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Poverty Watch 4

Written By: Anthony R0bins - 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: Eddie - 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: Bunji - 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: Guest post - 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: Bunji - 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: Eddie - 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.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:31 am, September 17th, 2012 - 10 comments

The Collins Faction is tooling up again. While Judith Collins herself has been trying to present a more reasonable face in the House, her Slater/Lusk campaign team is trying to undermine her challenger, Joyce, and the incumbent, Key. Upping Tau Henare’s ridiculous run for Speaker is naked opportunism – but a closer read of Whaleoil, and some inside tips, point to a far more ambitious play on the way

Abdicating our global responsibility

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 6:43 am, September 17th, 2012 - 175 comments

With proposed ETS changes National is abdicating our responsibility on the world stage, and sending the bill to the taxpayers. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment calls it ‘a farce’. It’s cowardly, it’s weak, and it’s shafting the working Kiwi.

Poverty Watch 3

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:55 am, September 15th, 2012 - 36 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: Shearer’s education speech stirs up the debate, the Greens start Champions for Children, and the Nats are in denial…

Long term model or beneficiary bashing?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:13 am, September 14th, 2012 - 21 comments

“When you take a long-term model, there’s no place to hide”. Interesting, don’t you think, the issue – the only issue – that the Nats have chosen to take a long-term model of?

Latest education stuffup quickest U-turn ever

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:12 pm, September 13th, 2012 - 38 comments

Brownlee and Parata announced school closures and explained the rationale. Now they’ve backed down and they’re trying to blame a Ministry mistake. This was the quickest U-turn in the history of politics. Update: And this morning it seems that closures and mergers are back on again – does anyone know what is going on?

ImperatorFish: He Who Consults Wins

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:18 pm, September 13th, 2012 - 12 comments

$1 million well spent?

Written By: Ben Clark - Date published: 12:16 pm, September 13th, 2012 - 22 comments

So the current people on benefits will cost $78 billion over the course of their lifetime. To get this useless $78 billion factoid, National have given an Australian company $1 million of our money – next year, they’ll do it again, to see if the number has changed any. What use is this number? It’s not good for budgeting and doesn’t seem to actually tell us anything useful – so why is the government wasting money while telling us times are tight?

The Canterbury dictatorship

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:34 am, September 13th, 2012 - 15 comments

Puddleglum at The Political Scientist has written an encyclopedic and scathing critique of the Nats’ dictatorship in Canterbury.

Redundancies, consultants, professional development

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:46 am, September 12th, 2012 - 12 comments

National would like us to believe that it is the party of sound business management. How sound is it to spend $114 million on redundancies, while simultaneously running up a $910 million bill on external consultants?

Champions for Children

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:02 pm, September 11th, 2012 - 33 comments

The Greens have started a new programme – Champions for Children. We should all sign up. We need to make alleviating child poverty the election issue of 2014.

Energy efficiency

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:44 am, September 11th, 2012 - 44 comments

If Europe can ban incandescent light bulbs, if America can legislate to require 54.5 MPG fuel efficient cars, why can’t New Zealand make some progress on energy efficiency?

Nats in denial about education and poverty

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:06 am, September 11th, 2012 - 57 comments

Shearer’s speech on Sunday has sparked the discussions that this country needed to have about education, about poverty, and about the sad link between them. With every statement the Nats show how deeply in denial they are about these issues.

Shearer – excellent education speech

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 2:46 pm, September 9th, 2012 - 115 comments

David Shearer’s education speech today was excellent in every way. Core Labour values, a sound understanding of the issues, significant concrete policy, and the promise of more to come. “Under Labour, the world’s best education will be available at your local school”.

Something missing from asset sales debate

Written By: Jenny Michie - Date published: 7:28 pm, September 8th, 2012 - 38 comments

Something’s missing from Labour’s position on asset sales. It’s what it will do with the partially privatised companies (if the sales do go ahead despite Treaty issues and the dearth of economic rationale) when Labour is once more in government. I understand why it cannot promise to buy back the shares but why not make […]

NRT: Extended

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:14 am, September 8th, 2012 - 25 comments

No Right Turn on the Nats’ continuing contempt for democracy in Canterbury.

Poverty Watch 2

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:35 am, September 8th, 2012 - 64 comments

Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on the National government’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. In relevant news this week a study estimates the cost of child poverty in NZ to be $10 billion per year.

Unqualified teachers in charter schools condemned

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:38 am, September 7th, 2012 - 181 comments

A stinging report from the Ministry of Education condemns the proposed use of unqualified teachers in charter schools. The Nats won’t listen because the Nats don’t care about the quality of education, they only care about privatising it.

Water rights hui

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:37 am, September 6th, 2012 - 115 comments

It’s easy to see why Key has forbidden National MPs from attending the national water rights hui – he’s playing divide and rule with Maori. More difficult to understand is the Maori Party’s craven decision to stay away. Hone Harawira condemns them in the strongest possible language.

Trouble? Re-announce a distraction…

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 6:52 am, September 6th, 2012 - 232 comments

I see Paula Benefit is up to her old tricks again. As the government desperately wants to be doing something other than not attending huis over water rights, it’s up to Paula to pull a benefit bash. But she’s obviously run out of ideas so now we’re re-announcing the old bene-bashes.

ImperatorFish: On “The Issues That Matter”

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 12:43 pm, September 5th, 2012 - 36 comments

Scott writes in response to Stuart Nash and Jordan Carter‘s differing views on “strategy” for Labour around marriage equality.

If they didn’t want to sell it, we would all own it

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 11:30 am, September 5th, 2012 - 85 comments

The National/Act government wants to sell essential public infrastructure assets that we all own, and that returns a public dividend, to a few of its mates. It’s private appropriation of public assets that causes the problem. Take that away and the problem becomes different, and resolution much easier.

Clark on the minimum wage

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:55 am, September 5th, 2012 - 18 comments

David Clark’s opinion piece in The Herald – “The PM’s cleaner deserves more pay” – makes for welcome reading…

Will National think of the children?

Written By: Ben Clark - Date published: 3:21 pm, September 4th, 2012 - 25 comments

The Herald has had a plethora of columns urging action on the 230,000-270,000 in Child Poverty this week. There have been 3 weighty reports on Child Poverty out recently to spur them, but the even conservative ol’ Granny Herald seems to have got the message – will National?