welfare

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Us and them – what will Labour do about WINZ?

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, February 20th, 2018 - 106 comments

What we need is a government that shares power with beneficiaries.

Beg packing

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, February 12th, 2018 - 50 comments

Two people playing at being poor as part of a sociopolitical stance on economics has angered many New Zealanders.

The Housing Crisis.

Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, February 11th, 2018 - 154 comments

Can politics deliver?

We are beneficiaries

Written By: - Date published: 12:44 pm, February 8th, 2018 - 212 comments

The sick and twisted thing about right wing politics is that tories like a certain level of unemployment because competition for jobs is essential for keeping wages low. Then they treat the inevitable victims of this like it’s all people’s own fault. This is the single biggest reason why I don’t buy into the narrative […]

NZ Court of Appeal and the Ministry of Health

Written By: - Date published: 6:27 am, February 8th, 2018 - 66 comments

The government has a responsibility to act fairly, centre its services around the needs of people, and treat NZ citizens as human beings.

The Failed Estate: Us and Them

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, December 31st, 2017 - 20 comments

In Australia the Murdoch press has chosen the Christmas down period to try and whip up some anti beneficiary hysteria.  Jim Parker from the blog Failed Estate calmly dissects the figures and concludes there is no reason for concern.

This. Almost.

Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, December 23rd, 2017 - 26 comments

It’s not perfect. Maybe it’s a start.

#WeAreBeneficiaries fundraiser

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, December 11th, 2017 - 5 comments

Artist activist group We are Beneficiaries are writing a report to share the stories they’ve been collecting from beneficiaires with the new Ministers to help make a case for change.

Another day, another piece of bullshit from someone in the MSM

Written By: - Date published: 6:44 am, December 8th, 2017 - 109 comments

Misleading the NZ public about a political party, its policy, and how government works actively harms democracy.

National’s benefit sanctions – the wolf is not your grandma

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, December 2nd, 2017 - 78 comments

The tories seem to have found a new angle on the government’s removal of benefit sanctions that punish the children of beneficiaries who don’t name both parents. Now Louise Upston is saying National opposes the change because it’s not fair on children who will lose their right to a family connection. I think this is […]

Labour to seek consensus over child poverty

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, November 25th, 2017 - 111 comments

Jacinda Ardern intends to reach out to National to try and furnish a bi partisan approach to dealing with child poverty.  It is a good idea, but I don’t like her chances.

Beneficiary for life: the joys of permanent disability in present day NZ

Written By: - Date published: 6:42 am, November 10th, 2017 - 111 comments

What happens to long term beneficiaries who can’t increase their income with paid work?

Bouquets for the new government

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, November 9th, 2017 - 64 comments

Mining, big data, social investment, paid parental leave, and pēpi in the House. The new government’s not mucking around remedying some of the previous government’s plunder and pillage policies.

The Missing Noun.

Written By: - Date published: 10:09 am, November 8th, 2017 - 88 comments

When they said they wanted to eradicate poverty, I didn’t suspect they simply meant to expunge the word.

Welfare reform 15 point plan

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, October 30th, 2017 - 108 comments

With the ongoing revelations, stories and court cases showing the terrible state of welfare services in NZ, Lawyer and journalist Catriona MacLennan has written a list of what needs to change.

Loans to feed kids are income and disqualify benefit, says MSD

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, October 26th, 2017 - 86 comments

Lawyer and journalist Catriona MacLennan explains the details of a case before the High Court this week. Anyone who wants to understand how the Ministry of Social Development and WINZ are utterly failing as a government department needs to read this.

Books but no beds

Written By: - Date published: 6:11 pm, October 18th, 2017 - 19 comments

Most viewed story on the Guardian website today: “New Zealand library cracks case of missing books.” Turns out some of Auckland’s 23,000 homeless were hiding bookmarked books in odd places so they wouldn’t lose their place. The library will now keep their books safe. Good on them. Finding homes for homeless must be a high priority for Aotearoa’s next government.

A letter to my middle-class, well meaning, professional, liberal friends and family

Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, October 18th, 2017 - 4 comments

A post about the responsibility to advocate for change in a visible way.

WINZ: where hope and dignity go to die

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, October 4th, 2017 - 66 comments

“It is not okay that nearly everyone I have advocated for at WINZ, has broken down in tears during appointments and have often been close to a panic attack. Most people I advocate for at WINZ unanimously tell me it is a humiliating and utterly defeating experience.” – political writer and community activist Chloe King.

Metiria Turei’s legacy

Written By: - Date published: 7:27 am, September 26th, 2017 - 127 comments

What she did wasn’t a mistake.

The failure of TOP’s Youth UBI policy

Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, September 19th, 2017 - 97 comments

Safety nets should be for all people and the best way to ensure that is to design them for social need not as economic tools. Despite Gareth Morgan’s assertion that policy is everything, The Opportunities Party has managed to create a youth policy that is discriminatory.

Rally Against Poverty – join Metiria Turei and Marama Davidson

Written By: - Date published: 6:25 am, September 16th, 2017 - 20 comments

Saturday 16 Sept 2.30pm, Otara Town Centre, South Auckland. Let’s all come together to rally for our communities that have been at the forefront on the fight to end poverty.

Create WINZ as it should be

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, September 14th, 2017 - 13 comments

Auckland event on Sunday – if you have ideas about how to #FIXWINZ you are invited to come along.

Plant trees, love NZ: the Greens’ bold Climate Protection Plan

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, September 11th, 2017 - 68 comments

The Greens have a comprehensive, detailed plan for NZ on what to do about climate change that works through transforming the economy, ending poverty, and protecting the environment.

Underpaying beneficiaries

Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, September 10th, 2017 - 28 comments

Beneficiaries are not getting the support that they are entitled to. NZ is beset by rising poverty, its associated diseases, homelessness, and suicide. I wonder if these facts could possibly be related?

Speaking of mothers

Written By: - Date published: 1:28 pm, September 5th, 2017 - 31 comments

There’s a direct relationship between how badly we treat mothers and how much we exalt neoliberalism.

Outsourcing Compassion

Written By: - Date published: 3:41 pm, September 1st, 2017 - 58 comments

They starve and freeze and rot among themselves, but they beg, steal and rob among their betters.

Dear Winston.

Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, August 30th, 2017 - 136 comments

How many of these did you receive over your 7 years of over-payments?

Giovanni Tiso: Speaking Power to the Truth – The Political Assassination of Metiria Turei

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, August 22nd, 2017 - 116 comments

Giovanni Tiso writes on New Zealand media and the swimming of sharks.

A “Culture of Entitlement”?

Written By: - Date published: 3:39 pm, August 17th, 2017 - 48 comments

With the current dialog about welfare, It is time to look at the people who are the real  beneficiaries, of the welfare system.

Who use the educated and healthy  workforce our system provides

The people who say “everyone should stand on their own two feet”, “you don’t work you don’t eat”,  and “take personal responsibility”,

The business sector.

This is life on a benefit for ill and disabled people

Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, August 16th, 2017 - 68 comments

A must read Guest Post for anyone thinking about poverty and welfare this election – a former social scientist turned welfare beneficiary speaks out on WINZ’s state-sponsored neglect of more than 84,000 long-term disabled New Zealanders.

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