New Zealand news

The Australians and the Americans are boycotting Huawei while the New Zealand government is going blithely ahead.

Government urged to look again at Huawei contract

The Labour and Green parties say the Government needs to take seriously an American report that voices concerns a Chinese company working in New Zealand may engage in spying and corrupt business activities

Radio NZ,

9 October, 2012

Telecommunications giant Huawei has been contracted to upgrade New Zealand's broadband network, and opposition parties say the Government should urgently look again at the contract.

In the United States, a draft of a House of Representatives Intelligence Committee report has said Huawei and Chinese firm ZTE should be barred from any US mergers and acquisitions.

The two companies "cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems," the report said.

Committee chairman Mike Rogers said risks associated with these companies providing equipment and services to US critical infrastructure undermines core national security interests.

"We recommend that private network providers find other vendors. Government systems contractors should also exclude these companes' products," he told CNN

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Australia has blocked Huawei from bidding for contracts there because of security fears.

The Labour Party says the Government needs to take the report seriously, and Green MP Gareth Hughes says it should be treated as a wake-up call.

"Now we've got both Australia, and likely America, blocking this company over security and espionage concerns, the Government's got to take this seriously and put the interests of New Zealanders first," he says.

Huawei and ZTE - among the world's biggest makers of networking equipment - denied the accusations in front of the US panel, the BBC reports. Huawei denies it has links with the Chinese Government.

While Huawei has been blocked in Australia, British authorities have apparently given it the all clear.

The Guardian newspaper's technology editor Charles Arthur told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme he understands British intelligence services checked the company several years ago.

The government can be asked to jump. “How high?” is the response.

The government doesn't need any pressure to make mining easier as they are already bending over backwards to prostitute themselves.

Pressure put on Government to make mining easier

Papers obtained by Radio New Zealand reveal the pressure being put on the Government to make it easier for mining companies to operate in this country.

Radio NZ,

9 October, 2012

Mining companies pushed for a relaxation of rules governing their industry during a review of the Crown Minerals Act

The Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill, which will simplify and speed up the approval process for mining applications, was introduced to Parliament at the end of September.

In a briefing paper to Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, dated 20 July, officials told the minister that Australian mining company Bathurst did not like the resource consenting process.

The officials observed that in an earlier meeting with Energy Minister Phil Heatley, Bathurst representatives had made clear their objections to the consent process.

They argue it takes four to seven years to get a resource consent for a mine in New Zealand and that is a big disincentive to investing in new mines here.

The officials themselves observed the process is ambiguous, time-consuming and open to numerous opportunities to appeal, sometimes on issues which have already been settled.

Radio New Zealand's political editor saysthis also fits with the view of the Government, which wants to cut through the planning process because it believes more mining is one way of boosting economic growth.

But Forest and Bird spokesperson Kevin Hackwell says officials have got it wrong and the process does not take as long as Bathurst representatives allege.

In the case of Bathurst's proposal to mine on conservation land on the Denniston plateau, Mr Hackwell says once a Environment Court hearing has been held it will have taken two to two-and-a-half years for a decision to have been made on that mine.

RMA changes signalled

Meanwhile, much of the Government's intention to make it easier to mine in this country is reflected in the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill.

The Bill is aimed at promoting more mining of Crown owned minerals and also streamlining and simplifying future mining applications

But mining proposals will still be covered by the Resource Management Act and the Government has signalled it intends making further changes to that legislation.

Other companies have also raised concerns about the Resource Management Act, including Todd Energy which says it wants to see greater consistency in the approach taken by local authorities under the Act.

It also appears large companies involved in both onshore and offshore deep sea oil exploration have a view on the planning process.

But briefing notes prepared for a meeting Mr Heatley had with Canadian oil and gas company TAG and Houston-based Apache Corporation have been blanked out, apart from some very brief notes on the companies themselves.

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Government accused of not addressing child poverty

The Government is being accused of not taking child poverty seriously and leaving schools to come up with the resources to feed hungry children.

Radio NZ,

9 October, 2012

Official papers released to the Green Party show Health Minister Tony Ryall originally approved extending the scheme from decile 1 and 2 schools to include decile 3 schools.

The extension would have cost $2.6 million and benefited some 36,000 children at more than 200 schools.

Mr Ryall decided the proposal wouldn't go ahead in this year's Budget due to financial constraints.

The Child Poverty Action Group says a large number of children at decile 3 schools are living close to or below the poverty line, and both it and the Principals' Federation argue the Government is failing to show commitment to meeting the basic needs of young children.

Principals' Federation president Paul Drummond told Morning Report that cost-benefit research on the existing scheme schools shows children are better focused, and have improved behaviour and health outcomes.