INL March 1 2019 Digital Edition

14
MARCH 1, 2019
Businesslink
Global Economic Growth appears gloomy for New Zealand CEOs
Venkat Raman
Chief Executives in New
Zealand have taken a
pessimistic view of the
global economic growth in
2019, with the number of ‘bulls’
declining this year, compared to
2018, according to the 2019 CEOs
Survey of PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC).
The firms’ Chief Executive Mark
Averill said that the outlook of
CEOs is markedly different now
to the expectations expressed
around the same time last year.
“Any optimism that our CEOs
felt last year has fallen sharply. A
standout from this year’s Survey
is how severely the enthusiasm
about global economic growth
has dropped, with New Zealand
CEOs among the most pessimistic,”
he said in his Executive
Summary.
The Report said that CEOs are
also pessimistic about the growth
of their own organisations.
Confidence level drops
According to the Survey Report,
many CEOS are worried that the
future appears uncertain.
“Whether it is Brexit, potential
trade conflicts or government
policy, many CEOs see a more unsettled
future. New Zealand CEOs
Infographics from the 2019 PwC CEO Survey
are considerably more gloomy
than their peers. Over half of our
CEOs (51%) believe global economic
growth will decline in the
next 12 months compared to 32%
in Australia and 29% globally. It
is a sharp rise in pessimism for
CEOs in this country, up from 19%
in 2018 and 16% in 2017,” the
Report said.
CEOs’ bullishness about their
own growth prospects has dropped
from 38% being ‘Very Confident’ in
2018 to 26% in 2019.
Mr Averill said that with the
wave of protectionism and populism
sweeping the globe, as well
as the increasing speed of technological
change, it is not surprising
that CEOs are looking ahead and
seeing an uncertain future.
Domestic threats
“For New Zealand CEOs,
however, domestic matters are
seen as the greatest threats to
growth alongside any factors that
could impact the ease of doing
business. This year, we used the
CEO Survey as an opportunity to
drill down into leaders’ thoughts
on artificial intelligence (AI),” he
said.
The level of uncertainty about
what lies ahead seems to be
pronounced.
Mr Averill said that New
Zealand CEOs recognise the
transformative power of AI but
only 32% have introduced AI
initiatives into their business.
“Opinions on the reach of AI
and the consequences it could
False memories often lead to confession of the innocent
Pranoti Gupta
Reading an article in Reader’s
Digest recently on false
memories created in an
innocent teenager who
confessed to a crime that he did
not commit, made me wonder and
question as to whether we really
trust our memory or the eyewitnesses
to judge in serious criminal
cases?
We need a more serene psychological
approach.
This phenomenon and the
shocking revelations have serious
implications on the criminal justice
system.
Teenager’s trauma
The 18 year old boy sat in the
interrogation room and after 25
hours of questioning confirmed
that he had brutally murdered his
mother during an argument.
He picked up a razor and slashed
her throat.
Based on his confession, the
Jury pronounced him guilty and
presiding Judge sentenced him to
prison term of up to 16 years.
The only problem was he was
innocent.
The teenager’s memory of his
mother’s murder was false.
By claiming that he had failed
the Polygraph test and that mental
illness had caused him to blackout
the crime, the interrogators
convinced this quiet, shy, good
natured boy that he must have been
the killer of his mom whom he
loved dearly.
Memory Illusion
London Southbank University
Criminal Psychologist and author of
‘The Memory Illusion,’ conducted
a research to show how and why
our brains form the complex false
memories.
She said that it is a far common
phenomenon than we think.
Our brains are unable to
distinguish between imagination
and experiences very well, making
it difficult to separate fact and
fiction, at times leading to ‘memory
conformity.’
Details of accounts of others’
memories are implanted or lead us
to accept other’s experiences as our
own.
If the eyewitness’ version changes
through discussions or remembering
the sequence, their reliability is
easily compromised.
Research has shown emotional
and traumatic experiences are
more vulnerable to fabrication.
Dr Shaw claims she can be the
‘memory hacker’ and implant false
memories of committing a crime
in 70% of the people or events that
never took place.
Parallel realities
Fiona Broome, a Florida (US)
based paranormal consultant said
that we are all sliding between
parallel realities with some glitches.
There could be multiple universes
existing simultaneously.
Where is our future generation
going? Are we as adults, parents,
mentors, teachers uplifting them
with the right morals? Are we using
the innovations and research for
constructive purposes?
Suicides in New Zealand
A new report by UNICEF contains
shocking statistics on New Zealand.
The country has by far the highest
youth suicide rate in the developed
world.
A shock but no surprise – it is not
the first time that the country has
topped table.
The UNICEF report found New
Zealand’s youth suicide rate
(teenagers between 15 and 19 years
of age) to be the highest of a long list
of 41 OECD and EU countries.
The rate of 15.6 suicides per
100,000 people is twice as high as
the US rate and almost five times
that of Britain.
The prime causes
Dr Prudence Stone of UNICEF
New Zealand said that the high
suicide could be connected to child
poverty, high rates of teenage pregnancies
or families where neither
parent works.
“New Zealand also has one of the
world’s worst records of bullying in
school,” Mental Health Foundation
Chief Executive Shaun Robinson,
who himself suffers from bipolar
disease, said.
According to him, there is a ‘toxic
mix’ of very high rates of family
violence, child abuse and child
poverty that should be addressed to
tackle the problem.
Think of New Zealand and you
will instantly think of nature’s
beauty, fjords, mountains and magnificent
landscapes, vast, endless
oceans.
Demons of emotions
However, the country has
struggled for years with another
form of isolation- depression and
suicide. Hardly do we realise the
feelings and demons of anger, jealousy,
frustration and resentment
represent fears we are experiencing
in life. We always have a choice of
choosing love within and conquer
our fears.
Today; in order to ‘fit in,’ youth
are forced to mature too fast and
lose their innocence.
Can we bring a change in the
society by contributing our values
of kindness, honesty, love, inspiration,
empathy and generosity and
eradicate violence and harassment?
Can we build a nation on spiritual
growth and evolution, developing
Emotional Quotient along with
Intelligence Quotient and choose
humanity over religion? Create
equal opportunities for everyone
rather than rush for the dogmatic
status quo world we live in today?
Together we can make a
difference, if we make it a moral
responsibility and pick up our share
of the burden to build a balanced
community.
Pranoti Gupta is aRefugees’
teacher based in Auckland with
more than 23 years of teaching
experience in India and New
Zealand. Amother of two
teenagers, she has faced serious
health challenges and adverse
circumstances with courage and
determination.
have not only on the workforce
but also on the society are
divided. The Government’s role in
implementation and development
is also up for debate with many
CEOs seeing AI as something
that’s beyond traditional governing
bodies,” Mr Averill said.
The Downbeat trend
The PwC Survey found that
fewer CEOs took a neutral stance
saying that the global economy
and prospects for growth in New
Zealand will ‘stay the same.’
“This downbeat trend is
mirrored in CEOs’ confidence
about revenue growth in their
own organisations. While over a
quarter (26%) are Very Confident,
they will achieve growth in the
next year, it is a considerable
drop from 38% last year and indicates
lower confidence than CEOs
globally (35%) or in Australia
(40%),” the Survey said.
It said that uncertain economic
growth is a major concern for
72% of the respondents.
However, New Zealand CEOs
expressed greater optimism in
the long-term perspective.
“When asked about revenue
growth over the next three years,
30% are ‘Very Confident’ about
their prospects. Despite the decreasing
optimism, CEOs are still
looking to invest in staff numbers,
although not at the same rate as
previously. 44% expect headcount
to increase in the next 12 months
compared to 51% in 2018,” the
Report said.
Ambivalence towards
government
Weakened business confidence
in New Zealand has been linked
to ambivalence about the new
government and a perception
that it is less ‘business-friendly.’
Threats related to government
policy loomed large for New
Zealand CEOs, with 79% pointing
to over-regulation and policy
uncertainty as key macro threats
for business.
When it comes to threats
outside these shores, CEOs in New
Zealand expressed less concern
than their global peers about
developments around the world.
“With the rise of populism and
protectionism, it is not surprising
that geopolitical uncertainty
is seen as one of the top three
concerns by CEOs both globally
(75%) and in Australia (73%).
Yet, a comparatively low 61%
are troubled in this country,” the
Report said
Housing Minister Phil Twyford with Dr Lucy Telfar-Barnard, an Otago University academic who
has studied Housing Standards (left) and Wellington property owner Lynley Thomas at the
announcement in Wellington today (February 24, 2019)
New rules for rental properties
from July 1, 2024
Jo Moir
The government has
announced a raft of new
rules for rental properties,
with a strong focus on
heating and insulation.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford
said that nearly 600,000 households
in New Zealand rent, and
rental stock is of poorer quality
than owner-occupied homes.
He said it was estimated that
200,000 families live in rental
homes that do not have ceiling or
underfloor insulation, and each
year 6000 children are admitted
for housing-sensitive hospitalisations.
Minimum requirements
Under the new rules, rental
properties will be required to
have ceiling and underfloor
insulation that meets the Building
Code standard or has a minimum
thickness of 120 millimetres.
Heaters that can heat a living-room
to 18 degrees Celsius will
also be required, plus rangehoods
or extraction fans in kitchens and
bathrooms.
Mr Twyford said that the new
requirements could cost landlords
up to $7000 but he doesn’t expect
them to push rental prices up.
Crucial Standards
He said the standards are crucial.
“The bottom line here is that
the cost of doing nothing is far
too great for us as a nation. We
cannot continue to send 6000
children off to hospital every
year,’’ he said.
However, Lynley Thomas, who
owns six Wellington properties,
said that in some cases that cost
will be passed on.
Ms Thomas, who was at the announcement
at one of her rental
properties in Lyall Bay today, said
that while she won’t pass it on to
her tenants, some landlords will.
“Properties who have property
managers, obviously it is a lot
more work on property managers
to get those standards in place. So
that will cost the landlord - flowon
effect - so that may in turn be a
cost to the tenant,” she said.
Annual inspections
Mr Twyford said up to 2000
inspections to check properties
are up to standard would be able
to be carried out each year.
All rentals will have to meet the
standard by July 1, 2024, or face
penalties.
Jo Moir is aPolitical Reporter at
Radio New Zealand. The above
Report has been published
under aSpecial Agreement with
www.rnz.co.nz