paula bennett

Categories under paula bennett

  • No categories

Beneficiary bashing – mission accomplished

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, February 6th, 2013 - 172 comments

National’s constant beneficiary bashing has borne predictable fruit – beneficiaries are now perceived as the most discriminated against group in the country.

Doing the numbers: benefits & (un)employment

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, January 18th, 2013 - 92 comments

Paula Bennett stated that the numbers of people on benefits had dropped over the last quarter.  The figures mask the reality of Bennett’s punitive welfare reforms, and the struggles of those living on low incomes. Meanwhile unemployment is still rising. [Update: RNZ]

Bad news govt: it must be recess

Written By: - Date published: 1:50 pm, December 13th, 2012 - 11 comments

The House went into recess yesterday. Today there is a rush of stories that are bad news for the government.  Collins and the Binnie report, unsuccessful boot camps, and counter-productive anti-union and anti-worker policies.  What else?

Who in the House is for beneficiaries?

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, December 5th, 2012 - 64 comments

Yesterday Jacinda Ardern questioned Paula Bennett on WINZ paying for beneficiaries to travel to Aussie to get jobs. Did she highlight the government’s poor record on jobs, or inadvertently trigger more MSM bennie-bashing? Do any MPs raise their voices strongly beneficiaries?

Opposition Party statements; what the MSM doesn’t report

Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, November 10th, 2012 - 39 comments

The MSM quickly picked up a press release on the failure of the Southern Cross Cable. Others that are ignored:  Bennett has either lied or is incompetent;  Nat-linked appointment to TVNZ board; Hone’s ‘feed the kids’ Bill; Joyce’s education agenda; John Key as a “bumbling Marxist”.

Well past time to be “concerned”!

Written By: - Date published: 4:59 pm, October 24th, 2012 - 50 comments

Despite an apparently never-ending parade of security stuff-ups at WINZ, Paula Bennet is “not concerned”. What exactly is her job then?

ImperatorFish: A Day In The Life Of Paula Bennett

Written By: - Date published: 2:07 pm, October 18th, 2012 - 25 comments

Another revenge leaking from Nats

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, October 17th, 2012 - 31 comments

Paula Bennett’s MSD ignored not one, but two warnings last year that its public kiosks were insecure. When a third warning came from Ira Bailey, Bennett (or her staff) appear to have leaked his name to the media. Bennett has a history of leaking private details to the media – by taking no action Key is giving his tacit consent.

“Privacy assured!” Politics, the police & surveillance

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, October 16th, 2012 - 27 comments

Public trust in the police is at a new low. But what of the trust in our government?  How much collusion is there between the police, government, spy agencies and foreign governments? However, citizens are also using the technologies of the surveillance society to hold the government and state authorities to account.

No accountability in National Government

Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, October 16th, 2012 - 252 comments

I watched Paula Bennett and her MSD CEO make excuses and say sorry yesterday as they revealed that they had let the personal data of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders sit in the open at WINZ kiosks – and it’s all still open to anyone working at MSD. I didn’t hear either of them offer their resignations. What do they think we pay them for?

This is going to be big

Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, October 15th, 2012 - 230 comments

Keith Ng has uncovered a truly massive breach in MSD’s computer security.

White Wash Paper

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, October 11th, 2012 - 10 comments

Paula Bennett “can’t find the time” to appear on Morning Report this morning. The release of her White Paper on Vulnerable Children is – as she puts it – “one of the biggest and certainly most significant changes that will be in my time as minister.” So why doesn’t it include any action on Child Poverty? And why is she running from the hard questions? Our government ministers seem to have forgotten about accountability to the voting public.

‘Children of the Poor’ 1934 – 2012: Social Security for the Future?

Written By: - Date published: 11:04 am, September 30th, 2012 - 176 comments

Split Enz once sang, “History Never Repeats”…  Or does it?  Destructive prejudices separating  ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor have been around a very long time. When the likes of Paula Bennett pander to such ill-informed vindictiveness with punitive social welfare reforms, they will damage large numbers of children – our future citizens.

“Work” and the false economy of Bennett’s welfare reforms

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 26th, 2012 - 102 comments

Bennett’s reforms aim to cut the costs of government spending on welfare.  But what this means is that more of the necessary caring and service work in NZ will be unpaid, or underpaid.  It doesn’t mean people will necessarily work harder or longer, and that they aren’t making a significant contribution to society and the economy.

Fight the ‘War on the Poor’: Opposing Bennett’s welfare reforms.

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, September 21st, 2012 - 52 comments

Grant Robertson, in the House yesterday speaking on Paula Bennett’s “Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill” – First Reading, gave an impassioned speech. He said many some great points about social obligations and a mutually beneficial social contract (between the state and beneficiaries. However, will the Labour Party’s policies match up to the rhetoric?

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.

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.