NEWSROOM: 04 November - 10 November 2007

Pacific unemployment rate at near record lows
10 November 2007 - Source: New Zealand Government Press Release
 
Unemployment figures released Thursday confirm the huge gains made by Pacific people under the Labour-led government, says the new Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Luamanuvao Winnie Laban.

The new Household Labour Force Survey report for the September 2007 quarter records Pacific unemployment at 5.5%, the third lowest on record and down from 14.9% for the September 1999 quarter.

"In 1999 when Labour took office around one in six Pacific people were unemployed. Now the figure is closer to one in 18," said Laban.

"This is yet more fantastic news for our Pacific communities. The Labour-led government has delivered on jobs for our Pacific people.”

"Under Labour our Pacific people are moving forward, together. The Working for Families package is lifting our children out of poverty and providing real financial support to our Pacific families.
"Labour has reduced the cost of going to the doctor by around half and our Pacific families are benefiting from our 20 hours free Early Childhood Education policy.”

"We have wiped all interest on student loans for our tertiary students and we have provided funding to revive Pacific languages. Next year Labour will outline plans for a personal tax cut for all our hard working Pasifika people.”

"Our people are once again energised and optimistic about their future," said Laban.

Laban said that there is still much to do to ensure Pacific people are equipped to share in New Zealand's future success, such as moving our Pacific people into higher income and higher skilled jobs.

"This Labour-led government has delivered for our Pacific people and we are 100% committed to building on the gains of the past 8 years," said Laban.
 

POLLYWOOD SIX08 season submissions open
09 November 2007 - Source: Media and Interdisciplinary Arts Centre Press Release
 
Fakalofa Lahi Atu and a BIG Hello to you all!

Submissions have just re-opened for next years Pollywood season, set to re-launch Early March 2008.

With 5 successful years of exhibiting Pacific Island Short Films, POLLYWOOD has gone from strength to strength.

Promoting our Pacific Island Stories, Culture, ideas, lifestyles and vision with the world!

If you would like your film to be considered for the POLLYWOOD SIX08 season, please send your DVD, MiniDV or VHS to:

POLLYWOOD SUBMISSION
164 CHURCH STREET - ONEHUNGA
AUCKLAND - NEW ZEALAND

Please be sure to include your complete contact details (i.e. Name, Address, phone & mobile number, email address), and full film details.

SUBMISSION ENTRIES CLOSE 15 DECEMBER 2007

For more information, please email: pollywood@orcon.net.nz

Kia Monuina, Craig Fasi
 

Help needed for Samoan miracle baby
08 November 2007 - Source: TV3 / Baby Miracle Appeal Fund
 
This is the baby who doctors in Samoa said would not last one day after birth.

Her grandmother says she couldn't suckle, and the doctors were so sure she would die; they refused to let her be fed, but her parents fed her secretly by dripping milk into her mouth.

Two months on, she is still alive, still growing, and like every other baby, she is the apple of her parents eye; they have named her Baby Miracle.

Managing Director of Triangle Television's TV Samoa Taufau Gardenia Aukuso says Samoan hospitals cannot deal with Baby Miracle's deformities, and her family has no money to send her overseas.

So Taufau is raising funds to bring her to Auckland, and she's looking for a doctor willing to lend their expertise.

Taufau says that, left in Samoa, Baby Miracle will die, but with help from the public here, she might just get a chance at life.


Update:

The Survival Foundation in Samoa is trying to organise baby and parent’s visas for their trip to Auckland. Hopefully, if all goes well, she'll be here sometime next week.

Miracle's Appeal Account is now opened for any donations you may have. Thanks to the team of Westpac Bank, Papatoetoe Branch in Auckland. Please donate whatever you can to help baby and her parent's fares, medical treatments when they arrive, etc. Just visit any of the Westpac Bank branch and ask for Baby Miracle Appeal Account for your donations. Some have already donated as we are getting a list of names from the bank. Thank you very much!

If you haven't made your donations yet, I'm humbly asking to please do so as we really need as much as we can raise. From what I have been told so far, any treatments and checks for baby when she arrives will not be cheap. The Account Details are below:

The Name of the Account is: Baby Miracle Appeal Account
Account No: 03 0173 0573333 000

Please do pass this appeal to your networks, families and friends if possible, baby Miracle needs all the help she can get. She deserves a chance in this life.

Thank you once again,

Kind regards,

Taufau Gardenia Aukuso
Managing Director
TV SAMOA - Triangle Television

For the latest news on Baby Miracle, please visit the official appeal website: http://babymiracle.co.nz/index.html
 

Opera in Park with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa & Friends
07 November 2007 - Source: Nelson Media Agency Press Release
 
Tickets go on sale on Friday for the South Island's premier summer musical event, Sealord Opera in the Park with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Friends, at Nelson's Trafalgar Park on February 16.

It is the tenth anniversary of this popular event, with a star studded line up joining Dame Kiri on stage - Simon O'Neill who has established himself as one of today's most sought-after tenors; Jonathan Lemalu, a bass baritone with a commanding presence and a voice that is gaining huge accolades world-wide; and New Zealand's favourite mezzo, Helen Medlyn, with a voice that spans opera to musical theatre. They are accompanied by the Vector Wellington Orchestra with conductor Marc Taddei.

Musical Director and Nelson City Council Community Services Committee Chair Pete Rainey says the line up is drawing nationwide attention.

"Over the past ten years in Nelson we have brought an audience to the delights of opera and this is the culmination," he said. "It gets no better than this show. If you have never been to Opera in the Park before it's time you did, if you are an opera fan book early for the best seat you can afford and if you are from out of town make this the weekend you come to Nelson."

Tickets are priced to make the show accessible to all comers from Gold Patrons to Picnickers. The details are: Gold Patrons - $120 Open air allocated theatre seating closest to the stage with access to corporate hospitality area. Silver Patrons - $90 Open air allocated theatre seating West Grandstand - $90 Covered allocated seating in the new grandstand East Grandstand - $70 Covered bench seating Picnickers - $15 Designated areas for own chairs or rugs on the sports field and embankment.

Cr Rainey said he was very pleased that the seating and pricing structure made the event accessible for everyone, and noted the support of the city council, sponsors and patrons at the upper levels was helping to keep the general tickets affordable.
Tickets will be available on Friday at Everyman Records in Nelson (03) 548-3083 or on line at www.KiriInNelson.co.nz where you will also find updates on picnic hampers, bus services and more event information.

Sealord Opera in the Park with Dame Kiri and Friends is part of the Nelson Summer Festival, presented by the Nelson City Council as a celebration for locals and an attraction for visitors.
 

Pasifika@Massey strategy boosts Pasifika scholarship
06 November 2007 - Source: Massey University Press Release
 
Massey’s Pasifika@Massey strategy document, launched mid-October, is the first explicit declaration by any New Zealand university of a commitment to promoting, cultivating and expanding academic achievement for Pacific peoples.

Its title, En Route to Cultural Democracy reflects the University’s understanding of the needs and aspirations of New Zealand’s multicultural population at the highest academic level, says Massey’s Director Pasifika Professor Sitaleki Finau.

“The Pasifika@Massey Strategy must be the first step for Pacific peoples to achieve the freedom to be Pasifika in Aotearoa without being considered a side and freaky show,” he says in the document.
Published in English and seven Pacific Island languages, the document outlines key themes of the strategy, including maximising social, economic and cultural gains for Pacific peoples through teaching, research and consultancy services at Massey University.

From boosting the numbers of Pacific Island students and developing stronger links with Pacific communities throughout New Zealand and the Pacific region, to encouraging more Pacific-themed research, the strategy is the result of planning that took hold in 1999. Pasifika staff on the Albany campus recognised the need for Massey University to be more responsive to the academic needs of the fast-growing population of Pasifika peoples.

The strategy was developed by a network of Pasifika staff and written by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Mäori) Professor Mason Durie.

Professor Durie says the strategy highlights the University’s awareness that the Pacific population in New Zealand is projected to increase dramatically over the next two or three decades “with a parallel increase in the demand for quality academic programmes at university level.”
 

Mentoring Pacific Islands businesses
05 November 2007 - Source: Dev Nadkarni
 
A successful Kiwi entrepreneur of Pacific Islands origin wants to share his knowledge and rich experience with other New Zealand-based Pacific Islands businesspeople to help them run their enterprises better and find newer opportunities to grow their businesses.

Uluomatootua Saulaulu Aiono, better known as Ulu, is the founder of the Manukau-headquartered high technology enterprise resource planning (ERP) software company, Cogita.

Starting out about 25 years ago, Ulu and his colleagues have grown Cogita into a specialist, international ERP software technologies company operating from offices in New Zealand and most Australian states.

Cogita sells and supports ERP software systems on a long-term basis to blue chip companies in New Zealand, Australia and parts of Asia.

In April, Ulu and his dedicated team of businesspersons and professionals launched the newly formed Pacific Chamber of Commerce at an event attended by top national and local politicians and businesspeople in Manukau city. The concept for the chamber was developed from ideas that were discussed at the Pacific Prosperity Conference two years ago, said Ulu.

Challenges faced in business by New Zealand’s Pacific Islands community was the highlight of that conference and Ulu noticed that there was no mechanism to address this very special need. The challenges are many and Ulu hopes the chamber will address them over the coming years.

The chamber will have four missions built around specific needs of Pasifika businesses: raising skill levels, engendering better business practices, helping develop entrepreneurial success and encouraging increased savings, he says.

There are two other organisations in New Zealand that are centered around Pacific Islands businesses. One is the Pacific Business Trust (PBT) that has been in existence since 1985.

Asked how the chamber would differ from the PBT, Ulu says the PBT was oriented more towards start-up businesses. The Pacific Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, would be a resource centre for already established businesses that are seeking to grow.

New Zealand Pacific Business Council, the other Manukau-based organisation, concerns itself with trade between the Pacific Islands and New Zealand and clearly has a different set of objectives, Ulu says. But he adds the new Chamber was keen to establish a working relationship with both organisations to avoid duplication of tasks and actually help complement one another.

The chamber’s executive committee is made up mostly of self-employed businesspeople from Pacific communities. “They have given a lot of their time, all unpaid,” says Ulu. “It’s really based on the Good Samaritan ethic. The chamber has a strong foundation with this group of committed people determined to make it work despite the lack of resources.”

But it is Ulu’s own story that will likely inspire budding Pacific Islands businesspeople the most. Born in Apia, Samoa, Ulu is the eldest of five children. The family migrated with the first three children to Auckland on a banana boat in 1960. After matriculating from Auckland Grammar School in 1971, Ulu worked as a freezing worker, a cleaner, a pump assembly plant operator and taxi driver.

In 1979, he began university studies in Otago and graduated in 1981, followed by an MBA degree in 1986. Shortly afterwards, he started Cogita.

While building Cogita into the multi-national enterprise it is today, Ulu also developed a keen interest in the social sector. He has been a long-time supporter of the Otahuhu Salvation Army, has sponsored the Auckland Philharmonia and helped develop an entrepreneurial tourism venture to build New Zealand’s first Village Polynesia in Manukau City with embedded information technologies.

He has been a council member of the Auckland University of Technology since 2003 and a member of its ethics committee for the past three years. Since 2006, Ulu has been a member of the key infrastructure development group known as the Auckland Regional Economic Development Strategy Forum (AREDS Forum). A resident of Manukau since 1986, he is also a member of the Manukau City Tourism Forum.

Over a hundred companies have taken up membership of the new Pacific Chamber of Commerce, within days after its launch.

“We want the chamber to be relevant in a practical way, we’d like to provide cheap and targeted assistance; make available a place to find all information and advice for businesses,” says Ulu.

The chamber proposes to employ technology for its advisory services.

“We hope to provide advice required by businesses on such topics as strategy, operations, cash flows, funding and working capital but not specialist advice like that given by lawyers and accountants,” he adds. The chamber’s advisory services will be subscribed with members paying cheaper rates than non-members.
 

C&C DHB wraparound initiative a New Zealand first
04 November 2007 - Source: Capital and Coast District Health Board Press Release
 
An initiative by C&C DHB staff to help preserve the dignity of patients during surgery, is a New Zealand first and has led to the launch of a specially designed wraparound garment for people to wear while in hospital.

Theatre nurse Jenny Kendall designed the wraparound blanket, which is less revealing and more comfortable for patients undergoing surgery.

The initiative is a simple solution that will address the inappropriateness of hospital attire for some patients, says C&C DHB Pacific Manager Lee Pearce, who is supporting the project.

The wraparound, or lavalava, allows for surgical site access and meets theatre requirements. It is able to be used before and after surgery, and can continue to be worn throughout the patient’s stay in hospital.

After a successful small pilot of plain fabric wraparounds in the operating theatre, the project is now being extended, with the DHB’s Pacific Health Team funding an initial trial of new colourful lavalavas across surgical wards and operating theatres.

Following an evaluation process, it is hoped the project will lead to a hospital-wide roll out early next year.

The chosen fabrics for the new lavalavas reflect the cultures of the Pacific and are a common form of dress among Pacific people. The fabrics have been trialled and tested in the DHB laundry for durability and colour-fastness.

While the colourful lavalavas are largely being trialled by Pacific Island patients, other patients can request them, and the ultimate goal is for the lavalava to be available to all patients undergoing surgery at C&C DHB.

The Honorable Luamanuvao Winnie Laban is launching the joint initiative, which is being held on Monday, 5 November at Wellington Hospital. Also attending will be His Excellency, Mr Asi Tuiataga J Faafili Blakelock, High Commissioner of Samoa; Human Rights Commissioner Joris de Bres; C&C DHB Board members and hospital staff.


Details of the launch, which media are welcome to attend:
Monday, 5 November 2007 at 11am
Classroom 3, Professional Development Unit
Level L, Ward Support Block, Wellington Hospital

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