October 2022 - Bay of Plenty Business News

OCTOBER 2022 VOLUME 6: ISSUE 10 

WWW.BOPBUSINESSNEWS.CO.NZ 

FACEBOOK.COM/BAYOFPLENTYBUSINESSNEWS 

UTF explores 

construction 

supply issues 

Tauranga’s Urban Task Force (UTF) hosted a panel discussion focused 

on supply chain issues at the end of August. Employers’ immigration 

scheme holdups in particular were highlighted, with some degree of 

frustration, as a major cause for concern, not only for those in the 

industry, but for the economy as a whole. 

PORT BATTLING 

SHIP SCHEDULING 

Challenging labour conditions, capacity issues at 

Ports of Auckland, and Covid have all played into 

continuing scheduling issues at Port of Tauranga, 

with expectations delays will not be fully sorted 

until early next year. See story page 3. 

By ALAN NEBEN 

The UTF was established 

in 2021 to provide 

leadership to local 

and central government, and 

local business, economic and 

iwi sectors. According to the 

group, UTF advocates for 

positive planning and investment 

decisions to create 

meaningful changes to the 

current state of Tauranga City. 

The presentation, introduced 

by UTF’s Morgan 

Jones, outlined the current 

state of the industry from the 

individual perspectives of 

each of the four panelists. 

Providing context, Priority 

One’s Nigel Tutt highlighted 

the July quarter record 

low unemployment rate of 

2.9% for the Western Bay of 

Plenty. He noted that construction, 

property and 

healthcare are the largest 

employment sectors 

in the region. 

He also pointed to 

the impacts of the current 

7-8% inflation rate 

and labour shortages, 

particularly slow immigrant 

labour flows, as major 

impediments to growth. He 

noted competition for staff 

will be a significant feature of 

the local labour market. 

Tomkins Wake’s immigration 

expert Michelle Urquhart 

touched on the impact 

of Covid border closures and 

outlined the new work visa 

scheme, originally announced 

in 2019 for launch in 2020, 

but then delayed by border 

closures until the scheme 

Morgan Jones 

finally went live in July 2022. 

She pointed out that, 

despite the quick uptake 

and processing of employer 

accreditations in May, a 

requirement for any employer 

now wishing to employ a 

migrant, the subsequent 

job check stage has been 

problematic. 

Turn to page 5 

THE PORTER REPORT 

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COVER STORY 

October 2022 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS 3 

Port battling ship scheduling 

Challenging labour conditions, capacity issues at Ports 

of Auckland, and Covid have all played into continuing 

scheduling issues at Port of Tauranga, with expectations 

delays will not be fully sorted until early next year. 

By RICHARD RENNIE 

Data on global shipping to July 

indicates an uplift in shipping 

reliability after months of poor 

performance, with reliability levels 

now at 41% compared to barely 30% 

a year ago. This still compares poorly 

against pre-Covid global figures of 

75-80%. 

But logistics and freight company 

Kotahi’s latest shipping summary has 

Port of Tauranga, along with all other 

major ports in New Zealand recording 

a slide in shipping reliability. It 

reports all ports recording severe 

congestion, driven by weather events, 

vessel ‘bunching’ and lower levels of 

labour due to Covid infections across 

the country. 

Overall, the effect has been to push 

New Zealand ports backwards in their 

scheduling reliability compared to the 

rest of the world. Tauranga fell from 

a relatively consistent 50% schedule 

reliability for much of the year, to 

below 40% for July. 

Auckland, Napier and Lyttelton all 

recorded rates lower still, with Nelson 

the only exception for increased reliability 

in July. 

Port of Tauranga chair Julia Hoare 

noted the issues the port continues to 

focus on when announcing its annual 

results in early August. She pointed to 

65% of ships still arriving off-schedule 

and continuing delays in other parts of 

the New Zealand supply chain. 

“Supply chain disruption continues 

to have a massive impact on our 

ability to deliver an efficient service 

for importers and exporters. We have 

done our best to incentivise smooth 

cargo flows and the financial results 

reflect that,” she said. 

Vessel delays at Tauranga have 

increased to up to five days, and a 

port spokesperson said of the 16 vessels 

arriving at Tauranga each week 

on average only six are on time, and 

these are the ones calling direct to 

Tauranga. 

“Ports of Auckland has said it 

expects to get back on schedule from 

March 2023, so we are hopeful we 

will return to better schedule reliability 

in the second half of the financial 

year,” she said. 

The Port of Tauranga reported an 

increase in group net profit by 8.7% 

to $111.3 million while paying a total 

dividend of 14.7c a share, up from 

13.5c the year before. 

CEO of Kotahi David Ross said 

Auckland’s efforts to lift its operational 

capacity were a key to the 

entire country’s improvement in shipping 

scheduling. 

“And Auckland is signalling their 

intention to be there by March, and 

everyone should be 100% behind that 

intent as it is good for NZ’s entire 

operations.” 

The problems with port reliability 

have been heightened by issues 

around Maersk’s Coastal Connect 

Supply chain disruption 

continues to have a 

massive impact on our 

ability to deliver an efficient 

service for importers and 

exporters. We have done 

our best to incentivise 

smooth cargo flows and 

the financial results reflect 

that.” – Port of Tauranga 

chair, Julia Hoare 

domestic shipping network. Issues 

around weather in Australia and challenges 

portside here have meant the 

vessels due to participate have been 

delayed, with improvements unlikely 

until November. 

Hoare also pointed to delays in 

resource consent for an additional 

container ship berth as contributing to 

efficiency issues. 

Despite detailed planning and consultation 

beginning almost four years 

ago the port was unsuccessful in getting 

its application fast-tracked under 

government Shovel Ready projects 

during the pandemic. 

A delayed Environment Court 

hearing is scheduled for early March 

next year. “It is incredibly frustrating 

after years of consultation and planning 

to be still ‘on hold’. Had we not 

had these delays, we would be finishing 

construction now,” said Hoare. 

Port of Tauranga Chief Executive, 

Leonard Sampson, says the Port’s 

diversity of cargoes and long-term 

freight agreements with key customers 

has given some certainty through 

extremely challenging times. 

“We are looking forward to a longer-term 

solution in the form of additional 

capacity at the container terminal, 

and soon at the Ruakura Inland 

Port that we are developing in Hamilton 

in partnership with Tainui Group 

Holdings.” 

The inland port, part of the Ruakura 

Superhub, is due to open in late 

2022 and will connect Waikato 

importers and exporters with the 

“big ship” services calling only at 

Tauranga. 

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4 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS October 2022 

THE PORTER REPORT 

A monthly update on the business 

world from leading writer David Porter 

www.bopbusinessnews.co.nz 

CONTACT INFORMATION 

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Email: alan@bopbusinessnews.co.nz 

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Long live the King 

World coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s recent death and the ascent of 

her son – finally – to lead the British monarchy as King Charles III, has 

dominated the media. 

The outpouring of coverage 

caused me to re-examine 

my own modest 

personal experience of Charles 

when he toured New Zealand 

as a prince with his then new 

bride Diana in April 1983. 

As a young reporter, I was 

experiencing my first exposure 

to the demands and expectations 

of being a travelling news 

correspondent. 

By the time the royal couple 

reached New Zealand, 

they had already experienced 

a month of ‘walkabouts’ across 

Australia, accompanied by the 

royal train. This was a tour 

group of officials, bureaucratic 

flunkies and a ‘royal rat pack’ 

of mostly British journalists. 

And as could easily be 

observed, it wasn’t the millions 

of handshakes and camera 

flashlights that affected 

Diana, but rather an early realisation 

by her – and the crowds 

– that her celebrity power way 

outstripped that of her husband. 

As was soon to prove 

the case for their marriage in 

what eventually became a battle 

with much of the rest of the 

royal family. 

She became an adept 

embracer and manipulator of 

the press, before her own sad 

The royals on the 1983 

tour of NZ and Australia. 

demise in a Parisian car crash. 

I in no way blame Diana 

for her approach. Although in 

those early days in New Zealand 

the royal couple seemed 

happy enough, she was clearly 

adjusting to the fact that marrying 

into the royal family wasn’t 

necessarily an easy road to 

tread. 

Diana was, in my view, 

already a natural with the 

media. She seldom entered 

a room or hit a street on that 

tour where she had not already 

carefully worked out how she 

could present her best angles to 

the camera. She realised very 

early on what the best relationship 

would be to get the press 

largely on her side in the palace 

wars. 

One of the charming aspects 

of the 1983 royal tour – especially 

for the British press then 

– was that they were actually 

privileged to speak directly 

(for approximately a minute 

or so) to each of the royals at a 

welcome function in Auckland. 

Direct conversation with the 

royals was otherwise then very 

strictly controlled by Charles’ 

public relations manager. 

I can recall very little of 

my own truncated conversation 

with Diana. But I do recall 

coming away from my chat 

with Charles thinking he really 

was quite an interesting man. 

He responded to my questions 

on how he handled the 

repetitions of royal walkabouts 

in a way that struck me as 

refreshingly straightforward. It 

was, he remarked to me, “very 

difficult to find anything new 

to say”. 

Whoever was writing his 

set-piece speeches for him 

during the 1983 tour seemed 

to do a solid job as these 

were usually interesting and 

apposite. 

Charles has stumbled frequently 

in the media, and the 

David Porter 

British press has taken some 

years to come to terms with his 

current wife, though it seems 

to have now been largely won 

over. 

He apparently had a staff 

of around 30 as prince and 

his travel ventures reportedly 

require a specific list of personal 

items. 

According to Tina Brown’s 

new book, “The Palace 

Papers,” on his visits, the 

Prince of Wales brings an 

orthopedic bed, a lavatory seat, 

toilet paper, and two paintings 

of Scottish landscapes. Who 

wouldn’t? 

The fact that Charles and 

his family enjoy millions in 

essentially unearned income 

from their inheritance of centuries 

of property ownership 

leaves them somewhat out of 

touch with everyday reality. 

Nonetheless, insofar as any 

member of his family ever 

does, he often speaks his mind. 

Charles has waited a long 

time to become king, and I trust 

he enjoys his long-awaited role. 

It will be an interesting reign. 

Long live the king. 

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COVER STORY 


Urban Task Force explores 

construction supply issues 

Continued from page 1 

“Immigration New Zealand’s system 

is not working the way it should 

and applications are getting hung up,” 

Urquhart noted. 

She observed that the problems 

and delays are resulting from the 

obligatory job checks – the stage at 

which checks are made to prove no 

New Zealanders are available to do 

the job – taking so long, delaying 

the migrant’s ability to apply. This 

has been exacerbated by new system 

failures. 

Although immigration New Zealand 

originally announced the first 

two stages, employer accreditation 

and job checks, would be completed 

in under 10 days, this target has been 

abandoned and they now won’t even 

provide a timeline. 

Willy Bedford from Venture 

Developments focused on his organisation’s 

experiences with residential 

housing and construction trends, 

particularly challenges to the market 

from climbing interest rates, property 

prices and escalating building costs, 

driven by increased consenting, material 

and labour costs. “All of this has 

resulted in significant increases to 

square metre rates”, he said. 

Bedford calculated that building 

costs have increased from approximately 

$3000 to $4000 per square 

metre over the last 18 months. As a 

result, fixed-price building contracts 

Tomkins Wake’s immigration specialist Michelle Urquhart explains 

the requirements for employer accreditation. Photo/Supplied. 

have become increasingly hard to 

promote. 

Bedford identified opportunities 

for developers to work collaboratively 

with the parties to achieve 

improved housing affordability. 

Hawkins’ Peter McCawe highlighted 

escalation challenges his 

organisation has encountered in 

the commercial construction sector 

recently. 

He described the ‘perfect storm’ 

caused by Covid, overlapping three 

areas: the loss of production time as 

a result of lockdowns; Shipping and 

transport cost increases; And continued 

high demand for materials and 

human resources. 

“From a commercial construction 

perspective, we don’t see things 

slowing down. Although the escalation 

will become less volatile, it’s 

not going to go into the negatives”, 

he warned. “Costs will not, unfortunately, 

decrease – only the rates at 

which they increase will slow down.” 

McCawe illustrated the problems 

identified by Urquhart for employers 

in the construction sector securing 

human resources from abroad. He 

described how, despite a recruitment 

drive in March when the borders 

opened that involved a trip to the UK 

where 50 prospective employees were 

interviewed and 25 offers made – to 

date only three have finally landed in 

New Zealand. 

His message to employers: “Ensure 

that remuneration is competitive, 

you’ve got a healthy team culture, 

and that you’ve got flexible working 

arrangements. 

From a commercial 

construction 

perspective, we don’t 

see things slowing 

down. Although the 

escalation will become 

less volatile, it’s not 

going to go into the 

negatives.” 

– Peter McCawe 

Seeka releases Sustainability Report 

Carbon footprint independently verified Targeting 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2025. 

Listed produce company, Seeka 

Limited released its first comprehensive 

Sustainability Report 

in June. Seeka’s Sustainability Report 

2022 focuses on establishing the 

base methodology for Sustainability 

Reporting including three years of 

independently verified carbon footprint 

calculations. 

The report outlines the initiatives 

and targets that the company is putting 

in place to measure its sustainability 

performance and its initiatives 

to respond to climate change. 

Seeka has established a goal of 

being net zero carbon by 2050 through 

initiatives including waste reduction, 

regenerative orchard practices, being 

an employer of choice and supporting 

the wellbeing of local communities. 

Seeka Chief Executive, Michael 

Franks, outlined that the report is 

a significant step forward for the 

company. It establishes Seeka as a 

socially and environmentally responsible 

company in each of the regions. 

Seeka has committed to reduce its 

verified carbon footprint by 30% by 

2025 and 50% by 2030. Following 

the plan, the company has established 

the target of being net zero carbon by 

2050. 

In addition to reporting absolute 

carbon results, Seeka is benchmarking 

intensity-based performance indicators 

to capture efficiency gains as 

the business grows. 

Franks explains, “We operate 

in fast-growing industries, and we 

intend to continue expanding through 

a planned increase in New Zealand 

kiwifruit crops. We are measuring 

the carbon impact of fruit handled by 

Seeka, which at 50.7 tonnes of C02e 

per 100,000 class 1 trays packed is 

trending down over the past three 

years, demonstrating early gains from 

our carbon reduction initiatives.” 

Seeka 2022 sustainability 

highlights: 

• Carbon footprint assurance for 

2019, 2020 and 2021 by Toitu 

Envirocare 

• Assisting iwi to achieve improved 

economic enablement through 

the joint development of their 

land 

• Recovering strings from 150 

hectares of SunGold kiwifruit 

orchards, recycled and diverted 

from landfill 

• Growing the Pacific economy 

with 781 Pacific people supported 

into seasonal employment in 

2021 through Seeka’s recognised 

seasonal employer programme 

• Capacity for 446kW of solar 

power with systems installed in 

Seeka Kerikeri, Seeka Australia 

and Seeka 360 in Te Puke 

• 100 tonnes of organic waste able 

to be diverted to regenerative horticulture; 

composted at Seeka’s 

worm farm and applied to Seeka 

orchards 

• Six hybrid vehicles joined Seeka’s 

fleet 

• $270k donated to charity, sports 

groups and local organisations 

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Proposed GST change gone by 

lunchtime: public opinion can count 

The Tax Bill introduced in August got more than its fair share of 

attention for all the wrong reasons. The press release by officials 

highlighted the planned FBT exemption for employer subsidised public 

transport, which is only expected to provide about $9 million in benefit 

to employers in terms of reduced FBT collected, but this was largely 

overlooked by press and commentators. 

TAXATION 

> BY ANDREA SCATCHARD 

Andrea Scatchard is a Tax Partner at Deloitte, based 

in the Bay of Plenty. She can be reached on ascatchard@deloitte.co.nz 

Unless you have been 

hiding under a rock you 

will know that the part 

of the Bill that caught everyone’s 

attention was the proposed 

imposition of 15% GST 

on fund manager fees. While 

this was intended to bring 

some certainty and consistency 

to the way in which GST 

is charged by fund managers, 

which is arguably a good outcome, 

the modelling suggested 

that by 2070 this would reduce 

total Kiwisaver investor funds 

by approximately $103 billion. 

To put it in context, this is 

only about 4% of the total forecast 

value of funds invested, 

but the outrage was such that 

the proposal was literally gone 

by lunchtime and the Bill has 

been reissued without these 

clauses. 

Another part of the Bill 

which has not received a lot 

of attention in the media is the 

changes around the platform 

economy. The Bill contains 

two separate changes, which 

apply to different parts of the 

platform economy: 

1. Extending the existing 

GST marketplace rules to 

capture accommodation, 

ride-sharing, and food and 

beverage delivery services 

provided through electronic 

marketplaces. 

2. Implementing an information 

and reporting framework 

that will require New 

Zealand-based digital platforms 

to annually provide 

Inland Revenue with data 

about sellers. Platforms that 

are in scope are any that 

have sellers in the following 

sectors: 

a. Rental of immovable 

property (including commercial, 

short-stay, and 

visitor accommodation); 

b. Personal services 

(including any time- or 

task-based work); 

c. The sale of goods; and 

d. Vehicle rentals. 

The first of these changes 

will require the digital platforms 

to return 15% GST on 

short stay accommodation, 

The bill requires 

digital platforms 

offering ride-sharing, 

food and beverage 

delivery and short 

stay accommodation 

to return 15% GST. 

ride-sharing and food and beverage 

delivery services, even 

if the supplier of those services 

is itself GST registered 

and currently returning GST 

(these will become zero-rated 

supplies for the supplier). Suppliers 

that are GST registered 

will still be able to claim GST 

on their costs as they currently 

do, so there should be minimal 

overall impact for them, just a 

new layer of complexity. 

Where the suppliers are 

not GST registered, the digital 

platform will be able to claim 

a notional input tax credit of 

8.5% on behalf of the supplier 

meaning that the net GST payable 

by the platform will be 

6.5%. 

The platform must then 

pass on the 8.5% credit to the 

underlying non-registered supplier 

as cash. For the large 

number of taxpayers whose 

turnover is under $60,000 or 

who have chosen not to voluntarily 

register for GST, this 

will be a big change and represents 

an overall reduction in 

return for the supplier which 

may well be passed on in the 

form of increased charges to 

consumers. Inland Revenue 

estimated this additional cost 

to consumers to be $47 million 

per year. 

The second change will 

require New Zealand based 

digital platforms to collect 

and report on the identity, 

residence and sales information 

for sellers using the platform 

for the relevant types of 

supplies. 

Where the seller is a New 

Zealand resident, we expect 

Inland Revenue will then 

use that information to check 

whether the seller has returned 

that income for tax purposes. 

Where the seller is not 

a New Zealand resident the 

information will be passed on 

to the relevant tax authority 

overseas. While New Zealand 

resident sellers who use 

overseas based platforms to 

sell goods and services are 

not directly affected by these 

changes, it is most likely that 

the platforms will be required 

to report the equivalent information 

in the jurisdiction 

that they are resident and that 

information will end up in 

Inland Revenue’s hands in due 

course. 

These proposals, and the 

many others that are included 

in the Bill, are open for consultation 

for the next few weeks. 

The turnaround on the GST 

on fund management services 

shows that public opinion can 

count, so if you would like to 

make a submission, or if you 

just want to know how these 

changes might affect you, get 

in touch with your accountant 

or tax adviser. 

Building employee self-confidence 

A recent Dale Carnegie study found that, “Confidence is the emotion 

that empowered employees value most highly.” When employees are 

self-confident, they perform at a higher level, show better engagement, 

and are more creative. But confidence is a skill that many people need 

to work on, even more so after the shocks of the pandemic. 

Like self-awareness, 

self-confidence is one 

of those game changing 

competencies. Having a 

greater belief in yourself and 

abilities completely changes 

what you can see yourself 

achieving. 

I remember in my late 20’s 

finally heading overseas for 

my “OE”. This was a 6 week 

see the world” every day 

planned tour of the UK and 

Europe. 

I remember watching in 

amazement as several of our 

group left the Contiki tour in 

Paris before the bus returned 

to London. 

Where would they go? 

I wondered. Ten years later 

after quite a lot of professional 

development my wife 

and I arrived in Bangkok 

with nothing planned but one 

night accommodation and 

a 12month round the world 

ticket. Nothing was a problem 

anymore. So why do we lack 

confidence? 

Reasons employees may 

not be confident at work 

• Lack of Job-Specific 

Knowledge & Training 

Opportunities 

According to a 2018 study, 

32% of workers felt underqualified 

for their current role 

in the previous year. As time 

has progressed and work has 

become remote, hybrid, and 

filled with AI, workers feel 

even more unprepared to fulfil 

their job requirements, and 

45% of employees say their 

work doesn’t provide enough 

job support training and skill 

development opportunities. 

Lack of self-confidence stems 

from not knowing what you’re 

doing. 

• Poor Management Style 

Unfortunately, managers 

and bosses have a significant 

impact on employee confidence. 

A boss who lacks empathy 

may be unintentionally 

harsh to an employee about a 

mistake or when giving constructive 

feedback. Managers 

also might fall into micromanaging, 

taking decision-making 

power out of the hands of the 

worker. This can cause confidence 

in the workplace to 

decline significantly. 

• Company Disarray 

The company’s culture, 

policies, mission, and future 

are all important considerations. 

If any of these are in 

disarray, employees will disengage. 

According to Gartner, 

52% of employees strongly 

agreed that the pandemic has 

caused them to question the 

purpose of their jobs. A clear 

company mission that employees 

can connect with means 

those employees will have an 

innate desire to complete their 

work and do it well. 

Six ways to boost 

employee self-confidence 

Knowing how to boost someone’s 

confidence is a key trait 

of leaders, managers, and 

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 

> BY MICHAEL SHAW 

Michael Shaw is managing director of Dale Carnegie BOP 

Waikato (www.bop-waikato.dalecarnegie.com). He can be 

reached on Michael.shaw@dalecarengie.com 

executives. Here are 6 ideas 

for how to boost employee 

confidence: 

• Recognition: Take the time 

to recognise someone’s efforts 

and contributions, even if they 

resulted in a negative outcome 

or their idea wasn’t chosen. 

• Offer Assistance: Knowing 

that help is available on a project 

can relieve pressure and 

increase confidence. 

• Cultivate Psychological 

Safety: As leaders, it is our 

responsibility to create a culture 

of psychological safety 

within the organisation and 

teams, so employees will feel 

more supported in speaking up 

and sharing their ideas. 

• Provide Training: From 

on-the-job skills training to a 

course specifically designed 

to raise self-confidence, resilience 

and interpersonal skills. 

• Listen: Sometimes, all it 

takes to create an atmosphere 

of openness is listening to 

that person, whether it be in a 

meeting with an idea or during 

a one-on-one call. 

• Delegate and Empower: 

Employees, must step up to 

the plate when given responsibilities, 

which pushes them 

slightly outside of their comfort 

zone, which is how they 

gain confidence. 

Building confidence at 

work, not only increases the 

value and resilience of your 

business, but the ripple effect 

also flows onto family and 

community.


Late 2023 date firm for 

Baypark-Bayfair link opening 

Left: The Baypark end of the Baypark-Bayfair Link 

project. Right: View of Bayfair roundabout and 

interchange on Baypark-Bayfair Link project. 

For Jo Wilton of Waka Kotahi, and most of the Bay’s motoring public, next Christmas 

will not be arriving soon enough. Next December marks the planned opening of the 

Baypark to Bayfair Link roading project separating local, state highway and rail 

traffic, to complete the state highway two eastern corridor system. 

By RICHARD RENNIE 

While uncertain about the $260 

million dollar project’s absolute 

final cost, as regional 

manager for infrastructure delivery 

Wilton has confirmed December 2023 

is a “definite yes” for its opening date. 

Having commenced in 2015, the 

1.7km stretch of highway marks one 

the most expensive projects undertaken 

in recent years for its relatively 

short length, with one of the longest 

construction periods. 

For a cost comparison, the Tauranga 

Northern Link (TNL) at 6.8km 

has been costed at $655 million. Over 

the Kaimai range the recently opened 

22km of the Hamilton expressway 

was completed on time and under 

budget at $800 million. The completed 

Hamilton and Huntly sectors 

of the Waikato expressway total 37km 

and were also both started in 2015. 

The opening date for the Baypark-Bayfair 

project was pushed out 

two years when an extended pedestrian 

underpass was retrospectively 

added, also adding a further $26 million 

to the bill. The underpass will 

enable pedestrians to move under both 

Maunganui Road and SH2 and construction 

is expected to be ongoing 

while it is also in use. 

However, Wilton said the underpass’s 

construction also necessitated 

some major additional geo-technical 

work when previously undetected 

pumice deposits required extra underground 

strengthening. 

The project’s original quoted construction 

cost was $120 million, but 

Wilton said that had failed to include 

the costs of purchasing adjacent properties, 

while the additional below 

ground strengthening work and underpass 

had also added to costs. 

But she has been heartened by the 

visible above-ground work now moving 

at pace on the project, including 

the installation this winter of bridge 

beam installations at both the northern 

end at the Bayfair flyover, and the second 

state highway 2 bridge. 

Spans for the Bayfair flyover have 

also been installed between April and 

August. In total 46 locally manufactured 

bridge beams, often weighing up 

to 54 tonnes have been placed. 

Permanent concrete barriers have 

also been poured in recent weeks 

around the base of the flyover’s southern 

ramp using a machine that shapes 

fresh concrete and forms the barriers 

in its wake. 

Two lanes on Girven Road between 

Bayfair roundabout and Gloucester 

Road are also expected to be restored 

and the shopping centre’s first Girven 

Road entrance and footpath in the area 

is due to be completed by late September. 

Work is also continuing on 

the Truman Lane walking and cycling 

connections, the Papamoa off-ramp 

and state highway road under the 

interchange. 

Wilton said every roading project 

has its own unique challenges, but 

for the Baypark-Bayfair project the 

fact it is a “brownfields” project was 

one of them. “Working in an existing 

corridor that already has traffic and 

services, a state highway that cannot 

be closed makes work progress more 

challenging. Staging your work has to 

be done carefully, and safely for workers 

and motorists.” 

She said given a choice any engineer 

would prefer a “greenfields” 

project, such as most of the TNL and 

Waikato Expressway projects have 

been. Traffic volumes through the site 

are significant at about 36,000 a day, 

less than the Auckland motorway peak 

but ahead of Waikato Expressway at 

25,000 a day. 

Once fully opened the project 

will facilitate the seamless movement 

of traffic coming from the Tauranga 

Eastern Link (TEL) into Mount 

Maunganui or via state highway 29a 

to Tauranga, with separation from the 

rail line and between local and highway 

traffic. 

Success for Scion in latest funding round 

Two innovative Scion research projects will receive investment funding totalling 

$1.9 million over three years through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and 

Employment’s 2022 Endeavour Fund. 

Scion scientists will also contribute 

their expertise to a 

further six projects involving 

other research organisations that 

secured Government support from 

the Endeavour Fund – Aotearoa New 

Zealand’s largest contestable research 

fund. 

The successful science projects 

were announced by Research, Science 

and Innovation Minister Hon Dr 

Ayesha Verrall yesterday. 

Endeavour funding for the two 

successful Scion projects will come 

from its Smart Ideas investment 

mechanism. Smart Ideas are intended 

to catalyse and rapidly test promising, 

innovative research ideas with high 

potential for benefit to New Zealand. 

One pioneering Scion project, in 

partnership with the University of 

Cambridge, ‘Implanted sensors monitoring 

tree health and carbon capture 

efficiency’, will receive $1 million 

over three years to design sensors to 

measure the nutritional status, vitality, 

carbon capture efficiency and 

microbiome fitness of growing trees. 

Precision forestry uses remote 

sensing tools such as satellites and 

drones, combined with sophisticated 

sensors, to detect subtle variations in 

plant health, nutrient and water status. 

Monitoring the physiological processes 

inside trees in real-time is the 

only way to fully understand how 

trees are responding to the environment 

around them and to future-proofing 

their resilience to climate change. 

To implement this in practice, 

Scion will develop sophisticated 

low-cost bioelectronic sensors which 

can be implanted inside trees. These 

types of sensors have been used in 

biomedical research – but rarely used 

inside trees for forestry. Their use 

in New Zealand radiata pine will be 

pioneering. 

Data generated by these sensors 

will be transmitted from the trees via 

a wireless network in the forest. 

Fusing data from remote sensing 

together with physiological sensors 

within trees, combined with genome 

and climate data, can provide the 

most complete insights into a growing 

forest anywhere in the world. 

Successful too, was the Scion 

proposal, ‘Plant-inspired 3D-printed 

scaffold for tissue culture’. Awarded 

$900,000 over three years, Scion scientists 

will explore new technology 

that aims to improve the tissue culture 

technique that makes clonal forestry 

possible in conifers. 

Commercial forestry relies on producing 

vast numbers of trees – often 

elite clones. Somatic embryogenesis 

is the tissue culture technique that is 

used to create embryos for this purpose, 

but it has some limitations. 

Somatic embryos can have trouble 

maturing on a flat surface – effectively 

when they are sitting on a dish 

on a laboratory bench. In nature, these 

embryos would mature in a complex 

three-dimensional structure as they 

interact with other cells and respond 

to different gradients and signals of 

temperature, mechanical force, nutrients 

and plant hormones. 

Replicating this environment is 

extremely challenging in the laboratory, 

yet it is the key to successful 

tissue culture. 

This project will adopt sophisticated 

3D printing techniques using 

hydrogels to create a scaffold with 

gradients of hormones, nutrients and 

porosity along its length. To visualise 

this scaffold, imagine a large cardboard 

tube with round holes in the 

sides and complex gradients of hormones 

and nutrients along its length. 

While the immediate application 

is in the forestry industry, the same 

technique can be applied to other 

plant species, mammals and create 

new biomedical opportunities. 

Science leaders at Scion will also 

contribute to six collaborative projects 

that received a total of $5,754,700 

At Scion, we’re proud 

to lead research that 

will unleash the power 

of forestry, tackle 

climate change and 

help transition New 

Zealand to a circular 

bioeconomy.” 

– Dr Julian Elder 

from the Endeavour Fund. They 

involve joint research with Auckland 

University, WSP Research NZ 

Ltd, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare 

Research, Lincoln University, Auckland 

University of Technology and 

Massey University. 

Scion chief executive Dr Julian 

Elder says yesterday’s announcement 

is fantastic news for the Scion teams 

who were successful in securing 

funding. 

“We’re delighted with the funding 

win, which acknowledges the value 

that we know forests can contribute 

to a more prosperous economy and 

healthier environment. 

“Forests will be at the heart of a 

low-carbon future New Zealand. At 

Scion, we’re proud to lead research 

that will unleash the power of forestry, 

tackle climate change and help 

transition New Zealand to a circular 

bioeconomy. 

“I congratulate all the funding 

recipients and look forward to supporting 

our teams as this important 

research gets underway.” 

The Endeavour Fund supports 

excellent research with the potential 

to positively transform New Zealand’s 

economy, environment and society. 

This year a total of $236.5 million has 

been allocated to 71 projects.


True business wealth? 

It’s only a matter of time 

Against a backdrop 

of global economic 

compression, political 

uncertainty and 

widespread talent 

shortages, learn 

why right now is the 

perfect opportunity 

for smart business 

leaders to enjoy the 

time of their lives. 

MINING BUSINESS WEALTH 

> BY FREDDIE BENNETT 

Guinness World Record Holder, podcast host and bestselling author, 

Freddie is known as ‘The Profit Hunter’. He helps business owners 

enjoy more time, money and freedom by discovering and extracting 

hidden profits in their companies. Freddie@conqueryourmedia.com 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

Are there 

other ways 

to get our 

city moving? 

It’s slipping through our fingers, 

and we don’t even 

realise. 

We know time is short. Yet 

we take no meaningful action 

to make the changes we seek 

in our businesses and our lives. 

You know this. I know this. 

But our words betray our 

thoughts. 

Don’t believe me? When 

someone asks you how your 

week is going, how often do 

you reply “busy”, without 

even pausing to think? How 

recently have you said something 

along the lines of “I 

can’t believe how fast this year 

is flying by”? 

Time speeds up, yet we 

stand still. 

I speak to hundreds of business 

owners every month, and 

most of them say the same 

thing: “Not enough money. 

Not enough talent.” 

But what if money and talent 

weren’t the real issue? 

What if TIME was the solution 

you really needed? 

Queen Elizabeth, Steve 

Jobs, Henry Ford, Kobe Bryant: 

All had bucketfuls of 

money. All had an endless 

talent pool of resources to call 

upon. 

All ran out of time. 

But what if I could give you 

more time? 

What if I could show you 

how to achieve more with less? 

How much richer would 

your days be? 

Give me five minutes, and 

I’ll give you your life back. 

You’ll never find the time 

I don’t care how wealthy or 

successful you are, you’ll 

never ‘find’ the time for anything. 

If you want time, you 

must make it. 

How do you make time? 

Ironically, you make time by 

slowing down. 

You slow down by prioritising 

yourself. This means 

stop putting your calendar in 

abusive charge of your life and 

stop letting other people use 

you. 

This will probably feel selfish 

at first, so let’s hammer 

home the point by showing 

you the evidence in black and 

white. Or – to be precise – red 

and green. 

Let’s do an experiment. Go 

to your work calendar. Print 

off two copies of this week’s 

diary. If you live in the modern 

world and do things digitally, 

then do this activity online. If 

you’re too busy (ahem), then 

do this in your mind’s eye. 

Take a red pen. In the first 

copy of your calendar, scribble 

red anything where you 

are NOT directly serving (i.e 

talking to) a money-paying 

customer or client. That means 

coffee catch-ups, internal 

meetings, training sessions, 

weekly updates – all of it gets 

the crimson crayon treatment. 

Next, take a green pen. In 

the second copy of your calendar, 

scribble green any activity 

that you LOVE to do. Don’t 

BS me that you love budget 

meetings. I’m talking about 

the set-your-soul-on-fire, 

can’t-sleep-because-I’m-tooexcited 

stuff that truly lights 

up your life. 

Look at how much red is on 

your calendar. 

Then look at the amount of 

green. 

Then try to tell me you’ll 

never find the time to fulfil 

your business and life 

ambitions. 

The harsh truth is this: You 

do have the time. You just give 

it to other people. 

Killing Time 

There is no greater time waster 

than pleasing people. I’m not 

just saying that because I’m 

an awfully polite British chap. 

Over my years advising clients 

on performance, mindset 

and productivity, the deeper 

we dig, the more the desire 

to please others reaches the 

surface. 

Phone rings. Answer it. 

Email pings. Read it. 

“Have you got a minute?” 

Take as many as you want. 

It’s so easy to fill our days 

with the arduous task of winning 

the approval of others. 

Answering every call. Fulfilling 

every request. Interrupting 

ourselves and our own dreams 

over and over again. 

Then we wonder why our 

first feeling every morning is: 

“I didn’t sleep enough”. 

And our last thought every 

night is: “I haven’t done 

enough”. 

That’s why the amateurs 

of this game talk about ‘Time 

Management’. But it’s not 

management. ‘Management’ 

is a safe-word in the dungeon 

where our true potential gets 

tied up and blindfolded. 

This is about Time Leadership. 

Leaders are ruthless 

when they need to be. A leader 

will cut away beliefs and perceptions 

that another person’s 

time is more important than 

their own. 

A leader understands 

that their life is theirs. But it 

doesn’t just arrive. It must be 

created. 

The Business of 

Busy-ness 

Of course, we are faced with 

something of a time-pressured 

dilemma. 

If you’re running a business 

and you empower your 

teams to be selfish with their 

time, you won’t have a business. 

Because everyone will 

be declining meeting requests 

and skipping down Papamoa 

Beach, having the time of 

their lives while shouting “But 

Freddie Bennett told me I was 

a Time Leader!” 

So you must teach your 

people how to make more 

time. 

First, give them the breathing 

space to do their jobs. 

Efficiency studies have shown 

that one hour of uninterrupted 

work time is worth three hours 

of distraction-filled time. 

Next, you can stop your 

teams feeling overwhelmed. 

Help them remove regrets 

about previous projects or 

worries about future initiatives. 

Remind them: All that 

matters is today. 

Finally, lead them to understand 

that so much time is 

wasted with frustration, upset, 

anger, gossip and fear. But situations 

at work (e.g dysfunctional 

teams, angry customers, 

power-tripping leaders) don’t 

directly create these life-sucking, 

time-burning actions. It 

is our interpretation of these 

events that does the damage. 

Our time is only wasted by 

our thoughts about and reactions 

to incidents – never the 

incident itself. 

The Perfect Moment 

So the next occasion you’re 

wasting time living someone 

else’s dream, remind yourself 

of your role, your plan and 

your priorities. 

My dad once said to me: 

“Stop stressing about creating 

a perfect year – just create a 

day. Define your perfect day 

and start living it. The year 

takes care of itself. So will your 

business. So will your life.” 

Then one day, he died. So 

never had the opportunity to 

enjoy the time of his life. 

But you do. 

If you’re not too busy, that 

is. 

Stephen Selwood 

By STEPHEN SELWOOD, 

Tauranga City Council 

Commissioner 

Tauranga City Council 

has close to $2 billion 

earmarked in its 2021- 

31 long-term plan for transport 

system improvements, 

with the aim of getting traffic 

on our roads moving more 

freely. That includes a significant 

investment in public 

transport and walking and 

cycling assets, to encourage 

mode shift away from motor 

vehicles. 

Despite that, modelling 

indicates that our increasing 

population will see vehicle 

numbers on our roads continue 

to increase, with a 14% 

increase by 2028 (compared 

to actual vehicle numbers 

in 2018) and another 23% 

increase on top of the 2028 

number by 2048. If those 

estimates are accurate, more 

of our key arterial roads will 

be impacted by even more 

serious traffic congestion at 

peak travel times, with all 

of the impacts that has upon 

our lifestyle, economy and 

environment. 

So what are the solutions? 

We’re already focusing on 

better land use – essentially 

encouraging housing intensification 

around our existing 

commercial centres and 

along the Te Papa peninsula 

(so people don’t need to use a 

car to access their workplace 

or the services they need) – 

as well as introducing smart 

transport systems (synchronised 

traffic lights, etc.) 

and better prioritised investment 

to address existing bottlenecks. 

But the fact is, we 

will still need a step change 

so we can make the best 

use or our road network and 

accelerate the move away 

from private vehicles as our 

primary transport option. 

One possibility which has 

been effective in reducing 

congestion in other parts of 

the world (notably Singapore, 

Stockholm and Gothenburg, 

) is ‘road pricing’. 

Effectively, this is a variable 

charge levied on vehicle 

owners who choose to use a 

particular route at a particular 

time of the day, which 

encourages individuals and 

business owners to think 

about how and when they use 

the transport network. 

For private users, this 

might involve choosing 

another transport mode, 

working from home, sharing 

a trip, or choosing another 

time of day to travel around 

the city, for example. For 

business users, it might mean 

thinking about a different 

operating model, so that their 

vehicles aren’t on the road at 

peak travel times, or allowing 

more flexible working 

hours where this is possible. 

Of course, no-one will 

be particularly keen to pay 

a new charge on top of their 

existing transport costs – we 

get that. But the advantage is 

that those who pay will enjoy 

a faster trip and the funds 

raised will be reinvested into 

a better transport system for 

Tauranga. 

The reality is we’re 

already paying for congestion 

now and that cost will 

increase, substantially. As 

individuals, continually sitting 

in slow-moving lines 

of traffic means we have 

less time to spend with our 

whanau and doing the things 

we like. For businesses, it 

means increased vehicle and 

salary costs and reduced productivity. 

And for our environment, 

it means more carbon 

emissions contributing 

to climate change. 

In short, we have to make 

a choice – keep doing what 

we’re doing now and accept 

the cost that imposes on all 

of us, or start thinking seriously 

about a game-changer. 

There may be other possible 

solutions too, but we know 

that road pricing works and 

we know that it’s technically 

feasible right now. 

The Tauranga City Council 

Commissioners think it’s 

timely to start a conversation 

about the pros and cons 

of road pricing, because the 

sooner we start to change, the 

better it will be for everyone 

who lives or does business in 

our city.


What are small business owners 

experiencing at the moment? 

WORKPLACE WELLBEING 

> BY BRIDGET SNELLING 

Bridget Snelling, 

Xero New Zealand Country Manager. 

Due to inflation, we’ve 

seen the rising cost of 

living impact small business 

sales as households tighten 

the purse strings on discretionary 

spending. 

Simultaneously, there are 

growing expectations for salaries 

as the local labour market 

tightens and wages growth 

reaches record levels. 

For Bay of Plenty small 

business owners feeling the 

pressure, you’re not alone, and 

there are really clear steps you 

can take to navigate the current 

economic climate. 

New findings in the Changing 

world of work report 

released at Xerocon in September 

shone a light on the plight 

of small business owners in 

Aotearoa, with a third (36%) 

saying that managing employee 

processes is negatively impacting 

their mental health. 

The impact of inflation on 

costs and services was front 

of mind with 65 percent of 

employers saying the current 

climate was a major cause 

of stress – especially with 

Aotearoa’s inflation hitting a 

30 year high of 7.3 percent in 

July this year. 

This is compounding with 

labour shortages as 43 percent 

of small business employers 

see talent shortages as the biggest 

challenge facing them. 

Employers are expecting 

to pay top dollar to attract 

employees, with the research 

showing a third of employers 

believe a rise in salary expectations 

(37%) and staffing costs 

(34%) will be among their biggest 

challenges. 

So what can small business 

owners do to navigate the 

future without experiencing 

burnout themselves? 

Findings from the report 

show that small business 

employers in Aotearoa are 

planning to hire three staff 

members on average over the 

next 12 months. 

In order to attract and 

retain talent, almost a quarter 

of employers have recently 

We all must find ways to work smarter, not 

harder – using technology to automate and 

make admin tasks more efficient. We need 

to ensure every hour spent working is doing 

something only a human can do, especially 

considering the ongoing labour shortage.” 

invested or are planning to 

invest in higher pay across 

all staff (23%) and empower 

employees by improving the 

overall workplace technology 

experience (23%). 

Businesses that continue to 

ignore digital tools risk being 

left behind. 

We all must find ways to 

work smarter, not harder – 

using technology to automate 

and make admin tasks more 

efficient. We need to ensure 

every hour spent working is 

doing something only a human 

can do, especially considering 

the ongoing labour shortage. 

With the numerous challenges 

around us at the moment, 

this is something small businesses 

can do right now to 

make things a little easier. 

This doesn’t have to revolutionise 

how you do business 

– rather pick one or two 

pain points and talk to your 

accountant / bookkeeper to see 

if there are digital tools or apps 

out there to make things a little 

easier. 

Together we can help small 

businesses recover and thrive 

long-term, as well as build 

more resilience, diversity and 

depth into the economy. 

And if you need support 

now? 

The Xero Assistance Programme 

provides free and 

confidential wellbeing support 

to more than one million 

New Zealand small business 

owners, their employees and 

families. 

If you’re a Xero subscriber, 

you and your employees have 

access to face-to-face, telephone, 

live chat and online 

counselling to address specific 

problems. 

To get started, email the 

Xero team at xap@xero.com 

for next steps. 

You’re in good company. 

Meet our newly promoted Associates who each bring specialist skills and expertise to our 135-strong team. 

No matter what legal issue you face we have the depth in our specialist teams to get the best possible outcome for our clients. 

Stephanie Berkahn (Ball) 

Employment 

DDI 07 571 3851 M 021 091 78335 

stephanie.berkahn@hobec.co.nz 

Laura Murphy 

Environment & Resource Management 

DDI 07 927 2236 M 027 391 3161 

laura.murphy@hobec.co.nz 

Brittany Ivil 

Property & Commercial 

DDI 07 928 7098 M 021 215 8875 

brittany.ivil@hobec.co.nz 

Anna Needham 

Civil Litigation & Dispute Resolution 

DDI 07 928 7091 M 027 825 0619 

anna.needham@hobec.co.nz 

Sophie Law 

Employment & Relationship Property 

DDI 07 570 0680 M 027 305 7190 

sophie.law@hobec.co.nz 

hobec.co.nz


Game-changing 

performance 

hybrid SUV 

All-new Lexus RX 

In the automotive world, you’re only original until 

others catch up. In 2005, the Lexus RX was original, 

being the first ever petrol/electric hybrid-powered 

luxury vehicle. It was revolutionary for laying out the 

framework for what a luxury SUV could be. 

While the competition followed 

the traditional 

method of building an 

SUV, the Lexus RX shattered the 

mould of what an SUV could be. The 

Lexus RX delivered a car-like driving 

experience, greater performance, 

improved fuel economy and significantly 

reduced emissions. In 2005, 

it changed how customers viewed 

luxury vehicles, convincing them that 

owning an SUV and a hybrid was 

worthwhile. 

Fast forward over fifteen years 

and nearly every popular SUV has 

followed the Lexus RX’s original 

template, and SUVs are now more 

popular than ever with SUV sales topping 

more than 80,000 vehicles and 

accounting for 50% of total vehicles 

sold in New Zealand in 2021. 

The options available are extensive 

with petrol, diesel, hybrid (HEV), 

plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and battery 

electric vehicles (BEV) for sale from 

roughly 43 manufacturers. So now 

that the competition has caught up, 

how does Lexus RX stay relevant and 

become original again? 

The all-new fifth-generation 

Lexus RX will become a pioneer once 

again with an evolution fit for an icon. 

When it arrives in early 2023, Kiwis 

will have the choice of two variants 

(with a PHEV coming later). A hybrid 

AWD model and a new range-topping 

hybrid performance model will 

be available at launch, it’s the performance 

hybrid that is the game 

changer for Lexus. 

The all-new Lexus RX500h will 

signify many firsts for the brand. 

Lexus will debut the F SPORT Performance 

grade on the RX500h with a 

leading edge 2.4 turbocharged hybrid 

powertrain, giving a potent 274kW 

and 551 Nm, that’s more torque 

than the famous Lexus 5.0 V8! This 

powertrain combined with the new 

Direct4 AWD technology results in a 

more “natural” and almost instantaneous 

acceleration. To put it simply, 

it’s very quick. 

The new RX500h isn’t simply 

about power and torque though, 

that’s not the Lexus way. There’s also 

Mitch Handcock, 

Lexus of Tauranga 

rear-wheel steering, adaptive damping, 

400mm rotors and six-piston 

callipers up front. This all helps to 

provide a beautifully balanced vehicle 

with precise steering, perfect for 

New Zealand’s twisty and undulating 

roads. It’s also matched to a six-speed 

automatic transmission which means 

drive-feel has improved greatly as 

a CVT transmission is no longer 

required. 

The sophistication of the vehicle 

continues inside as well, you’ll find 

human-centred design surrounded 

by a plethora of leather, heavily bolstered 

front seats (with heating and 

cooling) along with a large 14” touchscreen 

display. 

Rich-looking ambient lighting 

illuminates the cabin at night while a 

beautiful panoramic roof can let sunlight 

in during the day. A 21 speaker, 

Mark Levinson premium audio system 

provides theatre-like music in 

the ultra-quiet cabin. The feature list 

on the Lexus RX550h is almost endless, 

with each feature being the most 

premium version it could possibly 

be with Takumi craftsmanship at its 

heart. 

The RX500h is also extraordinarily 

safe, as safety was one of the 

hallmarks of its success and the new 

model is no different. A new iteration 

of Lexus Safety System+ debuts 

which includes motorcycle detection 

to go alongside the vehicle, pedestrian, 

and bicycle detection. Expect 

the maximum ANCAP safety rating 

once tested. 

In short, the all-new Lexus RX 

is redefining the luxury SUV segment 

and raising the bar higher for 

the competition once again. Initial 

demonstrator models should be in 

New Zealand Lexus dealerships 

before the end of the year with customer 

deliveries anticipated to begin 

early 2023. Based on recent Lexus 

model launches (the smaller NX SUV 

and larger LX SUV) wait times will 

grow quickly once demonstrators are 

on the ground, so if you’re interested 

to know more, reach out to the team 

at Lexus of Tauranga and submit your 

expression of interest today. 

Visit Mitchell at Lexus of 

Tauranga at 158 Elizabeth St, 

Tauranga – or call him on 

07-577-0880 

ADVERTORIAL 

Bay business most optimistic 

– 2degrees study 

A new 2degrees report reveals big business is thriving as SMBs struggle to keep 

up, while increasing costs are the leading issue for all businesses. 

But good news for the Bay – 

the 2degrees’ latest Shaping 

Business Study found more 

than half (57%) of Bay of Plenty 

Business decision makers would 

describe their business as reviving 

at the moment. This compares 

to Auckland (52%), Canterbury 

(54%), Wellington (55%). 

The report, conducted by Perceptive 

on more than 700 employing 

business decision makers 

around Aotearoa, found that different-sized 

businesses have had a significantly 

different experience over 

the past year, and identified more 

work benefits and flexible work 

as the key drivers of success in the 

current environment. 

“Kiwi businesses are facing an 

incredibly challenging environment, 

but the effects aren’t being 

felt equally,” says Andrew Fairgray, 

Chief Business Officer at 2degrees. 

“Costs are rising across the board, 

businesses are crying out for skilled 

staff, and Covid continues to present 

problems, but large businesses 

are weathering the storm in a way 

that smaller businesses aren’t.” 

Outlook shifts according to 

business size 

Only 36 per cent of business leaders 

are feeling more optimistic 

about their business compared to 

a year ago, a drop of four percentage 

points from 2021. In contrast, 

31 per cent were feeling less optimistic, 

and 33 per cent were feeling 

about the same. 

Larger businesses are much 

more likely to feel optimistic about 

their prospects; only 31 per cent 

of business leaders in small businesses 

(1-20 employees) reported 

being more optimistic, increasing 

to 43 per cent of leaders of medium 

businesses (21-50 employees) and 

57 per cent in large businesses (51+ 

employees). 

Medium and large businesses 

were also more likely to anticipate 

revenue growth in the next 

12 months, and to plan to increase 

investment in their business in the 

next year. 

People are now the key to 

business success 

In the past 12 months, there has 

been a major shift in what businesses 

are looking for to thrive. The 

2021 2degrees Shaping Business 

Study revealed the top thing business 

leaders needed to help their 

business thrive was cashflow as 

they navigated their way through 

pandemic-related disruptions. In 

2022, the top solution was better 

skilled staff, with 3 in 10 business 

leaders saying it would help their 

business thrive, while cashflow 

(29%) and more staff (29%) are still 

on their minds. 

Successful businesses are 

addressing their challenges by 

adapting their ways of working, 

with hybrid work dominating. 

Nearly half (48%) of business 

leaders said they had adapted their 

working model since the pandemic 

to include adjustments like hybrid 

and remote working, and greater 

online collaboration with internal 

and external parties. 

“Attracting and retaining talent 

is crucial in the current business 

environment. We’ve heard from 

many of our own customers that 

it’s all about people, people, people 

and the research backs this up. 

With over half (52%) of businesses 

prioritising productivity planning 

to invest in employing more 

highly skilled people in the next 12 

months and sweetening the deal by 

introducing perks such as leave and 

training options,” adds Andrew. 

Flexible means productive 

Medium and large businesses were 

Andrew Fairgray, Chief Business Officer, 2degrees 

more likely than small businesses to 

have adapted their working model, 

and the research showed that decision 

paying off in better business 

outcomes. Businesses who had 

changed their working model were 

much more likely to say that productivity 

(38%) and their ability to 

innovate (50%) has increased since 

the pandemic than businesses who 

had not changed. 

“We often talk about flexible 

work as a way to support our 

people, but these numbers show 

that it’s also a good business decision, 

and we’ve seen that ourselves 

at 2degrees,” says Andrew. 

“This research goes to show that 

businesses of all sizes looking to 

improve their productivity and 

innovation should investigate new 

ways of working to unlock new 

opportunities, even in a difficult 

environment.”


Passing the Crown 

Every plan starts with a list. 

There are a number of points 

that need to be covered on 

both the “To Do” and “Not to Do” 

checklist for a Franchisee Succession 

Plan. These apply equally as 

to whether the succession plan is 

one of internal succession from a 

business owner to the next generation 

or an internal heir, or via the 

sale of the business. 

The To Do list 

• Stick to the model and system – 

The more the individual business 

reflects the brand under which 

they are operating, the easier 

it will be for both an incoming 

management team and individual 

to operate. Additionally, 

the higher the quasi-value for 

the business will be as a “good 

example” of the brand. 

FRANCHISING 

> BY NATHAN BONNEY 

Nathan Bonney is a director of Iridium Partners. He can be 

reached at nathan@iridium.net.nz or 0275-393-022 

The recent passing of HRM Queen Elizabeth II and Operation London Bridge exhibited perhaps the greatest 

example of a well planned and executed franchise succession plan ever. But of course, no individual 

franchisee or franchise system will have similar resources, nor perhaps the time to dedicate to succession 

planning. However, every franchise business owner from the day they open their business needs to consider 

what will happen and plan towards the day they need to pass their crown and business on. 

• Keep good records – It goes 

without saying that if the succession 

plan is to sell the franchise, 

it will need good accounting 

and financial records. Good 

record keeping: data management, 

extends into all areas of 

the business including internal 

processes, customer records, 

training … the list is long. In 

all areas it will add value to the 

business and or ensure it continues 

to operate smoothly. 

• Develop your team – Few 

franchise businesses are built 

around a single individual. 

Good business owners develop 

their team and ultimately work 

towards displacing themselves 

from the business. 

• Keep the franchise up to date 

– Which can range from ensuring 

marketing is current to, for 

bricks and mortar businesses, 

being up to date with maintenance 

and refurbishment 

requirements. It can also extend 

into product ranging and associated 

stock management, processes, 

and software platforms; 

The less work that needs to be 

done by a successor or new 

owner to bring the business up 

to currency, the better. 

The Not To Do list 

There are two key areas for franchisees 

that will really disrupt or 

derail a smooth transition or succession 

planning. 

• Diverting from the system – 

The further a franchise business 

moves from being an ideal 

example of the brand they carry, 

the greater the work involved to 

bring it back, and the greater the 

questions around value. 

• Expiry – In my view perhaps 

the greatest failure for succession 

is allowing agreements or 

contracts to lapse, whether it 

be leases, supply contracts or 

the franchise agreement itself. 

There is inherent value in these 

key components of the franchise 

business which are critical 

for business continuity. 

Don’t leave it too late 

Operation London Bridge was 60 

years in the planning and refinement, 

started when HRM Queen 

Elizabeth II was barely 40 years of 

age. It does demonstrate that it’s 

never too early to start to plan. 

And most importantly, don’t 

fail to plan for succession and miss 

the opportunity to take advantage 

of the benefits of developing and 

growing your own business. 

When ‘theft’ is not a crime 

According to the Crimes Act 1961 ‘theft’, 

or ‘stealing’, is the act of, “dishonesty 

and without claim of right, taking any 

property with intent to deprive any 

owner permanently of that property or 

of any interest in that property.“ 

It is a crime, whether it be a lollipop 

or a Ferrari, if you take it and 

haven’t bought it. It’s a crime. 

Right? … well, not always. 

We had a client come to us a few 

years ago who owned a car dealership 

in the Waikato. He had sold 

a $10,000 car on a time-payment 

plan; He had the customer sign a 

direct debt form, provide ID, and 

then sign a contract. No payment 

was made at any time – in fact the 

account used to set up the Direct 

Debit was closed the day after the 

car deal was done. 

The client reported the car as 

stolen to the police. While taking 

the report the officer asked, “So 

did he break into the yard or steal 

the keys?” 

Our client replied, “No, I gave 

him the keys.” 

The officer asked, “Did he 

threaten or intimidate you to give 

him the keys?“ 

“No, he was a lovely guy to deal 

with,” was the reply. 

The officer then went on to say 

that the customer had not stolen the 

car, he had simply failed to pay for 

it – the officer suggested getting a 

debt collection company onto it or 

lodging a claim with the Disputes 

Tribunal. 

According to a very elderly 

chap I met, the local constable used 

to go around and give a stern word 

to anyone with a habit of running 

up overdue accounts. Alas, that is 

no longer the case with the police 

force stretched in every direction 

CREDIT CONTROL 

> BY NICK KERR 

Nick Kerr is regional manager for DebtFree NZ Ltd and 

director of International Private Investigations Ltd. He can 

be reached on 021 876 527 and Nick@debtfreenz.com 

just dealing with serious and violent 

crime. 

You see, a less-cunning average 

thief will smash through shop 

doors and pilfer items, clearly committing 

a premeditated act with a 

proven lack of intention to pay for 

the items – hence the ‘smashing in 

at night-time’, not the ‘walking in 

during opening hours’. 

If they are caught, they may 

receive two years in a very uncomfortable 

motel. Or if it’s their first 

offence, maybe a slap on the wrist 

with a moist bus ticket. However, 

your more sophisticated ‘alleged 

intentional non-payer’ will understand 

how to achieve the same goal 

with very different consequences 

should they get caught. 

Many will say that if someone 

orders something, finances something, 

or borrows money with no 

intention of ever paying, that is 

committing fraud. But this requires 

proving one sometimes very hard 

to prove thing: intent. 

Occasionally we get lucky when 

investigating fraud when employees 

have been involved with an 

outside co-conspirator and we 

find an email or text message 

between them that proves intent to 

defraud. 

But often the ‘alleged intentional 

non-payer’ will have cover 

stories that can make the non-payment 

seem like a bout of unfortunate 

luck. This then puts it into the 

realm of a defaulting payer situation, 

not criminal fraud. 

I have seen these, in my opinion, 

‘scams’, run on businesses for 

vast sums of money. They exploit 

weaknesses in the credit management 

systems and lack of verification 

data for ascertaining who is a 

real customer, client or borrower 

and who is just a very clever thief. 

The systems designed to protect 

the owners of genuinely distressed 

or collapsed businesses, such as 

trusts, limited liability, debt holidays, 

‘no asset’ procedures, The 

Crimes act 1961 and The Privacy 

Act 2020 can unfortunately protect 

those who wish to misuse them to 

cover up dastardly deeds. 

There are tools to help with 

detecting and deterring this kind 

of behaviour but having a good 

customer onboarding system and 

training is essential. 

Remember credit is a privilege, 

not a right. 

Just a thought. 

UNIVERSITY 

OF WAIKATO 

LAUNCHES 

FULL LAW 

DEGREE IN 

TAURANGA 

Te Piringa Faculty of law 

is delighted to announce 

the full suite of Law 

qualifications at the 

University of Waikato will be 

available at the Tauranga 

campus from 2023. 

The Rt Hon Helen Winkelmann 

(GNZM) who gave an address at the 

annual Mackenzie Elvin lecture series 

last week following the launch of the 

full degree programme. 

The faculty has been running its 

Diploma in Law programme in 

Tauranga for many years, serving 

many local Legal Executives in pursuing 

further legal education and transitioning 

to being a lawyer. 

From next year, it will be possible 

for students to study everything from the 

full LLB programme through to a PhD in 

Law at the Tauranga campus. 

The announcement was made last 

week at the central city campus, followed 

by a sold-out public lecture by Chief Justice 

Helen Winkelmann on the topic of 

access to justice. 

Dame Winkelmann’s address was the 

second annual law lecture in conjunction 

with Mackenzie Elvin law, which aims to 

bring the community and the profession 

together. 

In her address, Dame Winkelmann 

identified two key strands of access to 

justice – access to knowledge of the law 

(people knowing their rights and entitlements), 

and access to the courts and tribunals 

where people can enforce those 

rights – and the imperative to improve 

both. It was an issue the government as 

a whole needed to be alive to, she said. 

“I believe access to justice is a concern 

with which all government agencies 

should engage. Most rights and obligations 

are sourced from statutes and 

accessed through government departments. 

There is a compelling case for 

making access to justice a structural focus 

for all government departments.” 

University of Waikato Dean of Law, 

Professor Alpana Roy said the event was 

also a chance to celebrate the 30th anniversary 

of the faculty, celebrations for 

which were postponed by Covid last year. 

“For three decades, our Faculty has 

been a leader in a number of areas of legal 

research, including Māori and Indigenous 

legal systems, environmental law, and 

technology & future law. We have led 

the way in embedding Tikanga Māori 

concepts into our curriculum, and we’re 

excited to now offer this full study pathway 

to the Bay of Plenty.” 

Mackenzie Elvin Law Partner Marcus 

Wilkins said the firm was delighted with 

the success of the second lecture. 

“We feel privileged to have been able 

to partner with and support the Law Faculty 

and the University as it has established 

itself in the City and in their primary 

role as critic and conscience of the 

nation.”


SEEKA TO 

INVEST IN 

KATIKATI 

SEASONAL 

WORKER 

DIGS 

Making an office fit-for-purpose 

New ways of working 

have highlighted the need 

for office workplaces to be 

more flexible. 

New Zealand produce 

company Seeka has 

announced that it will 

build new Recognised 

Seasonal Employer (RSE) 

accommodation housing 

140 people in Katikati 

situated at Sharp Road, 

replacing the existing 

facility. 

The purpose-built accommodation 

will significantly increase 

the number of people able to 

be accommodated in the area and 

includes two recreational lounges 

and modern amenities such as wifi. 

Michael Franks, Seeka’s Chief 

Executive said, “Our RSEs are highly 

valued and have been a huge help 

during the labour shortage throughout 

the kiwifruit harvest and more 

recently our orchard operations. 

“It is important that we are providing 

quality living arrangements 

for their time with us and this project 

will deliver them a comfortable 

home away from home.” 

Franks explained that the upgrade 

has been planned since 2018 but was 

delayed due to uncertainty around 

the RSE programme. 

Franks said these workers complement 

the 800 permanent staff and 

4,500 seasonal workers the horticulture 

company needs each year. 

As the pandemic’s tail whips its 

way through our work psyche 

and habits, business owners 

are being challenged on what constitutes 

a viable, market-relevant workplace 

in the bid to retain staff and 

attract new recruits. 

Bayleys’ national director office 

leasing and real estate advisory, 

Steve Rendall says after an extended 

period of flux and staff routinely 

working from home, business owners 

are now grappling with what 

today’s office should ultimately look 

and feel like. 

“We’re seeing a distinct flight 

to quality with companies seeking 

better functioning spaces to help get 

staff back to the office to collaborate 

and build culture. 

“Some decision makers are trying 

to better understand likely working 

trends in the longer term before making 

wholesale changes, while others 

are reducing their footprints or clipping 

on flex space where required.” 

Jonas Brodie, director and head 

of client relations at workplace strategy, 

design and construct firm StudioDB, 

says before designing or refitting 

an office space, the questions 

to be asked of clients are: what are 

the overall project objectives, how 

would you define success and why 

have an office? 

“It’s a progressive journey and we 

encourage our clients to be transparent 

and share their business strategy 

which gives us considerable insight 

into how they may look to transition 

into a new way of working or remain 

status quo. 

“We need to have tools that measure 

efficiency and performance 

because what can be measured, can 

be managed, so for a project to be 

successful, it is vital to come up with 

a data set that does this. 

“We also delve into the roles of 

those within the office and ask what’s 

best for the individual, their team, 

and the business overall so we can 

take an unbiased balanced approach 

and understand how activities are 

best done across those pillars.” 

Brodie believes sustainability is 

the next big thing for office workplaces 

to nail and says, “our industry 

needs to be making measurable 

progress on sustainability while 

making it less complex and more 

affordable for all.” 

Tim Ray, commercial manager 

for Platform Consulting Group says 

every business it works with has a 

unique way of working in the hybrid 

environment and requires a purposeful 

space built around work flow and 

human connection. 

“The office environment now 

needs to be measurably better than 

the home office and be a place to 

reconnect with people so we design 

spaces with a welcoming entrance 

incorporating a high end hospitality 

experience for employees, and multiple 

collaboration points to make the 

commute worthwhile and to support 

the office day.” 

Ray says new and remodel 

fitouts are investing in more flexible, 

multi-functional spaces with 

adaptable furniture and integrated 

technology. 

“Think technology-enabled stand 

up/huddle spaces, digital whiteboard 

spaces for a visual connection in the 

open plan environment and smaller 

meeting rooms with better integration 

for video conferencing. 

“Equally important are spaces to 

disconnect from tech’, with informal 

collaborative lounge space, and 

open areas in the office with casual 

seating arrangements encouraging a 

play-work-rest workplace. 

“With a 70-80 percent occupancy 

rate, clients see that more space can 

be dedicated to a structure that’s best 

for a team approach rather than the 

individual.” 

Scott Compton, who leads interior 

design for architects Warren & 

Mahoney says the firm’s broad and 

connected team knows that every 

client group is a unique amalgam of 

many things. 

“The key questions we ask clients 

now are essentially the same as they 

always were, but are perhaps more 

relevant today and revolve around 

presence, purpose, and innovation. 

“Why will your people come to 

the office, what will the office need 

to do and provide for your people, 

and what is the unique aspiration for 

your workplace?” 

Compton says individual productivity, 

collaboration, team culture, 

and wellbeing are all inextricably 

linked and businesses need as much 

of each of those as they can get. 

“Collaboration is the pillar that’s 

still a work in progress, as virtual 

collaboration can be isolating for 

individuals and ideal hybrids do not 

yet exist. 

“We urge each client to think 

carefully about the big, aspirational, 

unique idea for their office environment 

that will excite, inspire and 

engage their people.” 

Source: www.bayleys.co.nz/ 

workplace/articles/insights 

At Bayleys, we believe relationships are what businesses are built on and how they 

succeed. We understand that to maximise the return on your property you need: 

Professional property management 

A business partner that understands your views and goals 

Contact the Bayleys Tauranga Commercial Property Management team today. 

Bayleys Tauranga 

Commercial Property Management 

07 579 0609 

jan.cooney@bayleystauranga.co.nz 

SUCCESS REALTY LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008 

ALTOGETHER BETTER 

Residential / Commercial / Rural / Property Services


Trustpower Baypark 

springing into action 

Spring has arrived and along with it an exciting range of national and international 

sporting events are heading to Trustpower Baypark this season. With a huge increase 

in interest and attendance numbers climbing now that the traffic light system has 

been dropped, don’t delay in purchasing your tickets to whatever takes your fancy. 

Silver Ferns v Australian 

Diamonds – 16 October 2022 

Will the Silver Ferns be able to 

retain the Constellation Cup? 

Don’t miss your chance to 

see the Silver Ferns battle-it-out live 

against the Australian Diamonds for 

a shot at the Cup! Trustpower Baypark 

has been able to secure one of 

the games in the four game test series. 

The teams will first meet on 12 October 

in Auckland before backing up 

later in the week in Tauranga on 16 

October. The trans-Tasman rivals 

will then meet twice in Australia, first 

in Melbourne on 19 October and then 

on the Gold Coast on 23 October to 

complete the series. 

Baypark centre pass is at 7.30pm 

Sunday 16 October – get your tickets 

ASAP www.silverferns.co.nz 

HoopNation “The Classic” 

– 21-24 October 2022 

Now in its 11th year, HoopNation 

“The Classic” has grown to become 

New Zealand’s premier basketball 

event showcasing some of the nation’s 

top ‘baller’ talent. Held over 4 days 

during Labour Weekend, the electrifying 

atmosphere of HoopNation sets 

it apart from other tournaments and 

is the must attend event for all basketball 

enthusiasts. This world class 

event attracts clubs, academies and 

basketball fans from throughout the 

NZ, Australia, the Pacific and Asia. 

www.hoopnation.basketball/ 

tournaments/the-classic 

Speedway – Bay Summer 

Starter – 22 October 2022 

The long-awaited return of Speedway 

revs up with the Summer Starter 

Season Opener on 22 October. The 

superstocks are eager to get out on 

the track so join us for a huge night 

of racing action this Labour Weekend. 

Be sure to mark 5 November 

on your calendar as the date for the 

ever-popular Fireworks night! Tickets 

to all 14 race fixtures for the 

2022/2023 season will be available 

at the gate and via the website. The 

family zone is back, so there is something 

for everyone – get excited! 

Gates open 5pm with racing from 

6pm. www.bayparkspeedway.co.nz 

The Tauranga Home Show 

– 28-30 October 2022 

From builders, beds and barbecues 

to flooring, fencing and finance, 

the Tauranga Home Show has 200+ 

exhibitors in one handy location. 

While you have the chance to 

meet with hundreds of suppliers face 

to face, the kids are kept happy with 

fun activities such as face painting, 

bouncy castles and balloon twisting at 

no extra charge, not to mention food 

trucks outside. In the Live Cooking 

Kitchen we are excited to welcome 

Jo Seagar who will be demonstrating 

some of her latest recipes each day. 

www.taurangahomeshow.co.nz 

New Zealand Festival of Squash 

2022 – 3-13 November 2022 

For the first time at Trustpower Baypark 

our Lion Foundation Centre will 

be transformed into a world class 

Squash facility with the all-glass 

court taking centre-stage as part of 

New Zealand’s largest ever squash 

festival. 

The festival launches with the 

Nations Cup (3-6 November) – the 

testing ground for a major initiative 

with the inaugural Squash FOR- 

WARD series. A sequence of new 

squash events intended to trial innovative 

changes to the way the sport 

is delivered. The Nations Cup will 

comprise eight teams of two players 

– one male and one female – from the 

same country to add a new dimension 

to the typical competition structure in 

squash and will include an alternative 

scoring format. 

Following the Cup is the NZ 

Open (8-13 November). The biggest 

squash tournament on the NZ Squash 

calendar is back! After almost 30 

years since the last NZ Men’s Open, 

and 13 years since the Women’s 

Championship, this will no doubt be 

an exciting week of fast paced competition! 

Our very own Paul Coll 

and Joelle King are set to be the star 

attractions amongst a top-class field 

of internationally ranked players. 

Players will battle for the lion’s share 

of a US$150,000 prize fund. 

www.iticket.co.nz/events/2022/ 

nov/festival-of-squash 

Woof Fest– 12 November 2022 

The ultimate day out for you and 

your beloved doggo! Aotearoa’s 

first “hooman” and doggo festival is 

coming to Trustpower Baypark on the 

12th November. 

A fun day out for the whole family 

with a dedicated kid’s zone and plenty 

of doggos to pat, WOOF FEST is perfect 

for both dog lovers and owners. 

Live music, an epic adventure park 

for the dogs to go wild in, and vendors 

with dog and hooman food to 

cater for all! Grab your tickets before 

it’s too late www.wooffest.co.nz 

Go Green Expo – 19 & 20 

November 2022 

NZ’s largest Green Living and Sustainable 

Lifestyle Show is coming to 

Trustpower Baypark for the first time, 

and we are so excited. 

Transform your way of life in 

favour of the environment (and you) 

by exploring the large diverse range 

of stalls: Eco home and building, 

food and beverages, organic products, 

health and wellness, beauty and personal 

care plus many more categories. 

This show is dedicated to promoting 

a healthy, environmentally 

friendly, sustainable lifestyle for New 

Zealanders. www.gogreenexpo.co.nz/ 

tickets 

Weightlifting – NZ Masters & NZ 

Junior/Senior Championships – 

25 & 26 November 2022 

Trustpower Baypark were lucky 

enough to host the Weightlifting 

National Championships in 2020 

and we are delighted to welcome this 

event back for 2022. Featuring both 

the New Zealand Masters Champs 

starting on Friday and Junior & Senior 

Champs to follow, it is bound to be a 

high energy few days showcasing the 

strength of the country’s top weightlifting 

talent. www.weightlifting.nz 

Polo in the Bay – 26 November 

2022 

Start your summer the right way by 

gathering your friends for Polo in 

the Bay. A whole new tradition and 

building on the first Polo event in January, 

the event is set to be a fixture on 

your annual social calendar. 

The fresh, fast-paced format is 

designed for spectators and requires 

ZERO polo knowledge to enjoy. With 

hospitality options to suit all, not to 

mention epic food trucks, lawn games 

and plenty of entertainment between 

chukkas, this special day in the sun 

will be hard to resist. 

Get your crew and your tickets 

locked in soon www.polointhebay. 

co.nz/tickets 

Stadium Corporate Boxes 

Enjoy Stadium events in comfort 

from a corporate Box. There are still 

a number of excellent boxes available 

for either an annual lease or casual 

bookings for the summer season. 

Quality hospitality is served to your 

box with an exclusive balcony and 

relaxed environment to entertain your 

guests. 

For more information events@ 

bayvenues.co.nz 

Tauranga’s Premier Venue 

Trustpower Baypark is Tauranga’s 

Premier Venue for conferences, meetings, 

entertainment, and exhibitions. 

Offering a complete package in one 

convenient location that features state 

of the art meeting rooms, in-house 

catering, audio visual services, marketing/promotional 

services. 

For more information on any events, enquiries for Trustpower Baypark venues, BayStation activities or service on/off site from BayCatering, BayAudioVisual 

visit www.trustpowerbaypark.co.nz or email events@bayvenues.co.nz.


International tourists set to bring 

windfall for BOP property owners 

The arrival of international visitors will see the cost 

of renting a holiday home reach record levels this 

summer, according to new data. 

Latest figures from Bachcare, 

New Zealand’s largest holiday 

home management firm, show 

forward bookings from overseas tourists, 

strong domestic demand and a 

shortage of rental accommodation 

are driving a 25% increase in peak 

pricing. 

Demand is forecast to be strongest 

in the Coromandel, Queenstown and 

Bay of Plenty for large waterfront 

properties offering a spa and WiFi, 

with local holiday homeowners set 

to see a significant increase in rental 

income in the coming months. 

The data shows the top 50 holiday 

homes around the country earn an 

average of $65,000 rental revenue, 

with the highest earner recording 

$81,000 per annum. 

Nick Peirce, Bachcare head of revenue, 

says the company has sold 31% 

more nights for the coming summer 

season than the same time last year. 

He says international visitors 

are on track to extend the summer 

peak period into February, while the 

domestic market tends to tail off after 

Waitangi Day. 

“Compared to the 2021/22 summer 

period, we have already sold 

around 3,100 more nights – with 

December up by around 52%. 

“The data shows international 

visitors make up 15% of all summer 

bookings, which is similar to the 

pre-pandemic levels and up significantly 

on the negligible volumes of 

bookings from overseas we saw last 

year. 

“While the 2021 season set new 

booking records for us, the arrival 

of overseas tourists could see February 

grow by a further 10% this 

year, which equates to a significant 

increase in income for bach owners. 

“At the same time, there is a continuing 

strong demand from Kiwis 

wanting to holiday locally, which 

is expected to create a shortage of 

accommodation stock during the 

coming peak season,” he says. 

Peirce says holiday homeowners 

in some regions will be able to earn 

up to $1,500 per night during the peak 

by renting their property out. 

He says a property which would 

normally sell for $1,000 per night 

during the peak is now selling at 

$1,250. 

“Pricing in this part of the tourism 

industry is closely tied to the availability 

of supply and when there is a 

shortage, it creates an opportunity for 

property owners to earn up to $81,000 

per annum – with around fifth of this 

revenue earned in January alone. 

“Our analysis shows that the ideal 

property is lakefront or beachfront, 

in close proximity to a population 

hub, is a larger home which caters for 

families or groups of friends, and has 

good outdoor entertaining areas and 

WiFi. 

“Properties with a spa will earn 

43% more than those without and a 

bach with five to six rooms will earn 

almost twice as much as one with 

three to four rooms,” he says. 

Peirce says the top five earning 

holiday homes across the more than 

2,300 homes they represent are in Mt 

Mount Maunganui has the country’s top-earning 

holiday rental property. Photo/Supplied. 

Maunganui, Paihia, Queenstown and 

Te Anau. 

He says for non-ski areas, 40% of 

total earnings are generated between 

December to February. 

“What we can see from the latest 

regional data is Southern Lakes 

has the highest average gross rental 

income per property YTD at $21,324, 

however the top 20 properties in 

this region earned on average over 

$61,000 YTD. 

“On average, a holiday home in 

the Coromandel will earn $13,577, 

with the top 20 earning on average 

$49,800 YTD. The highest average 

earning areas in that region are 

Whangapoua, Hot Water Beach and 

Kuaotunu. 

“In Bay of Plenty, properties in 

Mt Maunganui will see an average 

$21,300 annual rental with the top 

20 earning on average $37,600 YTD. 

The Mount also has the country’s top 

earning property,” he says. 

Peirce says they are encouraging 

holiday homeowners to consider listing 

their property while it is not in use 

and are advising domestic travellers 

to make bookings as early as possible 

to reduce the cost of their stay. 

David Aitkenhead, the owner of 

one of Bachcare’s most frequently 

booked holiday homes, says they initially 

purchased a holiday home to be 

close to family, however renting it out 

while they were not using it has provided 

a number of financial benefits. 

He says hotel accommodation in 

his area is often at capacity and providing 

their property at peak times 

helps ease the pressure on existing 

infrastructure for tourists. 

“Our experience with the shortterm 

rental model has been positive. 

Bachcare manages the property proactively 

and uses a revenue optimisation 

algorithm to adjust the rates in 

response to occupancy in the area. 

“Our advice to others considering 

the model has been to work with 

a company that offers local support, 

so that the property manager can 

develop a familiarity with your property. 

If there are any issues, they can 

visit and resolve them with minimal 

disruption to guests,” he says. 

MASSIVE FUNDING BOOST FOR RESEARCH 

From incorporating mātauranga Māori into marine restoration to Xeno Nucleic 

Acids that could have impacts on cancer research and rock weathering for carbon 

capture, University of Waikato projects funded in the latest round of MBIE research 

grants have the potential to change the world. 

More than $26M has been 

awarded to Waikato researchers 

and their teams from the 

2022 Endeavour Fund supporting 

both Smart Ideas and Research Programmes. 

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, 

Research, Professor Bryony James 

says the funding is a testament to the 

quality of Waikato research. 

“Recognition like this is a tangible 

acknowledgement of the impact and 

value of the work our academics and 

researchers do. This work has such 

practical implications and couldn’t be 

done without the support of the wider 

university and, of course, our collaborative 

partners around Aotearoa and 

the world. 

“I am incredibly proud of what this 

says about the University of Waikato 

and the contribution these projects 

will make to our people, our places 

and our future.” 

Pou Rāhui, pou tikanga, pou 

oranga: reigniting the mauri 

of Tīkapa Moana and Te 

Moananui-ā-Toi ($13M) 

Lead Investigator Professor Kura 

Paul-Burke will co-develop pragmatic 

restoration actions for identified 

marine taonga species within 

rāhui areas of five iwi (Ngāti Pāoa, 

Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, 

Ngāti Hei and Ngāti Rehua Ngāti 

Wai). 

The project will collaborate with 

Professor Kura Paul-Burke 

Professor Chris Battershill 

iwi to investigate and share localised 

knowledge based on a mātauranga 

Māori approach, supporting a deeper 

understanding of rāhui and existing 

mātauranga in a contemporary 

context alongside modern scientific 

tools. 

It also aims to develop capability 

within the iwi for assessing the need 

for and implementing and managing 

rāhui, creating a space for new iwiled, 

mātauranga and science-based 

decision-making and management/ 

restoration of coastal ecosystems. 

Toka ākau toitu Kaitiakitanga 

– building a sustainable future 

for coastal reef ecosystems 

($8.8M) 

Professor Chris Battershill is the Lead 

Investigator on this project, which 

will incorporate mātauranga Māori 

in work to improve the health of the 

coastal environment and contribute 

to reversing the decline of New 

Zealand’s kelp ecosystems. 

Using test kelp forest beds in 

four economically, ecologically and 

culturally important regions, the 

project will work across three 

themes to establish pathways into 

co-management models, test and 

model variables between and within 

regions, and assess and evaluate 

interventions. 

The impact will be seen in more 

resilient rocky reef ecosystems, and 

the development of sustainable intergenerational 

management strategies 

for kaimoana and marine health. 

SMART IDEAS 

• Enhanced rock weathering for 

large-scale capture of carbon 

dioxide in Aotearoa 

Dr Terry Isson is investigating 

the potential for accelerating rock 

weathering in permanent pasture, 

with the goal of increasing carbon 

capture rates and contributing to 

carbon neutrality in farming. 

• Spatially mapping galaxiid 

nests with scent detection dogs 

and unmanned aerial vehicles 

Dr Nicholas Ling will use 

scent detection dogs and drones to 

gather data on whitebait spawning 

areas for the benefit of environmental 

and fishery management 

planning. 

• A ligase-based solution for 

non-natural nucleic acid 

synthesis 

Dr Adele Williamson is developing 

a platform for synthesising 

artificial versions of natural DNA 

and RNA, or XNAs, which hold 

the potential to advance biosensing, 

diagnostics and therapeutics. 

• Lightweight compliant mechanism 

robotic grippers for fruit 

harvesting 

Dr Ajit Pal Singh is developing 

a new generation of fruit harvesting 

robotic grippers in support of 

increasing the commercialisation 

potential of high-value agritech 

tools from New Zealand.


NEW APPOINTMENTS 

BBN’S GUIDE TO NEW PEOPLE AND NEW ROLES ACROSS BUSINESS IN THE BAY 

To feature in New Appointments email us at new.appointments@bopbusinessnews.co.nz 

Jenna Waite-Leonard 

Jenna Waite-Leonard has been appointed to the 

position of Head of Communications for Whare 

PR and Village PR communication agencies. In 

the newly created 

role, Jenna 

will lead and 

build the team 

of communication 

and creative 

consultants 

and help 

drive the rapidly 

growing 

client base. The 

senior appointment 

is part of 

the agency’s 

expansion due 

to the increased demand for its public relations, 

cultural advisory, creative, digital and experimental 

services. 

Waite-Leonard joins from Toi Ohomai and 

Te Kuratini o Waikato (Wintec), where she spent 

close to four years overseeing the communication 

and digital functions and teams of the two 

large institutes. Spanning her 15-year career 

in the industry, Waite-Leonard has held senior 

roles across various agency, corporate, and notfor-profits 

sectors in Australia and Aotearoa. 

Peter Marr 

Dunes Consulting is pleased to announce the 

appointment of Peter Marr to its team. Dunes 

Consulting recruit jobs in the construction, 

engineering and architecture space across Tauranga, 

Hamilton and the wider Bay of Plenty and 

Waikato regions. Pete has been in the construction 

game for over seven years, where he ran and managed 

a sub-contracting business, working across 

the residential 

and commercial 

sectors. 

Now recruiting 

across the commercial, 

civil 

and residential 

space, Pete will 

be able to guide 

and help you 

find the most 

appropriate job 

to suit your 

needs. 

Anna Needham Stephanie Berkahn Sophie Law Brittany Ivil Laura Murphy 

CHANGES APLENTY AT HOLLAND BECKETT LAW 

Anna Needham 

– Associate, Civil Litigation & 

Dispute Resolution 

Anna holds an LLB (First Class Honours) and 

BSC from Canterbury University. She started 

her career in leading South Island firms where 

she was quickly promoted to senior positions. 

She moved to Holland Beckett Law in 

November 2020. Since joining Holland Beckett 

Law, Anna has been involved in some of 

the firms most complex litigation cases. She 

has appeared in several High Court trials and 

has assisted with commerce commission and 

cross-border cases, as well as being involved 

with some of the firms biggest trust and 

estate disputes. Anna is a board member of 

Q-Awards Charitable Trust and is a successful 

triathlete. Her background in sport is something 

she also carries into her work, providing 

assistance to athletes and clubs in sports 

related disputes. 

Stephanie Berkahn 

– Associate, Employment 

Stephanie holds an LLB and BA from Waikato 

University. Previously she worked at a specialist 

boutique employment law firm in Auckland 

and in the employment teams at two Magic Circle 

law firms in London. Stephanie returned to 

New Zealand to join Holland Beckett Law’s 

employment team in July 2021.Stephanie has 

been involved with some of the firms most 

challenging employment matters including 

restructuring and complex cases that arose out 

of Covid-19. She has also acted for some of the 

firms leading clients. Stephanie has also been a 

board member of Merivale Community Incorporated 

for over a year, helping them navigate 

through recent changes. 

Sophie Law 

– Associate, Employment & 

Relationship Property 

Sophie holds an LLB from Waikato University. 

A Tauranga local, she started her career at 

a Magic Circle firm in London before returning 

home to Tauranga. Sophie joined Holland 

Beckett’s employment and family law team 

in 2018. Sophie has a track-record of great 

client outcomes. Recent successes have seen 

her resolving substantial relationship property 

and employment matters. Sophie reflects 

Holland Beckett Law’s commitment to the 

Tauranga community with ongoing pro-bono 

assistance, which has included judiciary matters 

for rugby clubs and operating a legal 

clinic at Tautoko Mai for women who have 

been the victims of sexual assault. 

Brittany Ivil 

– Associate, Property & 

Commercial 

Brittany holds an LLB (First Class Honours) 

from the University of Waikato and joined 

Holland Beckett Law in 2016 to practice law 

where she grew up. Brittany is in the Property 

Team and specialises in all matters relating 

to private trusts and charitable organisations. 

She undertakes work with experience, skill 

and judgment which is appreciated by her clients. 

Brittany has always demonstrated a willingness 

to give back to the community and 

this has resulted in her becoming a shadow 

board member of the Tauranga Arts Festival 

Trust. She is a team player who assists staff 

with professional growth and regularly contributes 

to the firm’s systems and processes. 

Laura Murphy 

– Associate, Environment & 

Resource Management 

Laura holds an LLB (Hons) and a BA from 

Victoria University. Laura joined us in 2020 

after returning from London in between 

global waves of Covid. She quickly became a 

trusted pair of hands in the Environment and 

Resource Management space where she has 

delivered legal services for Holland Beckett 

Law’s key corporate clients and land developers. 

One of her more notable cases saw Laura 

spend seven weeks in a High Court hearing on 

a customary marine title claim. Laura makes a 

valuable contribution on the committee of the 

Resource Management Law Association for 

the Bay of Plenty, is a Board member of Priority 

One and is a Project K mentor through the 

Graeme Dingle Foundation. 

Tauranga teaching student wins 

adult learner award 

Covid-19 gave Jasmine Campbell 

(Ngāpuhi) the push she 

needed to change careers and 

enrol at university. The transition 

from tourism industry to teaching has 

earned her a Vice-Chancellor’s Adult 

Learner’s Award and a cash prize. 

Jasmine, 30, had been working in 

the tourism industry on Australia’s 

Gold Coast when the pandemic began, 

and when visitor numbers declined 

she decided to move back home for a 

new start. She is currently in her second 

year of her Bachelor of Teaching 

(Primary) degree at the University of 

Waikato’s Tauranga campus. 

Her decision paid off when she was 

recently awarded the 2022 Vice-Chancellor’s 

Adult Learners’ Awards – one 

of four given out by the University 

at a ceremony at the Tauranga CBD 

campus. 

The awards recognise the academic 

achievements and social contributions 

of outstanding adult learners 

at the University of Waikato who have 

chosen to undertake tertiary study 

later in life. 

Recipients have to be at least 25 

years old, in their second year of partor 

full-time study at the University and 

be studying towards an undergraduate 

qualification. The awards were presented 

at an in-person ceremony by 

Vice-Chancellor Neil Quigley, and 

each recipient was also given a cash 

prize of $1000. 

“I was so happy and excited when 

I found out [about the award],” says 

Jasmine, who was nominated by one 

of her lecturers. 

“I didn’t even know how to write 

an essay when I first started. It is so 

nice to be recognised for all the hard 

work I’ve been putting in. It will also 

take the financial pressure off as I 

can’t work full-time while studying.” 

The former Mount Maunganui 

College student had travelled to Australia 

after high school for a gap year, 

but “one year turned into 10,” she 

says, with stints working at Dreamworld, 

Whitewater World and Sky- 

Point Climb. 

Jasmine admits that she “had no 

idea what she wanted to do, or if I 

wanted to go to University,” as a high 

school student, and returning to study 

in her late 20s was “a bit scary” at first. 

“But I talked to my Nana, who 

went back to university in her 60s, and 

she told me that if she could do it, then 

so could I.” 

She chose the University of 

Waikato because the Tauranga campus 

is close to home, and the University 

had a good reputation. 

Jasmine enrolled in the University’s 

Tauranga Jump Start programme 

in January 2021 to help prepare her 

for tertiary study. The support from 

lecturers and her experiences as a 

teaching student on practicum in local 

classrooms have also been positive. 

“Seeing the children grow and 

develop new skills in the classroom 

each week was quite rewarding.” 

A testament to her academic 

achievements, Jasmine was recently 

inducted into the Golden Key International 

Honour Society. She also works 

as a student ambassador and has volunteered 

at Tauranga Open Day and 

Virtual Open Day. 

Jasmine Campbell and Vice 

Chancellor Neil Quigley 

In the future, Jasmine hopes to 

work as a primary school teacher in 

the Tauranga area, and perhaps do a 

master’s degree in Education. 

“I’ve always loved working with 

kids,” says Jasmine. “Even when I 

was working in tourism, teaching kids 

to surf, I loved seeing them learn.” 

Three of the four award recipients 

– Rebecka Billington, Jo Mariu and 

Jasmine – are University of Waikato 

Tauranga students. Jared Kelsen from 

the University’s Hamilton campus 

also received the award.


RESEARCH SET TO 

BEGIN INTO GREAT 

WHITE SHARKS IN 

BAY OF PLENTY 

First on the scene 

Rotorua Business Chamber’s Business After 5, hosted by Level 13 Theme Rooms & Costume Hire, 

Level 13, 1141 Eruera Street, Rotorua. 

Photography: Michelle Cutelli Photography (www.cutelli.com) 

A new project bringing together local iwi, 

marine ecologists, fisheries scientists and 

shark experts will research Great White 

Sharks in the Tauranga Harbour and wider 

Bay of Plenty this summer. 

1 

2 

1 Liz Carrington (Youth Music Aotearoa Charitable Trust), Ellis Carrington (Youth Music Aotearoa Charitable Trust). 2 Jo Holmes 

(RotoruaNZ), Nadia Christensen (McDowell Real Estate) 3 Tim Smith, Ryan Gray (MBIE). 

3 

The collaboration 

comes after a notable 

increase in the 

frequency of interactions 

between humans and Great 

White Sharks in the area 

over the last few years. With 

each new interaction, fear 

and anxiety has appeared 

to increase and there have 

been calls for something to 

be done to better understand 

the situation and manage the 

risks to humans entering the 

ocean. 

Project lead and University 

of Waikato marine 

ecologist Phil Ross says 

the research team is currently 

working with hāpu 

from the northern harbour, 

Te Whanau a Tauwhao and 

Ngati Te Wai, to refine plans 

for the summer’s research 

activities and to develop 

longer term goals for the 

research. 

“We plan to have the 

research up and running 

before summer arrives so 

we can begin the process of 

learning about the size and 

make-up of the white shark 

population in the Bay, and 

gaining a better understanding 

of the behaviours and 

movements of individual 

sharks in the area. 

“We’re also working to 

create opportunities for the 

public and citizen scientists 

to be involved in this important 

work. We know there 

have been a lot of encounters 

between White Sharks 

and spearfishers, surfers and 

swimmers. We want to capture 

that information and use 

it to better understand these 

awesome creatures.” 

The research aims to 

understand the observed 

changes in White Shark 

abundance and behaviour 

and inform any future White 

Shark management in the 

Bay of Plenty. 

Reon Tuanau, from 

Otawhiwhi marae says he is 

grateful to be part of a project 

that will combine science 

with Māori tikanga. 

“We are very keen 

to learn more about the 

increased presence and 

activity of the Great White 

Shark in our moana. We have 

a long standing relationship 

with the team of experts that 

Phil Ross 

Reon Tuanau 

has been brought together 

to partner with our Hapū 

in gaining a greater understanding 

of the changes that 

are occurring in the moana.” 

The project includes 

input from: 

● Hapū (Te Whanau a Tauwhao 

and Ngati Te Wai) 

from the northern Tauranga 

Harbour (where 

most of the White Shark 

activity has been) represented 

by Reon Tuanau 

(Te Whānau a Tauwhao 

ki Otawhiwhi Marae 

Chairperson), 

● Scientists/researchers 

from: 

– The University of 

Waikato (Phil Ross, 

Melissa Kellett, Chris 

Battershill) 

– Manaaki Te Awanui 

(Caine Taiapa) 

– Department of Conservation 

(Clinton Duffy) 

– Conservation International 

(Mark Erdmann) 

– NIWA (Darren 

Parsons) 

– New Zealand’s Great 

White Shark Research 

Project (Kina Scollay). 

6 

6 Angelique Scott (Personnel Resources), 

Michelle Cutelli (Michelle Cutelli 

Photography). 7 Tessa Hunt, Charlie 

Windell, Hine-Te-Rangi Elliott, Cecile 

Whelan, Bryce Heard (Rotorua Business 

Chamber Team). 

8 

4 Anne Tregilgas (Sotheby’s Rotorua), Don McCarrison (Bay Decorators). 5 Carol 

Buckley (People Possibilities Limited), Viv Sutton (Life Education Trust Rotorua). 

7 

45 

8 Jules McLaughlin (Life Education Trust Rotorua), Sue Baty (Avid Business Agency), Cecile Whelan (Rotorua Business Chamber). 

9 Marilyn Christian (Bill & Marilyn Christian), Lily Prummel (Lilies Cleaning Services), Jon Dimock (Ministry of Education). 

10 

4 

10 John Chetty (Red Chillies Holding Limited), Bryce Heard (Rotorua Business Chamber). 11 Steve Pinder, Desirae Kirby 

(Rotorua Sustainable Charter). 12 Yogi Bhati (Number 8 Wire Farm to Plate), Shaz Shafarzadegan (Dancing Scissors). 

9 

11 12


Campus celebrates University graduation 

There were cheers and tears when 222 people 

graduated at the University of Waikato’s Tauranga 

campus in early September, in the first in-person 

graduation ceremonies at the site since June 2021. 

University Chancellor, Sir 

Anand Satyanand, congratulated 

students and thanked 

their families for supporting them 

with their studies. 

“Today is a good time to reflect 

on the months and years you have 

spent studying, going to tutorials 

and now, at the end of it, you have 

realised the goal you were seeking,” 

he said. 

He challenged graduates to “make 

the best of what you have learned at 

the University of Waikato”. 

Leah Owen, who was receiving 

her Bachelor of Social Sciences 

degree majoring in Psychology at 

the 10am ceremony, says that it was 

a day to celebrate and reflect on “the 

strength and resilience” of reaching 

graduation day. 

“To my fellow graduates – we 

did it. Despite everything the world 

threw at us, we are here today.” 

Among the degrees conferred at 

Tauranga were 108 bachelor’s, five 

bachelor’s with honours, 19 master’s, 

one PhD and 89 postgraduate 

or graduate diplomas. 

Abigail Carrillo Fibela, 25, was 

one the 2019 cohort of inaugural 

students starting at the newly opened 

campus. 

“We were pioneers,” says Abi, 

who graduated today with a Bachelor 

of Social Sciences degree majoring 

in Sociology and Political Sciences 

from the Tauranga campus. 

“It was good to start at this brandnew 

campus, and we were in small 

groups, so we made good friends.” 

Abi is from Mexico originally, 

but moved to New Zealand six years 

ago. Since finishing her studies last 

year, Abi has started working for 

Toi Mai – Workforce Development 

Council in Wellington. 

Fiona Taiena Patiunia Helu was 

wearing dozens of money and lolly 

lei gifted to her by friends and family 

to celebrate her graduation day. 

Fiona, who is originally from Tonga, 

graduated with a Bachelor of Social 

Work, and is now working as a 

social worker at children’s charity 

Barnardos in Auckland. 

“I wanted to do something to 

support families, young Pasifika and 

Māori kids growing up in the system, 

or from troubled homes.” 

The support of her family, many 

who were at graduation, made a big 

difference to Fiona. 

Cheniel Powell received her 

Master of Applied Psychology 

degree with first class honours, 

along with a Postgraduate Diploma 

in the Practice of Psychology in 

Applied Behavioural Analysis. 

The Tauranga mother of three 

says it felt “amazing” to receive 

her qualifications in front of her 

family. 

“It’s been a long time coming, 

and it’s a relief. I have had so much 

support along the way from my husband 

Michael, from my in-laws, and 

of course my kids,” said Cheniel. 

The Tauranga ceremonies were 

the first in a week of University of 

Waikato graduation events in Tauranga 

and Hamilton. 

There were eight ceremonies in 

total, with 1666 people graduating 

overall. 

Left: A whakatau (welcome) was held for new Scion board director Brendan Green (Ngāti Hikairo, Ngāpuhi) and new future director Dr Melinda Webber (Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti 

Kahu). Right: Scion board chair Dr Helen Anderson (left) and Veronica Butterworth (right), a trustee representing the three hapū – Ngāti Hurungaterangi, Ngāti Taeotu and Ngāti Te Kahu 

(Ngā Hapū e Toru) with the Kawenata (Memorandum of Understanding) that was signed in a formal ceremony surrounded by the hapū, Scion board, staff, and guests. 

Scion and Nga Hapū e Toru sign 

Kawenata 

A 

new dawn for partnership has been hailed with the signing of a Kawenata / Memorandum of 

Understanding between tangata whenua and Scion at Te Whare Nui o Tuteata in Rotorua. 

Veronica Butterworth, a trustee 

representing the three hapū – 

Ngāti Hurungaterangi, Ngāti 

Taeotu and Ngāti Te Kahu (Ngā Hapū 

e Toru) signed the Kawenata (Memorandum 

of Understanding) with 

Scionboard chair Dr Helen Anderson 

during a formal ceremony, surrounded 

by the hapū, Scion board, 

staff, and guests. 

Ngā Hapū e Toru are tangata 

whenua of the 114-hectare site where 

Scion is situated in the Te Papa Tipu 

campus. 

Butterworth says the signing for 

Ngā Hapū e Toru is a significant 

step forward in the partnership with 

Scion, which in turn is a step towards 

strengthening the mana of the land 

and hapū. 

“The Kawenata acknowledges the 

genealogical connection through our 

whakapapa to this land. This land is 

part of our rohe, our turangawaewae, 

and is the basis of identity and wellbeing 

for our people. 

“Working together with Scion to 

honour this Kawenata, we will work 

on mutually beneficial goals. The 

matapono (principles) of the Kawenata 

are whakapapa, kotahitanga, rangatiratanga, 

manaakitanga and tiakina 

te mana o te whenua.” 

Scion chair Dr Helen Anderson 

says the signing marks a significant 

milestone for the Crown Research 

Institute and its enduring relationship 

with tangata whenua. 

“We are signalling how Scion and 

tangata whenua recognise the value 

of working together in the spirit of 

cooperation and partnership. We have 

common principles and an unwavering 

commitment to protect the waterways, 

forests and whenua.” 

“As Scion takes bold new steps 

with research to support New Zealand’s 

transition to a circular bioeconomy 

as part of efforts to meet climate 

change objectives, we are committing 

to a set of principles that will underpin 

our close relationship with tangata 

whenua and help us navigate the challenges 

and opportunities ahead.” 

The signing was followed by the 

launch of a new permanent visitor 

display in the building’s atrium, sharing 

the history and connection that 

Ngā Hapū e Toru have to the whenua, 

while also explaining the significance 

of forestry science and innovation to 

New Zealand and the world. 

Co-funded by Scion and Te Uru 

Rākau, New Zealand Forest Service, 

the displays are a creative storytelling 

experience that share the history 

of tangata whenua, forestry, and the 

future. 

One display describes Ngāti 

Hurungaterangi, Ngāti Taeotu and 

Ngāti Te Kahu. It explains the deep 

connection to the whenua, with historical 

pā, kāinga, cultivations and 

wāhi tapu (sacred sites), as well as 

looking to hapū aspirations – including 

partnership. 

The other display documents the 

history of New Zealand’s forestry 

industry, starting in the late 19th century 

when the first exotic trees were 

planted in a nursery at the Whakarewarewa 

Forest. The storytelling dives 

deep on the value of radiata pine, 

along with the importance of forests 

to New Zealand for timber production, 

biodiversity, biomaterials, 

tourism and to tackle climate change 

problems the world faces. 

Scion chief executive Dr Julian 

Elder says the signing and launch 

of the visitor display recognises the 

important role that tangata whenua 

will play in the future of Scion as a 

Crown Research Institute. 

In the spirit of partnership, Scion 

looks forward to future engagement 

with Ngāti Hurungaterangi, Ngāti 

Taeotu and Ngāti Te Kahu as tangata 

whenua. 

Butterworth says that, “Explaining 

our connections to the whenua, as 

documented in the atrium display, is a 

wonderful way to welcome manuhiri 

(visitors) to Te Whare Nui o Tuteata. 

This building is named for Tuteata, 

who is the ancestor of all three hapū.” 

Earlier in the morning, a whakatau 

(welcome) was held for new board 

director Brendan Green (Ngāti 

Hikairo, Ngāpuhi) and new future 

director Dr Melinda Webber (Ngāti 

Whakaue, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu). 

The ceremony came two months 

after Ngā Hapū e Toru led the unveiling 

of four pou whenua on Tītokorangi 

Drive, as part of a partnership 

with CNI Iwi Holdings Ltd, Rotorua 

Lakes Council, and Kānoa – Regional 

Economic Development and Investment 

Unit. 

The pou, part of the Whakarewarewa 

Forest Development Project, 

share the history and connection of 

Ngā Hapū e Toru to the land.


Changing world reflects changing 

generational expectations 

If the teacher ever said, “I 

need to speak to you about 

your child”, I would immediately 

panic: “What has he done 

now?” 

Something has changed. 

‘Modern’ parents (of which 

I am obviously not one) now 

must choose between two 

default reactions – either 

Johnny has been bad, or, the 

teacher is a b***h. 

There is no longer any middle 

ground – you must pick a 

side. Either, “Johnny can’t be 

to blame; That teacher always 

picks on him, he says so; 

B***h”, or, “If the teacher is 

taking the time to call me, there 

is an issue and I should listen.” 

In much the same way 

that, despite the facts, many 

Americans believe the election 

was stolen, so, many parents 

believe, despite the facts, that 

the teacher is a b***h. 

Sure, Johnny may have 

suggested the teacher was an 

idiot [actual words substituted] 

and said, “Get f****d”, but as 

mum notes, “Johnny wouldn’t 

say that unless the teacher is 

an [idiot – actual words substituted] 

and has provoked him.” 

Lesson learned – not just by 

Johnny, but also by the teacher: 

Don‘t criticise Johnny! 

My point is not that the 

teacher cannot be an ‘idiot’ – of 

course he or she may be – but 

rather the default position now 

is so often that the teacher is 

somehow the enemy. 

As far as many mums and 

dads are concerned now, if 

Johnny says, “The teacher 

is picking on me,” then the 

teacher is a ‘b***h’ – there 

is no ‘innocent until proven 

guilty’, no rite of reply afforded 

the teacher. The die is cast. 

As an employer, I now regularly 

see such attitudes in the 

workplace. 

Sure, there are teachers who 

will get it wrong, who may be 

socially inept, or who may simply 

be having a bad day – but 

in all other respects, are regular 

adults. So please, please, 

let’s give them, as trained, fully 

developed, professional adult 

humans, some benefit of doubt 

when called to account by often 

belligerent ‘not-fully-baked’ 

adolescents who often have a 

naturally rebellious teenage 

instinct to ‘stick it to the man’. 

That’s not a put-down of adolescents, 

simply a balancing 

of the facts and an objective 

observation of developmental 

instincts at play. 

Be clear, not for one 

moment will I ever defend 

bullying, rudeness, infliction 

of harm or lack of respect and 

decency by any adult to any 

other human of any age. And 

consistently poor behaviour by 

adults, be they teachers, doctors 

or bosses must be rooted 

out and dealt with. 

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED? 

> BY ALAN NEBEN 

Alan Neben is a Mount Maunganui local and an experienced New Zealand 

publisher. He tries to never begin a sentence, “Kids nowdays ...” 

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” – Margaret 

Mead 

But, if the teacher insists 

for example that students not 

be disruptive in class, and 

they not use smart phones and 

ear buds while in class, I will 

always back the teacher who 

physically removes the earbuds 

and admonishes offending students 

– no excuses. I will never 

condone the response of a student 

who then calls the teacher 

a ‘[deleted expletive]’ – such 

disproportionately offensive 

responses and aggressive, disruptive 

behaviours are never 

okay. 

It’s not because I’m ‘old 

school’, but because I believe 

an important part of our education 

should be learning that 

respect for others and appropriate 

behaviour is required 

in social contexts: We do not 

expect Republicans to protest 

loudly at the Queen’s funeral; 

We do not tell the IRD to go 

away because we’ve decided 

not to pay tax this year; It is not 

okay that school pupils swear 

at their adult teachers, irrespective 

of how they might be feeling 

slighted, or feeling that the 

teacher is a ‘b***h’, or because 

they are tired. 

Am I comfortable giving 

15-year-olds the right to 

vote, as called for by various 

commentators? 

No, for the same reason I 

don’t give my 15-year-old free 

access to the family car keys 

and my credit card: he doesn’t 

appreciate the full consequences 

of his decisions. He’s 

not ‘bad’, he just still has some 

learning to do. In the meantime, 

he just wants to have fun; 

Giving him the keys and my 

credit card would be like giving 

a toddler a loaded gun to 

play with – freedom of choice 

10/10; Good outcome possibility 

0/10. 

In my opinion, socially 

inappropriate behaviours are 

being enabled through ‘handsoff’ 

policies – Steal a car: 

police can’t chase you if you 

don’t want to stop, because 

‘they’re not allowed to pick 

on you … that’s a ‘no, no’ … 

Mum said so.’ 

Gone are the expectations 

of contextually appropriate 

behaviour we were once 

taught, eg ‘If the police ask you 

to stop, you must stop’, now 

seems ‘open to interpretation’ 

for many teens. 

If you do a ‘runner’ and 

crash the car, it’s inevitably 

painted as the fault of the 

police for insisting you stop – 

rarely the fault of the offending 

driver who didn’t actually stop 

and then crashed – When did 

‘fair cop’ become, ‘the cops are 

unfair’? 

The epidemic of ram-raids 

currently concerning shopkeepers 

and the public-at-large epitomises 

the lack of social conscience 

amongst many young 

people. The consequences of 

stealing cars, destroying property, 

scaring people and stealing 

goods in groups – then 

posting the exploits on social 

channels – do not resonate with 

the young people who have not 

learned respect for others and 

what behaviours are socially 

inappropriate. 

While broader social problems 

fuelling outbreaks of 

lawlessness will take time and 

focus to address, in the meantime 

do we simply sit on our 

hands and say, “There’s nothing 

we can do.” I believe it’s a 

slippery slope if we do nothing. 

Throw in an unhealthy dose 

of Gen Z attitude: ‘I don’t need 

to go to class; I don’t need to go 

to work; The boss is a ‘bitch’’, 

and our society appears to be 

becoming increasingly polarised 

between those who learn 

respectful behaviours, and 

those who don’t. 

Next time I’m employing a 

young person in my business, 

I’m going to start by asking 

to interview the mum. I will 

ask her to name her favourite 

Chuck Berry song – if she says, 

”Johnny be good”, the job’s 

his. 

How healthy is your workspace? 

A healthy workspace is essential to productivity, creating quality work 

and keeping employees happy and motivated. It is important to 

promote a healthy workspace in your office, especially with “wellness” 

a very sought-after quality with job seekers currently. A healthy 

workspace doesn’t necessarily mean sterile and germ-free, but an 

incorporation of health and safety, diversity, ‘vibe’ and functionality. 

HUMAN RESOURCES 

> BY KELLIE HAMLETT 

Talent ID are Recruitment Specialists and can support you through 

your recruitment process. Please feel free to talk to us about this by 

calling 07 349 1081 or emailing kellie@talentid.co.nz 

According to the World 

Health Organization a 

healthy workplace is an 

office that would address physical 

and psychosocial risks – it 

would also promote and support 

healthy behaviours – so a 

healthy workplace is basically 

a space where collaboration, 

health, safety and wellbeing of 

employees is promoted. 

Many workplaces around 

the globe are looking at diversifying 

workspaces from the 

traditional office layout. Many 

may have heard of Google’s 

offices around the world where 

they have slides and poles to 

get between levels, and a raft 

of extra spaces to enjoy that 

other companies could only 

dream about providing, but 

they have also included some 

great features that many other 

companies are taking note of. 

Some of these include 

open-plan office spaces or 

break out areas to encourage 

collaboration, a library or an 

aquarium for a quiet space and 

a workout area to encourage 

healthier employees. Nobody 

is suggesting trying to keep 

up with Google, but simple 

changes to the office environment 

can offer staff diverse 

spaces to work from and to 

enjoy, enhancing their work 

life experience, with overall 

happier staff leading to better 

productive outcomes. 

Those that work in an 

office can spend upwards of 

seven hours per day sitting 

in the same spot. This means 

that they are doing a lot of 

repetitive tasks and engaging 

in behaviours that may cause 

ergonomic injuries. When 

employees have more options 

in their workspace to encourage 

collaboration within their 

team, those choices are both 

mentally and physically stimulating 

and promote healthier 

wellbeing not just for the individual, 

but for the whole team. 

Don’t be afraid to think outside 

the box when considering 

making changes for a better 

office health rating. Plants, 

artwork and even floor mats 

can be simple contributors 

that can add to the feel of the 

space. Obviously providing 

good furniture and ergonomic 

keyboards is a great idea, but 

also think about having some 

tables that provide a collaborative 

space rather than everybody 

just collaborating from 

their desks. Providing pictures 

of stretching exercises that can 

be done while standing at the 

photocopier for 30 seconds at 

a time all help contribute to 

healthier staff. Just moving 

from your desk to a different 

area can help. Promotion of 

employee’s health is essential 

to the success of a healthier 

office. 

Natural light is essential to 

a healthy workspace too, but if 

natural light is limited, schedule 

regular intervals to go outside 

and get some fresh air. 

Get active at work and offer 

up spaces where you can have 

a stretch or take a break away 

from the desk or main office 

space. If you’re lucky enough 

to have an outdoor area in your 

office then use this advantage 

too. It should be made to 

feel welcoming to encourage 

usage, not just to be classed 

as “the smokers’ corner”. 

This can be a great collaboration 

space where meetings 

are taken outdoors away from 

desks and can allow employees 

to soak up some vitamin D 

while they are at it. 

In this day and age, being 

socially aware of our carbon 

footprint is also top of people’s 

minds. Working for a company 

that is conscious of its own 

carbon footprint is important 

to many. Simple changes here 

can help with the psychosocial 

factor of a healthy office, for 

example providing a space for 

bike parking can encourage 

employees to bike to work, 

reducing their CO2 and leaving 

them with more in their 

pockets (especially with the 

price of fuel and parking these 

days). Other environmental 

practices include minimizing 

waste, switching to low carbon 

lighting, or the use of laptops 

over desk top computers (these 

are 80% more energy efficient). 

Taking a firm approach 

to sustainability aligns with 

employee’s values and offers 

great company morale, delivering 

healthy outcomes for 

people and the planet. 

Companies that promote 

a healthier workspace tend to 

have better retention of staff, 

as well as happier employees. 

Happier employees are the 

most productive. 

Healthy workspaces are 

ones where team members 

feel confident and comfortable 

with the work they are doing. 

Having fun at work as well as 

having a healthy workspace is 

essential to productivity. Having 

a healthy workspace is 

vital in this day and age. Overall, 

improving the office space 

to be a healthier environment 

is beneficial to not just the 

employees, but also the overall 

productivity, reputation and 

success of the business.


How ECI will benefit delivery of new 

homes and amenities at Metlifecare’s 

Somervale Village 

As one of a few building companies in the Bay of 

Plenty and Waikato to offer a specialised Early 

Contractor Involvement (ECI) team, the Foster 

Group have been heavily involved in the design 

phase of Metlifecare’s regeneration project at 

Somervale Village at Mount Maunganui. 

ECI is a pre-construction phase that reduces risk 

for the client, the construction team, and in this 

case, everyone living and working at Somervale 

Village. 

Combining preconstruction management 

and Building Information Modelling (BIM), 

building services management, and quantity 

surveying – Fosters ECI team take care of 

budget management, early materials and trade 

procurement, and final design coordination. 

For Metlifecare, ECI provides clarification around 

every step of the project; ensuring delivery is 

smooth, budget and timeframes are protected, 

and any risks are identified and mitigated. And, 

with the project targeting a Homestar 7 rating, 

Fosters’ knowledge and experience in delivering 

sustainable builds has also supported the inclusion 

of key sustainability features into this project 

design. 

Fosters Preconstruction Manager Craig 

McCullough notes that the ECI phase is especially 

helpful in projects on an operational site, where the 

needs of different groups of stakeholders require 

careful consideration and coordination. 

“In the case of Somervale, there are several 

intricacies with existing services as well as a need 

to work closely with village staff and, importantly, 

village residents” he explains. “Our chief concern 

is managing the project in a live environment with 

minimal disruption to the village. 

“Through the ECI phase, we’ve planned site 

access, phasing, and construction methodology. 

Our work will ensure the successful integration 

of construction innovations and that the project 

meets Homestar targets. 

“It has been a pleasure working with Metlifecare 

and their design consultants” Craig continues. 

“With everyone committing to the ECI process, 

we successfully established a budget early 

on and have designed to it. We now have a 

comprehensive programme of works in place, with 

thought and consideration given to safety, costefficiency, 

and the project timeline.” 

Stage 1 of this project will deliver a modern 

amenity building and 30 new independent living 

apartments into the retirement village by mid- 

2024. 

Demolition of the old Somervale care home marked the start of the Metlifecare regeneration project in August. 

FOSTERS.CO.NZ . 07 570 6000

October 2022 - Bay of Plenty Business News

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