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Wednesday 27 May 2020
Preaching to the empty choir
Page 6
Meeting the local job loss challenge Sara Hollyman With job loss inevitable for many locals in the wake of Covid-19, some have already been forced to think outside the box, or search for work in other industries. Dylan Phillips and his wife Jenna welcomed their son Hudson into the family just 8 months ago. He joined 3-year-old brother Boston, with Dylan promising his wife she could stay at home with the kids for as long as she wanted to. So, when news of redundancies broke at Air New Zealand, where he currently works as a structural composite engineer at Nelson’s maintenance facility, it threw a spanner in the works. “It was pretty hard,” Dylan says. “I looked over my bills and started to look at options like getting an apprenticeship and retraining to do something else. But with a young family, reality kicked in that I really couldn’t afford to do that at the moment.” So, Dylan instead decided to start his own business, Dylan Phillips Fibreglass Repairs. With eight years’ experience and having called Nelson home for most of his life, he expects the
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Mike poised for comeback
demand to be “pretty strong”. “I’m hoping to do a lot of work on paddleboards and things like that, as well as boats, motorhomes surfboards.” Dylan’s move comes as the Government announces that fulltime workers who lost their job because of the economic impact of Covid-19 will be eligible for tax-free weekly payments of almost $500 a week for a period of 12 weeks. It is expected to cost the Government about $570 million. It will be welcome news to many, with the Nelson region seeing requests for benefit payments skyrocket over the Covid-19 lockdown period. There was an almost 500 percent increase of requests on the same time last year. This time last year, only 267 people claimed assistance, however, during the lockdown period, 1586 claimed it – an increase of 496 percent. Meanwhile, chief operating officer of Nelson-based Sealord Group, Doug Paulin, says job loss in the region has also changed their employee landscape. “Traditionally, Sealord recruits 80 per cent of hoki season workers
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Making Civic House a work of art? Kate Russell
Bevan Woodward wants the council to get behind the idea of an art project for Civic House. Photo: Kate Russell.
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Civic House may be an eyesore to some, but Bevan Woodward sees it as a blank canvas. The local project manager has a vision to turn the iconic 1970s building into a work of art that “celebrates” Nelson. “It was a Covid-19 lockdown idea that I wanted to get on with. I thought, ‘lets have some fun with this building'’.” With its feature clock tower, the building was designed by the Ministry of Works and Development and Athfield Architects provided the working drawings. However, Bevan firmly believes it's time the old girl got a makeover and has made a submission to Nelson City Council’s annual plan to get the ball rolling. Bevan says he’s not an artist, and the “exact look” of the building is not his focus. “However, I see a robust process we can enjoy whether that includes design competitions or a people’s
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