From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions:

Business and management:
•The average weekly rent in Auckland has reached a record high.
•House prices in New Zealand are generally considered to be sky-high these days, and the future first New Zealand woman to go into space is a real estate agent. (The first New Zealand man booked on a space flight is a Christchurch businessman.)
•The Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Report indicates that New Zealand’s financial system is sound, and has been reasonably resilient in a volatile world market.
•The Green Party expect that the Flexible Working Arrangements Bill could become law by the end of this year.
•The New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 was launched last week, with sustainability as a strong theme.
•The Manufacturers and Exporters Association has released its second Outlook Report “Assets, Tax and Productivity” – their previous Outlook Report “Research and Development” is also still available.
•A nationwide survey shows that over half of business people in NZ support the idea of emissions trading.

Health and wellbeing:
•The “2 nations, 10 cultures” conference of combined Australasian drug & alcohol agencies has been covering the wide-ranging effects of drug & alcohol abuse on society – amongst other discussions have been these: regular cannabis use affects the mental and physical health of teenagers; many young drinkers don’t realise the damage binge-drinking does until it’s too late; moderate drinking may not be so good for your heart; and should alcohol be classified as a high-risk drug, given its impact?

Environment and sustainability:
•A pilot website for what is intended to become the world’s most complete online repository for information on building sustainable cities has been launched by a partnership of UN-HABITAT and the University of British Columbia – the new website will be known as the UBC / UN-HABITAT Archives and will be at www.chs.ubc.ca/archives (At the time of writing, the pilot website was not available.).
•A public seminar in Wellington tomorrow will debate whether electric vehicles can help with New Zealand’s transport problems.
•Zero Emissions Ltd, the company which has the only emissions testing system used in NZ, believes that vehicle emissions may be worse than the government thinks.

Government, local and central:
•A world expert from the UK has been in NZ this month, talking about private public partnerships (PPPs) with local and central government officials. In the UK, 10-15% of finance in public service related infrastructure comes from PPPs or private finance.

People, culture and diversity:
•The Dept of Conservation has released a discussion document on the use of whalebone, from the point at which it is removed from the beach after a whale stranding, to its trade or use within NZ. (International trade in whalebone is covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) and is controlled by a separate permit system.) The proposed new system is intended to simplify the current process.
•An online game designed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 2 years ago in Swedish is now available in an English language version on a US website. Called “Against All Odds”, the game is intended to give young people an idea of what it is like to be a refugee. The game was awarded the Austrian Multimedia and E-Business State Prize in the category for "Knowledge and Learning" in 2006.

Science, technology & transport:
• Land Transport NZ has launched a website providing motorists with information on safe, clean and fuel efficient vehicles.
•Google has launched an operating system called “Android” – an open platform for mobile devices, which contains all of the software necessary to make a mobile phone work, and is offering $10M to developers to build applications.
•The Foundation for Research Science and Technology provides investment support to NZ companies – for Wellington company Surveylab, this has meant that the company has been able to develop into a global company marketing a unique point-and-shoot handheld tool, which combines GPS, compass, inclinometer, laser distance meter and digital camera into a GPS based database.
•New Zealand’s ranking for broadband services among OECD countries has risen recently, but InternetNZ feels we can do better. The OECD maintains a dedicated broadband webpage providing statistics on the ranking of countries against a range of broadband criteria.
•The first National Energy Research Institute conference will be held in Auckland this month to discuss most aspects of energy in New Zealand (including transport issues) and the New Zealand Geothermal Workshop will be taking place just before, both hosted at the University of Auckland.

Education:
•The Ministry of Education has launched the new NZ education curriculum, with increased emphasis on learning a second language, statistics (within mathematics), and the recognition of NZ’s 3 official languages – English, Maori & NZ Sign Language.
•The Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill has been voted to select committee – the bill provides for a new type of tertiary institution that would aim to improve research and development, and workplace skills in the trade and vocational education sectors.
From the LOGIS desk.