Industry keeps eye on virus

About 1000 overseas workers will arrive in Marlborough for this year’s grape harvest but it is too early to know if the global coronavirus outbreak could cause problems.

Wine Marlborough general manager Marcus Pickens said the virus was ‘something we have to be aware of’, but was not yet a concern for the industry.

Of the 1000 people expected to arrive in Marlborough in the first two weeks of March, Pickens said a small number were from China, where the virus originated.

‘‘Asia’s quite a small feeding group for the harvest, but there would be some people coming from Asia as a whole,’’ he said.

‘‘They would be a minority, if anything a small number.’’

Last year’s immigration figures showed that of the 350 workers on the AIP visa or Essential Skills work visa, five were from China. Pickens said this minority – 1.4 per cent – was probably a good reflection of the proportion of harvest workers that would come from China this year.

He said Wine Marlborough would wait to get the right health advice before issuing any advice for wine workers.

‘‘We’re taking a cautious approach about advising people but we’re certainly prepared to do that.’’

The infectious virus from a newly identified coronavirus, 2019-ncov, first appeared last month in Wuhan, and the vast majority of mainland China’s cases have been in that city.

At least 20 Chinese cities, including Wuhan, have now been closed off, but about 3000 people across the world have now been infected, including four in Australia.

As of Monday night, 81 people have died, all of them in China.

Director-general of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Monday it was likely a case would come to New Zealand, but the chance of a sustained outbreak was low.

There has so far been no cases in New Zealand.

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology said it was monitoring the situation on a daily basis, with students not expected back at NMIT for a couple of weeks.

Chief executive Liam Sloan said it was a ‘‘worrying time’’, with a large proportion of NMIT’S 1400 international students hailing from China. There were 7,200 students at NMIT overall last year.

The institute was keeping in touch with staff at partner universities in China.

‘‘We’re worried on a number of fronts. Their wellbeing for one, and the potential impact on our enrolment, given that it’s the start of a new academic year.

‘‘Our international market is a key income generator for us, as for other polytechnics.’’

A decision on lowering the speed limit on the highway between Blenheim and Nelson has no date in sight.

NZTA wants to decrease the speed limit from 100kmh to 80kmh along parts of State Highway 6, saying lower speed limits save lives.

In the 10 years before 2018, 20 people died and 92 were seriously injured in crashes on the highway.

The consultation period last year provoked heated discussion about whether lowering the speed limit was the best way to reduce deaths with many people saying it would have the opposite effect by creating impatience.

NZTA finished collecting public submissions in November, but said last week it was still too early to estimate when a decision would be made.

Kaiko¯ ura MP, National’s Stuart Smith responded to the process by suggesting the Government focus on upgrading roads and enforcing seatbelts instead of ‘‘needlessly’’ trying to lower the speed limits.

‘‘They are still working through the process. I just think it’s ridiculous, and that they would be far better to put their emphasis on other things ... if they really wanted to make a difference then enforce wearing seat belts,’’ he said.

‘‘That would likely save more lives than lowering speed limits ... people only respect the laws they can see a reason for. If they put a needlessly low speed limit on it will be ignored, and then we will have dangerous passing manoeuvres on that road.’’

Smith said Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter, of the Green Party, was ‘‘ideologically driven’’ rather than ‘‘evidence driven’’, referring to her use of the phrase ‘‘car fascist’’ as proof of her antimotorist agenda.

In May last year, Genter tweeted calling drivers who opposed cycleway improvements in Wellington the ‘‘car fascists’’. She later said it wasn’t the best choice of words.

Genter told Stuff on Friday the ministry received letters ‘‘almost every day’’ from mayors, principals and parents asking for safer speeds through towns, outside their schools, and on the roads they live and drive on.

‘‘That’s why we’re upgrading over 3300 kilometres of our most dangerous roads with rumble strips, crash barriers, and safer intersections.’’

In January 2020, a NZTA spokesperson said the speed review had not yet been finalised.

NZTA top of the south system manager Andrew James said NZTA was ‘‘finalising the analysis of submissions and technical safety data to be able to provide an outcome for this speed review and to then implement any changes’’.

‘‘As part of the speed review NZTA needs to complete numerous steps, which include a technical assessment, engagement with local community and stakeholders, and formal consultation,’’ he said.

‘‘After these steps, if the decision is to change the speed limit, it needs to be gazetted in the NZ Gazette for the new speed limit to become legal,’’ James said.