Waimakariri joins Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Help is at hand for Waimakariri youth seeking employment.
The Waimakariri District Council has joined the Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs, to support local youth into employment.
The programme has been successful in the Hurunui and Kaikōura districts and a recent change to the population threshold meant Waimakariri was now eligible for funding.
‘‘As Mayor this is an initiative that I will be actively involved in supporting,’’ Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon said.
‘‘I am looking forward to seeing this project commence and I am 100 percent behind it.’’
The programme will be administered by the council’s community team.
‘‘Given the team’s well-established local networks and connections, this is an ideal fit for the role.’’
The initiative was funded by the Ministry of Social Development on an initial six-month pilot.
The council was in the process of appointing an employment co-ordinator to work alongside young people and local employers.
The six-month pilot aimed to get 12 young people into the local workforce, offering a range of support and guidance to help them on their journey.
‘‘The aim of the role is to increase collaboration and add value across the work readiness sector,’’ Gordon said.
The programme aimed to address barriers and misconceptions which limited the ability for local young people to access sustainable employment, he said.
■ Public interest journalism is funded by New Zealand on Air.
Scam Alert: Fake information regarding December Bonuses from MSD
The Ministry of Social Development is reporting that fake information is circulating about new ‘December bonuses’ or ‘benefit increases’
If you get suspicious communication, please contact Netsafe.
Poll: Do you set New Year’s resolutions?
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Update to Neighbourly members on data breach 06/01/2025 8am
Yesterday in the High Court at Auckland, Neighbourly was successful in being granted an injunction against any unauthorised use of the data taken in a recent breach.
As we alerted you on January 1 and confirmed on January 3, our systems were accessed illegally and members’ information, including names, email addresses, GPS coordinates from the address you provided to us, forum posts and direct member communications were among the data that was accessed.
We acted immediately upon hearing of a potential breach: we temporarily disabled the site, notified members and authorities and worked with our external security consultants to understand if and how it had occurred. We then confirmed the breach with members, safely restored the site to service and began the process of seeking the injunction. Yesterday’s decision by Justice Johnstone prohibits the use of the data by any unauthorised person, and requires them to permanently delete it, or any information obtained from it.
This does not mean that vigilance against scammers is not still required: there is a large industry globally that seeks to use stolen information for identity fraud or to dupe people into providing details of their financial affairs for theft. Again, to keep yourself safe from scammers it is critical that you:
- Don’t click links in emails. Instead, type the web address directly into your browser. This helps ensure you’re visiting a real site, not a fake one
- Enable two-factor authentication where available as this adds an extra layer of security to your data
- Stay alert for phishing emails. Be cautious of unexpected emails asking for personal information, especially ones that create a sense of urgency.
Again, we want to apologise to you for this illegal access to the Neighbourly database and to assure you that we have carefully worked through how this occurred. We have safely secured the site and its services for use and ensured we have robust processes in place so this cannot happen again.
We are continuing to work with the relevant authorities, including the National Cyber Security Centre, on any further steps we need to take.
If you have any further questions please contact us via our customer support team at helpdesk@neighbourly.co.nz.
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