Daily Archives: August 6, 2021

Tech industry frustration is growing. Image / 123rf

Tech industry frustration with what the sector sees as a "deepening skills crisis" is growing - at border restrictions and difficulty renewing visas for staff already in New Zealand.

"New Zealand has become extremely anti-immigrant," Raygun co-founder John-Daniel Trask vented in frustration on Twitter.

Trask, known as "JD" in the industry, took to the social network to vent about what he saw as Immigration NZ moving the goalposts.

His company, which offers quality-testing and customer experience monitoring tools for software makers, does most of its recruitment locally, but has hired offshore for a number of specialised roles.

Raygun chief operating officer Lana Vaughan elaborated to the Herald that the company had raised the salary of a Wellington-based employee by around $10,000 to $106,080 to meet a skilled worker visa minimum requirement threshold - only for Immigration NZ to move the goalposts to $112,320 while the worker's application letter sat unopened.

Vaughan now worries the skilled worker will have to leave NZ on December 3 when his talent visa expires. She notes Immigration NZ current lists a 22-month wait-time for applications.

The worker first notified Immigration NZ of his salary increase to the $106,080 threshold (that is, twice the medium wage) on July 13. He was told to put it in writing. He did and Vaughan says the agency confirmed receipt on July 19. But it wasn't until July 21 that Immigration NZ sent an email saying the worker's assessment had begun. On July 22 or July 23, Immigration NZ updated its website with the new, higher salary threshold.

Because INZ didn't assess the Raygun staffer's request until July 21 he is not eligible for expedited processing, by Vaughan's account.

Immigration NZ missed a deadline for comment.

The episode is a kick in the guts for Trask, who could have taken his startup to Silicon Valley, but instead chose to stay in the capital, and earmark $15 million to expand his Wellington-based workforce.

5 Aug, 2021 05:20 AMQuick Read

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Meanwhile, TechNZ, whose members include most major technology companies operating in NZ, is again calling on the Government to address the tech skills shortage - this time after the Government liberalised visa rules for the primary sector, and the visiting Wallabies, but again ignored IT.

"NZTech is calling for rapid action by the Government to treat critical tech skills with at least the same enthusiasm as they do fruit pickers, actors, sportspeople and other so-called critical workers," the group's CEO Graeme Muller said.

The Government is ignoring New Zealand's "deepening tech skills crisis", Muller said.

"The Government has the solution to solve the problem by allowing essential tech workers into the country.

"But this is just not happening, which is damaging the economy, causing hundreds of jobs to be shifted out of New Zealand, hurting our home grown global software companies and halting critical tech projects for New Zealand businesses and government agencies," Muller said.

"We have surveyed hundreds of NZ tech companies to see what we can be done, we have shared the data with the Government, shown them the impacts and suggested options, but nothing is being done to address the problem," Muller said - referencing a recent report.

"In theory, it is simply a case of agreeing that with thousands of open roles, these technical skills are not readily available in New Zealand, using exactly the same logic as they did for vets.

"Meanwhile, the impact is that hundreds of jobs paying well over $100,000 are being shifted out of New Zealand every week and critical digital projects across business and government agencies are not getting done."

Earlier, Muller was one of a number of tech leaders who queued up to express their disappointment at Budget 2021's failure to offer substantive initiatives to address the tech skills shortage when it was released in May.

Communications Minister David Clark subsequently rejected a call for a tech visa, however, saying IT companies could use the Other Critical Worker exception (then with a $100,000 threshold). Tech companies including Vodafone NZ and Datacom told the Herald that the other critical worker visa criteria were too hard to fill however, on top of problems with an unusable MIQ booking system. In June, Immigration NZ said only 15 highly skilled tech workers had come in under an Other Critical Worker visa.

Muller received broad industry support for his stance.

But there was a degree of polite pushback, or at least extra context, from Fusion managing director Andrew Gurr, who said while he agreed with Muller's main point: "The NZ tech industry currently follows a recruit rather than train approach, only hiring staff when skills are required."

That was short-term thinking and left business with no control, Gurr said.

"If all tech businesses looked forward and invested part of their recruiting budget in internships and training we could all assist in developing a deeper pool of NZ talent, it will take longer but move control of the skills shortage back in the hands of the industry. Let's think local and work as an industry to start shifting this in-balance ourselves."

Muller's TechNZ and a second industry group IT Professionals New Zealand, last month released a co-authored reportreport that acknowledged border restrictions weren't the only issue.

The pandemic had revealed an over-reliance on hiring from offshore while local training fell away.

The report said both the industry and the education system had to reanimate training efforts, and encourage more people into the industry.

It also pegged a lack of diversity as a key problem, and said addressing that would help top up the funnel.

Muller agreed with all of the steps, but said they would take time. In the interim, the Government had to take urgent steps to bring in more workers, as it has already done in other sectors.

The NZTech boss says an urgent review of what constitutes unique experience and technical skills is needed.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi and Communications Minister David Clark have been asked for comment.

Original post:

Skills crisis: Tech boss says 'anti-immigrant' New Zealand moving the goalposts - New Zealand Herald

Jacinda Ardern has a lot on her mind as she prepares to sketch the public a course out of the Covid pandemic. She talks to Henry Cooke about why there wont be a clear milestone when New Zealand has vaccinated enough people, why 2021 is harder than 2020, and her commitment to climate change policy.

Theres not going to be a magic number.

Jacinda Ardern is happy to crow about hitting two million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine as she sits down for a long interview with Stuff on Wednesday evening, but shes also clear that she won't be able to point to some milestone like Scott Morrison is in Australia, some percentage of the population vaccinated or number of doses in arms and say: Thats it, no more lockdowns, open the borders.

Just a number oversimplifies things. And I dont expect that is going to change, Ardern says.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says 2021 has been a hard year for everyone.

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Sipping a gumboot tea as the evening light starts to fade, two days after the first bad-ish poll for Labour in over a year, Ardern admits 2021 is turning into a bit of a grind.

This is a hard year. I pick up and often feel the same thing that our voters feel. You get a sense that theres a grind to things at the moment for people, Ardern says.

Thats the beauty of being a politician in a small country, you dont have to go far to be able to get a sense of things without having to rely on a poll.

She puts this down to both a grim global outlook and the impact her Governments border restrictions are having on everyday life.

Christel Yardley/Stuff

Jacinda Ardern gets her second Covid-19 shot.

Its totally natural as humans that you look for light at the end of the tunnel but were in the middle of a pandemic where even when you get the light of a vaccine you still see a massive toll in countries that you think have done a pretty good job.

Looking over to Australia, rather than feeling lucky that youre not in that position, its the same feeling as living on a street where your house is fine but your neighbour's is on fire. The reality is that this thing isnt going away, and its hard. Its hard for businesses who need people, and its hard for people who want to see their family and friends.

But despite her trademark empathy, the prime minister does not appear to be preparing a nice clean path out of the pandemic to present at her big speech about the second half of the year of the vaccine next Thursday.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

The prime minister says true certainty during the Covid-19 pandemic is impossible.

There will be no aforementioned magic number, she says. Because Covid-19 is changing too much for that kind of certainty.

If everything were stable and you had certainty about the way Covid-19 was going to behave then there is a certain level of decisions that you might be able to make. But Covid isnt stable or certain and I think that we are still in a bit of an experimental stage globally, where variants that could demonstrate vaccine resistance could emerge.

This caution about the changeable notion of Covid-19 also makes Ardern unwilling to seriously consider allowing it to run loose in the community once a high proportion are vaccinated, as Boris Johnson is in the UK.

At the same time, she doesnt think its a simple choice between opening fully up and standing still with the current heavy restrictions in place.

So what is the path that we can choose that factors in a changeable virus but still keeps making progress for us because I dont think its a zero-sum game.

When we are vaccinated we can still keep all the positives while removing some of the negatives. Thats the path Im looking for.

Ardern keeps telling the country high vaccination rates create options - without spelling out what those options are.

She told Stuff a large part of it was just the option of saying goodbye to lockdowns, before border controls are considered.

When you have an unvaccinated population, it limits your options it means you have to use extraordinary tools like lockdowns in order to protect people, Ardern says.

I ask people: If you had a choice what would you want to get rid of first, the uncertainty of a really heavy level 3 or level 4 lockdown, versus a bit less friction at the border?

People want to get rid of the idea that at any moment in time a big life event might end up being cancelled because you're going into a lockdown. That hangs over people. I just think about the psychological impact its hard on Victoria, for instance.

Shes also eager to point out that the free and normal life Kiwis are living right now is the source of our economic good fortune, and that even countries that are loosening up border controls like Canada still have serious rules restricting social gatherings.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

This interview was a rare opportunity for Stuff to sit down with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The benefit is there has been an economy that has broadly recovered to pre-Covid levels, and that is astounding relative to what we've seen in other places, and relative to what was predicted I mean, unemployment at four per cent I celebrated that in a non-Covid period, let alone a Covid period.

On the border shes happy to admit that shes asked her officials for advice on things like vaccinated people isolating at home or going through a shorter stay in managed isolation, but wont get into her actual thoughts on such measures yet.

These are the things that we are trying to think about nice and early, even though obviously while were unvaccinated thats not something we would do. These are the kinds of questions that we are asking.

The Government has been in rapprochement mode with some of its harshest critics over the week: Opening the border to more seasonal workers, and signalling the likely-demise of the hated Auckland cycle bridge.

But despite the Groundswell protests, Ardern says the Government isn't about to back down on the climate or freshwater policies angering the agricultural sector.

There's always things that we could do to make implementation easier. Im not going to shy away from the things I said I would do though: Im committed to our climate work, I'm committed to our freshwater work, but I will always listen to how we can do things in a way that eases some of that change.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Jacinda Ardern said she had a big job to do nailing down two free trade agreements.

Whats yet to be seen is how her Government would handle the inevitable protest that would happen should agricultural emissions lose their exemption into the Emissions Trading Scheme next year.

On other sore spots like housing, mental health, and immigration, Ardern wont concede any ground to critiques.

She says the full impact of her Governments housing package from March is yet to be fully rolled out into the economy, but hints that there could be more on the supply side, as the big changes to planning rules wont be in place until 2024.

Were exploring what we can do around accelerating housing development from a planning perspective so we aren't quite finished in that area.

But thats not all the rest of the year has in store: If possible, Ardern wants to get the trade deals with Europe and the UK finished, whether thats from New Zealand or by travelling over there.

I have a role to play in helping complete it. I will play it.

Even with Covid shutting the borders and farmers protesting it seems one thing does remain certain: New Zealand will have a lot of milk to sell.

Go here to see the original:

Jacinda Ardern says there's no magic vaccine number that will see NZ open the border - Stuff.co.nz

New Zealand are set to tour Pakistan for a limited-overs series in September and October, visiting for the first time since 2003.

The tour is set to start on 17 September with the first ODI in Rawalpindi, with subsequent ODIs to be played on 19 and 21 September.

The teams will then move to Lahore for the five-match T20I series, starting 25 September.

The New Zealand series will begin a long 2021-2022 home season for Pakistan England will tour the country for a white-ball series after the Blackcaps followed by West Indies in December andAustralia in February-March 2022.

"Series against a top-ranked side like New Zealand will be a perfect start to a mouth-watering and highly-exciting home season of red and white-ball cricket," said PCB chief executive Wasim Khan. "The 2019 World Cup finalists, who are also the World Test champions and ranked third in T20Is, will draw tremendous attraction and interest from the local fans, and will reinforce Pakistan's status as a safe and secure country."

"I am pleased New Zealand Cricket has accepted our offer to play two additional Twenty20 Internationals. These will not only provide extra games to both the countries as part of their ICC Men's T20 World Cup preparations but will also allow New Zealand players to spend extra days in Pakistan, familiarise with our culture and enjoy our hospitality."

Wasim Khan

New Zealand CricketChief Executive DavidWhite also expressed his happiness about the tour.

"We're very much looking forward to returning to Pakistan for the start of their home international season. New Zealand was the first country outside India to tour Pakistan and we share a close relationship with the PCB. It's great that, after such a difficult time for Pakistan, international cricket is again being played in the country."

View post:

New Zealand announce first Pakistan tour in 18 years - International Cricket Council

IATA boss Alexandre de Juniac says that the Travel Pass is key to reopening borders safely. Video / CNN

Following what was the worst year on record for air travel, the industry in New Zealand continues to be pounded, with suspension of the transtasman bubble just the latest blow.

And the phrase "shelter in place", first heard widely last in March last year, continues to hang over the industry in this region.

Air New Zealand this week said losses will blow out further in the current financial year, and analysts at Jarden have now downgraded their target share price for the company. They also say the country's biggest airport, Auckland, will have its balance sheet stretched if Tasman traffic remains low into next year.

As Qantas stands down 2500 staff, an airline body warns that aviation workers' jobs here are at risk although Air New Zealand has not stood down any crew because of the transtasman bubble pause.

Passengers face continued disruption.

Among new cancellations announced this week, Air New Zealandis ditching its three-times-a-week services from Auckland to Vancouver and San Francisco between October 31 and the end of December. On Monday, Jetstar advised passengers that it has pushed out planned flights between Auckland and the Cook Islands to the end of March next year.

Air New Zealand expects its underlying loss before tax could now be as much as $530 million, worse than the $450m in previous guidance.

The company said that when transtasman travel resumes following the pause in the quarantine-free arrangement, the expectation is that demand may be slow to recover and there remains a risk of future suspensions. Travellers were warned last March that they were largely on their own if they were stranded overseas, and the Government reiterated that message for those travelling to Australia when quarantine-free travel briefly resumed.

Jarden analyst Andrew Steele said that when travel does normalise, Air New Zealand also faces higher jet fuel prices.

The airline would tap further into its government loan facility because of the suspension of the bubble and planned payments for aircraft.

The firm continues to forecast an underlying loss of $446m when the airline releases its result to June 30 later this month.

Steele said because there was no comfort in the balance sheet or earnings recovery profile, Jarden reiterated its sell recommendation and lowered its target share price from 95c to 90c. Shares today closed at $1.49.

''We retain our sell rating, reflecting our view that given [Air New Zealand's] requirement for what we expect will likely be a highly dilutive capital raise, material ongoing near-term losses and lack of comfort on the timing and trajectory of any earnings recovery, the shares present a negatively skewed risk-reward profile."

Risks included doubts over the timing of border reopening, changes to competition, fuel costs, foreign exchange and underlying consumer demand.

Jarden's Steele now covers Auckland International Airport and the firm has downgraded its rating of that company from neutral to underweight, and its target share price from $7.10 to $6.60. Shares closed at $7.20 today.

He said that in a Covid-impacted world, the airport company's operational and earnings outlook was inherently uncertain.

The underweight rating reflected a combination of factors: the company's share price was already expensive with its enterprise value broadly in line with pre-Covid levels, uncertainty about the timing and pace of volume recovery - especially with the Delta variant outbreak across the Tasman - the closure of the transtasman bubble raising prospects that banking covenants may be tested once the waiver period ends at the end of this year, and balance-sheet uncertainty pushes back the resumption of dividends.

He said Jarden now assumed there would be no dividend in the 2022 financial year.Putting together assessments of passenger flows by market, passenger type (visiting friends and relatives, leisure and business) and the direction of travel (inbound versus outbound) results in passenger flows not reaching 2019 levels until 2025 under a base case (from the 2024 financial year). It could be pushed out to 2026 under the more pessimistic bear case.

Under that pessimistic case, the important transtasman travel volume would be just 25 per cent or so of pre-Covid levels.

The analysis showed that further near-term travel bubbles were unlikely to materially support earnings.

Markets with bubble potential highlighted Samoa, Tonga, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Niue.

While opening these markets would be helpful for passenger recovery, in total they only accounted for about 6 per cent of 2019 seat capacity through Auckland Airport and had very seasonal passenger flows.

Jarden's base case is that New Zealand's border reopens towards the middle of 2022 and under this framework, key travel markets of Britain, the United States, Canada and travel hub Singapore could all result in solid passenger flows. There was greater caution around what was New Zealand's second biggest inbound market, China, where a Covid resurgence has this month led to lockdowns in cities including Wuhan.

Steele said it would be sensible to delay the aeronautical pricing reset - due to begin in July next year - until there is greater confidence in aircraft volumes.

The International Air Transport Association says passenger traffic volumes meant industry-wide revenue passenger-kilometres (RPKs) dropped by 65.9 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019.

There were around 1.5 billion passenger trips overall during the year.

That plunge was the largest recorded since global RPKs started being tracked around 1950.

Since 1990, the long-run industry average growth rate had been around 5.5 per cent a year, association figures show.

International RPKs decreased by 75.6 per cent compared to 2019 and domestic air passenger RPKs dropped by 48.8 per cent compared to 2019.

The number of routes fell by more than half, total industry passenger revenue fell by 69 per cent to $US189 billion ($269b) in 2020, and net losses were US$126.4b in total.

Last April, two-thirds of aircraft were grounded and last year one million jobs in aviation were lost.

"2020 was a year that we'd all like to forget. But analysing the performance statistics for the year reveals an amazing story of perseverance,'' said IATA's director general Willie Walsh.

''Many governments recognised aviation's critical contributions and provided financial lifelines and other forms of support. But it was the rapid actions by airlines and the commitment of our people that saw the airline industry through the most difficult year in its history."

Read this article:

Air New Zealand and Auckland International Airport downgraded by Jarden - New Zealand Herald

Its Friday and International Beer Day. What better excuse could there be for celebratory beersies this weekend?

As comforting as it can be to crack a cold one on the couch after a tough week, it cant compete with sampling some of the best craft beers in the country in the places they were brewed.

Rosa Woods/Stuff

Cheers to International Beer Day and the weekend that follows.

Speights Brewery in Dunedin, the Tui Brewery in Mangatainoka and Monteiths Brewery in Greymouth are surely on the radar of beer drinkers nationwide, so weve compiled a list of craft breweries which arent as widely appreciated as we believe they should be. Brewtown in Upper Hutt is an exception, but they get a mention because theyve recently gone where no Kiwi brewery has before and turned themselves into a beer-focused theme park.

Let us know your favourites in the comments.

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Ross Giblin

George Duncan (left) and Shane McGregor at Duncan's Brewing Company in Paraparaumu.

Transformed by the beers they drank on their OE in North America, George Duncan and Waimatao Familton returned to Georges hometown of Paraparaumu determined to give brewing a crack themselves.

Often using American hops, their beers tend toward the experimental, with recent additions including the Mai Tai Sorbet Sour with lime, tangerine, blood orange, molasses and Orgeat syrup; the tropical-tasting Oat Cream V.3 Hazy IPA; the Tiramisu Imperial Pastry Stout inspired by the popular dessert; and the Toasty Marshmallow Imperial Pastry Stout inspired by campfire-cooked marshmallows. The brewery hosts a pop-up bar once a month with eight beers on tap and food available from the Smoked & Pickled Food Truck. Or you can get a Passo pizza delivered straight to your table.

Quitting their corporate careers to take over a pizza joint in the small Northland town theyd grown up in, brothers Clayton and Geoff Gwynne quickly realised they were underdelivering in one key area: The beer. Big fans of the bold brews they had enjoyed on their overseas travels, they began messing about with brewing themselves to mixed success initially.

After seven years in business though, theyve got the craft down pat. They were named Champion Small International Brewery at the 2019 Australian International Beer Awards, and have a good trophy collection going for brews such as the Traders Scotch Ale. The pizzas at McLeods Pizza Barn & Brewery are designed to complement the signature beers on tap, which range from pale ale to stout. The Cooper topped with roast chicken, bacon, mushroom, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan is a winner, as the vegetarian Herbalist with kmara, avocado and brie. You cant go wrong with the giant burgers either.

Its tagline the first beer to see the sun mightnt reel you in if youre not in the habit of starting your day with an alcoholic beverage, but youll want to give it a try at a more appropriate hour if you consider yourself a beer connoisseur. This is Gisbornes liquid gold.

Founded in 1989, the Sunshine Brewing crew reckon theyre the second oldest craft brewery in the country. Which is to say they were obsessing over craft beer before many of the hipsters who decided it was cool were even born and certainly long before any of them cultivated their trademark well-groomed bushy beards. Theyre still going strong: This year, the brewery won six gold medals, five silver and eight bronze at the Australian International Beer Awards. The gold-winning brews included the Gisborne Gold Lager (aka Gizzie Gold), a staple at the brewery since the nineties; the Stockies Pale Ale; Mexican Lager; Pilsner; and No Access IPA. Visit the taproom a couple of blocks back from Waikanae Beach and you can watch the brewers do their thing while you sample their creations. With pizzas also on offer, it makes for a pretty sweet afternoon out.

The Beer Project/Stuff

Craftworks Michael O'Brien and Lee-Ann Scotti specialise in Belgian-style beer.

Teleport yourself to early 1900s Belgium at this top little spot in Oamaru. Michael OBrien and Lee-Ann Scotti began brewing Belgian-style beer back in 2014 and do such a good job at it were sure even a Trappist monk would be impressed.

The pair still brew beer some of their beer in the stone basement they started out in, but thankfully visitors have been seated in a far more comfortable Tasting Room in the Victorian Precinct. Beers on tap include the Farmhouse ale, Belgian-style speciality ales, and a barrel-aged sour. The multiple award-winning Dark Lord speciality ale is a good choice on a frigid winters day. Made with Trappist Rochefort yeast, its a bit like a beer version of pinot noir the brewers describe it as rich as Christmas cake and a lovely digestif. They recommend visitors pair their beers with one or more of the New Zealand-made cows, goats and sheeps milk cheeses on offer. Craftwork was in the process of moving premises at the time of writing, but you can catch them at the Otago Craft Beer Invitational on Saturday, August 7.

Supplied

Old schoolmates Jaden and Fraser produce some of the best beers in the Waikato.

Tired of so-called craft breweries churning out beers they felt were tailored to Lion Red drinkers, old schoolmates Jaden Hatwell and set out to prove they could do better. Their first beer, the Blind Mule APA, went down a treat Waikato-wide Stuff reporter Simon Wood described it as a meaty, flavour-packed brew with bucket loads of zingy, bright hops. And blindingly good.

Their Apehanger IPA won a trophy in the strong ale category of the Brewers Guild Awards in 2017, just a year after the brewery opened. Woods verdict: dry and weighty with some powerful citrus notes coming through, followed by a wonderfully tasty belt of hops and a crisp finish. Hidden away at the back of an old dairy factory, the brewery and taproom is very industrial chic with bright red barstools, tables with kegs for legs, and space to sit outside when the suns shining. Signature beers on tap include the oak-aged Dark Saison, and the T Straight Smokey Burnout Stout. Free brewery tours are on offer on Thursdays between 4pm and 6pm.

When Seb Burke first upped his homebrewing game in June 2015, he supplied one restaurant in Twizel. It went down such a treat he soon found himself swamped with orders from the Mackenzie Region and beyond. A Kiwi pioneer in hazy IPAs, the #Fakenews version he developed for Twizels Hops and Hooves beer festival five years ago made the New World Beer & Cider Awards Top 30 this year. The judges praised its balance and easy drinkability, describing it as a very, very nice beer.

While you can get the #Fakenews hazy IPA at New World supermarkets, theres nothing quite like cracking a Burkes brew at its Lake Tekapo base, the Blue Lake Bar & Eatery. The food is pretty damn good too. Think hearty mains such as slow-cooked lamb shanks with seasonal veggies and mash, smoked beef brisket burger with brie and onion jam, and a Mackenzie Rustler pizza with lamb, mushrooms, tzatziki and mozzarella.

Chris Skelton/STUFF/Stuff

Joseph and Christina Wood of Liberty Brewing.

Tucked away down the back of a block of shops in the North Shore suburb of Helensville, this husband- and wife-owned brewery is credited with making some of the countrys best beers. Founded by Joe and Christina Woods in a New Plymouth garage in 2009, its won pretty much everything going, including Brewers Guild, NZ Beer and Society of Beer awards. Its Prohibition Porter, which is aged for nine months in whiskey barrels, is particularly highly regarded, as is its Citra Pale Ale with its mango and guava undertones.

With 13 signature beers on tap, the cosy taproom over the road is a very pleasant place to while away an afternoon. For something a bit different, try the Jungle Juice with its notes of pineapple and passionfruit, the Yakima Monster Pale Ale, or Darkest Days oatmeal stout.

When Ground Up founders Oli and Julian quit their jobs to start a brewery in 2015, they knew they had their work cut out for them. As rock climbers and mountaineers, they were used to living life on the edge, so perhaps its no surprise they handled the resultant stress and sleep deprivation admirably. The self-taught brewers developed something of a cult following in their first year and, these days, a stop the taproom is a #wanakamustdo.

Grab a seat in the brewery or on the deck and set about deciding which of the 22 brews on offer to order for starters. The fruity Crag Dog Pale Ale and Punks in the Gym IPA are popular choices, as is The KPA the pale ale that originally endeared them to Wnaka locals. More experimental brews include The Fifth Voyage with its coconut, cocoa and vanilla tones and the Alpine Start stout. Just the thing after a day on the slopes. Or of doing anything really.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF

Brewtown is home to five breweries and a distillery.

With five breweries, a distillery, ice rink, go-kart track, trampoline park, tenpin bowling and indoor paintball field, Brewtown is living proof to many that heaven is a place on Earth. Local craft beer legends Panhead Custom Ales, Boneface Brewing and Kerer Brewing have all set up shop in the self-described craft beer village, as has Wild Kiwi distiller Russel Kirk, whos teamed up with Hamilton-based Good George Brewing.

Theres plenty of good grub on offer to line your stomach, and if you like, you can join a tour which will take you behind the scenes at the breweries and see you sample at least 12 beers and sit down to lunch. Its a one-of-a-kind offering in this country: Owner Malcom Gillies has described the place as New Zealands first craft beer theme park.

Read the original here:

Beerly beloved: The best craft breweries you can visit in New Zealand - Stuff.co.nz

Saturday night will be relatively mild for Auckland, with a few passing showers expected.

The real action will begin on Sunday with frigid winds across Canterbury and Marlborough moving towards the lower North Island

By Sunday evening, Kiwis could expect to see a dusting of snow across the Hawke's Bay and Gisborne Ranges at quite low elevations.

"And it's going to be a cold one for all of us," Noll says.

He added that climate change means these cold snaps will become less frequent as time passes - evident by the fact this June and July were the warmest on record - as was last year.

"So that's two in a row [that have broken records]. Climate change is shrinking the winter as we know it - there will be droughts earlier, less cold extremes and more warm extremes."

Continued here:

New Zealand to shiver this weekend as biting chill creeps across country - Newshub

By Geoffrey Miller*

As New Zealand's very successful Olympic campaign in Tokyo draws to a close, it's easy to be equally positive and optimistic about the state of New Zealand's wider relationship with Japan.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaking during a joint press conference with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on September 19, 2019. Photo: AFP / Pool

If New Zealand's trading relationships were Olympic sports, Japan would miss out on a medal - but not by much.

Japan is New Zealand's fifth-biggest trading partner - behind only China, Australia, the US and the EU.

There is a healthy trade surplus in New Zealand's favour.

Fruit, dairy and aluminium currently top the list of New Zealand's exports, while tourism and education were also strong contributors before Covid-19.

In exchange, Japan's exports to New Zealand are dominated by vehicles.

The trading relationship is set to only strengthen over time, as phased-in benefits gradually accrue under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

For example, tariffs on New Zealand beef exports will gradually fall to 9 percent by 2033 - from a hefty 38.5 percent.

Tariffs on nearly all cheeses will be eliminated entirely, as will those on seafood.

Even before these gains, the Japan relationship was one of New Zealanders' absolute favourites.

In the latest 'Perceptions of Asia' survey by the Asia New Zealand Foundation, released in June, 71 percent of respondents thought Japan was friendly towards New Zealand.

It was the most popular Asian and non-English speaking country - by a considerable margin.

The next countries on the list, Germany and South Korea, received 'friendliness' scores of 59 percent and 51 percent respectively.

A long tradition of sporting and cultural exchanges goes some way to explaining the positive sentiment towards Japan.

Simon Draper, the head of the Asia New Zealand Foundation, points to working holiday visas, a heavy New Zealand involvement in Japan's JET English teacher programme and a long list of sister city relationships as just some of the driving factors.

Rugby diplomacy also helps.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, finance minister Grant Robertson and then foreign minister Winston Peters all made largely successful official visits to Japan in 2019 to coincide with the country's hosting of the Rugby World Cup.

A rare diplomatic gaffe by Ardern - when she said China instead of Japan - did not appear to cause any longer-lasting damage.

The foreign ministers of Japan and New Zealand, Taro Kono and Winston Peters Photo: RNZ

Peters was even invited back to Japan as a special guest of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting, held a month later.

Japanese popular culture serves as the background theme music to the relationship.

David Capie, who wrote a report on the New Zealand-Japan relationship for the Asia New Zealand Foundation in 2019, pointed to the rise of Japanese culture in New Zealand from the 1980s onwards - including karaoke, manga, Pokemon and sushi.

In his view, Japan is a 'soft power superpower'.

People-to-people ties between New Zealand and Japan have also played a major role.

Jacinda Ardern herself is a good example - she learned Japanese and hosted a Japanese exchange student when she was at school.

From the New Zealand perspective, the last few years have also largely neutralised two main areas of tension - trade and whaling.

Japan's decision to join the CPTPP, which came into force at the end of 2018, resolved major differences over trade.

Whaling has also ceased to be the obstacle it once was, after Japan stopped hunting whales in the Southern Ocean in 2018.

But New Zealand's relationship with Japan might be about to become a lot more complicated.

Under Shinzo Abe, Japan's Prime Minister from 2012-2020, Japan sought to become a bigger global player.

Abe's surprise decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in 2013 - against fierce domestic opposition - was one of the first signs of this new engagement.

Another came in 2015, when the Japanese parliament voted - despite widespread public protests - to allow the country's military to fight overseas, provided certain conditions were met.

The move had previously been unthinkable, thanks to Japan's war-renouncing pacificist constitution that came into force in 1947.

Abe even tried - but ultimately failed - to change the constitution itself.

Tokyo's relationship with Beijing might have been expected to deteriorate as a result of Abe's policies.

After all, Abe was also the architect of the "free and open Indo-Pacific" doctrine - later enthusiastically adopted by Australia and the US - that can only be understood as a direct challenge to China's dominance in the region.

But surprisingly, China-Japan relations gradually improved over Abe's tenure.

Abe got on surprisingly well at a personal level with Chinese President Xi Jinping - who, like Abe, took office in 2012.

Regular high-level exchanges helped to smooth over tensions. Abe made an official visit to China in 2018 and even invited Xi to Japan for a highly symbolic state visit (Abe left office before the visit could take place).

Essentially, Abe adopted the "tightrope" approach of keeping both the West and China happy.

It is a strategy that New Zealand itself is very familiar with.

But Japan now has a new Prime Minister - and the country's relations with China are deteriorating.

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Photo: AFP

Yoshihide Suga, Japan's new leader, lacks the personal rapport that Abe had with Xi - and he appears to be charting a more confrontational course.

Last month, an annual white paper from Japan's defence ministry focused on China as its main national security threat. For the first time, it also warned of a crisis over Taiwan.

Another overt signal - or a very unfortunate gaffe - came in June, when Suga angered Beijing by calling Taiwan a country.

Suga has aligned Japan even more closely with the US's recent more hardline position on China.

After a rare joint visit by the US Secretary of Defence and Secretary of State to Tokyo in March, a joint statement by the US and Japan explicitly addressed "China's behaviour" in no uncertain terms and stressed the US's "unwavering commitment" to defending Japan.

To underline the point, the statement specifically backed Japan's claim to the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Also in March, Suga joined the inaugural leaders' summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or 'Quad' for short) with his counterparts from Australia, India and the US.

While Abe himself had revived the Quad, this was the first time it had been held at the leader level. It was another highly symbolic challenge to China.

Where do these changes leave New Zealand?

Since the CPTPP was signed, the Japanese-New Zealand relationship has been almost too good to be true.

But if Tokyo continues to take a firmer line on China and becomes more interested in "hard power" defence issues, this may make New Zealand's own relationship with Japan trickier.

The relationship would inevitably end up focusing on much more than just trade and people-to-people ties.

Trade might end up being linked or combined with other, more uncomfortable issues.

In this regard, there are early signs that New Zealand is reading the room.

At conferences in July, Jacinda Ardern and foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta both signalled that New Zealand might be interested in a 'Quad-plus' arrangement, alongside Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

It remains to be seen exactly what form any cooperation would take.

Tokyo 2020 is coming to an end.

But the real games might be just beginning.

*Geoffrey Miller is the Democracy Project's international analyst and writes on current New Zealand foreign policy and related geopolitical issues.

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Geoffrey Miller: NZs Olympic-sized relationship with Japan may be about to change - RNZ

Health Minister Andrew Little revealed the next step in his health system reforms in a speech to a GPs' conference today. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Health Minister Andrew Little faced tough questions from GPs today, which he later welcomed, telling reporters that he's "not here to be licked up and down".

In a speech to the Conference for GPs in Wellington, Little revealed 12 health indicators that will be used to monitor how the health system is performing once it transitions to a new national system, with a number of DHBs being disestablished.

They included immunisation rates for children at 24 months, under 25s accessing specialist mental health services within three weeks of referral, and ambulatory sensitive hospitalisations for adults aged 45-64 and children aged 0-4.

The purpose is to see where the system should be improved, followed by local consultation to target improvements in order to shift funding to primary care, rather than hospital EDs.

But the audience was unforgiving, and even chuckled when Little mentioned the mental health indicator in an apparent criticism of the Government's inability to make meaningful improvements in that sector.

"We're not trying to measure things that we think we've got it already. We're trying to measure things that actually tell us whether the system is working," Little said afterwards when asked about the laughter.

The questions from the floor were also highly critical, prompting Little to say afterwards: "I don't come here to be licked up and down. I come here to engage with people. If I'm not being told, how can I and the Government respond properly?"

Rose, a Hawera GP, told Little she was one of two GPs covering 20,000 patients, and implored Little to make fruit and vegetables free and to tax sugar to avoid a worsening diabetes crisis.

Little thanked her for the advice, later saying there was policy work on nutrition underway and there would be more to say next year.

He then told West Auckland GP Deb that pay parity for primary care nurses would follow the conclusion of negotiations with hospital nurses.

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That would set the yardstick for the pay level for other nurses, he said, which might be in place in about two years' time.

"Two years! Yay!" was Deb's sarcastic response.

A GP from Porirua then asked Little "how big a dose of laxative" he planned to administer to Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi to sort out visa issues for overseas-trained GPs in New Zealand, whose futures are up in the air as residency expressions of interest are frozen.

Little replied he was in active discussion with Faafoi about the issue.

Retired GP David Hill, from Palmerston North, told Little the indicators he announced were looking at the wrong thing, and poverty was what made people sick enough to visit GPs - or to go to hospital if they couldn't afford a GP visit.

Little talked about the lifting of benefit rates in Budget 2021, but Hill retorted: "I hear it but I don't see any changes ... you are failing the people of New Zealand. You are failing people who live in poverty."

Afterwards, Little said the health system had been "under the hammer" even before the pandemic.

"There was frustration. Of course there was. And with the GP workforce ageing, more retiring, they're struggling to fill the vacancies. They've got more patients turning up with more complicated conditions. This is the reality of the system right now."

But he rejected the comments the Government wasn't addressing the drivers of poor health outcomes.

"We will have some important policy announcements to make as we start with the new system in July next year. Nutrition is one of them. That is a driver of poor health.

"We have to work out practical, sensible things that are actually going to make a difference. We're working on that now."

The crowd reception to director general of health Ashley Bloomfield, whose address was after Little's, couldn't have been more different.

One GP in the audience, during questions from the floor, thanked Bloomfield for possibly saving his life, and his question was to ask him for a selfie.

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Health reforms: Andrew Little's hostile reception from GPs at Wellington conference - New Zealand Herald

One of the best parts of exploring New Zealand is stumbling across tiny towns and their tasty treats.

From eclairs to pua pies and even a town that runs on gin here are the best things I ate and drank on a recent 100-day road trip around New Zealand.

Brook Sabin/Stuff

The pua pies at Cafe 35 are worthy of the hype.

A trip around East Cape is a bucket list drive; kids play on horses, wild pigs run down the road, and cows can be found wandering along remote golden beaches. The road that links this beautiful slice of New Zealand is known as State Highway 35. Although "highway" is perhaps a generous term; it is more like a grand voyage of winding roads that takes you to some of the most untouched parts of the country.

While you'll pass dozens of empty beaches, quaint little communities and the eastern-most point of New Zealand one of your compulsory stops is Tokomaru Bay's Cafe 35. Here you'll find the Cape's iconic pua pie. During the school holidays or long weekends, there will be queues fresh batches are gone within minutes. You can even try loaded paua fries.

If you're not a fan of seafood, the pork belly pies are also unmissable.

READ MORE:* Choc and awe: How to have a chocolate holiday * Secrets of the Wairarapa: a spectacular road trip full of hidden gems* The travel hot list: The Stuff travel team's picks of things to try in 2021

Brook Sabin/Stuff

The Lawrence Mint is one of the busiest shops in town.

Lawrence was once the centre of the Otago Gold Rush, but today it's another kind boom taking the village by storm: a sugar rush.

The Lawrence Mint is a chocolate shop with a difference. It's all about small-batch handmade creations, and in a tiny town of around 500 people, it has a steady stream of devotees worshipping at the altar of cocoa. The cheesecakes are also worthy of high praise. Part of its popularity is that everything is handmade using Belgian chocolate and you can taste the love that goes into every morsel.

The shop has closed for winter, with plans well underway for a new location just down the road complete with a tiny food truck called "The Little Minty". If a spring road trip through Otago is on your horizon, don't miss this sweet stop.

Brook Sabin/Stuff

An eclair with a view in Ohakune.

In the winter months, Ohakune is a bustling gateway to Mt Ruapehu. But every morning, well before dawn, the busiest place in town is Johnny Nation's Chocolate Eclair Shop. There youll find bakers hard at work preparing hundreds of eclairs, which start flying off the shelves from 0630 each morning.

The family-run store, which has been operating for more than 70 years, sell their giant chocolate creations for just $3. During busier days, queues will snake out the door. At $3 each, you won't find better value.

BROOK SABIN/Stuff

Hokitika Sandwich Company has quickly become a West Coast institution.

"What? A 45-minute wait!" The person in front of us walked out.

All of us in the queue grinned. Those who have tasted the creations at the Hokitika Sandwich Company don't walk out. Ever.

How good can a sandwich be? I compare it to chocolate: it's a little like eating cooking chocolate your entire life, then suddenly discovering Whittakers. These sandwiches are that good.

A few years ago, Kiwi Joseph Walker left his restaurant in the US to open a sandwich bar in Hokitika, and it's now the most exciting place in town.

And it's not hard to see why; the bread, meat and cheese are all sourced as locally as possible. And Walker has perfected some kind of sandwich sorcery bringing it all together. What looks simple, tastes sensational.

The last time I was there, a Wnaka resident had decided to make her annual holiday on the West Coast for the second year in the row simply because she wanted to stay in Hokitika and eat a few sandwiches while enjoying the wild scenery.

Brook Sabin/Stuff

The cheeseburger doughnut at Smoking Barrel, Motueka.

The South Island town of Motueka has become Destination Doughnut. Its all thanks to the towns Melbourne-esque eatery known as The Smoking Barrel, where hundreds of doughnuts are created early each morning.

The flavours are extraordinary. We're talking R18 Naughty Snickers with bourbon salted caramel, Bounty Bar, vanilla creme brulee, Caramilk deluxe, and salted caramel popcorn to name a few.

Then there are the breakfast doughnuts, like bacon and eggs benedict. It's miraculously all packed inside the dough - cut it open, and a perfect egg is revealed.

The Smoking Barrel is run by husband and wife team Josiah and Rachel Smits. The talented pair started the cafe with a focus on slow-cooked barbecue meats, but in recent years the doughnuts have proved enormously popular. So much so, the cafe usually makes more than 400 each day and are almost always sold out within hours.

Brook Sabin/Stuff

Schoc has amazing chocolate caramels.

Greytown's Schoc Chocolates is like visiting Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory if it decided to relocate to a tiny turn-of-the-century cottage. Creator Murray Langham calls it a Chocolate Therapy Studio, and I suggest you check-in for some serious rehab.

Inside is a cocoa wonderland with truffles, boxes of chocolates, hampers and marzipan. The pice de rsistance is the "chocolate tablet": Schoc's version of a chocolate bar. You'll find a wall with more than 60 flavours, and drum roll, please you can taste any of them for free. If you have a sweet tooth, head straight for rose milk.

Alternatively, if you have a penchant for unusual chocolate, Schoc makes flavours like carrot and coriander, curry and poppadoms, and even apricot and rosemary. The dark chocolate with ghost chilli (one of the hottest in the world) will test your constitution.

Brook Sabin/Stuff

You can watch goodies being made at Makana Confections.

The best sweet treat Ive ever tried is a macadamia butter toffee crunch from Makana Confections in Kerikeri.

A visit to the chocolate shop includes free samples, alongside views of the workshop where you can watch the latest creations being made.

While the truffles and chocolates are delightful, the luscious slabs of toffee coated in milk chocolate and dusted with macadamia are in a league of their own. Helpfully, if you can't make it to the original store in Kerikeri, the company also has another store near Blenheim.

Brook Sabin/Stuff

Reefton Distilling Co offers tours of its small distillery.

This old gold mining stronghold on the West Coast seemed destined for a slow decline until budding entrepreneurs decided to focus on making gin the big game in town.

In 2017 the Reefton Distilling Co was formed, combining pure mountain water with a host of high country botanicals to create a uniquely West Coast drop.

The distillery has won a host of international awards and raised more than $3 million to expand its operation.

For $35, experience a factory tour, then go on a sensory journey through the rainforest with a tasting at the bar.

There are now plans for a larger distillery alongside a blueprint to reinvigorate the town with other tourist attractions.

Brook Sabin/Stuff

The mince and cheese pies at Fairlie Bakehouse.

Pie lovers, start your (digestive) engines. While a trip to Lake Tekapo and Aoraki/Mt Cook is a scenic highlight of any holiday, your taste buds won't be satisfied until you stop off at the Fairlie Bakehouse and try their pies.

You'll find this bustling little town between Timaru and Lake Tekapo, and it's easy to spot the pie shop: the bakehouse is the busiest place in town.

While all the flavours are delicious, it's the pork belly with apple sauce and crackling that have most raving. The bacon and salmon pie also has its fair share of worshippers, although, Im not one of them. Salmon in a pie is one step too far for me.

Brook Sabin/Stuff

Cheesy mushrooms on toast at Cest Cheese.

If you're in the Wairarapa for a wine weekend, remember what also gets better with age: cheese. The town of Featherston has a shop called C'est Cheese, and its home to one of the largest ranges of speciality cheeses in the country.

This little shops dedication to cheese makes you feel like you could be in Europe; you'll find creations like The Drunken Nanny, which is goat's cheese from Martinborough, Grinning Gecko camembert from Whangrei and even creations by its own brand: the Remutaka Pass Creamery.

The cheesey nirvana is located in one of the town's historic buildings (almost 150 years old), which is also home to a cheese bar, where you can try heavily-cheesed scones alongside cheesy mushrooms on toast with a giant cheese wafer.

What are your favourite tiny town treats? Tell us in the comments.

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New Zealand's tiny towns with amazing treats - Stuff.co.nz