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New Zealand Will Give Cash Payments To Low Income Families Amid Global Fuel Crisis 

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Nearly 150,000 low income families in New Zealand will be receiving a weekly cash payment to help them afford gas amid the global fuel crisis caused by the war in Iran. This is believed to be the first fuel relief package that directly pays citizens in the world since the start of the war, according to reports. 

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Prime minister Christopher Luxon and finance minister Nicola Willis announced this week that about 143,000 families with children will be getting an extra NZ$50 (US$29.20) a week through the in-work tax credit. This credit is, in general, a payment made for low-to-middle-income families with dependent children, and requires at least one parent in paid employment with neither parent receiving benefits. 

An additional 14,000 families who have a “slightly” higher income will also be eligible for these payments, but will receive less money weekly. 

The Guardian reports that this will be temporary, lasting for one year starting in April, or until the price of 91 octane gas drops below NZ$3 (US$1.75) a liter for four consecutive weeks. 

Since the Middle East conflict began, gas prices have increased around 40 to 50 cents a liter. Some stations have even reported running out of gas due to the urgency of citizens trying to stock up. 

As of Tuesday, it’s been reported that New Zealand had 46 days worth of combined gas, diesel, and jet fuel stocks. 

Luxon stated that the priority was to make sure the country had a “sufficient fuel supply.” He made it clear that he was well aware of the impact these increased prices have on the average family and that it was “eating into household budgets.”

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Willis said this new payment policy was directed to families “in the squeezed middle,” meaning parents who were working, not eligible for benefits, and had “modest” household incomes. 

“We cannot control global oil markets or international conflicts, but we can soften the impact on working families who cannot easily avoid higher fuel costs by delivering support in a responsible and well-targeted way,” Willis said.

“But the relief package fails to help those hit hardest by the higher fuel costs,” said Green party co-leader Marama Davidson.

“This package does nothing for [people receiving benefits] and their children, retirees, or unpaid carers, who are all left out entirely. This is a crisis and the government’s response will do nothing for most New Zealanders,” Davidson said. 

Other governments around the world are also taking their own measures to address the rapidly increasing fuel prices and shortages. The Philippines have cut down to a four-day work week, and Sri Lanka is rationing fuel. 

Ireland’s government is working to sign off on cuts to excise duty on fuels to cushion the economic impact from the fuel crisis. Thailand and South Korea have both placed caps on domestic fuel prices, with South Korea also providing additional energy vouchers. 

New Zealand is, so far, the first nation to offer direct cash payments as part of a government financial relief package.

New Zealand

New Zealand To Begin Charging Foreign Tourists To Visit Famous Sites 

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New Zealand announced its plans to start charging international tourists fees in order to visit some of their countries most famous natural sites. With these transactions, New Zealand is hoping to make it easier for local businesses to operate on conservation land and allow room for ecological, cultural, and economic growth. 

Reports indicate the government is planning to charge visiting tourists NZ$20-40 ($12-24) per person in order to gain access to their famous sites. These sites will include spots such as Cathedral Cove/Te Whanganui-a-Hei, Tongariro Crossing, Milford Track and Aoraki Mount Cook.

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According to the plans, the fees will likely be implemented in 2027. 

Tama Potaka, the conservation minister, estimated that the new fees could generate up to NZ$62 million annually, “so we can keep investing in the sites that underpin so much of our tourism sector.” 

The implementation of these new fees is a part of a larger-scale plan to shift the nation’s conservation law regarding selling or exchanging conservation land so more activities can occur in these places without needing a permit. 

“In the spirit of saying yes to more jobs, more growth and higher wages, the government would unleash a fresh wave of concessions including in tourism, agriculture and infrastructure at some locations,” prime minister Christopher Luxon said on Saturday, according to the Guardian. 

Conservation land makes up one third of New Zealand territory and it is protected and publicly owned. It’s known for its biodiversity, historic, and cultural value. 

“Some businesses such as ski fields and grazing already operated on conservation land but many other businesses struggled to gain the same permission,” Luxon said. This is just one of many newer policies in New Zealand that is seeking to loosen regulation on natural sites in the name of economic growth. 

Last year, the government passed a law that will potentially allow for contentious mining and infrastructure projects to be fast-tracked for approval. There have also been proposed law changes to make it easier for companies to kill protected wildlife for infrastructure projects. 

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Conservation and climate initiatives are also experiencing budget cuts. 

Critics are speaking out against these new policies, stating its irresponsible to risk harming not only the environment but vulnerable and protected species. New Zealand is known for their biodiversity, but like the rest of the world, many species are threatened by endangerment and on the brink of extinction. 

Green party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said “Luxon was putting profit above the protection of nature,” according to the Guardian. 

“That tells us everything we need to know about who he thinks he works for. It’s not regular people, future generations or a healthy environment,” she said in a statement to the Guardian.

“[The latest reforms] represent the most significant weakening of conservation law in a generation and would increase pressure on vulnerable species,” said Nicola Toki, the chief executive of New Zealand’s largest conservation organisation, Forest & Bird.

“They shift the focus from protection to exploitation, dismantling the very purpose of our national parks and conservation lands.”

Australia And New Zealand Rethinking ‘Covid Zero Strategy’ Amid Spreading Of Delta Variant 

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Australia and New Zealand are rethinking their current Covid-19 strategies due to a surge in new cases caused by the spreading of the Delta variant. Initially both countries had strategies implemented that would bring the total number of cases down to zero before any type of social gatherings would be allowed, however, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently claimed that he believes it’s unlikely his country will ever return to zero cases. 

“Australia’s focus needs to shift to hospitalization rates rather than case numbers. The highly infectious nature of delta raised some pretty big questions about New Zealand’s approach of eliminating the disease,” Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.

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In the beginning of the pandemic both Australia and New Zealand were advocates for the Covid Zero strategy. This meant that both nations closed their borders and implemented local guidelines to focus more on slowing down community-level transmission without having to worry about international visitors. 

This strategy was extremely successful, and prevented massive waves of new infections and deaths, like we saw here in the US. However, the spreading of the new delta variant has challenged this strategy greatly. In fact, Australia recently reported its highest number of daily infections for a second day straight. New Zealand is currently under the strictest lockdown measure that they’ve been in since the beginning of the pandemic. 

“With a virus that can be infectious within 24 hours of someone getting it, that does change the game a bit. With our Level Four lockdown, we are very well placed to be able to run it to ground, but we have to be prepared for the fact that we can’t do that every time there is one of these.”

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Hipkins explained that the Covid Zero strategy had worked wonderfully pre-delta, but now it’s looking like a less adequate way to combat the new variant. The spreading of this variant also has to do with the vaccination rates in both nations. 

In both New Zealand and Australia less than 30% of the population is fully vaccinated. Australia’s Morrison claims vaccination rates need to reach 70-80% of the eligible population before restrictions are lifted again. 

Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Morrison said rising cases “need not impact our plan to reopen, and reopen as soon as we can.”

“So while right now our national strategy is necessarily about suppressing the virus and vaccinating as many people as possible, a one-eyed focus on just case numbers overlooks the fact that less people are getting seriously ill, let alone dying.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently laid out a plan that would ease lockdown restrictions as the government speeds up its vaccination rollout. Their goal is to reopen their borders by 2022.

White Island Volcano

New Zealand Authorities File Charges Over Fatal White Island Volcano Eruption 

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Officials in New Zealand have filed charges against 13 parties that supposedly failed to perform their proper health and safety obligations when doing wellness visits on the White Island volcano to see its eruption status. When the volcano erupted last year it killed 22 individuals as a result of these failings. 

White Island is an active volcano that is also referred to by its Maori name, Whakaari. It’s located right off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island and was one of the countries most popular tourism destinations before it erupted in December 2019 and killed a multitude of local tour guides and visitors. 

WorkSafe New Zealand is the company that acts as the country’s workplace health and safety regulator. This Monday WorkSafe announced that it had filed charges against 10 separate organizations and three specific individuals for allegedly not performing standard, and “reasonably practicable,” health and safety procedures that were put in place to protect White Island workers and visitors from a potential eruption. 

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The 10 organizations are facing a maximum fine of 1.5 million New Zealand dollars, which is equivalent to $1.1 million. The three individuals are facing a maximum fine of what’s equivalent to $211,000 in America; 300,000 New Zealand dollars. WorkSafe chief executive Phil Parkes recently spoke with the press after making the lawsuit announcement. 

“This was an unexpected event, but that does not mean it was unforeseeable and there is a duty on operators to protect those in their care.”

In the weeks leading up to the eruption, New Zealand volcano monitoring service GeoNet raised the alert level on White Island to a Level 2 out of 5. A Level 2 alert means that at the time there was “moderate to heightened volcanic unrest,” and surrounding individuals and communities should be concerned. 

When the blast initially happened, 47 individuals were on the island,  including honeymooners and young families on vacation. Parkes stated that the hardest part of this whole ordeal is knowing that those people were going to the island with the “expectation that systems were in place to make sure they made it home safely.” 

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“As a nation we need to look at this tragedy and ask if we are truly doing enough to ensure our mothers, fathers, children and friends come home to us healthy and safe at the end of each day.”

Parkes described the investigation that preceded the charges being filed this week as the “most extensive and complex in WorkSafe’s history.” WorkSafe didn’t name the specific organizations and individuals charged – as they may seek anonymity when the case is first heard in December of this year – but they did mention that they weren’t investigating any of the organizations involved in the rescue and recovery of the victims after the eruption, as all of the charges relate to failings that occured weeks before the blast, not how it was handled during. 

GNS Science – a Crown research organization that monitors volcanic activity – has released a statement revealing it’s one of the 10 organizations being charged in the suit. “We stand by our people and our science which we will continue to deliver for the benefit of New Zealand,” they wrote. 

The National Emergency Management Agency has also confirmed that they’re facing charges. The Agency is a government entity which handles the country’s entire civil defense; which includes defense from natural disasters. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said this week that her thoughts were with the families of those who experienced a tragic loss as a result of this eruption, and hopefully these court proceedings can serve some justice.

Waving New Zealand Flag

New Zealand Prime Minister Praises Country For Covid Response After Trump Comments

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Jacinda Ardern defended the country’s most recent outbreak after Trump attempted to undermine New Zealand’s immense success in containing the virus.

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COVID

WHO Director Claims Lack Of Unity Among World Leaders Is Bigger Threat Than Covid-19

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It’s been over six months since the coronavirus initially appeared in Wuhan, China. Now, half a year later, the virus is continuing to rapidly spread in what experts are calling the “once-in-a-century pandemic.” 

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently held a mission briefing in Geneva where he told members that the virus can be brought under control, however, in most of the world it’s doing the opposite and getting worse. As of this week the Covid-19 virus has infected more than 12 million people worldwide and has killed at least 550,000; although lack of testing facility data has experts believing that number to be much higher, especially in the US.

More than half of the world’s cases have been found in North and South America according to WHO’s latest report.  

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“The pandemic is still accelerating. The total number of cases has doubled in the last six weeks.”

Although the world is seeing massive spikes in cases, there are also many countries that have the pandemic relatively under control and contained. These countries used fundamental public health measures such as widespread testing of all citizens, contact tracing, and isolating all exposed individuals. 

Ghebreyesus went on to explain how this virus may have “upended health systems in some of the world’s wealthiest nations,” but other countries, such as New Zealand, were able to rise to the occasion and implement a successful response to the outbreak by putting its countries healthcare experts at the forefront of policy-making decisions. This briefing also came days after president of the United States Donald Trump and his administration submitted their notice to the United Nations that the country would be withdrawing from the WHO.

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This news has many Americans worried, however, the submission of the notice to the UN is just step 1 in a major yearlong process to actually withdraw from the WHO. There are many outside factors that will make the US’s withdrawal difficult in the long run; such as the election coming up this November and Trump’s need to convince Congress that withdrawing would be the best decision during a pandemic. 

While the Trump administration has consistently criticized WHO’s response to the virus, Ghebreyesus continued to defend it, stating that the UN health agency warned countries early on about the threat of this virus to coordinate global research responses. 

“For years, many of us warned that a catastrophic respiratory pandemic was inevitable. But despite all the warnings, the world was not ready. Our communities were not ready. Our supply chains collapsed. It is time for a very honest reflection.”

The WHO has now created The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response which will be led by the former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark and the former president of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Both Clark and Sirleaf will have full control over who else is added to the panel based on how well their countries have coped with Covid-19. 

Ghebreyesus also called on the world’s leaders to unite in collaboration against this virus, as they should’ve been this whole time. Now that we’ve seen how this virus works within different systems and policies for half of a year, we can better understand how to contain it and stop the spread; it’s more so now about actually implementing those changes.

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand Wins ‘Airline Of The Year’ For The Sixth Time

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Air New Zealand has officially been named “Airline of the Year” by AirlineRatings.com, which is an Australian travel safety and review website that ranks the world’s top airports every year. Air New Zealand is no stranger to holding this title, as it’s long been praised as one of the nicest and safest airlines internationally. It also has held the “Airline of the Year” five other times; this year was a bit of a shock, however, as Singapore Airlines was looking to grab the honor for 2020, since they won the award last year, but at the last minute New Zealand snatched the crown from under them. 

The title was given to New Zealand this year in part because of their “record breaking performance as an airport” and “environmental leadership” compared to other airports sustainability efforts, according to the official statement. 

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“In our analysis, Air New Zealand came out number one in most of our audit criteria, which is an outstanding performance when it’s up against carriers with more resources and scale on this same list of best airlines for 2020. Air New Zealand’s commitment to excellence in all facets of its business starts at the top with outstanding governance and one of the best executive teams in aviation through to a workforce that is delivering consistently to the airline’s strategy and customer promise,” said AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas in a press release.

According to the same press release, the AirlineRatings.com Airline Excellence Awards are the most coveted titles in terms of aviation travel honors. The website is run by a total of seven editors and has employee’s that combined have over 200 years in the airline industry experience. The release states that the staff reviews every airline and bases their rankings and awards on 12 key criteria. The criteria includes overall passenger reviews/experiences, relationship amongst staff, age of the airline’s fleet, total company profitability, investment ratings and product offers. 

Representatives from the website have stated that Air New Zealand winning the title for a total of six times now is only a further testament to how hard the staff works and communicates with its passengers. The airport has over 12,500 employees, and every department has received stellar reviews on their perspective duties throughout the years. The award is a testament to department to department communication, something that has caused many other airports to dwindle in quality. 

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The top five best Airlines named by the website are (from 1 to 5) Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Qantas, and Cathay Pacific Airways. In total the website annually ranks the “top 20” airlines every year, all based on the same criteria discussed above. 

In addition AirlineRelations.com gives credit to other airlines based on more specific award titles; although “Airline of the Year” is equivalent to the “Album of the Year” title at the Grammy’s. Singapore Airlines was not only ranked number two for best airlines, but also took the First Class Award for their extensive and quality first class suite packages. 

Australia’s Qantas won Best Domestic Airline Service and the coveted Best Lounges. “Qantas is a consistent winner across many categories in our list of best airlines 2020, 2019, and more. Its customer approval rating is at an all-time high, and it continues to innovate with lie-flat beds being added to its A380s. The judges were unanimous on the airline’s lounges which are exceptional and its domestic airline product, particularly on transcontinental A330 flights, is a standout,” said Thomas. 

Other awards distributed included “Best Catering” and “Best Business Class” both of which were won by Qatar Airways. Virgin Airlines Australia won an award for “Best Economy Class” seating and Cebu Pacific won the “Most Improved Airline” award. Emirites also held a top ten spot for best airlines, and won awards for “Best Long-Haul Flights” and “Best In-Flight Entertainment.”