Wow, Just watched ShonKey trying to defend his defense of Banks on Breakfast TV. To give him some credit, it is obvious even he doesn’t believe the weasel words he’s spouting re this issue. Hilarious to watch.
Quite sad IMO, Shearer’s inability to nail him along with the MSM simply going along with this ‘I’ve a view’ line.
Wonder when someone in the media grow a pair and take him down over his lack of credibility….that’s rhetorical of course as no-one in the MSM has a pair.
Well, in fact, it seems to me that the MSM is keeping up a certain amount of pressure on Key over Banks, albeit in a fairly muted way. They keep asking the questions:
Prime Minister John Key’s support for ACT leader John Banks is becoming increasingly untenable after he conceded there were a range of views on whether the Epsom MP had lied.
Opposition MPs said it was obvious Mr Banks knew where donations to his failed 2010 Auckland mayoral campaign were coming from – and went out of his way to make them appear anonymous.
…
Labour leader David Shearer said Mr Key was refusing to read it because it was so damning.
“He knows it will show that all the evidence points to the fact his minister has lied to him.”
It was “negligent” for Mr Key not to read the file solely because it would mean he would have to sack Mr Banks, Mr Shearer said.
“Everyone in New Zealand knows that Kim Dotcom, his bodyguard and lawyer have all independently given sworn testimony that John Banks knew about the donation.
“Yet John Banks told the prime minister’s chief of staff, the media and the country that he did not know.”
[hmmm… interesting the list of Nat MPs who’ve had to resign under Key’s watch at the end of the artlcle – includes a possiblereason why Worth had to resign].
The problem for Key and the sycophantic MSM is that, Banks is falling out of favour with NAct voters, who know he lied and rorted the system. But they don’t really want to kill off National’s favoured support partner just yet….. hence, I guess the continuing but muted focus on Banks and pressure on Key over it.
NZ needs a government and/or opposition parties to really get on the case of how NZ’ers are cared for, as well as to be working towards safer and secure work places.
Jan Logie Green MP is doing something helpful by getting on the case of the WINZ culture of dis-entitlement, as developed through medical assessments that deny help to the injured and sick on benefits.
An institutional culture of cost saving has led WINZ to the same strategy of disentitlement as ACC, said the Green Party today.
WINZ are reviewing existing invalid and sickness beneficiaries with well-documented medical conditions for no other reason than because they are seen to be high cost. Designated doctors are assigned, trained and audited by WINZ. The same doctors can sit on Medical Appeal Boards.
…
“We all need to know if we are unable to work for medical reasons we can still survive. People should be treated with the respect they deserve. This is a fundamental social contract and ensures all New Zealanders who are unable to work for sound medical reason have a fair future.
…
“Given the seriousness of our findings the Green Party is calling for an urgent review into the review process for Invalid and sickness beneficiaries, said Ms Logie
Meanwhile, too many NZ workplaces are not safe and/or healthy for workers, leaving them vulnerable to workplace injuries. This is where the real savings can be made on welfare payments to invalid and sickness benefits.
Bigger fines and tougher penalties for companies and directors could be one of the ways to improve New Zealand’s deplorable workplace injury and death toll.
The just-published Safer Workplaces report by the Independent Taskforce reveals New Zealand’s workplace safety record is twice as bad as Australia’s and four times as bad as Britain’s, and that those injured in the workplace each year would fill Eden Park four times over.
But, instead, our government keeps looking to make savings by targeting NZ’s most vulnerable, from the unemployed, to children in poverty, and to the infirm elderly.
DHB chief executive Mary Bonner said last month that no sacrifices had been made even though the board had cut $80 million off its budget.
But Mrs Plunket said “home support cost cuts is the elephant in the room, which is growing as fast as the ageing population”.
Access North Island general manager David Chrisp said he did not know the specific case, but services would be reduced only if a client was assessed to be able to manage with less help.
Grey Power Kapiti president Trevor Daniel said he had received more than 20 complaints about local home care hours being cut, which had been passed on to the board.
“Old people are very reluctant to complain in case they get targeted. They are very grateful for what they get and do not want to kick up a fuss. Very few of them are willing to stand up,” he said.
Now is the time for opposition parties to really stand up and OPPOSE the nasty elite-supporting government who target the vulnerable and powerless with vicious and punitive policies, while doing nothing to improve the future prospects for the country.
From a link provded by xtasy the other day that leads to an official presentation by the illustrious Principal Health Advisor Dr David Bratt….a Labour Party appointee. It reads as a bizarre appeal to, or echo of, views straight from the early 1900’s that viewed unemployed people as feckless or mentally and morally deficient and ‘the job’ as a general panacea.
•Health Risk equals smoking 10 packs of cigarettes per day (Ross 1995)
•Suicide in young men > 6mths out of work is increased 40x (Wessely, 2004)
•Suicide rate in general increased 6x inlonger-term worklessness (Bartley et al, 2005)
•Health risk and life expectancy reduction is greater than in many “killer diseases”(Waddell & Aylward 2005)
•Greater risk than most dangerous jobs
•the “benefit” – an addictive debilitating drug with significant adverse effects to both the patient and their family (whānau) – not dissimilar to smoking
•and NZ doctors write 350,000 scripts for it every year!
No effects by being exposed to an adversarial WINZ culture, of course!
Excellent post as usual Carol. Unfortunately we do not have an opposition party that can do anything about the situation as the Q+A program showed yesterday. And that truly does leave me with grave fears for the unemployed, young, sick, and injured. because if we have to wait untill 2017 to get rid of the Nats then NZ will be as desolate, divided, and broke as America is now. Morally and Financially.
David, for a moment there I thought you were referring to 2012!! The point is, we should not and cannot afford to wait at all – let alone until 2017. Disaster is upon us right now!!
Well, apart from anything else, I’m now with those who think there will be a change in Labour leadership before the end of February/March. I hope they choose someone who can deliver what’s necessary – but that’s no certainty.
No Terry I did mean 2017 as from what I can see now, Labour hasn’t got a shits show of winning in 2014. Me I voted Labour all my life, and it’s going to feel funny ticking different boxes next time round, Because from what I see now, until Labour have a complete clean out then they CANNOT connect with the electorate. And that’s the biggest reason that many did not vote last time, and I really can’t see them having any reason to vote this time (2014) either. the way the poor are treated in this country is disgusting, and the silence and incompetence from Labour do not give hope to anyone.
John Key has the dog whistle out and is blowing it for all it is worth. Apparently article 3 of the treaty meant that Maori surrendered all rights to water to the Crown. The only problem with this is that it says no such thing.
The european version of the treaty provides “[f]or this agreed arrangement therefore concerning the government of the Queen, the Queen of England will protect all the ordinary people of New Zealand and will give them the same rights and duties of citizenship as the people of England. ”
So obviously article 2 is paramount and the protection of all “their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess” remains.
In any event article 3 gives them “rights and duties of citizenship” which is related to ensuring they have the legal protection afforded by the law. It clearly was not intended to take those rights away from Maori. The fact that under common law you may not own something does not mean that if you own it pursuant to the treaty you then lose it. Besides you cannot have a right to something you cannot own.
And in the US its absolutely true. Only a handful…and I mean that literally…of senior bankers have been indicted for the massive destruction and hundreds of billions in fraud their industry has cost the real economy.
As an aside, the big banks (and their employees) donate millions to the Republicans AND the Democrats every election cycle.
He still is Mickey, trading your kids future to enrich his mates and getting the PM junkets along the way.
He’s meet presidents and leaders, done a royal wedding, opened a rugby world cup and taken max to the football world cup….. and as an added bonus he gets to plump up his share portfolio by playing blind man’s bluff.
Best job Eva, pity the pay sucks but as he’s hardly ever there doing any actual PM stuff it’s still a great gig.
How did the structures collapse in near symmetrical fashion when the apparent precipitating causes were asymmetrical loading? The collapses defies common logic from an elementary structural engineering perspective.
***
Heat transmission (diffusion) through the steel members would have been irregular owing to differing sizes of the individual members; and, the temperature in the members would have dropped off precipitously the further away the steel was from the flames—just as the handle on a frying pan doesn’t get hot at the same rate as the pan on the burner of the stove. These factors would have resulted in the structural framing furthest from the flames remaining intact and possessing its full structural integrity, i.e., strength and stiffness.
Structural steel is highly ductile, when subjected to compression and bending it buckles and bends long before reaching its tensile or shear capacity. Under the given assumptions, “if” the structure in the vicinity … started to weaken, the superstructure above would begin to lean in the direction of the burning side. The opposite, intact, side of the building would resist toppling until the ultimate capacity of the structure was reached, at which point, a weak-link failure would undoubtedly occur…
Personally I don’t give a flying monkeys about the Twin Towers except to say that they represent a very large excuse for ongoing imperial aggression from a petro super power. Roll on the end of the oil age when the USA may once again attempt to live up to the rhetoric of “the land of the free” and “the champion of democracy”.
Yes this and the carriers not being in Pearl Harbour when attacked, as that would’ve done their navy some serious damage in WWII, one could say show the US isn’t too fussed about how it gets it’s way.
I’ve always wondered how come the camera work on the jet crashing into the tower looks so good, almost as if….mmmm
Reflecting on the US of WW2…I recently spoke to the son of a US serviceman who married a NZer whilst posted here in 1942. We mused on the US / NZ relationship of today. Seventy years ago they were our friends and allies in a way it is hard to conceive he said. Without their help we were destined for Japanese occupation and the horrors that came with that. Yes they were an imperial power who did not come to our aid for ascetic reasons, but we can be thankful they did. NZ fought alongside the Yanks, willingly and as real comrades.
So where are we today with the USA? Cant stand the imperialism, the banksters and the hucksterism, scoff at the “American way of life”. Yet pretty much every American I meet could be our neighbour, a mate. Having said that we cheer the All Blacks together and the stand is full of the Parnell Shonkers set. All very confusing.
But largely, its their political and business leadership (I use the term loosely) over 25 years which has led that country on a massive nose dive underneath its true potential.
I’ve always seen WT7 as the weakest link in the chain for the conspiracy theorists to attack, because what happened to it really does seem quite strange.
As TPTB have no interest in doing another investigation, I doubt we’ll ever get any different story than the current official one.
The other large problem the conspiracy theorists have is that a controlled demolition of any of these towers, let alone all 3, would require dozens, if not hundreds, of people to be involved. Unless they were all knocked off by the state, it seems eventually one of them would leak their involvement with sufficient proof. 11 years and this still hasn’t happened.
Unless they were all knocked off by the state, it seems eventually one of them would leak their involvement with sufficient proof. 11 years and this still hasn’t happened.
Yeah this is definitely a very interesting consideration/criticism.
Basically because the massive inertia in the structure above meant the main force was straight down and that overcame any lateral force that initiated the collapse. You see WTC 2 clearly twist and the top lean out but then the supporting floors fail and the whole lot then goes straightish down but debris is spread over 100m from the base of the structure.
Listened for Mike Williams on RNZ but ended up listening to Hootons Half Hour. He is the most obnoxious rude and bad mannered person,Hooton I mean.WHY is he allowed to take over every conversation that Williams started and is then allowed to take over the rest of the discussion(for want of a better word).I would have just walked out.Bl——dy annoying!!!!!!
Agreed. It’s infuriating. Kathryn Ryan is successful (sometimes) in stopping him in his tracks but this woman Freeman doesn’t even try…
Mind you it’s William’s job to complain about it. Today was one of the worst instances I’ve heard from Hooton. His final shout denigrating David Shearer as hard as he could…obnoxious. Who was it who day after day – along with Michelle Boag – exhorted the Labour caucus to pick Shearer for Leader because he was the best man for the job.
OK David S. now you know the truth. Hooton is a bastard!
being a bit sad I timed them (as I hadn’t listened so it was a good opportunity to do so) and Hooten just out talks williams by almost 2:1. But Williams did invite Hooten to interject a couple of times, but then he did initiate a bit of argy bargy overtalking. It was otherwise a very gentlemanly display of your turn, my turn.
Mike is a blokey kind of talker, so he expresses an idea and then stops. Hooten just talks and talks and rarely leaves a gap. Nothing sinister, just style.
Its called a strategic style. He’s had a lot of practice and has it down to a fine art – even to the ‘gentlemanly’ chuckle after a particularly nasty barb.
Mike Williams did manage to over talk him at one stage. So Hooten’s not impenetrable.
And Lynn Freeman did ask some penetrating questions. But Hooton’s a great sneerer and obnoxious when he gets like that.
They seem to take it turn about prism. One week it’s Pagani and the next week it’s Williams. I wish it was Williams every week . Hooton is there every Monday.
Loss of Sovereignty:
many of us are well aware that the smokescreen associated with Free Trade Agreements is well orchestrated by those that will benefit most from these dubious “Treaties”.
Seldom is it confirmed in MSM as clearly this gem
My impression at the time and place (Brisbane) was that he got kicked for wanting to hit some of the big miners with a super profits tax. It was the right of the Labor Party which got rid of him. This is the same right who seem quite happy to continue a lot of Howard’s policies with respect to the Northern Territory and nautically arriving refugees. In Queensland, fighting for white people to not be put in detention camps is enough to label yourself as a socialist. The Labor State Premier during the Howard years thought Howard’s cutting of human rights with “anti-terrorism” legislation didn’t go far enough and wanted extended powers for Queensland. Instead of military shutdown of whole streets, he wanted whole suburbs, for example. Australian politics is weird.
I posted on the ALP’s facebook page asking why they support the privatisation of state electricity networks. It seems my post went into the ether. Along with that facility.
Instead of actually creating enough jobs to ensure there is less welfare dependency by increasing opportunity, National is playing to peoples prejudices and fostering resentment against those they perceive to be inferior. This is ultimately detrimental to the fabric of our society…
Looking at that document there is one glaring omission Superannuation it’s nowhere in the PDF at all. Seems to me that if you are going to spend a million bucks on a report that counts the cost of people on benefits for their lives then you really should add in super. Or am I missing something here?
Exactly! National haven’t included Superannuation because they’re not in the targeted group and National have no answers to the growing cost of looking after our aging population. Hope and pray is about the best they can come up with.
Beneficiaries who fail to answer three phone calls and a voicemail from Work and Income are being told they’ll have their welfare payments slashed in half.
A step to far to the right off the ledge if you ask me.
Well, I have recently heard of a way that WINZ is trying to lower the cost of superannuation. From reports of people I know who have applied for super recently, it seems WINZ are trying to encourage all those who are eligible, to apply for any over-seas state pensions they are entitled to.
I get a small amount of UK state pension – different system there, like Aussie, what you get is based on what you paid into the scheme when you worked there.
I had to apply for my UK state pension through WINZ, who have my allocation on record. WINZ told me, when I am old enough to get NZ super, my UK (and any Aussie super I get), will be deducted from my NZ super entitlement, and I’ll get what’s left (if anything).
It seems that when Kiwis now apply for NZ super, if WINZ know they worked somewhere like the UK or Aus, they get a letter from WINZ suggesting they apply for their entitlement in the other country/ies.
Carol: This has been going on for very many years already!
Any migrant or NZer, who ever worked long enough overseas to get any entitlement to a pension or comparable entitlement in another country, will have to declare this when applying for NZ super or retirement income.
Such persons have to first use their entitlement from overseas, and after that having been deducted from the NZ super, then the balance is all they get here.
It is another smart way of the NZ government to “save” costs.
So any person who earned and saved for retirement overseas has done that somehow for no benefit or gain at all, if such a person retires in NZ. All one gets is the balance to the maximum NZ retirement payment.
Only those that have got more entitlement overseas than what they would ever get in NZ would be better off. They though would get nothing here in that case.
Last time I looked there was no legal requirement to have a phone. WINZ won’t include a phone in unavoidable expenditure calculations, unless one has a doctors’ certificate saying one needs one. So a simple: “I haven’t got a phone” should knock that one over.
Retired road policing manager can speak out now about the disappointment that the police felt at the government’s refusal to act to drop the general alcohol limit to .05 instead of .08. Instead the government has set up a two year study so they can say precisely how much extra risk they are willing to expose us to by doing as little as possible for as long as possible. Why worry, have another li’l glug of whisky or wine, a bit of song and the women will soon turn up. We’re paying and we can afford it, what’s more we deserve it!
Very funny that, going all solemn about research. Funny in all ways. One way is that they don’t give a f..k about statistics, findings or research unless forced to. They much prefer to do what feels gooood for us NACTs. Fatheads and fat-ars..s they are examples of a lack in NZ education alright, that of critical thinking, human philosophy and strategic planning and vision for policies for the good of the whole country.
Yep I had to go to Kiwislime blog for this as it’s vanished from the Herald site.
The Government has blood on its hands for refusing to lower the drink-drive limit, a departing senior road policing boss says.
Superintendent John Kelly, who set up national highway patrols, retired on Thursday after six years overseeing the roads of Auckland’s sprawling Waitemata district and 35 years on the force.
He told the Herald on Sunday that John Key’s National Party ignoring calls for the drink-drive limit to be slashed two years ago was his biggest career frustration. He believed it had potentially contributed to more than 60 road deaths since.
“Between 250 and 300 people are still dying annually on the roads but if we had lowered the drink-drive limit when we could have, there might have been 30 or so of those people still alive every year,” said Kelly.
And as usual Whaleshit has the usual fools running off at the mouth as at Kiwislime. Jeeze there’sz some troglodytes in this country. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/troglodyte
A person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.
David H 10.1
To save yourself getting bogged in the Slough of Despond at Kiwiwhatname, you can also very likely pick up news info on Radionz site – click News from the top list and there are set out all the items in summary form each of which can be clicked to give the full details. Use our Radionz, we want to keep it.
The deafening silence from opposition parties in the week since the announcement by Fletcher Building of NZ’s first major Public Private Partnership is an eloquent statement of their lack of consistency and courage. This has huge economic, social and even constitutional implications.
In economic terms, it will be at least as bad a deal as the energy privatisations. PPP ‘savings’ to the taxpayer are *always* illusory. Worse than that, it’s a precedent for a whole raft of PPP deals that will ultimately give National’s cronies even more that they could expect from the privatisations.
This PPP will likely entail:
– Underwriting a large scale speculative venture by the private sector partners, guaranteeing their profit and socialising any potential losses (e.g. a guarantee of 90% occupancy makes betting against penal reform a one-way bet).
– Driving down wages and conditions in a de-unionised environment.
– Creating a private prison lobby and dictating public policy for the next 25 years, possibly putting penal reform off the agenda.
– Eroding the capacity of the State to perform its fundamental role.
– Entrenching this against future governments by signing an agreement enforceable in international tribunals (e.g. under the TPPA).
How many government supply agreements are there that run for 25 years? Especially ones that dictate broader public and social policy. This seems a fundamental breach of the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. Opposition parties should loudly reserve the right to repudiate such agreements.
Such ventures in the UK and Australia have produced almost nothing but grief (and expensive grief at that). Speak up Labour and Greens, we can’t hear you!
Why one company is thought of as experts in all of design, build and then operate a prison is beyond me – and a contract for 25 years seems unnecessarily long.
Legislation will doubtless be rammed through under urgency . . .
well if her figure of $78 Billion is right then no wonder they want to privatise it.
a chunk of that would buy infinite bckets of KFC, Big Macs and Waitakere Whizzzzzz.
The above mentioned Cabinet paper suggested the Government might want to “revisit the question of whether forward funding would enhance the performance of the benefit system even further”.
How we count, and what we count, matters.
How many of us would think of children as affordable if we were told that we’d need to have, upfront, the lifetime cost of a child before being permitted to bring one into the world?
Just so you know, a 2009 Inland Revenue estimate reckoned the cost of raising one child to 18 at $250,000.
A good article by Tapu Misa showing the illogic of forward funding.
Yes, another excellent piece from her. i like the way she turns the table on the Nat spin line, attacking Labour constantly as “Planet Labour”.
And her her article includes comparisons with the attempt to prepare ACC for privatisation by manufacturing a “welfare crisis”. She also says that National should be consistent in its accounting by measuring poverty and keeping accurate records on the numbers of jobs being created and destroyed. She is critical of the governments statistics on the latter.
The logic of forward funding by government is that of putting money aside in good times to meet the cost of benefits in poorer times – itis what Michael Cullen used to create the NZ Super Fund – there costs were expected to rise as a large cohort of baby-boomers went through retirement. Another reason for the funding was so that the baby-boomer generation did not leave a large liability on the (smaller) cohorts following. The same rationale could e used for benefits, but the difference is that under National we are not, and don;t look like ever getting, those government surpluses from which the additional savings can be made.
Yes, I understand that. It’s just that such a plan is delusional.
It’s delusional because money is not a resource. When it comes down to actually providing the services that the money is to pay for we’re going to need to have the people with the skills, the equipment and everything else needed to provide them. No amount of money will provide these things if they don’t exist and we don’t have a plan to provide them. All we’ve got is a plan to put money aside and hope that those services will be available which they probably won’t as the Rena grounding proved.
Satellite news media referring to ‘Arab Winter’ now. precession to another ‘winter’?
Aus authorities provided with all power/s to identify computer-generated SMS initiating anti-US riots in Sydney (to be repeated next w/e as well)
computer-generated SMS initiating anti-US riots in Sydney
Translation: messages to Facebook group members will be monitored.
FFS, “computer-generated SMS initiating anti-US riots” sounds like skynet, not social networking.
yes the dystopian future is here
off to serve now ( and i have many compassionate friends, thank you B(u)rney);learning to blog in a safe and helpful manner by self is slow process to work around gardens
might volunteer also at the very local radio station; they present probing news summaries and play some really cool music.
Cambell Live 7 pm tonight is comparing the lunches of two schools. Saw a clip on this, the empty desk tops or two slices of bread copmpared to a few items in a lunch box puts it into perspective.
TV 3 strikes again, with an item putting the US view of what the Sky reporter calls ‘our mission’ in Afghanistan. You’d never believe from this guy, that there was any disagreement about ‘our mission’…
Joining the National Day of Action Against Welfare Reforms
Friday, October 5, 2012
12:00pm until 3:30pm in UTC+13
Henderson Square, WINZ Henderson, Bennett’s Office
This is a page to co-ordinate the Auckland Action/s.
Proposed Plan:
12.00: Rally Henderson Square , Catherine St, near G.N.Rd
12.30: March to Henderson WINZ.
1pm: Protest Henderson WINZ, 36 Sel Peacock Drive.
2pm: March to Paula Bennett’s office.
2.30: Protest Bennett’s Office, 429 Great North Rd
Note: It is not the intention to occupy the WINZ offices, as this will lead to serious issues with tresspass notices being issued. It is also not the intention to interfere with staff going about their daily work. We are protesting the system, the culture of WINZ, and government policy. We are not protesting the individual workers – harrassment of WINZ employees is NOT condoned by the organisers of National Day of Action.
Calling on academics, parents, and our community to unite.
Vulnerable parents, and vulnerable communities create vulnerable children.
The Government has been rolling out policy it says will help curve child poverty and change NZ shocking child abuse rates. However, punitive measures are attacking the poor and putting chi
ldren at risk.
“The Government is attacking beneficiaries with the guise of protecting children, but stripping parents and our communities of what’s left of any supportive foundations is harming those we should be fighting to protect. Parenting is not a privilege of the rich. We are heading down a dark path where sole parents are being victimised and abused by the state, instead of supported and respected as our most important asset in stopping abuse against children in this country. It’s time our society stopped letting our Government shape our ideology, and had a real discussion about the direction we are heading. In order to change the abuse our children suffer, we must start to value parenting as an important role in society.”
“Beneficiaries are an easy target for Governments to attack, because beneficiaries are in hard times, struggling to survive and make the best out of a hard situation, so organising any form of united front against such attacks is hard work. Picking on sole parents is easy to do, but at what cost?
The Government now states they are slashing benefits if parents don’t comply with the new regime. If a parent who is struggling on a benefit gets their benefit cut 50%, who is being punished?
The children.
It’s the children who will be going hungry. This is the reality! Children will and are suffering from this Government’s punitive measures.
Parents must unite and draw support from each other, to tell this Government that “we won’t let them attack our children any longer.”
Sole parents are not irresponsible timewasters, who can be replaced by institutional day-care centres. Parents are our children’s first and most important teachers. Sole parent are the parents who have taken on the responsibility of raising the child, and have dedicated themselves to this important task. We don’t see this Government chasing up the parent who is not financially supporting the parent who is caring for the child. No, we see women being told they need contraceptives, and to get back to work.
Parenting is work. It’s the most important work in this country.
We have the research that shows day-care is not a substitute for good parenting. We can’t let this Government treat children like a disposable commodity anymore. Children are our Toanga, and we dam well need to protect them.
There were some great academics contributing to the Green Paper on Vulnerable Children who stood up and spoke out against this Governments agenda of benefit bashing. We need these academics to help us unite and have a voice in this country.
There must be a debate, at the moment all we have is one punitive measure after another hitting the poor like bombs. This is a call to action for everyone and anyone who is concerned about the direction of our society.
Every single parent on the benefit who is being attacked needs to join together to have a discussion. We need the community to help turn this into a discussion, instead of a war on the poor.
It isn’t just parents under attack, those members of our community who are unwell are also under huge pressure.
People looking for work are being punished for not finding it, when it’s the Government who have destroyed the jobs in this country and continue to do so.
All beneficiaries must unite, and we need help to do this!’
Phil O’Reilly seems to care about poverty, and he explains his POV well. But there seems to me to be too much focus on treating the systems, and not really acknowledging the underlying causes – i.e ones based in extensive inequalities.
Carol, But like a hospital, you first have to treat the symptoms before you try to cure the whole body. Sorry getting tired, probably a bad analogy. Have to be up early for the pride of my life, that’s him watching you. Lol
RT television regularly feature the occupy movement
TS is really engaging to read at present: build a road and the people will come
Tuhoe are raised up to be Leaders imo and experience
that ol’ Republican propaganda machine FOX are really spinning the outrage at the blasphemous video
Yes. Let us Hope that the ‘Day of The Troll’ is coming to a close, for they only harm themselves as the Skynet closes in.(Despite all their Rage, they are still just Rats in a cage)
Manufacturing is certainly receiving a hammering: How’s those Free Trade Agreements working out for them, Aye?
Rage Against The Machine
Look forward to seeing Articles posted from Carol; MSM can eat the blogosphere’s Dust
Campbell Live ran 2 strong stories today:
1) about a school in Christchurch threatened with closure and the community’s fight back.
2) about lunches at decile 1 and 10 schools and its pointer to child poverty.
Did anyone else see them? Seemed to me like some good old fashioned journalism.
What did you think?
Campbell Live has been consistently turning the gaze upon the social inequalities continuously arising in Aotearoa as a consequence of ideological, balls to the wall, head in the sand adherence to Neo-Liberal Free Market Capitalism.
(although, even ol’ Joycie looked a little unsettled when interviewed by Rachel concerning the hammering manufacturing is in for.)Will, we see Devaluation this electoral term?
Ms Penny Bright was in attendance to address the CEO Review Subcommittee regarding maintaining systems to enable effective planning and accurate reporting of the financial and service performance of the local authority.
Resolution number CEOR/2012/10
MOVED by Mayor LCM Brown, seconded Cr CE Fletcher:
That the Chief Executive Review Subcommittee:
Agree that the Public input presentation be received.
CARRIED
Subject: OPEN LETTER: Request for speaking rights at Auckland Council CEO Review Subcommittee 22 August 2012, 10am Auckland Town Hall.
17 August 2012
REQUEST FOR SPEAKING RIGHTS AT THE CEO REVIEW SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING
to be held on Wednesday 22 August 2012, 10am,
Council Chambers, Auckland Town Hall, 301-305 Queen Street, Auckland
SUBJECT MATTER:
1) The failure of the Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay to meet his statutory duties under s.42 2(e) of the Local Government Act 2002 re:
“maintaining systems to enable effective planning and accurate reporting of the financial and service performance of the local authority; ”
LGOIMA REPLY 21 November 2011 from Darryl Griffin (Manager for Democracy Services)
“The Auckland Council Annual Report:
1) Is the Auckland Council, in a truly ‘open,transparent and democratically-accountable’ way, going to ensure that citizens and ratepayers of the Auckland region are going to be given the ‘devilish’ detail, so we can see exactly where out rate monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
a) Are the names of the consultants/contractors; the scope,term and value of these contracts going to be published in the Auckland Council Annual Report so that they’re available for public scrutiny?
b) If not – why not?
Not at this stage. There are 5,000 contracts related to 12,500 suppliers.
To collate and publish these would be a major exercise logistically and cost-wise. ”
____________________________________________________________
2) The alleged ‘conflict of interest’ of CEO Doug McKay in being a member of the unelected private lobby group – the Committee for Auckland, in his capacity as CEO of Auckland Council.
(Is this the reason why Auckland Council rates keep going up?
Because the primary reason for the establishment of the Auckland SUPERCITY was to ensure bigger contracts – for (fewer) but bigger private contractors, an unknown number of which have been awarded to member companies of the Committee for Auckland?)
Posters on here will know that I pretty much am not keen on outsourcing. However, given the fact that local and central government have purged anything to do with engineering, work and services and the like, given the choice bettween spending millions building up that expertise (and risking the backlash from assorted rednecks) and souring it from the private sector, then there is no choice.
But when the contract for running one of the most popular summer festivals in NP, the Festival of Lights, our council chooses to ditch the local company that runs it, which is full of experienced electricians and technicians who have learnt their trade at the old NPCC electricity department before it became NP Energy/Taranaki Energy/Powerco, and instead go for a more expensive tender from a company that appears to be run by people who have done polytech courses in theatre lighting, you really gotta just throw your hands up in dispear.
Following the UK example, indeed, now new legal provisions are proposed and expected to become law, that will enable WINZ and MSD to outsource services for medical and work capacity assessments, for training and job-referrals. Also will the disability allowance be tied to providers delivering specified services.
The sickness benefit will be abolished, and sick and disabled not meeting the living support category will have to join other “job seekers”, get work tested, will have to ready themselves to do at least part time work and also have to meet strict other criterias and requirements. Many sole parents whose youngest child is over 14 will also have to work, and only invalid’s beneficiaries will (largely) be exempted as living support recipients from the requirement to work.
Yet there will be more checks, stricter criterias and apparently separate assessments besides of purely medical based ones. So it will be work, work, work and more work, whether there are any jobs or not.
Get ready to join the pickets, marches and protests, which will need to be held all over NZ in the coming weeks and months. This is a nasty piece of legislation and a vicious attack on the poor, sick and disabled.
BeneBashers goal of getting 10,000 off benefits a year is pure pie in the sky when after 4 years in power the National party has lost 60,000 jobs that means they are going to have to turn around a 100, 000 deficit in jobs.
60,000 more on the unemployment benefit,30,000 on the DPB.Thousands more on other benefits .
Rapidly increasing numbers on the pension (National does nothing)
Where is the plan to get 100,000 more jobs not including those leaving to Australia.
More Porkies from Porkies party!
New Policy Reprint all bureaucracies letter head change name of Dept .
Then Change benefit names that will help to no end!
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
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The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
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Wow, Just watched ShonKey trying to defend his defense of Banks on Breakfast TV. To give him some credit, it is obvious even he doesn’t believe the weasel words he’s spouting re this issue. Hilarious to watch.
Quite sad IMO, Shearer’s inability to nail him along with the MSM simply going along with this ‘I’ve a view’ line.
Wonder when someone in the media grow a pair and take him down over his lack of credibility….that’s rhetorical of course as no-one in the MSM has a pair.
Well, in fact, it seems to me that the MSM is keeping up a certain amount of pressure on Key over Banks, albeit in a fairly muted way. They keep asking the questions:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7687702/Key-fends-off-calls-to-sack-Banks
[hmmm… interesting the list of Nat MPs who’ve had to resign under Key’s watch at the end of the artlcle – includes a possiblereason why Worth had to resign].
The problem for Key and the sycophantic MSM is that, Banks is falling out of favour with NAct voters, who know he lied and rorted the system. But they don’t really want to kill off National’s favoured support partner just yet….. hence, I guess the continuing but muted focus on Banks and pressure on Key over it.
NZ needs a government and/or opposition parties to really get on the case of how NZ’ers are cared for, as well as to be working towards safer and secure work places.
Jan Logie Green MP is doing something helpful by getting on the case of the WINZ culture of dis-entitlement, as developed through medical assessments that deny help to the injured and sick on benefits.
http://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/winz-culture-no-better-acc-s
Meanwhile, too many NZ workplaces are not safe and/or healthy for workers, leaving them vulnerable to workplace injuries. This is where the real savings can be made on welfare payments to invalid and sickness benefits.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/7687873/Taskforce-targets-workplace-injury-toll
But, instead, our government keeps looking to make savings by targeting NZ’s most vulnerable, from the unemployed, to children in poverty, and to the infirm elderly.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/7687793/Patients-needing-home-help-sacrificed-in-cuts
Now is the time for opposition parties to really stand up and OPPOSE the nasty elite-supporting government who target the vulnerable and powerless with vicious and punitive policies, while doing nothing to improve the future prospects for the country.
Thanks for this Carol. Your work is appreciated.
Hi Carol – is the email address that you use here active / read?
Thanks for the tip. Just rescued an email from Lynn in my junkmail folder – over a week old.
OK good. I made the same suggestion to Lynn this weekend – pleased he has already been in touch…
Thanks, replied
[Note- my name, as on the email account, is not the same as my handle here]
Carol, please write posts – lots of them. Your lead comments are typically robust and I always appreciate hearing your insight on issues.
Thanks, Tigger. Always like to read your comments.
From a link provded by xtasy the other day that leads to an official presentation by the illustrious Principal Health Advisor Dr David Bratt….a Labour Party appointee. It reads as a bizarre appeal to, or echo of, views straight from the early 1900’s that viewed unemployed people as feckless or mentally and morally deficient and ‘the job’ as a general panacea.
No effects by being exposed to an adversarial WINZ culture, of course!
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/2012/Fri_DaVinci_1400_Bratt_Medical%20Certificates%20are%20Clinical%20Instruments%20too%20-%20June%202012.pdf
Excellent post as usual Carol. Unfortunately we do not have an opposition party that can do anything about the situation as the Q+A program showed yesterday. And that truly does leave me with grave fears for the unemployed, young, sick, and injured. because if we have to wait untill 2017 to get rid of the Nats then NZ will be as desolate, divided, and broke as America is now. Morally and Financially.
David, for a moment there I thought you were referring to 2012!! The point is, we should not and cannot afford to wait at all – let alone until 2017. Disaster is upon us right now!!
Well, apart from anything else, I’m now with those who think there will be a change in Labour leadership before the end of February/March. I hope they choose someone who can deliver what’s necessary – but that’s no certainty.
No Terry I did mean 2017 as from what I can see now, Labour hasn’t got a shits show of winning in 2014. Me I voted Labour all my life, and it’s going to feel funny ticking different boxes next time round, Because from what I see now, until Labour have a complete clean out then they CANNOT connect with the electorate. And that’s the biggest reason that many did not vote last time, and I really can’t see them having any reason to vote this time (2014) either. the way the poor are treated in this country is disgusting, and the silence and incompetence from Labour do not give hope to anyone.
Yes. One size fits all welfare processing will see more unintended consequences.
John Key has the dog whistle out and is blowing it for all it is worth. Apparently article 3 of the treaty meant that Maori surrendered all rights to water to the Crown. The only problem with this is that it says no such thing.
The european version of the treaty provides “[f]or this agreed arrangement therefore concerning the government of the Queen, the Queen of England will protect all the ordinary people of New Zealand and will give them the same rights and duties of citizenship as the people of England. ”
So obviously article 2 is paramount and the protection of all “their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess” remains.
In any event article 3 gives them “rights and duties of citizenship” which is related to ensuring they have the legal protection afforded by the law. It clearly was not intended to take those rights away from Maori. The fact that under common law you may not own something does not mean that if you own it pursuant to the treaty you then lose it. Besides you cannot have a right to something you cannot own.
Key should have stuck to merchant banking.
Key has stuck to the prime premise of “bankster” merchant banking: The law DOES NOT APPLY to merchant bankers.
And in the US its absolutely true. Only a handful…and I mean that literally…of senior bankers have been indicted for the massive destruction and hundreds of billions in fraud their industry has cost the real economy.
As an aside, the big banks (and their employees) donate millions to the Republicans AND the Democrats every election cycle.
He still is Mickey, trading your kids future to enrich his mates and getting the PM junkets along the way.
He’s meet presidents and leaders, done a royal wedding, opened a rugby world cup and taken max to the football world cup….. and as an added bonus he gets to plump up his share portfolio by playing blind man’s bluff.
Best job Eva, pity the pay sucks but as he’s hardly ever there doing any actual PM stuff it’s still a great gig.
ZeroHedge summarises quotes from a couple of dozen architects and engineers re: the collapse of WTC 7 on 9/11
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-09-15/911-mysterious-collapse-wtc-building-7-was-not-inside-job
eg.
Personally I don’t give a flying monkeys about the Twin Towers except to say that they represent a very large excuse for ongoing imperial aggression from a petro super power. Roll on the end of the oil age when the USA may once again attempt to live up to the rhetoric of “the land of the free” and “the champion of democracy”.
True at the moment it’s just USA the land of the Paranoid and Insane.
Very true that!
Yes this and the carriers not being in Pearl Harbour when attacked, as that would’ve done their navy some serious damage in WWII, one could say show the US isn’t too fussed about how it gets it’s way.
I’ve always wondered how come the camera work on the jet crashing into the tower looks so good, almost as if….mmmm
Almost as if cameras were trained on the towers waiting for something to happen?
Your use of the singular suggests monumental ignorance.
Obviously between 08:46 & 09:03 as emergency services were mobilised, so too were the media, covering the fire in the north tower.
Reflecting on the US of WW2…I recently spoke to the son of a US serviceman who married a NZer whilst posted here in 1942. We mused on the US / NZ relationship of today. Seventy years ago they were our friends and allies in a way it is hard to conceive he said. Without their help we were destined for Japanese occupation and the horrors that came with that. Yes they were an imperial power who did not come to our aid for ascetic reasons, but we can be thankful they did. NZ fought alongside the Yanks, willingly and as real comrades.
So where are we today with the USA? Cant stand the imperialism, the banksters and the hucksterism, scoff at the “American way of life”. Yet pretty much every American I meet could be our neighbour, a mate. Having said that we cheer the All Blacks together and the stand is full of the Parnell Shonkers set. All very confusing.
Americans are, largely, a hugely friendly and hospitable people.
There are a few who may be of concern (see link):
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/photos/
But largely, its their political and business leadership (I use the term loosely) over 25 years which has led that country on a massive nose dive underneath its true potential.
I’ve always seen WT7 as the weakest link in the chain for the conspiracy theorists to attack, because what happened to it really does seem quite strange.
As TPTB have no interest in doing another investigation, I doubt we’ll ever get any different story than the current official one.
The other large problem the conspiracy theorists have is that a controlled demolition of any of these towers, let alone all 3, would require dozens, if not hundreds, of people to be involved. Unless they were all knocked off by the state, it seems eventually one of them would leak their involvement with sufficient proof. 11 years and this still hasn’t happened.
Yeah this is definitely a very interesting consideration/criticism.
Basically because the massive inertia in the structure above meant the main force was straight down and that overcame any lateral force that initiated the collapse. You see WTC 2 clearly twist and the top lean out but then the supporting floors fail and the whole lot then goes straightish down but debris is spread over 100m from the base of the structure.
Note that Mike Williams is the left wing commenter on Radionz left-right today after 11 am. Josie Pagani having a holiday?
Listened for Mike Williams on RNZ but ended up listening to Hootons Half Hour. He is the most obnoxious rude and bad mannered person,Hooton I mean.WHY is he allowed to take over every conversation that Williams started and is then allowed to take over the rest of the discussion(for want of a better word).I would have just walked out.Bl——dy annoying!!!!!!
Agreed. It’s infuriating. Kathryn Ryan is successful (sometimes) in stopping him in his tracks but this woman Freeman doesn’t even try…
Mind you it’s William’s job to complain about it. Today was one of the worst instances I’ve heard from Hooton. His final shout denigrating David Shearer as hard as he could…obnoxious. Who was it who day after day – along with Michelle Boag – exhorted the Labour caucus to pick Shearer for Leader because he was the best man for the job.
OK David S. now you know the truth. Hooton is a bastard!
Williams should be taking the lead back.
being a bit sad I timed them (as I hadn’t listened so it was a good opportunity to do so) and Hooten just out talks williams by almost 2:1. But Williams did invite Hooten to interject a couple of times, but then he did initiate a bit of argy bargy overtalking. It was otherwise a very gentlemanly display of your turn, my turn.
Mike is a blokey kind of talker, so he expresses an idea and then stops. Hooten just talks and talks and rarely leaves a gap. Nothing sinister, just style.
Yeah, I agree insider.
Its called a strategic style. He’s had a lot of practice and has it down to a fine art – even to the ‘gentlemanly’ chuckle after a particularly nasty barb.
Mike Williams did manage to over talk him at one stage. So Hooten’s not impenetrable.
And Lynn Freeman did ask some penetrating questions. But Hooton’s a great sneerer and obnoxious when he gets like that.
They seem to take it turn about prism. One week it’s Pagani and the next week it’s Williams. I wish it was Williams every week . Hooton is there every Monday.
Anne +1
Loss of Sovereignty:
many of us are well aware that the smokescreen associated with Free Trade Agreements is well orchestrated by those that will benefit most from these dubious “Treaties”.
Seldom is it confirmed in MSM as clearly this gem
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10834522
Oh no: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/feisty-rudd-stirs-leadership-rumours-20120912-25sw2.html
Ruddkips is at it again, seemingly ignoring completely why the party kicked him out of the leadership position in the first place…
My impression at the time and place (Brisbane) was that he got kicked for wanting to hit some of the big miners with a super profits tax. It was the right of the Labor Party which got rid of him. This is the same right who seem quite happy to continue a lot of Howard’s policies with respect to the Northern Territory and nautically arriving refugees. In Queensland, fighting for white people to not be put in detention camps is enough to label yourself as a socialist. The Labor State Premier during the Howard years thought Howard’s cutting of human rights with “anti-terrorism” legislation didn’t go far enough and wanted extended powers for Queensland. Instead of military shutdown of whole streets, he wanted whole suburbs, for example. Australian politics is weird.
I posted on the ALP’s facebook page asking why they support the privatisation of state electricity networks. It seems my post went into the ether. Along with that facility.
National… Masters at passing the buck
Instead of actually creating enough jobs to ensure there is less welfare dependency by increasing opportunity, National is playing to peoples prejudices and fostering resentment against those they perceive to be inferior. This is ultimately detrimental to the fabric of our society…
Looking at that document there is one glaring omission Superannuation it’s nowhere in the PDF at all. Seems to me that if you are going to spend a million bucks on a report that counts the cost of people on benefits for their lives then you really should add in super. Or am I missing something here?
Exactly! National haven’t included Superannuation because they’re not in the targeted group and National have no answers to the growing cost of looking after our aging population. Hope and pray is about the best they can come up with.
As an update, today 3 News reported:
A step to far to the right off the ledge if you ask me.
Well, I have recently heard of a way that WINZ is trying to lower the cost of superannuation. From reports of people I know who have applied for super recently, it seems WINZ are trying to encourage all those who are eligible, to apply for any over-seas state pensions they are entitled to.
I get a small amount of UK state pension – different system there, like Aussie, what you get is based on what you paid into the scheme when you worked there.
I had to apply for my UK state pension through WINZ, who have my allocation on record. WINZ told me, when I am old enough to get NZ super, my UK (and any Aussie super I get), will be deducted from my NZ super entitlement, and I’ll get what’s left (if anything).
It seems that when Kiwis now apply for NZ super, if WINZ know they worked somewhere like the UK or Aus, they get a letter from WINZ suggesting they apply for their entitlement in the other country/ies.
Carol: This has been going on for very many years already!
Any migrant or NZer, who ever worked long enough overseas to get any entitlement to a pension or comparable entitlement in another country, will have to declare this when applying for NZ super or retirement income.
Such persons have to first use their entitlement from overseas, and after that having been deducted from the NZ super, then the balance is all they get here.
It is another smart way of the NZ government to “save” costs.
So any person who earned and saved for retirement overseas has done that somehow for no benefit or gain at all, if such a person retires in NZ. All one gets is the balance to the maximum NZ retirement payment.
Only those that have got more entitlement overseas than what they would ever get in NZ would be better off. They though would get nothing here in that case.
Last time I looked there was no legal requirement to have a phone. WINZ won’t include a phone in unavoidable expenditure calculations, unless one has a doctors’ certificate saying one needs one. So a simple: “I haven’t got a phone” should knock that one over.
Retired road policing manager can speak out now about the disappointment that the police felt at the government’s refusal to act to drop the general alcohol limit to .05 instead of .08. Instead the government has set up a two year study so they can say precisely how much extra risk they are willing to expose us to by doing as little as possible for as long as possible. Why worry, have another li’l glug of whisky or wine, a bit of song and the women will soon turn up. We’re paying and we can afford it, what’s more we deserve it!
Very funny that, going all solemn about research. Funny in all ways. One way is that they don’t give a f..k about statistics, findings or research unless forced to. They much prefer to do what feels gooood for us NACTs. Fatheads and fat-ars..s they are examples of a lack in NZ education alright, that of critical thinking, human philosophy and strategic planning and vision for policies for the good of the whole country.
Yep I had to go to Kiwislime blog for this as it’s vanished from the Herald site.
The Government has blood on its hands for refusing to lower the drink-drive limit, a departing senior road policing boss says.
Superintendent John Kelly, who set up national highway patrols, retired on Thursday after six years overseeing the roads of Auckland’s sprawling Waitemata district and 35 years on the force.
He told the Herald on Sunday that John Key’s National Party ignoring calls for the drink-drive limit to be slashed two years ago was his biggest career frustration. He believed it had potentially contributed to more than 60 road deaths since.
“Between 250 and 300 people are still dying annually on the roads but if we had lowered the drink-drive limit when we could have, there might have been 30 or so of those people still alive every year,” said Kelly.
And as usual Whaleshit has the usual fools running off at the mouth as at Kiwislime. Jeeze there’sz some troglodytes in this country.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/troglodyte
A person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.
David H 10.1
To save yourself getting bogged in the Slough of Despond at Kiwiwhatname, you can also very likely pick up news info on Radionz site – click News from the top list and there are set out all the items in summary form each of which can be clicked to give the full details. Use our Radionz, we want to keep it.
Thank you Prism. I bow to your superior knowledge.
David H 10 1 1 1
Very wise of you. It’s good to be acknowledged, so rare! I like most of your stuff by the way. Some good points made. Cheers.
Where Silence Is Consent
The deafening silence from opposition parties in the week since the announcement by Fletcher Building of NZ’s first major Public Private Partnership is an eloquent statement of their lack of consistency and courage. This has huge economic, social and even constitutional implications.
In economic terms, it will be at least as bad a deal as the energy privatisations. PPP ‘savings’ to the taxpayer are *always* illusory. Worse than that, it’s a precedent for a whole raft of PPP deals that will ultimately give National’s cronies even more that they could expect from the privatisations.
This PPP will likely entail:
– Underwriting a large scale speculative venture by the private sector partners, guaranteeing their profit and socialising any potential losses (e.g. a guarantee of 90% occupancy makes betting against penal reform a one-way bet).
– Driving down wages and conditions in a de-unionised environment.
– Creating a private prison lobby and dictating public policy for the next 25 years, possibly putting penal reform off the agenda.
– Eroding the capacity of the State to perform its fundamental role.
– Entrenching this against future governments by signing an agreement enforceable in international tribunals (e.g. under the TPPA).
How many government supply agreements are there that run for 25 years? Especially ones that dictate broader public and social policy. This seems a fundamental breach of the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. Opposition parties should loudly reserve the right to repudiate such agreements.
Such ventures in the UK and Australia have produced almost nothing but grief (and expensive grief at that). Speak up Labour and Greens, we can’t hear you!
Meanwhile real money lies in taking a margin through a management contract:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/116008/serco-expects-$30m-revenue-from-wiri-prison
Why one company is thought of as experts in all of design, build and then operate a prison is beyond me – and a contract for 25 years seems unnecessarily long.
Legislation will doubtless be rammed through under urgency . . .
Invoke Godwin’s Law all you like, but Paula isn’t the first to work out lifetime costs:
http://www.exostispress.gr/images/HTML/427/Fahr1.jpg
Forget Godwin. Call it as you see it I reckon.
If you didn’t look, but just listen, David Shearer could be Bill Rowling – also a nice bloke.
well if her figure of $78 Billion is right then no wonder they want to privatise it.
a chunk of that would buy infinite bckets of KFC, Big Macs and Waitakere Whizzzzzz.
Precious little sense on Planet Paula
A good article by Tapu Misa showing the illogic of forward funding.
Yes, another excellent piece from her. i like the way she turns the table on the Nat spin line, attacking Labour constantly as “Planet Labour”.
And her her article includes comparisons with the attempt to prepare ACC for privatisation by manufacturing a “welfare crisis”. She also says that National should be consistent in its accounting by measuring poverty and keeping accurate records on the numbers of jobs being created and destroyed. She is critical of the governments statistics on the latter.
Planet Paula. That would be the Gas Giant, full of nothing but hot air.
The logic of forward funding by government is that of putting money aside in good times to meet the cost of benefits in poorer times – itis what Michael Cullen used to create the NZ Super Fund – there costs were expected to rise as a large cohort of baby-boomers went through retirement. Another reason for the funding was so that the baby-boomer generation did not leave a large liability on the (smaller) cohorts following. The same rationale could e used for benefits, but the difference is that under National we are not, and don;t look like ever getting, those government surpluses from which the additional savings can be made.
Yes, I understand that. It’s just that such a plan is delusional.
It’s delusional because money is not a resource. When it comes down to actually providing the services that the money is to pay for we’re going to need to have the people with the skills, the equipment and everything else needed to provide them. No amount of money will provide these things if they don’t exist and we don’t have a plan to provide them. All we’ve got is a plan to put money aside and hope that those services will be available which they probably won’t as the Rena grounding proved.
Still waiting for Jenny to come out with her wholesale support for the Islamic riots, violence and murders over the weekend.
Arab Spring – yeah right!
Satellite news media referring to ‘Arab Winter’ now. precession to another ‘winter’?
Aus authorities provided with all power/s to identify computer-generated SMS initiating anti-US riots in Sydney (to be repeated next w/e as well)
computer-generated SMS initiating anti-US riots in Sydney
Translation: messages to Facebook group members will be monitored.
FFS, “computer-generated SMS initiating anti-US riots” sounds like skynet, not social networking.
yes the dystopian future is here
off to serve now ( and i have many compassionate friends, thank you B(u)rney);learning to blog in a safe and helpful manner by self is slow process to work around gardens
might volunteer also at the very local radio station; they present probing news summaries and play some really cool music.
Cambell Live 7 pm tonight is comparing the lunches of two schools. Saw a clip on this, the empty desk tops or two slices of bread copmpared to a few items in a lunch box puts it into perspective.
TV 3 strikes again, with an item putting the US view of what the Sky reporter calls ‘our mission’ in Afghanistan. You’d never believe from this guy, that there was any disagreement about ‘our mission’…
Joining the National Day of Action Against Welfare Reforms
Friday, October 5, 2012
12:00pm until 3:30pm in UTC+13
Henderson Square, WINZ Henderson, Bennett’s Office
This is a page to co-ordinate the Auckland Action/s.
Proposed Plan:
12.00: Rally Henderson Square , Catherine St, near G.N.Rd
12.30: March to Henderson WINZ.
1pm: Protest Henderson WINZ, 36 Sel Peacock Drive.
2pm: March to Paula Bennett’s office.
2.30: Protest Bennett’s Office, 429 Great North Rd
http://againstwelfarereforms.wordpress.com/
Please share and invite!!
Note: It is not the intention to occupy the WINZ offices, as this will lead to serious issues with tresspass notices being issued. It is also not the intention to interfere with staff going about their daily work. We are protesting the system, the culture of WINZ, and government policy. We are not protesting the individual workers – harrassment of WINZ employees is NOT condoned by the organisers of National Day of Action.
Calling on academics, parents, and our community to unite.
Vulnerable parents, and vulnerable communities create vulnerable children.
The Government has been rolling out policy it says will help curve child poverty and change NZ shocking child abuse rates. However, punitive measures are attacking the poor and putting chi
ldren at risk.
“The Government is attacking beneficiaries with the guise of protecting children, but stripping parents and our communities of what’s left of any supportive foundations is harming those we should be fighting to protect. Parenting is not a privilege of the rich. We are heading down a dark path where sole parents are being victimised and abused by the state, instead of supported and respected as our most important asset in stopping abuse against children in this country. It’s time our society stopped letting our Government shape our ideology, and had a real discussion about the direction we are heading. In order to change the abuse our children suffer, we must start to value parenting as an important role in society.”
“Beneficiaries are an easy target for Governments to attack, because beneficiaries are in hard times, struggling to survive and make the best out of a hard situation, so organising any form of united front against such attacks is hard work. Picking on sole parents is easy to do, but at what cost?
The Government now states they are slashing benefits if parents don’t comply with the new regime. If a parent who is struggling on a benefit gets their benefit cut 50%, who is being punished?
The children.
It’s the children who will be going hungry. This is the reality! Children will and are suffering from this Government’s punitive measures.
Parents must unite and draw support from each other, to tell this Government that “we won’t let them attack our children any longer.”
Sole parents are not irresponsible timewasters, who can be replaced by institutional day-care centres. Parents are our children’s first and most important teachers. Sole parent are the parents who have taken on the responsibility of raising the child, and have dedicated themselves to this important task. We don’t see this Government chasing up the parent who is not financially supporting the parent who is caring for the child. No, we see women being told they need contraceptives, and to get back to work.
Parenting is work. It’s the most important work in this country.
We have the research that shows day-care is not a substitute for good parenting. We can’t let this Government treat children like a disposable commodity anymore. Children are our Toanga, and we dam well need to protect them.
There were some great academics contributing to the Green Paper on Vulnerable Children who stood up and spoke out against this Governments agenda of benefit bashing. We need these academics to help us unite and have a voice in this country.
There must be a debate, at the moment all we have is one punitive measure after another hitting the poor like bombs. This is a call to action for everyone and anyone who is concerned about the direction of our society.
Every single parent on the benefit who is being attacked needs to join together to have a discussion. We need the community to help turn this into a discussion, instead of a war on the poor.
It isn’t just parents under attack, those members of our community who are unwell are also under huge pressure.
People looking for work are being punished for not finding it, when it’s the Government who have destroyed the jobs in this country and continue to do so.
All beneficiaries must unite, and we need help to do this!’
http://www.facebook.com/groups/360890093983840/
Other Centres:
CHRISTCHURCH http://www.facebook.com/events/359769487433655/
Organising meeting, Monday 17th Sep. 7pm at WEA 59 Gloucester street..contact Jo on 0221726120
WELLINGTON https://www.facebook.com/groups/501414736555115/ – contact kylebowater@gmail.com
HAMILTON http://www.facebook.com/events/406160476105876/
DUNEDIN https://www.facebook.com/events/284916358279500/
♥
Supporting Groups: ( We will add more as they join)
Waitemata Branch of Unite Union
Against Welfare Reforms
againstwelfarereforms.wordpress.com
Stop the War on the Poor
Reply to David H, from My 2 Cents thread:
http://thestandard.org.nz/my-2-cents/comment-page-1/#comment-522476
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10834436
Phil O’Reilly seems to care about poverty, and he explains his POV well. But there seems to me to be too much focus on treating the systems, and not really acknowledging the underlying causes – i.e ones based in extensive inequalities.
Carol, But like a hospital, you first have to treat the symptoms before you try to cure the whole body. Sorry getting tired, probably a bad analogy. Have to be up early for the pride of my life, that’s him watching you. Lol
Why is it easier to…
Yes, that’s a very good one-liner. Just saw it on my twitter feed a little while ago. Must be doing the rounds.
RT television regularly feature the occupy movement
TS is really engaging to read at present: build a road and the people will come
Tuhoe are raised up to be Leaders imo and experience
that ol’ Republican propaganda machine FOX are really spinning the outrage at the blasphemous video
Yes. Let us Hope that the ‘Day of The Troll’ is coming to a close, for they only harm themselves as the Skynet closes in.(Despite all their Rage, they are still just Rats in a cage)
Manufacturing is certainly receiving a hammering: How’s those Free Trade Agreements working out for them, Aye?
Rage Against The Machine
Look forward to seeing Articles posted from Carol; MSM can eat the blogosphere’s Dust
Campbell Live ran 2 strong stories today:
1) about a school in Christchurch threatened with closure and the community’s fight back.
2) about lunches at decile 1 and 10 schools and its pointer to child poverty.
Did anyone else see them? Seemed to me like some good old fashioned journalism.
What did you think?
Campbell Live has been consistently turning the gaze upon the social inequalities continuously arising in Aotearoa as a consequence of ideological, balls to the wall, head in the sand adherence to Neo-Liberal Free Market Capitalism.
(although, even ol’ Joycie looked a little unsettled when interviewed by Rachel concerning the hammering manufacturing is in for.)Will, we see Devaluation this electoral term?
Childhood Poverty Is National Poverty
IS AUCKLAND COUNCIL CEO DOUG MCKAY ‘FIT FOR DUTY’?
In my considered opinion NO – and I told him so – to his face on 22 August 2012:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151226862514524&set=a.10150142285564524.342080.649079523&type=1&theater
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10834472
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/aboutcouncil/committees/ceoreviewsubcommittee/meetings/chiefexecutivereviewsubcommitmin20120822.pdf
5 Public Input
5.1 Public Input –
Ms Penny Bright was in attendance to address the CEO Review Subcommittee regarding maintaining systems to enable effective planning and accurate reporting of the financial and service performance of the local authority.
Resolution number CEOR/2012/10
MOVED by Mayor LCM Brown, seconded Cr CE Fletcher:
That the Chief Executive Review Subcommittee:
Agree that the Public input presentation be received.
CARRIED
Subject: OPEN LETTER: Request for speaking rights at Auckland Council CEO Review Subcommittee 22 August 2012, 10am Auckland Town Hall.
17 August 2012
REQUEST FOR SPEAKING RIGHTS AT THE CEO REVIEW SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING
to be held on Wednesday 22 August 2012, 10am,
Council Chambers, Auckland Town Hall, 301-305 Queen Street, Auckland
SUBJECT MATTER:
1) The failure of the Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay to meet his statutory duties under s.42 2(e) of the Local Government Act 2002 re:
“maintaining systems to enable effective planning and accurate reporting of the financial and service performance of the local authority; ”
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0084/latest/DLM171859.html
LGOIMA REPLY 21 November 2011 from Darryl Griffin (Manager for Democracy Services)
“The Auckland Council Annual Report:
1) Is the Auckland Council, in a truly ‘open,transparent and democratically-accountable’ way, going to ensure that citizens and ratepayers of the Auckland region are going to be given the ‘devilish’ detail, so we can see exactly where out rate monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
a) Are the names of the consultants/contractors; the scope,term and value of these contracts going to be published in the Auckland Council Annual Report so that they’re available for public scrutiny?
b) If not – why not?
Not at this stage. There are 5,000 contracts related to 12,500 suppliers.
To collate and publish these would be a major exercise logistically and cost-wise. ”
____________________________________________________________
2) The alleged ‘conflict of interest’ of CEO Doug McKay in being a member of the unelected private lobby group – the Committee for Auckland, in his capacity as CEO of Auckland Council.
IE: Is the CEO of Auckland Council primarily working in the interests of the public majority of citizens and ratepayers or a private minority of big business /corporate interests?
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz/membership/member-organisations
Doug McKay Chief Executive Officer Auckland Council http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
(Is this the reason why Auckland Council rates keep going up?
Because the primary reason for the establishment of the Auckland SUPERCITY was to ensure bigger contracts – for (fewer) but bigger private contractors, an unknown number of which have been awarded to member companies of the Committee for Auckland?)
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.stopthesupercity.org.nz
Market rents for those in NZDF housing. Yes, you heard it right. Those who serve are about to be hit with something really nasty by the Nats.
All those thinking of joining the forces need to realise that there will be NO increased standard of living and NO job security.
Posters on here will know that I pretty much am not keen on outsourcing. However, given the fact that local and central government have purged anything to do with engineering, work and services and the like, given the choice bettween spending millions building up that expertise (and risking the backlash from assorted rednecks) and souring it from the private sector, then there is no choice.
But when the contract for running one of the most popular summer festivals in NP, the Festival of Lights, our council chooses to ditch the local company that runs it, which is full of experienced electricians and technicians who have learnt their trade at the old NPCC electricity department before it became NP Energy/Taranaki Energy/Powerco, and instead go for a more expensive tender from a company that appears to be run by people who have done polytech courses in theatre lighting, you really gotta just throw your hands up in dispear.
I have the same reaction when people push for investment in rail over road, or for Hillside to design
and build trains.
So, you are an anti rail redneck then.
Can you please provide a detailed explanation why you want the whole rail network closed down and ripped up?
Sure, if you first explain why you hate all polytechnic students and want them murdered in their beds
AND here IT is, Paula Bennett’s NASTY Masterpiece of proposed legislation, being the “final chapter” of the National Party’s welfare reform package:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2012/0067/latest/DLM4542304.html?search=ts_act%40bill%40regulation%40deemedreg_Social+Security+%28Benefit+Categories+and+Work+Focus%29+Amendment+Bill_resel_25_h&p=1
Following the UK example, indeed, now new legal provisions are proposed and expected to become law, that will enable WINZ and MSD to outsource services for medical and work capacity assessments, for training and job-referrals. Also will the disability allowance be tied to providers delivering specified services.
The sickness benefit will be abolished, and sick and disabled not meeting the living support category will have to join other “job seekers”, get work tested, will have to ready themselves to do at least part time work and also have to meet strict other criterias and requirements. Many sole parents whose youngest child is over 14 will also have to work, and only invalid’s beneficiaries will (largely) be exempted as living support recipients from the requirement to work.
Yet there will be more checks, stricter criterias and apparently separate assessments besides of purely medical based ones. So it will be work, work, work and more work, whether there are any jobs or not.
Get ready to join the pickets, marches and protests, which will need to be held all over NZ in the coming weeks and months. This is a nasty piece of legislation and a vicious attack on the poor, sick and disabled.
BeneBashers goal of getting 10,000 off benefits a year is pure pie in the sky when after 4 years in power the National party has lost 60,000 jobs that means they are going to have to turn around a 100, 000 deficit in jobs.
60,000 more on the unemployment benefit,30,000 on the DPB.Thousands more on other benefits .
Rapidly increasing numbers on the pension (National does nothing)
Where is the plan to get 100,000 more jobs not including those leaving to Australia.
More Porkies from Porkies party!
New Policy Reprint all bureaucracies letter head change name of Dept .
Then Change benefit names that will help to no end!