Maori & Pacific Island incomes plummet

Written By: - Date published: 6:58 am, November 18th, 2010 - 93 comments
Categories: by-election, wages - Tags: , , , ,

Here’s a little something that Kris Fa’afoi and his team might like to being to the attention of Mana voters as they prepare to go to the polls. On National’s watch, the median Maori income has fallen 11.5%. For Pacific Islanders the fall’s 19%. Pakeha are down 2.6%. No tax cut for the rich can cover the gaping holes in those family budgets.

Here’s the table, the data is from Stats NZ table builder adjusted for inflation with the CPI data

Speaking of Mana, look at the picture of Hekia Parata hanging out with her supporters, the Taeaomanino Trust, which is at the centre of corruption investigations. Parata tried to quickly remove this pic from her website yesterday. Not quick enough, Hekia.

Update: Corrected link to Stats NZ data, thanks for pointing that out Matty and Blighty.

Update: And Labour pick up the issue! — r0b

93 comments on “Maori & Pacific Island incomes plummet ”

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  1. Bored 1
    18 November 2010 at 7:19 am

    This whilst the Maori Party cozies up with NACT and votes for lowered working conditions for all workers, whilst the Treaty Settlements bypass Rangi of no hapu or iwi. Peter and Turiana, hang your heads in shame.

  2. Marty G 2
    18 November 2010 at 8:35 am

    d4j. your off-topic comment has been moved to open mike. and i’m not too happy about the borderline racism of it but, by your standards, I guess it’s a good day.

  3. Fisiani 3
    18 November 2010 at 8:40 am

    You have gone to a lot of work to produce such wacky and wonky race based figures by neglecting to show that everyone in work has also had a tax cut and that beneficiaries and pensioners were compensated for the rise in GST by rises to their entitlements. Labour brought in GST. Labour raised it to 12.5%. Labour never compensated the poor for this rise. National truly cares about the the sick, the lame and the infirm. National are the party of social justice and fairness.

    • Bunji 3.1
      18 November 2010 at 8:46 am

      Wow, must be amazing living in your head.

      Look at how the GINI coefficient has risen in the 90s and with this government, and tell me how that relates to “social justice and fairness”.

    • Marty G 3.2
      18 November 2010 at 8:51 am

      not a lot of work, I went to a table on the stats website and did some elementary maths to adjust for inflation

      my figures are correct, you’re welcome to dispute any of the detail if you think they’re wrong but you haven’t because you don’t have a clue.

      yes they are “race-based” that’s the point.

      The tax cuts and the GST hike don’t apply to these figures because they’re for June years. ie. they end in June 2010. Moron.

      • Matty 3.2.1
        18 November 2010 at 9:45 am

        Hi Marty,

        I just went through the figures. I didn’t adjust for inflation (but this will affect each of the groups in the same way, and allows me to make a point more easily).

        The nominal change in European median income over the time period is 2.7%, for Maori is 4.3%, and for Pacifika is 8.9%. (The total effect of inflation over the period is about 3.1%). This is completely the opposite effect than you suggest.

        Can you explain this? (Please forgive any economics-ignorance I am displying)

        • Blighty 3.2.1.1
          18 November 2010 at 11:08 am

          I can. Marty’s accidentally linked to the table for incomes for thsoe in paid employment, whereas the table he’s provided uses figures for all people’s incomes. Simple mistake.

          this is the actual table: http://wdmzpub01.stats.govt.nz/wds/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportName=Incomes/Income%20by%20region%20and%20total%20response%20ethnic%20group(2008%20onwards)

          You might like to correct the link Marty 🙂

          Obviously, during a recession it’s the lowest paid who lose their jobs, so the median will rise and that will be especally true for the worst affected groups. That explains why the median for all people will be falling while the median for people who still have jobs will rise.

          [Fixed the link – thanks Matty & Blighty. — r0b]

          • Matty 3.2.1.1.1
            18 November 2010 at 11:26 am

            thanks for that — makes sense now

          • Carol 3.2.1.1.2
            18 November 2010 at 3:36 pm

            Obviously, during a recession it’s the lowest paid who lose their jobs, so the median will rise and that will be especally true for the worst affected groups.

            That was kind of the answer given by the government minister in the House qu & a today. He claimed the drop in the Maori & Pacfic income was due to them being employed in the public sector, which actually, according to Blinglish and co, weren’t real jobs, so they had to go in the interests of rebalancing yaddayaddayadda *yawn*.

            Someone from Labour Horemia I think, made a point of order saying that for Maori the employment level hadn’t dropped, but incomes had. The PoO was disallowed, but it might be worth checking the rise/fall in employment for these demographic groups, and compare with the drop in income levels.

    • Bored 3.3
      18 November 2010 at 9:03 am

      Planet Earth calling Fisiani, Planet Earth calling Fisiani, Planet Earth calling Fisiani, no response…………….

    • Lanthanide 3.4
      18 November 2010 at 10:17 am

      I am pretty sure that actually Labour brought tax cuts in at the same time GST was introduced, and when it was raised.

    • Maynard J 3.5
      19 November 2010 at 1:26 am

      “National truly cares about … the lame”

      This would be justification for your undying love for them.

  4. Herodotus 4
    18 November 2010 at 9:34 am

    Marty, are you really looking after the left or Labour. The left and labour and not fully overlapping. Why should not Matt Mc also be interested in these figures. There are times that some could get confused as to this being the thinking mans version for Labour with the MP’s giving a lighter Lab version on Red Alert.
    Remember that when Lab has been in power (in my lifetime) they did not help the PAYE worker but the rich list. Lab has been shown to display Chameleon tendencies when in power.
    Matt may be the real deal regarding Left thinking and acting to the rhetoric. 😉

    • felix 4.1
      18 November 2010 at 10:42 am

      I reckon Matt is probably fully aware of the facts in the post because he has a genuine connection with the people in the stats.

      Kris (and Labour) on the other hand, could do with a bit more prodding.

  5. M 5
    18 November 2010 at 9:49 am

    ‘Not quick enough, Hekia.’

    Nice one Marty, bet it really rips her shorts.

    Saw that news item and you know that people in that situation are dedicated bargain hunters and rarely waste anything. It’s damning that fizzy drinks are cheaper than basics like milk and bread.

    Matt did get a going over though because he didn’t know the prices of bread and milk which was a shame. The item was definitely slanted towards looking at the trees and not the wood because Matt has grasped firmly the hot issues affecting the working poor and unemployed in Mana, that all stem from inadequate levels of income and has actually had the balls to speak out in their defense whatever the cost may be to him.

    The only thing some people will respect is figures and you’ve got them down cold in black and white. I was shocked when I read the median incomes for Asian and Pacific Island people.

    We need at least another 10 Matt McCartens to give some real voice and heft to people’s plight. It’s going to be a nail-biter on Saturday.

    • pollywog 5.1
      18 November 2010 at 10:40 am

      “Mana needs Kris Faafoi as its local MP,” Mr Goff said. “He understands the community, he’s alongside the community, he’s working for it.”

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4356725/Leaders-step-up-Mana-fight

      cough*bullshit*cough…Mana doesn’t ‘NEED’ Kris. Kris and Goff need Mana !!!

      how does Fa’afoi understand the community if he’s never lived there and his background is that of a trained MSM suckhole and labour party stooge ?

      how does that demonstrate his position of being alongside the community if hes never got down and dirty with the grass roots community ?

      and how is he working for it if he’s never lifted a damn finger to help it before getting annointed by the equally ineffectual Winnie Laban and is only working to get himself elected to then make a maiden speech in parliament as his significant contributon to working for it ?

      it’s a disgrace that Goff and Fa’afoi can still play this shit off in the media by treating Pasifikan voters in Mana as ignorant and gullible.

  6. big bruv 6
    18 November 2010 at 9:50 am

    And your answer is to give them more of my tax dollars?

    No thanks, perhaps these people should have worked a bit harder at school, perhaps they are the result of the Labour government handing them money in exchange for votes, whatever it is I simply do not care.

    I love my tax cut.

    [lprent: You’re still banned until the 24th. Moving your profile to spam capture. That will stop the moderators from kindly letting you through. ]

    • Bright Red 6.1
      18 November 2010 at 11:02 am

      The answer is jobs. The reason incomes have fallen is the jobs are gone. People wnat to work, they were working, and then the recession came and the jobs went and the government sat on its arse.

      It’s not a matter of “working a bit harder at school” – unless you’re claiming that all Maori and PIs are lazy and poorly educated.

      And even if you believe that it doesn’t explain why their incomes used to be higher.

      • insider 6.1.1
        18 November 2010 at 11:36 am

        Be interesting to see whether well paid Maori and Polynesians suffered higher falls in income than low paid and what the differentials were for Euros.

    • felix 6.2
      18 November 2010 at 11:15 am

      Yesterday r0b suggested we ignore big bruv’s trolling. I suggest we continue to.

    • pollywog 6.3
      18 November 2010 at 11:19 am

      you can work hard as in school, be more qualified and experienced than the next guy for a job, but if Uncle Cracka wants to give the job to his mate or his mates son or anyone who’s name isn’t asian, pasifikan, middle eastern, african or whatever then… tough titty eh bruv

      …these people you speak of should have been born white in a white mans world

      • Brett 6.3.1
        18 November 2010 at 11:43 am

        You expect a employer to hire you with that attitude?

      • insider 6.3.2
        18 November 2010 at 11:57 am

        One of the great virtues of multinationals/plcs in my experience is they tend not to care about that crap and go for competence. Locally owned businesses I suspect are far more susceptible to following their biases.

        • Colonial Viper 6.3.2.1
          18 November 2010 at 12:11 pm

          Competence at playing internal political games perhaps, not so much at the front line level but especially once you enter the middle and middle/high levels of management.

          • insider 6.3.2.1.1
            18 November 2010 at 12:17 pm

            Yes I should have said competence defined as what is important for their needs. Whether we underlings think they are generally competent is different thing 🙂

        • pollywog 6.3.2.2
          18 November 2010 at 12:17 pm

          in interpereting the stats…

          it’s either local business/employers are biased or Pasifkans are dumb, lazy and ignorant

          in both cases the question needs to be asked why and how do we fix it ?

          somehow, i don’t think its a question Fa’afoi is gonna be asking

  7. Colonial Viper 7
    18 November 2010 at 9:53 am

    Good to see that Pansy Wong was doing her personal best to help out with Asian income levels. Which of you said that she was an ineffective Minister again?

    I’ll guarantee you one thing: dropping Pansy Wong as a Minister will simply place more downward pressure on Asian median income stats 🙄

    Everyone else sucked…apart from MELAA (who are they again? Looking at the chart I’d like to join them).

  8. deemac 8
    18 November 2010 at 9:58 am

    nailbiter? dream on – McCarten’s campaign is a total irrelevance in this two-horse race.
    Meanwhile, back in the real world, Turia is on Radio NZ this morning – people may care to email/text in some questions for K Ryan to ask her!

  9. pollywog 9
    18 November 2010 at 10:02 am

    The elephant in the room is why is it so and what can be done to address it ?

    How do you counter a eurocentric bias in the workplace that always seeks to exploit vulnerable Pasifikans, inclusive of Maori ?

    How does one overcome the predilection for eurocentric employers to hire and promote those sharing their same cultural background ?

    • insider 9.1
      18 November 2010 at 10:21 am

      I don’t see much diversity in that pic of Hekia above. Perhaps it’s partly to do with skills and more just good old human nature than anything sinister, because you can see very similar behaviours in the islands but the Pasifikans are the ones displaying the bias.

  10. randal 10
    18 November 2010 at 10:34 am

    and dont forget there has been a 20% price increase overall over the last two months under the disguise of a 2,1/2% gst increase.
    first ya see it then ya dont.

    • Lanthanide 10.1
      18 November 2010 at 1:05 pm

      Um, I haven’t seen the things I pay for increase by 20% over the last two months.

      Don’t know what you’re buying.

      • Daveosaurus 10.1.1
        18 November 2010 at 6:44 pm

        You obviously haven’t tried to post a letter in that time, then. The post office took the opportunity of the tax rise to increase most internal rates by 20%. Typical government department. Thanks a bunch, High Tax National.

  11. Shamy 11
    18 November 2010 at 10:38 am

    That table just shows that natural seletion works….

    • Bright Red 11.1
      18 November 2010 at 11:09 am

      Why because disadvantaged group’s incomes drop more during recessions?

      I think you’re just a racist.

      • Shamy 11.1.1
        18 November 2010 at 2:12 pm

        Its common sense – if you have no skills and therefore by definition you lowly paid then when the job market / economy worsens you will feel the most pain (as you have less unique skills to offer)

        Its natural selection becauses the majority of those that are lowly paid are so because they havent worked hard enough to move up the chain – only themselves to blame for that. Though im sure you lot will blame everybody else

        • insider 11.1.1.1
          18 November 2010 at 2:18 pm

          A bit simplistic and quite mean spirited. Many Polynesian immigrants won’t have had the educational/qualification opportunities that a middle class NZer like me had. You can work as hard as you like as a cleaner but it’s not going to take you very far financially.

          The genetic dice that dictate your parentage and intelligence also don’t care how hard you work, and they too play a big role in your future opportunities

          • Shamy 11.1.1.1.1
            18 November 2010 at 2:24 pm

            If you are a cleaner that its your responsibility to educate yourself and move up

            Unless you a verifiable moron then your intelligence isnt going to hinder your ability to step up

            • Colonial Viper 11.1.1.1.1.1
              18 November 2010 at 2:33 pm

              No mate dead wrong. Do not blame on the individual what is a societal problem.

              Not only have your NAT friends in Government pulled up the ladder on these people, they have cut adult education opportunities but there are not even good jobs for university graduates out there today in our hollowed out economy.

              And by the way our offices, rest homes, kitchens and hospitals needs cleaners and should pay them a decent wage to do that important work.

            • hateatea 11.1.1.1.1.2
              18 November 2010 at 2:50 pm

              ‘If you are a cleaner that its your responsibility to educate yourself and move up’

              Firstly: not all cleaners lack education, secondly: not all cleaners are Pasifica, Māori, Asian or any other ‘foreigner’, lastly: someone needs to do the cleaning! Perhaps it is worth discussing whether or not everyone should receive a living wage?

              As a Māori as defined under NZ law, am I responsible for the economic downturn that has seen so many jobs disappear or be downsized? Was I personally responsible for the decision of my employer to discontinue my specialist position or was that and outcome of government policies affecting the education sector?

              I get more than a little tired of my ethnicity being blamed for my current need to depend on state assistance for my survival. There is my age, my gender not just my ethnic identity at work. I am moderately well educated, have been in the paid workforce for more than 40 years but find myself prematurely on the scrapheap. My costs have indeed gone up, far more than the microscopic increase in my benefit so I tighten my belt (literally) yet again and worry that I am probably going to be unable even the smallest of gifts to children and grandchildren.

              Is this what my ethnicity makes inevitable? Who speaks for me and those like me when the statistics are being used to beneficiary bash, ethnicity bash, victim bash?

              We are all the poorer when the most vulnerable in society are increasingly marginalised.

              captcha: votes (I am increasingly convinced that captcha has a sense of humour)

        • Colonial Viper 11.1.1.2
          18 November 2010 at 2:30 pm

          the majority of those that are lowly paid are so because they havent worked hard enough to move up the chain – only themselves to blame for that.

          ***YAWN***, the old right wing meme of blaming individuals for things which are very much a societal/class issue. Why should people believe in your bullshit of “Sell enough Amway for us and we will let you move up our chain”?

          Yes people do need to take personal responsibility for moving ahead in their own lives. But when successive Governments have undermined our industrial and technological sectors the blame needs to go on to the highest paid and most powerful in our society not on to the individual.

          Blaming on to the person what is essentially a failure of society is classic right wing BS.

          We need to take responsibility collectively for the kind of opportunities and wage levels we want to see offered to people in our society. If people refuse to take up those opportunities and those jobs then they should be held responsible.

          Frankly, both our political and our business leaders have proven hopeless at creating high paying jobs – and the blame there needs to go not on the individual unemployed by right back at the National Government and their corporate cronies. All of whom prefer a weak labour market within which wages and conditions can be suppressed.

          • Shamy 11.1.1.2.1
            18 November 2010 at 2:33 pm

            ***YAWN***, the old left wing meme of blaming everybody else for the failing of the individual.

            ….and the left wing solution! the famous concept of a collective that has achieved such great outcomes in every country that went down that path

            • Bright Red 11.1.1.2.1.1
              18 November 2010 at 3:03 pm

              these aren’t individuals’ incomes – this is a 20% drop in the incomes of the PI ethnic group since National came to power.

              You can’t say it’s due to some moral failing of PIs – their incomes were higher before. Unless you think they suddenly got lazy in the last two years?

            • Colonial Viper 11.1.1.2.1.2
              18 November 2010 at 3:08 pm

              Yeah, you mean roads, power grids, universities, healthcare for everyone, our entire electricity generation capacity, no beggars on the streets? Good things from collective effort eh?

              Get it into your head, people operate within the context of families, local communities and societies, they do not operate as isolated individuals.

              BTW this country has a massive shortage of good high paying jobs for our graduates, thats why they are all LEAVING.

              • Shamy …
                18 November 2010 at 3:37 pm

                “people operate within the context of families, local communities and societies, they do not operate as isolated individuals”

                I see the flaw in your thought process…people may operate in that context but they are not MOTIVATED in that context. You may work to enrich your family, but you dont work overtime to enrich your community or society. Just as i assume you dont work to make your friends richer (assuming you actually work – I am picking your work in the public sector in some form as your thought processes appear to lack any real world experience)

                If you want to argue that people are motivated within the context of the community / society, then you quickly get down to promoting communism which fails (as do most socialist concepts) due to a lack of understanding that humans are selfish ceatures that are motivated as individuals. You can bleat on about how wrong this this but it the reality of the human race

                PS: and your solution to keeping those who desire high paid jobs …. a rich prick tax. Hypocrites

                • Carol …
                  18 November 2010 at 4:08 pm

                  Oh dear oh dear, Shamy. And what exactly counts as the real world in your view? Is someone who works with the sick, disabled etc in the health sector, or who helps ferry people to work on public transport, or who teaches children from a range of backgrounds, also engaging with their families and community not experiencing the real world? Meanwhile someone shut up in an office all day, shifting paperwork for a tobacco company, or some company that makes plastic nick nacks that no-one really needs, or who is stuck in front of a computer making money for financial speculators who contribute towards virtual economies that are bound to crash sooner or later… is experiencing the real world?

                  People can be motivated in their jobs to contribute to the community… to make sick people better, so that they can work in public and private sector jobs, to educate people to participate in the wider world etc.

                  And if society wasn’t competitive, hadn’t constructed agreed systems of monetary exchange and social status, property values etc…. where would the motivation to enrich your family come from?

                  • Shamy …
                    18 November 2010 at 4:18 pm

                    Yet:

                    (1) society *is* competitive…any policy that goes against this ingrained characteristic of the human race will fail (ie comunisim)

                    (2) while some people may be motivated purely by helping others, they in the minority.

                    As soon as the left realise the above they can start developing policy that will work in the real world, not the make believe fantasy land of group hugs their current policies are premised on

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      18 November 2010 at 6:40 pm

                      The mantra of individualistic competitiveness is a Right wing mantra. It is not an ingrained characteristic of the human race IE you are wrong as usual.

                  • Jeremy Harris …
                    18 November 2010 at 4:22 pm

                    @Carol I think money comes from a desire to quantify excess production… I.e. the subsistence farmer wanted to convert the excess grain into something tangible he could use at a later date and instead of trying to trade immeaditely with his immeadite neighbours for various long lasting goods, the farmer (before the grain went off) sold the excess to a regional grain salesman, a medium was needed…

                    People in NZ work more voluntary hours than paid hours Carol and that’s great but people’s first priority will always be for the provision of themselves and their families, in no small part even most voluntary work is individualistic, people do it because their children or realtions are involved or they derive a good feeling from doing it… It’s easy to look at people’s motivations from a first world view where there are few people whose basic needs aren’t met…

                    • Carol …
                      18 November 2010 at 5:42 pm

                      Well, yes, Jeremy, there is always that philosophical question about whether doing something for others is ultimately selfish. But, that doesn’t negate the notion that we are primarily social animals. We operate with a mix of co-operation and competitiveness.

                      Sure, I have always been moivated to work in order to support myself, be independent, and have a little left over for leisure activities. But beyond earning a certain level of income, money and a luxurious lifestyle has not been a high motivator for me, the way it is for some others.

                      Hence I have looked for work that would support me, while also providing me with some intrinsic satisfaction. And that means I have mostly taught, because it seems to me to contribute something to society ….. you can call it selfish, but I couldn’t do it without engaging with others in a way that seems to be helpful to them.

                    • Jeremy Harris …
                      18 November 2010 at 6:06 pm

                      @Carol, great stuff, the point is you were free to make that choice, many people who post here want to force other people to live in a way they deem in the interest of society and take their assets by force to give to the industries and people they deem most best and/or most needy…

                      Not only do I think that is immoral, I don’t think it works…

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      18 November 2010 at 6:35 pm

                      Jeremy there is no such thing as free choice. Over and over again, psychologists have proven that what we think are free choices are in fact extremely contrived.

                      For instance if you tell people that they have a 2% chance of dying from a particular medical treatment, they will almost all opt for the treatment option which gives them a 98% chance of surviving. Even though they are *the same*.

                      Further, in our society, it can often appear that you have a tonne of choice – lets say when you walk into a large shopping mall – but in reality the majority of those choices are only available to the wealthy or the privileged or who are not working during the days. IE another illusion of free choice.

                    • Jeremy Harris …
                      19 November 2010 at 12:14 am

                      You really are descending down the rabbithole (if Alice was a commie), the overwhelming majority of the decision in our life exist in a free choice environment, relationships, friendships, what job we apply for, what business we start, what car we buy, what food we eat, how much exercise we do, whether we drink or smoke (for the time being), where we live, our religion (or lack thereof), etc…

                      I’d say 80%+ of our choices in life are madely freely, you are quite simply incorrect…

                • insider …
                  18 November 2010 at 4:46 pm

                  Shamy

                  Half the immigrants from richer countries like the UK and returnees from OEs demonstrate the falseness of your statement that people are not motivated by family, community and society.

                  Many of us gave up selfish financial and career opportunities, motivated by other values such as family. And I know plenty of others who have given up similar opportunities because they believe the wider contribution they make is more important than the personal gain (though you could argue that is them being motivated by self fulfillment)

                  University exams being over is the only reason I can think of for such naivety being displayed.

                  • Shamy …
                    18 November 2010 at 5:03 pm

                    Read what i wrote again – I especialy mentioned family as something that does motivate. glad you agree with me on that

                    Do you really want to run the argument that people return from overseas to enrich the community? A few might do that but would be in the minority

                    The only person i can think that has is John Key – turning down millions a year to become prime minister on a token (for him) salary to lead NZ to greatness

                    People move back (or to) to NZ primarily for
                    (1) family reasons
                    (2) lifestyle reasons

                    • Blighty …
                      18 November 2010 at 5:31 pm

                      this has nothing to do with lack of motivation. Incomes have dropped because the jobs have disappeared. People were ovbviously taking the jobs and working before, otherwise their incomes wouldn’t have fallen – eh?

                      or do you think that Maori and Pacific Islanders suddenly became unmotivated and uneducated compared to two years ago?

                • Colonial Viper …
                  19 November 2010 at 2:01 am

                  I see the flaw in your thought process…people may operate in that context but they are not MOTIVATED in that context. You may work to enrich your family, but you dont work overtime to enrich your community or society.

                  Gawd you are full of shite, pretending to be some kind of motivational psychologist, when all you are really doing is projecting your own money focussed motivational headspace on to the rest of the world.

                  People don’t work overtime to enrich their communities or their society? Really? Even though we know that they will join their country’s armed forces and DIE for their communities and their society? Or, as NZ’ers did in WWI and WWI nobly fight and die to save the communities and societies of FOREIGNERS?

                  You have no idea of human motivation OR what brings about real change in the real world do you? Refuse 100% to have humanity reduced to a mishapen greedy paycheck hunting homo economicus by RWNJs. Time to kick this friggin lot out of power.

  12. joe bloggs 12
    18 November 2010 at 11:05 am

    .

    I wonder if Labour’s Letia Ah Hoi has any pearls of wisdom to offer about this?

    • David 12.1
      18 November 2010 at 3:26 pm

      Litea’s perils of wisdom is: ” Put it in a bubble and blow it away.” That’s why she is the former Deputy Mayor. Stupid woman.

  13. ak 13
    18 November 2010 at 11:14 am

    Top notch Marty. The basic facts on NACT’s raison d’etre that need to be exposed and repeatedly emphasised.

    A brighter future for the rich: keep the brown down. Brace yourselves for the tipping point next year when NACT NEWS realises the MP is gone: it’ll make Winniebash look like a picnic.

  14. randal 14
    18 November 2010 at 11:14 am

    money doesnt smell.
    it seems to have no colour either.

    hiding behind ethnicity is just another excuse for grabbing anything you can get and who cares who gets in the way?
    I just gotta have that house in the south of france or a pied a terre in London and you suckers are gonna pay for it!

  15. nadis 15
    18 November 2010 at 11:45 am

    i’m not trying to be a dick but can you explain your figures?

    I followed your link and don’t see your numbers for either median earnings or cpi. For instance the european numbers are 759,767 and 780 for median weekly earnings?

    And the cpi deflator – shouldn’t you be using series SE9A which is the broad CPI?

    If you used June figures for that as your deflator your 3 year series would be 1077,1095,1111 which would give you a 2 year inflation deflator of 3.1%.

    The european numbers, deflated would then be

    759, 754.4, 756.1 for a 2 year drop of -0.4%

    The Maori numbers on the same methodology and data would be median earnings from 671 to 700, a deflated increase of 1.1%, ie better than the figures for Europeans?

    What gives?

    These are hurried back of envelope calcs using my phone as a calcualtor so I stand to be corrected but can u please explain your numbers given the links you gave? And your choice of inflation deflator?

  16. Bright Red 16
    18 November 2010 at 2:10 pm

    They’re talking about your post in the House, Marty.

    the data from it, anyway.

  17. Mika 17
    18 November 2010 at 3:00 pm

    It’s a good thing that we have someone like Hekia Parata in Mana to advocate real changes for Maori and Pacific!

    In all fairness, the National Party has inherited 9 years of Labours Social Engineering which has left Maori and Pacific more vulnerable and welfare dependent. I’m not a National supporter, but you cannot fool those of us PI’s who have lived in Porirua to see that nothing really changed in Mana, under Labour in 9 years. Still the same old crap statehousing issues – overcrowding, poor health, poor education standards = poor stats.

    All Winnie Laban did for our community was pass the Prostitution Bill, support civil unions and took credit for hard working people of Mana. What we needed was better education standards in Porirua, better housing standards and something to be proud of.

    We need someone like Hekia to pull us out of this!!

    Parata for Mana? HECK YEAH!!

    • Bright Red 17.1
      18 November 2010 at 4:07 pm

      Mika – did Maori and PI incomes rise or fall under Labour? answers on the stats table builder.

      clue: they went up.

      oh, and benefit numbers pummeted under Labour.

      English’s excuse is that the jobs they had weren’t real jobs.

      And what’s Parata being doing for the people of Mana these past two years while incomes have crashed and unemployment has skyrocketed? – she is the National local MP, after all

  18. Jeremy Harris 18
    18 November 2010 at 3:10 pm

    If this is a race thing why have Middle Eastern, Latin American and African wages gone up over 5% while Pakeha wages have dropped over 2%..?

    Does the National Party hate Pakehas but favour the Middle Eastern, Latin American and African people..?

    Surely a Ministry of Pakeha Affairs will solve this…

    • Bright Red 18.1
      18 November 2010 at 3:26 pm

      it’s a low-income/poverty thing. Maori and Paciic Islanders are the most impoverished groups in our society and the ones feeling the sharpest edge of the recession.

      No-one’s saying National is targetting Maori and PI, they’re just neglecting the working class, which is heavily Polynesian.

    • felix 18.2
      19 November 2010 at 1:22 am

      Jesus fucking christ Jeremy, did you really need that explained?

    • Lanthanide 20.1
      18 November 2010 at 5:27 pm

      I linked to Marty’s post about the ministerial housing rort on Red Alert yesterday (as Pete Hodgson was talking about it in an interview on Morning Report). Perhaps that piqued some interest?

  21. Junette Toko 21
    3 December 2010 at 8:09 pm

    Lol…Im not into the slight racial slurs either, but we all know at the end of the day that if we paint our faces white we would get alot further. In any of the situations that come our way in our country. It’s about time things in this country became a little more balanced between Maori and Pakeha.

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