Daily Review 26/07/2017

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1. Ad 1

   26 July 2017 at 6:07 pm

   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!!
   • Gabby 1.1

     26 July 2017 at 7:05 pm

     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.
2. Anne 2

   26 July 2017 at 6:16 pm

   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!
   • chris73 2.1

     26 July 2017 at 6:38 pm

     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
     • marty mars 2.1.1

       26 July 2017 at 6:48 pm

       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.
     • Anne 2.1.2

       26 July 2017 at 6:53 pm

       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!
       • chris73 2.1.2.1

         26 July 2017 at 7:55 pm

         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
       • francesca 2.1.2.2

         27 July 2017 at 11:24 am

         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
         • Anne 2.1.2.2.1

           27 July 2017 at 4:11 pm

           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.
     • Psycho Milt 2.1.3

       26 July 2017 at 6:58 pm

       …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?
       • chris73 2.1.3.1

         26 July 2017 at 8:00 pm

         Because it would have somewhat mitigated the coming damage thats going to happen to the Greens and the left in general?
         • Psycho Milt 2.1.3.1.1

           26 July 2017 at 10:24 pm

           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 nurse 2.1.4

       26 July 2017 at 7:12 pm

       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.
       • greywarshark 2.1.4.1

         26 July 2017 at 7:27 pm

         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.
       • Stuart Munro 2.1.4.2

         26 July 2017 at 9:56 pm

         I’m sure that plays a part.
     • weka 2.1.5

       26 July 2017 at 7:12 pm

       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.
       • In Vino 2.1.5.1

         26 July 2017 at 7:54 pm

         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.
         • weka 2.1.5.1.1

           26 July 2017 at 8:12 pm

           didn’t hear it but sounds like classic Mora.
         • AB 2.1.5.1.2

           26 July 2017 at 9:10 pm

           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.
           • greywarshark 2.1.5.1.2.1

             26 July 2017 at 10:04 pm

             Bit of a Boag-an then?
           • Stuart Munro 2.1.5.1.2.2

             26 July 2017 at 10:24 pm

             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.
     • Robert Guyton 2.1.6

       26 July 2017 at 7:47 pm

       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.
       • In Vino 2.1.6.1

         26 July 2017 at 7:55 pm

         +1
         • weka 2.1.6.1.1

           26 July 2017 at 8:03 pm

           +2
       • chris73 2.1.6.2

         26 July 2017 at 7:58 pm

         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)
         • Robert Guyton 2.1.6.2.1

           26 July 2017 at 8:08 pm

           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.
           • chris73 2.1.6.2.1.1

             26 July 2017 at 8:17 pm

             Good point, I think Todd Barclay could use some love at the moment
             • Robert Guyton …

               26 July 2017 at 8:19 pm

               I’m giving him heaps 🙂
     • JanM 2.1.7

       26 July 2017 at 10:56 pm

       At least she’s telling the truth which is more than some seem capable of!
   • Patricia 2.2

     26 July 2017 at 6:50 pm

     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.
     • Ed 2.2.1

       26 July 2017 at 6:53 pm

       Doubt they cared.
     • Anne 2.2.2

       26 July 2017 at 6:56 pm

       Yep, and beneficiaries were treated like flotsam in the gutter by the WINZ staff even when our circumstances were NOT of our own making.
       • Tautoko Mangō Mata 2.2.2.1

         26 July 2017 at 7:50 pm

         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.

         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.
   • joe90 2.3

     26 July 2017 at 6:57 pm

     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.
   • Grafton Gully 2.4

     26 July 2017 at 7:08 pm

     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.
     • Anne 2.4.1

       26 July 2017 at 7:14 pm

       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.
   • Ed 2.5

     26 July 2017 at 9:14 pm

     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.
     • Anne 2.5.1

       26 July 2017 at 9:56 pm

       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.
   • Ethica 2.6

     26 July 2017 at 10:23 pm

     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.
3. Ed 3

   26 July 2017 at 6:32 pm

   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.
   • chris73 3.1

     26 July 2017 at 6:40 pm

     “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
     • Ed 3.1.1

       26 July 2017 at 6:42 pm

       ‘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?
       • Ed 3.1.1.1

         26 July 2017 at 6:46 pm

         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.’
         • Ed 3.1.1.1.1

           26 July 2017 at 6:48 pm

           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‘
       • chris73 3.1.1.2

         26 July 2017 at 8:03 pm

         Change maybe but revolution?
         • Ed 3.1.1.2.1

           26 July 2017 at 9:06 pm

           Revolutionary change.
           I wasn’t meaning a violent revolution – just the sort of grassroots uprising that’s occurring in the UK.
   • Psycho Milt 3.2

     26 July 2017 at 7:00 pm

     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.
     • greywarshark 3.2.1

       26 July 2017 at 7:48 pm

       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.
       • Ed 3.2.1.1

         26 July 2017 at 9:07 pm

         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.
       • Psycho Milt 3.2.1.2

         26 July 2017 at 10:20 pm

         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.
     • Wayne 3.2.2

       26 July 2017 at 7:55 pm

       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.
       • Ed 3.2.2.1

         26 July 2017 at 9:09 pm

         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?
         • marty mars 3.2.2.1.1

           26 July 2017 at 10:45 pm

           ed – wayne doesn’t give a fuck – he just doesn’t care, never has, never will.
       • Stuart Munro 3.2.2.2

         26 July 2017 at 10:09 pm

         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.
       • Kevin 3.2.2.3

         28 July 2017 at 5:35 pm

         You say all that like its a god thing Wayne.
4. AsleepWhileWalking 4

   26 July 2017 at 6:39 pm

   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.
5. Ed 5

   26 July 2017 at 6:52 pm

   The great divergence

   https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFiwK_KWsAIrvYN.jpg:large
6. repateet 6

   26 July 2017 at 7:09 pm

   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.”
   • Ed 6.1

     26 July 2017 at 9:10 pm

     It is clear where their priorities lie.
7. Poission 7

   26 July 2017 at 7:20 pm

   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
8. Poission 8

   26 July 2017 at 7:46 pm

   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
   • exkiwiforces 8.1

     26 July 2017 at 10:00 pm

     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!
9. awww c-mon 9

   26 July 2017 at 8:00 pm

   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.
   • Anne 9.1

     26 July 2017 at 8:24 pm

     Lesson No.1
     You don’t buy daylight, you bring it.
     Buy/bought
     Bring/brought.
     • Drowsy M. Kram 9.1.1

       26 July 2017 at 8:51 pm

       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
       • awww c-mon 9.1.1.1

         26 July 2017 at 9:05 pm

         Agreed, the ‘crime’ here I don’t mean to call significant in that respect.

         I think the messaging here is the larger discussion
     • greywarshark 9.1.2

       27 July 2017 at 12:18 pm

       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/
   • Robert Guyton 9.2

     26 July 2017 at 8:52 pm

     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).
     • awww c-mon 9.2.1

       26 July 2017 at 9:03 pm

       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.
       • marty mars 9.2.1.1

         26 July 2017 at 10:48 pm

         so you’ve never paid a cashie or taken money under the table or anything like that?
   • Ed 9.3

     26 July 2017 at 9:11 pm

     Are you for real?
     • awww c-mon 9.3.1

       26 July 2017 at 9:16 pm

       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.
       • greywarshark 9.3.1.1

         26 July 2017 at 10:02 pm

         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.
       • Anne 9.3.1.2

         26 July 2017 at 10:03 pm

         Oh dear oh dear… Awww didn’t last long. 🙁

         And there I was… trying to kindly teach him something. 🙂
         • greywarshark 9.3.1.2.1

           27 July 2017 at 10:13 am

           Anne
           You’re a saint. 😀
   • McFlock 9.4

     26 July 2017 at 10:03 pm

     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.
10. joe90 10

    26 July 2017 at 8:36 pm

    Vandals throw in the towel.

    https://vimeo.com/183724209

    Congratulations to Tsimsyen Warriors who won their battle to save Lelu Island. The LNG project has been cancelled. pic.twitter.com/y5IA84Y0DF— Ruth H. Hopkins (@RuthHHopkins) July 26, 2017

    http://globalnews.ca/news/3623401/36-billion-pacific-northwest-lng-project-dead/

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