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The Sustainable Farming Fund has a secure future.
In this year's Budget the fund has moved from being a vulnerable add-on to the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry budget to being a core output.
In political-speak, the fund has been "baselined" - that is, it's part of the core funding of Vote Agriculture and Forestry now. This means it should have a much more secure future, with its funding assured, rather than funding being allocated specifically every few years.
The Sustainable Farming Fund was allocated funding for three financial years in the 2003 Budget.
In this year's Budget, it receives $8.444 million in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 financial years, and $9.422 million in the 2008-09 financial year. This is the gst exclusive figures, which correlate with previous year's allocations.
The Sustainable Farming Fund has proved its worth to rural New Zealand.
More than 300 projects have been funded, with the goal of ensuring the social, economic, and environmental viability of rural communities. The fund has been a great success, with projects producing hugely significant results in some cases.
I welcome the passing of legislation that reforms ACC's medical misadventure provisions, making them fairer and simpler.
The main purpose of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Act (No 3) is to implement new rules for medical misadventure that would be known as treatment injury.
No longer do ACC claimants have to demonstrate medical error or show that their condition is both rare and severe when they suffer an injury during treatment by a registered health provider.
The new cover provisions provide that treatment injuries are simply ones that result from treatment.
A learning environment will now be fostered for health providers and organisations now that punitive fault-finding is gone from ACC's processes.
The new provisions also encourage the health sector to participate constructively in the claims process by promptly getting the necessary medical reports and advice to ACC.
The Act will help avoid the adversarial relationship that can develop between health professionals and their patients by doing away with the requirement that ACC report medical errors to the Health and Disability Commissioner.
While treatment injury cover under the new Act is broader than the old medical misadventure rules, not every adverse outcome will be covered. For instance, cover will not be available if the injury was a necessary part of the treatment, if it was caused wholly or partly by the underlying health of the claimant or because the treatment did not produce the desired outcome.
The Act comes into force on 1 July 2005 and applies only to claims lodged on or after that date.
The first in a new nationwide round of workshops devoted to delivering cybersafety in schools has been launched.
These workshops will help members of school boards of trustees understand the challenges posed by technology to the physical and emotional safety of students. Unfortunately, cyberspace is a place where perpetrators of electronic crime can victimise the unsuspecting, and an environment which can aid anti-social behaviour like bullying and harassment.
The Government has provided $300,000 so these workshops can be delivered across the country, with the subsidy ensuring the costs of the workshops are kept as low as possible.
For our children to achieve to their full potential and develop as life-long learners, we need to recognise our collective responsibility to create and maintain technology enriched learning environments; environments that are both safe and productive.
In addition to boards of trustees, workshops will also be delivered to other key school personnel: school principals, cybersafety managers, ICT managers and library personnel.
It's important that we all make sure we stay warm and safe when using heaters this winter.
I'd like to remind consumers, parents and care-givers to be particularly vigilant with children around heaters.
I urge people to stick to the "metre-heater" rule and keep children at least one metre from open fires or heaters. People should also look at putting up safety guards around their heater if they have young children and watch children at all times when heaters are on.
Take extra safety precautions with young children. Don't leave a child alone with a heater, even for a short time. Be careful they don't "post" paper, plastic toys, or other flammable materials into the heater, regardless of whether it is off or on. Don't let small children touch the heater, sit too close to it, or play with its switches.
Also, when choosing nightwear for children, consumers should look for the white "low fire danger" label in the garment. But we must be mindful that all fabrics, however well designed, will eventually burn if they are exposed to flames or a direct heat source.
Daywear worn over "low fire danger" nightwear can also increase the fire danger substantially.
While the Government has Product Safety Standards in place to reduce fire hazards from children's nightwear, it cannot totally eliminate this risk. Low fire risk doesn't mean no fire risk.
Finally Ombudsman Beverley Waken and Investigating Officers Keith Robinson and Richard Featherstone will be holding clinics in Featherston and Pahiatua on May 26 and Masterton on May 27.
They will be available to discuss complaints people may have with a central or local government department or organisation.
Appointments can be made by phoning 0800 802 602.
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