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TL;DR: The collapse of ELE Group just before Christmas has again highlighted the unfairness and unsustainability of bringing in hundreds of thousands of workers on temporary work visas that keep them locked to one employer and locked out of our welfare system.
Hundreds of mostly Filipino construction workers, some with families and rolling on temporary visas for up to ten years, now face weeks without pay or the dole while they plead for special visas amid ongoing construction worker shortages. NZ Herald John Weekes NZ Herald-$$$ Anne Gibson
Elsewhere in the news this morning:
A 300-home Kāinga Ora development in Wellington (Arlington) that was set to cost $1 million per unit and be built in 2023 has been put on hold because of escalating costs amid a funding and operational review; The Post-$$$ Tom Hunt
ASB and BNZ joined ANZ in cutting fixed mortgage rates just before Christmas, passing on some of the 100 basis points of falls in wholesale interest rates in recent months and setting the housing market up for a fresh surge in 2024 as pro-landlord tax arrangements are finalised; RNZ and,
Maersk announced on Christmas Even it would resume shipping through the Suez Canal and Red Sea after a US-led military deployment of warships was created to protect the movements of container ships and tankers from rocket and drone strikes from Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. Reuters
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ELE collapse highlights unfair and broken visa system
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