Don’t often do so, but listened to Brian Edwards and Michelle Boag on the afternoon panel session today. The main topic discussed was Metiria Turei’s confession. Michelle Boag’s responses served to confirm that the faux rage being expressed by all the usual media suspects is a further example of the ‘Right Wing’s Dirty Political’ machine. They are all saying exactly the same things and feeding off each other.
None of them mention the root cause of this sudden upsurge in this petty benefit fraud. It was the cutting of the benefit by Ruth Richardson in the early 1990s. I was one of those affected and the benefit went from around $150 per week to $130 per week. No-one could survive on $130 even in the 90s so hence the need to seek a source of income elsewhere. In my case it was doing housework for an elderly family friend. She was a Christian lady who would never have broken a law in her life. But she was happy to pay me cash under the table because she knew how desperate my financial situation was at that time.
So, here they are… screaming foul play when it was one of their own kind who forced people into having to “break the law” in the first place!
Can’t speak for Mickey but for myself its her total and utter cavalier attitude that rubs me up the wrong way, like shes not sorry nor repentant and it just smacks of a political stunt
She could have used her maiden speech and then paid whatever money she owes back, could have done it when she become co-leader but nope she waits until a couple of months out from the election
Well shes made a gamble so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Personally I think this is going to backfire on the Greens and it won’t help Labour either
And for me I don’t see that attitude – I see a woman with a child, studying to make life better for herself and her child. There is a sincere, honest and composed compassion around this leader that cannot be sullied by the right. Her bringing it to the public consciousness and her handling of it since then have been exemplary. All of the combined nastiness against her is petty bullshit and the tactics of some very scared little boys and girls. They should be scared too, very scared, because change is going to happen.
You are misinterpreting Metiria’s attitude chris73. It is not cavalier. Do you honestly think the vast bulk of beneficiaries enjoyed ‘breaking the rules’? It is pathetic calling it law-breaking because what I, Metiria and thousands of others did was hardly a criminal act. If you had found yourself in the same circumstance in the 90s you would have done exactly the same thing. It’s called survival.
Agreed Anne
And the absolute terror and stress at having to break the rules like that to survive, knowing that the full force of the state would come down hard.
The dob in a beneficiary scheme bred fear and distrust all round
If I recall correctly, an analysis done not long after the Clark govt. came to power found that some 72 to 75% of those anonymous dob-ins proved to be false and motivated by malice.
Er, yes. Is anyone in National sorry or repentant for slashing benefits in 1991, which is what led to this widespread practice of lying to WINZ? No, not even slightly – so why should Turei be sorry or repentant?
I know right-wingers struggle to imagine that anyone feels empathy for the poor, but that’s because you’re right-wingers. Among Turei’s and the left’s target market, the fact that Turei’s also struggled to make ends meet on the receiving end of National’s “brighter future” isn’t a drawback.
Psych nuse
don.t think so. Any female benny would have done. Male might have had some sympathy because he didn’t go and get pregnant which is a sin and a shame on females.
I also don’t think it’s cavalier, and anyone listening to her talk about how terrifying it was and who knows what it’s like being on a benefit and dealing with WINZ understands very well that Turei is taking this very seriously. She just put her career on the line, and she did this for her constituents.
Interestingly, it seemed to me that right at the end of that interview Brian Edwards’ patience with bellicose Boag was running out, and Jim Mora (wanting to keep things nicy-nicy) rapidly shut down the conversation.
A pity – for far too long to my mind has Edwards kindly agreed to so much slanted stuff that Boag has uttered.
Heard it. I quite enjoyed the thought of that tiny extra bit of Michelle Boag’s taxes that Metiria managed to obtain to feed her child baked beans or some other cheap staple. Perhaps they named each baked bean after some filthy rich National party grandee as they went down the hatch. The scabrous, judgmental old Boag was entirely repulsive.
chris73’s comment is of great value to most commenters here, though it may not seem so at first reading. His comment that Metiria’s attitude “rubs him up the wrong way” is genuine and visceral and indicative of his “sort”; what Metiria has done and her follow-up comments on that have sorted the wheat from the chaff. It’s now blatantly obvious which side of the fence chris73, James, red et al sit on and there’s no point at all in trying to haul them over to the other side; they ain’t for haulin’. Let’s save our collective breath. Metiria has proved the Great Revealer, and those sizzling under the heat of her spotlight are those we have to dismiss as lost, not entertain as potential allies, so I say, come on wheat, blow off that chaff and let’s rally behind our flag-bearers; we’ll gain so much by combining our talents and keeping our eyes on the main prize and if you don’t know what that is, stay tuned to Metiria and her kind for further guidance.
I do enjoy reading your contributions so believe me when I say that I am genuinely sorry that you’re going to get a big surprise on election day (and not the kind you’re hoping for)
That’s very kind of you, Chris73, however, I’m pretty confident that you’re as hopeless at accurately predicting the future as I am, and face the possibility of a similar fate to that you’ve predicted for me, so why don’t we just enjoy the ride and while we’re doing that, spread a little more love than we have been, around. God knows, we could all use it. I’m giving Metiria all I can, across the etheric divide, on the airwaves, from my far-flung aerie; you could pitch in too and make someone’s burden just that little lighter, should you choose to express some of the milk of human kindness that doubtless swells your metaphoric breast.
Not only were the benefits reduced but Housing NZ house rents jumped to market rates. Shipley and Richardson will probably never know the damage they did to many families.
Richardson worked closely with Minister of Social Welfare Jenny Shipley and proudly announced her fiscal outlay as the ‘mother of all budgets’
The budget essentially dismantled much of what remained of the welfare state institutions established in the 1930s by the First Labour Government. The unemployment benefit was cut by $14.00 a week, sickness benefit by $27.04, families benefit by $25.00 to $27.00 and universal payments for family benefits were completely abolished.
Richardson also introduced many user pays requirements in hospitals and schools, services previously free to the populace and paid for by the government.[3] Public services such as state housing were devolved essentially into companies under government contract in all but name.
I have absolutely NO respect for Ruth Richardson and Jenny Shipley. They were happy to shaft people who needed the safety net of the social welfare system. They lacked the quality of compassion that makes Metiria Turia the courageous woman that she is. We need women of her caliber to change the mean spirited culture perpetuated by this (outgoing) government.
Too complicated and precious. You did her housework and she gave you cash and now you’re claiming you did it for the money. Is that how your “elderly family friend and Christian lady” saw it ? You and she might not have “broken the law” after all and now she can’t speak for herself.
For your health, I recommend avoiding the Boag/Edwards pairing.
Listening to the comfortably off from Herne Bay lecturing the poor is bad for one’s digestion.
Actually it was only a stones throw from an out and out shouting match today. Edwards wasn’t going to have a bar of Boag’s distorted diatribes – especially over the Turei saga. Quite entertaining.
Michelle Boag does not have such a squeaky clean history herself. Remember the big fine over the Wine Box inquiry.
I can’t understand why all those rich people who have accountants to work out how to get out of paying as much tax as they can every year are making such a fuss about a few hundred dollars used to feed a baby two decades ago.
‘……But, talk of ”record labour force participation” and a ”significant increase” in jobs is only telling part of the story.
Just below the surface, another darker picture emerges.
It does not take much digging in Statistics New Zealand’s latest Household Labour Force Survey to uncover a growing world of low-paid work, insufficient working hours, financial struggles and unfulfilled lives…..
…During the past nine years, the percentage increase in unemployment, underemployment and underutilisation has been two to three times higher than the increase in employment.
Let’s take those one at a time.
For the whole of New Zealand, over that period, the number of people unemployed has increased 49 per cent.
Then there are the underemployed. Those are the people who are employed for fewer than 30 hours a week and would like to be working more hours. Their number has increased 61 per cent.
And there are the underutilised. This is the grouping of people who are unemployed, underemployed and in the potential labour force. They have grown by 38 per cent.
Welcome to the precarious proletariat, aka, the precariat; the growing group of second-class citizens who struggle to get a decent job, a decent wage, a decent life.
In New Zealand today, there are 139,000 people unemployed and trying to find work. That includes 5500 unemployed people in Otago. But remember, ”unemployed” is not the whole picture. There are also 80,000 Kiwis wanting to work but who have given up looking, including 3600 in Otago. On top of that, there are 110,000 individuals in part-time work who need more hours, including 5400 in Otago. There are now 329,000 New Zealanders, including almost 15,000 in Otago, who cannot get any or enough work. That is one person for every eight people in the total work force.’
And more…
‘Not only is underemployment increasing, but the length of time people are unemployed is also growing.Compared with 2008, the percentage of those unemployed who remain without work for more than a year has tripled. Now, more than 30 per cent of those looking for work remain ”between jobs” for more than 52 weeks.
On the underemployment front, Rosenberg says people are being forced off benefits when there are no suitable jobs for them. He points to recent research for the Ministry of Social Development that shows only a third of those who came off welfare benefits during the year to June, 2011, were in employment two years later.
”They find themselves having to take up insecure, part-time or short-term jobs and many end up unemployed again or underemployed.”
Even after the Government has backed away from zero-hour contracts, its employment laws still make it too easy for employers to hire people on low pay and bad conditions, he says, citing a recent OECD report, Back to Work: New Zealand.The report looks at ways to improve unemployed New Zealanders’ chances of getting work.
The summary states that ”in New Zealand most displaced workers find a new job again, largely due to a strong economy and a highly flexible labour market”.
”But,” says the report, ”many of them face large losses in terms of job quality and especially wages.”
New Zealand has the weakest job protection legislation of any job protection legislation of any OECD country, Rosenberg says.’
…’Work and Income New Zealand is an organisation he tries to avoid. Dealing with the government agency is too much hassle, he says. So, as often as possible, Jefferies finds other ways to get by, even when things are tough.
The idea that he pays taxes and obeys the law, so the State has an obligation to protect and promote his wellbeing, is alien to his experience and his worldview.
Jefferies is a success because he is a survivor. He is a member of the precariat; one of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders living on an economic knife-edge, who have been doing so for so long they think it is normal‘
I just don’t understand why there isn’t a revolution in this country.
Well, fucking educate yourself then. Information about what it was like in countries that did have revolutions is in plentiful supply and should clear up this mystery for you fairly quickly if you trouble yourself to locate and read it.
Psycho Milt
You don’t have to rip apart every off the cuff comment that Ed says in an emotional moment. When Ed wrote “I just don’t understand why there isn’t a revolution in this country.”, it was really a rhetorical question.
And this also begs the question that neither of you have noted that the change to neo liberalism amounted to a long-running, acid-drip revolution in NZ engineered by The Smugs of Labour 1984. Motto “We do it because we can”. That was a virtually silent revolution. But it turned us upside down so whether you look up or down it was a revolution all right.
But it turned us upside down so whether you look up or down it was a revolution all right.
Well, if we’re classing “elected government passes laws through Parliament” as a “revolution,” Ed’s wish has already come true – every parliamentary session sees a new revolution.
The countries in the western world that have had “revolutions” are Greece, Spain, Italy and France (did France actually have a revolution?). Their rates of unemployment and underemployment are typically double, or in the case of Greece and Spain, quadruple the rate of New Zealand.
There is simply no way that New Zealand can be compared to these European countries. Their economies (excepting France) have actually shrunk in the last decade.
In contrast New Zealand’s growth rate is near the top of the OECD. Our employment rate, even with very high immigration, is among the highest in the OECD. The conditions for “revolution”are simply not present.
Even the Greens and Labour have bought into the broad economic settings of the last few years with their MOU and Budget Rules.
So even if there is a change a govt, it is not going to herald a radical departure from the past. The Greens are the most radical of the alternative (Labour, NZF, and the Greens), but they will also have the smallest say in the alternative govt.
Wayne, you were part of the neoliberal revolution that turned New Zealand from a socialist country into the deregulated capitalist nirvana for billionaires it is today.
Proud of that?
Revolutions are everywhere the result of pitiful corrupt governments.
NZ now leads the world in suicide and homelessness, the prospects for revolution are as high as they have ever been here.
Combine that with the blatant incompetence, corruption and vindictive attacks on the poor that characterize this government, and the only reason the incumbents aren’t tiger food is unprecedented generosity of spirit on the part of most New Zealanders.
We should be not so generous to the treacherous scum who steal our assets, it only encourages them.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can he confirm the contents of a requested presentation by UBS AG, a Swiss investment bank giant, which details options to sell our national grid, worth billions of dollars—this document, marked confidential.
Well there you go, I didn’t know they were still operating until now as I thought they closed up or were brought out after the Thames branch line closed.
Another proud and great engineering firm gone what a blood shame!
In the early 90s when Metiria was going through these “issues” I too had a young family.
I worked around 50hrs a week plus travelled about an hour a day.
If I was on the benefit at that time our families income would have been similar to my wage, without travel and costs associated with working we would have been better off.
If we had pretended to seperate and my wife got the dpb we would have been much better off
(No WFF back then)
We didn’t do either of those, though we considered it, we didn’t want to break the law.
This is not about bene bashing, this not about woman or Maori bashing.
There are always tough times, some worse than others.
But while my family, and Matiria, worked hard and changed our families story… she did it by cheating and I don’t think that is acceptable.
She has bought daylight to inadequate behaviour by WINZ, and payment levels, but to me she has done so in the wrong way. She simply should have paid back the money first and apologised.
Many people are very very angry, tbh I’m one, not because I don’t think we need a safety net, because I don’t like cheats.
Some are literally incoherent with anger that a successful female Maori MP cheated ‘the system’ while a new solo mum a couple of decades ago. The fact that she has voluntarily admitted her wrong doing and committed to repaying what she owes seems to make it that much worse.
Either the level and direction of their anger is disproportionate and biased, or they must be in a constant lather over those perpetrating more substantial rip-offs.
The BIG cheats, now as in the past, excel at concealing their behaviour, but occasionally they do get caught out…
I hadn’t read awww properly at 9. This is from a male who had a wife and family that he had to work hard for. And he is comparing himself to one person trying to do the work of two, plus do training so she could get a job in the first place.
It shows the complete and wilful ignorance that bennie-bashers revel in. They build themselves up as heroes who stand proud above the hoi-polloi struggling at their feet. It’s just a form of self-gratification. Instead of thinking, this is hard-times for us all, good on her for getting training and a job and be a working mother, supporting herself, he just goes for the cheap sneer and superiority.
awww g-me a break – your claims haven’t the ring of truth about them, but giving you the benefit of the doubt, I wonder how it could be that someone like you who shared the same misfortune as Metiria (note spelling) even to the point of giving consideration to “cheating”, are so damning now in your comments, of someone who found themselves in a position so similar to your own. It seems very unlikely that someone who has given thought to cheating due to pressures such as both you (you say) and Metiria (note spelling) experienced, would bother to go to the trouble of going to a Metiria-friendly blogsite to condemn her for something you yourself were, you say, very close to doing yourself. Pretty unkind and lacking in empathy, I’d say, if I was believing your story (which, I don’t – my apologies if I’m wrong).
Why come here and share, because I want to understand the support she is getting.
If I live in my bubble and never get challenged I can’t learn.
Yes, my spelling is shite, always has been. No offence intended.
Your disbelief doesn’t offend, and you can take my word that it’s an honest account (or not)
BTW, I think looking at temptation and making a choice is the making (or undoing) of everyone.
aww
Your pseudo implies that you don’t believe anything you hear or read.
We come here to try and get an understanding about what’s going on.
You say you have already experienced something and still don’t understand it – what can we say?
The main point is that it takes a great effort to study and learn and pass a university degree, plus be a good parent, and put regular good meals on the table, and pay the bills, and spend time with your child, be there when they are sick, get the washing dry and study,study. And the government doesn’t really get behind you. Back some decades ago they did try though the rules could be contradictory.
I tend to think “there, but for the grace of god, go I”. Or would if I were religious.
If someone’s genuinely lying to get money they don’t need to buy luxuries, then fair enough I’d be pissed.
But people shouldn’t have to work 50 hours a week to get the same as a benefit, and people on a benefit shouldn’t have to struggle just to live. The law is one thing, but people being cheated by the system can’t cheat the system if they’re just getting their dues. Hell, a mate tonight said he was going through a review process because msd was fucking him out of cash.
As for paying back the cash, I doubt Turei knows specifically how much is at issue – I’m damned sure I played fast and loose with declarations once or twice back in the day, but am stuffed if I remember the details. There’s a even slim chance I actually did everything legitimately but by accident, lol.
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Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
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Looks like TOP has just shifted its first policy debate.
And yep, it was the one about cats:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc-cat-management-proposal-passes-vote
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win!!
Cull must have done such a good, cheap job of flood alleviation that there’s money left over for this. Or maybe he plans on drowning them.
Don’t often do so, but listened to Brian Edwards and Michelle Boag on the afternoon panel session today. The main topic discussed was Metiria Turei’s confession. Michelle Boag’s responses served to confirm that the faux rage being expressed by all the usual media suspects is a further example of the ‘Right Wing’s Dirty Political’ machine. They are all saying exactly the same things and feeding off each other.
None of them mention the root cause of this sudden upsurge in this petty benefit fraud. It was the cutting of the benefit by Ruth Richardson in the early 1990s. I was one of those affected and the benefit went from around $150 per week to $130 per week. No-one could survive on $130 even in the 90s so hence the need to seek a source of income elsewhere. In my case it was doing housework for an elderly family friend. She was a Christian lady who would never have broken a law in her life. But she was happy to pay me cash under the table because she knew how desperate my financial situation was at that time.
So, here they are… screaming foul play when it was one of their own kind who forced people into having to “break the law” in the first place!
Can’t speak for Mickey but for myself its her total and utter cavalier attitude that rubs me up the wrong way, like shes not sorry nor repentant and it just smacks of a political stunt
She could have used her maiden speech and then paid whatever money she owes back, could have done it when she become co-leader but nope she waits until a couple of months out from the election
Well shes made a gamble so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Personally I think this is going to backfire on the Greens and it won’t help Labour either
And for me I don’t see that attitude – I see a woman with a child, studying to make life better for herself and her child. There is a sincere, honest and composed compassion around this leader that cannot be sullied by the right. Her bringing it to the public consciousness and her handling of it since then have been exemplary. All of the combined nastiness against her is petty bullshit and the tactics of some very scared little boys and girls. They should be scared too, very scared, because change is going to happen.
You are misinterpreting Metiria’s attitude chris73. It is not cavalier. Do you honestly think the vast bulk of beneficiaries enjoyed ‘breaking the rules’? It is pathetic calling it law-breaking because what I, Metiria and thousands of others did was hardly a criminal act. If you had found yourself in the same circumstance in the 90s you would have done exactly the same thing. It’s called survival.
Ruth Richardson has a great deal to answer for!
Ruth Richardson has a great deal to answer for!
True, just a shame theres never been a left government to restore benefits in power since it happened
Agreed Anne
And the absolute terror and stress at having to break the rules like that to survive, knowing that the full force of the state would come down hard.
The dob in a beneficiary scheme bred fear and distrust all round
If I recall correctly, an analysis done not long after the Clark govt. came to power found that some 72 to 75% of those anonymous dob-ins proved to be false and motivated by malice.
…like shes not sorry nor repentant…
Er, yes. Is anyone in National sorry or repentant for slashing benefits in 1991, which is what led to this widespread practice of lying to WINZ? No, not even slightly – so why should Turei be sorry or repentant?
Because it would have somewhat mitigated the coming damage thats going to happen to the Greens and the left in general?
I know right-wingers struggle to imagine that anyone feels empathy for the poor, but that’s because you’re right-wingers. Among Turei’s and the left’s target market, the fact that Turei’s also struggled to make ends meet on the receiving end of National’s “brighter future” isn’t a drawback.
Isn’t it all about an uppity Maori woman who has risen above her station and middle class anger that she dosn’t knowher place.
Psych nuse
don.t think so. Any female benny would have done. Male might have had some sympathy because he didn’t go and get pregnant which is a sin and a shame on females.
I’m sure that plays a part.
I also don’t think it’s cavalier, and anyone listening to her talk about how terrifying it was and who knows what it’s like being on a benefit and dealing with WINZ understands very well that Turei is taking this very seriously. She just put her career on the line, and she did this for her constituents.
Interestingly, it seemed to me that right at the end of that interview Brian Edwards’ patience with bellicose Boag was running out, and Jim Mora (wanting to keep things nicy-nicy) rapidly shut down the conversation.
A pity – for far too long to my mind has Edwards kindly agreed to so much slanted stuff that Boag has uttered.
didn’t hear it but sounds like classic Mora.
Heard it. I quite enjoyed the thought of that tiny extra bit of Michelle Boag’s taxes that Metiria managed to obtain to feed her child baked beans or some other cheap staple. Perhaps they named each baked bean after some filthy rich National party grandee as they went down the hatch. The scabrous, judgmental old Boag was entirely repulsive.
Bit of a Boag-an then?
I’m not sure the Gnats understand her effect on the public – she was doing Bill’s PR when he led them to their worst defeat in living memory.
chris73’s comment is of great value to most commenters here, though it may not seem so at first reading. His comment that Metiria’s attitude “rubs him up the wrong way” is genuine and visceral and indicative of his “sort”; what Metiria has done and her follow-up comments on that have sorted the wheat from the chaff. It’s now blatantly obvious which side of the fence chris73, James, red et al sit on and there’s no point at all in trying to haul them over to the other side; they ain’t for haulin’. Let’s save our collective breath. Metiria has proved the Great Revealer, and those sizzling under the heat of her spotlight are those we have to dismiss as lost, not entertain as potential allies, so I say, come on wheat, blow off that chaff and let’s rally behind our flag-bearers; we’ll gain so much by combining our talents and keeping our eyes on the main prize and if you don’t know what that is, stay tuned to Metiria and her kind for further guidance.
+1
+2
I do enjoy reading your contributions so believe me when I say that I am genuinely sorry that you’re going to get a big surprise on election day (and not the kind you’re hoping for)
That’s very kind of you, Chris73, however, I’m pretty confident that you’re as hopeless at accurately predicting the future as I am, and face the possibility of a similar fate to that you’ve predicted for me, so why don’t we just enjoy the ride and while we’re doing that, spread a little more love than we have been, around. God knows, we could all use it. I’m giving Metiria all I can, across the etheric divide, on the airwaves, from my far-flung aerie; you could pitch in too and make someone’s burden just that little lighter, should you choose to express some of the milk of human kindness that doubtless swells your metaphoric breast.
Good point, I think Todd Barclay could use some love at the moment
I’m giving him heaps 🙂
At least she’s telling the truth which is more than some seem capable of!
Not only were the benefits reduced but Housing NZ house rents jumped to market rates. Shipley and Richardson will probably never know the damage they did to many families.
Doubt they cared.
Yep, and beneficiaries were treated like flotsam in the gutter by the WINZ staff even when our circumstances were NOT of our own making.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_of_all_Budgets
I have absolutely NO respect for Ruth Richardson and Jenny Shipley. They were happy to shaft people who needed the safety net of the social welfare system. They lacked the quality of compassion that makes Metiria Turia the courageous woman that she is. We need women of her caliber to change the mean spirited culture perpetuated by this (outgoing) government.
Putting the slipper into single mothers has long been a national sport so I expected the reaction to Metiria’s admission would be more of the same.
But wow, we’ve plumbed new depths with the disgusting levels of venom, spite and outright misogyny directed toward Meteria.
Too complicated and precious. You did her housework and she gave you cash and now you’re claiming you did it for the money. Is that how your “elderly family friend and Christian lady” saw it ? You and she might not have “broken the law” after all and now she can’t speak for herself.
An intellectually challenged rwnj but?
Ooops… GG has deleted the’ but!’ at the end of his dubious comment. Go back to school and learn ya grammar mate.
For your health, I recommend avoiding the Boag/Edwards pairing.
Listening to the comfortably off from Herne Bay lecturing the poor is bad for one’s digestion.
Actually it was only a stones throw from an out and out shouting match today. Edwards wasn’t going to have a bar of Boag’s distorted diatribes – especially over the Turei saga. Quite entertaining.
Michelle Boag does not have such a squeaky clean history herself. Remember the big fine over the Wine Box inquiry.
I can’t understand why all those rich people who have accountants to work out how to get out of paying as much tax as they can every year are making such a fuss about a few hundred dollars used to feed a baby two decades ago.
Some excerpts from an excellent article dispelling a few myths about this country’s healthy environment.
Struggling for a decent job, decent wage, decent life
‘……But, talk of ”record labour force participation” and a ”significant increase” in jobs is only telling part of the story.
Just below the surface, another darker picture emerges.
It does not take much digging in Statistics New Zealand’s latest Household Labour Force Survey to uncover a growing world of low-paid work, insufficient working hours, financial struggles and unfulfilled lives…..
…During the past nine years, the percentage increase in unemployment, underemployment and underutilisation has been two to three times higher than the increase in employment.
Let’s take those one at a time.
For the whole of New Zealand, over that period, the number of people unemployed has increased 49 per cent.
Then there are the underemployed. Those are the people who are employed for fewer than 30 hours a week and would like to be working more hours. Their number has increased 61 per cent.
And there are the underutilised. This is the grouping of people who are unemployed, underemployed and in the potential labour force. They have grown by 38 per cent.
Welcome to the precarious proletariat, aka, the precariat; the growing group of second-class citizens who struggle to get a decent job, a decent wage, a decent life.
In New Zealand today, there are 139,000 people unemployed and trying to find work. That includes 5500 unemployed people in Otago. But remember, ”unemployed” is not the whole picture. There are also 80,000 Kiwis wanting to work but who have given up looking, including 3600 in Otago. On top of that, there are 110,000 individuals in part-time work who need more hours, including 5400 in Otago. There are now 329,000 New Zealanders, including almost 15,000 in Otago, who cannot get any or enough work. That is one person for every eight people in the total work force.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11895299
There are so many stories of misery in 2017 neo-liberal state of New Zealand.
I just don’t understand why there isn’t a revolution in this country.
“I just don’t understand why there isn’t a revolution in this country.”
Well you’ve managed to make me feel bad for you that you really can’t get your head around this
‘There are now 329,000 New Zealanders, including almost 15,000 in Otago, who cannot get any or enough work. ‘
Isn’t that enough people to demand change?
And more…
‘Not only is underemployment increasing, but the length of time people are unemployed is also growing.Compared with 2008, the percentage of those unemployed who remain without work for more than a year has tripled. Now, more than 30 per cent of those looking for work remain ”between jobs” for more than 52 weeks.
On the underemployment front, Rosenberg says people are being forced off benefits when there are no suitable jobs for them. He points to recent research for the Ministry of Social Development that shows only a third of those who came off welfare benefits during the year to June, 2011, were in employment two years later.
”They find themselves having to take up insecure, part-time or short-term jobs and many end up unemployed again or underemployed.”
Even after the Government has backed away from zero-hour contracts, its employment laws still make it too easy for employers to hire people on low pay and bad conditions, he says, citing a recent OECD report, Back to Work: New Zealand.The report looks at ways to improve unemployed New Zealanders’ chances of getting work.
The summary states that ”in New Zealand most displaced workers find a new job again, largely due to a strong economy and a highly flexible labour market”.
”But,” says the report, ”many of them face large losses in terms of job quality and especially wages.”
New Zealand has the weakest job protection legislation of any job protection legislation of any OECD country, Rosenberg says.’
and more still.
…’Work and Income New Zealand is an organisation he tries to avoid. Dealing with the government agency is too much hassle, he says. So, as often as possible, Jefferies finds other ways to get by, even when things are tough.
The idea that he pays taxes and obeys the law, so the State has an obligation to protect and promote his wellbeing, is alien to his experience and his worldview.
Jefferies is a success because he is a survivor. He is a member of the precariat; one of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders living on an economic knife-edge, who have been doing so for so long they think it is normal‘
Change maybe but revolution?
Revolutionary change.
I wasn’t meaning a violent revolution – just the sort of grassroots uprising that’s occurring in the UK.
I just don’t understand why there isn’t a revolution in this country.
Well, fucking educate yourself then. Information about what it was like in countries that did have revolutions is in plentiful supply and should clear up this mystery for you fairly quickly if you trouble yourself to locate and read it.
Psycho Milt
You don’t have to rip apart every off the cuff comment that Ed says in an emotional moment. When Ed wrote “I just don’t understand why there isn’t a revolution in this country.”, it was really a rhetorical question.
And this also begs the question that neither of you have noted that the change to neo liberalism amounted to a long-running, acid-drip revolution in NZ engineered by The Smugs of Labour 1984. Motto “We do it because we can”. That was a virtually silent revolution. But it turned us upside down so whether you look up or down it was a revolution all right.
That’s what I mean when I use the word revolution.
The Neoliberal changes were effectively a coup d’état.
And I don’t know why pm is so hostile.
But it turned us upside down so whether you look up or down it was a revolution all right.
Well, if we’re classing “elected government passes laws through Parliament” as a “revolution,” Ed’s wish has already come true – every parliamentary session sees a new revolution.
The countries in the western world that have had “revolutions” are Greece, Spain, Italy and France (did France actually have a revolution?). Their rates of unemployment and underemployment are typically double, or in the case of Greece and Spain, quadruple the rate of New Zealand.
There is simply no way that New Zealand can be compared to these European countries. Their economies (excepting France) have actually shrunk in the last decade.
In contrast New Zealand’s growth rate is near the top of the OECD. Our employment rate, even with very high immigration, is among the highest in the OECD. The conditions for “revolution”are simply not present.
Even the Greens and Labour have bought into the broad economic settings of the last few years with their MOU and Budget Rules.
So even if there is a change a govt, it is not going to herald a radical departure from the past. The Greens are the most radical of the alternative (Labour, NZF, and the Greens), but they will also have the smallest say in the alternative govt.
Wayne, you were part of the neoliberal revolution that turned New Zealand from a socialist country into the deregulated capitalist nirvana for billionaires it is today.
Proud of that?
ed – wayne doesn’t give a fuck – he just doesn’t care, never has, never will.
Revolutions are everywhere the result of pitiful corrupt governments.
NZ now leads the world in suicide and homelessness, the prospects for revolution are as high as they have ever been here.
Combine that with the blatant incompetence, corruption and vindictive attacks on the poor that characterize this government, and the only reason the incumbents aren’t tiger food is unprecedented generosity of spirit on the part of most New Zealanders.
We should be not so generous to the treacherous scum who steal our assets, it only encourages them.
You say all that like its a god thing Wayne.
Life in NZ is like a game of Monopoly. It gets increasingly more frustrating the more you are exploited by those who own the most property.
The great divergence
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFiwK_KWsAIrvYN.jpg:large
Apparently there are WINZ investigators to investigate the doings of Metiria Turei.
Have they got enough investigators to check out the torture of grandparents by WINZ staff?
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/CvU74EGsp8p4dNaDv4XE/full
“Experiences of grandparents raising grandchildren in getting income support from work and income offices in New Zealand.”
It is clear where their priorities lie.
q&A QUESTION 6
Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can he confirm the contents of a requested presentation by UBS AG, a Swiss investment bank giant, which details options to sell our national grid, worth billions of dollars—this document, marked confidential.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1707/S00401/questions-and-answers-july-26.htm
NZ engineering firm goes under after 150 years
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/95146763/a-hundred-jobs-lost-as-thames-ag-price-goes-into-liquidation
Well there you go, I didn’t know they were still operating until now as I thought they closed up or were brought out after the Thames branch line closed.
Another proud and great engineering firm gone what a blood shame!
In the early 90s when Metiria was going through these “issues” I too had a young family.
I worked around 50hrs a week plus travelled about an hour a day.
If I was on the benefit at that time our families income would have been similar to my wage, without travel and costs associated with working we would have been better off.
If we had pretended to seperate and my wife got the dpb we would have been much better off
(No WFF back then)
We didn’t do either of those, though we considered it, we didn’t want to break the law.
This is not about bene bashing, this not about woman or Maori bashing.
There are always tough times, some worse than others.
But while my family, and Matiria, worked hard and changed our families story… she did it by cheating and I don’t think that is acceptable.
She has bought daylight to inadequate behaviour by WINZ, and payment levels, but to me she has done so in the wrong way. She simply should have paid back the money first and apologised.
Many people are very very angry, tbh I’m one, not because I don’t think we need a safety net, because I don’t like cheats.
Thanks for the chance to post.
Lesson No.1
You don’t buy daylight, you bring it.
Buy/bought
Bring/brought.
Some are literally incoherent with anger that a successful female Maori MP cheated ‘the system’ while a new solo mum a couple of decades ago. The fact that she has voluntarily admitted her wrong doing and committed to repaying what she owes seems to make it that much worse.
Either the level and direction of their anger is disproportionate and biased, or they must be in a constant lather over those perpetrating more substantial rip-offs.
The BIG cheats, now as in the past, excel at concealing their behaviour, but occasionally they do get caught out…
http://www.ird.govt.nz/tax-crime/stop-tax-crime/
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/white-collar-crime
Agreed, the ‘crime’ here I don’t mean to call significant in that respect.
I think the messaging here is the larger discussion
I hadn’t read awww properly at 9. This is from a male who had a wife and family that he had to work hard for. And he is comparing himself to one person trying to do the work of two, plus do training so she could get a job in the first place.
It shows the complete and wilful ignorance that bennie-bashers revel in. They build themselves up as heroes who stand proud above the hoi-polloi struggling at their feet. It’s just a form of self-gratification. Instead of thinking, this is hard-times for us all, good on her for getting training and a job and be a working mother, supporting herself, he just goes for the cheap sneer and superiority.
And probably it is very similar to the attitudes of those that voted for Trump and against Obamacare, which seems to be help to get cheaper Health Insurance. They haven’t got much themselves but they have their pride, not like those others they feel contempt for with their hand out to government. It’s white share-croppers in the USA looking down on blacks so they could feel superior even though they were known as ‘poor whites’ or ‘poor white trash’ – then they went along with the KKK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_White
and
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/09/the-original-underclass/492731/
and
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/white-working-class-poverty/424341/
awww g-me a break – your claims haven’t the ring of truth about them, but giving you the benefit of the doubt, I wonder how it could be that someone like you who shared the same misfortune as Metiria (note spelling) even to the point of giving consideration to “cheating”, are so damning now in your comments, of someone who found themselves in a position so similar to your own. It seems very unlikely that someone who has given thought to cheating due to pressures such as both you (you say) and Metiria (note spelling) experienced, would bother to go to the trouble of going to a Metiria-friendly blogsite to condemn her for something you yourself were, you say, very close to doing yourself. Pretty unkind and lacking in empathy, I’d say, if I was believing your story (which, I don’t – my apologies if I’m wrong).
Why come here and share, because I want to understand the support she is getting.
If I live in my bubble and never get challenged I can’t learn.
Yes, my spelling is shite, always has been. No offence intended.
Your disbelief doesn’t offend, and you can take my word that it’s an honest account (or not)
BTW, I think looking at temptation and making a choice is the making (or undoing) of everyone.
so you’ve never paid a cashie or taken money under the table or anything like that?
Are you for real?
No I’m wasting an evening on morons named after a horse…
Thanks Robert for at least being good enough to respond, even if that was pretty fucking rude.
Anne and Ed, go fuck yourselves.
aww
Your pseudo implies that you don’t believe anything you hear or read.
We come here to try and get an understanding about what’s going on.
You say you have already experienced something and still don’t understand it – what can we say?
The main point is that it takes a great effort to study and learn and pass a university degree, plus be a good parent, and put regular good meals on the table, and pay the bills, and spend time with your child, be there when they are sick, get the washing dry and study,study. And the government doesn’t really get behind you. Back some decades ago they did try though the rules could be contradictory.
Oh dear oh dear… Awww didn’t last long. 🙁
And there I was… trying to kindly teach him something. 🙂
Anne
You’re a saint. 😀
I tend to think “there, but for the grace of god, go I”. Or would if I were religious.
If someone’s genuinely lying to get money they don’t need to buy luxuries, then fair enough I’d be pissed.
But people shouldn’t have to work 50 hours a week to get the same as a benefit, and people on a benefit shouldn’t have to struggle just to live. The law is one thing, but people being cheated by the system can’t cheat the system if they’re just getting their dues. Hell, a mate tonight said he was going through a review process because msd was fucking him out of cash.
As for paying back the cash, I doubt Turei knows specifically how much is at issue – I’m damned sure I played fast and loose with declarations once or twice back in the day, but am stuffed if I remember the details. There’s a even slim chance I actually did everything legitimately but by accident, lol.
Vandals throw in the towel.
http://globalnews.ca/news/3623401/36-billion-pacific-northwest-lng-project-dead/