.|
NEWS
A variety of immigration, business and general news articles taken from New Zealand newspapers, websites and other sources (sources are mentioned at the bottom of each article) and selected by Terra Nova Consultancy Ltd. It may assist the reader being more or less up-to-date what is happening in Aotearoa, "the Land of the Long White Cloud". Happy reading, enjoy ... and if you have any questions on these updates - please contact us...
Newest article always on top.
22/02/11 - Christchurch quake: More shocks
Strong aftershocks are continuing to shake Christchurch as police confirm "multiple fatalities" after a 6.3 magnitude quake hit the city this afternoon.
Police said fatalities had been reported at several locations and that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings.
GNS Science said today's 12.51pm quake was centred at Lyttelton at a depth of 5km.
It was followed by a 5.7 magnitude aftershock at 1.04pm at a depth of 6km, 10km south of Christchurch.
The latest aftershock measured 5.5 and was the sixth recorded since the 6.3 earthquake. It was also recorded within 5km of Lyttelton at a depth of 5km.
Herald reporter Jarrod Booker said queues of cars could be seen being shaken up and down when the latest aftershock hit.
Jarrod Booker said cars stuck in the city's gridlock were being rocked side to side and occupants could be heard screaming.
"Even sitting in a car you can feel continual shaking on a smaller scale than the original quake," he earlier said.
Fatalities and buildings collapsed
Christchurch resident Jane Smith, who works in the central city, earlier told the Herald a work colleague had helped with rescue efforts after a building facade collapsed on a bus on Colombo St.
"There's people dead. He was pulling them out of a bus. Colombo St is completely munted," she said.
TV3 reported that a person had died in the Christchurch suburb of Sumner.
The broadcaster showed footage of people being rescued from the Pyne Guinness Gould building, where it is believed some 200 people have been trapped.
It said the Provincial Chambers Building had also collapsed and more people were likely also trapped there.
A listener told Newstalk ZB that the Piko Wholefoods building on Kilmore Street near the city centre, which was hit in the September 4 earthquake, was now "practically non-existent".
Jarrod Booker said Christchurch's historic cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street had half collapsed, with the remaining part of the building filled with cracks.
The spire on the Christchurch Cathedral has also collapsed.
Christchurch resident Gary Moore told NZPA he and 19 other colleagues were trapped in Christchurch's Forsyth Barr building on Colombo Street.
Mr Moore said workers were stuck on the 12th floor as the stairwell had collapsed. He was not sure if people were trapped on other floors.
Traffic gridlock
Emergency services have been struggling to access the central city and were having to manoeuvre slowly around gridlocked traffic.
Jarrod Booker said Tuam Street had become a river as water poured from ruptures in the road and was impassable in places.
The whole central city was in grid lock as people tried to evacuate central businesses to check their homes, he said,
Most traffic lights were out and cars were also having to negotiate around hordes of people on foot.
Some pedestrians were standing on the footpaths and staring into space, apparently in shock.
Jarrod Booker said the southern suburbs appeared to be particularly badly hit.
Liquification was forcing tarmac up in the middle of the road and water and sand were spewing out of chasms.
Civil Defence response
Police said all available staff were helping with the rescue operation and the Defence Force had been called in to assist.
Triage centres have been established for the injured at Latimer Square in the central city, Spotlight Mall in Sydenham and Sanitarium in Papanui.
Civil Defence Minister John Carter said all the South Island hospitals apart from Invercargill had been emptied to make way for earthquake victims.
Mr Carter and preparations had been made for a state of emergency to be declared.
He said the number of fatalities and the extent of the damage was still unclear.
Speaking to media at the Beehive's National Crisis Centre, Director of Civil Defence John Hamilton earlier said a response plan was now being put together using all available national resources.
"That includes extra fire people, extra police personnel, assets from the Defence Forces. International offers of assistance are coming through from Australia in particular."
Mr Hamilton said the earthquake was a level three crisis - the highest for a localised event.
Phone lines are down and calls are not being connected to emergency services. Telecom said it is working to understand which services have been affected by the earthquake and get these restored as soon as possible.
Temporary accommodation is being organised for those who have been displaced, with tents possibly to be erected in Hagley Park.
All but emergency flights into Christchurch Airport have been put on hold while it checks the state of its runway.
(Source NZ Herald)
22/02/11 - Huge quake strikes Canterbury
A huge earthquake has struck Canterbury with witness reporting the 6.3 magnitude quake felt more violent than the quake in September.
GNS Science said the quake was centred at Lyttelton at a depth of 5km.
Phone lines are down and calls are not being connected to emergency services.
Twitter users have reported feeling the quake in Wellington and Dunedin.
Herald reporter Jarrod Booker said people had left buildings and were out on the street.
He said the shake lasted approximately a minute and was extremely violent - rocking buildings back and forth.
Tarmac on the roads have cracked and water mains have burst, flooding the streets, he said.
He said the carpark at the Christchurch Star had turned into a river with huge cracks and the roads had risen in areas.
People were comforting people outside amid a general state of shock as people try to absorb what had happened, he said.
Objects fell off shells.
(Source NZ Herald)
19/02/11 - Key staff shortages
An overwhelming majority of New Zealand businesses are suffering key staff shortages and many expect the situation to get worse.
Deloitte's survey, Talent Edge New Zealand, surveyed 360 employers across a broad range of economic sectors and company sizes.
Eighty-one per cent reported at least moderate shortages.
Employees most in short supply included managers, IT professionals and accounting and finance, particularly chartered accountants.
(Source NZ Herald)
19/02/11 - Two quakes shake East Coast
Two earthquakes have rocked the East Coast area this afternoon but there have been no reports of damage.
The first quake struck at 1.18pm and was located 10km south of Tokomaru Bay, which is 90km north of Gisborne.
The quake was centred 20km deep and measured 4.5 on the Richter Scale.
That was followed just 12 minutes later by a magnitude 3.7 quake 40km west of Gisborne and centred 40km deep.
Bruce, of the Tokomaru Bay Four Square, said he felt the first quake as a sharp jolt, followed by a rolling motion for five or six seconds.
"[But] nothing fell off the shelves," he told NZPA.
GNS Science said the quakes were probably felt throughout the region.
(Source NZPA)
17/02/11 - New Zealand retains foreign students’ skills
Around one third of international students who come to New Zealand stay on following their studies to contribute to our economy and workforce says Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman.
Department of Labour research confirms around 31 percent of fee paying international students find work after their studies and around one-fifth gain permanent residence.
“Not only does New Zealand gain from the economic benefits of having them study here, many international students stay on providing longer-term benefits by contributing their skills to our workforce and economy,’’ Dr Coleman says.
“This research shows that New Zealand is an attractive place to study because of the quality and cost of education in an English speaking country.’’
Dr Coleman says the Government is currently reviewing international student policy to help strengthen the industry and maintain New Zealand’s reputation as a quality export education provider.
‘’Another plus for fee-paying foreign students is the recent introduction of interim visas which allows them to continue studying while applying for visas to further their studies. This will smooth the enrolment process for education providers.’’
Export education is one of New Zealand’s top five export industries. Last year, international education contributed over $2 billion to the economy in foreign exchange. The sector also supports around 32,000 jobs.
Dr Coleman says the industry is continuing to grow, despite the global recession. Latest enrolment figures show an almost five percent rise in the number of international students for the first eight months of 2010, compared to the same period 2009 (from 78,905 to 82,577).
Students from India had the highest rate of transition to work (72 percent) followed by students from China (43 percent). Similarly, students from India also had the highest rate of transition to permanent residence (47 percent), followed by students from China (23 percent).
The research also found 68 percent of former international students were in fulltime employment 18 months after gaining permanent residence. Nearly one-third – 31 percent – worked in professional occupations and 62 percent worked in a skilled job.
The Department of Labour's Employers of Migrants survey, released last year, found 87 percent of respondents rated their migrant employees good or very good.
Life after Study: International students’ settlement experiences in New Zealand, is available from http://dol.govt.nz/publications/research/life-after-study/summary.asp
(Source Beehive Jonathan Coleman)
17/02/11 - Economic growth falls in 10 of 14 regions
Regions around the country appear to have run out of economic puff during the three months to December, with 10 of the 14 areas experiencing a decline in economic activity.
All 14 regions grew economically year on year, ranging from lowest-ranked Nelson-Marlborough's 1% through to Otago at third highest for the year with 2.9% growth and the Bay of Plenty top with 3.8%.
National Bank economist Steve Edwards said the regional trends data showed Otago was second highest in the country in terms of consumer confidence for the quarter, its highest ranking in those stakes since 2006.
Otago house sales grew 4.5% during the quarter and the number of residential house approvals rose 4%, compared with a national decline of 8% for the period, he said.
"[Quarterly] economic activity in the North Island contracted by 0.3%, while activity in the South Island rose by 0.2%," Mr Edwards said in a statement yesterday.
Canterbury's rebound of 0.5% in economic growth, in the wake of the devastating September earthquakes, topped the 14 regions during the quarter, with a rise in new car registrations and residential building approvals, he said.
"Despite the devastation suffered in the region, both business and consumer confidence remained above the nationwide benchmarks," Mr Edwards said.
Year on year, national economic growth increased to a three-year high of 2.2%, with the North Island economy expanding 2.3% and the South Island a "more sedate" 1.7%, Mr Edwards said.
(Source Otago Daily Times)
16/02/11 - Economic union with Aussie urged
The Muldoon-era Cabinet minister widely credited as the architect of closer economic relations between Australia and New Zealand is calling on both countries to bite the bullet on economic union.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will honour former trade and industry minister Hugh Templeton today with one of her country's highest honours at an Order of Australia investiture ceremony. It is a level of recognition that has eluded Mr Templeton on this side of the Tasman.
Ms Gillard yesterday put further expanding CER – a deal liberalising trade between New Zealand and Australia that came into effect in 1983 – at the top of her agenda in New Zealand. She said it was a "living agreement".
But Mr Templeton has revealed CER nearly did not happen and he was never sure if his leader at the time, Sir Robert Muldoon, would stop it in its tracks.
"We could have completed it and signed up in 1981 and it would have been a marvellous platform for our 1981 election when we only had Think Big. [But] we held off till 1982 and we nearly lost it because of the opposition of Australian farmers. I had to go over and spent a very fraught time explaining it to them."
Negotiations eventually spun out to four years and Sir Robert was the major reason.
"At one point in caucus he threatened to stop it and I was never sure whether he would carry through."
But despite opposition, both domestically and across the Tasman, there was never any doubt in his mind that CER had to happen.
"It was strategically the number one issue for New Zealand," Mr Templeton said.
"We had to get it. We had to do it ... we had to get this as the basis for broadening the basis of our economy and giving our manufacturing sector a decent market."
Without it, our fate would have been to become "a little New Zealand getting littler in the South Pacific". But the global financial crisis in 2008 had put the spotlight on the lack of progress since then.
"What happened is that Australia came through it pretty well and New Zealand is in deep schtuck ... if we had a full-scale economic union with a common currency etc with Australia we would be much better protected from the rather vulnerable position in which New Zealand is. It's as simple as that."
But a decade of economic good times had encouraged governments to put off hard decisions and fail to make the most of opportunities that CER presented. Both countries should have moved towards a common market in the 1990s and economic and currency union in the 2000s.
"We put off the hard stuff in the good times and now when times are bad let's hope it's not too late."
(Source The Press)
15/02/11 - NZ bakes in hottest month ever
Hundred-year-old records are tumbling as unrelenting heat sets New Zealand on course for its hottest February ever.
Most regions are between 2C and 3C hotter than normal as the strongest La Nina weather pattern in 30 years drives warm air and heavy humidity over the North Island.
"We are only halfway, so it could yet change. But for the first two weeks we've run at our hottest ever," said climate scientist Georgina Griffiths, of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. "And February is usually our hottest month.
"Even if we got extremely cold for the rest of the month, it's not going to be a normal February."
While some regions have missed out - Otago has had only five dry days in the past 30 - most are basking. Some east coast regions, such as Gisborne, Wairoa and Hawkes Bay, are a staggering 3.9C warmer than their mean temperature for the month.
Auckland has consistently reached 27C, and with humidity exceeding 70 per cent, it has felt a few degrees higher than the thermometer reading.
Weatherwatch analyst Philip Duncan said: "Many people say the heat is worse here than Australia.
The highs don't sound as dramatic, but as soon as you start walking, in 26 degrees and humidity, it is just exhausting.
"There's no end in sight. We are having an Indian summer in the North Island this year."
Forecasters expect the warm weather to continue, but not with the extreme highs of the last two weeks.
Piha lifeguard Tony Johnston said that after a quiet Christmas, hordes of people had visited west coast beaches in the past two weeks to cool off.
"It's been super hot, perhaps muggier than usual. We've been rotating the water patrols more than usual so everyone can get a dip more often."
Mr Johnston said that while resources had been stretched in the surf at times, most first-aid help had been given to people hurt on land. "Quite a few people have burned their feet on the black sand."
MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said the rest of February would be "warm, but not brilliantly warm. Summer peaked in early February, and temperatures have already begun falling."
Mr McDavitt said the key contributor to the warm weather had been the lack of southerly winds. He said our warm air was sourced from Australia and the Pacific Islands, driven by La Nina's northwesterly winds.
Three townships have registered all-time records this month.
The MetService weather station at Timaru Airport reached 40.3C on Waitangi Day when an Australian heatwave crossed the Tasman Sea.
But yesterday, Niwa revealed that its garden-based weather station in Timaru, which is more sheltered, reached 41.3C. That reading is by far the highest in the South Canterbury town's 125 years of records, and only 1.1C shy of NZ's hottest-ever day, in 1973 in Rangiora and Marlborough.
Also on Waitangi Day, the temperature in Te Puke hit 31.2C.
On February 2, Gisborne had its warmest day in 105 years of record-keeping when the mercury climbed to 36.3C.
Much of that heat was generated by a phenomenon known as the foehn effect, when the wind heats up dramatically as it drops down a slope, shedding its moisture. As it travelled eastward, between Taranaki and Gisborne, it dropped out of the mountain ranges of the central North Island and the temperature rocketed more than 15C.
The conditions observed in February are typical of a La Nina weather cycle, bringing warm and wet weather to the North Island and dry hot weather to the South Island. Meteorologists have indicated this is the strongest such cycle since 1973.
La Nina has also encouraged unwanted phenomenons. Its warm currents were responsible for bridge-breaking deluges after Christmas, and floods in Auckland.
Eight named tropical cyclones have occurred north of New Zealand, two of them in February. Weatherwatch has predicted that another large cyclone could form in the Coral Sea this weekend and bear down on New Zealand by the middle of next week.
La Nina is also blamed for a big increase in common household flies in Auckland and the proliferation of microscopic jellyfish along the region's eastern beaches, which prompted health warnings after bitten swimmers reported unbearable itchiness.
(Source NZ Herald, Isaac Davison)
14/02/11 - Overstayer gets charity funds
Work and Income has confirmed it is funding a Christchurch charity run by an American overstayer.
Harmon Wilfred, who renounced his American citizenship in 2005, and his third wife, Caroline Dare-Wilfred, who has a private income from her family's foodstuffs empire in Canada, arrived in New Zealand in 2001. The couple settled in Sumner.
Wilfred has set up several charitable organisations, which appear to be in disarray, with four staff taking personal grievances over their recent dismissal.
He has resisted deportation by Immigration New Zealand and is applying for New Zealand citizenship.
After his arrival, he was involved with Christchurch's Champion Centre and then set up his own foundation, La Famia, to provide family support services.
Wilfred was elected to the chair of the failing Floyds Creative Arts Charitable Trust, an organisation providing vocational services for people with disabilities, last July.
Work and Income head Mike Smith told The Press his department had provided $79,000 to Floyds (now La Famia Creative Arts) between July and October last year.
Work and Income then entered a short-term arrangement with Wilfred's charity, La Famia No4 Ltd, to provide services until February 28, and nearly $40,000 had been paid under the arrangement.
Smith said Work and Income knew about Wilfred's immigration status, but it funded organisations, not individuals.
Wilfred and his wife have registered five charities with the Charities Commission, which administers regulations under which charities operate.
The charities are La Famia Foundation NZ and four others called La Famia.
According to annual reports submitted to the commission, the charities, which employ only one fulltime staff member, lost $438,000 last year.
The charities are run from bar and function centre Wigram Manor, the former air force officers' club at Wigram.
Three former staff are taking personal grievances after Wilfred allegedly changed their jobs last month. They were then sacked. Another personal grievance is pending.
Wilfred said he could not expand on the issues with The Press because police were investigating allegations he had made against staff. (The staff have denied any wrongdoing.)
La Famia Creative Arts was "going strong" and had applications for funding in progress with the Ministry of Health and other government and private funders, Wilfred said.
He forcing him to return to the United States would be inhumane because of a vendetta against him by high-placed officials.
The vendetta, he said, stemmed from his alleged exposure of several US scams including the siphoning of billions of dollars to the personal pockets of CIA agents, politicians and other government officials.
He has three children in the US from two previous marriages.
He has set up a website, called the World Wide Web Court of Justice, to air his complaints against the US justice system.
His online biography begins: "Once upon a time a male child was born of the human race on the planet Earth in a land called Usaria."
(Source The Press)
10/02/11 - Beauty queen in marriage fraud
A former pageant queen has admitted marrying a man for money to allow him to stay in the country.
Hinetekawa Ezrah Sayers, 21, pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court to fraud and immigration charges.
She will be sentenced next month on these as well as burglary and assault charges.
Sayers won the Miss Teen Diamond crown in a Rotorua pageant in 2006.
She has admitted fraudulently obtaining a marriage certificate in her name and a Chinese man's name on July 14 last year.
She also admitted producing the certificate at the Hamilton branch of the New Zealand Immigration Service in August last year, knowing that it was misleading. Charges were laid in November.
The Chinese man has also been charged. He is alleged to have offered Sayers $15,000 to marry him so he could stay in the country.
At an earlier appearance, Sayers admitted assault with intent to injure, receiving stolen goods and assaulting a 12-year-old.
She admitted receiving a stolen television, valued at $2000, between July 27 and September 2 last year.
She also admitted assaulting the 12-year-old girl on September 28 and assaulting a woman with intent to injure on the same day.
Sayers was going through the court process for other charges at the time of these offences.
Days after the assaults she appeared in the Rotorua District Court and admitted choking a teenager until the girl passed out and then bit her in the arm and continued assaulting her until her victim managed to escape and get help. Sayers was serving a community work sentence for another assault and shoplifting when she committed the attack in August.
She is yet to be sentenced on this charge.
Defence lawyer Peter Birks suggested to Judge Phillip Cooper that a psychological report be compiled before Sayers is sentenced, due to a miscarriage she suffered last year.
However, Judge Cooper deemed the report unnecessary.
Sayers is due back before the court on March 24.
(Source APN)
09/02/11 - Defining moments in history
In seconds, more than a 150 years of Canterbury history came crashing down.
The sight of the Deans family's Homebush homestead in ruins was a defining image of the September earthquake.
Several of the region's historic landmarks, which have over the years been meticulously restored and protected, may now be too damaged to save.
Bulldozers levelled the Homebush homestead, near Darfield, in November.
Jim and Louise Deans, the farm's guardians for the past 30 years, said they had no time frame for rebuilding and were still "very much in the planning stages".
"It is a terribly difficult decision to make about what sort of house should replace that lovely old one," Louise Deans said. "We couldn't do a replica of that building; it would never be the same, would it? I think we have to move on."
Allan Rhodes' Hororata Homestead has been taken down "brick by brick" to prevent large machinery damaging the 90-year-old gardens. His family is now living in a converted workshop and Rhodes hopes to have rebuilding under way within six months. He said the new house would be "in keeping" with the property's heritage, but only single storey.
Diamond Harbour's Godley House, a 130-year-old category two historic building, has remained closed after sustaining extreme structural damage to the interior and exterior.
The landmark, owned by the Christchurch City Council, was being managed by Richard and Michelle Hawes when the quake struck. Some of the worst damage was in the couple's bedroom. The bar, accommodation area and restaurant were devastated.
The Hawes are in temporary accommodation, but hope to return.
"Our dream is not finished with Godley Head yet, but if it's going to be years and years, or if [the council] just leave it sitting there until they make their decision, we can't wait around forever," Michelle Hawes said.
Council transport and greenspace manager Alan Beuzenberg said Godley House had been externally propped and supported, but its future was uncertain.
"A project manager and heritage professionals are now pulling together information on the extent of the damage, options and the likely remediation costs."
In Governors Bay, about a quarter of architect Sir Miles Warren's Ohinetahi homestead sustained damage and was "not liveable by any means". The quake collapsed four upper gables and sent stones crashing on to the building. Sections of the building will be demolished, but a council report found its structural integrity had not been affected. Ohinetahi's gardens, once a tourist attraction, will be closed until at least September.
Two good news stories last month were the reopenings of Gunyah, near Hororata, and Tai Tapu's Otahuna Lodge.
Both sustained significant damage, largely caused by collapsing chimney stacks.
The chimneys at Gunyah have been rebuilt as lightweight replicas, and have been strapped and braced. Seven chimneys above the roof line at Otahuna have been replaced with lightweight materials.
New Zealand Historic Places Trust southern general manager Malcolm Duff said the earthquake damage to historic homes varied considerably, so there was no single solution for rebuilding or reinstatement.
"Each building has to be considered on a case-by-case basis, and a range of options are available to owners."
(Source The Press)
Covid 19 Notice
As the impact of the coronavirus continues to evolve, we face this unprecedented situation together. The pandemic is affecting all of us. At Terra Nova Consultancy Ltd we wish to reach out and update you on how we are addressing it. Our top priority is to protect the health and safety of our employees, clients, and our communities. Our focus on customer service remains at the center of everything we do, and we are fully committed to continue to serve you with our services, and striving to provide our services without interruption.Please listen and act upon the advise given by the Government, only in that way will we together be able to combat this challenge. And as always, stay healthy and keep safe.
TNC E-books
The Terra Nova e-book page contains publications in e-book and e-news format containing comments and reviews from Terra Nova Consultancy Ltd, and other contributors, that relate to a number of issues from immigration to operating a business.
Some of the Terra Nova e-books e-book and the Terra Nova e-news issues we believe may be quite helpful for prospective immigrants.
Check back regularly to find new editions of our Terra Nova e-book and Terra Nova e-news range.
Quick Links
Translate this site
Contact Details
Terra Nova Consultancy Ltd
14 Glanworth Place, Botany 2106
Manukau, Auckland 2106,
New Zealand
Please arrange visit by appointment.
Mobile: +64 275 706 540
Postal Address:
PO Box 58385, Botany
Manukau, Auckland 2163,
New Zealand
Licensed Immigration Adviser
Johannes Petrus (Peter) Hubertus Cornelis Hendrikx
License number: 200800214
Is your Immigration Adviser
licenced by the NZ Government?
Click here for details www.iaa.govt.nz