![]() I have employed quite a few people on a short term basis in the past few years. Some I wanted to turn into long term employees if they worked out. Bottom line is that when I have experimented with hiring at the 'low end' of the market you find that work output is very low. Poor attitudes, drugs, low work ethic etc seem to be serious issues. Hire someone, give them a couple of days training and their first pay packet only to find that they disappear for the next week until they run out of money and come back with some story about being sick or a dead relative etc. The other major thing that is reasonably common is an inflated sense of entitlement. I have had 18 year old guys who think it is unreasonable that I expect them to turn up at 9:00am rather than anytime they like between 9:00am and midday. If you are a hard working small business owner you have to either grab them out of school before they (hopefully) learn bad habits and hope you choose well, or go through a huge number of trials to find that one 'diamond'. My summary observation is that our social policies have created a segment of society that aren't productive enough to earn the money they need to survive properly at today's costs. Question is how to do you change that? Throwing more 'free' money at them will just entrench the behaviour. |
Abundant, sustainable
fisheries in a healthy marine environment
Labour’s primary focus will be on ensuring that our fisheries are sustainable and abundant and that ocean habitats are protected from the impacts of terrestrial and marine activities. Our current fisheries system lacks transparency and accountability –it has too many confusing and conflicting laws, regulations and rules, and not enough clarity about how all those measures are supposed to be achieved.
Labour will:
Set clear, scientifically justifiable
targets for rebuilding fisheries to sustainable levels and standards for
managing the impacts of fishing on the environment; enable and facilitate
fisheries resource users to meet those targets and standards; and develop
cost-effective monitoring and auditing systems to ensure they are met.
Sedimentation and other adverse effects of land-based activities are damaging fisheries habitat, particularly for valuable inshore fisheries such as snapper, rock lobster and paua and also for aquaculture.
Review the
Resource Management Act to promote integrated management and protect fisheries
habitats and aquaculture areas from the impacts of land-based activities.
Inshore fisheries are valued by customary, recreational and commercial fishers. Our focus will be on ensuring that abundant inshore fisheries meet the needs of all users. Where fisheries need to be rebuilt, all sectors should share responsibility for sustaining our fisheries and improving abundance.
Labour will:
Expect all fishing sectors to share responsibility for improving the abundance of inshore fisheries.
Labour will:
Obtain
accurate information on commercial fishing activity, making use of new technology
while also considering and correcting the underlying incentives that drive
misreporting and illegal discarding, and will work alongside industry to
develop practical solutions to minimise discarding in multi-species fisheries.
Improving local recreational
fishing
For many years governments have put recreational fishing in the ‘too hard’ basket, with the result that the interests of recreational fishers have been poorly served by fisheries management decisions. This situation has disadvantaged recreational fishing interests when decisions are made at both the national and regional levels. We will establish improved representation of all recreational fishing interests at the national level to government and the industry. Improvements will also be made to the government working alongside existing fishing clubs and associations to advocate for finer-scale management of species that are highly valued by local recreational fishers (fishers in the Hauraki Gulf have different needs than those in Fiordland). We will focus on recreational fishers working collectively with government, inshore commercial interests and other stakeholders to improve the recreational fishing experience while enhancing the sustainability of fish stocks.
Labour will:
Work alongside the
recreational fishing sector to design and implement improved representation of
their concerns and priorities at both the national and regional levels and with
the aim of improving the fishing experience for all New Zealanders now and for
generations to come.
Collaboration and integration
The marine environment is subject to many competing uses and values, and Labour sees the way forward is through collaborative approaches and negotiated solutions for reconciling these different interests. While stakeholder collaborative groups have a good track record in New Zealand, to date they have operated in a somewhat ad-hoc manner and –although they have the worthy aim of promoting more integrated decision making –their solutions have been implemented by special legislation which ends up making national-scale oceans management more complex. We want to build on the strengths of existing collaborative planning initiatives while reducing the costs of reaching negotiated solutions and achieving better integration with national-scale management regimes.
Labour will:
Improve decision making,
while retaining a diversity of solutions and outcomes to suit the range of
issues that communities face.
Maori have rights and
interests in all sectors of New Zealand’s fisheries –customary non-commercial,
recreational and commercial –and also have responsibilities deriving from
kaitiakitanga.
These rights and interests
highlight the shared nature of many inshore fisheries and the importance of
upholding the Treaty principles when making management trade-offs between
fishing sectors.
Labour will:
Work with Maori fisheries
stakeholders to ensure that the full range of Maori rights and interests in
fisheries and the marine environment are able to be exercised in an integrated
manner, consistent with the obligations in the Maori Fisheries Settlement.
Enhancing the value of seafood
exports
On a global scale, New Zealand is a small seafood producer. In order to get the best value from our seafood exports we need a greater focus on premium quality niche markets, particularly for inshore fisheries. To do this effectively, NewZealand needs an internationally credible programme to demonstrate the origin and credentials of our seafood exports. Consumers can then be confident that New Zealand’s fisheries are safe, healthy, sustainable and ethical. Two key elements of the programme are country of origin labelling (i.e., New Zealand branded seafood product with chain of custody to New Zealand fisheries and aquaculture) and a certification scheme in which fisheries are independently assessed against a national standard that complieswith FAO requirements.
Labour will:
Work with industry and other
stakeholders to develop a national seafood branding and certification programme
to add value to New Zealand’s seafood exports.
Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing primary industry, but New Zealand’s aquaculture sector still faces regulatory uncertainty, lack of security, and inconsistent management approaches around the country.
Labour will:
Facilitate the development
ofaquaculture within clear environmental standards.
Excellence in fisheries
management
The Quota Management System
(QMS) has overall served New Zealand well and has led the way towards fisheries
management reform in several fishing nations. There is no suggestion that the
QMS should be thrown out. The QMS has also provided the basis for the
settlement of Maori fisheries claims. We recognize that quota rights under the
QMS need to be respected.
However, the 2016 inquiry by
Michael Heron QC found serious failings by the Ministry of Primary Industries
in their decision not to prosecute for fish dumping, their subsequent cover up
of what has occurred and misrepresentations to their Minister, journalists and
the public. Public confidence in the nation of the QMS and MPI’s oversight of
it has been undermined. Industry control of electronic monitoring has added to
controversy, as did the catch reconstruction report from the Universities of
Oxford, Auckland and Vancouver which asserted widespread under or misreporting
of catch.
The fisheries management
capability of the Ministry for Primary Industries has declined in recent
years. We see that every day in the lack
of strategic planning for fisheries, the long list of promises that are never
delivered (e.g., fisheries management system review), the slow pace of operational
decision making, the scarcity of dedicated fisheries officers and observers,
and the numerous media reports of government and industry failures. Labour will reverse that trend.
There is a need for a dedicated, focused team of specialists who are committed to improving the management of our fisheries, including through targeted legislative reform and building strong relationships with iwi and hapū, recreational and commercial fishing representatives, the environmental sector and local councils and communities.
Labour will:
Consider whether we should
revert to a separate fisheries agency
Address ways to improving
our knowledge of the impact of fishing on fish stocks, while considering
overseas experiences and the incentives which result
Institute an independent
review of the performance of both MPI and the Quota Management System
Support the rehabilitation
of the Kaikoura and environs paua habitat and work with all parties to ensure
local and neighbouring resources are sustained
Labour will implement
digital reporting and monitoring systems that are cost effective, fit for
purpose, and provide real fisheries management benefits –if necessary, we will
defer the introduction of new systems until we are certain these objectives can
be met.
Dear Jacinda,
I’ve seen you on the telly, dear,
There’s quite a hullabaloo,
But taxing this and taxing that
Means my two ticks stay BLUE
You’ll tax us on our assets
There’s nothing you won’t snatch
You’ll tax us on our holidays
You’ll tax the boat or bach
You’ve said you’ll slap a tax on fuel
So when I need the car
I can’t afford to fill it up
I won’t get very far!
You’ll tax water by the litre
And our farms will hit the wall
Have you forgotten it’s the farmers
Who grow food to feed us all?
You’ve said you’ll tax emissions,
Does that mean mine as well?
If I can’t afford to fart, my dear,
Your tax can go to hell!
You’ll tax us on the things we own
Is nothing off the table?
I dread to think what else you’ll tax
As soon as you are able
I’m told you want a ‘gift’ tax
So the bit I’ve got put by
I can’t give to my grand-kids?
They can kiss my gift good-bye?
You’ll take the joy from giving
And even when I’m dead
You’ll slap me with Inheritance tax
Or take my house instead
Taxing the **** out of all of us
Is just not very nice
And I’m hoping at the polls, my dear,
The Left will pay the price
Truth to tell, Taxinda,
I think you’ve lost the plot
You’ll not get my vote, sweetheart,
My ‘comrade’ you are not!
So thank you for reading my letter,
I’ve got things off my chest
Just leave it up to National, dear…
They really do know best.
So I’ll vote for Mr English
And his team - they’ll get it right!
A pretty smile is not enough
Goodnight, Ms Ardern…….Goodnight
Val Davis
![]() ![]() |
West Coast best coast Sometimes you’ve just got to hit the open road. Last... Read More >
Fishing becoming consistent As we approach the end of September, the fishing is becoming a... Read More >
Great fishing out deeper Good fishing still prevails in the 70-meter-plus depths due to the... Read More >
Waiting for weather Spring is definitely here. The blossoms are out, the days are much... Read More >