NZ rising in global reputation stakes

New Zealand has increased its ranking to seventh in a list assessing the reputations of 55 countries. Last year it was eighth.

Canada has beaten last year’s leader Switzerland to top the 2015 “RepTrak” rankings, issued by the Reputation Institute, which has offices in many countries.

Since the survey began in 2010, Canada has ranked first all but two years and has not been placed lower than second.

The institute gathered information online for its rankings from more than 48,000 people in G8 countries.

It says this enables it to “measure the public’s perception of 55 countries based on three dimensions: effective government, appealing environment, and advanced economy”.

It is the largest annual survey of countries’ reputations, the institute says.

“When people perceive a country positively based on their direct experiences and through the lens of others, that translates into increased tourism dollars,” says a managing partner of the institute, Fernando Prado. “That’s because a country’s reputation dictates supportive behaviours such as the willingness of people to visit that country.”

Its 2015 rankings report notes that the largest and most powerful countries are not necessarily the ones with the best reputations, “but the happiest ones do have better reputations . . . and the ones that are peaceful . . . and also the ones with less corruption”.

It says New Zealand, ranked ninth in the United Nations’ 2015 World Happiness Report, was at the “more peaceful” end of the scale in the Institute for Economics and Peace 2015 Global Peace Index, and was ranked second cleanest, behind only Denmark, in the 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International. An Auckland primary school teacher has been banned from the classroom after playing games of “tickle torture” and “upside downies” with children.

Experienced teacher Donald McIntyre Morrison, 69, was cleared of criminal charges at the High Court at Auckland last September.

He was acquitted on 25 representative charges of doing indecent acts against students between the ages of 6 and 8, from 2011 to 2012.

Now he has been struck off by the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal, which concluded his actions amounted to serious misconduct.

Morrison admitted the misconduct but denied any “improper motives”.

He pulled female students under the age of 13 on to his knee. He kept them in the classroom at lunchtime so he could tickle them, and never did it in front of other adults.

The tribunal also heard that Morrison gave children “horsey bites” and “horsey rides” on his lap, while he also smacked bottoms.

He also admitted playing an “upside down” game where he held girls upside down by their ankles.

The tribunal was also concerned that he carried out the acts in secrecy.

“He did not indulge in any of the games when other adults were present or likely to see him,” it heard.

During his trial, defence counsel Richard Earwaker said Morrison was a grandfather with more than 40 years’ teaching experience and the recipient of a prestigious award.

The name of the school, as well as those of the complainants, has been suppressed. Morrison accepted the loss of his registration was “appropriate outcome”.