The attack on the eve of her own Budget shows she will use anything that promotes her own sense of discipline. It also suggests she may be nervous about polling since the pay equity changes were passed under urgency. It wasn't just Labour in her sights. She ended her speech with a flourish against the big-spending Greens' alternative Budget: 'Just spare a thought also for Chlöe Swarbrick: she wants to save a planet that she doesn't even live on,' Willis said. The BS Budget or the BA Budget? Labour's Kieran McAnulty immediately responded to Nicola Willis' speech and her preferred nickname for the Budget as the 'No BS Budget': 'A confident finance Minister doesn't talk about her opposite; she talks about herself and what they've achieved and they didn't mention that once and New Zealanders know exactly why: because they have done bugger all, because they've buggered up the Budget.' C-bombs in the House – the sequel Andrea Vance, who used the c-word in the Sunday Star Times in describing the actions of women ministers over pay equity law changes, won the political journalist of the year award at last week's Voyager Media Awards for work in 2024. The other finalists were my Herald colleague Jamie Ensor and RNZ's Guyon Espiner. The Herald on Sunday won weekly newspaper of the year and the overall newspaper of the year. I was intrigued to see how Hansard, the record of Parliament, would handle the c-word after Act's Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden used it in Parliament last week in a bid to convey her outrage at Andrea Vance's column. Curiously, Hansard spelled out the full word in reporting van Velden's words, but put square brackets between the second letter and the last letter, like this: c[***] (asterisks ours). After making an inquiry to the Office of the Clerk as to why the brackets were there, I was told the reason is that van Velden's quote was not an exact quote from the Vance article; van Velden uttered the word, whereas the article used the letter c and three dots. Hansard handles all quotes the same way. If an MP claims to be quoting but it is not an exact quote, it gets the square bracket treatment. Justice delayed The Government normally has control of what happens in Parliament, but not this week. The debate on the Privileges Committee report recommending the suspension of three Te Pāti Māori MPs had to be held as the first item of business following the tabling of the report last Thursday, which meant it had to be held on Tuesday after Question Time. There was no way the debate could be delayed at the discretion of the Speaker, the Leader of the House or even by agreement among parties. The only way the debate could be adjourned was after the debate had begun, which is what Chris Bishop, as Leader of the House, moved after speeches by Privileges Committee chair Judith Collins and Labour leader Chris Hipkins. It was a closely guarded secret until Bishop's ambush, though why it was so secret is not evident. There is little sense of collegiality in the parliamentary complex at present. But Labour was not nimble enough, and having spent a couple of days calling for a delay in the debate so Te Pāti Māori leaders could take part in the Budget debate on Thursday, it got a minute's notice to think about the delay motion and vote against it. Hipkins thought that while the delay might let the MPs speak in the Budget, it might prevent them from voting on the Budget. It turns out they will be able to do both, although that is no guarantee they will. The whole episode has been frustrating, and that is clear in the comprehensive comment piece by political editor Thomas Coughlan. More crime and punishment Winston Peters was thrown out of the House on Tuesday for the first time this term for a completely daft question to his benchmate, the Prime Minister. Peters had not read the room properly and did not pick up on the fact that Speaker Gerry Brownlee was at breaking point in his attempts to tighten the leash at Question Time, ahead of what he thought was going to be a fraught debate following it. Deputy PM Winston Peters leaves the House on Tuesday. Photo / Adam Pearce Luxon had been answering questions from Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer about his interview the previous day with Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking. Hosking had used the term 'Māorification' in a question around Stop/Go signs being in te reo (Taihoa/Haere). Ngārewa Packer questioned him about what he thought it meant and why he had not pushed back on the question, to which Peters made the following contribution: '...on the issue of 'Māorification', would it be 'Māorification' if every Thursday I went down and got myself a suntan?' Brownlee, having issued a warning two minutes earlier that he was not in a mood to be trifled with, told Peters to leave the House, although he let him back in at the end of Question Time. If you're going to get thrown out of the House, Winston, it is better for it to be on a point of principle, or at least something clever. Hanging judges Perhaps Peters' equilibrium had been disturbed. Earlier in the day, while making a KiwiRail Budget announcement at Wellington Railway Station, Peters had been heckled by a staff member of Tonkin + Taylor on his way to work, including the term 'You f***ing moron.' The heckler was wearing his work lanyard and the company has contracts with KiwiRail. Peters yesterday showed no sympathy for the staffer, whose conduct is being reviewed by his company and whose actions are being defended by the Free Speech Union. Perhaps following the example of the hanging judges on the Privileges Committee, the heckler could get a three-week suspension with no pay – and maybe some discount if he showed some contrition to Peters. By the way... • Winston Peters puts on his Foreign Minister's hat tomorrow and leaves for a trip taking in Adelaide, the home city of his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India. It will be the first visit ever by a New Zealand Foreign Minister to Nepal and coincides with the 72nd anniversary of the summit of Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary. • Parliament is set to go into urgency after the Budget today and is expected to stretch into a Saturday sitting. We know this because the cafeteria staff have been asked to open at 8am on Saturday. Quote unquote 'It is not a Budget filled with rainbows and unicorns. It is a reality Budget that will deliver genuine hope for the future.' – Finance Minister Nicola Willis at the Petone printers yesterday. Micro quiz What year was the so-called Mother of All Budgets presented? (Answer below.) Brickbat ACC Minister Scott Simpson. Photo / Hagen Hopkins Goes to ACC Minister Scott Simpson, who said in response to a question from Labour's Camilla Belich about a particular ACC programme that has been stopped: 'ACC is an independent Crown entity, and I, as Minister, stand at arm's length from operational decisions.' You don't hear the ministers of Health, Housing or Transport say that about Health NZ, Kāinga Ora or Waka Kotahi. Bouquet Eric Crampton, chief economist of the NZ Initiative. Goes to Eric Crampton, the chief economist of the NZ Initiative think-tank, who refused to accept Treasury's invitation to today's Budget lock-up unless it lifted itsban on Council of Trade Unions economist Craig Renney– which it did. This week's top stories OPINION - Budget 2025: KiwiSaver changes, tax write-offs and other 'surprises' – Jenée Tibshraeny on what to watch out for in today's Budget. Budget 2025 – debt debate: In the final days before the Budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis has been turning up the heat on Labour for its flip-flopping on debtthat . Budget 2025 preview: The Government needs to find billions of dollars for the numbers to add up in today's Budget. Derek Cheng outlines what we know so far. Budget 2025 – health spending: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Health Minister Simeon Brown have announced that $164 million will be spent on urgent care across the country. Peters heckling: The employer of a man who heckled NZ First leader Winston Peters during a press conference has drawn criticism after apologising for his behaviour and saying the company had launched an investigation. MPs' punishment: The Government has passed a surprise motion to delay the debate on the punishment of three Te Pāti Māori MPs for participating in last year's controversial haka in the House. OPINION – MPs' punishment: MPs' failure to compromise on the punishments meted out to three Te Pāti Māori MPs after last year's haka in the House bodes ill for Parliament, writes Thomas Coughlan. MPs' property: The latest disclosures of politicians' financial interests have been released by Parliament, revealing how MPs' property portfolios looked at the start of the year. Regulatory Standards Bill: Implementing the Regulatory Standards Bill will cost a minimum of $20 million per annum across 20 years, government officials estimate. Digital Services Tax: The Government has binned a tax worth an estimated $100 million each year after threats of retaliation from US President Donald Trump. Greens' budget: Labour leader Chris Hipkins has called the Green Party's alternative budget 'unrealistic', but says he agrees with some elements. ANALYSIS – think-tank 101: What is a political think-tank and who are the key players in New Zealand? Audrey Young explains. ANALYSIS – social sector shakeup: 'We need a different model' - Andy Coster talks to Audrey Young about his new role in reshaping social sector funding. Stay with us for comprehensive coverage of today's Budget, including live coverage from 2pm, with interviews with major players, in-depth analysis and commentary. Parliament will go into urgency later today to debate Budget-related legislation. Parliament will be in recess next week. Quiz answer: 1991, by Ruth Richardson For more political news and views, listen to On the Tiles, the Herald's politics podcast.
Otago Daily Times
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Shocking language distraction
Although many New Zealanders commonly use terms which would have been considered offensive decades ago, there are still words we would not expect to hear in our Parliament. One such word was aired last week in the House by Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden. The Hansard record of that occasion shows it as c with square brackets around the next four letters. Curiously, there was no such sensitive punctuation around that word or the f-word when they turned up in some submissions made on various Bills. The words appear in the Hansard record on those occasions in all their dubious glory, as presumably the utterers intended. Research from 2021 on the language which may offend in broadcasting, commissioned by the Broadcasting Standards Authority, showed there had been some movement over the years since 2013, but the top two most unacceptable words in all broadcasting contexts remained the n-word and the c-word. There had been jockeying for the top slot in that time with the n-word considered the worst in the 2021 survey (65% of those surveyed), compared with 57% for the c-word. The question of whether it was acceptable or necessary for Ms van Velden to use the term last week remains. The Labour Party set the scene for its use by asking Ms van Velden about something said in a political column by Stuff 's Andrea Vance. The quote used in the question from former minister for women, Jan Tinetti about the contentious pay equity legislation did not include the sentence featuring the c-word used by Ms Vance. It asked if stopping 33 pay equity claims was not a historic act of economic backhanding other women. But its inclusion of reference to women ministers as girlbosses and a hype-squad, were apparently enough to provoke Ms van Velden to seek advice from the clerk's office about the use of the c-word. She was told it was OK, so use it she eventually did. Her hell-hath-no-fury-like-women-ministers-scorned performance lacked the impromptu brilliance of former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard's tirade against the misogyny and unpleasantness she experienced day in and day out. Women close to having their pay equity claims settled before the new law sent them back to square one, could be forgiven for finding irony in Ms van Velden's passionate statement: "The women of this government are hard-working, dedicated, and strong. No woman in this Parliament nor in this country should be subjected to sex-based discrimination". They might have considered some of the terms used by Ms Vance were misogynistic, shocking, or inappropriate but would that override their view the introduction of the law changes was misogyny writ large? There is no getting away from the fact the question from Ms Tinetti was a dumb move from Labour, allowing the coalition's senior women ministers to take the moral high ground and promote themselves as victims of a misogynistic, unseemly, abusive, and vitriolic attack on them. It is hard to understand why Labour did not just ignore the column. Finance Minister Nicola Willis had already penned a lengthy response to it which was published by Stuff. When Ms van Velden's outburst occurred, around a week after the shock of the introduction without warning of the new pay equity legislation and its subsequent passing under urgency, the furore around it had not abated. While a succession of coalition ministers and the Prime Minister, with a surprising lack of imagination, accused Labour of "outright lies" there are plenty of questions which remain unanswered. Do we know, for instance, how the change in the equity claim threshold for the proportion of women workers in a role from 60% to 70% was arrived at? When there has been no opportunity to test the government's thinking on any of the changes through a proper process, the Opposition has plenty of material with which to keep plugging away at the government. Labour has had to admit its own goal. Its future questioning on this issue must be calm, clinical, and comprehensive — all acceptable "c" words.
