WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand’s nurses have voted to strike next month after receiving a pay offer from health boards that amounted to a real wage cut. In the latest sign of industrial dissatisfaction in New Zealand, Nurses Organization (NZNO) advisor David Wait said members of the 30,000-strong union “overwhelmingly” voted in favor of a stand down. “Members are angry and frustrated,” Wait said. “(The offer would) have given most members little more than 1.38 percent just under the rate of inflation. This is despite the incredible sacrifices they made in 2020 to keep the country safe from Covid-19.” Unless…
Author: zenger.news
SYDNEY — Feedback is open on the federal government’s proposed AU$ 610 million ($472.3 million) gas plant in the Australian state of New South Wales’s Upper Hunter area, which would employ 10 people once operating. The public has until June to provide a submission on whether they support or oppose the gas-fired power station, which the government wants to build through its Snowy Hydro energy company using taxpayers’ funds. An environmental impact statement has been released this week, revealing finer details of the proposal. Gas expert from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis Bruce Robertson says there is no…
SYDNEY — Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison have laid down the key difference between their parties ahead of the next federal election. Australians could go to the polls for a half-Senate and full House of Representatives election as early as August, but it could be held as late as May 2022. Launching a candidate for the target seat of Brisbane on May 14, the Labor leader said he understood the “value and the power of good government” having grown up in social housing with a single mum in Sydney. The prime minister told a Liberal function in Sydney “individual enterprise and…
CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian Labor Party recently came up with their budget reply after the Australian budget was released for 2021 on May 11. The Labor’s budget reply pledges an ample number of things. In terms of housing, AU$10 billion ($7.74 billion) Housing Australia Future Fund managed through Future Fund Board of Guardians, which is chaired by former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello. The Investment returns transferred to National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation with plans will be outlined for the first five years. 20,000 social houses are promised to be constructed with 4000 of those for women and children fleeing family…
HOBART, Australia — A royal commission-style inquiry examining child sexual abuse in Tasmanian government institutions has opened for public submissions. The Commission of Inquiry was announced by the state government in November after historical abuse allegations were leveled at nurse James Geoffrey Griffin and workers at Ashley Youth Detention Centre. It was formally launched on May 13. Public hearings are likely to be held later this year, with a final report and recommendations due by August 2022. The inquiry will investigate child sexual abuse within the state service and explore ways the government can better protect young people. “It is devastating…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese has promised to build 30,000 social and affordable houses over five years if Labor wins the next election. The opposition leader used his budget reply speech on May 13 night to unveil plans to borrow AU$10 billion ($7.73 billion) for a housing future fund. Investment returns would pay for 20,000 social houses, including 4000 for women fleeing violence and older women at risk of becoming homeless. A further 10,000 affordable dwellings would be built for health, emergency services, and other frontline workers. “The security of a roof over one’s head should be…
ADELAIDE, Australia — A further six Victorians may have been exposed to the virus after staying at the same South Australian quarantine hotel where a Melbourne man is suspected of catching Covid-19. The Department of Health has identified six people now in Victoria as having left the third floor of Adelaide’s Playford Hotel during the potential transmission period. All have been contacted and are now urgently being tested as they undergo another 14-day quarantine stint. Authorities in South Australia have issued similar orders for ten discharged returned travelers still in their state. It comes as the Victorian government cracks down on…
BRISBANE, Australia — An Indigenous hut and storytelling, plus a giant church bell salvaged from America, will be among art pieces at Hobart winter festival, Dark Mofo. Organizers on May 14 revealed the full program for the eighth edition of the event, to run from June 16 to June 22. A bell tower will be erected in the Tasmanian capital, featuring an 1800kg (3968 pounds) bell taken from a demolished church in Chicago. Creative director Leigh Carmichael said the festival would attempt to provide a “glimmer of hope” — a marked shift from previous themes. “The sub-theme for last year’s festival was…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia is moving to shore up supplies of Covid-19 vaccines and boosters with the federal government backing a second manufacturing plant. The decision comes as flights from India resume on May 15, following a pause to allow the Howard Springs quarantine facility to catch its breath. The Qantas flight due into Darwin on the morning of May 15 is expected to have around 200 repatriated Australians on board, who will do two weeks of quarantine at Howard Springs. Health Minister Greg Hunt said an approach to market would be launched within the next 10 days for companies to…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australians’ confidence in the federal government has plummeted to its lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic started after sexual assault allegations rocked politics. An Australian National University long-term study of 3200 voters found support for the coalition also fell between January and April. In the same period, confidence in the federal government declined sharply from 54.3 percent to 45.4 percent. That’s the lowest figure since the pandemic kicked off with confidence reaching a peak of 60.6 percent in May 2020. The number remains vastly better than the height of the Black Summer bushfires when almost three-quarters of Australians…