Gav's Blog

Mark has been doing some great digging on Section92. He’s just found and blogged that the Officials responsible for reviewing the Copyright Bill at the time suggested that section 92 be removed as existing arrangements already provided the tools required.

I’m still convinced that Section 92, and the ACTA negotiations, are part of a larger effort preparing the ground for a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Copyright and Intellectual Property are one of the biggest exports from the US, and they are trying to expand controls globally to protect their interests. This however comes at the detriment of small creative folk that can’t compete with large multi-national organisations. This is clearly indicated in the structure of the complaint process within the new act that favours large organisations and makes it difficult for small copyright holders to make complaints.

These changes in legislation are non-negotiable, and likely a pre-requisite to start more formal Free Tree negotiations with the United States. This would likely explain why both major parties (Labour and National) have been for this bill all the time. They see it as a pill that has to be swallowed with the intent on snagging a United States FTA at the end of it all.

In a decision that will probably frustrate some Aucklanders, it has been announced the Whenuapai Airport will remain in the hands of the NZ Defence Force. This is probably the best outcome, as it will ensure that the field remains as an emergency alternative airstrip in case anything happens to Auckland International in Manukau. Whilst Auckland probably doesn’t need a second commercial airport, you never know when you might need an alternate airstrip during an emergency.

I’ve just received my first annual KiwiSaver statement from Mercer KiwiBank and I must say I am very disappointed with the reporting. There is a key gap in making the connection between money contributed and the conversion to units held. Whilst the statement clearly outlines the dollar contributions, it does not include the number of units purchased by each contribution, nor the unit price on date of conversion to units. This is fundamental reporting for managed funds.

Instead, all I received was effectively a ‘black box’ statement that I held x units at 31 March, and here was the value of the units on this date. This gives absolutely no accountability of the conversion process from contributions to units. For a Government imposed savings scheme we deserve far more transparency in investment transactions. This is less of an issue with conservative investments where unit prices won’t vary significantly, but with high-growth long term investments unit pricing will need proper and transparent reporting.

I called Mercer KiwiSaver this morning, and confirmed that this information is not accessible either on the statement, or via the website. As a result, I have emailed KiwiSaver to let them know about this oversight and my concerns. Only the current unit pricings are available.

I recently received my annual KiwiSaver statement from the Mercer KiwiBank scheme I am a member of, and I am concerned that the statement does not provide enough detail about investment transactions.

My concern is that there appears to be no record accessible by the member that details for each contribution how many units in the investment were purchased. The only reference that is given is the number of units held at the end of the period and their current value.

I feel that this is a critical gap in the reporting requirements of KiwiSaver – members should be able to see on their statement that if they contributed $100, how many units were purchased with that contribution, and the price that they were purchased at. This is more important for the high-growth investments that will see more variability in unit prices than it is with more conservative investments.

As someone that has invested in managed funds for the past 15 years or more, I am used to seeing this information reported on, and I am very concerned that this information is not being openly provided by the fund managers – either in the annual statement, or on their website. This was confirmed by a phone call to their call centre this morning.