The country’s private schools are raking in a big share of taxpayer funding designed to help special needs students sit exams.
The Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand says the system allows wealthy parents at private schools to work the system at the expense of poor parents whose children miss out.
Applications for funding require parents to pay for a report from an educational psychologist to prove their children have special needs – which critics say benefits those who can afford it.
The foundation said that contrast ( facts provided in article) “epitomises the current inequality of access to SAC between the haves and have-nots”.
That’s a bit like nicking the change from the Child Cancer jar on the coffee shop counter, isn’t it? – and I bet they laugh about how clever they are to ‘minimise’ their tax bill then rip off the taxpayer by taking money from kids who need access to this resource, but can’t afford to go get it. I mean it’s pennies to them.
Why, also, does the NZQA put a financial barrier to financial aid like this? It doesn’t make any sense at all, increasing the disadvantage of the disadvantaged when this resource is meant to improve their lot.
This is a bit more than the Coffee jar rip off. This is the systematic rip off of to start with the NHS, but how many other countries are getting ripped off ?
I wish I could say this surprised me, but it’s very much what you’d expect from NACT NZ. Is there some kind of; Rorts of the Month Newsletter, that goes out to their supporters? The near tripling of SAC expenditure in a single year (159 000 to 433 000) is most suspicious. Especially given that a quarter of King’s students got assistance, while Otahahu College got nothing.
If NZQA require educational psychologist assessment before handing over the cash, you’d hope the ministry review will recommend their funding this themself. I suspect it’ll just be a whitewash though, or maybe they’ll even recommend canceling the SAC programme altogether (as the private schools will have gone on to the next scam by then).
this is unfortunate; individuals living with autism and dyslexia are generally gifted in other dimensions, yet if situated in a lower-decile area / school, these qualities are less likely to be revealed, with the children concerned becoming labeled as ‘difficult’. Then there was the revelation on RNZ this week that of the school settings receiving funding to provide a learning environment for ‘difficult’ children, few are meeting Ministry of Education criteria and guidelines. Instead, many children are just warehoused in a holding pattern.
In the game I watched, the French led twice, and forced scrum penalties from the All Black scrum. The All Blacks scored a try which a referee could not have allowed without video review and which remained dubious, and prevented a French try only by a professional foul with blatant jersey pulling.
The score could have been AB 17 FR 16! Rugby watching is like political commentating and poll watching, isn’t it?
In the game I watched, the French led twice, and forced scrum penalties from the All Black scrum. The All Blacks scored a try which a referee could not have allowed without video review and which remained dubious, and prevented a French try only by a professional foul with blatant jersey pulling.
In the second minute of the match, France got perfect running ball a few metres from the NZ goal line. Any team, even the least talented, would have at least had a go at passing the ball in such a situation; a team of France’s calibre would be almost guaranteed of scoring. But instead of spinning it, French flyhalf Remi Tales kicked it into the All Black’s in-goal area, and a chance went begging. Tales’ “choice” of squandering possession so grossly was to be repeated by him and his lackadaisacal team-mates throughout the “game”.
You can take Steve Hansen’s lead and pretend that France made an effort if you want, just as the clowns in the Herald on Sunday have done. But please don’t pretend to be doing anything other than talking up a hollow win in a friendly match against a team that made only a token effort.
The score could have been AB 17 FR 16!
Sure it could, if the French had turned up to play. They did not, and it was another disgraceful lack of effort, on a par with last weekend’s horror show in Christchurch.
Rugby watching is like political commentating and poll watching, isn’t it?
Some political pollsters like to pretend things are other than what they actually are. Just like Steve Hansen, actually.
Read your own comments as one who reads them from our side of the internet divide. From what you write in reply, if we disagree with you we are clowns like the Herald or Hansen since we (bad12 and myself) saw that game differently, or pretenders who are dishonest in our commenting.
Morrissey, there is a large problem of how to communicate or argue here. Did you ever wonder why you get commenters’ backs up here- and this is over (choke) an unimportant thing like a game of rugby, where they play the ball and not the man!
Read your own comments as one who reads them from our side of the internet divide. From what you write in reply, if we disagree with you we are clowns like the Herald or Hansen since we (bad12 and myself) saw that game differently, or pretenders who are dishonest in our commenting.
I don’t think you are being dishonest, my friend. But I do think you are not looking at that travesty of a match either sensibly or dispassionately. Of course the All Blacks played well, and deserved to win each of the three friendly games. The All Blacks approached those games seriously; the Tricolors, on the other hand, clearly did not. You saw just as clearly as I did that the French team hardly tried to do anything with the ball during any of those matches; even one of that extraordinarily dimwitted commentary team on Prime TV remarked on Saturday night that the French had done nothing other than boot any possession they got down-field and hope for mistakes from the All Blacks, a “tactic” which was never going to succeed, ever. The French showed no commitment, no passion, and not a hint of creativity, in spite of the TV advertisements blathering about “French flair”. In other words, they hardly made an effort. You can either face up to that fact, and condemn them for it, or you can pretend that the All Blacks won against a French team playing football seriously.
Morrissey, there is a large problem of how to communicate or argue here. Did you ever wonder why you get commenters’ backs up here-
That’s a mighty big statement. I have got people’s backs up now and again, certainly. But we usually reconcile and I get along well with most of my interlocutors, even if we squabble occasionally.
and this is over (choke) an unimportant thing like a game of rugby, where they play the ball and not the man!
Yes, you’re right, mac, I should tone it down a bit. Must try harder….
A non-effort by the French,??? my opinion is that the French turned up at Yarrow stadium last night with a game plan designed to negate the game the All Blacks brought to Christchurch the previous week,
Considering that the French were for most of last nights game in a position were a converted try could have won them the game their game plan could be said to have been superior to that of the previous week,
Obviously the French negating the attacking capabilities of the All Blacks last night gave us more an exhibition of thugby as opposed to the brilliant use of the football of the previous week and the old adage about changing a winning team was once again proved as the line-out failed to adequately compete against the French when compared with the previous week and a rusty number 10 in Dan Carter produced what was a pretty lack-luster game by His own standards….
Well at least they actually put warm bodies on the park, even though their hearts were clearly not in it. They did tackle and get in the way, of course, but they tried absolutely nothing on attack, and in fact deliberately squandered chances to score by mindlessly punting away perfect front-foot ball.
…my opinion is that the French turned up at Yarrow stadium last night with a game plan designed to negate the game the All Blacks brought to Christchurch the previous week,
What “game plan”? They showed nothing and did nothing. Except get in the way of the All Blacks.
Considering that the French were for most of last nights game in a position were a converted try could have won them the game their game plan could be said to have been superior to that of the previous week,
Again, WHAT game plan are you talking about? They did nothing. Possibly this was a good tackling practice for them, and I would not put it past them to have treated it as nothing more serious.
Obviously the French negating the attacking capabilities of the All Blacks last night gave us more an exhibition of thugby as opposed to the brilliant use of the football of the previous week
What “brilliant use” of the football? It was virtually an unopposed training run for the All Blacks in Christchurch.
and the old adage about changing a winning team was once again proved as the line-out failed to adequately compete against the French when compared with the previous week and a rusty number 10 in Dan Carter produced what was a pretty lack-luster game by His own standards….
And what about the rustiness of the Tricolors’ No. 10? At least Carter never did anything as grossly irresponsible as his opposite number (Remi Tales) did in the first 90 seconds of last night’s debacle.
Worldwide, demand for medicines is outstripping governments’ ability to pay for them, as people live longer and expensive new therapies come to market. But Pharmac CEO Steffan Crausaz said unlike similar bodies in other countries, Pharmac has a fixed budget, forcing it to prioritise.
Now, for the first time, the public is being asked to give its opinion on whether those priorities need reform.
Harris told the Sunday Star-Times that funding decisions work best when they are based on a set of principles, rather than ad hoc decisions on what seems reasonable. Deciding just what those principles should be, though, can be tricky.
The New Zealand system attempts to compare and prioritise, “independently of disease-based lobbying, whether it’s from manufacturers or doctors or patient groups”.
From Tuesday, Pharmac is hosting a series of free community forums seeking the public’s views on what its decision criteria should be. For details see bit.ly/19m3Jvr
Thanks for raising this really important issue, LynWiper. Pharmac has been under attack from drug companies for some time now because they’ve been holding prices of meds down, and using generics rather than expensive drug company specialities. I think we need to give them as much support as possible, help them work out those priorities, so we continue to get reasonable costs on our medications and not be subject to the prices of those huge multinational drugs manufacturers.
The TPP negotiations loom large on this issue. The Americans have their eye on Pharmac and one wonders what is the real position of our Nact representatives at these talks.
For a start they could pay attention to their first 8 decision making criteria and END all funding for the current tranche of Nicotine Replacement Therapies (patches, inhalers, gum etc that all contain nicotine) and save, how many millions of dollars per annum that currently goes to lining the pockets of Big Pharma? Instead, and in line with 1 through 8 of their own criteria, they could provide nicotine in solution to ex-smokers, allowing them to either continue the addiction with far fewer health consequences or to step their dosage down in incremental stages until they were nicotine free.
I’m hoping to see an interest in what people think about quality of life concerns in Pharmac’s decision-making process.
From my point of view, decisions are too focused on a narrow medical benefit and cost to the health system. For example there are relatively rare disabling conditions that can prevent people taking part in society. Standard drugs can keep them as functioning invalids, prevent hospitalisation, and slow the course of the disease, but may not allow the patient to resume a life without assistance – financial (including invalid benefit for those who don’t have a partner to rely on) and/or physical – due to disabilities resulting from the illness.
However, newer, very expensive drugs can allow the ill person to function at the same level as a person without the condition – interacting with family, having a social life, and crucially (in term of other societal/taxpayer costs), able to work and pay tax, play, and physically look after their families. However in Pharmac’s view the new drug does nothing more than the older, cheaper drugs in the reduction of health system costs so is heavily restricted.
And yet, (for my personal pet rant) Pharmac pay a fortune in omeprazole (Losec) (due to the number of people who are prescribed it) so people can eat spicy chicken (queue Losec ad) when a green prescription may have a greater impact. Rant exceptions, of course, for people with little choice – I don’t intend to dismiss need – e.g. those with stomach ulcers, IBDs or taking anti-inflammatories for a condition that the above example incorporates.
I posted this link last night: USA Today did a great interview with 3 former NSA whistleblowers who say Snowden has succeeded where they have failed. Some of the things they reveal about attitudes in the US govt since 9-11 are very scary. But kudos to them and to USA today for doing this piece.
The SST is reporting Truth’s escort service website has been hacked and the phone numbers of escorts replaced by Cam Slater’s number. Imagine the surprised calls he must be receiving …
on pA3, there’s a small article, “Official: Truth a bunch of Hacks” about the website hack. SLater says he put his phone on silent, and wasn’t very bothered by “the childish games people play”.
Slater says he hasn’t heard from the Truth’s owners since the closure was announced, and that he’s now “exploring a digital-only newspaper venture”.
Q + A………to be renamed “Qeue + Adore” (ShonKey Python and National that is).
In the first 20 minutes:
– Key given full novelistic reign on QE with nothing from Norman.
– Big ups to National for protecting vulnerable immigrant workers (oh how
marvellous……everyone else is implacably opposed to that of course, yeah right).
– Miller, Mapp and Mei waxing lyrical how wonderful is “Minister” Woodhouse for militating
against immigrant worker exploitation. Mapp……..the embarrassingly pompous pedant former National Party cabinet minister. On the show to lead the cheering by and for “Woody” ?
– Oh wow……..Palestine……..thank you lawyer Mei…….”this is a very important matter for which a
solution must be found…..”. Strangely, no addressing “justice the seed, peace the
flower”. To do so I guess would be too challenging for the Susan (thick as a piece of) Wood.
– And on the question of workers rights no mention during the acclaimation for “Minister”
Woodhouse of the attack on New Zealand workers’ rights promoted by that sleaze the slightly
cleverer than Gilmore, Jamie-Lee Ross. Parallel to the startlingly innovative focus of
“Minister ” Woodhouse in boldly enforcing law already on the statute book.
Qeue + Adore not worth watching I’m afraid. Why not just can it and toss production costs into National Party coffers.
Yes, migrant labour exploitation equivalent to NAct labour law exploitation.
After a few token prosecutions, where will the resourcing come from to follow up notifications.
And on New Zealanders returning from overseas? from Tracey Lee , ‘Brand Strategist’ and wastage of a sociology education, “we must smooth the hardship of their transition” (paraphrased) …I shake my head in despair! Lord give us strength, strewth!
Did I say, I’m feeling disgust about now…
+1 The bit about Kiwis returning back to New Zealand was particularly naive. Not once was our low waged economy, which is the main reason for the mass-exodus, mentioned. All we had was propaganda about a supposed 25,000 Kiwis returning each year, which morphed into a puff piece with claims that most Kiwis only left for a little while anyway.
Meanwhile in the real world there’s approximately a million Kiwis permanently living abroad, and the mass exodus continues unabated.
But whatever, John Key promising that people would waive goodbye to higher taxes and not their loved ones is a distant memory, especially it seems for the deluded spin doctors over at Q+A.
I well remember the time when John Campbell broke the investigation by Nicky Hager into Corngate. Senior Labour Party activists I spoke to were ropeable. The air was blue. And the abuse they showered on Campbell and Hager. “They were close friends”, “They were working together to discredit the Labour Party”, “They are rats”, “anti-Labour” etc. etc
Yeah I near vomited at the sycophancy that was shown. Shit it’s another program that’s on the why bother list, as it’s been dumbed down, and is at the level of 7 sharp now. and it’s getting worse, the MSM is hopeless. And the so called Current Affairs shows are either dumbed down, or are on at such weird times that the stories are lost to the main stream.
Q + A is part of the NACT spin machine. The nats know how to make the SOE’s do their bidding, it’s all too easy when you stack the board/management and have that mafia style approach to the ‘funding ‘
Susan Wood as on of the attack dogs..says it all really, just a revolving door of hacks and has beens.
Q + A is part of the NACT spin machine. The nats know how to make the SOE’s do their bidding, it’s all too easy when you stack the board/management and have that mafia style approach to the ‘funding ‘
Susan Wood as one of the attack dogs says it all really, just a revolving door of hacks and has beens who know how to keep the paymasters happy.
Labour is planning to ‘ take the fight to National’, and will announce new policy imminently, on what it says is one of the most pressing issues facing New Zealand. It asks:
What are we doing to make Herne Bay housing more
affordable for young professional first-home buyers?
Labour leader, David Shearer says he expects this to be one of the key election issues in 2014 and Labour will ‘terrorise’ its National Party opponents in the ferocity with which they will fight for the “hard working children of our own hard working families, who work very hard”.
The Herald this morning – front page online – elderly lady attacked and assaulted in her own home – surveillance camera style photograph of a capped and hoodied young brown guy:
I will try Andy. Where’s the Herald at leaving the photo completely unexplained in the article.
Sensible to link surely ? Oh hang on, maybe the stereoptype is so established as to obviate the link.
The police have given the Herald footage from a crime to help solve it, evil fucker robbing old folk. Jeeebus they aint perfect (teh herald) but cut them some slack on this.
Fuck you and your ‘established stereotype’ nonsense. There is some dangerous dude robbing old people with increasing violence. Colour of perpetrator and old folk not important.
Dead right Angry Andy as I now know. But who was to know that without any explanation of the photo ? Just in case you blow a fuse Dick !!, give a thought to this: the article has been updated as CV says. My comment was posted at about 11.00 am, before the update.
If you wanna stay Angry Andy I’ll falsely state “Good on ya young brown fulla, bash those old ladies and steal their money”, just to prove your point and invigorate your strawman
I give the herald a little bit of credit. Not much but, some. Jumping to conclusions on a Sunday when they have the least staff on board still makes you a dick, when proven wrong by further updates.
Yeah, I’m angry. Angry at your stupid and angry that some douche bag is robbing old people.
Press F5 on your keyboard, its called ‘refresh’. Makes you less of a dick sometimes.
You can falsely state whatever you want, but your still wrong and will not, withdraw and apologise.
There is no strawman, just facts.
Dick!!!
Edit: was updated at 10.40am ish with attribution on photo.
Yeah, facts, as presented by the Herald at 11.00 am, and crucially, differently and more instructively, some hours later.
Careful with your fuse Andy. Happy to cut the Herald some slack aye ? Fair enough. How about some for me since I commented on the appearance of the earlier set of Herald “facts”, not the later set of Herald “facts”.
Highly unreasonable of you to keep up the insistence that I approve of the criminality and cowardice we mutually detest when you know full well I do not.
Tried to edit the above comment after reading your edit. Understand Andy, not facts that I saw. I read and reread the article, surprised there was no explanation as to the guy’s connection. Then spent 10-15 minutes writing a comment in response to the article as first presented by the Herald which response I submitted at 10.50 am.
Still not satisfied ? Tough. Be obtuse.
Yeah right. I applaud the bastard responsible. Of course I do ! Happy now ? How’s the fuse ?
In scenes reminiscent of the early days of the Syrian protests. Turkish police break up peaceful demonstrations with unprovoked violence.
Though he didn’t state who they were, following Basher Assad’s lead, Turkish leader Tayip Erdogan blamed Turkey’s enemies.
Turkish riot police fired water cannon to disperse thousands of anti-government demonstrators in central Istanbul on Saturday, as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan castigated those behind protests he said had played into the hands of Turkey’s enemies.
The latest unrest in Taksim Square punctured six days of relative calm in Turkey’s biggest city, although it was a long way frommatching the ferocity of previous clashes there and in other cities that began more than three weeks ago.
Demonstrators threw carnations at a phalanx of officers carrying shields who slowly advanced towards them, flanked by water cannon, to clear the square.
“Police, don’t betray your people!” activists shouted after they had been scattered into streets leading to Taksim. Witnesses said police later used teargas to disperse pockets of protesters on a main shopping street nearby.
Hours earlier, Erdogan had told thousands of supporters in the Black Sea city of Samsun that the unrest had played into the hands of Turkey’s enemies.
Maybe Colonial Viper could help Erdogan out here. And put a name to these unnamed enemies of Turkey
This shouldn’t be to hard for CV. As CV doesn’t need to have any knowledge at all of conditions on the ground in Turkey. Or even take note of those who do. All he has to do is pull out his tired old Marxist dogmatic script which reliably informed him that the Yankee Imperialists were behind every other Middle Eastern revolt.
Maybe CV could helpfully suggest to Erdogan, as he did for Assad, that the use of deadly nerve gas against the enemies of his country wouldn’t be a war crime.
You are probably right. I will stop wasting my time and energy on this supporter of fascism when he stops provoking me.
What I was responding to was his attack on me.
I posted a statement in support of Edward Snowden. Which Colonial Viper took exception to. And which I replied to by trying to keep it light. To which Colonial Viper launched an unwarranted attack on me for supporting the Syrian people’s struggle to free themselves of a murderous dictatorship.
I have never used CV’s support for the fascist regime of Basher Assad against him. Preferring to argue the merit of the issue at hand. I had also hoped that CV’s support for the Assad regime, indeed his whole racist dismissal of the validity of the Arab Spring, was some sort of grotesque mistake. Everyone can make mistakes. And so out of politeness I have never used it to beat him up, when discussing other issues.
However I feel that I would be remiss in not responding to CV’s unprovoked attack. IMHO to allow CV’s sick support for the facist style Bashar Assad regime to go unchallenged would be tantamount to agreeing not to challenge this sort of repression anywhere. If he thinks he can bring this up in an attempt to embarrass me every time he disagrees with me, then he is mistaken
I make no apology for supporting the struggle of the people of Syria fighting for democracy. That that struggle has become brutal and fratracidal, in the nature of all civil wars, was not of their choice but of the dictator Bashar Assad. Bashar Assad could have agreed to grant the protesters the minor democratic reforms that they originally sought. Instead he decided to gun them down instead.
What I take from CV’s attack on me over the comment on Edward Snowden, is that Colonial Viper hates the sort of political activism that the citizens of Hong Kong are famous for. The courageous political activism that has seen the people of Hong Kong openly defy the Beijing communist regime, and that Snowden has put his faith in, to protect him, from both the Chinese communist and the American capitalist governments.
And I might add, also the same sort of political activism that New Zealanders too can also rightly lay claim to as a proud tradition of protest practiced here.
I believe this argument has relevance to what happens here.
Colonial Viper dismisses the power and the success and validity of all grass roots citizen protest movements protesting against authority and injustice.
Though it can be seriously argued that such movements have achieved more for human progress and human rights than all the pragmatic top table horse trading that political parties spend their time on.
I believe that Colonial Viper is of the opinion that we should leave everything up to the high ups in the Labour Party and the Greens.
If the Greens and Labour decide in their coalition discussions that Deep Sea Oil drilling is OK. Then we must accept it. If these “leaders” decide on our behalf that there is nothing we here in New Zealand can do about climate change, we must accept that too. In fact we must accept everything that the political bureaucracies shove down our throats even if it is killing us.
I believe that the sort of activism that I talk about, makes people like Colonial Viper uneasy, because it holds mainstream parties to account and decreases the amount of wriggle room that the mainstream politicians have to make compromises and sellouts.
But it is the tradition that made New Zealand become nuclear free and left no room for compromise for the Lange government. It is the tradition that saw New Zealand reject racially selected sports teams.
It is the same proud tradition of protest that keeps democracy alive in Hong Kong while surrounded by a communist dictatorship.
Finally it is the same spirit that moved the people of Syria to take up arms against the state in response to the violence unleashed against them by the regime. (A lesson that Erdogan of Turkey, indeed all autocratic leaders where ever they are, should take note of.)
(Reuters) – Turkey detained 10 people on Tuesday on suspicion of providing weapons and fighters in the name of al Qaeda to Islamist rebels trying to topple the Syrian government, highlighting the dilemma Turkey faces as one of the rebel movement’s biggest backers
The United States has been sending communication equipment to rebels of the Free Syrian Army through Turkey. Rebels have picked up shipments in Istanbul and driven them across the border into Syria along secure routes.
Turkey has sea ports for larger shipments. Most of the arms rebel leaders have requested are light weapons, chief among them shoulder-fired missiles. The missiles are wanted to shoot down Syrian aircraft or disable Syrian tanks.
Turkey allowed itself to be used by the USA/UK/France, imperialists in their desire to upend the ME, to control the resources on that region, as well as the continued resource theft in Africa.
Turkey, has played its part very poorly, and alienated Muslim sects, by being used as an imperialist puppet, and is now feeling the fallout of the administrations corrupted actions!
Not to hard to understand where these, *enemies* might come from, Jenny!
The subject of the ME/Africa, is clearly beyond your ability to comprehend, Jenny. Perhaps its a good time to re-focus on those areas you might consider to be, strenghts!
Maybe CV could helpfully suggest to Erdogan, as he did for Assad, that the use of deadly nerve gas against the enemies of his country wouldn’t be a war crime.
Maybe we should introduce some facts,which tend to get in the way of Jenny’s story books.
In your your deadly serious campaign to support mass murder and torture CV you and your mates are so out of touch with reality that you have completely lost your sense of the ridiculous.
Do you guys seriously expect us to believe this rubbish?
What you are trying to tell us is that the rebels who can’t even build a safe field hospital. Assembled all the chemical ingredients to make sarin. Not to mention, putting in place all the high tech containment and safety procedures that need to be at the very least a PC1 level containment. According to wikipedia, a task even the nazis couldn’t fully complete in time before the end of the war.
And having achieved all that, loaded it into a specialised artillery shell. Or did they deliver it in the back of a bread van?
Jenny, I think your overwrought witterings are the problem. eg Assad and CV are not fascists and not liking the makeup of parts of the Syrian opposition does not make one a fascist. And you are dreaming if you think anyone much is fighting for ‘democracy’. One of the reasons the West has been slow to get involved is exactly that question; is there any point in replacing Assad when an even worse regime will be taking over?
We went through that scenario in Iraq and look how that turned out.
One of the reasons the West has been slow to get involved is exactly that question; is there any point in replacing Assad when an even worse regime will be taking over?
Te Reo Putake
TRP Your defence of Colonial Viper’s support for the brutal Basha Assad regime falls down on the fact that from the beginning CV has claimed that the whole thing is an American plot. Including the Arab Spring itself.
This is not just factually wrong but is actually a racist slur on the Arab people.
I don’t think that any party that calls itself democratic can long tolerate in their ranks an Islamaphobic racist who openly admires a fascist style dictatorial regime that indulges in mass murder and torture.
No I got it right. You have consistently argued in the past to do nothing about climate change. I have never called you a “climate change denialist“. What I did term you as, and I think I was being accurate at the time, was a “climate change ignorer“. (something you share in common with David Shearer). However on saying that I have noticed of late, a positive change in your position. It just goes to shows me that no one is irredeemable. I play rough but you are learning.
What have you got right exactly, Jenny? Your Arab Spring working out for ordinary people in Egypt and Libya is it? Your Syrian “popular revolt” still importing a lot of foreign Islamic fighters just to keep going? Green party coming around to your way of looking at the world?
What exactly is it that you have got right?
It just goes to shows me that no one is irredeemable. I play rough but you are learning.
New information about the drive to place sick and incapacitated WINZ beneficiaries with mental health issues into employment:
Learn a bit about some of the possibly leading “pigs at the government trough”, who are likely contenders for MSDs contracts to outsource employment services for getting mentally ill (and other incapacitated) WINZ beneficiaries into work, for nice fees paid that will be based on referrals, duration of employment and so forth (more to come):
Press Release – Wise Group, 10:15 May 16, 2013: http://business.scoop.co.nz/2013/05/16/employment-and-mental-health/
describing a new “tool” for doctors and mental health service providers, to “assist” and “motivate” clients to move back into work, developed by ‘The Wise Group’ – more on them further below!!!
See what was already done last year to prepare for the push to get mentally ill assisted back into work in last year:
Employment Support as a Mental Health Intervention Forum: 9 March 2012
Quote:
“This is your invitation to a forum for clinicians and others that will focus on this developing field of practice. International research andthe experience of practitioners, signals that evidence-based supported employment is emerging as a significant intervention to help people into paid competitive work.This symposium with is focus on employment is timely as the Government has indicated a comprehensive review of the benefit system.”
…with information on a forum last year, at the Ko Awatea Centre for Education & Innovation, Otahuhu
attended by speakers:
Rob Warriner, CEO of Walsh Trust: http://www.walsh.org.nz;
Warren Elwin, CEO of Workwise, Employment Agency: http://www.workwise.org.nz;
Helen Lockett, Strategic Development, Wise Group: http://www.wisegroup.co.nz;
Clive Bensemann, Director of Mental Health, Auckland District Health Bd;
David Codyre, Clinical Director/ Consultant Psychiatrist, ProCare Psychological Services …
And –
John Zonnevylle, Capital Coast DHB
Magdel Hammond, Edge Employment,
Dale Rook, Occupational Therapist, Auckland District Health Board
Also to take note of: http://grow.co.nz/real-value-helen-lockett/
(another “UK expert”, but I am a bit unsure whether she is one of those supporting Prof. Mansel Aylward’s and Dr David Bratt’s particularly hardline philosophies on “work capacity” and the “health benefits of work”)
So there we have it – more “corporate welfare” in the form of generous employment schemes for the well paid running of such services, and for perhaps a bit less generously paid bulk of the remaining “staff”. All likely to be part of the planned outsourcing and privatisation of welfare.
One thing is sure for the Wise Group:
$ 61,277,236 government grants and contract payments, out of $ 65,412,195 total income of that “charity”!!! Not bad really, especially for the ones running it.
I had some personal experiences with “Workwise” some time ago, as a former flatmate with some mental health issues tried to find work through the help of two of their staff. She got “stuff all” in real, effective support, and was rather disappointed by the “service” delivered by at times very unreliable and not all that motivated staff!
***When thinking of “charities” “Sanitarium” comes to mind again, owned by a church that can run the business as a “charity”, paying no tax on earnings. ***
I presume much is just “illness belief” (e.g. imagination), I suppose: http://awdpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Models-of-Sickness-Disability-Waddell-and-Aylward-2010-2.pdf
(Publication by Prof. M. Aylward from 2010: ‘Models of Sickness and Disability’, or perhaps rather “blurring the lines, to open up attack lines on sick and disabled with incapacities – for state welfare agencies or insurance companies to dis-entitle beneficiaries and claimants”)
In contrast the more widely known and well-established agency used by MSD and Work and Income to place people with physical disabilities into employment: http://www.workbridge.co.nz/?page=121
(this is harmless, the more conventional approach, not covering mental health though)
Some visuals to go with the information on job finding! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or6CwOyx30I
They’ve got pens – The League of Gentlemen – BBC
Pauline turns up for her new start session with the unemployed but is quite shocked to find that the tables have turned. Contains adult humour. Watch more high quality….
Good to check out the prospectus webpages of the ‘Wise’ outfit, especially the cvs of the main players. I’d love to know what sort of salaries they are pulling in for caring so deeply.
There are sharks competing for funding with the little fish in the NGO/charity world.
No prizes for guessing the winners in that particular battle for survival.
Had a lovely experience this morning, knock at the door, and a lovely maori lady from a local iwi social services and education trust, -initiated by a blind maori gentleman, Jim (last name escapes me) – invited me (and every other whanau in the street) to a sausage sizzle and a check out of some surplus winter clothing. They had parked up with a trailer at the end of the street and when I had to go out, most folk had wandered down and were catching up. Excellent after the cold spell.
Organised in cooperation with Kia Ora Gaza, Students For Justice in Palestine (Auckland, Hamilton & Wellington), Palestine Human Rights Campaign, Wellington Palestine Group, and Global Peace & Justice Auckland.
PROGRAMME:
Saturday 22 June 10am to 5pm
Leys Institute Hall
20 St Marys Rd, Three Lamps, Ponsonby.
Including workshops on promoting boycott and divestment campaigns, lobbying for sanctions, political prisoners, other solidarity actions. PARTICIPANTS MUST REGISTER AT OUR WEBSITE IN ORDER TO ATTEND DAY ONE or registration form available here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vHZw3H-KVD07vECOTilP_t23qH3BjCL3kXY_AwNEPvY/viewform.
Sunday 23 June from 12.30pm
Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber, Queen St:
Presentations on Palestine, building support & links from NZ.
4pm: special screening of Oscar-nominated Palestinian documentary “5 Broken Cameras”.
5.30 – 6.30pm: meal break.
6.30pm: talk by Palestinian teacher/blogger Yousef Aljamal on ‘Life under occupation’.
Copies of ‘The General’s Son’ will be available at the conference at $25 (retail price about $30). You can request a copy now by emailing us at: conferenceonpalestine@hotmail.com and send $25 + $4 postage to bank account below.
FREE ADMISSION – donations & pledges welcome.
This important event depends on your generous support.
HOW TO DONATE:
Make a direct payment to our bank account:
Conference on Palestine,
03-0211-0447718-000,
Westpac Bank, Onehunga branch.
Or write a cheque to ‘Conference on Palestine’ & post to:
Conference on Palestine
PO Box 86022, Mangere East,
Auckland 2158, New Zealand.
[Include you email or postal address for a receipt.]
– The amalgamation of Occupied Territories with pre1967 Israel (ie the ‘Two State Solution” is dead on the ground)
– Full citizenship for Palestinians, including per-1967 exiles
– Right of return and compensation for Palestinians
– South African style Truth & Reconciliation process
Here’s a link to Miko Peled’s interview with Kim Hill
There is a great item on Chris Laidlaw Radionz this a.m. on spy-ring etc. Thinking about Edward Snowden et al. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
A couple or more of speakers. The last I heard before putting this was a quip from a Hong Kong dignitary. She said that ‘The reason that the sun never set on the British Empire is because God doesn’t trust the British.’ Good eh!
This is after remembering how Brits organised spying on foreign dignitaries at I think one G8 meeting, even organising special internet cafes that were set up so they could get access to all their emails. Another bit of negative information is that they sent a top diver under a Russian vessel with advanced propeller technology but unfortunately his head was cut off. The comment was made that the English speaking countries were heavily into spying and we have been involved, along with Australia, in the ‘Five Eyes’ system since the Eighties I think.
Yes great interview: “God doesn’t trust the British…… in the dark !”….(end of quote , i think)
Also praise for Winston’s peace making role in Fiji….from previous interview.
( Why does everyone pick on the bugger…..He has always stood for not selling NZ assets!…unlike the two major parties( and he brought National down over selling public assets) …and why is it always assumed he will join with National?…)
Thanks Chooky for FIFY
I was just rereading mine and thought I missed the punchline on that quote. It reads even better when you see the whole thing Olwyn.
And it was interesting to hear how staunch and reliable Winston Peters had been at the Fiji time of change and the high respect of the diplomatic staff for him.
“New Zealand government fast tracks domestic spying laws”
“In an interview with TV3 on June 11, Key fell into step with the international vilification of Snowden, sharply denouncing him as a “criminal”, and saying he should face the “full force of the law.” While Key has flatly refused to comment on any aspect of NSA activities and its links with New Zealand spy agencies, he has not denied that they exist.”
40,000 plus some more perhaps?
Listening to Radio NZ ‘Arts on Sunday’ I learnt that movie film processing will stop shortly at Miramar, Wellington.
The outfit started life in 1941 as a result of a reccomendation to the NZ Govt by John Greirson the British documentary film-maker which had the National Film Unit established. Reputedly the only time the NZ Govt acted on a commissioned report
Later taken over by Television NZ and recently back at Miramar thanks to Peter Jackson but sadly[?] closing due to lack of throughput in the digital age.
Seemingly the last Australasian lab to go under as apparently Aussies are sending last minute film to Miramar and they are very busy in their last days, just next week left before the gear is dismantled.
Don’t quote me on this as it is just what I think I heard from the broadcast and memories, often not very accurate
That’s an easy one to answer – we had governments believing the economists and business people and thus put in place policies that rewarded the business people at everyone else’s expense. This has, quite predictably, resulted in a massive increase in poverty for the many while a few got immeasurably richer.
Much of that would have to do with many ‘homeless’ actually suffering from mental illnesses that manifests for various reasons in homelessness. Once upon a time they would have been institutionalised.
Ms Daly, MP for Dublin North, hit out at the “almost unprecedented slobbering” over the Obama family’s visit. “It’s really hard to know which is worst, whether it’s the outpourings of the Obamas themselves or the sycophantic falling over them by sections of the media and the political establishment,” she said. “We’ve had separate and special news bulletins by the State broadcaster to tell us what Michelle Obama and her daughters had for lunch in Dublin, but very little questioning of the fact that she was having lunch with Mr Tax Exile himself,” she said in reference to U2’s Bono.
She described Mr Obama as a “war criminal”, having “just announced his decision to supply arms to the Syrian opposition, including the jihadists, fuelling the destabilisation of that region, continuing to undermine secularism and knock back conditions for women”.
Ms Daly said: “This is the man who is in essence stalling the Geneva peace talks by trying to broker enhanced leverage for the Syrian opposition by giving them arms – and to hell with the thousands more who’ll lose their lives, or the tens of thousands who will be displaced. This is the man who has facilitated a 200 per cent increase in the use of drones which have killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children.” […]
the GCHQ have been spying on eurozone governenment and private corporations.
In a related thread 😉 , St Johns are continuing to bear the increasing “brunt of an ageing population”, coupled with “increases in minor incident calls” (yes Pop. , including for mental illness, and sheltered villages are much more protective) ; the stress is being piled on the organization, who are losing $15M a year.
These attacks on the elderly in Auckland has the police “very concerned about the escalation of violence”- Malthus.
NZ Parliamentarians should take a long hard look at that link.
I just saw an exchange between two politicians that contained actual information and that wasn’t sliced and diced by bullshit ‘points of order’…I saw an absolute absence of glib ‘one liners’…and I saw speakers allowed to offer their opinion and ask/answer questions without any childish braying from any opposite benches.
Add to that, a politician calling a spade a spade, well…when was the last time I had the pleasure?
Questions are being asked about the advice the government received on the $2.50 offer price and share allocations, considering the drop in Mighty River’s share price and the relatively low target prices in broking firm research reports released on Wednesday – at the end of a research blackout. (Mighty River [NZX:MRP] closed Friday at $2.20).
Market sources suggest the government – on Treasury’s advice – may have over-egged the price based on the possibility of strong international demand which has not materialised.
A senior broking firm source asks: “How does it follow that the Treasury, which had insight and banned the research from public consumption, priced the shares above where the analysts were saying?
“It’s now trading at a level that the local institutions were saying was probably where the good demand was at….
…Questions over the offer price come as documents released to NBR by the Treasury reveal the direct hand cabinet ministers played in setting the price – with one cabinet paper suggesting Prime Minister John Key and cabinet ministers Bill English, Steven Joyce and Tony Ryall all be physically present in the “bookbuild room” in Wellington when key decisions were to be made on May 8.
State-owned Enterprises Minister Mr Ryall’s press secretary Jackie Maher confirms the ministers were present during the “appropriate parts of the bookbuild process” and Mr Key was consulted by phone.
Ghostrider888 mentioned this in another thread. Slingshot are offering a new free Global Mode service for their customers, supposedly for international visitors staying with them, but it really looks like it’s giving NZers access to international content that was previously blocked.
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated. While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
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The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
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The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
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The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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The country’s private schools are raking in a big share of taxpayer funding designed to help special needs students sit exams.
The Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand says the system allows wealthy parents at private schools to work the system at the expense of poor parents whose children miss out.
Applications for funding require parents to pay for a report from an educational psychologist to prove their children have special needs – which critics say benefits those who can afford it.
The foundation said that contrast ( facts provided in article) “epitomises the current inequality of access to SAC between the haves and have-nots”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8830344/Private-schools-snare-special-needs-cash
That’s a bit like nicking the change from the Child Cancer jar on the coffee shop counter, isn’t it? – and I bet they laugh about how clever they are to ‘minimise’ their tax bill then rip off the taxpayer by taking money from kids who need access to this resource, but can’t afford to go get it. I mean it’s pennies to them.
Why, also, does the NZQA put a financial barrier to financial aid like this? It doesn’t make any sense at all, increasing the disadvantage of the disadvantaged when this resource is meant to improve their lot.
This is a bit more than the Coffee jar rip off. This is the systematic rip off of to start with the NHS, but how many other countries are getting ripped off ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10892350
I wish I could say this surprised me, but it’s very much what you’d expect from NACT NZ. Is there some kind of; Rorts of the Month Newsletter, that goes out to their supporters? The near tripling of SAC expenditure in a single year (159 000 to 433 000) is most suspicious. Especially given that a quarter of King’s students got assistance, while Otahahu College got nothing.
If NZQA require educational psychologist assessment before handing over the cash, you’d hope the ministry review will recommend their funding this themself. I suspect it’ll just be a whitewash though, or maybe they’ll even recommend canceling the SAC programme altogether (as the private schools will have gone on to the next scam by then).
this is unfortunate; individuals living with autism and dyslexia are generally gifted in other dimensions, yet if situated in a lower-decile area / school, these qualities are less likely to be revealed, with the children concerned becoming labeled as ‘difficult’. Then there was the revelation on RNZ this week that of the school settings receiving funding to provide a learning environment for ‘difficult’ children, few are meeting Ministry of Education criteria and guidelines. Instead, many children are just warehoused in a holding pattern.
DUM QUOTE OF THE WEEK
No. 1: Steve Hansen
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
“The French definitely turned up to play.”
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
—The All Blacks’ dozy coach Steve Hansen, following yet another abject non-effort by the Tricolors.
Saturday 22 June 2013
In the game I watched, the French led twice, and forced scrum penalties from the All Black scrum. The All Blacks scored a try which a referee could not have allowed without video review and which remained dubious, and prevented a French try only by a professional foul with blatant jersey pulling.
The score could have been AB 17 FR 16! Rugby watching is like political commentating and poll watching, isn’t it?
In the game I watched, the French led twice, and forced scrum penalties from the All Black scrum. The All Blacks scored a try which a referee could not have allowed without video review and which remained dubious, and prevented a French try only by a professional foul with blatant jersey pulling.
In the second minute of the match, France got perfect running ball a few metres from the NZ goal line. Any team, even the least talented, would have at least had a go at passing the ball in such a situation; a team of France’s calibre would be almost guaranteed of scoring. But instead of spinning it, French flyhalf Remi Tales kicked it into the All Black’s in-goal area, and a chance went begging. Tales’ “choice” of squandering possession so grossly was to be repeated by him and his lackadaisacal team-mates throughout the “game”.
You can take Steve Hansen’s lead and pretend that France made an effort if you want, just as the clowns in the Herald on Sunday have done. But please don’t pretend to be doing anything other than talking up a hollow win in a friendly match against a team that made only a token effort.
The score could have been AB 17 FR 16!
Sure it could, if the French had turned up to play. They did not, and it was another disgraceful lack of effort, on a par with last weekend’s horror show in Christchurch.
Rugby watching is like political commentating and poll watching, isn’t it?
Some political pollsters like to pretend things are other than what they actually are. Just like Steve Hansen, actually.
Or maybe like you, Morrissey.
Read your own comments as one who reads them from our side of the internet divide. From what you write in reply, if we disagree with you we are clowns like the Herald or Hansen since we (bad12 and myself) saw that game differently, or pretenders who are dishonest in our commenting.
Morrissey, there is a large problem of how to communicate or argue here. Did you ever wonder why you get commenters’ backs up here- and this is over (choke) an unimportant thing like a game of rugby, where they play the ball and not the man!
Read your own comments as one who reads them from our side of the internet divide. From what you write in reply, if we disagree with you we are clowns like the Herald or Hansen since we (bad12 and myself) saw that game differently, or pretenders who are dishonest in our commenting.
I don’t think you are being dishonest, my friend. But I do think you are not looking at that travesty of a match either sensibly or dispassionately. Of course the All Blacks played well, and deserved to win each of the three friendly games. The All Blacks approached those games seriously; the Tricolors, on the other hand, clearly did not. You saw just as clearly as I did that the French team hardly tried to do anything with the ball during any of those matches; even one of that extraordinarily dimwitted commentary team on Prime TV remarked on Saturday night that the French had done nothing other than boot any possession they got down-field and hope for mistakes from the All Blacks, a “tactic” which was never going to succeed, ever. The French showed no commitment, no passion, and not a hint of creativity, in spite of the TV advertisements blathering about “French flair”. In other words, they hardly made an effort. You can either face up to that fact, and condemn them for it, or you can pretend that the All Blacks won against a French team playing football seriously.
Morrissey, there is a large problem of how to communicate or argue here. Did you ever wonder why you get commenters’ backs up here-
That’s a mighty big statement. I have got people’s backs up now and again, certainly. But we usually reconcile and I get along well with most of my interlocutors, even if we squabble occasionally.
and this is over (choke) an unimportant thing like a game of rugby, where they play the ball and not the man!
Yes, you’re right, mac, I should tone it down a bit. Must try harder….
A non-effort by the French,??? my opinion is that the French turned up at Yarrow stadium last night with a game plan designed to negate the game the All Blacks brought to Christchurch the previous week,
Considering that the French were for most of last nights game in a position were a converted try could have won them the game their game plan could be said to have been superior to that of the previous week,
Obviously the French negating the attacking capabilities of the All Blacks last night gave us more an exhibition of thugby as opposed to the brilliant use of the football of the previous week and the old adage about changing a winning team was once again proved as the line-out failed to adequately compete against the French when compared with the previous week and a rusty number 10 in Dan Carter produced what was a pretty lack-luster game by His own standards….
A non-effort by the French,???
Well at least they actually put warm bodies on the park, even though their hearts were clearly not in it. They did tackle and get in the way, of course, but they tried absolutely nothing on attack, and in fact deliberately squandered chances to score by mindlessly punting away perfect front-foot ball.
…my opinion is that the French turned up at Yarrow stadium last night with a game plan designed to negate the game the All Blacks brought to Christchurch the previous week,
What “game plan”? They showed nothing and did nothing. Except get in the way of the All Blacks.
Considering that the French were for most of last nights game in a position were a converted try could have won them the game their game plan could be said to have been superior to that of the previous week,
Again, WHAT game plan are you talking about? They did nothing. Possibly this was a good tackling practice for them, and I would not put it past them to have treated it as nothing more serious.
Obviously the French negating the attacking capabilities of the All Blacks last night gave us more an exhibition of thugby as opposed to the brilliant use of the football of the previous week
What “brilliant use” of the football? It was virtually an unopposed training run for the All Blacks in Christchurch.
and the old adage about changing a winning team was once again proved as the line-out failed to adequately compete against the French when compared with the previous week and a rusty number 10 in Dan Carter produced what was a pretty lack-luster game by His own standards….
And what about the rustiness of the Tricolors’ No. 10? At least Carter never did anything as grossly irresponsible as his opposite number (Remi Tales) did in the first 90 seconds of last night’s debacle.
A discussion well worth being involved in.
Worldwide, demand for medicines is outstripping governments’ ability to pay for them, as people live longer and expensive new therapies come to market. But Pharmac CEO Steffan Crausaz said unlike similar bodies in other countries, Pharmac has a fixed budget, forcing it to prioritise.
Now, for the first time, the public is being asked to give its opinion on whether those priorities need reform.
Harris told the Sunday Star-Times that funding decisions work best when they are based on a set of principles, rather than ad hoc decisions on what seems reasonable. Deciding just what those principles should be, though, can be tricky.
The New Zealand system attempts to compare and prioritise, “independently of disease-based lobbying, whether it’s from manufacturers or doctors or patient groups”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8830368/The-pills-bills-Its-life-or-death
From Tuesday, Pharmac is hosting a series of free community forums seeking the public’s views on what its decision criteria should be. For details see bit.ly/19m3Jvr
Pharmac’s consultation guidelines:
http://www.bit.ly/12PsGzh
Thanks for raising this really important issue, LynWiper. Pharmac has been under attack from drug companies for some time now because they’ve been holding prices of meds down, and using generics rather than expensive drug company specialities. I think we need to give them as much support as possible, help them work out those priorities, so we continue to get reasonable costs on our medications and not be subject to the prices of those huge multinational drugs manufacturers.
The TPP negotiations loom large on this issue. The Americans have their eye on Pharmac and one wonders what is the real position of our Nact representatives at these talks.
Or indeed their ABC Labour opponents.
I don’t. They’ll sell out to US demands.
For a start they could pay attention to their first 8 decision making criteria and END all funding for the current tranche of Nicotine Replacement Therapies (patches, inhalers, gum etc that all contain nicotine) and save, how many millions of dollars per annum that currently goes to lining the pockets of Big Pharma? Instead, and in line with 1 through 8 of their own criteria, they could provide nicotine in solution to ex-smokers, allowing them to either continue the addiction with far fewer health consequences or to step their dosage down in incremental stages until they were nicotine free.
I’m hoping to see an interest in what people think about quality of life concerns in Pharmac’s decision-making process.
From my point of view, decisions are too focused on a narrow medical benefit and cost to the health system. For example there are relatively rare disabling conditions that can prevent people taking part in society. Standard drugs can keep them as functioning invalids, prevent hospitalisation, and slow the course of the disease, but may not allow the patient to resume a life without assistance – financial (including invalid benefit for those who don’t have a partner to rely on) and/or physical – due to disabilities resulting from the illness.
However, newer, very expensive drugs can allow the ill person to function at the same level as a person without the condition – interacting with family, having a social life, and crucially (in term of other societal/taxpayer costs), able to work and pay tax, play, and physically look after their families. However in Pharmac’s view the new drug does nothing more than the older, cheaper drugs in the reduction of health system costs so is heavily restricted.
And yet, (for my personal pet rant) Pharmac pay a fortune in omeprazole (Losec) (due to the number of people who are prescribed it) so people can eat spicy chicken (queue Losec ad) when a green prescription may have a greater impact. Rant exceptions, of course, for people with little choice – I don’t intend to dismiss need – e.g. those with stomach ulcers, IBDs or taking anti-inflammatories for a condition that the above example incorporates.
United States to charge Snowden with Spying.
Who said the Americans don’t do irony?
The US justice department has filed criminal charges against a fugitive ex-intelligence analyst who leaked details of a secret surveillance operation.
The charges against ex-National Security Agency (NSA) analyst Edward Snowden include espionage and….
Read more, if you can bear it….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23012317
I posted this link last night: USA Today did a great interview with 3 former NSA whistleblowers who say Snowden has succeeded where they have failed. Some of the things they reveal about attitudes in the US govt since 9-11 are very scary. But kudos to them and to USA today for doing this piece.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/16/snowden-whistleblower-nsa-officials-roundtable/2428809/
I should not laugh but …
The SST is reporting Truth’s escort service website has been hacked and the phone numbers of escorts replaced by Cam Slater’s number. Imagine the surprised calls he must be receiving …
The irony is strong as cammy has an interesting moral compass when it comes to the provision of his services
*funny*. And no, it wasn’t me.
Note to myself – might have to buy the SST this morning.
There is an online version of the main article: “The Truth Was Out There”. pp A11-12 of the hard copy.
on pA3, there’s a small article, “Official: Truth a bunch of Hacks” about the website hack. SLater says he put his phone on silent, and wasn’t very bothered by “the childish games people play”.
Slater says he hasn’t heard from the Truth’s owners since the closure was announced, and that he’s now “exploring a digital-only newspaper venture”.
Should be fun – *yawn*.
I should not laugh…
Why not. That’s hilarious. Wish we knew who it was…
Rather than the work of a super duper hacker I suspect it was an inside job by an employee who does not hold Cameron in the highest of regard.
might be cameron himself looking for alternative employment
Perhaps a black-hearted Crow?
That is very funny
Q + A………to be renamed “Qeue + Adore” (ShonKey Python and National that is).
In the first 20 minutes:
– Key given full novelistic reign on QE with nothing from Norman.
– Big ups to National for protecting vulnerable immigrant workers (oh how
marvellous……everyone else is implacably opposed to that of course, yeah right).
– Miller, Mapp and Mei waxing lyrical how wonderful is “Minister” Woodhouse for militating
against immigrant worker exploitation. Mapp……..the embarrassingly pompous pedant former National Party cabinet minister. On the show to lead the cheering by and for “Woody” ?
– Oh wow……..Palestine……..thank you lawyer Mei…….”this is a very important matter for which a
solution must be found…..”. Strangely, no addressing “justice the seed, peace the
flower”. To do so I guess would be too challenging for the Susan (thick as a piece of) Wood.
– And on the question of workers rights no mention during the acclaimation for “Minister”
Woodhouse of the attack on New Zealand workers’ rights promoted by that sleaze the slightly
cleverer than Gilmore, Jamie-Lee Ross. Parallel to the startlingly innovative focus of
“Minister ” Woodhouse in boldly enforcing law already on the statute book.
Qeue + Adore not worth watching I’m afraid. Why not just can it and toss production costs into National Party coffers.
Yes, migrant labour exploitation equivalent to NAct labour law exploitation.
After a few token prosecutions, where will the resourcing come from to follow up notifications.
And on New Zealanders returning from overseas? from Tracey Lee , ‘Brand Strategist’ and wastage of a sociology education, “we must smooth the hardship of their transition” (paraphrased) …I shake my head in despair! Lord give us strength, strewth!
Did I say, I’m feeling disgust about now…
+1 The bit about Kiwis returning back to New Zealand was particularly naive. Not once was our low waged economy, which is the main reason for the mass-exodus, mentioned. All we had was propaganda about a supposed 25,000 Kiwis returning each year, which morphed into a puff piece with claims that most Kiwis only left for a little while anyway.
Meanwhile in the real world there’s approximately a million Kiwis permanently living abroad, and the mass exodus continues unabated.
But whatever, John Key promising that people would waive goodbye to higher taxes and not their loved ones is a distant memory, especially it seems for the deluded spin doctors over at Q+A.
a dearth of balanced, objective pundits on the local current faire, yet there is always Colin James and Jon Johanssen 😎
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/q-a-a-review-7/
(excerpt..)
“….next subject:..returning expats..
.a ‘brand-strategist’ is up first..(ed::..no..!..really..!..good grief..!’)
..who does a ‘brand-strategist’/cliche-stringing-together tour-de-force..
..then some returning ice-cream-maker..(!)..
(ed:..q & a veers into ‘good morning’ territory..again..)
(ed:..we are halfway thru this show now..and not a moment of that first half would be worth getting up off the couch for..)
..(the ‘brand-strategist’ talks of the stigmas from being a returning expat..(!)..(ed:..who the fuck knew..?..)
..then her and compere woods seriously camp out in ‘good morning’ territory..both getting over–excited/comfortable with/over ‘connecting’-talk..”
phillip ure..
Its good theres a counter-balance to the blatantly left Campbell Live
Glad you accept it was the National Campaigning Show through and through.
Just like Campbell is anti-National, I mean fairs fair right
Is Campbell blatantly left and anti-National, or just challenging whatever government is in power?
Campbell’s sucking up to Helen Clark obviously proves Chris’ point. Oh, wait…
John Campbell speaks up for disadvantaged people and points out social inequality.
I suspect that is why you label him “anti National”
Spot on CV, Helping the disadvantaged = Anti National. Sums it up!
Reality has a left-wing bias.
I well remember the time when John Campbell broke the investigation by Nicky Hager into Corngate. Senior Labour Party activists I spoke to were ropeable. The air was blue. And the abuse they showered on Campbell and Hager. “They were close friends”, “They were working together to discredit the Labour Party”, “They are rats”, “anti-Labour” etc. etc
Yeah I near vomited at the sycophancy that was shown. Shit it’s another program that’s on the why bother list, as it’s been dumbed down, and is at the level of 7 sharp now. and it’s getting worse, the MSM is hopeless. And the so called Current Affairs shows are either dumbed down, or are on at such weird times that the stories are lost to the main stream.
Q + A is part of the NACT spin machine. The nats know how to make the SOE’s do their bidding, it’s all too easy when you stack the board/management and have that mafia style approach to the ‘funding ‘
Susan Wood as on of the attack dogs..says it all really, just a revolving door of hacks and has beens.
Q + A is part of the NACT spin machine. The nats know how to make the SOE’s do their bidding, it’s all too easy when you stack the board/management and have that mafia style approach to the ‘funding ‘
Susan Wood as one of the attack dogs says it all really, just a revolving door of hacks and has beens who know how to keep the paymasters happy.
lol @ Petey George getting fisked by David Fisher on his twitter machine:
https://twitter.com/DFisherJourno
Is that conversation intelligible to people who use twitter regularly? (couldn’t quite follow it myself).
Labour is planning to ‘ take the fight to National’, and will announce new policy imminently, on what it says is one of the most pressing issues facing New Zealand. It asks:
What are we doing to make Herne Bay housing more
affordable for young professional first-home buyers?
Labour leader, David Shearer says he expects this to be one of the key election issues in 2014 and Labour will ‘terrorise’ its National Party opponents in the ferocity with which they will fight for the “hard working children of our own hard working families, who work very hard”.
http://www.imperatorfish.com/2013/06/i-get-it-now.html
Its just lazy making fun of Shearer and Labour…wheres the challenge?
Can’t argue with that.
It’s just that sometimes I need an outlet to express my ongoing anger.
” imminently” Is that like Soon? or Sometime Soon?, or Could Be Soon?
That information is not contained on the auto-cue and will therefore remain unknown.
The Herald this morning – front page online – elderly lady attacked and assaulted in her own home – surveillance camera style photograph of a capped and hoodied young brown guy:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
Go to the article – photograph of a police car. No picture of the young brown guy and no mention of him.
Why no mention of him Herald ? Oh I see, the photograph of the young brown guy is unrelated to the article.
So why then is there a photo of a capped and hoodied young brown guy on your front page under the headline “Elderly victims targeted” ?
No No I’m not complaining…….racial profiling is just fine with me.
The photo is from a cash machine where one of the elderly victims cards was trying to be used by the hoodied young brown guy.
Its not racial profiling when its a picture of someone using a stolen ATM card.
Get over yourself.
I will try Andy. Where’s the Herald at leaving the photo completely unexplained in the article.
Sensible to link surely ? Oh hang on, maybe the stereoptype is so established as to obviate the link.
I think they modified the article to make it clearer.
The police have given the Herald footage from a crime to help solve it, evil fucker robbing old folk. Jeeebus they aint perfect (teh herald) but cut them some slack on this.
Oh look, more photos.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10892362
Fuck you and your ‘established stereotype’ nonsense. There is some dangerous dude robbing old people with increasing violence. Colour of perpetrator and old folk not important.
Dick!!
The police have given footage……..
Dead right Angry Andy as I now know. But who was to know that without any explanation of the photo ? Just in case you blow a fuse Dick !!, give a thought to this: the article has been updated as CV says. My comment was posted at about 11.00 am, before the update.
If you wanna stay Angry Andy I’ll falsely state “Good on ya young brown fulla, bash those old ladies and steal their money”, just to prove your point and invigorate your strawman
You who needs a life.
I give the herald a little bit of credit. Not much but, some. Jumping to conclusions on a Sunday when they have the least staff on board still makes you a dick, when proven wrong by further updates.
Yeah, I’m angry. Angry at your stupid and angry that some douche bag is robbing old people.
Press F5 on your keyboard, its called ‘refresh’. Makes you less of a dick sometimes.
You can falsely state whatever you want, but your still wrong and will not, withdraw and apologise.
There is no strawman, just facts.
Dick!!!
Edit: was updated at 10.40am ish with attribution on photo.
Yeah, facts, as presented by the Herald at 11.00 am, and crucially, differently and more instructively, some hours later.
Careful with your fuse Andy. Happy to cut the Herald some slack aye ? Fair enough. How about some for me since I commented on the appearance of the earlier set of Herald “facts”, not the later set of Herald “facts”.
Highly unreasonable of you to keep up the insistence that I approve of the criminality and cowardice we mutually detest when you know full well I do not.
No strawman you reckon ? Huh !
Again, it’s for you to get a life.
Tried to edit the above comment after reading your edit. Understand Andy, not facts that I saw. I read and reread the article, surprised there was no explanation as to the guy’s connection. Then spent 10-15 minutes writing a comment in response to the article as first presented by the Herald which response I submitted at 10.50 am.
Still not satisfied ? Tough. Be obtuse.
Yeah right. I applaud the bastard responsible. Of course I do ! Happy now ? How’s the fuse ?
You mean this one?
In scenes reminiscent of the early days of the Syrian protests. Turkish police break up peaceful demonstrations with unprovoked violence.
Though he didn’t state who they were, following Basher Assad’s lead, Turkish leader Tayip Erdogan blamed Turkey’s enemies.
Maybe Colonial Viper could help Erdogan out here. And put a name to these unnamed enemies of Turkey
This shouldn’t be to hard for CV. As CV doesn’t need to have any knowledge at all of conditions on the ground in Turkey. Or even take note of those who do. All he has to do is pull out his tired old Marxist dogmatic script which reliably informed him that the Yankee Imperialists were behind every other Middle Eastern revolt.
Maybe CV could helpfully suggest to Erdogan, as he did for Assad, that the use of deadly nerve gas against the enemies of his country wouldn’t be a war crime.
maybe Jenny could stop wasting bait on the Viper, and set sights on other fish 😀
You are probably right. I will stop wasting my time and energy on this supporter of fascism when he stops provoking me.
What I was responding to was his attack on me.
I posted a statement in support of Edward Snowden. Which Colonial Viper took exception to. And which I replied to by trying to keep it light. To which Colonial Viper launched an unwarranted attack on me for supporting the Syrian people’s struggle to free themselves of a murderous dictatorship.
See the exchange here
I have never used CV’s support for the fascist regime of Basher Assad against him. Preferring to argue the merit of the issue at hand. I had also hoped that CV’s support for the Assad regime, indeed his whole racist dismissal of the validity of the Arab Spring, was some sort of grotesque mistake. Everyone can make mistakes. And so out of politeness I have never used it to beat him up, when discussing other issues.
However I feel that I would be remiss in not responding to CV’s unprovoked attack. IMHO to allow CV’s sick support for the facist style Bashar Assad regime to go unchallenged would be tantamount to agreeing not to challenge this sort of repression anywhere. If he thinks he can bring this up in an attempt to embarrass me every time he disagrees with me, then he is mistaken
I make no apology for supporting the struggle of the people of Syria fighting for democracy. That that struggle has become brutal and fratracidal, in the nature of all civil wars, was not of their choice but of the dictator Bashar Assad. Bashar Assad could have agreed to grant the protesters the minor democratic reforms that they originally sought. Instead he decided to gun them down instead.
What I take from CV’s attack on me over the comment on Edward Snowden, is that Colonial Viper hates the sort of political activism that the citizens of Hong Kong are famous for. The courageous political activism that has seen the people of Hong Kong openly defy the Beijing communist regime, and that Snowden has put his faith in, to protect him, from both the Chinese communist and the American capitalist governments.
And I might add, also the same sort of political activism that New Zealanders too can also rightly lay claim to as a proud tradition of protest practiced here.
I believe this argument has relevance to what happens here.
Colonial Viper dismisses the power and the success and validity of all grass roots citizen protest movements protesting against authority and injustice.
Though it can be seriously argued that such movements have achieved more for human progress and human rights than all the pragmatic top table horse trading that political parties spend their time on.
I believe that Colonial Viper is of the opinion that we should leave everything up to the high ups in the Labour Party and the Greens.
If the Greens and Labour decide in their coalition discussions that Deep Sea Oil drilling is OK. Then we must accept it. If these “leaders” decide on our behalf that there is nothing we here in New Zealand can do about climate change, we must accept that too. In fact we must accept everything that the political bureaucracies shove down our throats even if it is killing us.
I believe that the sort of activism that I talk about, makes people like Colonial Viper uneasy, because it holds mainstream parties to account and decreases the amount of wriggle room that the mainstream politicians have to make compromises and sellouts.
But it is the tradition that made New Zealand become nuclear free and left no room for compromise for the Lange government. It is the tradition that saw New Zealand reject racially selected sports teams.
It is the same proud tradition of protest that keeps democracy alive in Hong Kong while surrounded by a communist dictatorship.
Finally it is the same spirit that moved the people of Syria to take up arms against the state in response to the violence unleashed against them by the regime. (A lesson that Erdogan of Turkey, indeed all autocratic leaders where ever they are, should take note of.)
Lol.
That’s good advice from the Ghostrider, Jenny
Not all reptiles are dragons
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/16/uk-syria-crisis-turkey-idUKBRE93F0PG20130416
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/06/14/syria-rebels-weapons-logistics/2423185/
Turkey allowed itself to be used by the USA/UK/France, imperialists in their desire to upend the ME, to control the resources on that region, as well as the continued resource theft in Africa.
Turkey, has played its part very poorly, and alienated Muslim sects, by being used as an imperialist puppet, and is now feeling the fallout of the administrations corrupted actions!
Not to hard to understand where these, *enemies* might come from, Jenny!
The subject of the ME/Africa, is clearly beyond your ability to comprehend, Jenny. Perhaps its a good time to re-focus on those areas you might consider to be, strenghts!
Maybe CV could helpfully suggest to Erdogan, as he did for Assad, that the use of deadly nerve gas against the enemies of his country wouldn’t be a war crime.
Maybe we should introduce some facts,which tend to get in the way of Jenny’s story books.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/05/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE94409Z20130505
Cheers guys, much appreciated.
You guys must be kidding?
Is this some sort of black comedy?
In your your deadly serious campaign to support mass murder and torture CV you and your mates are so out of touch with reality that you have completely lost your sense of the ridiculous.
Do you guys seriously expect us to believe this rubbish?
What you are trying to tell us is that the rebels who can’t even build a safe field hospital. Assembled all the chemical ingredients to make sarin. Not to mention, putting in place all the high tech containment and safety procedures that need to be at the very least a PC1 level containment. According to wikipedia, a task even the nazis couldn’t fully complete in time before the end of the war.
And having achieved all that, loaded it into a specialised artillery shell. Or did they deliver it in the back of a bread van?
Maybe you guys have got your scripts mixed up?
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-hD3w_VdTG30/john_smiths_bachelor_party/
Got a little nazi frat boy thing going on here CV?
that is funny.
Jenny, I think your overwrought witterings are the problem. eg Assad and CV are not fascists and not liking the makeup of parts of the Syrian opposition does not make one a fascist. And you are dreaming if you think anyone much is fighting for ‘democracy’. One of the reasons the West has been slow to get involved is exactly that question; is there any point in replacing Assad when an even worse regime will be taking over?
We went through that scenario in Iraq and look how that turned out.
TRP Your defence of Colonial Viper’s support for the brutal Basha Assad regime falls down on the fact that from the beginning CV has claimed that the whole thing is an American plot. Including the Arab Spring itself.
This is not just factually wrong but is actually a racist slur on the Arab people.
I don’t think that any party that calls itself democratic can long tolerate in their ranks an Islamaphobic racist who openly admires a fascist style dictatorial regime that indulges in mass murder and torture.
you forgot to add in climate change denialist and proxy for the fossil fuel industry, for gods sakes can you get my credentialling right
No I got it right. You have consistently argued in the past to do nothing about climate change. I have never called you a “climate change denialist“. What I did term you as, and I think I was being accurate at the time, was a “climate change ignorer“. (something you share in common with David Shearer). However on saying that I have noticed of late, a positive change in your position. It just goes to shows me that no one is irredeemable. I play rough but you are learning.
What have you got right exactly, Jenny? Your Arab Spring working out for ordinary people in Egypt and Libya is it? Your Syrian “popular revolt” still importing a lot of foreign Islamic fighters just to keep going? Green party coming around to your way of looking at the world?
What exactly is it that you have got right?
You’re not a valkyrie, Jenny, just mistaken.
Thankyou for the back handed compliment. I may take up Voice of Reason AKA Te Reo Putake’s suggestion that I change my call sign after all.
Hey you’re very welcome.
And having achieved all that, loaded it into a specialised artillery shell. Or did they deliver it in the back of a bread van?
Mr Whippy would be a reasonable delivery mechanism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway
Also there have been plenty of defections from the Syrian armed forces as well as break-ins to military armouries by rebels.
Do tell. So they stole the sarin off Assad.
And used it, yes.
New information about the drive to place sick and incapacitated WINZ beneficiaries with mental health issues into employment:
Learn a bit about some of the possibly leading “pigs at the government trough”, who are likely contenders for MSDs contracts to outsource employment services for getting mentally ill (and other incapacitated) WINZ beneficiaries into work, for nice fees paid that will be based on referrals, duration of employment and so forth (more to come):
Press Release – Wise Group, 10:15 May 16, 2013:
http://business.scoop.co.nz/2013/05/16/employment-and-mental-health/
describing a new “tool” for doctors and mental health service providers, to “assist” and “motivate” clients to move back into work, developed by ‘The Wise Group’ – more on them further below!!!
See what was already done last year to prepare for the push to get mentally ill assisted back into work in last year:
“Engage Aotearoa”:
http://www.engagenz.co.nz/?tag=employment-support-as-a-mental-health-intervention-forum
Employment Support as a Mental Health Intervention Forum: 9 March 2012
Quote:
“This is your invitation to a forum for clinicians and others that will focus on this developing field of practice. International research andthe experience of practitioners, signals that evidence-based supported employment is emerging as a significant intervention to help people into paid competitive work.This symposium with is focus on employment is timely as the Government has indicated a comprehensive review of the benefit system.”
…with information on a forum last year, at the Ko Awatea Centre for Education & Innovation, Otahuhu
attended by speakers:
Rob Warriner, CEO of Walsh Trust: http://www.walsh.org.nz;
Warren Elwin, CEO of Workwise, Employment Agency: http://www.workwise.org.nz;
Helen Lockett, Strategic Development, Wise Group: http://www.wisegroup.co.nz;
Clive Bensemann, Director of Mental Health, Auckland District Health Bd;
David Codyre, Clinical Director/ Consultant Psychiatrist, ProCare Psychological Services …
And –
John Zonnevylle, Capital Coast DHB
Magdel Hammond, Edge Employment,
Dale Rook, Occupational Therapist, Auckland District Health Board
More information: http://www.engagenz.co.nz/?p=1677
Main website: http://www.engagenz.co.nz/
Also to take note of:
http://grow.co.nz/real-value-helen-lockett/
(another “UK expert”, but I am a bit unsure whether she is one of those supporting Prof. Mansel Aylward’s and Dr David Bratt’s particularly hardline philosophies on “work capacity” and the “health benefits of work”)
See Workwise’s “information” on “evidence based supported employment”:
http://www.workwise.org.nz/about-us/EBSE
http://www.workwise.org.nz/news/2012/02/27/new-zealands-first-primary-care-partnership-in-evidence_based-supported-employment
http://www.workwise.org.nz/news/2012/02/27/analysis-shows-strong-financial-returns-from-employment
The Wise Group – a major player, who own/operate ‘Workwise’:
http://www.wisegroup.co.nz/page/5-Home
http://www.wisegroup.co.nz/page/24-The-Wise-family
http://www.wisegroup.co.nz/page/14-who-we-are+our-history
http://www.socialangels.org.nz/about
(see ‘The Wise Group’ being a “charitable trust” and “Social Angels” a registered “charity”)
Workwise on the Charities Register:
http://www.register.charities.govt.nz/CharitiesRegister/ViewCharity?accountId=8f8b356e-320f-dd11-99cd-0015c5f3da29&searchId=291abede-5d72-4bbc-a693-165e621a71ce
Workwise Trust Group on the Charities Register:
http://www.register.charities.govt.nz/CharitiesRegister/ViewCharity?accountId=8febe8e5-290d-dd11-99cd-0015c5f3da29&searchId=291abede-5d72-4bbc-a693-165e621a71ce
Charities Register – last filed return:
http://www.register.charities.govt.nz/CharitiesRegister/PublicAnnualReturn?nocId=797d3395-4749-e211-84ab-00155d0d1916&charityRef=WOR18206&accountId=8f8b356e-320f-dd11-99cd-0015c5f3da29&searchId=291abede-5d72-4bbc-a693-165e621a71ce&nocRef=WIS18147AR005
So there we have it – more “corporate welfare” in the form of generous employment schemes for the well paid running of such services, and for perhaps a bit less generously paid bulk of the remaining “staff”. All likely to be part of the planned outsourcing and privatisation of welfare.
One thing is sure for the Wise Group:
$ 61,277,236 government grants and contract payments, out of $ 65,412,195 total income of that “charity”!!! Not bad really, especially for the ones running it.
I had some personal experiences with “Workwise” some time ago, as a former flatmate with some mental health issues tried to find work through the help of two of their staff. She got “stuff all” in real, effective support, and was rather disappointed by the “service” delivered by at times very unreliable and not all that motivated staff!
***When thinking of “charities” “Sanitarium” comes to mind again, owned by a church that can run the business as a “charity”, paying no tax on earnings. ***
See other organisations and agencies involved in this approach:
http://www.platform.org.nz/
http://www.tepou.co.nz/
http://www.tepou.co.nz/news/2013/06/13/employment-is-a-health-intervention
http://www.tepou.co.nz/story/2011/01/01/supporting-people-with-mental-health-issues-to-return-to-and-stay-at-work
http://www.pathways.co.nz/page/21-support-services+real-jobs+real-jobs
http://carenz.co.nz/
http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/1003540
(Dr David Bratt, one of the directors at Care NZ Ltd!!! Only indirectly involved, but participating in the same “drive” to get sick back into work the “Bratt way”)
Remember also:
The whole agenda is being pushed strongly, and familiar people are behind it:
http://www.wellnz.co.nz/about_us/press_release_details.asp?pressID=36&bhcp=1
Paula Bennett’s speech to medical professionals in Sept. 2012, indicating work capacity assessments UK style (remember ATOS, DWP and the scandalous developments):
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-medical-professionals
I presume much is just “illness belief” (e.g. imagination), I suppose:
http://awdpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Models-of-Sickness-Disability-Waddell-and-Aylward-2010-2.pdf
(Publication by Prof. M. Aylward from 2010: ‘Models of Sickness and Disability’, or perhaps rather “blurring the lines, to open up attack lines on sick and disabled with incapacities – for state welfare agencies or insurance companies to dis-entitle beneficiaries and claimants”)
In contrast the more widely known and well-established agency used by MSD and Work and Income to place people with physical disabilities into employment:
http://www.workbridge.co.nz/?page=121
(this is harmless, the more conventional approach, not covering mental health though)
Some visuals to go with the information on job finding!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or6CwOyx30I
They’ve got pens – The League of Gentlemen – BBC
Pauline turns up for her new start session with the unemployed but is quite shocked to find that the tables have turned. Contains adult humour. Watch more high quality….
Good to check out the
prospectuswebpages of the ‘Wise’ outfit, especially the cvs of the main players. I’d love to know what sort of salaries they are pulling in for caring so deeply.There are sharks competing for funding with the little fish in the NGO/charity world.
No prizes for guessing the winners in that particular battle for survival.
Had a lovely experience this morning, knock at the door, and a lovely maori lady from a local iwi social services and education trust, -initiated by a blind maori gentleman, Jim (last name escapes me) – invited me (and every other whanau in the street) to a sausage sizzle and a check out of some surplus winter clothing. They had parked up with a trailer at the end of the street and when I had to go out, most folk had wandered down and were catching up. Excellent after the cold spell.
Arbeit macht frei
WHO’S COMING to “Presentations on Palestine, building support & links from NZ?”
It’s FREE, VERY informative and ABOUT TIME!
Sunday 23 June from 12.30pm
Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber, Queen St:
Presentations on Palestine, building support & links from NZ.
4pm: special screening of Oscar-nominated Palestinian documentary “5 Broken Cameras”.
5.30 – 6.30pm: meal break.
6.30pm: talk by Palestinian teacher/blogger Yousef Aljamal on ‘Life under occupation’.
7.30pm – 8.30pm: powerpoint presentation by author Miko Peled (“The General’s Son”).
_____________________________________________________
http://www.conferenceonpalestine.co.nz
Organised in cooperation with Kia Ora Gaza, Students For Justice in Palestine (Auckland, Hamilton & Wellington), Palestine Human Rights Campaign, Wellington Palestine Group, and Global Peace & Justice Auckland.
PROGRAMME:
Saturday 22 June 10am to 5pm
Leys Institute Hall
20 St Marys Rd, Three Lamps, Ponsonby.
Including workshops on promoting boycott and divestment campaigns, lobbying for sanctions, political prisoners, other solidarity actions. PARTICIPANTS MUST REGISTER AT OUR WEBSITE IN ORDER TO ATTEND DAY ONE or registration form available here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vHZw3H-KVD07vECOTilP_t23qH3BjCL3kXY_AwNEPvY/viewform.
Sunday 23 June from 12.30pm
Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber, Queen St:
Presentations on Palestine, building support & links from NZ.
4pm: special screening of Oscar-nominated Palestinian documentary “5 Broken Cameras”.
5.30 – 6.30pm: meal break.
6.30pm: talk by Palestinian teacher/blogger Yousef Aljamal on ‘Life under occupation’.
7.30pm – 8.30pm: powerpoint presentation by author Miko Peled (“The General’s Son”).
Copies of ‘The General’s Son’ will be available at the conference at $25 (retail price about $30). You can request a copy now by emailing us at: conferenceonpalestine@hotmail.com and send $25 + $4 postage to bank account below.
FREE ADMISSION – donations & pledges welcome.
This important event depends on your generous support.
HOW TO DONATE:
Make a direct payment to our bank account:
Conference on Palestine,
03-0211-0447718-000,
Westpac Bank, Onehunga branch.
Afterwards, send an email to: conferenceonpalestine@hotmail.com with your deposit details so we can send you an e-receipt.
Or write a cheque to ‘Conference on Palestine’ & post to:
Conference on Palestine
PO Box 86022, Mangere East,
Auckland 2158, New Zealand.
[Include you email or postal address for a receipt.]
Or paypal via our website:
http://www.conferenceonpalestine.co.nz
Miko Peled’s an interesting guy.
Argues for:
– The amalgamation of Occupied Territories with pre1967 Israel (ie the ‘Two State Solution” is dead on the ground)
– Full citizenship for Palestinians, including per-1967 exiles
– Right of return and compensation for Palestinians
– South African style Truth & Reconciliation process
Here’s a link to Miko Peled’s interview with Kim Hill
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/remote-player?id=2559559
There is a great item on Chris Laidlaw Radionz this a.m. on spy-ring etc. Thinking about Edward Snowden et al.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
A couple or more of speakers. The last I heard before putting this was a quip from a Hong Kong dignitary. She said that ‘The reason that the sun never set on the British Empire is because God doesn’t trust the British.’ Good eh!
This is after remembering how Brits organised spying on foreign dignitaries at I think one G8 meeting, even organising special internet cafes that were set up so they could get access to all their emails. Another bit of negative information is that they sent a top diver under a Russian vessel with advanced propeller technology but unfortunately his head was cut off. The comment was made that the English speaking countries were heavily into spying and we have been involved, along with Australia, in the ‘Five Eyes’ system since the Eighties I think.
I just love that quote!
Yes great interview: “God doesn’t trust the British…… in the dark !”….(end of quote , i think)
Also praise for Winston’s peace making role in Fiji….from previous interview.
( Why does everyone pick on the bugger…..He has always stood for not selling NZ assets!…unlike the two major parties( and he brought National down over selling public assets) …and why is it always assumed he will join with National?…)
Hah! If only my father and grandfather were alive to hear that quote with that punchline!
Thanks Chooky for FIFY
I was just rereading mine and thought I missed the punchline on that quote. It reads even better when you see the whole thing Olwyn.
And it was interesting to hear how staunch and reliable Winston Peters had been at the Fiji time of change and the high respect of the diplomatic staff for him.
“New Zealand government fast tracks domestic spying laws”
“In an interview with TV3 on June 11, Key fell into step with the international vilification of Snowden, sharply denouncing him as a “criminal”, and saying he should face the “full force of the law.” While Key has flatly refused to comment on any aspect of NSA activities and its links with New Zealand spy agencies, he has not denied that they exist.”
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/06/22/nzin-j22.html
40,000 plus some more perhaps?
Listening to Radio NZ ‘Arts on Sunday’ I learnt that movie film processing will stop shortly at Miramar, Wellington.
The outfit started life in 1941 as a result of a reccomendation to the NZ Govt by John Greirson the British documentary film-maker which had the National Film Unit established. Reputedly the only time the NZ Govt acted on a commissioned report
Later taken over by Television NZ and recently back at Miramar thanks to Peter Jackson but sadly[?] closing due to lack of throughput in the digital age.
Seemingly the last Australasian lab to go under as apparently Aussies are sending last minute film to Miramar and they are very busy in their last days, just next week left before the gear is dismantled.
Don’t quote me on this as it is just what I think I heard from the broadcast and memories, often not very accurate
“Economic Reform Necessary”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10892298
-Bernard Hickey
“When I first came to New Zealnd there were hardly any homeless people but now there are heaps, so where have we gone wrong?”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10892330
-Simon Buckingham, Lawyer.
That’s an easy one to answer – we had governments believing the economists and business people and thus put in place policies that rewarded the business people at everyone else’s expense. This has, quite predictably, resulted in a massive increase in poverty for the many while a few got immeasurably richer.
Much of that would have to do with many ‘homeless’ actually suffering from mental illnesses that manifests for various reasons in homelessness. Once upon a time they would have been institutionalised.
Supermoon , again. 😀
Saw it!
“Almost unprecedented slobbering”
Irish parliamentarian speaks out against fawning treatment of war criminal
http://xrepublic.tv/node/3893
Ms Daly, MP for Dublin North, hit out at the “almost unprecedented slobbering” over the Obama family’s visit. “It’s really hard to know which is worst, whether it’s the outpourings of the Obamas themselves or the sycophantic falling over them by sections of the media and the political establishment,” she said. “We’ve had separate and special news bulletins by the State broadcaster to tell us what Michelle Obama and her daughters had for lunch in Dublin, but very little questioning of the fact that she was having lunch with Mr Tax Exile himself,” she said in reference to U2’s Bono.
She described Mr Obama as a “war criminal”, having “just announced his decision to supply arms to the Syrian opposition, including the jihadists, fuelling the destabilisation of that region, continuing to undermine secularism and knock back conditions for women”.
Ms Daly said: “This is the man who is in essence stalling the Geneva peace talks by trying to broker enhanced leverage for the Syrian opposition by giving them arms – and to hell with the thousands more who’ll lose their lives, or the tens of thousands who will be displaced. This is the man who has facilitated a 200 per cent increase in the use of drones which have killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children.” […]
http://xrepublic.tv/node/3893
Shit she’s definitely on the GCHQ monitoring list now.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/22/gchq-spying-catastrophe-german-politicans
the GCHQ have been spying on eurozone governenment and private corporations.
In a related thread 😉 , St Johns are continuing to bear the increasing “brunt of an ageing population”, coupled with “increases in minor incident calls” (yes Pop. , including for mental illness, and sheltered villages are much more protective) ; the stress is being piled on the organization, who are losing $15M a year.
These attacks on the elderly in Auckland has the police “very concerned about the escalation of violence”- Malthus.
NZ Parliamentarians should take a long hard look at that link.
I just saw an exchange between two politicians that contained actual information and that wasn’t sliced and diced by bullshit ‘points of order’…I saw an absolute absence of glib ‘one liners’…and I saw speakers allowed to offer their opinion and ask/answer questions without any childish braying from any opposite benches.
Add to that, a politician calling a spade a spade, well…when was the last time I had the pleasure?
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/questions-surround-mrp-float-price-ck-141888
$1.7b raised @ $2.50 = 680m shares. If the shares had been sold at $2.20 it would have raised slightly less than $1.5b
At what point, if there was such a point, would the government not have sold?
More importantly though, do NZers in general feel that they got a good price for the sale?
meanwhile, farmers request “armies of volunteers” to help clear snow-trapped stock in the Maniopoto and Millers Flat areas. sigh.
I thought that’s what woofers are for 😉 (‘cept you have to be organic-ish).
I’d tell them to plant some shelter belts
I’d just tell them to fuck off. It’s their problem that they can’t plan for perfectly reasonable expectations such as inclement weather.
Unfortunately you are speaking with the ignorance of a townie.
Ghostrider888 mentioned this in another thread. Slingshot are offering a new free Global Mode service for their customers, supposedly for international visitors staying with them, but it really looks like it’s giving NZers access to international content that was previously blocked.
Anyone tried it?
http://www.slingshot.co.nz/products/global-mode/support/
ta, getting weary-eyed.
BREAKING NEWS
Snowden is on a plane to Moscow.
http://www.scmp.com/
US are powerless to stop him having recently lost Maxwell Smart.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-15/accused-u-s-spy-s-tools-get-a-laugh-from-russians.html
ooooh, Ice ice baby.
Holy Frak: HK Govt allows Snowden to leave for Moscow
https://twitter.com/KimDotcom
And further afield…. .
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/snowden-says-us-targets-included-china-cell-phones
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/23/us-usa-security-flight-idUSBRE95M02H20130623
Massive crackdown on leakers in all US gov agencies; employees to inform on each other or face penalties themselves
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/20/194513/obamas-crackdown-views-leaks-as.html#.Ucbhp9hU1d3