A target we can celebrate missing

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, July 16th, 2016 - 72 comments
Categories: benefits, class war, human rights, national, welfare - Tags: , , , ,

Here’s one missed target we can celebrate:

Government’s benefits target ‘very aspirational’

Anne Tolley has effectively conceded that National is unlikely to meet its objective of moving 65,000 people off the benefit within the next two years.

The Minister for Social Development revealed that while the Government is “working hard to meet the target”, it was merely an “aspirational” ambition – and she also admitted to being “not too worried” by the number of people coming off welfare support. …

The article carries on with “aspirational” Nat psychobabble designed to lipstick over some pig ugly facts – namely the methods that the Nats have used to get numbers down. They have demonised beneficiaries. They have cast the need for a benefit as an illness. They have made WINZ as dysfunctional as possible, made benefits as inaccessible as possible, applied pressure until they got extreme outcomes. Of course numbers on benefits have fallen – for all the wrong reasons. Thank goodness they haven’t fallen further.

Only half of the people who leave benefits get jobs. What happens to the rest? Does any Nat know or care? Perhaps the rapidly increasing numbers of homeless give a clue to the answer.

Reducing the number on benefits is the wrong goal. It is a mean, demeaning, punitive goal. We should have a goal of creating jobs. We should have a goal of getting people healthy. We should have a goal of educating and enabling people. Then the number on benefits would take care of itself.

72 comments on “A target we can celebrate missing ”

  1. One Anonymous Bloke 1

    Address the causes by all means. How do you intend to prevent the National Party?

    • Paul 1.1

      The eradication of neo-liberalism would solve that.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.1

        They’d stop needing to drag people down to provide themselves with a sense of superiority? I doubt it.

        • Chris 1.1.1.1

          You try to provide yourself with a sense of superiority almost every time you post a comment.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.1.1.1

            If so, at least the objects of my contempt aren’t homeless families.

  2. Sacha 2

    “They have cast the need for a benefit as an illness. ”

    Insanity imported from the UK. https://wellcome.ac.uk/press-release/first-research-paper-hubbub-unemployment-being-rebranded-psychological-disorder

    • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1

      There is no clause in the Hippocratic oath that excuses this disgusting betrayal. “I was just following National Party orders” doesn’t cut it either.

      Strike the fuckers off the medical register and broadcast their crimes to the world.

  3. Paul 3

    This is how you get people off the benefit when there are no jobs.
    Why are we copying the UK’s flawed neoliberal model?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahWgxw9E_h4

  4. Nic the NZer 4

    The government works within a framework where the presumption is there is no such thing as involuntary unemployment. The presumption is that if people have exited a benefit system then they are gainfully (and happily, yes this is implied) engaged in another economic activity of their choosing.

    The implications of this framework are that people are on benefits not because insufficient jobs are available (which never happens in the framework because the jobs market clears and is in equilibrium). The implication is that people are on benefits because the benefits are too generous and this is causing them to prefer ‘leisure’ to work due to the relative rewards of each.

    A future Labour government must reject this framework and accept that the economy does not always produce sufficient jobs for the jobs market to clear (and therefore everybody who wants a job to be able to find one). On this basis it would be justified in creating a govt job guarantee scheme, allowing all those who want a job to have a guarantee of being able to find an employer. Then as Anthony Robins points out, the numbers on benefits will simply take care of themselves.

  5. North 5

    Ha ! John Key’s infamous “aspirational”. Take the word apart and look what we have –

    “asp” – a small viper with an upturned snout, the Egyptian cobra, a large predatory freshwater fish of the carp family –

    “irational” – irrational, not logical or reasonable, as in “a stroke of my ministerial pen and thus it is so [or should be so].”

    The Weak Man has seriously damaged New Zealand.

  6. keith ross 6

    I think that moving to a system that removed the responsibility for work to a totally separate dept where they could concentrate on that aspect of the problem and have another dept that is only concerned with the health and well being of the unemployed so that they can have a positive environment to look for work or up skill.
    this would give people the support that they need rather than having someone who every time you speak they are looking for the opportunity to deny you anything that you are entitled to.One dept that tells you what you can apply for and help you without badgering .This would cost less in the long term and would have a positive effect on society where people are no longer scared to lose their job because of the welfare dept.Where the staff were helpful and offered freely the different options and grants available to you.
    What I am saying is like the old model but with a lot of compassion and the idea that everyone is not trying to rip off the govt for the pittance that they offer.Peoples mental health would be much bettor making healthier workers and stronger bargaining power than now. Employers know how terrible the situation is for people on the benefit and use it in a take it or leave it ,that’s the job kind of way.Punishing people who are down on their luck is not right,economically or morally.Unlike the right wing thought line that people who are poor are lazy the truth tells another story,of hard work and still not making it to pay bills and feed the kids.have a heart.

    • ianmac 6.1

      Surely the staff at Work and Income must get really stressed at the tide of genuine people getting knocked back again and again. Sorry for the “clients” and the staff.

  7. Draco T Bastard 7

    We should have a goal of creating jobs. We should have a goal of getting people healthy. We should have a goal of educating and enabling people. Then the number on benefits would take care of itself.

    QFT

    If the government supported the population rather than multi-national corporations then there would be no unemployment. Instead people would be either employed or in training.

    Throwing people on the unemployment benefit and then throwing them off that for spurious reasons degrades the country’s capabilities. All the high level skill that a modern society needs is lost under the present system.

  8. Ad 8

    +100 Anthony. Heartfelt.

  9. Keith 9

    Their goal was a simple one, just get these losers off any benefit. Whether they had jobs or not was irrelevant. Hence the growing homeless population.

    But here’s some aspirational goals;

    Make business pay their fair share of tax and rates, not the discount they currently enjoy
    Make sure overseas companies pay their fair share of tax, Google, Uber, Compass spring to mind
    Cut all benefits for property speculators, no more tax breaks, just tax payments, lots of tax payments.
    End NZs tax haven status, yes John Key, I dont believe your bullshit!

    Aspirational for a moral etical government, not National or the Maori Party or ACT or Peter Dunne!

  10. Colonial Viper 10

    The NATs recently admitted that they would miss their social housing targets. Now they are admitting that they will miss their beneficiary reduction targets.

    Clearly, they are going to use the rest of Q2/Q3 2016 to get any bad news they have left out of the way.

    • BM 10.1

      Do you honestly think the voter cares about this stuff or blames National because xxxx amount of people don’t have the skills to get a job or accommodation?

      • Nic the NZer 10.1.1

        Exhibit A, a view from inside the National party framework. Clearly the presumption is there are enough Jobs or Houses for people to be provided for, and their predicament is their fault because clearly the Market provides.

        Labour must reject the framework for the unemployed, as they have started to reject it for the homeless.

      • Draco T Bastard 10.1.2

        So, what you’re saying is that you think that all voters are as blindly faithful to the National Party and their delusional ideology as you are?

      • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1.3

        The unemployment rate was ~3% in 2007. Why did eight years of the National Party reduce people’s skills so drastically? You have two choices: notice that your hate-speech has no basis in reality, or that the National Party is a bludger-production line.

        You are incapable of grasping this.

      • maninthemiddle 10.1.4

        I would go further. Somehow AR considers it desirable that people remain on a benefit. Weird.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1.4.1

          What’s weird about a right wing troll putting words in someone’s mouth? What would be weird is if you engaged in a discussion in good faith.

          It’s beyond you.

          • maninthemiddle 10.1.4.1.1

            The Headline reads “A target we can celebrate missing”. The ‘target’…getting people off welfare. I’m putting words exactly where they came from. As a nation we should want people off welfare. This government is doing a grand job at exactly that.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1.4.1.1.1

              Thank you for illustrating my point: the message of the OP is quite clear. Your feeble cherry-picking only obscures its meaning to you.

              • maninthemiddle

                Cherry picking? The Headline? hahahaha

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  🙄

                  Yes. The headline is not the body of the article, which lays out the author’s viewpoint. Your deliberately dishonest misrepresentation of that viewpoint says something about you, and nothing whatsoever about the viewpoint.

                  Do you think you’re being clever?

      • dv 10.1.5

        Yes BM I do.

  11. North 11

    If you’re ‘the voter’ BM, no of course not. But that’s predictable and hardly the point.

    The point is the moral, social, financial destruction is happening so broadly and deeply now that civil unrest is on the horizon.

    Your pathetic answer is to heap pejorative and blame onto the victims. Finger pointing and blame directed at the least powerful by anti-social, psychotic wahanui may be a buzz for them but it has not worked. What do you do then BM ? Become more shrill and authoritarian ? You’re so Gower.

    • mac1 11.1

      Blaming the victims is the only way that a person with a modicum of decency can attempt to justify what is happening. Otherwise, there’s some serious thinking to be done. Like, shit, I’ve got that wrong, Bugger me, I’ve been deceived. Some bastard has deliberately fiddled figures, misrepresented, misled the public, and me.

      Lat night I watched a recording of Stone’s history of America. Amongst all the lies and deceptions one stands out. One which President George Bush Snr often quoted as an horrific example of Saddam’s brutality.

      A young woman told tearfully a story of how she worked in a hospital where invading Iraqi troops callously left babies on the floor to die. She had never been in the hospital. She was actually a daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador. According to Oliver Stone, she lied, Bush lied, the full propaganda machine lied.

      Like the Vietnam War, like the Iraq invasion, like the Falklands, lies, deception, corruption.

      How do they get away with it? Because people will believe them.

      To make war first you must demonise the enemy, dehumanise them. This is done by techniques such as blaming the target group, by accusations, by lying.

      It’s the history of the World, writ small in BM’s case of blaming the jobless and the homeless, whereby corrupt power acts corruptly against ordinary people.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Stone%27s_Untold_History_of_the_United_States

      • Draco T Bastard 11.1.1

        +1

      • maninthemiddle 11.1.2

        Ever heard of a parallel universe? Look it up, you live in one.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Saddam_Hussein%27s_Iraq

        Of course you’d rather believe Oliver Stone, and remember Sadam as a nice man, with perfect manners.

        • mac1 11.1.2.1

          Don’t put words into my mouth, maninthemiddle.

          Suggesting I live in a parallel universe does not help any discussion we might have.

          • maninthemiddle 11.1.2.1.1

            I’m not putting words in your mouth, I’m calling you on your love affair with Sadam Hussain. Your faith in a movie producer for your information is pathetic.

            • mac1 11.1.2.1.1.1

              All you have got to do, my man, is tell me where I have made any comment on Saddam Hussein (get the spelling right for a start) of any sort. Because I haven’t. You say I have, and that is what is called putting words in my mouth.

              Your misspelling of Saddam Hussein puts me in great recollection of that well-known man of American Intelligence, Lt-General Michael Flynn, former head of the US Defence Intelligence Agency, who in commenting on Fox News referred to Khomeini as needing to speak out on what happened in Nice, when the man had been dead since 1989- a mistake repeated more than once. Flynn had been considered as a potential V-P by Donald Trump!

              And you talk about living in a parallel universe.

              And, by the by, any evidence for your assertion about Oliver Stone’s information?

              Because I have the following to back up the quality of this university-educated, Vietnam war decorated veteran, from that great and well-known Leftie conspiratorial source, Wikipedia.

              “In 2012, the documentary miniseries Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States premiered on Showtime. Stone co-wrote, directed, produced, and narrated the series, having worked on it since 2008 with co-writers American University historian Peter J. Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham.

              The 10-part series is supplemented by a 750-page companion book of the same name, also written by Stone and Kuznick, released on October 30, 2012 by Simon & Schuster.

              The project received positive reviews from former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, The Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, and reviewers from IndieWire, San Francisco Chronicle, and Newsday.

              Hudson Institute adjunct fellow historian Ronald Radosh accused the series of historical revisionism, while journalist Michael C. Moynihan accused the book of “moral equivalence” and said nothing within the book was “untold” previously.

              Stone defended the program’s accuracy to TV host Tavis Smiley by saying “This has been fact checked by corporate fact checkers, by our own fact checkers, and fact checkers [hired] by Showtime. It’s been thoroughly vetted…these are facts, our interpretation may be different than orthodox, but it definitely holds up.”

              • maninthemiddle

                Oh, I see, you are a tin foil hat wearer. I wouldn’t have bothered if I’d known. Stone is a movie producer, and a very good one, but his presentation of history is frequently bs. Your love affair with Sadam is obvious in your willingness to believe a movie producers story over the butcher of Baghdad.

  12. jcuknz 12

    I think BM gave you the truth of the matter that the voters do not care despite it being a sad reflection on society today, if it was ever different.

    I’m remembering the BeniBashers from thirty or more years ago when their numbers were much less than today ….I think for example the one who goes ‘bush’ on the west coast living on the dole was doing others a favour by not competing for what jobs were available even then.

    The answer to me is the UBI and the fool Labor Party seem to have dumped that idea for fear of loosing votes? Instead of seriously working out how it would work without a massive increase in taxation as the RWNJs would have us believe.

    • BM 12.1

      One thing I think that’s really hardened attitudes towards the less well of is the poor pimping the left has been involved over the last few years.

      Especially when practically in every case it soon becomes apparent that the poor person who’s getting pimped has made some rather poor life decisions and that’s the reason they find themselves in their current predicament.

      Sympathy withers and dies rather rapidly x that by multiple instances and sympathy becomes nonexistent.

      Well done Labour/Greens.

      • marty mars 12.1.1

        propaganda from a right wing nutjob – believe me says bm I am just like you and want to tell the truth so that you will believe my hero jonnykey. The only pimping is you pimping your mate key – you’d be a sellout if you’d ever believed anything worthwhile – you haven’t.

      • North 12.1.2

        Where’s your evidence of this ‘pimping’ BM ? I think you’re just colourfully ruminating after a big fattie.

      • reason 12.1.3

        National hates on the unemployed and treats them like criminals ……

        But people like John Key who builds tax havens is supposed to be the guy we’d like to have a beer with …….

        “the toxic global “shadow banking” system that led to the global financial crisis. For example, hedge funds would typically be listed in Dublin, managed in London and domiciled in a classic tax haven like the Cayman Islands.”

        And Aussie banks with the help of john shewan attempted to steal $2.2 billion of tax payers money …………. “The settlement sees the banks collectively paying around 80% of the full amount of tax and interest in dispute, and the IRD levying no penalties. ”

        “In the Westpac case, the Crown produced memos from a senior tax adviser, now chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers in New Zealand, John Shewan, advising Westpac it should declare tax at a rate that would meet public relations objectives: ….

        “the 4 big accountancy firms based here (PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC), KPMG, Deloitte and EY) who assist multinationals in evading tax. ” ( from an Irish article )

        Does BM think Building tax havens and helping the rich steal will make national popular ?????

        $2.2 billion is roughly 100 years worth of what the benefit fraud unit recovered at the same time as the greedy banks were found guilty in the High courts …..

      • maninthemiddle 12.1.4

        BM I spent time working (voluntarily) amongst the less well off, and I agree with you 100%. Virtually every case I encounter is due to poor decision making, and the area I specifically work in is with a program designed to turn that around. The media and left wing politicians are a disgrace in the way they exploit these people.

    • Pat 12.2

      “I’m remembering the BeniBashers from thirty or more years ago when their numbers were much less than today ….I think for example the one who goes ‘bush’ on the west coast living on the dole was doing others a favour by not competing for what jobs were available even then.”

      How old are you jcknz?

      There gave been couple of articles recently noting that anyone born after 1970 has only ever known neoliberalism and it explains a lot about their mindset….I am increasingly inclined to agree with that observation.

      By the way, unemployment was far higher as a percentage through the late 80s early 90s in NZ…i can recall “job seeker” stats of 20% in Christchurch in that period though you are correct bene bashing still occured ( though not as much as government bashing) and the west coast opt out was disparaged and possibly a little later if my memory serves.

  13. Lloyd 13

    BM, “the voter” may not realise how badly neo-liberal thinking is affecting hi/her. Just like the frog in the warming pot of water “the voter” may no realise how seriously their children/grand-children’s choices of a life without poverty and desperation are being reduced by the idiots in government.
    The main stream media never set out alternatives to the present stupid/corrupt/immoral economic decisions being taken by the gnats, and never mention that the basic economic neo-liberal theories that our country is being run under are an ideology based on untruths and flim-flam. The clearest analogy I can compare this to is Lysenkoism. The end result of basing your economy on flim-flam is you end in the crap. Russians starved because of the crazy theories of Lysenko on producing grain, and New Zealanders are starving and will increasingly starve because of neo-liberalism.
    Eventually we will end up with a handful of really rich New Zealanders, with the rest of us living out of their rubbish bins, while most of our economic wealth will be exported to overseas corporations. Even the few rich New Zealanders remaining will be left questioning if they would have a better life if things were a little more economically equal.
    “The voter” who is apathetic now may not care if he is getting screwed, but I suspect the average New Zealander will eventually wake up to the disaster sequence we are currently living through, caused by the gnats. When the frog eventually jumps out of the hot water the results for the gnats will likely be very nasty. Longer it takes, the nastier it will get.

  14. Sabine 14

    of course the National Voter don’t care……

    until its their kids that move away overseas or elsewhere cause there are no houses where they currently live
    until its their kids that move away overseas or elsewhere cause their are no jobs where they currently live
    until its their Nana that can’t get the hip replacment or knee surgery cause funds are being cut and who really cares about old people needing ‘surgery’
    until its their dad / mum / uncle / aunty that is being told by Winz to get a job cause having cancer is not reason to go on the sickness benefit
    until its their house that gets raced to make way for a motorway or something and they can’t find a replacement house
    until its their kid with a mental health issue that can’t get the health cause funds are cut
    until its their daughter / son who is a ‘single’ parent after death, divorce, separation that now has to run the WINZ obstacle course to receive help raising a child or four on their own.

    when all budgets are cut, when the homeless and beneficiaries of yesteryear are all purged from the books whom will the National Party find to vilify? And what services will the National led Government cut in order to hand out Tax Cuts to themselves and those in their income group. Maybe Working for Families? 🙂

    And i think what we see now is that National voters from the last two elections are coming to understand that without credit lines and ‘equity’ they are like the rest of the country only one / two pay cheques away from defaulting on their mortgage, their car payments, their school donation plans and so on and so on and then they too have no value for the National Party and are themselves just some lazy arses bludging in on Paula Bennetts Generosity and they should just try harder to pull themselves up with the aid of the Bootsraps while wearing Gumboots.

    Oh yea…..no National Voter will have ever voted something else then National. Thats why National has been in power for ever and ever and ever and ever…..oh hang on…….They don’t.

    • Observer Toke 14.1

      .
      Hi Sabine

      . I liked you comment above (14).
      .
      . There is good reason for people voting National. Because Regan and Thatcher and Ayn Rand, with the devoted support of Allen Greenspan, promised everyone that the way ahead was to ignore your family, brother and sister and take up Greed.

      GREED iS GOOD was the their catchcry. Rand even had visions of families deliberately never assisting one another. Self and self only. The most vile writer of the past century.

      But the Americans adopted this cruel mantra as a replacement for Decency and Community.

      New Zealand being a bit behind the other nations has hung on to the Mantra and has been rewarded by having their house prices reach for the sky. Greed works.

      The Greed got so big, that people praised it as a cult, and found cult leaders like John Key. Wonderful Greed. All money being sent to the wealthy. A major Global collapse of wealth in 2007 -8 (worse than that of the 1920s) has not been lesson enough.

      Greed without any restrictions. Fraud; evasion of tax and stealing from the poor became holy pursuits. Riding redneck and roughshod over the younger generation has been the hallmark of life since the late 1970s.

      So, by ignoring their responsibilities to the up and coming generations, who will never own a house nor afford rental housing, the scandalous parents will beg to become the destroyers of hope of their offspring.

      All previous generations of Parents, have wanted their offspring do well even better than themselves. Not however this generation of dark diseased Parents.

      • Sabine 14.1.1

        i agree with you that Rand was vile, but never forget she did claim social security.

        And that is why a few if not many so called National Voters will either vote NZF, Labour or even Greens every now and then. When all is said and done, no matter how happy they were with the free market they do want their ‘social security’ as much as every one else.

        So they to eventually will abandon ship, like rats the first ones to leave the drowning vessel to swim to brighter shores for a few years and then the whole cycle rinse repeat.

      • seeker 14.1.2

        @Oberserver Toke @5.06pm

        Like your personification of ” The Greed “.

        Bryan Gould also tells how this came about in his blog from about the fourth paragraph onward:

        http://www.bryangould.com/how-did-it-come-to-this/

        • North 14.1.2.1

          Excellent from Bryan Gould !

          I remember about three decades ago there was a Bryan/Brian Edwards chap who expressed similarly. Whatever happened to him ? Heard he fell into a bad crowd of neo-libs……mmm……sad.

    • North 14.2

      Nice Sabine….nice.

  15. The Fairy Godmother 15

    Anonymous caller rings and makes accusations against a solo mother on a benefit. These are not substantiated but the children are removed and put into care suddenly and without a proper handover of medication etc. The minute the children are taken the benefit is stopped and she is advised she will need to apply for a different type of benefit but can’t get an appointment for a week. In the meantime she has rent to pay and is in danger of being thrown out onto the streets but for an Aunty who agrees to pay the rent. If she loses her house and goes on the streets she won’t be able to get her kids back. Moreover the whanau take a month of negotiations with cyfs to get the kids out of care into whanau care. The state care is not all that good . Yes I can see how benefit numbers could go down. It makes me ashamed to be a new Zealand citizen having this stuff going on in my name.

  16. indiana 16

    Here’s a hint… Stop using the neoliberal meme. The people you want to help don’t stand under that flag. If the Nats have missed a target on reducing beneficiary numbers, does Labour-Green have a target to increase numbers? is that what New Zealanders want, more people making a living from state handouts? So how’s Venezuela going again?

    • Sabine 16.1

      the point of difference is

      National has a plan to ditch beneficiaries, Labour/Green has a plan to look after people that need a hand up to get them back on track so that they can live their lives humanly.

      But your concern is noted.

    • Observer Toke 16.2

      .
      .Hi Indiana

      . Go for the Greed. Don’t worry about a thing.

      > Just always remember you ignored everything except money. And the money you have will be handed on to the really wealthy people at the first opportunity.. Do you know how few people own most of the world’s wealth ?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 16.3

      Have you engaged your wibble-wobble? Is that what New Zealanders want, more wingnuts going wibble-wobble?* So how’s homeless families living in cars in New Zealand under National going again?

      *if your only excuse for your homelessness-factory is to tell fucking stupid lies about other party’s policies, expect ridicule, and other less palatable outcomes.

    • The New Student 16.4

      It would be nice if the social security ladder had no ceiling on how high one can climb. At the very least, it should exist to limit how far one can fall. Neither of these is the case.

  17. Sabine 17

    Phil Twyford updating from Tauranga,

    Nationals plans to sell all ALL 1200 State Houses in Tauranga.
    Cause nothing says housing challenge better then continuing a fucked up plan that leaves people homeless, but lines the pockets for investors and speculators.
    I am sure the house owning generation living in Tauranga will have no issues seeing their kids move elsewhere in search of a roof over their heads. Kids or profits……surely the National Voter will know that children are replaceable but Profits!!!!!! they are awesome. All that value on paper with high rates (and rising )to pay once a year and no cash in the bank. Profits!!!!!!!! Smart National Voters!!!!!

    Yeah, National has a plan to get beneficiaries of the books, don’t ya all find it funny that the Accommodation Supplement is not classified a ‘benefit’ it is a ‘supplement’ as i was educated by one of the Winz Drones. Some beneficiaries are more equal and deserving then other beneficiaries and none are as deserving as house speculators and slum land lords. They are the most deserving of them all. OH and dear National Voter, the Supplement (all 2 billion of it) are paid for with your Taxes. Feel better now?

    • North 17.1

      Sabine that is the grossest amalgam of Vaudeville/Monty Python. “Smart National Voters!!!!! ” Ha Ha Ha !

  18. Roland Askew 18

    I spoke to someone who used to work in the Hamilton Call centre. I agreed to not reveal who they are or details about them, for safety and legal purposes.

    After taking a call centre position, they were pressured to meet a quota for betting people on the benefit – NOT OFF, BUT ON.

    And they were required to hang-up upon existing beneficiaries regardless of their situation. Even people at risk or in emergency situations.

    The pressure to meet the take-on quota came from up high – regional managers or even from the ministry itself, though the exact source was unclear. It was done to raise funding for WINZ, either nationally or regionally – because the funding model means if the overall beneficiary levels drop enough, the overall funding gets cut, regardless of funds needed for big programmes such as Mainstream, or for small actions such as seminars.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 18.1

      So the doubling of the unemployment rate under National is WINZ empire building. Sounds plausible*. How do WINZ get people to leave their job in the first place so that they can sign up?

      *terms and conditions apply.

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    6 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    8 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    22 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
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