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BusinessAugust 3, 2024

Pacific profiles: Meet Auckland’s favourite driving instructor

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The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, James Fungavai. 

All photos by Geoffery Matautia.

During golden hour at VTNZ Glen Innes, we met with Tongan driving instructor James Fungavai. From inside his spotless Suzuki Swift, James spoke to us about why he loves giving driving lessons, his history in the hospitality industry and his passion for martial arts. 

James’ nominee wrote:

“James is my driving instructor. He is patient, hilarious and a very generous teacher. He cares a lot about his students and is great at putting people at ease. He is friendly and quick-witted, and goes above and beyond, often taking weekend lessons for students who need them even though he doesn’t technically work weekends. He also teaches karate.”

Where were you born and raised?

I’m Tongan! I came to New Zealand in 1986. I worked for a German company from 1986 to 1997. Then, in 1998 I found one Italian guy – I met him in Mission Bay – and he bought a restaurant that he ran until 2019. I became the manager there and I was there for 21 years. 

Tell us about your family.

I have a wife, two children and now seven grandchildren. We live in Glen Innes. We’ve been here since we came to New Zealand. As long as they’re happy, then there are no complaints from me. Being a grandparent is unbelievable. Mama mia! When we‘re all together it’s mostly around Christmas time. My neighbour joked and thought my house was a primary school. It’s good to spend time with them while me and my wife are still alive. 

So how did the driving instructor role come about?

So me and my Italian friend, the one at the restaurant, we did driving lessons for fun on our days off. That started in 2015. In 2020, around Covid, everything shut down. I said to myself, “James, no more hospitality!” I’m only going to focus on driving now. I’m now one of the instructors for the A1 driving school in the Central Auckland area.

What do you enjoy about your work?

Mama mia! I think it’s because I started in hospitality. I was there for 21 years. I like talking to people and meeting different people. It’s good fun. Plus, I’m happy because with this job I have more time with my family. I work Monday to Friday and take four students each day. Sometimes I work Saturday and Sunday. If students text me “James, please can I have a lesson, I have a test next week!” then I will help them of course. 

What do you think is your point of difference as an instructor?

Hmmm. Well, I think if someone wants to know about me then they can read the website and check the testimonials. If they like it, great! If not, that’s OK.

(Writer’s note: James is being incredibly humble here. All his testimonials are five stars. One reads, “Absolutely loved my lesson with James, he was funny, personable, explained things very well with examples and details and most of all he made me feel confident and took most of the self-consciousness and stress I had. Very grateful!

Who do you teach?

I teach all types of people. All ages. Learner to restricted, restricted to full, even conversion licence. I don’t get many Pacific Island students. Maybe they don’t know I’m a Tongan (laughs). Some parents teach their kids how to drive then they go straight to the test and they fail because they’ve picked up bad habits. My advice? Come to us. One or two lessons just to kill the bad habits. Many Pacific Island kids have never had a professional instructor to show them how to pass the test. 

Tell us about those bad habits.

Lane changes. When they change lanes they do everything from the side mirror. Move the car first, blind spot second. Yikes! Or they move the car without indicating. Always check your rear mirror to see who is behind you. Then indicate to show where you’re going. Check the side mirror of the side where you’re going. Then, the important one, check your blind spot. If it’s clear and safe – go. If not, don’t go! But some of them – car first, blindspot second. And at a stop sign. You must completely stop. Some stay rolling. No!

What does a first lesson look like?

Sometimes we drive in my car. Sometimes their car. If I don’t know them, I prefer my one because I have pedals in the passenger seat. If the lesson goes OK, then their car – no problem! This week I had all four students pass their test. I’m happy. If you’re nervous, we’ll go to a quiet place to start to build confidence. It doesn’t matter if we’re there for four days. As long as they build a little bit of confidence. We don’t have to do everything at once.

What else do you get up to outside of teaching?

Church every Sunday! I’ll only do two lessons on Sunday morning. We’re Tongan Methodist and we use the Ōrākei community hall. I also play bass guitar in the church band. I help a lot of people from our church. About 14 of them have passed their tests so far. I help the students from our church for free. I also play touch rugby for a Tongan men’s team. It’s good because there’s no tackling – my bones are getting old!

Are you still doing karate?

Yes, I started karate when I was in America in 1995. Now I train out in Pakuranga, I’ve been doing it for nearly 30 years. When I was young I liked the martial arts movies. When I went to America for a holiday I saw them do it there. I thought wow, and I joined and got up to my blue belt. When I came to New Zealand I joined a Go-Ju Ryu karate club in Remuera. I’m a 5th-degree black belt now. The students call me Shihan now and I get to teach the younger ones. I tell them, the more you practise the better you’ll get. I train two nights a week.

What’s next for you? Will you keep on with the driving instructing?

I’m getting old now (laughs). But I think this is the right job for me. It’s only talking, really. Nothing too heavy to carry on my shoulders. I’m quite happy, I’ve got my pedals.

And do your students message you if they pass their test?

Yes! I always say to them, I only need two words from you: “bloody pass”. And I reply “bloody good!”

This is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air.

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Image: Getty Images/The Spinoff
Image: Getty Images/The Spinoff

OPINIONPoliticsAugust 1, 2024

Healthy homes standards worked, but many landlords are still refusing to comply

Image: Getty Images/The Spinoff
Image: Getty Images/The Spinoff

Data released under the Official Information Act shows more rentals are now up to Healthy Homes Standards, but those that aren’t are getting away with it.

Amidst the generalised despair about the last government’s failure to deliver on certain key promises, it’s easy to forget it had some major wins.

Take, for instance, the healthy homes standards, introduced in 2019 in an attempt to do something about the extravagantly bad quality of this country’s rental housing – something that consistently makes overseas observers shake their heads in bafflement. The standards are not especially demanding. They require only that a rental property has a fixed source of heating, is insulated where practicable, has extractor fans in both bathroom and kitchen, boasts functioning water pipes and gutters, and does not have massive holes in its walls. These are not, on any objective measure, unreasonable demands, even if some landlords treated the law change like they would a declaration of war.

But have the standards made any difference? Although objective data is in short supply, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development does commission an annual survey of renters and landlords, the 2024 edition of which has been released to the Spinoff under the Official Information Act.

The survey reveals some good news. Nearly one-fifth of rental owners say they were compliant with the standards even before they were introduced; taken at face value, these are the good landlords, of which the country needs a far larger supply.

Even more pleasingly, the data suggest the standards have made a substantial difference. Some 84% of renters say their property has an “acceptable” form of heating installed (heat pumps, for the most part), up from 67% in 2020. Similarly, 77% of renters say they can heat their living room to a “comfortable” temperature all year round, up from 50% in 2020.

Perhaps most tellingly, the proportion of renters saying their home has a problem with damp or mould has fallen from 57% in 2021 to 44% today. The proportion citing problems with heating their home or keeping warm in winter has likewise fallen, from 55% to 42%.

When it comes to ventilation, 79% of renters report their property has an extractor fan in good working order in the bathroom, up from 64% in 2020. Similarly, 81% say there is a fan in the kitchen, up from 66%.

These marked improvements since 2020 plausibly tell us two things. One, the standards have begun to work. This is reassuring: it shows us that when the state does something, when regulation is enacted, improvements follow. Second, if there is to be further progress, it will come once again from regulation: the “market” so beloved of neoclassical economists had decades to raise rental standards to an acceptable level, and failed abysmally. 

We are, as a result, only at base camp on the mountain of rental reform. Recall that around four in 10 rentals, according to their occupants, are still to some extent damp, mouldy or difficult to heat. Within that, 6-8% have a “major” problem with mould and cold. On one measure, this proportion has not changed since 2020.

Likewise the situation with drainage. According to renters, roughly one-fifth of properties have unresolved drainage issues; within that, 10% of renters are not aware that their landlord has any immediate plans to fix the problem. 

We can also take that staple of low-grade New Zealand rental housing, the gaping hole in the wall. Just under a quarter of renters report their properties have “unreasonable” gaps and holes that cause “noticeable” draughts. Within that, in 14% of cases their landlord has no apparent plan to address the issue. Some 15-18% of rentals, meanwhile, have no appropriate source of heating, depending on whether one believes renters or landlords.

Most concerning, when landlords are asked whether they have prepared their properties to meet the Healthy Homes Standards, around 8% still say “no, not really” or “not yet”. Similarly, around 7% of landlords are officially described as being “in denial” about the legally mandated standards, a figure that is unchanged since 2020. 

What does all this tell this? If we take the issues with dampness, heating and drainage, roughly 20-40% of rentals – that is, hundreds of thousands of properties – still display some level of defects. Within this, somewhere between 8% and 15% of rentals are extremely damp, mouldy or otherwise unsafe, and their landlords are utterly unrepentant. 

Why have such problems not been regulated out of existence? A clue may lie in the inspection regime. Labour is to be saluted for one epochal shift: rather than requiring tenants to report problems, as was previously the case, Jacinda Ardern’s government gave officials the power to proactively launch investigations.

It did not, though, support this shift with sufficient resources. Two years ago, the inspectorate tasked with assessing New Zealand’s 600,000-odd rental properties boasted a grand total of 37 staff. In response to the Spinoff’s enquiries, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has revealed that the number today stands at … 35. 

This inspectorate, MBIE insists, has not been harmed by the new government’s cost-cutting regime, nor has it been instructed to dial down its regulatory efforts. But National hardly need do so.

Even under Labour, the rental inspectorate spent an awful lot of time “educating” landlords about the standards set out in law and very little time actually – you know – enforcing them. In the last year, rental inspectors issued 316 warnings, but took just four landlords to the Tenancy Tribunal. The result – as the survey shows – is that the very worst landlords continue to flout the law, safe in the knowledge that they are extremely unlikely to be prosecuted.

Little change can be expected from the current government. But while they are in opposition, Labour and the Greens should draw up plans for another, more comprehensive, phase of regulation. The slumlords deserve no second chances, no first warnings. One or two of them need to be put out of business, and their properties snapped up by better owners. Only then will the remaining slumlords be frightened into compliance; only then will the nirvana that most developed countries have long since achieved – a stock of predominantly warm and safe rental homes – come finally within reach.