Transporting NZ on retirement of Aratere ferry
business transport 13 minutes ago
Reduced sailings may mean Interislander passengers have to pay more to cross Cook Strait when the ferry Aratere is pulled from service in August. Transporting New Zealand chief executive Dom Kalasih spoke to Charlotte Cook.
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About 300 jobs are under threat at eight polytechs, says the Tertiary Education Union. File photo. Photo: Supplied Job and course cuts across the polytechnic sector are a nightmare, the Tertiary Education Union says. The union estimates that about 300 jobs are under threat at eight of the 16 institutions, with restructuring plans expected shortly from two more. The proposed cuts ranged from performing arts courses in Wellington to agriculture courses in Northland. Tertiary Education Union national secretary Sandra Grey said the institutes were doing what the government had told them to do. "The directive from the government was really, really clear. It was cut, cut, cut until you're financially stable and there's a huge problem with that because when you cut staff numbers, you cut the number of courses, you cut the viability of the institutions. This is a nightmare," she said. Grey said the scale of change was unprecedented. "In any given week I can receive two or three change proposals. That's individual groups of staff being affected, individual courses that are being cut," she said. "In the worst case scenario its almost one-in-five staff and that is massive for those communities as well because not only is that cutting courses for learners but that's taking money out of the local economy." Whitiereia Polytechnic TEU branch president Helen Johnstone said she had never seen anything like it in her 20 years at the institute. "We have had time and time again cuts across that period of time and lots of changes but for me this is the most significant that I have experienced. The most significant in terms of the impact on our particular polytechnic and what services and courses will be available and left for students." Johnstone said staff seemed resigned to the changes. "The mood has actually changed from anger to sadness," she said. "We went along to a staff update meeting and the mood in the room was just silence. I think everybody's in shock... that this is actually happening." Polytechnic and Te Pūkenga managers refused RNZ's request for an interview as did Vocational Education minister Penny Simmonds. But former Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker agreed the cuts were unprecedented. He said polytechnics had been struggling to make ends meet for years, but they had not all cut courses and staff at the same time. "This so-called viability issue has been around since I took up my chief executive job at Otago in 2004," he said. "There's been all sorts of work put in place at an institutional level to try and survive for the last 20 years plus. So there's always been some staffing reviews and job churn but what we're seeing now is a whole lot happening at the same time." Ker said the current round of cuts was aimed at creating financially-viable, stand-alone institutes but it would not work. "They're standing up on the basis of severe short-term cuts. There isn't a strong under-pinning financial model," he said. "These are all short-term fixes. It's looking for which programmes are the weak links right now, chop them out, shows a short-term benefit on the revenue statement and then a year down the track we'll see something else that's not 'viable' in inverted commas." Ker said the fundamental problem was everyone wanted a polytechnic system but nobody wanted to pay for it, least of all the government. "It's an inconvenient truth that we would like to have a really good vocational education system, but we don't want to pay for it. Employers don't want to pay directly for their training and the government doesn't want to pay adequately their share of the cost." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
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What US attacks on Iran mean for KiwiSaver, petrol prices
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RNZ News
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Bidders for Northern Expressway public private partnership revealed
Transport and Infrastructure minister Chris Bishop said there was "very strong" interest in the project. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel Three bidders have been confirmed for the next section of the Northern Expressway from Warkworth to Te Hana. The government has revealed the shortlist for the public private partnership, with the bids made up of three consortia. The groups are bidding to build a 26km, four-lane expressway connecting to the existing Pūhoi to Warkworth stretch. The indicative design includes a 850m long twin-bore tunnel in the Dome Valley, and three interchanges at Warkworth, Wellsford and Te Hana. The government opened up expressions of interest as part of its Investment Summit in Auckland in March. The summit invited representatives from more than 100 companies from 15 countries, who controlled $6 trillion in assets and funds between them. Some businesses indicated they were keen on the project before the summit had even wrapped up, two of which were included in the shortlist. The shortlist consortia are: The groups must now submit a Request for Proposals, setting out how they intend to finance, design, construct, manage and maintain the section of the expressway. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said the government received "very strong" interest in the project. "The shortlisted consortia are all well positioned to deliver a high-quality motorway that will boost regional resilience, enhance road safety and travel reliability, and strengthen vital connections for freight, tourism and everyday drivers," he said. The preferred bidder will be chosen in early 2026, with the contract finalised by the middle of the year and construction to begin later in the year. In March, Guido Cacciaguerra from Italian firm Webuild confirmed he would bid. "If the government gets this right, it's the most powerful marketing tool to attract more investors in the future," he said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
