INL 15th May 2019 Digital Edition

September 21, 2019… Details Soon 

The English Fortnightly (Since November 1999) 

Issue 415 | MAY 15, 2019 | Free 

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The New Zealand People’s 

Party (NZPP) has been 

wound up. 

Party President Roshan 

Nauhria said that four years, two 

by-elections and one General 

Election later, “it was time to take a 

decision and move on.” 

“My business interests and other 

engagements and constant travel to 

India have been major factors that 

led to the decision to close down the 

New Zealand People’s Party,” he told 

Indian Newslink at press time. 

Mr Nauhria said that he and 

many other members will be 

joining the National Party at a 

special function being held at the 

Bharatiya Mandir Community 

Centre in Central Auckland on 

Friday, May 26, 2019. 

No bargains with National Party 

“I have been a National Party 

supporter in the past and hence 

it is natural that I have decided to 

re-join that Party. I have spoken to 

its leaders and they have welcomed 

me. I am sure that many of our 

NZPP members and supporters 

will also join the National Party,” 

he said. 

Mr Nauhria said that there were 

no bargains in this process. 

“Politics is serious business. I 

have not set any conditions. I will 

be joining National as an ordinary 

member and I am not looking for 

any position. However, something 

can come my way in the future. I 

will campaign for National in next 

year’s general election,” he said. 

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People’s Party wound up; 

Leader goes National 

Venkat Raman 

Roshan Nauhria (Photo Supplied) 

About NZPP 

Established in 2015, NZPP had 

about 700 members. 

Its first electoral fray was at 

the Mount Roskill By-Election on 

December 3, 2016 at which Mr 

Nauhria contested unsuccessfully 

against Labour’s Michael Wood 

(who won the seat) and National’s Dr 

Parmjeet Parmar who was elected to 

Parliament on National’s List in 2014. 

NZPP fought in the General Election 

held on September 23, 2017 and 

polled 1890 votes or 0.1% of the total 

votes (2,591896) cast nationwide. 

The Electoral Commission had set 

a spending limit of $$1.115 million to 

NZPP in General Election 2017 but it 

had spent only $274,541.96. 

In a column published in our September 

15, 2017 issue, Mr Nauhria 

wrote, “Our goal is clear - to be in 

the next government with our own 

separate identity. We are not here to 

just win this election. We are here 

to create a change. No matter how 

long it takes, we will continue our 

relentless fight to be represented and 

be heard in a way that matters.” 

Grant Robertson for Indian Newslink Lecture 

Venkat Raman 

We are happy to 

announce that Finance 

Minister Grant 

Roberson will deliver 

the Ninth Annual Indian Newslink 

Lecture on Monday, July 29, 2019 at 

Pullman Hotel, Auckland. 

The central theme of his Lecture 

is likely to be ‘Good Financial 

Management contributes to Good 

Governance.’ 

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff will 

be the Master of Ceremonies at the 

Lecture which will commence with 

Cocktails and Networking at 630 pm, 

followed by Dinner. 

National Party List Member Paul 

Goldsmith will provide his ‘Reflections’ 

on the Lecture while former 

Labour List MP and former Advisor 

to the Kingdom of Lesotho Dr 

Rajen Prasad will offer Concluding 

Remarks. 

Rebranded Series 

The annual event, known from 

2011 to 2018 as ‘Indian Newslink 

Sir Anand Satyanand Lecture,’ 

has been rebranded this year as 

‘Indian Newslink Lecture Series’ but 

continues with its core objective of 

promoting Good Governance in the 

Corporate and Private sectors and 

individual lives of New Zealanders. 

Indian Newslink instituted the 

Lecture concept to foster qualities 

of Honesty, Integrity, Transparency 

and Accountability as critical factors 

determining Good Governance. 

Today, with the strengthening of 

the Anti-Money Laundering and 

Countering Financing of Terrorism 

Act and probe into the bona fides 

and otherwise of the banking and 

insurance sectors, the need for Good 

Corporate Governance has acquired 

greater significance. 

New Zealand is at crossroads of 

financial discipline and commercial 

greed and hence the Indian 

Newslink Lecture series has the potential 

to become a veritable public 

platform for dissection, analysis and 

direction of State and Public Policy. 

Budget and Responsible 

Governance 

Mr Robertson is due to present 

his ‘Wellbeing Budget,’ stated to be 

the first of its type in the world, to 

Parliament on Thursday, May 30, 

2019. While the details of his fiscal 

policy will be detailed within the 

proposal, the Budget is expected 

to become the watershed of ‘Open 

Government’ and ‘Responsible 

Governance’ propounded by Prime 

Minister Jacinda Ardern at the 

start of her new political career in 

October 2017. 

In that sense therefore, the 

Lecture by Mr Robertson would 

acquire greater importance in 

articulation of public finance, fiscal 

orderliness and cleanliness in 

administration. 

Mr Goff as the Master of Ceremonies 

would certainly bring to bear 

50 years of experience in public 

life, while Mr Smith is expected 

to add adiversified view of the 

issues that Mr Robertson would 

indubitably raise in his Lecture. Dr 

Prasad will bring to his Concluding 

Remarks the wisdom of academic 

and governmental experience to the 

Governance equation. 

Tickets to the Lecture, priced 

at $172.50 per person and $1725 

(with GST) per table of ten 

persons, including Cocktails 

and Black Tie Dinner are now 

available. Please call 021-836528 

or email 

venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz 

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02 

MAY 15, 2019 

Homelink 

National trains gun on Phil Twyford 

Jane Patterson 

After another tough week in Parliament, 

the National Party demanded 

the resignation of Housing Minister 

Phil Twyford over KiwiBuild. 

Mr Twyford was under pressure last week 

over the Crown underwrite process. 

He is now facing persistent questions about 

whether he will stick to the long-held target 

of building 100,000 KiwiBuild homes in 10 

years - a promise he staked his job on. 

So far just 80 homes have been built. 

Ministers are starting to lay the groundwork 

for a target reduction, suggesting that 

the housing market is quite different from 

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when the original target was set. 

Pointless distraction 

Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said in its 

current form KiwiBuild was a pointless 

distraction. 

“I am not optimistic that we will see a big 

reset but I think we need a fundamental 

repositioning of KiwiBuild if it is to succeed. 

In its current form it is doomed to fail,” he 

said. 

Mr Eaqub said that the government should 

consider renting the houses out instead, or 

redirect the funds into social housing, for 

which more than 10,000 families were on the 

waiting list. 

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Phil Twyford (RNZ Picture by Richard Tindiller 

In Parliament on Thursday, May 9, 2019, 

Mr Twyford once again faced off against 

National MP Judith Collins, who asked him if 

the government was willing to commit to the 

10-year target “as stated in the Speech from 

the Throne.” 

He told Parliament that there had been no 

change to that target since then. 

“Cabinet would consider the KiwiBuild reset 

in June and it’s inappropriate for me to speculate 

on what Cabinet may or may not decide. 

What has changed is that the housing market 

and the program need to respond,” he said. 

Broken promise 

Ms Collins then asked him whether he 

should keep his job given his statement to 

media last year offering to stake his job on its 

success - “and if he does, has he offered his 

resignation to the Prime Minister?” 

“I have not, as I am m utterly focused on 

getting the reset of KiwiBuild right.” Mr 

Twyford said. 

National’s leader Simon Bridges said that the 

refusal to recommit to the target ahead of the 

reset was a broken election promise, and also 

called for the minister to resign. 

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was 

happy to state that the government would 

Judith Collins (RNZ Picture by Ava Tovey 

reach its target - and more. 

“Sometimes getting things started is not 

easy, especially when you have got nine years 

of absolute paralysis and neglect,” Mr Peters 

said. “And it was never going to be easy, but I 

am very confident we’ll do awhole lot better 

over the next ten years with this sort of drive 

and impetus and commitment than 100,000 

homes.” 

Mr Twyford was asked what he thought 

of Mr Peters’ optimistic view of the future 

targets. 

“I like the way the Deputy Prime Minister 

rolls, I like his gung-ho support for our housing 

policies,” he said. 

Expensive Homes 

A Wanaka KiwiBuild home buyer Renee 

Hystek said that the current homes were very 

expensive and many people could not afford 

them. 

Despite that, Miss Hystek said that since 

her family moved in, she had got to know 

her neighbours for the first time in nearly a 

decade of living in the lakes district town, and 

it was a relief not to face steep annual rent 

hikes for her old, cold, damp flat. 

-Published under a Special Agreement with 

www.rnz.co.nz 

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi 

National List MPbasedd in 

Manukau East 

Contact 

A 

P 

F 

E 

1/131 Kolmar Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland 

09 278 9302 

09 278 2143 

bakshi.mp@parliament.govt.nz 

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bakshi.co.nz 

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Homelink 

Hundreds join Ardern in vigil for Sri Lankan bomb victims 

Michael Wood 

The diverse New 

Zealand Sri Lankan 

community rallied 

round in disbelief and 

grief following the atrocious 

massacres of Easter Sunday 

on April 21, 2019. 

Terrorist suicide bombers 

killed over 250 innocent 

people at several churches in 

Colombo and its suburbs and 

Batticaloa in the East Coast 

and in three luxury hotels in 

the Capital. About 50 of the 

victims were foreign nationals. 

The Island Nation which 

stopped a 30-year civil war 

only 10 years ago was just 

rebuilding and had reached 

the top of Trip Advisor’s Top 

Travel Destinations only 

recently when this atrocity 

happened. 

In my role as the Parliamentary 

Under-Secretary 

for the Minister of Ethnic 

Communities, and along with 

some of my Parliamentary 

colleagues, I attended several 

community gatherings to 

offer support to the ethnically 

and religiously diverse Sri 

Lankan community following 

the attacks. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaking 

at the gathering 

Support and Consolation 

They were sad occasions 

but I was impressed by the 

way the Sri Lankan Sinhalese, 

Tamils, Muslims, Buddhists, 

Catholics, Hindus, Anglicans, 

Methodists and people from 

across the Kiwi Sri Lankan 

community all supported 

each other at vigils and prayer 

sessions. 

As MPs, we wanted to directly 

express our solidarity with 

the Sri Lankan community by 

organising an interfaith community 

gathering on Saturday, 

May 4, 2019. 

Many members of the 

community belonging to 

various organisations attended 

the event, and were greatly 

encouraged by the presence 

of Prime Minister Jacinda 

Ardern at the Bhartiya Mandir 

Community Hall in Auckland. 

Among the others present 

Father Jude Algamage (Catholic Church) 

were Ministers Jenny Salesa 

(Ethnic Communities), Willie 

Jackson (Employment) Aupito 

Sio Williams (Pacific Peoples) 

Members of Parliament Dr 

Deborah Russell, Priyanca 

Radhakrishnan, Louisa Wall 

Marja Lubeck and myself. 

Ms Ardern said that she was 

deeply shocked by the Easter 

Sunday bomb attacks and had 

sent paid a tribute to the Sri 

Lankan community for their 

solidarity and united stand. 

Compassion and Solidarity 

“As a nation, we stand in 

compassion and solidarity with 

our Sri Lankan brothers and 

sisters. And we will stand with 

them in the future. The challenges 

that we now face are 

not local and are global. We 

need to stand against all forms 

of violence and terrorism. We 

have the right to worship safely 

and now it is clear we must 

focus in finding the strength 

and value of harmonious 

communities where all people 

are safe. We must find the 

answers to end violence and 

to strengthen our resolve 

to end violence reaffirming 

our shared values as New 

Zealanders together. I 

hope we will prevent these 

tragedies from happening 

again,” she said. 

Multifaith Representation 

Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic, 

Muslim, Anglican, Jewish 

and Methodist prayers were 

held, led by the respective 

priests. Among them were 

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03 

Jason Bandara and Don 

Dilantha presented a 

musical interlude. 

Among the other speakers 

were Ms Salesa, Superintendent 

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Radhakrishnan. 

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04 


Homelink 

Judith Collins could make Machiavelli proud 

National Party rumblings can take her to the top 

Thomas Coughlan 

Simon Bridges has made it 

to the weekend, surviving 

another tumultuous week as 

National leader. 

While he was able to stare down 

a potential coup on Tuesday, he 

wasn’t able to put a stop to more 

leaks of the sort that have rattled 

his tenure. They started almost 

immediately after Tuesday’s (April 

30, 2019) caucus meeting ended. 

Inertia, the real enemy 

Inertia is the real enemy of political 

leadership. Sure, it takes some 

brave MP to hold the blade, but it’s 

inertia that leads to it being wielded. 

People leaking, speculating, chatting, 

each one thinking they’ve got a 

hotter take on 2020 than the next. 

And it’s not just the National Party 

speculating. The Beehive is running 

its own war games too. They think 

they’ve got a better grasp on the 

opposition than it does on itself, and 

they may be right. 

It takes a while for opposition 

parties to adjust to the murk 

and plotting of Parliament, after 

becoming used to the lofty glow of 

government. Labour’s memories 

of instability and plotting are fresh, 

National’s aren’t. 

Labour’s knotty history 

Understandably, Labour views 

National’s ructions through the lens 

of its own knotty history. It sees the 

choice in fairly blunt terms: Bridges 

National Party Leader Simon Bridges with Judith Collins, Paula Bennett and others (Photo: Lynn Grieveson ) 

is the Phil Goff leader - an obvious 

successor to the previous, popular 

government, but unlikely to embody 

the change needed to get the Party 

over the line come election. 

Collins is the David Cunliffe candidate: 

madly popular with the Party 

base but polarising to the political 

centre who would likely migrate left 

if the National Party pivoted right. 

From Labour’s experience, 

National’s rightward drift seems 

inevitable; it’s an obvious and natural 

response to the identity crisis of 

opposition. 

So, they see Collins as a threat, 

not in 2020 but for 2023 - because 

National could get the rightward 

pivot out of the way in 2020 and 

focus on a centrist rebound in 2023 

with a charismatic but less rightwing 

candidate like Todd Muller or 

Nicola Willis. 

Backroom rifts 

But there’s a risk in that plan too: 

Cunliffe’s leadership created backroom 

rifts in Labour that are felt to 

this day. The Party’s catastrophic 

defeat in 2014 resulted in a tiny 

cohort of new MPs making in into 

Parliament, leaving Jacinda Ardern 

with slim pickings when it came to 

selecting experienced MPs for her 

cabinet. 

Contrast this with Don Brash’s 

impressive electoral showing in 2005, 

which gave John Key greater depth 

of talent when it came to selecting 

ministers (although somehow Richard 

Worth, Pansy Wong, and Phil Heatly still 

made it through — all three were gone 

by 2010). 

The question of what to do about 

the base is squarely in National’s court. 

Unlike Labour, members have no role 

in selecting their leader: it’s all caucus. 

Judith Collins popularity 

In the 2018 leadership race, a large 

plank of Judith Collins’ campaign 

was centred around her popularity 

with the base. Members want to see 

her, and other MPs invite her to their 

electorates to speak and mingle. 

These are the people National 

needs to mobilise if it’s to win, and 

they’re not going to open up their 

wallets if they don’t feel they’re 

being listened to. 

But there’s an even greater question 

of just who constitutes the base. 

Traditionally, membership of a 

Party was more or less synonymous 

with being a part of that Party’s 

base. But as fewer and fewer people 

decide to become members of a 

political Party, the gap between a 

Party’s official membership and its 

base - which might be understood 

as people who regularly vote and 

donate to a Party - has grown. 

This was faced by the Green Party 

in its co-leadership election last 

year, where card-carrying members 

took the Party leftwards, potentially 

against the wishes of more moderate 

people who regularly vote Green 

but had never made the decision to 

formally become members. 

Membership and Votes 

As of 2018, National had roughly 

20,000 or so members. A sizeable cohort, 

but it pales when you place this 

alongside another measurement of 

the Party’s ‘base’, which was polled 

for in the New Zealand Election 

Study after the 2017 election. 

In that study, 26.56% of people 

said they were “close to” National. 

If you were to map that onto the 2.6 

million people who voted in the 2017 

election, you find that nearly 700,000 

voters would say they were “close 

to” National. 

Now, experience suggests that only 

a fraction of that base is actually 

going to get out door knocking — but 

it does illustrate two problems bedevilling 

National: one, the difficulty 

in knowing exactly what and where 

their base is; and two, the knowledge 

that whatever it is, it’s likely to be 

massive. 

Victim of success 

National is a victim of its own 

success. Back in 2002, just 20.5% of 

voters “identified” as National-leaning 

(a slightly different formulation 

of the same question). That year, 

National took home just 20.9% of 

the vote, suggesting only National 

die-hards bothered turning out. 

Even when Don Brash rebuilt 

the Party vote back up to 39.1% in 

2005, only 23.7% of respondents to 

the NZES felt they “identified” with 

National. 

The modern Party is far different. 

Thomas Coughlan is a Reporter at 

Newsroom based in Wellington. 

The above Report and Pictures 

have been published under a 

Special Arrangement. The above 

is an edited version. For full text, 

please visit 


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Jacinda Ardern engaged to Clarke Gayford 

Prime Minister Jacinda 

Arden and her partner 

Clarke Gayford are 

engaged to be married. 

A spokesperson said the pair 

got engaged over the Easter 

break. 

Ms Ardern and Mr Gayford 

first met at an awards event 

in 2012. 

A spokesperson for Ms 

Ardern wouldn’t confirm any 

details, other than that the Pair 

got engaged in Mahia over the 

Easter holidays. 

In an interview with BBC 

last year, Ms Ardern was asked 

whether she could imagine 

proposing to Mr Gayford, 

her response was that she 

wanted “to put him through 

the pain and torture of having 

to agonise about that question 

himself.” 

Leaders greet 

National leader Simon 

Bridges tweeted that he and 

his wife Natalie, extend their 

‘congratulations to the PM and 

Clarke on their engagement’. 

Ms Ardern gave birth to 

their first child Neve Te Aroha 

Ardern Gayford on June 21 last 

year. 

Mr Gayford has been the 

girl’s stay-at-home father. 

Second Leader in modern 

history 

It was only the second time 

an elected world leader had 

given birth while in office, the 

first time being former Prime 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with her Partner Clarke Gayford and their child Neve in their Auckland 

home. (Photo Supplied by Jacinda Ardern) 

Minister of Pakistan Benazir 

Bhutto, who was elected Prime 

Minister in 1988 and in 1990 

gave birth to her second child. 

Prior to her, Queen Elizabeth 

II gave birth to Prince Andrew 

in 1960 and Prince Edward 

in 1964 after her ascension 

to the throne in 1952. Queen 

Victoria, Catherine the Great 

and Cleopatra also became 

mothers while being leaders of 

their states. 

The birth made international 

headlines, as did the child’s 

presence at the UN General 

Assembly in September. 

Mr Gayford is a television 

personality who is currently 

presenting a fishing documentary 

show. 

Fortune’s Listing 

Ms Ardern was named 

by Fortune magazine as the 

second-greatest leader in the 

world, partly because of her 

response to the Christchurch 

terror attacks on 15 March. 

The magazine also 

recognised how Ms Ardern 

refused to speak the accused’s 

name and was swift in making 

moves for a ban on semiautomatic 

weapons of the kind 

used in the attack. 

She was widely recognised 

for opening speeches with 

Arabic greetings and wearing 

a head scarf in solidarity and 

respect for the Muslim victims 

of the attack, 51 of whom lost 

their lives. 

Published under a Special 

Agreement with 

www.rnz.co.nz 

Homelink 

05

06 


Educationlink 

Waikato DHB goes into the hands of a Commissioner 

Sourced Content 

Health Minister David Clark 

said that a Commissioner 

was needed to lead the 

“significant changes” 

required at the Waikato District 

Health Board (DHB). 

Dr Clark said on May 7, 2019 that 

Director General of Health Dr Karen 

Poutasi will take up the Commissioner’s 

role, starting the next day 

(Wednesday, May 8, 2019). 

He said that nine of the 11 board 

members offered to resign. 

Necessary step 

“I think that reflects the 

seriousness of the challenges they 

have been dealing with. While I 

thank the board members for their 

service, installing a Commissioner is 

a necessary step towards addressing 

the DHB’s deteriorating financial 

position, lack of strong governance, 

and ongoing performance issues 

Central Christchurch hospitality operators 

fear that they could be heading 

into the toughest winter to date. 

Eight years on from the earthquakes, 

there are more restaurants and bars in the 

City than ever before - but operators say that 

there are not enough customers to share. 

Shutters go down 

The list of closures since January includes 

Bamboozle Restaurant, Orleans, Sailor’s Son 

Coffee Roastery, the Anchorage Cafe, Bootleg 

BBQ Kitchen and a branch of Habitual Fix. 

with clinical services,” he said. 

Dr Clark said that the financial 

performance of the DHB had 

sharply deteriorated. 

“Despite the efforts by the 

Crown Monitor, there has been 

limited progress due to instability 

It has been 20 years since Bruce Griffith 

and his wife took over Astro Lounge bar and 

Cook‘n’ with Gas Restaurant on Worcester 

Boulevard. They too have made the decision 

to close, on the basis that the “sheer cost of 

operations was just too much.” 

“It was just unviable ... and we feel bad 

about what’s happened. We let our staff 

down, and many of our staff were with us for 

years. And we’ve probably let our suppliers 

down, which is pretty gutting,” he said. 

Unfavourable trends 

Hospitality investor Max Bremner has 

at a governance level. The ongoing 

performance issues with clinical services 

are concerning - as is the DHB’s 

inability to recruit a permanent 

chief executive,” he said. 

Deficit and instability 

Last month, Dr Clark told the 

board he was “seriously dissatisfied” 

with its performance and increasingly 

worried about its growing 

deficit and instability. 

On governance, the DHB is not 

managing some basics - like getting 

patients seen in the Emergency 

Department within the six-hour 

time frame expected - contributing 

to dysfunctional relationships with 

a couple of other hospitals in the 

DHB’s own region. 

Board decisions have also 

reportedly reached the media while 

the board is still meeting. Senior 

doctors are worried decisions are 

not being made, and some GPs are 

also unhappy. 

A members-only meeting of the 

board met later in April to discuss 

the future of the board. 

Support from Chair 

Waikato DHB Chair Sally Webb 

supported the decision to sack the 

board and appoint a commissioner. 

In April she told Checkpoint the 

board had failed to provide focused 

leadership. 

“I believe that it is my role as 

Chair to be able to assure the 

minister that I can provide focused 

leadership for the organisation and 

I’ve been unable to do that. So yes, 

I guess we would call it game over,” 

Ms Web said. I have talked to the 

... Minister about the advantages 

of having a commissioner, yes. 

And personally, I believe that the 

appointment of a Commissioner 

is the right move to ensure that 

Waikato District Health Board has 

the trusted, focused leadership it 

needs to address the challenges it 

faces,” she said. 

-Published under a Special 

Arrangement with www.rnz.co.nz 

Waikato Hospital Photo: Supplied 

Waikato DHB Facebook 

Christchurch heading towards toughest Winter on record 

Katie Todd 

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owned more than 20 Christchurch bar and 

restaurants in the past 25 years and said he did 

not like the way things were trending. 

“That’s never happened before. Normally 

[restaurants and bars] shut the doors in September 

or October, when winter comes hard 

and they can’t pay their bills. But never at this 

time of year ... that is a terrible sign,” he said. 

It also comes despite a positive start, on 

paper, to 2019 for Christchurch’s hospitality 

sector. 

According to the City’s economic development 

agency, ChristchurchNZ, Central City 

spending on food and beverages rose 23% last 

year, while total visitor spending was up 13% 

this January compared to January 2018. 

But Coffee Worx owner Ian Riach, who 

helps distribute coffee beans to businesses 

across the South Island, said that Christchurch 

visitor-spending seemed to be going straight to 

a small amount of established bars, restaurants 

and cafes. 

That is leaving newcomers to grapple with 

high city rents and tough competition, with 

none of their target customers frequenting the 

central city. 

Despair and Hope 

“Good people are setting up businesses and 

they are aiming at tourists and residents. But 

most of the people there are construction 

workers, so they’re looking for a different 

offer,” he said. 

Peter Morrison, a Central City hotel owner 

and President of Hospitality New Zealand 

Canterbury’s branch, said that new businesses 

had also been banking on the opening of 

buildings like the Christchurch Convention 

Centre to bring in visitors - but they have not 

been completed on time. 

Mr Morrison said he was hopeful that there 

would not be too many more closures over 

Winter, as ChristchurchNZ prepares to roll out 

a Winter advertising campaign with Expedia, 

Air New Zealand and local hotels. 

Nevertheless, he said, operators were going 

to have to “buckle down” and hope that they 

got through. 

Katie Todd is a Reporter at Radio New 

Zealand. The above Report and Picture have 

been published under a Special Arrangement 

with www.rnz.co.nz 

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Educationlink 

07 

BROUGHT LOCALLY 

The view that the customer is sovereign is alive and well at 

Global Finance. 

Their Customer Care Program, sees more than 1000 people 

voluntarily surveyed annually where feedback across key 

customer engagement and service areas are sought. Real 

feedback and some exceptional comments are considered by 

Global Finance so that better service can now be provided to 

customers from Manukau, Flatbush, Howick, Pakuranga, 

Dannemora, Botany. 

the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and ATEED Westpac 

Auckland Business Awards. The 2016 awards saw them collect 

the gong for “Marketing” and in the same year, the inaugural 

Deloittes Fast 50 Award for “Fastest growing mature business”. 

The business has gone on to collect more than 40 awards and 

has been recognised as the best in their industry. 

“As our customer base grew, we got consistent feedback about 

the need to make our services more accessible, particularly in 

Auckland where getting around is a real-life challenge. We 

wanted to respond tangibly to this feedback. Our customers 

have given us the courage to drive our branch expansion” says 

founder and MD, Ajay Kumar. 

Last year, Global Finance opened Henderson Branch on Lincoln 

Road, their first office outside of the expanding Airport Oaks 

complex and the support that branch has received has been 

fantastic from West Aucklanders. 

“It was an obvious response to the feedback and the real need 

to bring expert Global Finance advice local. Our desire to 

improve access to the advice we offer regarding some of the 

most important decisions people will make in their lives is as 

strong as the customers demand for it. It really is about their 

best interest” 

But to be a sustainable long-term financial service business, 

expansion is only part of the equation. You must do a lot of 

things differently from your competitors and you must be 

willing to change and adapt. Despite this, one thing Global 

Finance have never changed is their reason for being – The 

Customer. 

“These awards and the many other industry ones we have 

achieved, have always been on behalf of the customers we 

serve and because of the customers we work for.” 

This seems to contrast with the world of financial services 

currently but the fact that Global Finance have sustained an 

average growth in the customers they serve exceeding 25% per 

annum over the last 5 years with an average NPS (Net Promoter 

Score) of 75 means they are not just talking the talk but walking 

the walk too. 

In May 2019, Global Finance opens their new Manukau Branch, 

corner of Cavendish and Lambie Drive right in the heart of the 

Manukau business and shopping precinct to better serve those 

customers who live, and work in South and East Auckland. 

Global Finance just got a whole lot more local! 

In 2015 Global Finance was one of the first financial service 

advisory businesses to win “Excellence in Customer Service” at 

OUR CLIENTS SAY 

The GF team worked on a plan to pay off our 30 year mortgage in 13 

years. We followed their guidance and direction and on the 3rd of Feb 

after 9 years and 3 months, we are mortgage free…The whole team is 

approachable, easy to deal with and have never let us down. Thanks…on 

behalf of my family and myself. 

- B.R, Lynfield 

AIRPORT 

OAKS 

Email: 

19/22, 203 Kirkbride Road, Mangere 

09 2555500 

info@globalfinance.co.nz 

MANUKAU 

Website: 

28E Lambie Drive, Manukau 

09 2635555 

www.globalfinance.co.nz 

HENDERSON 

103 Lincoln Road, Henderson 

09 8635555

08 


Fijilink 

Fiji mulls new policies to boost economic development 

Venkat Raman 

Creation of special Economic 

Zones, improved incentives 

for Foreign Direct Investors 

(FDI) and local investors, 

Policies and Programmes based on 

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) 

including better housing and infrastructure 

are among the challenges 

confronting the Government of 

Fiji as it moves to fulfil its election 

promises. 

Fiji’s Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe 

Bainimarama led his FijiFirst Party 

to form the second four-year term 

government following the general 

election held on November 14, 2018. 

Although with a reduced majority 

(the Party lost five seats to its main 

rival SODELPA), Mr Bainimarama 

has a comfortable majority (27 seats 

out of 51 seats) to successfully implement 

programmes to accelerate 

economic development. 

Political stability and a dynamic 

government are the two major attributes 

of Fiji and Mr Bainimarama 

has chosen Ministers who share his 

ambition and vision. 

Among them is Premila Kumar, 

who, as the Minister of Industry, 

Trade, Tourism MITT), Local Government, 

Housing and Community 

Development, brings substantial 

experience and expertise in diverse 

professional areas. 

Top Priorities 

“Our Government is addressing 

many issues on priority and Housing 

and exploring new areas of investment 

to accelerate development. We 

Minister Premila Kumar with (from left) Uma Venkatram, Shaheen Ali, Zarak Khan, Indra Sirigiri 

and Daniel Stow in Suva, Fiji on May 6, 2019 (INL Picture) 

are committed to more jobs for our 

people and engage more effectively 

with our own investors and businesses,” 

she said, speaking to Indian 

Newslink during a formal meeting at 

her office in Suva on Monday, May 6, 

2019. 

Among those present at the meeting 

were Shaheen Ali, Permanent Secretary 

to the MITT, Zarak Khan, Consul 

General and Trade Commissioner 

(ANZ) and Daniel Stow, Manager, 

Trade & Investment (Australia), both 

based in Sydney. Indra Sirigiri, 

Chairman & Managing Director, Link2 

Group and Uma Venkatram, Financial 

Controller & Correspondent of this 

newspaper. 

A strong advocate of closer 

cooperation with the country’s highly 

successful private sector, Ms Kumar 

met all principle businesses and key 

players in the Fijian economy since she 

joined the government as a Minister in 

November 2018. 

“We see the private sector as the 

engine of economic development and 

as such we are keen to ensure their 

participation in every aspect of the 

Fijian economy. A new Industrial and 

Investment Policy is being developed 

to tap the available resources and foster 

economic growth. We see effective 

PPPs as asignificant way forward,” she 

said. 

Digitalisation and BPO 

The Fijian government has embarked 

on a major digitalisation drive, 

keen to bring e-commerce and online 

platform as a way of conducting business 

and promoting inter-department 

and intrapersonal communications. 

The country has a well-educated 

(with 96% literacy rate) and young 

population (more than 33% of its 

people are less than 14 years old and 

about 65% are in the 15-64 age group) 

and hence is increasingly becoming an 

important centre for BPO, including 

Call Centres, Back-Office Support and 

other activities. 

Improving Healthcare 

Improving Healthcare is a major 

concern for the Fijian government and 

Ms Kumar said that it is being treated 

as an industry, attracting all incentives 

for investment. 

Mr Ali agreed, saying that Healthcare 

as an industry would accrue 

several advantages to investors as well 

as the people. 

“Among the positive effects of such 

a move would be establishment of 

good hospitals attracting qualified 

doctors and nurses and a strong 

pharmaceutical sector. There will also 

be more people keen to live and work 

here,” he said. 

World Bank Funding 

On April 26, 2019, the World Bank 

announced additional funding of 

US$ 21 million to Fiji, enabling the 

government to finance some of its 

development projects. 

For the first time, Fiji has access to 

funding through the International 

Development Association (IDA), the 

World Bank Group’s arm for supporting 

the world’s most in-need countries, 

including funding for key regional 

projects and to support the country in 

the event of a crisis. 

Fiji has been reclassified as a 

country eligible for funding from 

both IDA and the World Bank’s International 

Bank of Reconstruction and 

Development (IBRD), with preferential 

access to funds from IDA on the most 

concessional terms, as well as World 

Bank Group IBRD support on ‘most 

favourable terms’, notably 0% interest, 

ten years grace and 40 years maturity. 

ADB Meetings successful 

The meetings of the Asian 

Development Bank (ADB) held last 

fortnight proved that Fiji has become 

a major destination for international 

conferences. More than 3200 persons, 

including the Board of Governors of 

the Bank, top officials, ministers and 

public servants from Japan and other 

Asian countries attended the three-day 

event held at the Fiji Sheraton Resort 

Hotel. 

“It was a proud moment for us. 

Apart from meeting many challenges 

such as security and logistics, we 

were able to showcase the unique 

hospitality and the welcoming nature 

of our Fiji people to visitors from far 

and near,” Ms Kumar said. 

She said that her government also 

utilised the opportunity to engage 

with the ADB more thoroughly and 

constructively and discuss with the 

top officials developing financial 

markets, information on the economy 

of the Pacific Island Countries and 

other matters of concern. Climate 

Change was obviously a major issue 

that concerned ADB, she said. 

There were two major outcomes 

of the ADB meetings held in Suva – a 

US$ 5 billion investment by ADB to 

improve the Ocean Health in the 

region and the announcement by 

ADB to issue Fiji Dollar-linked bonds 

offshore. 

Please read separate stories on these 

issues in this Section and our Leader, 

‘Energy and enthusiasm hallmarks of 

Fiji’ under Viewlink. 

The ADB Annual Meeting was a 

perfect setting for Fiji to develop a 

strong Capital Market, considered 

essential in an increasingly globalised 

financial markets. 

Maungakiekie Office 

Level 1, Crighton House, 100 Neilson Street, Onehunga 

(entrance from Galway Street) 

Open weekdays 9am-5pm 

(09) 622-2660 

Priyanca@parliament.govt.nz 

Please call to make an appointment before coming into the office 

Bringing NewZealand HeartSpecialists to Fiji 

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Tributes and gratitude at Girmit Anniversary MeetinAuckland 

Fijilink 

09 

Thakur 

Ranjit Singh 

Auckland based Fiji 

Girmit Foundation of New 

Zealand commemorated 

the 140thAnniversary 

of the arrival of the first group of 

Girmityas to Fiji at aSpecial Meeting 

held on Friday, May10, 2019 at 

Skipton Hall in theSouth Auckland 

suburb of Mangere East. 

The Trusteesofthe Foundation 

passed on the baton to ayouthful 

millennial Executive Committee 

who organised thisevent for the 

first time. 

And they brought in welcome 

changes. 

Celebratory theme 

There was no crying,lamentor 

apportioningthe blame; the theme 

was to celebrate theresilience, 

resolve, faith and vision of the 

forebears. 

The Programme was not intended 

as an entertaining event filled with 

songs and dances. 

Instead, it was meant as 

educational, empowering and 

enlightening -withquiz, oratory 

andhistorical insights. Itwas also 

meant to encourage and allow the 

Fiji-Indian community to ascertain 

their rightful role andrecognition 

as Pacifica people, beingthe second 

largest Pacificpopulation in New 

Zealand. 

Identity Crisis 

This was reflected in his speech 

by President Krish Naidu, who said 

that Fiji Indians were discriminated 

while in Fiji and this appearsto 

have accompanied them to New 

Zealand. 

“In New Zealand, we live withan 

identity crisis; we are not accepted 

and recognised as apart of the 

Pacificcommunity and entitled to 

resources, opportunities, respect 

and recognition available and given 

to people who originate from the 

PacificIsland Countries,” he said. 

Sir Anand Satyanand: ValueofEducation 

He requested that Fiji-Indians be 

mentioned as aseparate ethnicityin 

the New Zealand Census, and called 

on thecommunity to unite under a 

Girmit banner and work together. 

Sir Anand’s tribute 

Chief Guest former Governor 

General Sir Anand Satyanand 

(who was accompanied by Lady 

Susan Satyanand), isofFiji-Indian 

heritage. He outlined both sides 

of hisgenealogy,coming from two 

parts of India. 

He told apackedauditoriumthat 

he was moved by therespect that 

was shown by theFoundation in 

honouring andpresentingmedals 

to over 25 elders of 80 years and 

more, for passing the heritage and 

culture fromthe earliergenerations 

to thenext one. 

Phil Twyford: Salutations to Fiji-Indians 

Sir Anand honouring Roy Krishna watched by his wife Nazia Ali Krishna 

He echoed theresilience and 

special traits that our forebears left 

behind, which makeusproud with 

arich heritage. 

“What are we to do with ourmatter 

with Indian heritage? It is not 

only to be recorded and bottled-up 

but shared around for thebenefitof 

aconsiderable number,”hesaid. 

Sir Anand saluted thefaith of 

the forebears in education and 

confidence in futurethat hasseen 

the descendants to shine. 

“I feel certain if it was possible 

for our forebears to ascertain 

what was achievedbysubsequent 

generations, they would be proud. 

Education and its pursuitisof 

course, keynote. As (former South 

African President) Nelson Mandela 

once said, ‘Education is themost 

Bank to issue Fijian Dollar bonds forglobal investors 

ASection of Guests at the event (Pictures Supplied) 

powerfulweapon youcan useto 

change the world.’” 

Housing and Transport Minister 

Phil Twyford praised all migrants 

who made Aotearoa into abeautiful 

melting potand saluted Fiji-Indians 

for being exemplary citizens. 

Girmit Legacy Awards 

The highlight of the evening was 

‘GirmitLegacy Awards.’ 

As resilienceand resolve of our 

Girmitiyashelped them transcend 

adversity, whatthat meant was that 

theybequeathed the new generation 

arich and inspiring legacy,through 

which Fiji has produced outstanding 

people and organisations that have 

become role models to inspire others 

and ensure the hard work, spirit and 

values. 

The legacyofGirmityas continues 

to live in actionevery day. 

Mr Naidusaiditwas amatter off 

pride that theGirmit Foundation has 

such Awards,specifically to recognise 

the descendants of Girmityas, 

and an opportunity to celebrate 

our Fiji-Indians andassociated 

organisationsthathave worked hard 

toconnect the community and the 

wider society. 

Among therecipients of this year’s 

Awards were Friends of FijiHeart 

Foundation (Community Wellbeing 

Award- ‘Samajik KaushaltaRatan’); 

Waitakere Hindi School (Arts and 

Culture Award- ‘Girmit Kala Aur 

SanskritiRatan’); Wellington A 

LeaguePhoenixStarRoy Krishna 

(Sports Award–‘Khelkood Ratan’) and 

Professor BrijVilash Lal (Literature 

Award-‘Sahitya Ratan’). 

Sir Anand presented the Awards. 

Messages, Photographs 

Members of Parliament Kanwaljit 

SinghBakshi(National) andPriyanca 

Radhakrishnan (Labour) spokeatthe 

event. 

There were other congratulatory 

messages, interspersedwithcultural 

item andquiz. 

Theevening concluded with 

photographysessions withRoy 

Krishna and hisPageant Beauty 

Queen wife Nazia Ali Krishna, who 

had especially flown from Fiji for the 

occasion. 

If it was alitmustestfor themillennial 

teamofExecutives of Fiji Girmit 

Foundation, it was ajob well done 

and huge applause from all of us. 

Avery memorable, andunique 

waytosalute the memoriesof 

those who sacrificed for us, and Fiji 

Indian Diasporaneedtolearn from 

Aucklanders to emulate such events 

for their forebears in theirrespective 

cities around where FijiIndian 

Diasporahave settled. 

ThakurRanjit Singh isafounding 

Trustee of Fiji Girmit Foundation, 

Journalist, Media Commentator 

and runs his Blog at Fiji Pundit. He 

livesinAuckland. 

Posted from Suva, Fiji 

The AsianDevelopment 

Bank (ADB) and the Fijian 

Government have agreed 

to work together on the 

planned issue of offshore Fijian 

dollar-linked bonds by ADB. 

Under theinitiative, taken 

during ameeting between ADB 

Vice-President for Finance and Risk 

Management Ingrid van Wees and 

Fijian Attorney General and Economy 

Minister AiyazSayed-Khaiyum, 

ADB willseek to mobilise Fijian 

dollar funding from international 

investors for investments in Fiji 

through acurrency-linked structure. 

Currency-linkedbonds are 

denominated in the local currency 

of themarket they serve. 

Development of Capital Markets 

ADB is delightedtosupport the 

development of Fiji’scapital markets. 

The initiative marks another 

milestone in ADB’ssupport for Fiji 

and our strategy of delivering local 

currency funding in developing 

countries,” ADB Treasurer Pierre 

VanPeteghem said. 

The proceedsofthe planned 

bondswill enable ADBtoofferlocal 

currency loans in Fijiand helpto 

Fiji’sEconomy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum leading discussions with ADB Vice-President (Finance and Risk 

Management) Ingrid van Wees in Suva on May 6, 2019 (Picture Supplied) 

reduce foreign exchange risk for 

ADB’s borrowers. 

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said that 

international financiers have long 

recognised Fiji as an attractive 

destination forinvestment,a 

reputation that willbebolstered by 

this new partnership with ADB. 

Financial risks removed 

“Thisgroundbreaking initiative 

removes the financial risks and 

costs associated with overseas currency 

transactionsand conversions. 

As aresult, it will cultivateamore 

business-friendly bond market and, 

most importantly,free up more 

funds for an infusion of private 

sector investment right here in Fiji,” 

he said. 

ADB is aregular borrower in 

mainstream international bond 

markets and has led issuance in 

developing Asiancountries as part 

of its efforts to promotedomestic 

bond markets as an alternative to 

bank lending. 

The Bankraised more than 

US$23.5 billion from the capital 

markets in 2018. 

About ADB 

Ms van Wees said that ADB 

is committed to achieving a 

prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and 

sustainable Asia and the Pacific, 

while sustaining its efforts to eradicate 

extreme poverty. 

“In 2018, it madecommitments 

of new loans andgrants amounting 

to $21.6 billion. Established in 1966, 

it is owned by 68 members, 49 of 

them from this region,” she said. 

ADB President Takehiko Nakao with Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi in Suva 

(RNZ PacificPicture by Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia) 

ADB to invest US$ 5billion to fosterOcean Health 

The AsianDevelopment Bank 

has launched a$US5billion 

Action Plan to improve 

ocean health. The Plan 

was announced at theADB board 

of Governor’s meeting, held last 

fortnight in Fiji. 

The Action Plan forHealthy 

Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies 

targets maritimewelfare in the 

Asia-Pacific. 

Resilient Future 

ADB President Takehiko Nakao 

said it was part of amore, “resilient 

future, where humanity andoceans 

thrive together.” 

Of theworld’s10riverscarrying 

the most plastic pollutiontothe 

ocean, the ADB saideight were in 

the region. Withoutimmediate 

action, theADB said about 90%ofthe 

region’scoral reefs could be dead by 

2050. 

The subsequent collapse of fish 

stocks would threaten foodsecurity 

and livelihoods,especiallyinPacific 

countries. 

Technical Assistance 

The ADB Plan includes financing 

and technical assistance to develop 

sustainabletourism and fisheries, 

protect marine ecosystems, reduce 

pollution, andimprove thesustainability 

of coastal infrastructure like 

ports. 

The Plan runs until 2024 andwill 

help the ADB’sdeveloping member 

countries achieve their UN sustainable 

development goals, including 

goal 14 -LifeBelow Water.

10 


Businesslink 

Global Finance branches out to South Auckland communities 

Venkat Raman 

One of New Zealand’s largest 

mortgage and insurance 

brokerage firms has just 

opened its office in Manukau 

to cater to the fast-growing 

South Auckland communities. 

Global Finance, which is expected 

to have generated mortgage loans 

and insurance premia valued at 

over $1.1 billion as at the end of 

March 2019, held a simple inaugural 

ceremony on Wednesday, March 

8, 2019 at 28E Lambie Drive and 

named Himank Agarwal as its 

Branch Manager. 

Among those present at the event 

were Global Finance Chairman & 

Managing Director Ajay Kumar, 

Member of the Advisory Board Mike 

Skilling and Strategy and Management 

Consultant Darrin Franks and 

a few well-wishers. 

Manukau represents the third 

branch for the Company which 

recently celebrated its 20th Anniversary, 

with the first branch opened in 

Henderson, West Auckland last year. 

Natural growth and extension 

While expansion of network of 

offices came as natural growth, 

Mr Kumar has somewhat been 

reluctant to increase the physical 

presence of Global Finance for fear 

of ‘losing that personal touch’ with 

customers. 

“But it was they (customers) who 

instructed us to get closer to their 

homes,” Mr Kumar said. 

“Since the establishment of Global 

Ajay Kumar, Mike Skilling, Darrin Franks and 

Himank Agarwal at the opening of the Manukau 

Branch of Global Finance on May 8, 2019 

Ajay Kumar with the ANZ Platinum Award 

(Pictures Supplied) 

Finance in March 1999, the voice of 

customers has always been the predominant 

force in our operations. 

Over the past few years, in deference 

to the wishes of residents in 

the greater West Auckland area, we 

established a branch in Henderson 

in 2018. That marked the first office 

of Global Finance outside Airport 

Oaks since June 2006. Convenience 

and views of customers are of 

paramount importance to us at all 

times,” he said. 

An exterior view of the Manukau Office of Global Finance 

About Manukau Office 

Increasing traffic congestion, 

pressure of work and family 

commitments are among the factors 

that drove customers in the South 

and East Auckland catchment area 

to ‘demand’ a branch in Manukau. 

Global Finance acquired the 

property at 28E Lambie Drive but it 

took more than two years to make 

the move. 

“At Global Finance, we prefer 

to own, not rent properties. We 

purchase and equip them on cash 

payment (ironically, this Company 

does not believe in mortgage loans) 

but in the case of Manukau, we had 

to wait until we had the right staff,” 

he said. 

With an office space of 140 Sq Metres, 

the current Manukau facility 

could become insufficient over the 

coming years but Mr Kumar would 

then have the option of taking over 

the ground floor space of 200 Sq 

Meters currently on lease. 

“Our Henderson Office (managed 

by Ravi Kacharia), which occupies 

130 Sq Meters of space is sufficient 

for existing operations but may 

necessitate additional area in the 

future. We are constantly striving to 

improve our services and facilities,” 

Mr Kumar said. 

Network expansion can become 

addictive, especially in the case of 

companies such as Global Finance, 

which experience substantial 

growth- in this case, about 20% 

every year. 

With a client-base that accounts 

for more than 6000, it would be no 

surprise if the Company seeks further 

geographic expansion, initially 

to cover the growing population and 

demand for mortgage and insurance 

services in greater Auckland 

region and eventually to other parts 

of New Zealand. 

Unique Loan Liquidation Formula 

“Our unique formula of making 

our customers mortgage-free sooner 

than what they think would be 

possible, has seen many of them 

look for investment properties. In 

addition, we have seen the next 

generation growing and seeking 

our services. Growth and expansion 

are therefore constant, and I now 

believe that branch expansion would 

not only be inevitable but also be 

desirable because we want to be 

where our customers are located,” 

Mr Kumar said. 

More Awards and Citations 

Global Finance is perhaps the only 

company in New Zealand to have 

won more than 50 Awards given by 

Indian Newslink, ANZ, ASB, Westpac 

and BNZ over the past 20 years. 

The latest in the lineage is the 

‘Top Insurance Advisor of 2018’ 

Award presented to Mr Kumar by 

the country’s largest Insurer, AIA 

New Zealand at a ceremony held at 

Auckland War Memorial Museum on 

Friday, May 10, 2019. 

The Company was also named 

winner of the ‘Platinum Business 

Award’ by ANZ, New Zealand’s 

biggest commercial bank. 

“These Awards humble us 

but make us proud because we 

consider them as endorsement by 

our customers. It is a great honour 

to be recognised by two giants in 

the banking and insurance industry. 

They challenge and encourage us to 

increase our level of performance. 

While the opening of our branch in 

Manukau augurs well with these 

Awards, we are constantly aware 

of the increasing competition in an 

already overcrowded mortgage and 

insurance markets,” Mr Kumar said. 

EMPLOYMENT LAW 

HAS CHANGED 

Here’s what you need to know 

In New Zealand all employees are protected by law – and recently this law was updated. The aim is improve fairness in 

the workplace, deliver decent work conditions and make sure people are paid a fair wage. 

The right to set rest and meal breaks has been restored and 90 day trial periods have been limited to smaller businesses. 

Protections for employees have been improved, and the role of collective bargaining (unions) has been strengthened. 

Workers and employees – you should know your rights and responsibilities under the Employment Relations Act. 

Employers, business owners, managers and bosses – you need to understand your obligations and the changes. 

It’s up to you to make sure you meet the new minimum standards set by the law. 

To learn more visit www.employment.govt.nz/employmentrelations 

MBE0009


This month, a Consumer 

New Zealand survey, found 

that only 47% of people 

surveyed said banks can 

be trusted and only 35% think 

banks have their best interests at 

heart. 

It is not surprising then that 

about 70% of New Zealanders 

agree that banks need to be 

monitored more closely to protect 

consumers from irresponsible 

practices. 

The Australian scene 

The Australian Royal Commission 

on Banking and Finance was 

hard to miss. 

The Commission ran for much 

of last year uncovering unethical 

and/or immoral practices by 

high profile banks and insurance 

companies. 

Wanting practices included the 

irresponsible sale of products that 

were not needed by customers, 

selling products to minors and 

instances of charging for services 

long after customers had died. 

Of course everyone says, “It 

couldn’t happen here” and that is 

the reason that our own Financial 

Markets Authority (FMA) and 

Reserve Bank of New Zealand 

(RBNZ) interviewed some of the 

My Mission is to establish 0800 

Rachna as an influential 

independent Mortgage 

Advisor, by educating and 

empowering my customers to become 

financially literate decision-makers and 

helping them achieve their financial 

goals. 

My business Dream, ‘Your Home 

Limited (aka 

0800RACHNA 

has been 

operating as 

Mortgage and 

Insurance 

Advisor. The 

key to the 

success for 

this business 

in a very 

short time is 

thoughtful 

actions with 

aspiring attitude 

to retain 

remarkable relationships with clients. 

Faster loan repayment 

I ensure that you save money on the 

interest cost and help you repay your 

loan faster. 

Clients are given advice based on the 

basic principles of savings them money 

on the interest cost and providing them 

convenience to save a trip to different 

banks. Clients have options to meet after 

hours or on weekends by appointment. 

Along with good communication 

skills, my team members and I have 

the ability to speak in English, Hindi, 

Gujarati, Tamil and Mandarin. 

Personalised Services 

As your trusted and award-winning 

adviser with experience in financial 

services industry for over 13 years, I can 

confidently guide you to streamline the 

home loan process and walk with you 

the journey of home buying. 

I have a strong network of professionals 

to help my clients in the journey of 

home buying. 

0800RACHNA is a One Stop-Shop for 

your financial needs including (a) Home 

Loan (b) Business Loan (c) Commercial 

Loans (d) Construction Loan (e) Debt 

Consolidation 

(f) Car Loan 

(g) Personal 

Loan (h) Life 

Insurance 

Awards and 

Recognition 

I am the 

first woman of 

Indian origin 

to receive the 

‘Best Financial 

Advisor (Mortgage) 

of the 

Year Award’ 

presented at 

the Indian Newslink Indian Business 

Awards in 2017, ‘Best Businesswoman 

of the Year Award’ presented by Prime 

Minister Jacinda Arden and ‘Business 

Excellence in Customer Service Award,’ 

given by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff at 

the Indian Newslink Indian Business 

Awards in 2018. 

I was also privileged to receive the 

‘Premier Achiever Award’ at Loan 

Market Australasia presented by Loan 

Market Group Executive Chairman Sam 

White and be a former Member of the 

‘Leading Ladies Summit’ of Loan Market 

Group Australia. 

Your stress-free journey of home buying 

and creating a property portfolio is 

just a phone call away: 0800RACHNA. 

Businesslink 

New method to assess good and bad practices of banks comin 

Transparency International to launch Financial Integrity System next month 

Henry Lynch 

Image from Bank Conduct and Culture Report, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, November 2018 

leaders of our banks and insurance 

companies to understand the 

culture and conduct at the top and 

what impacts there were for New 

Zealand customers. 

Reviews in New Zealand 

The conduct and culture 

reviews by the FMA and 

RBNZ found evidence that New 

Zealand’s banks and insurers are 

more customer focused than their 

overseas counterparts. 

However, there are still serious 

issues that need to be resolved for 

customers in New Zealand. 

The Consumers New Zealand 

survey finds alarge proportion 

of bank customers are unhappy 

with their treatment. Complaint 

processes are considered not to 

work as they should. 

Banks, and all of our 

countries financial services, are 

fundamental to New Zealand’s 

integrity systems. Good, ethical, 

free-from-corruption banking 

practices make for a good, solid, 

trusted business. 

Banks, finance and insurance 

companies are our domestic business 

partners. They help us buy 

our homes, run our households, 

manage the businesses we establish 

and help grow our individual 

and collective wealth. 

While it is essential we trust 

them, two out of three people 

don’t! We can’t just take their word 

for it that they are good. Customers 

need to see the evidence. 

In some countries, regulation 

is the best method to ensure 

business integrity. 

In New Zealand there are 

other avenues that can work in a 

customer’s favour before regulation 

is required of our big brand 

institutions. The easiest and most 

effective method is the sunlight of 

transparency. 

Financial Integrity System 

Transparency International 

New Zealand (TINZ) has been 

working to apply its expertise 

in integrity systems to help New 

Zealanders know why we should 

trust our financial institutions. 

In June we will formally launch 

the New Zealand Financial Integrity 

System Assessment. 

The FISA survey methodology 

enables Kiwi-based financial 

Pleasant financial journey is just a call away 

Rachna Dave 

organisations to assess their good practices 

and uncover practices that require 

improvement. 

The tool is the first integrity assessment 

tool in the world for the financial 

services sector. 

It has been over two years in design 

and creation. 

It has been co-designed with representatives 

from across the financial and 

business sectors to ensure it is fit for 

purpose. Final testing and feedback is 

currently underway and will be completed 

to enable a national launch in June. 

The finance sector can benefit from 

participating in FISA. 

This is because financial organisations 

can understand more about the areas of 

improvement they can make for their 

customers. 

It would potentially enhance their 

understanding of their competitive advantage. 

Resultant improved customers’ 

experiences and trust will help re-build 

public trust. 

This in turn increases the viability 

and security of our country’s financial 

system by setting up a positive spiral of 

financial integrity for New Zealand. 

The Assessment Process 

What is the FISA Online Assessment 

Tool? 

The FISA online self-assessment 

tool has been developed as part of the 

methodology. 

It provides a framework for the CEO 

to meet with the teams throughout their 

organisation, to examine the aspects 

of their internal integrity systems that 

support culture and conduct. 

As well as helping identify poor 

11 

practices, FISA self-assessment is also a 

safety test for corruption prevention. 

Who is the FISA Online Assessment 

Tool aimed at? 

The bank and insurance companies involved 

in the conduct and culture review 

led by the FMA and RBNZ, have been 

undertaking the extra work required as 

a consequence of these discussions. With 

this in mind, FISA has been designed to 

build on their incremental progress over 

time. 

Most importantly, it broadens the ability 

for all financial institutions (including 

banks, insurers, KiwiSaver providers, 

financial services providers, non-bank 

deposit takers, building societies) to 

assess their own performance and make 

changes where they need to improve 

their governance and integrity systems. 

Feedback on the methods 

How do I give feedback on the FISA 

methodology? 

TINZ is encouraging feedback on the 

FISA methodology before the end of May 

2019. 

General comments can be directed to 

fisa@tinz.nz.org. Please consider doing a 

detailed review by downloading a copy 

of the FISA Assessment Methodology and 

emailing tracked changes back to fisa@ 

tinz.nz.org. 

Henry Lynch is a Director on the 

Board of the Wellington-based Transparency 

International New Zealand 

and is involved in the Financial 

Sector. The above article and picture 

appeared in the May 2019 issue of 

Transparency Times.

12 


Viewlink 

The English Fortnightly (Since November 1999) 

ISSUE 415 | MAY15, 2019 

The Good, Bad and Ugly 

side of Social Media 

New Zealand changed 

for ever following 

the massacre in 

Christchurch on 

March 15, 2019. 

The mindless shooting 

of innocent people praying 

in Mosques and ‘boastful 

manifesto’ and live-recording 

of the incident by the accused 

terrorist have raised questions 

about the way in which 

the Social Media in general 

and Facebook in particular 

operates. 

Global Summit in Paris 

New Zealand’s Prime Minister 

Jacinda Ardern is to jointly 

host a global summit on the 

issue with French President 

Emmanuel Macron in Paris 

on May 15, 2019. We will of 

course report and comment 

on the event. 

One of the inevitable 

issues that will be discussed 

at the Summit would be the 

need to regulate the Social 

Media, especially Facebook, 

since it provides a wide and 

unrestricted platform for all 

kinds of people to express all 

kinds of things. 

As an expert said, self-regulation 

has failed, and Facebook 

can no longer be trusted with 

it. 

Police Monitoring 

Should the Police monitor 

Social Media? The question 

seems to have an obvious 

answer. 

“Social Media,” says Joe 

Giacalone, a retired New York 

Police Department detective, 

“is a treasure-trove for investigators. 

People post stuff they 

shouldn’t…vehicles, weapons, 

you name it. If you are dumb 

enough to post something 

on Social Media and you 

are wanted for a crime, you 

deserve to get caught.” 

In this sense, Social Media 

is no different from any other 

public space. If criminals brag 

about or plot their exploits 

publicly online, Police should 

be able to use that information 

without obtaining a warrant, 

just as if they overheard 

chatter in a bar or on a street 

corner. 

As the Economist said, they 

(Social Media) make their 

money by putting photos, 

personal posts, news stories 

and advertisements in front 

of you. 

The result is compelling: one 

study found that users in rich 

countries touch their phones 

2600 times a day. 

Energy and enthusiasm 

hallmarks of Fiji 

Business confidence 

is more pronounced 

by the activities in 

the commercial and 

industrial sector, in the demand 

for goods, jobs, services 

and other tangible means 

than by what politicians say. 

Economic growth is not a 

hidden exercise and it is the 

actual thermometer that tells 

us the health of an economy. 

Inimitable and inexplicable 

There is something to Fiji 

that is inimitable and even 

inexplicable. Fijians are 

known for their resilience 

and laidback attitude even on 

the face of adversity- political 

and meteorological upheavals 

do not impact the mindset of 

people. Which is why, energy 

and enthusiasm is boundless 

in this South Pacific Nation. 

There is much happening 

in this beautiful country of 

beautiful people. 

World Bank entry 

Just last month, the World 

Bank Group opened its office 

in Suva to will serve as a 

regional hub for the development 

institution’s work across 

the region. 

That was a significant 

endorsement of the Bank’s 

faith in Fiji and in the region. 

The new regional hub will be 

integral to the World Bank 

Group’s delivery of more than 

F$ I billion worth of projects 

across six countries (Fiji, 

Nauru, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga 

and Tuvalu). 

As we were told last week 

in the Fijian Capital, Suva is 

proving to be a natural fit for 

organisations of all sizes that 

are keen to make an impact in 

the Pacific region. 

When Josaia Voreqe (Frank) 

Bainimarama took the reins 

of the Government about 13 

years ago, the fate of the country 

began to change. Happily, 

the feelings of international 

animosity are now being 

replaced by a conciliatory 

approach, investment offers, 

financial aid and ‘such help 

as may be necessary towards 

normalisation of bilateral 

relations.’ 

Indian Newslink is published by Indian Newslink Limited from its offices located at Level 

1, Number 166, Harris Road, East Tamaki, Auckland 2013 and printed at Horton Media 

Limited, Auckland. All material appearing here and on our web editions are the copyright 

of Indian Newslink and reproduction in full or part in any medium is prohibited. Indian 

Newslink and its management and staff do not accept any responsibility for the claims 

made in advertisements. 

Managing Director & Publisher: Jacob Mannothra 

Editor & General Manager: Venkat Raman; Production Manager: Mahes Perera; 

Financial Controller: Uma Venkatram CA; 

Phone: (09) 5336377 Email: info@indiannewslink.co.nz 

Websites: www.indiannewslink.co.nz; www.inliba.com; www.inlisa.com 

Determination overcomes 

impediments of all sorts 

Sunil Kaushal 

Epic. Heart-warming. 

Empowering. Living 

“Inspirational. 

legend. The Pride 

of India. The best meeting I ever 

attended.” 

These were some of the comments 

made by people at the end of 

two-hour interaction with sporting 

legend Dr Deepa Malik who was 

New Zealand to receive the Sir 

Edmund Hillary Fellowship from 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. 

Woman of Firsts 

Deepa, who is paralysed below the 

chest, is indeed a living legend. 

She created history by becoming 

the first ever Indian female para-athlete 

to win an Asian Games medal 

in athletics as well as the first ever 

female World Championship medal. 

The International Paralympic 

Committee named her as one of 

the ‘Ten Most Inspirational Women 

Para-Athletes of the World.’ She 

holds Four Limca World Records 

in the Adventure Category. In 2017, 

the ‘Great Asia Women Achievers 

Awards’ named her one of the top 10 

Asian Women Leaders. 

The Meeting, held on Monday, 

May 6, 2019, was organised by ‘Haryana 

in New Zealand’ at the premises 

of the Indian Association (Manukau) 

New Zealand (IAMNZ) in Papatoetoe, 

Auckland, with the support of 17 

Indian Associations. 

Diaspora in attendance 

When we heard that Deepa, who 

is a Haryanvi, will be in Auckland 

enroute to Wellington, we requested 

her for a meeting. 

We wanted the entire Indian diaspora 

to attend, and Veer Khar and 

Roy Kaunds, respectively President 

and Secretary of IAMNZ instantly 

offered their venue and partner with 

other Indian associations. 

As a guest of the Government, 

Deepa’s travel and stay were 

arranged by of Foreign Affairs and 

Trade Ministry helped in including 

our meeting in Deepa’s official 

Sunil Kaushal presents a Commemorative Plaque to Deepa Malik as officials of various Indian 

Associations look on (Picture Supplied) 

itinerary. A part of the event was 

co-facilitated by Black Caps Test 

Opener Jeet Raval and ‘I Am Woman 

Trust’ Chair Anuradha Sharma. 

Deepa was accompanied by her 

daughter Devika, who is also an 

accomplished and celebrated social 

worker. 

The meeting began with a short 

Ted Talk-style soliloquy where 

Deepa recounted her tragic, moving 

and inspirational story. She was 

an independent adventure-loving, 

motor-bike riding girl who married 

a boy who promised to gift her a 

motorcycle. 

Tragedy strikes 

But tragedy stuck in 1999 when 

first her daughter Devika was 

badly injured in an accident and 

was paralysed on one side of the 

body. Then her husband who was 

a Colonel in the Indian Army was 

called up to fight in Kargil. At the 

same time, doctors discovered 

that Deepa, just 29, had developed 

tumours in her spine and the only 

way to save her life was to sever the 

spinal code which would leave her 

paralysed for life. 

She described how her entire life 

just changed in a matter of a week. 

However, the tragedy changed 

her entire outlook. From total helplessness 

and despair, she started 

rebuilding her life. 

Successful entrepreneurship 

She established a restaurant, 

became an entrepreneur and then 

ventured into sports. 

By the age of 36, she was competing 

internationally. As well as the 

High price bitters Avocado in Auckland 

Brooke Jenner 

Aucklanders have drawn 

a line in the sand when 

it comes to the price of 

avocados - saying $12.50 is 

too much. 

A Remuera greengrocer, Jack 

Lum and Co, has lowered the price 

to $10.99 after sales halved due to 

the high prices. Its avocados are no 

ordinary specimens - all 13-centimetres 

long, roughly the length of a 

hand - and are ready to eat. 

But Jack Lum said even those 

factors were not enough to entice 

people to buy them. 

“We probably sold half of what 

I used to sell so I thought I got to 

bring it down. It doesn’t matter if 

I don’t make any money. It’s not 

about making money, it’s about 

selling your product, otherwise you 

make more waste trying to make 

customers happy,” he said. 

Fruit not in season 

Mr Lum, who has been in 

business for 49 years, said not many 

retailers stocked avocados at this 

time of year, when the fruit was not 

in season. 

He said on top of the growers’ 

prices, transporting costs and 

wastage made the profit from each 

avocado minimal at best. 

Jack Lum in his Remuera, Auckland Greengrocery. 

(Photo for RNZ by Brooke Jenner) 

“The customers don’t know you 

do not sell the whole crate of avocados 

... because there’ll be wastage 

from over-handling and you’ll lose 

20%.” 

One loyal customer, Jason, travels 

from Westmere for the high-quality 

avocados at Mr Lum’s store. 

“The quality is extraordinary. 

Of course, $10.99 is expensive but 

for this price it’ll be perfect and if 

there’s ever a problem, you can 

always bring them back and they’ll 

exchange them.” 

“Waste of Money” 

Grace Riley said it was a “waste 

of money” for one avocado and 

despite loving the fruit, she could 

not justify the spend. 

Chief executive of NZ Avocado 

Jen Scoular said a price hike was 

first-ever Indian paraplegic woman 

swimmer, biker and car rallyist, she 

has 23 international medals and 

68 national and state level medals 

in swimming, javelin, shotput and 

discus events. 

She is the first Indian to receive 

the ‘International Women’s Day 

Recognition’ from the International 

Paralympic Committee for her 

contribution to advancing disability 

sports for women in India. She also 

holds a world record in open river 

swimming for swimming across the 

Yamuna River for one kilometre 

against the current. 

Deepa drove customised cars 

and motorbikes to become the first 

physically challenged person in 

the world to get a rally licence to 

compete in the ‘Raid-de-Himalaya’ 

car rally on the world’s highest 

motorable road. 

Awards and Accolades 

Deepa is a recipient of many 

Awards including Padma Shri, 

the Arjuna Award, President’s 

National Role Model Award, Women 

Transforming India Award and First 

Ladies Award as well as five state 

government honours. 

She is now the recipient of New 

Zealand’s Sir Edmund Hillary 

Fellowship for 2019. 

Sunil Kaushal is President, 

‘Haryana in New Zealand,’ an 

Association dedicated to further 

the interests of Haryanavis in 

Aotearoa. The above is an edited 

version. For full text, please visit 


not uncommon at this time of year, 

when demand was bigger than 

supply. 

“We are hearing about the price of 

avocados and I think we have to be 

realistic - they’re a seasonal fruit and 

we are in the low period where we 

have a couple of months in between 

the seasons in April and May,” she 

said. 

She said the last season had 

brought some challenges that did 

not help current avocado stocks. 

“Last season, we had a really 

early maturity so the season was a 

good five or six weeks earlier than 

normal,” she said. 

However, Ms Scoular said avocado 

lovers would be happy to hear 

the new season started in June, and 

the industry had 1000 hectares of 

new planting on top of nearly 4000 

hectares of trees already producing 

fruit. 

She said that would mean avocados 

on the shelves - and more in the 

seasons to come. 

Brooke Jenner is a Journalist 

at Radio New Zealand. The 

above Report and Picture have 

been published under a Special 

Arrangement with www.rnz.co.nz


Businesslink 

13 

Chat over Coffee brews Corporate Partnership 

Our Special Correspondent 

It was during the Summer of 

2018 that Jaimini Devta and 

Komal Shah met over a cup 

of Coffee and chatted about 

life and what their roles were as 

mothers and as individuals. 

Fast forward to March 2019, they 

were exactly where they should 

be – owning their Dream Company, 

namely ‘3Media.’ 

And then came along Mahendra 

Bisht, the technical brain behind 

it all. 

That was how 3 Media was born, 

with three Directors from different 

walks of life, with a collective 

experience of more than 45 years. 

Connecting People 

3Media is a Kiwi company 

that understands the world of 

technology and social media and 

the importance of Apps in today’s 

business that keep companies connected 

to their customers anywhere 

and everywhere. 

Therefore, when we create 

partnership with you, we not only 

take your business to the next level, 

but we also train you on how to 

run a marketing campaign yourself 

with your skills. 

We make working with us 

interesting and fun! 

The simple formula is that you 

want your business to be successful. 

You have the passion. 

Passion creates practice, practice 

creates skills and skills create 

Komal Shah Mahendra Bisht Jaimini Devta (Pictures Supplied) 

success. 

Just like we have in our team. A 

team that is energetic and calm. 

Some forensic details 

There are then some forensic 

details. 

After a lot of discussions and disagreements, 

we end the day, feeling 

great about helping a business. One 

thing we learnt is that in business, it 

is all about decision. 

If you are trying to grow your 

business, you should hire a team 

of experts; a team that can take 

responsibilities, free up your time 

and give you great results. 

So, what does 3Media do? 

Everything. We focus on our 

customers, everything else follows; 

right from updating websites to 

digital marketing to building apps, 

all under one roof. 

Helping Small Businesses 

We have been small business 

owners and hence realise that if 

you are running aone-person 

show, you cannot do everything. 

Some people can handle everything 

single-handed but the truth as you 

know, is that for the most part, it is 

quite challenging to decide what to 

focus on, running the business or 

promoting it! 

Hence, we decided to create 

3Media, concentrating on our community 

and helping our people run 

the show as smoothly as possible. 

We will redesign your systems 

based on what works for you by 

building systems that work for you, 

your customers, what they want, 

when they want and how they want. 

The Team 

Lets say Hello to the team! 

Komal Shah 

She is a woman who loves colours 

and has an amazing sense of 

graphics. 

Komal Shah knows exactly what 

will give any website that unique 

touch. 

Whether it is thinking about the 

right colour or right design, she is 

our thinking person. 

With more than 17 years in graphic 

design, she can effect a perfect 

colour match. 

Once you have spoken to Komal, 

her mission is to start building your 

dream project. 

She ensures that the entire project 

is completed within agreed timelines 

and with accuracy. 

Her other important role is that 

of a mother; four-year old Kavya is 

her sole responsibility and she loves 

every moment the little trouble! 

Mahendra Bisht 

Mahendra Bisht is our builder. 

He passion is building websites and 

software. 

From the idea in your brain to 

the App on the phone, he knows the 

formula to success. 

A Software Engineer with more 

than 13 years of experience in 

product development, he is our 

Technology Master. 

Those visiting our offices cannot 

miss his mesmerising smile. 

Mahendra has developed products 

that not only save time and money 

for customers but also help them 

have a greater experience. Be it 

buying kebabs from a restaurant or 

booking for a sports event organised 

by the Council, he can develop an 

App specially for you. 

Jaimini Devta 

Planning comes naturally to 

Jaimini Devta. 

One of the key elements for any 

business is planning. As a mother 

of two children, running as many 

businesses (!), success wouldn’t 

come if planning isn’t accurate. 

Jaimini has enough energy and 

enthusiasm that can take us through 

the entire week. 

Her finance background and more 

recently her role as a Marketing 

Delivery Manager, she is our ‘Go 

To Person’ for all strategies and 

deliveries. 

If you are tired of thinking and 

doing things the same old way, get in 

touch with us. 

Please call Jaimini on 021-0563276 

for an appointment. 

Guest Speaker: 

Hon Grant Robertson 

Minister of Finance 

Government of 

New Zealand 

Lecture 

S ERIES 2019 

Present 

Monday, July 29, 2019 at 630 pm 

Master of Ceremonies 

His Worship Phil Goff 

Mayor of Auckland 

Reflections 

Hon Paul Goldsmith 

Member of Parliament 

Tickets: per person 

$150 plus GST 

Table of Ten persons: 

$1500 plus GST 

Concluding Remarks 

Dr Rajen Prasad 

Former Member of Parliament 

and former Special 

Envoy of Commonwealth 

Secretary General to Lesotho 

The Ninth Annual Indian Newslink Lecture 

with Black Tie Dinner 

On Monday, July 29, 2019 at 630 pm 

(Cocktails between 630pm and 730pm) 

Pullman Hotel Auckland 

Corner Princes Street & 

Waterloo Crescent, Auckland City 

Right of Admission Reserved 

Indian Newslink 

Phone: (09) 5336377 Mobile: 021 836528 

Email: editor@indiannewslink.co.nz

14 


Businesslink 

Don’t squander this chance to improve democracy 

Laura Walters 

You might not have heard, 

but Parliament is currently 

conducting an inquiry that 

will help determine the 

future of New Zealand’s political 

independence. 

Kiwis and the MPs in charge need 

to take it a little more seriously. 

Right now, in the engine rooms 

of Parliament, MPs are considering 

the future fate of New Zealand’s 

sovereignty. 

I know it is a grandiose thing to 

say, but the inquiry into foreign 

interference in New Zealand elections 

and political system is an opportunity 

to build a more resilient democracy 

for future generations. 

Rising Chinese influence 

On Thursday, the Justice Select 

Committee heard a group of submitters, 

including outspoken China 

expert Anne-Marie Brady. They spoke 

about the rise of China in the region, 

the change in geopolitics, the difference 

in New Zealand and Chinese 

values, and the efforts of the Chinese 

Communist Party (CCP) to influence 

foreign countries’ politics. 

Unfortunately, I have had the 

growing fear that the Committee 

Members have not felt the weight 

of the responsibility resting on their 

shoulders. 

Sure, every decision Parliament 

makes is important, but this strikes 

to the heart of our values as a free, 

sovereign democracy. 

Almost a comedy of errors 

So far, the Select Committee inquiry 

has been plAagued by cock ups, 

but given the natuAre of the inquiry’s 

topic, some have questioned whether 

these cock-ups are more conspiracy. 

Among the shambles has been 

a reversed decision on whether 

submissions would even be allowed, 

the recusal of the committee chair, 

and scheduling errors. 

The hearings are finally underway 

but on Thursday (May 9), the Committee 

was down a member, after Nick 

Smith was kicked out of the House 

and suspended from his duties as an 

MP the previous day. 

Canterbury University Professor Anne-Marie Brady (Photo: Lynn Grieveson) 

Committee members hear Chinese-Kiwi Freeman Yu give evidence on the threats and harassment he has experienced 

after criticising the Chinese State (Photo: Lynn Grieveson) 

Just another distraction from the 

issue at hand. 

Submission by Professor Brady 

When it came time for Professor 

Brady’s submission, based on her 30 

years of research, and her globally 

discussed paper on the Chinese Communist 

Party’s (CCP) United Front 

work, Magic Weapons, National MP 

Mark Mitchell questioned Brady 

on whether she had any evidence 

to back her allegations of the CCP’s 

interference in New Zealand politics 

and media. 

When she pointed to the publicly 

available Conference Paper and its 10 

pages of footnotes, Mitchell admitted 

he hadn’t read the research. 

To be fair, he is probably not the 

only one on the Committee who 

hasn’t read the conference paper 

published in September 2017, but 

it does call into question just how 

serious members are about the topic 

of foreign interference. 

Complacency the biggest risk 

While Committee members 

questioned Brady on whether her 

allegations were based on fact, she 

sat with her hand on her heart and 

pleaded for MPs to focus on solutions. 

“We need all of you at the table to 

be part of the solution of this,” she 

said. 

“I urge you, please, you represent 

us, please, serve us New Zealanders, 

and do the right thing and strengthen 

our democracy. Forget your personal, 

political interests, or whatever 

happened before... I want you to do 

the right thing and help to fix our 

weak spots within our society that are 

being preyed on.” 

When asked by media to name 

the greatest risk to New Zealand’s 

elections, she was quick to say 

‘complacency.’ 

The Kiwi ‘she’ll be right’ attitude 

will be the thing that undermines 

New Zealand’s democratic independence. 

When it is too late, we will throw 

up our hands, exclaiming we had 

no idea this could happen in New 

Zealand. Because, you know, it’s New 

Zealand! Sound familiar? 

Seizing the opportunity, now 

Now is the chance, but it needs to 

be seized while there is momentum. 

We should not waste time 

questioning whether MPs, academics 

and others are satisfied with acertain 

level of verification of those who 

raise the issue of China’s interference. 

This is largely irrelevant. We don’t 

need to know what has happened to 

know what can happen. 

In countering Brady’s points, 

veteran China academic Paul Clark 

pointed to the inefficiency of China’s 

efforts. 

The University of Auckland Asia 

Studies Professor, who has studied 

China for the past 45 years, said the 

CCP’s efforts to influence the Chinese 

diaspora have been ineffective. 

He raised valid points relating to 

his "grassroots" approach to studying 

the Chinese community. 

“The experience of such Chinese 

has not been one of compliance and 

being corrupted and forced and 

captured by the state or the Communist 

Party, it’s a remarkable picture 

of the limitations of these Chinese 

organisations,” he said. 

But we know China under Xi Jinping 

is changing, and just because the 

CCP’s efforts haven’t been successful 

in the past, doesn’t mean they won’t 

be in the future. 

Changing world of geopolitics 

Brady said that getting the 

China relationship right will be 

New Zealand’s biggest geopolitical 

challenge in the coming decades. It’s 

not about “headbutting” China, but 

about understanding differences, and 

having a constructive relationship 

beyond that. 

“It’s in China’s interest to extend 

an influence in New Zealand, there’s 

nothing wrong with that – that’s what 

great powers do. It’s up to us. We 

need to set boundaries well ahead of 

time,” added China business expert 

Rodney Jones. 

Beyond China, we should be 

strengthening our political system 

and democracy against interference 

from any great power. 

I fear we shy away from the complexities 

of the debate, and our terror 

of sounding racist or xenophobic. 

Strengthening our systems 

The conversation is stuck on China 

as the rising superpower in the 

Financial System review will improve banks and insurers 

Suzanne Snively 

The New Zealand Financial 

Integrity System Assessment 

(FISA) is the first ever review 

of the integrity framework of 

any country’s financial system. 

Transparency International New 

Zealand (TINZ) will lead the review 

as it is uniquely placed to ensure 

both independence and objectivity. 

The FISA methodology is in its 

final stage of consultation. The 

consultation document can be found 

on the TINZ website, transparency. 

org.nz/fisa. 

Comments and suggestions about 

the questions, the subject areas, the 

approach, and the online self-assessment 

are welcome. 

It is through discussions like this 

that there can be wider knowledge 

and understanding of the ways 

with which the financial system 

can improve outcomes for all New 

Zealanders. 

Why the time is now 

The recent Reserve Bank of New 

Zealand (RBNZ) and Financial 

Markets Authority (FMA) review 

into the major trading Banks said: 

“Overall, there are weaknesses in 

the governance and management of 

conduct risks, and significant gaps in 

the measurement and reporting of 

customer outcomes.” 

They noted that there was “significant 

variation in the maturity of 

banks’ approaches to identifying, 

managing and remediating conduct 

risks and issues,” with some banks 

described as ”reactive at best, and 

complacent at worst.” 

Their review into life insurers 

found: “Extensive weaknesses in 

life insurers’ systems and controls… 

governance and management of 

conduct risks is weak and there is 

a lack of focus on good customer 

outcomes.” 

The report urged life insurers to 

act urgently. 

FISA aims and objectives 

The aim of the FISA assessment 

is to (a) Build trust and confidence 

in New Zealand’s financial system 

(b) Examine the state of integrity 

systems within the New Zealand 

financial system (c) Foster and 

support good conduct (d) Prevent 

and combat corruption, and (e) 

Reinforce a culture of integrity. 

FISA will provide customers, 

citizens, communities, civil society 

organisations, government and 

businesses with information 

about the way the financial system 

identifies and seeks to prevent 

corruption. This enables them to 

identify good performance and 

push for improvement. 

Financial organisations will 

have a blueprint for improvement 

enabling them to set clear priorities 

for preventing corruption while 

seeking the additional returns that 

result from improved integrity. 

FISA Strategy 

The FISA strategy to create a 

virtuous cycle is motivated by the 

following stages: (a) Online self-assessment 

completed by financial 

organisations, e.g. banks, finance 

companies, Kiwi-Saver providers, 

credit unions, building societies, and 

insurance companies (b) Publication 

of the anonymised results of the 

self-assessment (c) Review and context 

provided by the independent 

assessment (d) Development of TINZ 

tools for professional services firms 

to strengthen their advice to their 

financial services clients to enhance 

their integrity systems. 

The next annual self-assessment 

provides an opportunity to monitor 

improved outcomes for policy, 

customers and staff. 

Good conduct prevents 

corruption 

The FISA assessment examines 

the extent that financial organisations 

implement seven key 

practices selected by Transparency 

International New Zealand that 

shape integrity systems. They are 

(a) Tone at the top (b) Continuous 

improvement in conduct and 

ethical behaviour (c) Strengthening 

integrity systems through effective 

communication and training (d) 

Up-to-date knowledge of relevant 

legislation/regulation (e) Avenues 

for reporting ethical standards 

breaches including anonymity for 

whistle-blowers (f) Effective Know 

Your Customer (KYC) and Know 

Your Supplier (KYS) procedures 

(g) Regular audits backed up by 

independent risk assessments that 

uncover corrupt practices and 

advise on weaknesses in integrity 

systems. 

region, but it needs to be about what 

we can possibly do to strengthen our 

democratic system against interference 

from any foreign power. 

Brady and others offered practical 

steps to build resilience, including 

changing political donations laws, 

putting in place a lobbying register, 

and setting up an anti-corruption 

commission and other oversight 

bodies. 

The way the inquiry has been 

conducted so far does not inspire 

a lot of hope for the scope of the 

recommendations, but I’m wholly 

prepared to be proven wrong. 

Among those recommendations, 

should be the call for a fully 

independent inquiry, which gives the 

issue due consideration. 

This is the approach favoured 

by Deputy Prime Minister Winston 

Peters. 

During his submission, Clark was 

critical of the oxygen media have 

given to Brady’s paper and the issue 

of foreign interference. 

“Much of the impact of these allegations 

has been fostered by the media 

and I’m sure you, as politicians, are 

aware of the power of the media and 

the way in which the media will grab 

a bone like a dog and pull on it, and 

play with it forever,” he said to the 

Committee. 

“And I think the media in New 

Zealand is always looking for 

exciting stories of derring-do, and this 

appeared 18-or-so months ago, as an 

exciting story where there might be 

scandal, or evil, at work and it helps 

sell newspapers.” 

I’m not sure how many newspapers 

this story has sold, but he’s right 

that any reporter worth their salt 

will doggedly pursue an issue if it is 

important. 

And democratic freedom is one of 

those issues. 

Laura Walters is a Senior Political 

Reporter at Newsroom based 

in Wellington, covering Justice, 

Education and Immigration. The 

above Report and Pictures have 

been published under a Special 

Arrangement with Newsroom. 

These seven key practices provide 

the framework for good conduct 

that contributes to the prevention 

of corruption. They are a platform 

for organisations to create and 

maintain strong integrity systems. 

Benefits of strong Integrity 

System 

FISA contends that financial organisations 

can harvest the benefits 

arising from a financial system that 

displays a high level of integrity. It 

strives to examine the practices that 

lead to improved outcomes and to 

measure the net change in these 

benefits. 

Evidence will be collected about 

the following integrity system 

factors: (a) Reputation and brand 

(b) Easier market access (c) Lower 

costs (d) Customer loyalty (e) Easier 

access to quality capital (f) Quality 

committed staff (g) Higher returns/ 

productivity. 

Organisations can grow in an 

ethical and sustainable ways from 

reaping these benefits by addressing 

bribery and corruption. 

By examining the ways that 

financial organisations take steps 

to implement these factors, FISA 

will provide a context for a national 

discussion of what works best 

to sustain organisations that are 

committed to high levels of integrity. 

Suzanne Snively is Chair of 

Transparency International New 

Zealand. The above article and 

picture appeared in the May 2019 

issue of Transparency Times.


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16 


Communitylink 

Anti-Muslim propaganda hits Churches 

APalmerston North Church 

is considering introducing 

security measures after it and 

another Church were targeted with 

anti-Muslim propaganda. 

Attendees of All Saints’ Church 

and the Cathedral of the Holy 

Spirit found the crudely written 

pamphlets on their windscreens 

after Sunday services. 

Distressing Pamphlets 

Reverend Andy Hickman from All 

Saints’ Anglican Church said that the 

pamphlets were distressing. 

“The pamphlet itself uses really 

extreme language such as ‘Islam is 

the enemy, this is a declaration of 

war, this is them versus us’,” he said. 

Both Churches held solidarity 

events with the Manawatū Muslim 

Association after the Christchurch 

shootings. 

Mr Hickman said that he believed 

the events were directly connected 

to the pamphlets, but they would not 

be deterred. 

“Everybody I have communicated 

with have no regrets, because we 

won’t allow hate to divide us. “Love 

overcomes a multitude of fears, so 

we will continue to publicly express 

our solidarity with our Muslim 

friends,” he said. 

Increasing security 

He has reported the matter to 

the Police, but in the meantime he 

said that the Church was looking at 

increasing security. 

City Councillor Lorna Johnson 

said that overall, Palmerston North 

was an inclusive and diverse 

community, but there were a few 

individuals who have become more 

emboldened since the Christchurch 

shootings. 

“There have been a couple of 

unpleasant incidents where Muslim 

members of our community have 

been abused in the city, and there 

The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit (left) and the 

All Saints’ Anglican Church 

(Photo: Screenshot/Google Maps by RNZ) 

have also been quite a number of anti-Muslim 

comments ... made online when we’ve 

been posting stuff about supporting the 

Muslim community locally,” she said. 

Muslims to speak out 

Manawatū Muslim Association President 

Zulfiqar Haider Butt said that in the past, 

they have not drawn attention to these types 

of actions to avoid panic, but they have now 

decided this needs to change. 

“If you don’t speak against anything, people 

who are doing this are encouraged and 

then they keep on increasing these things. 

“By challenging them, recording them or 

informing the community, the community 

will know this has happened and if anything 

like this comes up we need to speak out and 

inform someone,” Dr Butt said. 

He and Mr Hickman have offered to sit 

down and speak with the person or people 

involved. 

“If they accept Andy’s or our offer they 

can come to us and discuss what the anger 

is about and I’m pretty sure that will be 

successful in clearing their minds,” he said. 

RNZ has tried to contact those involved, as 

they left their number on the pamphlet, but 

it went straight to voicemail. 

Charlie Dreaver is a Reporter at Radio 

New Zealand. The above Report and Picture 

have been published under a Special 

Arrangement with www.rnz.co.nz 

Half a million achieved; half a million to go 

ASB St John reaches a major milestone 

Supplied Content 

St John educators in Wellington trained the 

500,000th ASB St John in Schools participant at 

St Patrick’s Primary School in Kilbirnie on May 

1, 2019. 

Through this Programme, which is sponsored by 

ACC and ASB, St John has been training young New 

Zealanders in first aid, CPR, bandaging, responding to 

emergencies, injury prevention and disaster preparedness 

since 2015. The Programme is also available in 

Te Reo for all Kura and Kohanga Reo. 

Building resilience 

St John Director of Community Health Services Sarah 

Manley said that ASB St John in Schools is aimed 

at equipping children with the skills and confidence 

to take action in an emergency situation. 

“We are committed to building resilient and 

connected communities and recognise that children 

of all ages can play asignificant part in improving the 

health and wellbeing of their communities. 

“St John receives over fifty 111 emergency calls 

from children every month, often calling in highly 

distressing situations for a parent or loved one who 

has fallen, is unconscious, or is having convulsions. 

We believe every child in New Zealand should learn 

first aid, so they have the courage and ability to 

respond in these circumstances and ultimately save 

a life; in fact, we know that through this Programme, 

children have saved lives,” she said. 

Amazing Milestone 

ASB has sponsored the Programme since September 

2016. 

Head of Community and Sponsorship, Mark 

Graham described it as an ‘amazing milestone.” 

“We have heard a number of stories from young 

New Zealanders who have gone through this Programme 

and then used these skills in an emergency 

situation, so we know how valuable it can be. We 

believe that basic first aid skills are something every 

New Zealander should know, and teaching kids this 

from an early age sets them up to be able to take 

action in an emergency,” he said. 

The ASB St John in Schools Programme was developed 

by St John in partnership with ACC, Safekids, 

Civil Defence and other external partners. 

It is delivered in modules with each school choosing 

the units it wishes to complete. 

‘Wonderful Example’ 

ACC Head of Injury Prevention Isaac Carlson said, 

“This Programme is a wonderful example of our 

In April 2018, Billy Vincent called St John Ambulance and saved 

his mother’s life and received the ‘ASB Super Bravery Award.’ 

(Picture from Facebook) 

community partnerships. Knowing how to prevent 

injuries is a lifelong skill and now half a million Kiwi 

kids know how to keep themselves and others safe.” 

The milestone was marked with a celebration at 

St Patrick’s Primary School, which involved a CPR 

challenge and a first aid quiz between adults and 

students. 

Every participant of the Programme was gifted 

with a first aid kit from ASB and the 500,000th 

participant was presented with acertificate. 

St John’s Target 

St John has a goal of delivering the ASB St John 

in Schools Programme to a total of one million New 

Zealand students (pre-school through to intermediate) 

by 2023. 

It is also continuing to push for the teaching of CPR 

and lifesaving first aid skills to be made compulsory 

under the national school curriculum. In the future, 

St John plans to pilot mental health first aid modules 

for young people in schools. 

For more information, please visit www.stjohn.org. 

nz/schools. 

About ASB St John In Schools Programme 

The ASB St John in Schools Programme provides 

pre-school and school-aged children with the skills 

and confidence to take action in response to an 

emergency situation. 

St John Community Educators teach young people 

first aid basics and knowledge to take responsibility 

for their own health and wellbeing, along with those 

around them. 

St John tutors teach different skills to different 

age groups offering four modules: Responding in an 

Emergency, Injury Prevention, Disaster Preparedness 

and Camping. 

St John Community Educators have taught in Maori 

and Samoan immersion classes. 

Short educational videos for assisting in learning 

have been developed. 

With support from ACC, the common goal is to 

deliver to a total of one million New Zealand students 

(pre-school through to intermediate) by 2023. 

Presents 

SPORTS 

COMMUNITY 

ARTS & CULTURE 

Calling Sportspersons, Community Workers and 

Organisations, Volunteers, Architects, Artists, Designers, 

Photographers, Choreographers, Dancers, Singers, 

Musicians, Teachers, Organisers and others connected 

to enter the Awards or be nominated. 

Last Date: Saturday, June 1, 2019 (6 pm) 

Forms can be downloaded from www.inlisa.com or 

www.inlscaca.com. Please completed forms 

by email only to inlscaca@peaceconsulting.co.nz 

Entries and Nominations now open 

105 Awards to be won in 50 Categories 

Awards Night on 

Monday, June 24, 2019 

at Newmarket Room, Ellerslie Events Centre 

80 Ascot Avenue, Remuera, Auckland 

Sports Categories: 

1. Best Senior Division Cricket Player 

2. Best Under 19 Cricket Player 

3. Best Over 19 Soccer Player 

4. Best Under 19 Soccer Player 

5. Best Rugby Union Player 

6. Best Rugby League Player 

7. Best Netball Player 

8. Best Hockey Player 

9. Best Over 19 Player Other Sports 

10. Best Under 19 Player Other Sports 

11. Best Sportsman and Best Sportswoman of the Year 

(Winners of individual categories will be automatically entered) 

Elite Awards: For men and women of the community 

who have excelled in sports during their life and career. 

Community Awards Categories: 

1. Individual 

2. Registered Association 

3. Registered Charitable Organisation 

4. Registered Places of Worship 

5. Registered Society 

6. Religious Services Individuals 

7. Religious Services Organisations 

8. Social Worker 

9. Volunteer 

10. Any others acceptable to the Judges 

Supported by: 

New Zealand Telugu Association; 

Telangana Association of New Zealand 

Art Awards Categories: 

1. Advertising Agency 

2. Architect 

3. Architectural Designer 

4. Cartoonist 

5. Copywriter 

6. Graphic Artist/Designer 

7. Painter 

8. Photographer 

9. Writer 

11. Chef and other Creative People 

(Acceptable to the Judges) 

Supported by: 

Muthamil Sangam New Zealand 

Culture Awards Categories 

1 Choreographer 

2 Conductor of Musical Orchestra & Dances 

3 Dancer (Indian Classical and Modern) 

4 Director of Cultural Programmes 

5 Musician (Vocalist & Instrumentalist) 

6 Organiser of Cultural Programme 

7 Producers of Cultural Programmes 

8 Singer (Classical, Film, Folk and others) 

9. Teacher (Classical, Film, Folk and 

Instruments 

10. Others Not listed 

(Acceptable to the Judges) 

Supported by: 

Kannada Koota, Auckland; Auckland Malayali Samajam 

Supported by: 

New Zealand Indian Central Association (NZICA) 

For Conditions of Entry, Rules and Regulations and other information, please visit our website: www.inlisa.com 

or contact Editor, Indian Newslink: Phones: (09) 5336377; 021-836528; Email: venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz 

Conditions of Entry: Entries must be in prescribed form sent only by email. Those sent by post, fax, courier and other means will not be accepted. The decision of the judges will be final and no correspondence will be entertained in this connection. 

Supported by


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18 


Entertainmentlink 

Meera, a story of Love is unique and transnational 

Aarti Bajaj 

Less than 20 days to go, and 

the journey flashes by my 

mind’s eyes million times a 

day. 

Wild Dreamer Productions, 

which started with one wild 

dreamer, today boldly and proudly 

endorses the fact that more then 

500 amazing wild dreamers have 

come in direct contact with the 

production house in just the past 

two years. 

Constructive approach 

A constructive approach with 

togetherness has such powerful 

energy that only humans can bring 

to manifestation. 

I thank Auckland and New 

Zealand for welcoming the production 

with such warmth and open 

mindedness. Art holds no value 

un till it reaches its enthusiastic, 

appreciating audience. And it fills 

my heart with gratitude and joy to 

see city full of art lovers. 

I look forward to having you all 

as our prestigious audience at the 

ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland 

from May 31 to June 2, 2019. 

Unfair Comments 

Every time I hear someone 

mention that ‘Meera’ is an Indian 

thing, an Indian Production or just 

for Indian audience, the question 

that arises in me is when a show 

like ‘My Fair Lady’ or ‘Beauty and 

Beast’ is staged, how many say that 

it is a White or a Caucasian Show? 

It just so happens that the story of 

‘Meera’ is of a Royal Indian Princess 

from the 16th Century North India. 

But that doesn’t mean it is a story 

just for Indians. 

There are different forms of Art, 

and they all vary depending on the 

place of their origin. 

But it’s all Arts. 

Art is a powerful, magical, 

transformative and life changing 

experience. 

But when categorised in different 

RD Burman Show set to be a Superhit event 

Dorothy Winstone Centre, May 25 at 630 pm 

Venkat Raman 

Nobody is giving away anything, 

rehearsals continue 

with veterans perfecting 

their skills and as the show 

nears, some whispers reach our 

ears: “This would be a show with 

a difference, at a scale so high that 

even the organisers doubt if they 

would be able to repeat it.” 

Loyalty is a precious and hence 

a rare commodity but Sandhya 

Badakere of ‘Swar Sadhana Academy 

of Indian Music’ and Ravi Shetty 

of ‘Ravi Shetty Concepts’ have remained 

loyal to a number of people 

and organisations including Indian 

Newslink and all of us have continuously 

reposed our faith in them and 

returned that compliment. 

Which is why, ‘Suneheri Yaadein 

Pancham Magic’ (Tribute To RD 

Burman), scheduled to be held 

on Saturday, May 25, 2019 at 630 

pm at Dorothy Winstone Centre, 

Auckland Girls Grammar School 

will be unique, reverberating the 

compositions of a great musician 

perhaps forever. 

Tickets, priced at $20 are now on 

sale. 

About SPCA 

Ms Badakere said that a part of 

the proceeds of the Programme have 

been earmarked for the Society for 

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 

(SPCA). 

“SPCA does a splendid job of 

protecting animals. It costs about 

$40 million a year to take care of the 

tens of thousands of animals that 

need our help. With less than 1% of 

government funding, SPCA relies 

Art in its pure form, transcends nationalities 

Dances, Arts and Cultures for the world at large 

boxes and caged in limited boundaries, it paralyses the 

creativity and loses its capacity to enchant the souls. 

Sad but inspiring incident 

A six-year-old daughter of my friend (of Indian origin) 

was told by her non-Indian friend at School that she can 

never become the Princess in her School play as she is not 

fair skinned. 

I was deeply saddened that a child was subject to such 

conversation. 

Is there any wonder that we have such an intense hate, 

prejudice, judgement and divide among adults? 

The incidence inspired me, and I chose to break the 

rules. 

Multiethnic cast 

I created a cast of drama characters where our little 

Meera is Caucasian, Little Krishna (Meera’s Love interest) 

Rahul Dev Burman (File Picture) 

Sandhya Badakere (File Picture) 

Ravi Shetty (File Picture 

on our generosity of the 

community,” she said. 

Mr Shetty that each year 

‘Suneheri Yaadein’ presents 

something new and 

interesting. 

Local talent to the fore 

“We are presenting Greg 

and Amity on Saxophone 

and Trumpet along with 

our band. We will have a 

Rhythm Range comprising 

Kristifer Kumar (Percussions), 

Navneel Prasad 

(Tabla), Nigal Kishore 

(Electric Drums, Congo, 

Bongo and Percussions), 

Ron Kishore (Octapad and 

Percussions) and Vivek Anturkar 

(Tabla); a Keyboard 

Segment with Cloyd D’Mello 

and Hemant Thaker; a Brass 

Section featuring Amity and 

Greg Rogan on Saxophone, 

Clarinet and Flute; a Strings 

Segment with Darshan 

Lange (Rhythm Guitar), 

Ravi Shah (Lead Guitar) and 

Vishnu Sreekumar (Bass 

Guitar),” he said. 

This year’s Programme 

will feature 12 singers, including 

Gopal Nair, Guncha 

Singh, Joseph Jose, Kanik 

Mongia, Mayuri Bhole, 

Rachit Bhatia, Ravi Shetty, 

Ritika Badakere, Sandhya 

Badakere, Shikha Shethia, 

Siddhi Nigudkar, Srisha Iyer 

and Vibha Trivedi. 

“About 50 people are involved 

in ‘Suneheri Yaadein 

Pancham Magic 2019,’ and 

we have been working like 

a family,” Ms Badakere said. 

is Indian, Teenage Meera is Caucasian 

and Teenage Krishna is Indian. 

Adult Meera and Adult Krishna are 

of Indian heritage. 

Meera’s grandfather is Maori, 

Meera’s husband is half Samoan and 

half Sri Lankan. Her sister in law 

(Villain) is Filipino. 

While choosing such a cast from 

various diverse ethnic backgrounds, 

my aim was to make the story powerful 

and engage the audience sans 

colour or cultural background. 

We have eight different dance 

genres, like Indian Classical, Ballet, 

Jazz, Contemporary, Aerial, Pole, Belly 

Dancing and Indian Contemporary in 

the production that will take the story 

to a completely different realm. 

A state-of-art projection mapping 

will be used to create the back in time 

and ethereal feel. 

Above all, the entire production is 

in English to reach a wider audience. 

So how can ‘Meera’ be stated as 

a production just for the Indian 

audience? 

Broad vision needed 

We live in the best times, where 

knowledge, awareness and training 

are at our fingertips through various 

online platforms. 

Let us make a better inclusive 

society that is ready to break the 

stereotypes and prejudices. 

By doing so, Art will grow. The 

sustainability of art and artistes will 

not just be a dream. 

Let us think out of the box by 

stepping out of our usual habits. 

You might just fall in love with the 

new world. 

Aarti Bajaj is the Producer, 

Director, Choreographer of ‘Meera,’ 

in which she plays the lead role. This 

massive production, comprising 

more than 200 artistes, of which 

more than 120 are from New 

Zealand, will be staged at the ASB 

Waterfront Theatre from May 31 to 

June 2, 2019. For tickets, please visit 

www.asbwaterfronttheatre.co.nz 

About RD Burman 

I met RD Burman in 

Bahrain in 1989, with 

several other Hindi film 

heavyweights of the 1980s 

including Asha Bhosle, her 

daughter Varsha, Rishi Kapoor 

and Neetu Singh prior 

to their Concert and sitting 

down with them, learnt a 

little more about the great 

composer. 

Like his father, Sachin 

Dev Burman, RD was a 

creative genius, capable 

of enlivening the lyrics 

with deft use of musical 

instruments and voices of 

singers to high levels of professionalism 

and audience 

acceptance. 

He improvised as he 

set tunes to various film 

sequences, engaging in 

serious discussions with 

directors, lyricists, members 

of his troupe, singers and 

sometime even with common 

people. His repertorie 

was so strong that his songs 

would write the fate of the 

film concerned; and even 

those that bombed at the 

box-office would be known 

for their lilting music, 

making RD Burman one of 

a kind. 

Strong family linkage 

It was perhaps of the 

strong linkage of music that 

ran in his family (his mother 

Meera Dev Burman was 

a lyricist) that RD composed 

his first song when he was 

just nine years old. The 

Email: admin@wilddreamerproductions.com; 

Website www.wilddreamerproductions.com; https:// 

wilddreamerproductions.com/; 

Facebook: 

Meera The Production; Instagram: @meeratheproducion; 

YouTube: Subscribe Meera The Production 

Like Lord Krishna, ‘Meera’ is colour-blind and non-racist 

That it is ‘Indian,’ is an unfair and untrue comment 

(Pictures Supplied) 

song, ‘Aye Meri Topi Palat 

Ke Aa,’ was composed 

for his father’s 1956 film 

‘Funtoosh.’ 

He also composed 

‘Sar Jo Tera Chakraaye’ 

when he was a child 

SD Burman is reported 

to have included it in 

the soundtrack of Guru 

Dutt’s ‘Pyaasa.’ He played 

Mouth Organ for the 

song, ‘Hai Apna Dil To 

Aawara,’ composed by 

his father for ‘Solva Saal’ 

(1958). 

Salil Chowdhury, 

another great music 

composer described RD 

as ‘by far the stand-out 

talent among the younger 

line of composers. 

“He was at all times 

innovative like me, at 

all times experimenting 

like me. In fact, I would 

go step further and rank 

him alongside all the top 

composers of my generation, 

such was his range 

and variety,” he said. 

RD Burman was 

credited with having 

introduced the Electronic 

Organ to Indian films and 

making Electronic Rock 

popular in the Indian film 

industry. 

He composed music 

for 331 including and 

was known as ‘Jet-Set, 

Trend-Setter.’


Entertainmentlink 

Expect heavy downpour of Carnatic Music in Auckland 

Annual Festival of New Zealand Carnatic Music Society from June 

Venkat Raman 

19 

The expression, ‘Music can 

move Mountains and God, 

cause downpours on lands 

that are barren, ignite the 

energy centres of the human body 

and invoke levels of spirituality 

among people,’ has been proved 

beyond a shadow of doubt over the 

ages. 

Of these, Indian Classical Music 

in general has had the power to 

enslave emperors and create in 

them a sense of veneration towards 

performers. Carnatic Music in particular, 

has created a community of 

musicians and enthusiasts, keeping 

alive the finest traditions of India 

even in this age of electronics and 

noise. 

Champions across Aotearoa 

The New Zealand Carnatic 

Music Society (NZCMS) and other 

similar organisations in Auckland, 

Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, 

Dunedin (and perhaps in other 

cities) deserve credit for their efforts 

to preserve and promote the 

traditional performing arts. 

NZCMS in particular, has been 

the Champion of Carnatic Music, 

affording special opportunities, 

especially to youngsters to learn 

the art through the right means, 

earn recognised qualifications and 

become performers. In addition, the 

Organisation conducts ‘Sangeethothsavam’ 

every year to coincide with 

the Queen’s Birthday weekend, 

inviting artistes of repute and great 

proficiency to perform over three 

nights. 

Their presence brings about a 

heavy downpour of Carnatic Music, 

drenching in which is ‘an exciting 

opportunity’ for Carnatic Music 

enthusiasts. 

Indian Newslink Culture Awards 

Indian Newslink has instituted 

a Special Segments for Performing 

Malladi Brothers Sreerama Prasad and Ravi Kumar 

(You Tube) 

Arts and Artistes in its Sixth Annual 

Indian Newslink Sports, Community, 

Arts and Culture Awards 2019. Please 

free to nominate any person who 

consider suitable. Forms can be 

downloaded from www.inlisa.com 

or www.inlscaca.com; Entries close 

on June 1, 2019. For further details, 

please call 021-836528 or email 

venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz 

Compositions of Maestros 

The Sangeethothsavam audience 

will be soaked by the compositions 

of the Trinity of Carnatic Music 

Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar 

and Shyama Sastri; Annamacharya, 

Narayana Theertha, Bhadrachala 

Ramadasu, Kshetrajna (or Khetrayya) 

Padams and Sadasiva Brahmendra. 

The Annual three-day Festival will 

commence with the performance of 

Sree Rama Prasad and Ravi Kumar, 

known as ‘Malladi Brothers’ on 

Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 530 pm, followed 

by the Concert of Sri Ranjani 

Santhanagopalan on the second day 

(June 2) at 530 pm, with the finale 

performed by Ranjani and Gayatri 

Sisters on Monday, June 3, 2019 at 5 

pm. All of them will be accompanied 

by Vittala Rangan on the Violin and 

K V Prasad on the Mridangam and 

all performances will be held at the 

Oranga Primary School Hall, located 

at 21 Rangipawa Road, One Tree Hill 

in Auckland. 

It is a matter of gratification that 

each of the artistes has performed in 

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan (Facebook) Ranjani and Gayatri Sisters (Facebook) Vittala Rangan (Musicearn.com) 

Auckland over the years and as such 

established their benchmarks, raising 

in effect audience expectations. 

Festival Highlights 

Among the highlights of the 

Festival would be performances of 

the students of NZCMS on June 1 

and June 3 from 9 am to 1230 pm, 

setting the stage to showcase their 

level of expertise and affording an 

opportunity to the visiting artistes to 

assess their prowess. 

Tickets for the Sangeethothsavam 

2019, priced (per person) at 

$100 (Festival Pass valid for all 

performances), $90 (Festival Pass for 

Students and Seniors), $40 and $35 

(Daily Pass respectively for adults 

and Students/Seniors) are now on 

sale. The accompanying poster 

provides all details. 

Malladi Brothers 

Sreerama Prasad and Ravi Kumar 

are known for powerful rendition of 

Ragas, a quality that they inherited 

from their grandfather, the Late 

Malladi Ramamurthy and their 

father Malladi Suri Babu, who belong 

to a family of musicians in Andhra 

Pradesh. 

Advanced training from Nedunuri 

Krishna Murthy, an exponent in 

Carnatic Music, helped them to 

hone their innovative skills and the 

pedagogy of Dr Sripada Pinakapani 

boosted their professional standards. 

They are recipients of several 

awards including those given by 

‘All India Radio,’ ‘Sri Voleti Venkateswarulu 

Award’ by Sri Krishna 

Gana Sabha and the ‘Best Concert 

Award’ from the Chennai Music 

Academy. 

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan 

An energetic and versatile performer, 

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan 

is the daughter and disciple of R 

Santhanagopalan, one of the most 

prominent singers of the contemporary 

era. Growing up to the music 

of stalwarts such as Madurai Mani 

Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasan and 

Ramnad Krishnan, her ability to 

raise to high levels of Carnatic Music 

has been proved at several concerts 

worldwide. 

Ranjani and Gayatri 

In a domain often characterised 

as elitist, esoteric, and not easily accessible 

to all, this brilliant sister-duo 

of Ranjani and Gayatri has found 

a way to satisfy and stimulate the 

cognoscenti and at the same time 

delight and thrill everyone. 

To achieve the magnetic status of 

a rock star and be viable as serious 

and profound practitioners of the 

art form is not easy in the field of 

Carnatic music; but these sisters have 

done just that with great distinction 

and felicity. 

Perfection of Shruti, powerful 

voice control, rich imagination and 

impeccable aesthetics which reflect 

the timeless values of classicism are 

some of the qualities that describe 

K V Prasad 

(Courtesy: The Hindu) 

the music of Ranjani and Gayatri. 

Vittala Rangan 

Brilliant in academics, Vittal Rangan, 

a promising young violinist and 

a Graded Artiste of All India Radio 

and Doordarshan. Groomed immaculately 

by Guru A Kanayakumari in 

a style that combines aesthetics of 

instrumental and vocal music with 

a focus on vocals, Vittal has won 

accolades from senior artistes and is 

a recipient of several awards. 

He also belongs to a rich musical 

lineage of three legends, including 

Ivaturi Vijeswara Rao, M Chandrasekaran 

and M L Vasanthakumari. 

K V Prasad 

A native of Ernakulam, Kerala, K V 

Prasad was trained in Mridangam by 

Narayana lyer, Parassala Ravi, and T 

K Murthy. Following the Thanjavur 

style, he also had his training in 

other percussion instruments such 

as Chenda and Edakka and Carnatic 

Vocal Music. 

Known for his deftness and deep 

knowledge of rhythm, Prasad, 

produces finely nuanced tala on the 

Mridangam, resulting in brilliant 

performances. 

He enjoys the distinction of having 

accompanied several great musicians 

including Semmangudi Srinivasa 

Iyer, D K Pattammal, and M S Subbulakshmi. 

He has also played with 

Chitti Babu, K V Narayanaswamy, 

Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, T N Seshagopalan, 

K J Yesudas and others. 

Stalwarts to judge the Tami Karaoke Trans-Tasman Contest 

Venkat Raman 

Hundreds of Tamil film music 

enthusiasts are expected 

to participate in an online 

‘Tamil Karaoke Singing 

Contest’ for the Indian community 

on either side of the Tasman. 

Organised by the Auckland based 

‘Rambutan Media Works New Zealand 

Limited,’ the Contest is stated 

to be the first of its kind to be held in 

this region. 

The singing challenge is the 

brainchild of Yugendran Vasudevan, 

a popular Tamil singer (and the son 

of the late and legendary Malaysia 

Vasudevan), who will also serve on 

the Panel of Judges. 

Among the other judges are popular 

Director Venkat Prabhu, Carnatic 

Musician and Veena expert Rajhesh 

Vaidhya, music composer and 

playback singer Devan Ekambaram, 

About the Competition 

The Competition, being held to 

identify and crown ‘Tamil Karaoke 

Star 2019,’ will comprise a number 

of audition rounds to select in the 

first instance 16 quarterfinalists. 

Those qualifying in the quarterfinals 

will be given a different theme 

leading to elimination and selection 

of eight semi-finalists. 

The semi-finalists will be invited to 

perform at a Grand Finale at which 

the winner will be announced and 

receive the title of ‘Tamil Karaoke 

Star 2019.’ 

Venkat Prabhu (Photo from Behindwoods.com) 

Devan Ekambaram (Photo from Indya101.com) 

Rajhesh Vaidhya (Facebook) 

Yugendran Vasudevan (Facebook 

Mr Yugendran said that the 

Competition is open to people of 

Indian Origin living in New Zealand 

and Australia. 

“This Digital Competition will 

culminate in an event in August 

2019, the details of which will be announced 

in due course. Our judges 

are well-known persons in the Tamil 

film industry and performing arts,” 

he said. 

About Rambutan Media Works 

Rambutan Media Works has 

been functioning as an accredited 

company in Singapore for the past 

ten year and established its presence 

in Auckland recently as ‘Rambutan 

Media Works NZ Limited.’ 

Mr Yugendran said that the 

Company plans to produce films in 

New Zealand in collaboration with 

local production houses. 

“Rambutan Media Works NZ is 

conducting this event to reach out to 

the wider Indian community living 

in New Zealand and Australia,” he 

said. 

Venkat Prabhu 

Venkat Kumar is the son of 

popular lyricist, composer and 

singer Gangai Amaren and nephew 

of internationally known music 

maestro Ilayaraja. 

He has been involved in the Tamil 

film industry as a producer, director, 

actor and playback singer for more 

than 15 years, although he got his 

first break with ‘Chennai 600028’ released 

in 2007. His other box-office 

hits were ‘Saroja’ (2008), ‘Mankatha’ 

(2011), ‘Biriyani’ (2013) and ‘Masss’ 

(2015). (2008), Goa (2010), Mankatha 

(2011), Biriyani (2013) and Masss 

(2015). 

Rajhesh Vaidhya 

A highly proficient and much-admired 

Veena player, Rajhesh 

Vaidhya is equally well-known for 

his performances with many music 

composers including Vidyasagar, 

Harris Jayaraj, Bharathwaj, Deva, 

Devi Sri Prasad, Srikanth Deva and 

Ilayaraja. 

He acted in ‘Viswa Thulasi,’ a 

Tamil film and ‘Premi,’ a tele-serial. 

He composed music for ‘Vegam,’ a 

Tamil film produced by produced by 

famous comedian S Ve Shekher, his 

brother-in-law. He was honoured 

with the coveted ‘Kalaimamani’ 

Award for his expertise in 2010. 

Jayaraj, Bharathwaj, Deva, Devi Sri 

Prasad, Srikanth Deva, Ilayaraja and 

A R Rahman. 

Devan Ekambaram 

Devan Ekambaram is an Indian 

American film playback singer, 

actor and composer. 

He began his career as a playback 

singer in Tamil films and later 

branched out to Telugu, and Kannada 

and has sung for over 500 films. 

Devan pursued his higher school 

studies at the Freehold Township 

High School, New Jersey. 

He began his singing career in 

the year 1999, and his maiden song 

‘O Maria’ for Tamil film ‘Kadhalar 

Dhinam’ performed with Yugendran 

was a hit. 

Yugendran Vasudevan 

Yugendran Vasudevan has 

hundreds of songs to his credit in 

Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam and 

has experience as a Music Director 

and Programme Host. 

Yugendran performed at the 

launch of ‘Swarna Oli’ a Radio 

Station in Sri Lanka in 1999, where 

he met his wife, Hayma Malini, a 

popular RJ host.

20 


Sportslink 

Sports, Culture and business on Sangam agenda 

Arveen Sharma 

Past and present challenges 

and the way forward, community 

unity and fostering 

sports among the younger 

generation will be among the issues 

that will be discussed at a major 

Convention of the Then India Sanmarga 

Ikya (TISI) Sangam scheduled 

to be held in Sydney, Australia, from 

October 5 to October 7, 2019. 

Sangam New South Wales (NSW) 

participated in the TISI Sangam 

Convention held over the Easter 

weekend in Lautoka Fiji. It is now 

inviting Fiji Sangam teams around 

the world to be a part of a major 

Sangam Convention in Sydney this 

October. 

Sports and a cultural night will 

be a major part of the three-day 

Convention. 

Soccer, Netball and Golf 

These will include Soccer, Netball 

and Golf Tournaments, evincing the 

interests of veterans, middle-level 

and young players of the respective 

games. 

The Soccer Tournament will be 

played in three Divisions, namely 

Premiers (for all ages), Over 40 (with 

inclusion of five Over 35) and Over 

50. 

The Netball Tournament may have 

either Open Grade or two Divisions, 

depending on the response, while 

details of the Golf fixtures are still 

under discussion. 

TISI Sangam New South Wales 

President Vishwa Nadan said that 

Sangam Conventions held anywhere 

in the world (normally in Fiji, 

Australia, New Zealand, Canada 

and USA) are an important event of 

the local Sangam community as it 

creates awareness. 

Uniting the Sangam Community 

“The main purpose of the Sydney 

Sangam Convention is to further 

unite the international Fiji Sangam 

community. While the initial 

invitation has been extended to 

Fiji, New Zealand and Australian 

Sangam teams, Sangam NSW will 

whole-heartedly welcome teams 

from USA and Canada,” he said. 

Mr Nadan said that the Convention 

will provide an excellent 

opportunity for senior and young 

community members, sportspersons 

and others to enjoy a weekend of 

sports and fun with likeminded 

people and make new friends, while 

renewing old friendships. 

“The sporting and cultural 

conventions help to build stronger 

ties with local and overseas counterparts. 

Sangam NSW will strengthen 

the harmonious relationship that 

TISI Sangam Fiji has with local and 

overseas teams,” he said. 

Sports Committee formed 

Mr Nadan said that Sangam 

NSW the Sports Committee 

is being led by Sachin Kamal 

and Mr Ravin Naidu (both Vice 

Presidents), supported by Yad 

Ram (Vice President), Narend 

Gounder (former President) and 

Steve Gopal. 

An organising Chair will be 

appointed shortly to support the 

Sports Committee and delegate 

responsibilities for conducting 

cultural and entertainment 

programmes to other executive 

members. 

“Sydney Sangam Conventions 

have always been a major 

highlight for the Fiji community 

in Australia. Australian Sangam 

teams and their players are no 

strangers to the local Sangam 

soccer community as these 

teams have been competing 

quite successfully in Fiji for a 

number of years,” Mr Nadan 

said. 

The registration fee is 

A$1000 per Soccer team and 

confirmation, together with 50% 

deposit is required by July 31, 

2019. Information on Netball 

and Golf will be included in the 

next media release. 

Teams interested in 

participating at the Sangam 

Convention in Sydney should 

send their details to Sangam. 

Convention@gmail.com 

Please also check out Sangam 

NSW on Facebook for updates 

leading to the Convention. 

Arveen Sharma is Media & 

Liaison Officer at Sangam 

NSW based in Sydney. 

Warren Gatland to coach British and Irish Lions 

Warren Gatland has 

agreed to become head 

coach of the British and 

Irish Lions for the tour 

to South Africa in 2021, according to 

British media reports. 

The Press Association said that the 

Lions have moved swiftly to secure 

Gatland for a record third successive 

term, in the process ending the prospect 

of the New Zealander replacing 

Eddie Jones as England boss after the 

World Cup. 

Although the contract has yet to be 

signed as Gatland is currently in New 

Zealand, a verbal agreement has been 

reached. 

Gatland will step down as Wales 

coach after this year’s World Cup in 

Japan. 

Dixon earns front row spot 

New Zealand driver Scott 

Dixon will start from the 

front row of the grid in 

Sunday’s Indy Car Grand 

Prix in Indianapolis. 

The reigning series champion 

qualified second fastest, behind Chip 

Ganassi teammate Felix Rosenqvist, 

who recorded a fast lap of 1 minute, 

8.2785 seconds around the 14-turn, 

3.925 km permanent road course. 

It was the Swedish rookie’s first 

pole position and the 90th in Indy 

car racing for Chip Ganassi Racing, 

and just 0.0194 seconds faster than 

Dixon’s best. 

Rosenqvist said afterwards that it 

had been a “really smooth” day for 

both cars. 

“We were in the top five basically 

every session. You still have to pull 

it off. It’s like if you’re one tenth off, 

you can fall six spots very easily. It 

is tough mentally to go through a 

session like that, where the lap you 

Wales coach Warren Gatland (Photo: Photosport) 

A start date has yet to be finalised, 

but it is likely that the most successful 

coach in Six Nations history will take up 

the role a year out from the tour. 

It means Gatland will complete the 

set of Lions tour destinations following 

a series win against Australia in 2013 

and 1-1 draw with New Zealand four 

years later. 

Scott Dixon (Photo: Photosport) 

do might be P1 but the next time you 

come around you might be P5,” he said. 

Dixon, who has earned points in all 

four races this season but has yet to win 

a race, sits third in the championship 

standings behind Americans Josef 

Newgarden and Alexander Rossi. 

The New Zealander, who has won 

28 pole positions, complimented 

Rosenqvist on his first. 

“Both of our cars have been pretty 

quick, which is fun. Felix did a great 

job to put together a lap there. … Big 

congrats to him and Chip and the team. 

It’s good to lock up the front row,” he 

said. 

Supported by 

YEAR 

aiming excellence 

Calling for Entries and Nominations 

To the Twelfth Annual Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards 2019 

CATEGORIES: (2 NEW CATEGORIES) 

1. Business Excellence in Retail Trade 

2. Business Excellence in Innovation 

3. Business Excellence in Marketing 

4. Business Excellence in Customer Service 

5. Best Employer of Choice 

6. Business Excellence in Health & Safety 

7. Business Excellence in Ethics (New) 

8. Business Excellence with Social Responsibility (New) 

9. Best Small Business 

10. Best Medium Sized Business 

11. Best Large Business 

12. Business Excellence in International Trade with India 

(this category is open to all businesses registered in 

New Zealand doing business with India) 

13. Best Accountant of the Year 

14. Best Young Entrepreneur of the Year 

15. Best Businesswoman of the Year 

16. Best Financial Advisor (Mortgage) of the Year 

17. Best Financial Advisor (Insurance) of the Year 

Supreme Business of the Year Award 

(All entries will be entered for this category) 

For more information on Awards, Terms and Conditions & Free Workshops, please visit www.inliba.com 

Nomination Process: Direct by Entrants; Nominations for Individual Categories (13 to 17) by companies and individuals; Nominations by 

commercial banks and chartered accountants for companies and individuals with information prescribed in the entry forms available on the 

Awards website (www.inliba.com).

INL 15th May 2019 Digital Edition

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