September/October 2021 - Bay of Plenty Business News

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14 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS September/October 2021 Rotorua looks to its legacy of resilience Rotorua continues to be a preferred destination for visitors. Photos/Supplied. Rotorua has long been known for its strong legacy of resilience and ongoing expression of kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga. Its history tells a unique story of indigenous entrepreneurship and tourism leadership that has continued to evolve across generations. By MARISA BALLE Over the past year, the Rotorua community has shared with Rotorua Economic Development and Destination Rotorua their challenges and aspirations. And whilst 2020 began on a surge of consumer confidence with the Bay of Plenty recording the highest level of optimism of any New Zealand region, 2021 started on a more sombre note. The data told us that like the rest of New Zealand, our situation was serious and that the solution lies within an all-of-Rotorua approach working in partnership with iwi and alongside local businesses and Central Government. Fast-forward to where we are now and it would be fair to say our city is well on its way to building back better. From a visitation perspective, we’ve experienced a 30 percent increase in the number of conferences and events compared to 2019, our world-class lakefront redevelopment is nearing completion, and partnerships with iwi and wider stakeholders continue to thrive. It’s also impossible to ignore that Rotorua is the epicentre of the country’s third-largest export earner – forestry. In recognition of the role the forestry industry plays in our economy, Te Uru Rākau – NZ Forest Service announced in April this year it would be moving its headquarters from Wellington to Rotorua. With strong ties and working partnerships with Scion, Red Stag Timber, and Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology we’ve strengthened the city’s establishment as an industry leader. Rotorua’s Wood First initiative recognises the economic, environmental, cultural and social significance of wood within the community. This initiative is about looking at wood as the first material of choice for construction, interior design and living developments within Rotorua, with a long-term goal of taking the Wood First concept to a wider national and international audience. Awards for new Scion HQ Scion’s newly built Te Whare Nui o Tuteata recently won international design accolades, selected as both the 2021 Architizer A+Awards Jury Winner and Popular Choice Winner in the Architecture +Wood category. It then went on receive The Building Award at the 2021 INDE Awards for Indo-Pacific countries, along with an Honourable Mention in The Influencer Award. The INDE Awards saw more than 687 entries from 14 countries in the Indo-Pacific region – no easy feat. As a destination, we continue to be a preferred choice for New Zealanders and the increase in business activity within the visitor industry reflects this. Our tourism operators are resilient and realistic and have remained steadfast to their values, continuing to be agile as they respond to the ongoing impact of Covid. Just last month, three of our local tourism operators won gold at the Qualmark 100 Per Cent Pure New Zealand Experience Awards held in Christchurch. Kaitiaki Adventures, MDA Experiences and Rotorua Canopy Tours were among 12 New Zealand businesses that won the award. Rotorua Canopy Tours and Rotorua Rafting were also voted Best Activities in the World in this year’s Tripadvisor awards. We’re also seeing a surge in activity in the commercial property space with new businesses being established, and many existing businesses focused on product development. Whakarewarewa Forest is now home to New Zealand’s newest mountain bike hub Te Pūtake o Tawa, situated near Lake Tikitapu, and a new eatery, Eastwood, has opened in the stunning Te Whare Nui o Tuteata at Scion that is also nestled within the forest. The near-completion of our stunning lakefront, alongside Rotorua Lakes Council’s developing innercity revitalisation plan, means there will be additional commercial opportunities in the CBD that will open up more opportunities and create a positive flow-on effect for the wider community. Alongside this is the increasing demand for housing which allows developers to realise the potential of investing in our district. Our place is home to remarkable people who are innately connected to Rotorua’s shared legacy of resilience. Despite the uncertainty a global pandemic brings, we know our communities will continue to adapt and overcome adversity and we need not look far to see the entrepreneurial spirit in action. • Marisa Balle is Corporate Communications Manager for Rotorua Economic Development and Destination Rotorua. NEWSBRIEF Bay of Plenty’s Kale Print win big on national stage once again Established in 1993 with the goal to promote excellence in print in New Zealand, the Pride In Print Awards have been a pinnacle of recognition year after year for the best in visual print communication products produced in New Zealand. They embody a culture of excellence aimed at meeting and exceeding the needs of the customer and continuously pushing boundaries. It is in the commercial marketplace where Pride In Print delivers its greatest tangible reward. Each sector of the industry is covered, with expert panels of judges analysing every entry. Judging is based on technical excellence in all facets of the production process, typography and good design, allowing specialists to make judgements based on the potential and the limits of processes, and the materials and equipment used. This year a new category was introduced to the Awards programme – The Business Awards. These awards are intended to highlight the businesses that are driving the future of the industry. There are three categories – Sustainability, Wellness & Innovation, each of which are an important factor in the success of a business and the evolution of the industry, ensuring that print continues to have a great story to tell. On 25th June, a contingent of Kale Print representatives attended the 2021 Pride in Print awards. A welcome celebration after the 2020 awards night was cancelled due to Covid restrictions. The team were honoured to be recognised amongst their peers as leaders in their field, displaying excellence in a variety of categories including the new Business Award Innovation category for their reception chairs and a prestigious overall category win for Promotional Print with the Wealleans 2021 Calendar.
September/October 2021 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS 15 Mandatory record keeping: What you need to know In the wake of the recent lockdown, the Government has announced that mandatory record keeping is being introduced for busy places and large gatherings. This means those responsible for businesses and events will need to ensure people keep a record when they visit, either by scanning QR codes with the Covid-19 Tracer App or making a manual record. Mandatory record keeping is currently required at social gatherings including when visiting a marae, at weddings, funerals, tangihanga and faith-based services at Alert Level 2. It will now be a requirement for those businesses and events that are permitted at any Alert Level. Sebastian Hartley, solicitor at Holland Beckett Law, discusses the changes and your obligations. New Zealand is famous world wide for its Covid-19 stopping lockdowns, but our ability to sustain regional and localised lockdowns, and avoid the full economic impact of shutting down our economy, is only because of our ability to contact trace quickly and effectively. As the last few days have demonstrated, this ability is of critical importance in the new Delta environment. This is why the Government has now made the decision to formally require contact tracing records to be kept at all alert levels. This will expand the range of businesses required to contact trace and apply this requirement at all alert levels. Current Obligations Contact tracing has obvious privacy concerns – it requires people to provide personal information and creates an accessible record of the places they have been. Making it mandatory has continued to be controversial throughout the pandemic and, probably as a result, the Government has held off on making it a mandatory requirement unless there is an active outbreak. Under the current rules, at Alert Level 1, businesses’ and event managers’ are only required to display a QR code at or near their main entrance. There has not been a requirement for customers to sign in. It has only been at Level 2 and above that certain kinds of businesses have been required to keep a record of who has visited – and to monitor their customer’s compliance with that requirement. Outside of businesses, there have also been record keeping requirements for social gatherings – in particular, gatherings at marae, weddings, funerals, tangihanga and religious services. Again, this has only applied at Alert Level 2 and above. The New Requirements The Government has now announced that it will be requiring businesses to do more work to support contact tracing going forward. This is because in a Delta environment, as the latest outbreak shows, by the time alert levels change, thousands of people may already have been exposed. Being able to quickly and accurately identify those people will be the main tool in avoiding the need to move to Level 4 again in the future. The new changes mean that the contact tracing requirements will extend to a much wider collection of businesses and events. They will also apply even at Level 1. Contact tracing will now be a part of the ‘new normal’. The Government does not usually release the full details of future alert levels until they take effect – draft orders are not being published in advance. But based on the announcements to date, and the previous rules that have been put in place, it is clear that most businesses will now be captured, including: • visitors to aged care and healthcare facilities; • cinemas, theatres, casinos and concerts; • customers at massage parlours, beauticians, barbers, hairdressers and exercise facilities; • customers at cafes, restaurants, bars and nightclubs; • indoor public facilities, such as libraries, museums, swimming pools; • social gatherings including those at marae, weddings, funerals, tangihanga and faith-based services; and • visitors to courts and tribunals, local and central government The new changes mean that the contact tracing requirements will extend to a much wider collection of businesses and events. They will also apply even at Level 1. Contact tracing will now be a part of the ‘new normal’.” agencies, and social services providers with customer service counters such as councils, Ministry of Social Development offices. It is not clear whether this will apply to large-volume businesses like supermarkets and petrol stations that are currently open – but which are not required to contact trace customers at present. It is likely that this will also be combined with a requirement for customers to sign in themselves, although the Government has made clear that the emphasis on enforcement will be on businesses not individuals. However, this may change over time as people get more used to the requirement of scanning in wherever they go. These new restrictions will be in force in each region about seven days after it enters Level 3. This will give businesses a week’s grace to get up to speed with the new measures. However, we are recommending that businesses start immediately, so they can iron out any difficulties with their systems. Penalties Once a new order is put in place to cover the contact tracing requirements, the same penalties will apply under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020, which provides the authority for the Government’s actions. Under this Act there are effectively three levels of penalty that can be applied: • An infringement notice (like a speeding ticket) for $300 for any breach • An infringement offence – which is like an infringement notice but must go through the Court and can include a fine of up to $1000; and • A conviction offence – for intentionally breaching the order – which carries a conviction and a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment or a fine of up to $4000. So far, the police have been cautious in using their formal powers and have only charged people who are either committing quite serious offending or who have repeatedly failed to comply. We expect this to continue – people who are caught out by accident in the early days will likely receive warning or infringement notices; people who refuse to comply and continue to act in breach may be charged. It is important to note that Courts take these offences seriously. During the March 2020 lockdown, many people who breached received short sentences in prison: deliberate flouting of the law carries a very real risk of similar treatment. For many people the risk of a criminal conviction will also be a significant deterrent. Privacy While businesses will now be required to comply with these obligations, it is important that they also take into account their obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 when recording information. Key obligations include: • Only gathering information that is necessary; • Only using information for the purpose for which it was gathered; and • Destroying information when it is no longer needed. Contact tracing information should be kept separate and destroyed after a matter of weeks. It should not be used for other purposes (like client data bases) without specific permission. As the information is highly personal, it must also be stored carefully to avoid anyone accessing it. The risks of getting things wrong in terms of privacy are serious with compensation for breaches often exceeding $10,000. With the frequent changes to the rules, it is important to have people on your side who understand the requirements and can help you ensure your business complies with all of the requirements. Our team are more than happy to discuss your situation and help you better understand your rights, obligations, and options. • Content supplied by Holland Beckett Law LawVu receives fund injection An industry-leading Tauranga start up has crowned off a major earnings surge with a capital injection of $17 million from a New York venture capital and equity firm. By RICHARD RENNIE LawVu, a company developing and selling software for in-house legal teams has welcomed the $17 million, which includes support from Australian venture capital firm AirTree Ventures. Sam Kidd, LawVu co-founder, welcomed the significant capital injection at a time when corporates were intensifying efforts to improve their counsels’ technology. “In house legal teams perform a critical function inside every corporation. However, you will often find the only ‘tech’ they have is email and word documents. “Legal teams are becoming a bottleneck, as the rest of the business leverages off technology and speeds up.” The firm was established by Kidd and Tim Boyne in 2015, stemming in part from Boyne’s employment with a leading city firm, and his frustration at the delays in compiling monthly reports for big company clients. Combined talents The men combined talents, with Boyne’s experience in law IT systems and Kidd’s ability project managing software development pushing the company along quickly. LawVu combines a range of software tools based around document creation, record keeping and time management under one umbrella, replacing the Post-it notes Kidd says are often employed by teams to keep track of jobs. The platform allows teams to manage all their matters, contracts, documents, e-billing, outsourced work, and reporting from one cloud-based, secure, and connected platform, with a connected third-party tools critical to a high-performing in-house function. The initial big break for the company came with Telstra adopting the software suite, and other large Australian corporates and public entities quickly following. Large clients in New Zealand include Zespri, Fonterra, Sky, and Harcourts. The company’s technology is now in 30 countries. LawVu is considered the leader in this space amongst many of the most tech savvy in-house legal teams in the world.” – James Cameron James Cameron, a partner in Air- Tree Ventures, said there was a big push globally to get in-house legal teams up to speed with technology, and improve their efficiency in the process. “LawVu is considered the leader in this space amongst many of the most tech savvy in-house legal teams in the world. It is also fantastic to be investing alongside world-class global investors like Insight to help continue to grow the business in its biggest markets in the US and Europe.” He said there was significant demand from global investors to invest in fast-growing Australian and New Zealand tech businesses. The injection comes after the company earlier secured $2.5 million of funding through convertible notes, supported by NZ Growth Capital Partners. Funding has also come from local investor Craig Wearne who liked the idea from the get-go. The latest investment enables the company to continue to optimise in-house legal team performance and increase their engagement with the broader business.
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September/October 2021 - Bay of Plenty Business News

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