Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Now, you would have thought that after all the publicity Wellington City Council has been getting - and the paid staff have been getting - for being caught doing things behind the backs of elected councillors, they probably wouldn’t do it again.
And yet, here we are. They’ve been caught doing it again.
The latest revelation is that they have decided to exempt themselves from a Government law brought in about three months ago.
The law prevents employees who earn more than $200,000 from taking personal grievance cases against their bosses if they are fired. In other words, there will be no golden handshake if you’ve been sacked while earning that kind of money.
But guess what? Wellington City Council bosses decided they weren’t going to follow that law and exempted 42 of their staff from it. That’s quite unbelievable, because the law is intended to make it easier for employers to remove incompetent managers who have been doing very little for years on end.
And Wellington City Council knows it has a problem. A recent report suggests they may have a couple of hundred staff they need to get rid of. They have one of the highest staffing levels in the country when compared with other councils.
Each household in Wellington is effectively paying for 19 fulltime equivalent staff. In Upper Hutt, just up the road, households are supporting only 10 staff. Wellington City Council: 19 staff.
As I say, they didn’t tell elected councillors they made this decision. However, a councillor found out, started asking questions and it turns out it was true. Technically, the council can argue it didn’t have to inform elected councillors -this is an employment decision they can make themselves.
But even the mayor, Andrew Little, has said this should have gone to the council for signoff. It’s not a good look.
And it’s becoming a bit of a running theme, hasn’t it? Not just in Wellington but around the country: unelected staff making decisions in secret that ratepayers probably wouldn’t be happy about if they knew.
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The Conservation Minister says the new planned reforms of conservation law will benefit Kiwi businesses and biodiversity.
It lays the groundwork for reinvesting revenue from charging international tourists - estimated at about $60 million a year - back into conservation land.
It also speeds up the Department of Conservation signing off leases and permits.
Minister Tama Potaka says this will modernise legislation that was in need of an update.
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The rise in AI has seen demand for professionally written CVs in a bid to stand out against algorithms.
Experts say while AI can be useful to screen hundreds of applicants faster, it's created a transparency gap between employers and jobseekers.
CVs by Sarah director Sarah Wrightson says the screening software rules out applicants before a human gets a chance to look at their CVs, and it results in qualified applicants getting filtered out.
"I've had clients come to me saying that they've applied for 80 jobs and heard nothing back - and often, they've actually got really solid experience. The software's looking for alignment and clarity, humans read context, the software doesn't."
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The Infrastructure Minister suspects the grandeur of Auckland's City Rail Link stations will surprise users.
Chris Bishop's announced the build will be reviewed - after the project's former boss claimed it could have been completed for half the $5.5 billion spent.
Bishop says the architecture is amazing, and some might describe the stations as palaces.
"They're going to be incredible, but they come at a price. And you've just got to weigh up whether or not it's worth the price, and like every other project, we should do a review once it's open."
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New Zealand Rugby has appointed Steve Lancaster as the organisation’s new chief executive, after he spent six months as the interim CEO.
In a statement, NZR chairman David Kirk congratulated Lancaster on the appointment - and said he brings 'strong experience at all levels of the game'.
Lancaster says he's intent on turning up and doing the best job he can and he's focused on making the business sustainable.
"I guess the board decided they're happy with the job I'm doing - so here I am."
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