News

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has received a poor report card from an independent reviewer – the excitingly-named Inter-Academy Council.

According to the NZ Herald’s coverage for the most part the review didn’t question the efficacy off the IPCC’s science or its research findings. Rather, it found pretty serious shortcomings in the structure of the IPCC and, of relevance to communicators, in the way it presented its various reports to governments around the world.

Basically their communications function scored a ‘fail’.

Surely when you’re dealing with climate-related information – often of a very technical nature – communicating that information simply, accurately and effectively to lay people is absolutely critical if you want to inform opinion and motivate change?

Even more so when half the world believes climate change requires a policy response, and the other half doesn’t. Good communication is essential to reputation and credibility, and sadly the IPCC has learned this the hard way. How much damage has been done remains to be seen.

New Zealand banks can learn from the not-for-profit sector when it comes to building a reputation based on customer service, according to a new survey from communications agency Creo.

The survey asked people to name an organisation which had provided them with outstanding service in the past 12 months.

The Automobile Association easily topped the survey with an unprompted response from 10% of the 1,006 people surveyed.

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The final composition of the House of Representatives may not be known for 10 days, as a number of seats will require the full count of postal and absentee votes to flow in from around the country and be counted. In some cases, these will amount to almost 10,000 votes and with the difference between candidates at present being only 400-500 votes in some seats, every last vote will have to be counted before the result is clear.

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The New Zealand Housing Foundation has welcomed the government’s release of the Housing Shareholders Advisory Group report, saying new solutions will be needed to meet the country’s social and affordable housing needs.

Chairman Dr Tony Lanigan said the foundation’s experience showed that concepts like shared ownership and other solutions could help low income Kiwis into their own homes – a goal that ought to be a cornerstone of housing policy.

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Julia Gillard MP has just been sworn in by the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, as Australia’s Prime Minister, following a meeting of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party in Parliament House this morning. She was elected unopposed as Leader, with Treasurer, Wayne Swan, elected as Deputy Leader and therefore, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

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