Category: Media releases

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MPs Should Reject Easter Trading Bill

Source: Family First

MEDIA RELEASE

18 December 2024

MPs Should Take A Break & Reject Easter Trading Bill

Family First NZ is calling on MPs to reject ACT’s bill to liberalise Easter trading laws which is having its 1st Reading in Parliament today.

“We reject any liberalisation of Easter trading laws and also Anzac and Christmas days because workers deserve this special annual break to spend time with their families. If anything, we should have more public holidays around Labour Day, Matariki and Waitangi Day,” says Bob McCoskrie, Chief Executive of Family First NZ.

“Economic improvement needs to be finely balanced with family and community time. Anzac Day, Easter, and Christmas remain as the few times when the whole country stops and takes a break. How long before attempts are made to liberalise trading laws around Anzac Day and Christmas day.”

Significantly, there seems to be a focus in this latest attempt not just on shops in general being able to open but on being able to sell alcohol. The explanatory note to the bill says: “This bill removes the restriction on trading and selling alcohol on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.”

David Seymour originally announced the bill by saying “Easter’s a wonderful time – a long needed break after easing into the new year.”

But not a break for workers in the retail industry.

“Public holidays are a social good – whether they are religious-based or not. Poll after poll has shown that both parents and children want to spend more time doing family things like picnics and holidays together. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult as the retail industry is required to work almost every day of the year, and shoppers focus on the holiday specials. To argue that it is justified because shoppers are able to shop online is a flawed argument. If it was a valid argument, retailers in NZ would have to be open 24/7,” says Mr McCoskrie.

“New Zealanders deserve the break.”

“This is not an issue about choice as has also been argued. For many workers, they don’t have the luxury of choice as to whether they work or not. Coercion to work will be a very real threat.”

“Tourists will cope. Many countries have public holidays with shops closed, and tourists simply plan around it, accepting it as part of the local culture and identity,” says Mr McCoskrie.

“We should keep the Easter culture, for the sake of families.”

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HYEFU and BPS data shows New Zealand is way off track

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney.

“Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and deeper cuts programmed in the future. Our economic indicators are all heading in the wrong direction, with lower economic growth and higher unemployment. The Government’s policies are hurting working people, and they’re not working for Aotearoa,” said Renney.

 “The data showed that the economy is growing more slowly than forecast just six months ago. Next year GDP growth was forecast to 1.7% at Budget, now its 0.5%.  GDP is $20bn lower by 2028. Unemployment is higher in every year of the forecast – with 20,000 more people on jobseekers support by 2026. OBEGAL absent the new tricks of accounting – never comes back into surplus across the forecast period. Net Core Crown Debt increases across the forecast period by $58bn.  

“The Budget Policy Statement signals that we are in for more cuts in the next few budgets. There is only $700m available at the next Budget to pay for everything outside health. That bakes in likely cuts to public investment and to the public sector workforce every year for the next few years. All to pay for the tax cuts that have now passed. The folly of that decision is now being uncovered.

 “These books paint a picture of a government without a plan. The only solution the Minister of Finance is planning is to double down on an already failing strategy. These are the Government’s books; responsibility shouldn’t be passed on. Working people and communities across Aotearoa will suffer if we don’t change track,” said Renney.

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NZCTU put Brooke van Velden on notice over WorkSafe cuts

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have sent an open letter to Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, following another round of devastating job cuts at WorkSafe.

“Aotearoa New Zealand’s record on workplace health and safety is costing the lives of so many workers, and instead of working to turn that record around, we have a Minister who is making decisions that will cost even more lives,” said NZCTU Acting President Rachel Mackintosh.

“WorkSafe already lost 15% of its staff in the last 12 months – 113 roles. Now the organisation will lose another 54 roles, which will critically undermine its core functions as our workplace health and safety regulator.

“Alongside these job cuts, WorkSafe have announced they are disestablishing the health team, which will undoubtedly lead to an increase in health-related harm and deaths in workplaces across the country.

“Dozens of New Zealand workers die each year as a result of workplace injuries. In addition, estimates suggest that 750-900 workers die each year from work-related occupational diseases such as asbestosis and cancers.

“This hollowing out of our health and safety regulator is deliberate. WorkSafe is being set up to fail. The Minister and her Government have an aversion to regulation, yet good regulation is essential to good health and safety and saving workers lives.

“Workers will need to issue the Minister with an improvement notice if she doesn’t start taking health and safety seriously and use her role to bring down our abysmal injury and death rates.

“This Minister is overseeing an all-out assault on working people – while gutting WorkSafe, she is leaving workers in the ditch on Holidays Act reform, undermining personal grievance claims, and threatening to weaken health and safety law. This is on top of scrapping fair pay agreements, bringing back 90-day fire at will agreements and redrafting employment law on behalf of the multinational corporation, Uber.

“Working people are sick and tired of this Minister and her extreme anti-worker agenda. It’s well past time she learnt the requirements of her role and put the health and wellbeing of workers above the interests of big business.

“We are putting Brooke van Velden on notice and saying enough is enough,” said Mackintosh.

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Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation.

“With inflation forecast at 2% by the Reserve Bank, the new minimum wage rate is an effective cut in real terms and will leave workers worse off. This is the second year in a row where this Government has made the decision to cut the Minimum wage in real terms,” said NZCTU Acting President Rachel Mackintosh.

“National promised to support New Zealanders through the cost-of-living crisis, and yet this decision will mean that the lowest income workers fall even further behind. Minimum wage Workers are now $1,206 a year worse off as a consequence of these real term wage cuts”.

“Government has a responsibility to ensure that all workers have enough to afford rent, pay the bills, put good food on the table, and buy their kids what they need. How are workers meant to keep up with rising food and rent costs when the Government is cutting their wages in real terms?

“At a time when inflation is coming down, this was an opportunity for the Government to give workers a break and ensure they get real terms pay increases.

“All New Zealand workers have the right to a liveable income to support their families – they deserve to be paid a Living Wage,” said Mackintosh.

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NZCTU open letter to Treasury on undue restrictions on restricted briefings

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Iain Rennie, CNZM
Secretary and Chief Executive to the Treasury

Dear Secretary,

Undue restrictions on restricted briefings

This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been formally invited, by the Treasury, to attend the briefing. After the CTU replied to the invitation, Treasury appears to have changed its rules for attendance. Our application to attend was then rejected.

The Treasury now states that “Representatives from peak bodies, professional bodies, unions, universities, industry bodies, industry information services, and advocacy groups, among others, would no longer be allowed to attend”. That means bodies such as Business New Zealand would not be able to attend, nor would organisations such as Local Government New Zealand, Child Poverty Action Group, Aotearoa 350, or Tax Justice Aotearoa. Alongside the CTU these are all national organisations with a strong and legitimate interest in understanding how the government is investing its resources.  

Treasury said the purpose of restricted briefings is to provide participants with time to consider materials before public release to enable more accurate reporting and to assist “in transparency and accountability to the public”. The Treasury has therefore concluded that other groups, such as the CTU, no longer have a time-sensitive need for the materials. This despite the fact that attendance by bodies such as these has been the norm for many years without incident.

We must object to this interpretation in the strongest terms. Groups – including the CTU – affected by the new guidelines regularly provide their analysis of Budget figures to their own readers, who number in the hundreds of thousands, and provide expert analysis to journalists attending the restricted briefings. Both functions assist in transparency and accountability to the public, which is the purpose of restricted briefings.

How does it promote the interests of “transparency and accountability to the public” or assist public understanding when external organisations such as Bloomberg will be able to tell foreign investors what’s in the Government books, and provide considered analysis, faster than organisations representing New Zealand workers, business, and taxpayers?

The CTU alone represents 27 Trade Unions with more than 300,000 members. They have a keen interest in understanding the financial situation of the Government – many of whose employment and income rely on the Crown Accounts. Timely analysis and communications from the CTU are essential. Could you please explain why their need for information is less important than that of financial markets?  

The lock-up is also an opportunity to engage with the Minister of Finance and the Secretary of the Treasury. To ask questions about the contents of the report, and to have answers to questions heard by media. There is no other opportunity to do that outside of this lock-up. Why should banks be able to ask the Minister questions about economic growth, but other groups find themselves shut out?

Lock-ups do not just bring analysts into a room with access to advance copy of the fiscal documents. Attendees at restricted briefings can also ask Treasury officials how complex estimates were generated. Being able to ask officials about the estimates helps analysts provide better-informed reports with fewer errors. It also means that analysts who misrepresent the figures have little excuse for their own errors.

We sympathise with Treasury’s predicament. When more people wish to attend restricted briefings than can be accommodated, it has to choose who to disappoint. But there has never been a HYEFU briefing where the room was full, and where those who attended couldn’t be seated. This is not a capacity issue.

Democracy and public scrutiny are not supported by locking social partners and non-financial institutions out of the lock-up. This is a retrograde step, which appears to have nothing to do with capacity, security, or with a desire to ensure that complex documents such as the HYEFU are communicated well to audiences across New Zealand.

The CTU strongly urges the Treasury to reconsider these guidelines and your decision to rescind our access. We look forward to a timely response to this letter.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Mackintosh

Acting NZCTU President

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Costly Transgender Procedures Funded By Taxpayer

Source: Family First

MEDIA RELEASE

16 December 2024  

According to an Official Information Act response from Health NZ / Te Whatu Ora, the taxpayer is funding more than $1 million dollars each year towards enabling people to surgically change their sex via vaginoplasty, metoidioplasty and phalloplasty procedures. The demand is higher for the removal of the penis, testicles and scrotum. Demand for these surgical procedures is predominantly in the 18-25 and 26-35 age brackets.

According to Te Whatu Ora, “Of the 326 patients on the waiting list, 243 have requested a feminising procedure and 83 a masculinising procedure. Therefore, it can be assumed of the sex assigned at birth of these patients 243 were assigned male at birth and 83 assigned female at birth.” (our emphasis added)

Age ranges of the 326 patients are:

18–25               94

26-35               148

36-45               51

46-55               22

>55                    11

Vaginoplasty involves removing the healthy penis, testicles and scrotum to create a vulva and vagina.

Metoidioplasty involves creating a penis about 4 to 6 centimeters long using the clitoris, which may be enlarged by hormone therapy. The surgery can be completed in stages, each performed a few months apart, depending on the patient’s objectives.

Phalloplasty uses a tissue flap from the arm or thigh to create a larger phallus that can accommodate a penile prosthesis and penetration. Phalloplasty is a multistage operation, with urethroplasty to enable standing urination performed later. Phalloplasty is complex and has a higher risk of complications, including infection, scarring, and narrowed urethra.

Despite the relatively small number of surgeries actually performed, the cost is significant.

[Where the number of individuals is less than five, Health New Zealand used <5 to avoid revealing sensitive information about potentially identifiable individuals in the data. It is also important to note that some patients may require more than one procedure.]

Health NZ were unable to quantify the costs of mental health assessment, psychiatric support or counselling – if these even occurred.

A Swedish study followed a transgender group of adults from 1973-2003. This study found:

Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care [restore the natural balance within the body-mind system to resolve physical and mental stress) after sex reassignment for this patient group.

And a recent Finnish study said:

… “Although the rate of suicide [in the Finnish study] is just over four times higher among trans young people than their peers, this is explained by their more serious psychiatric problems. When these psychiatric problems are taken into account, there is no evidence that transgender people have a higher rate of suicide.”

This Finnish study vindicates their decision four years ago to adopt a more cautious treatment policy which first targets psychiatric, social and educational problems among gender-distressed youth before any assumption of a stable trans identity justifying “experimental” affirmation with hormones or surgery.

The researchers say in their BMJ Mental Health paper; “It is of utmost importance to identify and appropriately treat mental disorders in adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria to prevent suicide; in addition, health policies need to ensure that accurate information is provided to professionals along these lines,”

A study published in April entitled “Risk of Suicide and Self-Harm Following Gender-Affirmation Surgery” evaluated patient data from nearly 60 U.S. health care organisations, comprising millions of patients. The study concluded: “Individuals who underwent gender-affirming surgery had a 12.12-fold higher suicide attempt risk than those who did not.” Those who had undergone gender-transition surgeries were nearly five times more likely to attempt suicide than those who had undergone tubal ligations or vasectomies, the study found. It warned: “Gender-affirming surgery is significantly associated with elevated suicide attempt risks, underlining the necessity for comprehensive post-procedure psychiatric support.”

What is most concerning is that the demand for these unnecessary operations here in New Zealand is only likely to increase.

According to Official Information Act data gained by Family First from the Department of Internal Affairs, almost 900 people in total have changed their birth certificates to their ‘self-identified gender’ since the new birth certificate law came into force last year. Children are changing the sex on their birth certificate, including 47 children 15 years or younger.

Demand to be recognised as a female was greatest with 445, followed by male 302, and non-binary 142.

Health NZ say that since 2020 the service has been publicly funded to deliver up to 14 gender affirming genital surgeries (either feminising or masculinising) per year.

In a poll at the end of 2018, 63% opposed taxpayer funding for hormone treatment and surgery for people who wished to change their sex. 27% supported it, and a further 11% were unsure or refused to say.

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New Zealand wharfies join international day of action against Qube Ports

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

New Zealand maritime workers will be rallying in support of Australian workers at Qube Ports on Monday 16 December 2024.

Australian wharfies at Qube are stopping work at ten ports in an International Day of Action to expose Qube Ports’ refusal to take safety, fatigue and work-life balance concerns seriously during bargaining for a new employment agreement covering more than 1000 workers.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says New Zealand wharfies will be supporting the Maritime Union of Australia in their struggle, with delegates heading across the Tasman in both directions, an international video link, and protest events to be held in two New Zealand ports.

TAURANGA informational picket Monday 16 December (1pm–3pm)
Hull Road, Mt. Maunganui (Port gates)

GISBORNE informational picket Monday 16 December (Morning)
Corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Hirini Street

Maritime Union of Australia delegates and MUNZ officials will be attending these pickets and available to talk to media.

Mr Findlay says Qube management need to be aware their actions in Australia will have consequences for their brand and credibility internationally unless they change their attitude towards their workforce.

He says the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) will be “acting as one.”

Qube Ports in Australia is an ASX listed behemoth which has extracted mega-profits in recent years from the productivity delivered by their hard working employees, and has doggedly refused to sit down and negotiate a new agreement with their workforce. 

The MUA says Qube has repeatedly dismissed safety and fatigue concerns and declared it unprofitable to operate a business which takes safety seriously. 

While wharfies’ pay has gone backwards against inflation, executive bonuses and shareholder dividends have soared. Over the last four years, Qube profits have jumped by 148%.

The MUA has repeatedly called on the company to return to the bargaining table and engage meaningfully with the safety, fatigue and work-life balance concerns that Qube employees are raising.

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Legal Advice Tells Health Ministry to Pause Puberty Blockers

Source: Family First

MEDIA RELEASE

13 December 2024

Family First has written to the Director-General of Health Dr Diana Sarfati requiring the Ministry of Health to remove the reference to the PATHA Guidelines in the Position Statement on the Use of Puberty Blockers in Gender-Affirming Care issued by the Ministry on 21 November 2024.

Family First has been legally advised that such a reference may be illegal.

The Guidelines for Gender Affirming Health care for Gender Diverse and Transgender Adults in Aotearoa New Zealand written by activists from PATHA makes statements on puberty blockers which are not supported by the findings from the Ministry’s own evidence brief, as summarised in the Position Statement on the Use of Puberty Blockers in Gender-Affirming Care, nor by other probative evidence.

The consent forms in the appendices to the PATHA guidelines also state: “Blockers are a reversible medication used to stop the physical changes of puberty. It can be started in early puberty (Tanner stage 2–3). This position is reinforced by the reference in the Health NZ website to PATHA under “Resources for transgender New Zealanders and their whanau”.

Not removing the reference to the independent PATHA Guidelines is also inconsistent with the Position Statement stating that “Clinicians will continue to provide careful guidance to and follow up for people and families considering gender-affirming care.”

Family First has advised the Director General that there are four reasons why failure to remove reference to the PATHA Guidelines may be illegal:

  • the findings of the Evidence Brief mean that the PATHA Guidelines include fundamental mistakes of fact. Those Guidelines confidently state that puberty blockers are safe and reversible (and effective). Yet the Position Statement found that there is no quality evidence to support any of these findings. This leads to a lack of informed consent
  • the Ministry of Health is effectively advising Doctors, parents, and young people over 16 that the PATHA Guidelines are safe and factually accurate guidelines to use in the interim while the Ministry works with Health NZ to devise clinical guidelines.
  • the consent form does not set out the risks of harm due to the lack of quality research about lack of harm and reversibility. The PATHA Guidelines say puberty blockers are safe and reversible as does the consent form you sign to start “treatment.” The potential breaches of sections 8-10 of the Bill Of Rights Act (BORA) must be viewed in the factual context that the Court of Appeal in the UK has found regarding puberty blockers: “the clinical interventions involve significant, long-term and, in part, potentially irreversible long-term physical, and psychological consequences for young persons.
  • the reference to the PATHA Guidelines in the Ministry’s Position Statement breaches the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC). The misinformation in the PATHA Guidelines and included consent forms are not in the best interests of children under UNCROC.

Family First believes for these legal reasons alone, it is critical that the Ministry act immediately and make regulations under the Medicines Act to stop the prescribing of puberty blockers for delaying puberty in gender incongruent or gender dysphoric young people because there is insufficient quality evidence that puberty blockers are both safe and reversible and efficacious in the treatment of gender dysphoria.

The letter has also been sent to the Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti and Associate Ministers of Health Matt Doocey, Casey Costello and David Seymour.

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Reappointment of Tony Gibson to maritime industry board role a travesty

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union says the reappointment of disgraced former Ports of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson to a director position at Marsden Maritime Holdings (MMH) is a travesty and an insult to the memory of workers killed and injured on the job.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says workers are in disbelief at the absolute lack of judgement shown by MMH.

Mr Gibson was found guilty in November 2024 of a health and safety charge stemming from his former role as CEO of Port of Auckland Limited.

Maritime NZ laid charges against Mr Gibson under the Health and Safety at Work Act after the death of a stevedore, Pala’amo Kalati, in 2020.

Marsden Maritime Holdings is a New Zealand Exchange-listed (NZX) company, which has a 50% stake in Northport, a marina, and significant industrial land holdings.

Mr Findlay says the news shocked workers who lived through the Gibson years at Port of Auckland, which saw deaths and serious injuries, sustained attacks on the workforce, and a failed automation project that cost Aucklanders hundreds of millions of dollars before Mr Gibson’s resignation.

Mr Findlay says there is a culture of impunity for directors and senior managers.

“What more does it take for a public company to say time to go?”

Mr Findlay says it’s a case of “jobs for the boys” and a glaring example of the double standard applied, as workers would be sacked for far less serious offences and find it hard to get back into work.

“The corporate elite need to get the message that the working-class majority are getting sick and tired of seeing this entitled self-serving attitude.”

He says the Maritime Union congratulates Port of Auckland, a minority shareholder in MMH, for its principled decision voting against Mr Gibson’s reappointment.

Mr Findlay says the stance of the New Zealand Shareholders Association who directed proxy votes against the reappointment was also a responsible course of action.

He says MMH CEO Rosie Mercer should retract her praise of Mr Gibson.

“Let’s be absolutely clear – there are families who will be missing someone this Christmas because of avoidable workplace deaths. Marsden Maritime Holdings should be ashamed at this insult to the memories of workers who lost their lives.”

He says the Maritime Union would be following the issue up with Northland Regional Council and would be seeking the removal of Mr Gibson from the MMH Board.

The Maritime Union would continue to campaign for corporate manslaughter laws.

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Six years of work wasted – Holidays Act reform now years away

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Brooke van Velden has wasted six years of work from businesses, unions, and government by binning planned Holidays Act reforms, said Acting CTU President Rachel Mackintosh in response to today’s announcement from Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety.

 “The Minister has cynically kicked the can on Holiday Act reform even further down the road, meaning an even longer delay for workers trying to get their basic rights to leave recognised,” said Mackintosh.

“The Government is again making decisions that are bad for workers by departing from an agreement that ensured any changes wouldn’t be damaging to working people.

 “When this review commenced, businesses and unions agreed that Holidays Act reforms would not result in leaving workers worse off. The change in direction announced today throws that agreement up in the air.

“Workers and businesses have asked for clarity around their Holidays Act requirements. Rather than getting on with the job, all the Minister has done today is ensure greater uncertainty for even longer.

“Her proposed new model could also mean that every worker would need to record their hours worked, which would add complexity to the system. The Minister needs to listen to workers and business as social partners and implement what was already agreed.

“In her speech today, the Minister mentioned she was listening to employers and “experts” but failed to mention workers. This is more evidence that she is making decisions for only the employer side of the employment relationship, not the millions of workers in this country.

 “After six years of work and tripartite agreement on the future of the Holidays Act, today the Minister has taken us back to the start. In doing so, she also appears to have taken protections for workers off the table.

“This is yet another example of this Government deliberately making life harder for working people,” said Mackintosh.