N E W S - I N D U S T R Y M A T T E R S
14 July 2019
NZUS Council supports Minister Peters
efforts for a trade agreement with the US
The NZUS Council will increase its engagement in the United
States to support Foreign Minister, Rt Hon Winston Peters’ efforts
to promote a free trade agreement with the United States.
"The Council is excited by the work Mr Peters is doing to build
political support in the US for a free trade agreement and we
will increase our efforts to support him," NZ US Council chair
Leon Grice said.
Mr Peters has said he will be travelling to Washington DC in the
next few weeks and will continue to advocate for a free trade
agreement with the United States and push the case for moving
into more formal discussions.
"US Ambassador Scott Brown is also playing an important
trade advocacy role from Wellington and in Washington DC
and the Council appreciates his ability to get things done on
the Hill. Ambassador Brown was a key part of getting the E1/E2
business visa legislation passed in Congress," Leon Grice said.
NZUS Council executive director, Jordan Small says, "The
Council is standing up its trade advocacy efforts. We are organising
two Council delegations visits this year and a programme
of work focused on lobbying, letter-writing, building
support for an FTA, and promoting our members’ broader
trade interests."
NZ US Council Advisory Board chair and co-founder, Fran
O’Sullivan says securing a free trade agreement with the United
States has been a Council objective from its establishment
in 2001.
"We worked hard to get a bilateral FTA process underway and
threw the council's support behind US involvement in the
Trans-Pacific Partnership when that regional agreement was
launched in 2008. With the US out of TPP, it is now appropriate
to refocus on a bilateral agreement.
"It will take a lot of hard work but we need to take every opportunity
to push for greater US engagement," Ms O’Sullivan
said.
New Zealand and the US have a deep and longstanding
friendship and share a long history of trade and investment,
traditionally led by goods exports but increasingly focused
on services and technology. Two-way trade in goods was
valued at $11.65 billion in 2019 and services trade was valued
at $6.71 billion.
Recent high profile and successful partnerships such as
Rocket Lab demonstrate the huge potential for the relationship.
An FTA between the US and New Zealand would underpin
the strong trading relationship and support the growth
in innovative partnerships and technology exchanges that
drive economic returns and job creation for our respective
countries and further advance much needed economic development
in New Zealand’s provincial centres.
Competenz
letter: ‘Business
as usual’
The following is a letter sent to
industry from Competenz chief
executive Fiona Kingsford.
Kia ora kotou
I am sure you will be aware of
the Government’s vocational
education review and the
subsequent ‘Reform of Vocational
Education’ proposal released
in February 2019, which was
far more wide reaching than
expected.
We welcome the Minister of
Education’s desire to improve
vocational education in New
Zealand, there is much about the
proposed changes that we fully
support. However, we are deeply
concerned that the removal of the
ITO’s role in supporting employers
and learners through ‘arranging of
training’ will have a direct impact
on our employers, just when they
need the support the most. At
the time of writing this, Minister
Hipkins had not yet released his
final decision on these reforms,
this is expected mid-to-late July.
In the meantime, we have been
actively lobbying the Minister
and Ministry of Education about
the proposed reform, particularly
the removal of the ITOs’ role
in supporting employers and
learners in arranging training –
our submission and alternative
proposal can be found at
competenz.org.nz.
We are aware some employers
may be reluctant to sign up new
learners into apprenticeships and
traineeships while the system is
under review.
In response to our request, we
have received a letter from Tim
Fowler, Chief Executive of the
Tertiary Education Commission
(TEC), which provides employers
with an assurance that new
training agreements entered
into this year will be honoured
for the duration of the training,
regardless of any future changes.
His letter says, “I can confirm that
any training agreements entered
into this year will be honoured for
the duration of the training period
subject to them meeting the
existing funding criteria set by the
Tertiary Education Commission.
I am happy for you to share this
letter with employers as we are
very supportive of all opportunities
to increase work-based
learning.”
For Competenz it is business as
usual, we are here to support all
our employers, apprentices and
trainees. We continue to sign up
a record number of apprentices
in 2019, continuing the trend
from 2018. It is vital that we work
together to continue to grow
the skills and capability of New
Zealand workplaces.
Ngā mihi
Fiona Kingsford
Chief executive
Recent high profile and successful partnerships such as Rocket Lab
demonstrate the huge potential for the relationship.
“Reality check” needed for anti-coal activists
Activists opposing the recent decision
to grant a coal exploration
permit on Crown land in the Waikato
region need a reality check, says
Straterra chief executive, Chris Baker.
The permit was awarded in September
2018 to BT Mining, giving the
company the ability to explore for
coal, and the opportunity to evaluate
coal identified for "feasibility of
mining".
Mr Baker says coal still has an important
role to play in New Zealand and
that role is willfully ignored by the
groups that have come out opposing
this decision.
“Coal is mined in the Waikato region
to meet demand mainly from
the Huntly power station and the
Glenbrook steel plant. Over the past
three years the Huntly power station
has used an average of 310,000
tons of coal a year from local production
and imports and in the last
12 months 812,848 tons has been
imported.
“This coal is used so that the lights
stay on, and businesses can operate.
Coal provides the backup when
/competenz.org