Written By: - Date published: 4:01 pm, October 30th, 2008 - 76 comments
Categories: benefits, labour, workers' rights -
Tags: job search allowance
It’s good to see Labour turning its focus back onto policy (and particularly the economy) today with its announcement of a “job search allowance” for people made redundant in the coming economic downturn.
Basically, the allowance means if you lose your job you’ll be eligible for the dole without means-testing for up to 13 weeks. Next to its policy to bring in a minimum redundancy entitlement and a retraining allowance, we’re starting to see from Labour a pretty solid plan to provide security for workers and their families as the economy starts to deteriorate.
The only real I have with the policy is that it excludes people who have been in the work force for less than five years – I can’t see any good reason why young people, many of whom will have families, should miss out.
Still, overall this is good, sensible, vote-winning stuff.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Nats come up with tomorrow in response. The signs are their package will be heavily targeted toward middle-income swing voters but I’ll hold my judgement until I’ve seen it. One thing’s for sure though, they’ve got their work cut out for them if they want to trump this one.
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Scoopit!
I heard Clark on the radio talking about this redundacy policy. As I recall, she said it was to help couples who’d got use to a certain level of income, made committments like mortgages etc, then one lost their job. This fund is to help them transition to a new lifestyle, or job.
I always have had doubts about the H-Bomb thing. Why would you tell everybody that you’re going to do it before hand?
Labour diverted precious campaign funds and time into a personal attack that back fired on them.
Burt you fool – all you ever do is bleat about corruption. If there was a chance Helen Clark was involved in one of the biggest frauds in NZ history you’d be first on the plane to Melbourne. Take your National good/Labour bad bullshit and stick it up your faux-sanctimonious arse…
Oh and Burt? I notice you don’t comment on Whale’s blog anymore. Why is that?
Can you explain to me why Labour’s policy does not represent a moral hazard?
Net result of today’s debacle is HC overseeing a total collapse in the Labour vote to the Greens. You can say goodbye to Damien O’Connor, Judith Tizard, Mark Burton, Mahara Okeroa, Martin Gallagher, David Hereora, Louisa Wall et al.
The fact Mike Williams was in Melbourne at this critical time suggests Labour had given this research urgent priority. It was after all, Willliams who had/has the 24 odd kilos of papers, not the Herald.
only pimple face economists think there willbe a recession anyway.
New Zealand is very well placed to take advantage of world demand for high quality high-protein food whatever the conditions are
keep on the sunnyside you turkeys!
coge – or it suggests Williams just does whatever the fuck he wants and nobody can rein him in. On previous form I’m inclined to lean toward the latter. The real mystery is why he’s still there…
I’m thinking of switching off mainstream media, the constant innuendo, political”commentators” are filtering the news so much there’s nothing left. Like Carol I was intrigued to see the exchange between Fitzsimmons and Key in the Mall about his views on the ETS scheme he looked awkward in the picture but no actual footage….. pathetic. Duncan Garner,Guyen Espiner and the old hack Barry Sopher is as good as it gets in this country for politics. Guyen was starting to be “nice” to Winston lately I noticed as he was cleared of the SFO charges after declaring Winstons demise. The Helen Clark tripping over footage will be used over and over again I’m sure, call me superstitious but its not a great sign..
‘Sod he’s not still there. He was shown on tonights news keeping his head down at home.
“The real mystery is why he’s still there ”
The same reason that lying dwarf peters is still there sod – they know too much about helens wicked ways.
But don’t worry buddy come Nov 8th they’ll both be out of a job and we’ll get the good goss then.
Watching the interview Winston Peters did with Oliver Driver I think the neutron bomb has something to do with National party funding.
Only those on the right have cliamed this H fee stuff to be the neutron bomb. They will surely be hurting when the real neutron bomb is released.
“They will surely be hurting when the real neutron bomb is released.”
You clowns don’t know when to give up do you – and actually take something WP says seriously?
They will surely be hurting when the real neutron bomb is released.
Maybe now is the time to release it. You know, instead of wasting all that time flying to other countries with the sole purpose of making yourselves look like a bunch of cocks.
Burt said: “That would be the same Williams that couldn’t remember a $100,000 (interest free) loan from Owen Glenn not even a year after it happened questioning the memory of Key over some dates from a decade ago. Ridiculous.”
In case you hadn’t noticed, John Key is the one aspiring to be the PM. I would have thought you would want a leader who is alert, aware, and precise.
Coge: Good try but if Williams was in Australia and so was the Herald reporter doing his own dig, well so what? The Herald had 23kg of papers but it wasn’t reported. Raises the question (unimportant) how would anyone know how much the papers weighed.
Did John Key make a strategic error in hinting at a redundancy package since last Friday but was coy all week about the detail? Oops. Lunch is over.
coge – it’s “tonight’s” not “tonights” – why would I listen to someone who can’t even punctuate?
mike – Williams will be out of a job because he’s not standing as pres again and Peters shouldn’t be there because he’s a racist shit but I think your team is guaranteeing him a martyrhood 5% – dumbest political move ever.
QTR – the “neutron bomb” (what a stupid f*ckin term) is BS. Political campaigning is a war of attrition. This silver bullet shit is exactly the thinking that leads to cock-ups like Williams’
Carol
I think it’s a ridiculous election bribe but at least it’s not means tested. The question has already been raised above but it’s an obvious one, how do we defined caused by the downturn?
randal goes on to say there is no downturn thereby contradicting the PM and the whole validity of this policy.
I think there is a bit of election lolly scramble going on here, are we now planning to borrow to pay welfare? Ignoring randal for a moment, can we sustain borrowing for new welfare for over a decade?
ianmac
One thing any smart (and sensible/reasonable) person would not do is enter politics if they had been undeniably involved in a serious fraud case or other significant mistrust illegal behaviour. Particularly if such a case existed in the context of your well publicised prior professional life.
Labour must have thought they were onto a winner, they had uncovered a deep dark secret. Who are the alert and aware ones here ianmac?
I’m not picking the ones who dived off down a most unlikely rabbit hole and buried themselves in crap right in the middle of a campaign that was already suffering from attack overload.
In relation to this debacle, the timing about the ‘Two Johns’ add being misleading was priceless. Perhaps the broadcasting standards authority are in on National’s plot as well.
Perhaps the broadcasting standards authority are in on National’s plot as well.
Burt you retard – it was the advertising standards authority not the BSA. If you’re gonna gloat at least get your facts right…
Oh and I hear the complainant, one “S Davies-Colley”, is the child of a National party activist. Nice to know the Nat’s will hide behind kids to make their complaints. So much for personal responsibility…
If Mike Williams is going to be out of a job, will he qualify for the new benefit? And is 13 weeks enough time for him to find new employment? He might need 13 months or 13 years (unless Owen Glenn takes pity on him).
QtR
I once saw an interview with Winston about his own parties funding, turns out he lied about that as well. Like Billy said.
“Maybe now is the time to release it. You know, instead of wasting all that time flying to other countries with the sole purpose of making yourselves look like a bunch of cocks.”
Robinsod
I stand corrected on the advertising standards authority. Thank you.
If you can put aside the obstacle of your ignorance I can correct you on a lot more than just that Burt – go on my old drunken mate. Let me enlighten you…
edit – oh and Pat? Williams can look after himself – it’s the wee folk like you that are riding for a fall…
Gee Dylan, you must be happy you can go on the taxpayer tit when you and irish Bill get the Spanish Archer post election, surely?
Hey coozer – I haven’t had a government contract since 2003…
Oh and bro – coozer’s a funny old name you’ve picked for your sad self ‘cos back home that’s a word we use for something that’s only good for one thing…
Carol: Sorry, but Trevor Mallard introduced the H-Fee into parliamentary debate last year, so Labour’s fingerprints are all over it, indelibly. Claiming it is all an NZHerald sting has as much credibility as a Florida vote count.
Quoth the Raven: Oh! Oh! Yes puleeeze! Bring on the “real” neutron bomb. As a right-leaning voter (this election), I’m dying for a repeat of the last two days.
[sigh] How difficult is it to follow a straight-forward logical argument? Go back and read what I said. I agreed that Labour probably have been investigating Key’s financial background. But if they were going to drop an H-bomb on this issue, or any other, this wasn’t it.
IMO it’s quite possible there is no H-Bomb. I’ll wait and see…. maybe there will be one & maybe there won’t. But if there is, it’ll be a more well-prepared one. It will be managed much better by Labour than this last story, which was initiated and managed by The Herald.
It was probably just a bit of opportunism on the Herald (and National’s) part. Maybe they do fear an H-bomb, and decided to take the opportunity to get in a pre-emptive strike against Labour. So if there is a later H-Bomb, Key/theNats will say, “it’s just Labour trying to smear Key again.”
Interesting that when NACT does some investigating to uncover some dirt on Labour and/or their allies, according to their opponents, Labour deserves to get smeared cos they’re corrupt, lying etc etc. But if Labour does the investigations into Key/National, the right dismiss whatever is uncovered as not being important because Labour are just corrupt, lying smear-merchants.
Slippery logic……
While Labour battens down the hedges for the financial Armageddon heading our way and is preemtively taking measures to protect the workers of this country this is what happens if you bail out the investment bankers.
And as for National’s trickle down tax policies the following: If something trickles on you it’s usually someone pissing on you from a very great hight.
Not my own alas but a good picture it paints I thought. LOL
Robinsod,
Nice to know the Nat’s will hide behind kids to make their complaints.
To quote a regular contributor on this blog: “why would I listen to someone who can’t even punctuate?”
Have a nice day.
To quote a regular contributor on this blog: “why would I listen to someone who can’t even punctuate?’
Where is the punctuation error in:
Nice to know the Nat’s will hide behind kids to make their complaints.?
Ambivalent punctuation: an ['] can be used for possessive case or to indicate missing letters.
Depends if you thinl Nat is a word in its own right or the abbreviation of National or National Party.
PS: It does look more like an incorrect use of the possessive case tho.
Carol,
You mean “possessive case tho‘“.
It was clearly a contraction.
Carol said:”So if there is a later H-Bomb, Key/theNats will say, “it’s just Labour trying to smear Key again.’”
Exactly Carol. All your posts have a ring if clarity and credibility. (Pity our would-be PM didn’t do likewise:))
I was thinking about how to raise some Questions for John:
John. Should there be intense investigations of suspected MP wrong-doers such as Peters?
Um Yes. I expect much higher standards in any Government that I lead.
Should there be intense investigations of suspected MP wrong-doers such as Helen Clark?
Um Yes. And we will use every part of our Parliamentary Funds to do so because it is justified!
Should there be intense investigations of suspected MP wrong-doers such as John Key or Lochwood, or Gerrypieman?
No No! That is just typical of you people digging dirt on me. I am an honest successful businessman, and unlike Helen Clark…..
Ian
Of course MPs who are suspected of wrongdoing should be investigated.
It should, however, be done by the appropriate authorities, not party hacks who have their own agendas.
Higherstandard: You can’t have it both ways. Wrong if done by a Party Hack. Wrong if done by a research Team.
Right if done by anyone if you are National/Act.
What did you misunderstand about my comment.
Of course MPs who are suspected of wrongdoing should be investigated.
It should, however, be done by the appropriate authorities, not party hacks who have their own agendas.
“Right if done by anyone if you are National/Act.”
No, nor is it right if it’s done by National/Act.