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Poverty Watch 9
Written By: - Date published: 11:32 am, October 27th, 2012 - 13 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, a party that wants to help, and a party that doesn’t.
Small government
Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, October 26th, 2012 - 54 comments
Cuts have consequences.
Combine that with a culture where ministers are never held accountable for anything, and you have a recipe for bungling incompetence.
This National government is a very small government indeed.
Shifting ground: PPL
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, October 24th, 2012 - 27 comments
The government is vulnerable around Sue Moroney’s Paid Parental Leave Bill. The Nats don’t want it to pass, but they risk losing support from women. A government veto of an entire Bill is on experimental ground, and Bill English has shifted his reasons for not supporting the Bill. Updates: BusinessNZ submission
Tax fraud, benefit fraud, proportional response
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, October 22nd, 2012 - 38 comments
A Victoria University study shows that tax evasion is costing the country at least 25 times what welfare fraud is costing, while welfare fraud is punished more harshly in court.
ImperatorFish: Labour Blamed For Robot Army Attack
Written By: - Date published: 2:13 pm, October 20th, 2012 - 13 comments
Questions were again raised about the leadership of David Shearer today, after a giant robot army descended from the skies and laid waste to most of the North Island. As the horde of killer machines spread fire and death in all directions, there was no news from the Labour Party leader about how he would deal with the crisis. Critics of Labour say that Shearer’s inaction is further evidence that he is unfit to lead the party.
Poverty Watch 8
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, October 20th, 2012 - 18 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, “International Eradication of Poverty Day”, and the tragic link between poverty and child abuse.
National split on super?
Written By: - Date published: 7:09 am, October 19th, 2012 - 26 comments
Foss has effectively challenged the PM’s stance on ruling out changes to the age of eligibility for NZ Super. A minor rebellion? A faint flickering of independent and rational thought form within the National caucus?
Local Bodies: Our Vulnerable Less Safe Under National
Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, October 16th, 2012 - 7 comments
Dave Kennedy (bsprout) at Local Bodies writes on crime statistics and the vulnerable in our society.
Asset sales grind on
Written By: - Date published: 5:50 pm, October 15th, 2012 - 37 comments
Amidst all the current scandal and chaos, the Nats’ privatisation agenda grinds on.
Poverty Watch 7
Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, October 13th, 2012 - 6 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, three good pieces on the recent Children’s Commisioner’s report, the Nats dither on food in schools, and much more…
Time for change
Written By: - Date published: 10:02 am, October 12th, 2012 - 19 comments
Unions, businesses, and political parties will come together today to form a united front on the need for change to save manufacturing in New Zealand. If National want to stand isolated against the new consensus, that’s their problem.
Spreading privilege
Written By: - Date published: 8:27 am, October 12th, 2012 - 10 comments
This week I’ve been to see the surrealists at the Tate Modern in London, and read about the surrealists at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. God knows what Cameron was talking about, with his line about spreading privilege – Knighthoods for all? Everybody off to Eton and Oxbridge?
The race to the bottom
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, October 11th, 2012 - 21 comments
Youth rates are an admission of economic failure.
Key’s snub to unions and workers
Written By: - Date published: 6:37 am, October 9th, 2012 - 99 comments
National promised us an “unrelenting focus on jobs” and delivered record highs in unemployment and emigration. Now Key is refusing to even attend a Union jobs summit, because on Planet Key everything is just fine. The unwillingness to admit that anything is wrong is just blind arrogance.
Poverty Watch 6
Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, October 6th, 2012 - 7 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, immigrant Pacific Island families in poverty, and a thoughtful and challenging piece on the role of philanthropy in NZ.
Meanwhile back on Planet Earth
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, October 5th, 2012 - 18 comments
It’s now clear that National are unfit for office anywhere but Planet Key. Which is unfortunate, because here on Planet Earth, things aren’t going so well. We need new ideas, we need action, we need results. We aren’t going to get them from National.
Parata bungling inexcusable
Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, October 3rd, 2012 - 74 comments
Parata is trying to close schools based on data that is (as even the Ministry now admits) massively incorrect. The attack on the social fabric of Christchurch was already inexcusable. This latest fiasco makes it even worse.
Polls get worse for National
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, October 1st, 2012 - 40 comments
The latest Roy Morgan poll has National at its lowest level of support since before the 2008 election
Poverty Watch 5
Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, September 29th, 2012 - 23 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, right wingers whine about the focus on poverty, 3 News and Kidscan try to do something about it.
The cost of doing nothing
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, September 28th, 2012 - 34 comments
Another report confirms the findings of the 2006 Stern Report. The future economic costs of doing nothing far outweigh the current costs of taking action on climate change. But National is taking us backwards…
Ombudsman: Government secrecy “highly dangerous”
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, September 28th, 2012 - 31 comments
The Chief Ombudsmen has attacked the government’s moves to keep official information secret, calling them “highly dangerous”. The ongoing GCSB and John Banks scandals show just how important it is to be able to hold the government – at all levels – to account.
Implausible deniability
Written By: - Date published: 10:11 pm, September 26th, 2012 - 16 comments
There’s a lot of it about in right-wing parties at the moment. For John Key, John Banks and David Cameron it appears to be becoming the strategy of choice. It’s not working very well for any of them.
ImperatorFish: Blame Labour
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, September 25th, 2012 - 11 comments
National has a plan to deal with their crisis of job losses, GCSB illegality and bad polls. Tomorrow will probably see another welfare crackdown, although with the number of groups left to target rapidly diminishing, could it be the turn of one-legged Dutchmen to feel Paula’s wrath?
But if that plan doesn’t work, National has another up its sleeve: blame Labour. Go on, sing along.
The losses keep coming
Written By: - Date published: 12:08 pm, September 24th, 2012 - 54 comments
Welcome to National’s economy: Kiwirail has just announced 158 infrastructure and engineering job losses, and this afternoon Solid Energy will probably announce the loss of 300 jobs at Spring Creek, and 200-250 elsewhere. This on top of the swathe of job losses in Huntly and Christchurch Solid Energy announced a month ago.
Poverty Watch 4
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, September 22nd, 2012 - 7 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, a new Labour Bill, an Otago University study, and Live Below the Line.
Garner on the exodus to Oz
Written By: - Date published: 4:18 pm, September 21st, 2012 - 51 comments
John Key is one kind of Wizard all right – a Wizard of Oz. He can make people disappear there. Duncan Garner rips in to him.
You know your idea doesn’t work when…
Written By: - Date published: 1:29 pm, September 20th, 2012 - 24 comments
You, the Prime Minister, have to write personally to 175 employers to implore them to pretty please take some of these boot camp kids so the scheme doesn’t look like quite as much of a failure as it is…
Planet Key, Planet Paula, and the War on the Poor
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, September 19th, 2012 - 67 comments
Over the last week, the government’s off-world set of distorted realities has come to the foreground: those of “Planet John Key” and “Planet Paula”. These worlds highlight the way Bennett’s latest welfare reforms wage war on the poor and undermine fairness and democracy.
Jobs? In Oz…
Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, September 19th, 2012 - 19 comments
I saw this story on Friday saying about how the number of jobs available on seek.co.nz is up. Paula Bennett and John Key regularly come up with stories about how many jobs there are out there – you only need to look at trademe or seek – but they don’t mention that…
Sam Lotu-Iiga for mayor?
Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, September 18th, 2012 - 7 comments
Slater/Lusk are spending a hell of a lot of time talking about how the Key Government’s one-seat majority is at stake if a dissatisfied, bored backbencher decides to quit. One name that keeps popping up is Sam Lotu-Iiga. I understand the next stage will be a ‘Draft Sam’ faux mayoral campaign to pressure Key and Joyce into making him a minister.
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