NZ giant rip off says All Black writer

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NEWS

An All Black has joined a rugby writer in attacking the cost of living in New Zealand.

Justin Marshall, 36, agreed with rugby correspondent Peter Bills that New Zealand was an expensive country - and not just for visitors. Bills - sounding a caution ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup - said the prices of everyday articles had "horrified" him and Kiwis were "victims of massive overcharging". He said New Zealand was becoming "one giant rip-off".

Previously, power, phone, net and supermarket companies have been found to have over-charged by up to 500% - costing consumers billions of dollars.

Power alone is said to have cost consumers an extra $4 billion over a 10 year period. 

LINK


NZ really expensive, says All Black - National - NZ Herald News

Spot the missing link

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COMMENT
by jason brown, 100% PNZC editor






Scroll down the list below and spot which country link is missing.


Offshore banks in Niue and the Cook Islands, staffed mostly by Kiwis, anyone?


Australia, the country we are supposed to be catching up to, according to Prime Minister John Key, leads from the front.


OECD anti-brbery signatories:





Country database: anti-corruption resources in the Initiative's member jurisdictions

The database on anti-corruption resources in the Inititative's member countries and economies is currently being updated, and the available countrysheets will be enhanced.  Australia  Bangladesh  Bhutan  Cambodia  China, People's Republic  Cook Islands  Fiji Islands  Hong Kong, China  India  Indonesia  Japan  Kazakhstan  Korea  Kyrgyz Republic  Macao, China  Malaysia  Mongolia  Nepal  Pakistan  Palau  Papua New Guinea  Philippines  Samoa  Singapore  Sri Lanka  Thailand  Vanuatu  Vietnam

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new zealand faces quality question

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COMMENT
by jason brown, 100% PNZC editor



Question: Way past time to review Qualmark?

One in four polled on TIB, the Tourism Industry Blog, do not support the official quality mark of New Zealand, Qualmark.

Qualmark does not even feature a complaints mechanism, and buries its code of ethics in a PDF that can only be found by specific search.

TIANZ has a code of ethics, and links to it, but does not provide any mechanism for "prompt handling of complaints" either. A "mood of the traveler" survey is anything but, focusing mostly on tourist spending habits, rather than their mood after travel.

However, perhaps indicative of mood is the fact that only three (3) destinations command more than a simple majority of confidence, as being places they would recommend to overseas visitors.

This represents a bare 11% majority satisfaction rate with the top 26 destination places for tourists.

Unlike TIANZ and MANZ, Qualmark does not have a social networking presence, offering a catchall feedback link that does not provide public accountability.

My interest in this topic comes after similar experiences as a quarter century career journalist in the Cook Islands, heavily dominated by New Zealand expatriates. Both they and the heavily kiwi influenced government spent years resisting calls for quality assurance surveys.

More recently, a friend from New Caledonia, non-European, had $1,000 charged to her card after departure from a Rotorua motel, allegedly for costs involved in cleaning services after a "bed bug infestation".

The motel in question, Cleveland Motel, is both a MANZ and Qualmark member but has refused to supply invoices or receipts to support their claim, and, after initially reversing their decision, still has not refunded the money.

Just to round out this dismal picture, MANZ does have a code of ethics linked from its front page, but has refused to accept a complaint under the code.

Some two dozen complaints about the motel are logged with Trip Advisor, but MANZ refuses to accept this or any other reason to take an official, formal complaint about one of their members, also refusing all further comment.

Answer to the opening question: Yes.

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farm sale decision behind closed doors

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A former human rights commissioner has attacked the media for claiming "racism" is behind criticism of farm sales in New Zealand.


Instead Bruce Slane suggests "powerful lobbyists " may be behind the closed door decision making.

"The review of policy is being conducted by the Treasury in secret. It invites submissions - but only a technical group made up of lawyers who act for overseas companies are allowed in on the debate."

Slane was human rights commissioner for 11 years, and calls on lobbyists like the Business Round Table, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Business New Zealand and the CTU "to make their submissions public."


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supreme court judge hearing

COMMENT

Hearings began today into a Supreme Court judge who sat on a case involving his own interests.

Rather than seek to clear his name, Justice Bill Wilson is legally challenging a decision to review his performance.

Virtually unreported is the fact that the case revolves around ownership of racing horses - in which the Chief Justice also holds shares.

The Supreme Court was set up in New Zealand in 2004, cutting off access to the Privy Council in the UK, despite widespread concerns about the integrity of the New Zealand justice system.

STORY BELOW

The future career and reputation of Supreme Court Judge Bill Wilson is at stake at a hearing which began in the High Court at Wellington today.

In the ground-breaking case, Justice Wilson is fighting to overturn a move by the Judicial Conduct Commissioner Sir David Gascoigne to have his behaviour examined by a panel.

An application is being heard by Justices John Wild, Forrest Miller and Graham Lang to set aside the commissioner's recommendations.

Justice Wilson, who is not in court, is being represented by Colin Carruthers, QC, who is arguing that the alleged misconduct has not been specified or shown to warrant the judge being removed from the bench.

The commissioner's unprecedented move came after he received complaints that Justice Wilson had not fully disclosed his personal and business relationship with Alan Galbraith, QC, while sitting on a Court of Appeal case in 2007.

Mr Galbraith, who was acting for a party in those proceedings, and Judge Wilson were partners in a horse breeding business.

The hearing is set down for three days."

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