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notices and features - Date published:
6:00 am, May 8th, 2015 - 102 comments
Categories: open mike -
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The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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Interesting time to take a poll by the Herald about troops in Iraq.
Just before ANZAC Day.
Wonder why they thought they’d should take a poll to test opinion on Iraq at that time.
Wonder why they didn’t take this poll 2 months ago.
Guess the Herald relies on people neither wondering or thinking.
The problem I had reading that poll is the wording of the poll , like most polls they trap people into getting the result the poll gatherers want.
I think we should be doing something but I don’t think it should be sending a few trainers to keep us in with the yankss .
BNZ bank chief says there isn’t a housing bubble in Auckland..
Given the profits the BNZ make thanks to the housing debt in Auckland, that’s hardly a surprise.
Guess the Herald relies on people neither wondering or thinking.
Are Bell Investment Trust, the company that flew Key twice up to Kauri Cliffs by helicopter, the same company as this corporation with interests in mining?
http://www.bellasset.com.au/unit-prices/global-equities/global-mining-investments-trust/
MP’s report receiving threats etc from the public. I wonder how many incidents of MP’s threatening the public, or fellow MP’s? A few come to mind…
The fact is that they are far more dangerous to us (and our grandchildren) than we are to them. When was the last time an ageing member of the public through an overweight MP and his Slugboy mate down a flight of stairs?
ever wondered why mp’s are against property-taxes..?
only seven of them don’t own properties..
..that cd well be a factor in their thinking..eh..?
It would be interesting to know how many own more then one.
most of them do…+ rentals/commercial-properties..
self-interest on a stick..
(details are in the list of mp’s pecuniary-interests – which was released yesterday..)
yet this morn the media are full of stories about how the poor-luvvies have been ‘threatened’ by disgruntled-punters..
(is that deliberate..?..the ‘threatening-news’ on the heels of the self-interest-list..?..to help cover their sorry arses..?)
Cheers they love trusts to I see
And that is why we need policy to be broadly set by referendum. Only then would we have a chance that the majority of people were not voting in basic self-interest.
Election result prediction from fivethirtyeight.com:update : LATEST:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/interactives/uk-general-election-predictions/
Eileen Goodwin at the ODT has been good with her continuing coverage of the SDHB. Most recently with the food outsourcing, but previously with the ED nurse uniform biohazard (instead of being washed inhouse, the nurses are expected to take them home and wash uniforms themselves), and the degradation of the hospital (rain leaking into operating theatres, plans to close the physio pool etc). Usually she tries for balanced reporting (though my quotes tend to be selective):
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341514/hospital-decision-bitter-pill
But this morning Goodwin allowed herself a more personal comment:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341513/handling-food-services-pr-debacle
Does that mean we won’t know who voted which way?
Weka
Looking over the minutes of the April SDHB meeting supplied with the agenda for yesterday’s meeting; there doesn’t seem to be any breakdown of voting.
http://www.southerndhb.govt.nz/files/15533_2015050590054-1430773254.pdf
So I’m not sure how this information could be uncovered, perhaps an OIA request. If nothing else, I can stand up at the meeting during next year’s election for board members and ask each how they voted. My guess is that is was only; Gamble and Chambers against, possibly Thomson as he’s also on the DCC and must know that he’d be putting his re-election chances at risk if he was seen to be not listening to the public on such an issue.
This is all we have so far (from yesterday’s pre-meeting article), unless Goodwin asks followup questions:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341376/dhb-member-speaks-out-over-outsourcing-plan
Thanks. I’m just refreshing my memory about the board structure with an eye on the elections. An opportunity next year to do some publicity on these people I think.
7 elected members
Up to 4 appointed members
Chair and Deputy Chair appointed by the Minister of Health
http://www.southerndhb.govt.nz/pages/boardmembers/
Otago electees
Branko Sijnja (undedided)
Richard Thomson (refused to comment)
Mrs Mary Gamble (opposed and spoke out)
John Chambers (opposed and spoke out)
Otago appointees
Joe Butterfield (Chair) (could not be contacted. Tried to talk over Mary Gamble)
Tuari Potiki (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe, Waitaha) (could not be contacted)
Southland electees
Tim Ward (Deputy Chair) (refused to comment)
Neville Cook (undecided)
Kay Crowther (refused to comment)
Southland appointees
Sandra Cook (Ngāi Tahu) (does not permit direct contact from media)
Tony Hill (could not be contacted)
Weka
I don’t know if you read my coverage of the meeting yesterday, I didn’t see any comments from you. It was obviously a done deal from the minute the board sat down, really from last December. How the chairman treated the petition once the bulk of the public had been cleared out was particularly galling:
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07052015/#comment-1011228
Thanks, I hadn’t seen that.
Good to see the union considering legal action.
I can’t do this, so just putting the idea out. I’d want to know under what conditions the Board is able to either exclude the public from a vote, or not tell the public who voted which way. They can exclude the public and media from parts of the meeting that affect commercial issues, but voting isn’t one of them.
So, yep, OIAs, and legal opinions about whether the board can be required to be more accountable to the public. And educating the public on how this all works. I bet most people don’t know the processes that they could be involved in.
(and sorry, I’m not up with what has already been organised in Dndn. Thanks for your work on this Pasupial, it’s getting this information out to the Southern area that is crucial).
This whole thing is bad enough, but let’s not forget that these people are basically telling us they are incompetent to run the SDHB within budget and so are having to do crazy shit like this contract.
That’s what’s in my mind thinking about next year’s election. We need public lobbying bodies that will put time and resource into educating the public about local body elections, who is standing and what their voting records are (ditto Regional Councils).
Interesting that the public were excluded from the vote – when I was a rep on a local society, the general understanding was the the commercial discussions could be made with public excluded but subsequent votes based on those discussions were made in public. It wasn’t usual to break down who voted which way in the minutes (unless a member requested), but the vote itself was publ;ic so anybody could see.
Dunno about the legality of secret voting in a public organisation, especially by the elected representatives, but it certainly defeats the purpose of having an election for them in the first place.
Yep. And there is too much of this shit going in local bodies now. It’s an area of activism that is sorely lacking.
The ODT – still reporting the news because foreign rent seekers are out of the ownership equation.
When did hospitals start having ‘brands’?
about the same time hospital food was required to make a profit.
and why is no-one in the house pushing hard to discover how Tony Ryall wasted about $400 million on his proposed master plan for health ? The rumour that it will just be absorbed as losses for ADHB beggars belief.
“The Government’s spent millions of taxpayer dollars kitting out a farm with top-of-the-line New Zealand equipment and hundreds of sheep to “compensate” a Saudi businessman.
ONE News has learned that the Government has spent $6 million air freighting 900 pregnant ewes and farming equipment to Hamood Al Ali Khalaf’s farm in Saudi Arabia.
According to Mr Al Ali Khalaf’s business partner, Sydney-based George Assaf, everything from the fencing to “the shed and the wool shed and the yards and the drafting machines, the weighing, the scales, you mention it, it’s all from New Zealand”.
Mr Assaf says the deal was done to “compensate” the pair over a six-year-old ban of live sheep exports in which they say they lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
He says New Zealand was told “unless you fix that part of it, we won’t sign” the free trade deal between New Zealand and the Gulf States.
It’s said our treatment of the Saudi businessman is the reason the deal with the Gulf States has stalled.
New Zealand will receive no profit from the Saudi farm, which Mr Assaf claims is worth $80 million.”
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/nz-government-gifts-6m-offended-saudi-businessman-6309101
This looks like bribery to me.
Meanwhile DHBs outsource hospital meals for small savings.
Bribery
The offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties.The expectation of a particular voluntary action in return is what makes the difference between a bribe and a private demonstration of goodwill.
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/bribery
I think the Americans have a law against it, put in place after the Lockheed scandals. I’m not at all sure that it’s effective, but we do need to try to stop official bribery and corruption.
Makes me wonder:
1. How many other “aggrieved” businessman we appease. (Isn’t another word for this – extortion?”
2. Where do we find these extortion payments defined in the budget?
MMMMMmmm
The Taxpayers Union (see p 102-105 “Dirty Politics” by Nicky Hager ) has come out
against the Saudi handout
7 MAY 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Taxpayers’ Union is demanding answers from the Government after One News revealed tonight that taxpayers flew 900 sheep on Singapore Airlines to Saudi Arabia and forked out $6 million to kit out a privately owned farm to “compensate” a Saudi businessman. Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, says:
“Why on earth is the Government forking out for a business to leave New Zealand? The objective of a FTA is no excuse for a taxpayer handout to an individual businessman. If the businessman has a good case for compensation from our government, that process should be managed by lawyers, not politicians. A full explanation of the dispute should be made public.”
– See more at: http://livenews.co.nz/2015/05/07/mr-taxpayers-pay-to-relocate-hawkes-bay-farm-to-saudi-arabia/#sthash.I7SLKydg.dpuf
plus Matthew Hooton has an article in the NBR (behind paywall headed “Gulf Games Fail To Deliver”
“John Key’s dissembling over live sheep exports is a case study of why so many businesspeople have lost confidence in him.”
Sounds of metal on Whetstone?
“John Key’s dissembling over live sheep exports is a case study of why so many businesspeople have lost confidence in him.”
One thing people have never understood properly – John Key has never been a businessman. He has been a broker / ticket-clipper. Nothing more.
John Key has never been a businessman.
+111
Correct. JK is not a businessman. He’s a ticket-clipper and Yes-man for the rich.
I heard Mr Hooton on NatRad the other day blaming the lack of the Gulf FTA on Helen Clark. He then went into further detail as to why this was the case.
Live sheep exports to Saudi were banned by Aus & NZ (under HC) after a ship carrying hundreds of sheep was refused entry and sailed about until such time as the sheep perished.
Soem time after this Hooton asserted that JK assured the Saudi ‘businessman’ that live sheep exports would resume.
Based on this assurance some $50 mil was ‘invested’ in NZ sheep farms by the saudi.
JK then reneged on the agreement to allow live sheep exports – 1 pissed off Saudi.
MH then mumbled that that perhaps HC wasn’t to blame and maybe it had something to do with someones ‘word’ being worth diddly…
Mr Hooton can fill in the detail
On top of vile politics without ethic, it is horrific animal cruelty at the very least. TVOne News also announced many sheep had died shortly after arrival due to a bad storm. And let’s be clear, these were pregnant ewes. Hard to imagine the stresses for them enduring at least 20 hours in a Singapore Airlines jet at 38,000 feet. ( What? Yes. Maybe Air NZ didn’t want to touch the job ?)
And what kind of awful conditions will these poor animals be forced to endure for their whole lives, and then in to cruel death.
I didn’t think it was possible to think even less of Key than I did yesterday. Yet, lo, he sinks ever deeper.
By whom and how was this signed off last year ?
Curiously, the clip with Heather du Plessis Allen reporting on the deaths of many of the pregnant ewes seems to be expurgated from the TVOne News website.
wtf
If Nathan Guy had chosen his words better, there would be no argument. So was he telling the truth, and hiding something, or attempting clumsy pre-emptive dialogue and making a mess of something simple? Without his utterance of “invested” there’d be no room for the suspicion of bribery.
“It’s said our treatment of the Saudi businessman is the reason the deal with the Gulf States has stalled.”
Is there something wrong with addressing old issues before moving forward in business, if the values of differing cultures are present? Even if the “compensation” was for a justifiable (animal cruelty, say) ban and had annoyed the Saudi businessman, it still wouldn’t have mattered. Want to do business? Have to play by a set of rules acceptable to the business partner. Can’t seriously be asking/expecting the Nats to become a divison of PETA or somesuch?
What issues? If a single businessman is having issues because of something our government did then he can take it through the NZ courts. They don’t get to stop a trade deal between countries. The only thing that can be said about this is that one country was acting as an agent for a businessman which is pure corruption on their part and at which point NZ should have pulled out of the deal and not gifted millions of dollars to a businessman.
The joys of State controlled TV under Socialism.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/05/venezuela-first-lady-maduro-tv-show
Isn’t this similar to what many of you leftists want to see more of in NZ?
you’re funny..!
Very funny Gossy, mind you, you thought they’d have a revolution over toilet paper – which I’m still giggling about.
I never stated they were going to have a revolution over toilet paper.
Please, read your posts – it was the apocalypse – the end is near stuff. Smacks, of talk of revolution to me.
I’ll tell you what isn’t a joke though. Cracking down of people making fun of the government.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/05/05/404443837/its-no-joke-venezuela-cracks-down-on-comedians
Like this here in NZ on ‘planet key’ track being banned eh
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11309749
Ummm… during an election campaign by an independent election authority. Unless you are implying it isn’t independent. In which case why aren’t any of the Opposition parties up in arms about this?
pinhead dancer
He can’t vto, he always slips off, he has a grip on the wrong handle.
But dear Gossy – the Electoral Commission was in error (so I wonder just how independent they are?) You can in fact read a very erudite and informed opinion on the judge’s ruling here:
http://pundit.co.nz/content/the-larks-on-the-wing-the-snails-on-the-thorn
If they are not independent as you imply then this is terrible news for democracy in New Zealand. The Opposition parties should be demanding an immediate restructure of our Electoral authorities to ensure that independence is reestablished. Strangely I haven’t heard a peep from them on this issue. Why do you think that is?
The level you operate at is dropping rapidly
Your comments about the ‘Greek Haircut’ should they return to a native currency were hilarious
See if you can work out what was missing from your thought pattern when you made that comment
Yes indeed Gos ol chum! Many of our so-called independent authorities are jammed packed with Party sympathizers. Hand picked and placed in positions where they can influence the decisions in favour of National’s objectives. Katherine Rich, Jackie Blue, Wayne Mapp,
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/daily-cronyism.html
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/an-unmanaged-conflict.html
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/cronyism-in-christchurch-ii.html
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/06/more-cronyism.html
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/03/more-cronyism.html
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/03/jobs-for-donors.html
oh! the list goes on and on! 🙁 and just the other day there were marches in the street and protests over a decision by a National sympathizer to ax the last remaining current affairs programme of any credibility.
One day the sheeple will awaken and realise that scumbags like you have stolen everything from them. Those who fail to learn from history will have to relive it. Another French Revolution is not too far into the future I fear.
Like The Parnell Pony-Tail puller getting the police to frantically raid several media (The New Zealand Herald, Herald on Sunday, Herald Online, TV3, Television New Zealand, Radio New Zealand.etc) to get hold of a journalist’s recording of their stupid conversation. Wonder how much that state crackdown cost!
He is… philu… he is.
I imagine he has a Venezuela interrogation light in his mind, full on egg-frying laser strength, which softens to an ambient candlelight flicker when looking at our current government.
Gosman, everything looks harsh under bright light – and as all romantics know – everybody looks good with candles.
OMG Based on exit polls Tories have increased their majority.
Early days, Ron, but still worrying! I blame the SNP 😉
Nah Its not SNP or anyone but Labour. They seem to have no idea how to appeal to the people. Personally I still think they had the wrong Miliband.
Nah, it’s the wannabe upper-class-twit-of-the-year types that think that the Tories represent their interests and keep voting for them.
Pointing fingers
Missing the point
exit polls show tories winning british election..
UK election exit polls not looking good:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/may/07/election-2015-live-final-votes-cast-as-battle-for-power-looms
Which would give; Conservatives + LDs 326 seats out of a possible 650, barely enough to govern. Will have to see what the final results are, may even go down to recounts and overseas/ early votes.
[snap to Ron & P Ure]
Update:
the guru of polling.. nate silver..calls it thus:
CON 297, LAB 253, SNP 56, LD 19.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32633099
Hartd luck guys
Time will tell Gosman. The poll seems way out compared to other polls.
Which probably tells us more about the pre-election polls then anything.
It looks like it will be a depressing night across the UK for the workers of that great land.
“It looks like it will be a depressing night across the UK for the workers of that great land.”
Maybe so but what’s more discouraging for those who wanted a change of government not winning on the night or winning on the night expecting change and then getting your hopes dashed with the same old cak from Westminster on high despite the change of government.
It has been pretty accurate in the past
http://www.may2015.com/featured/election-2015-what-is-the-exit-poll-and-how-does-it-work/
Hard luck for who? By all means enlighten me as to why I should give a flying continental about an election on the other side of the world?
YouGov Exit Poll:
CON – 284
LAB – 263
SNP – 48
LDEM – 31
UKIP – 2
GRN – 1
Narrow majority for Tory/Lib Dem/DUP if it holds.
Looks like a switch from Lib Dem to the Con Jobs has caused a unpredicted swing back to the Tories.
The Poms are suckers for punishment!
TRP
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/may/07/election-2015-live-final-votes-cast-as-battle-for-power-looms#block-554bd76de4b03ec20bdf8b30
Cheers for the clarification, pasupial.
A likely low turnout < 60%. Obviously things aren't tough enough for the masses.
Just to lighten the mood
Clarke and Dawe.
Thanks, very funny as always.
Thanks for that Adam.
Just like house prices, the farming sector has its head in the clouds as well….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/68327503/median-price-for-all-farms-up-to-28000-a-hectare
talk about baloney
completely unsustainable
spectacular splattery explosion imminent in the property sector
I’ve already seen 2 dairy support blocks up for grabs one under the urgent sale banner the other a mortgagee . With a $4 dollar advanced payout predicted for next season the trickle could become a flood.
How to speak to a cat
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201753567/how-to-speak-cat
“In his book, How to Speak Cat, veterinarian Dr Gary Weitzman has endeavoured to decipher just what a cat is saying with its meows, tail movements and purring.”
What’s it saying when the little bugger jumps out from under the couch and sinks its teeth into you’re foot. 🙂
Playtime.
The games Afoot?
lol…Big Game Hunting!…you are mine!…bagged your foot…now for a mauling…
This interview might offer some insight into mass voter thinking. It’s a development scientist? or some term.
She is talking about a happiness curve where you are at the bottom around 40 and enjoy life more as they get older.
But also she talks about people’s attitudes during economic changes upwards. And also then downwards I think. She says that poor people in the USA no longer believe that working hard will be the basis of improving one’s life. However in Latin America, athey do amonst low and middle class. There might be something useful that explains the USA and it appears to me that people hang onto beliefs even when the reality around them indicate they are not correct in their thinking, that it is false.
Apparently it is uncertainty that is the main unhappiness factor. When people in the USA had counted their losses after the crash and knew how they stood, their happiness level went up to a similar level as before. That’s what I think she said! So deep analysis and renegotiating thinking.
She has written book – Happy Peasants and Miserable Millionaires.
The audio will come up soon. Below is the blurb.
10:05 The Happiness U-Curve – how middle age blues are cured by getting older
Carol GrahamCarol Graham researches what makes people happy, finding that the lowest times in peoples’ lives occurs when they are in their forties, but after that their life satisfaction improves. It’s called the happiness u-curve and it’s a pattern that’s repeated all over the world, no matter what the socio-economic conditions of the country. So why do people get unhappy in their forties, but then get happier in their fifties?
Carol Graham is a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland who has written several books about happiness, including one about the paradox of “happy peasants and miserable millionaires”.
heh
Republican state Rep. David Simpson of Longview argues marijuana comes from God and therefore shouldn’t be banned by government. The tea party stalwart has repeatedly championed what he calls the “Christian case” for legalization.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/texas-house-committee-oks-full-marijuana-legalization-bill/32861194
That argument could be run for everything, couldn’t it? For both good shit and bad shit.
It amazes me how humans have got as far as we have
this hideous/vile/uncaring rightwing-trout is also a panellist on the mora show..
..where she comes across as all of the above – with thick as a fucken brick thrown in for good measure…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/68347499/ali-jones-homeless-people-not-christchurch-city-councils-problem
Bio on Ali Jones –
At Ali Jones PR and Communications, “professional ethics” is our touchstone. We won’t waste your time or your money. We won’t play games and we know our stuff.
Mark Twain once said “Always do right – this will gratify some and astonish the rest.” He also said “If you have nothing to say, say nothing.”
She can talk the talk but walk…..?
She used to host a radio show in christchurch which was dropped in 2009, replaced with the network show, but then started again with someone else.
Buck proposed the concept at a housing taskforce meeting on homelessness last week. The issue went to the council’s communities, housing and economic development committee meeting on Thursday. The committee instructed staff to further investigate the plan and give a full report to the council on May 28. Jones did not want further information sought.
This is Jones. What a misanthropic harpy. How come she got elected to the Chch council to represent all the people in Christchurch? (From phil ure’s link)
I get where Vicki is coming from, but this is not part of what we should do. It not our core business. This is not social housing. This is kids, this is drug addiction, this is families and criminality. There's a whole lot of stuff in here we should not be dealing with.
Seeking MP’s support puts job at risk?
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/campbelllive/tauranga-woman-warned-over-contacting-local-mp-2015050419#axzz3Z9SSgW6J
Welcome to the workers bash – coming some more from this government. Mind you it is the Talley’s Group – not know for being particularly nice human beings to begin with.
Radionz news
Strike kills leader who claimed Paris attack
Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, shown in a social media video posted by the group.
A US operation has killed the senior Al Qaeda figure who issued a claim of responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, reports say.
I say WTF. I guess if its good enough for Israel, for Russia, then USA says it’f okay.
Ethics classes for finance sector
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) signage and ATM, Sydney, 2014.
Australia’s biggest banks have announced support for an overhaul of the financial planning sector, including mandatory exams and ethics classes.
Isn’t that sweet. All the little boys and girls with neat hair and clean nails on how to look good in public, and how to keep the govt surveillance out of your drawers.
Swede risk not flagged, group says
Swedes
A group investigating the deaths of Southland stock which ate herbicide-tolerant swedes last winter was never told there was a risk with the crop, it says.
The new super crop with enhanced whatisname and a chemical condom against the nasty spray that kills other plants has possible side effects. Who’d have thunk?
Farmer waits nervously for swaps payout
Farm
A man forced to sell his farm after losing millions in an interest rate deal is waiting to see how big an imminent payout is before deciding whether to fight on. (AUDIO)
Isn’t it a disgrace that National can’t even control the financial system here so that their supporters aren’t taken to the cleaners by overseas banks or mendacious finance houses with alluring insurance schemes against ruin from the financiers’ own outrageous market manipulations. Protection money it is called when the Mafia does it.
new bill makes it really easy for john key to get legal-pot at his holiday-compound in hawaii..
http://whoar.co.nz/2015/bill-makes-it-easier-for-john-key-to-get-legal-pot-when-at-his-holiday-compound-in-hawaii/
A few days ago I posted this…. http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-05052015/#comment-1010262 …to zero response.
Fine, totally ignore another win for the little people over the tyranny of the Government.
In days of old there would be celebrations and dancing in the streets when a small group of already marginalised New Zealanders took a complaint of discrimination against the government…and won.
There would have been rioting in the streets when that hard fought battle got a bitter and evil response from the Government, which provoked
this….http://pundit.co.nz/content/i-think-national-just-broke-our-constitution
Then nearly two years on from that constitutional outrage, another win on the same issue.
Its very difficult to explain the “big picture” here in a way that those completely unfamiliar with the case could grasp.
But I’ll take the time to try.
The care of people with disabilities is funded by the Government under the auspices of the Public Health and Disability Act…a Labour piece of legislation if I recall correctly.
The government will fund disability supports to people over the age of eighteen….but only if families are unwilling or unable to.
There is no penalty for opting out to family members who do not provide the assessed care.
But those who do provide the necessary care, and are unable to work outside the home are severely and significantly impacted….unless, of course, you were one of the at least 272 family carers who were being paid….but that just complicates the issue…so we’ll move on.
So, who does provide the care to those who need it in the absence of willing and able family carers?
Companies with contracts with the Ministry of Health: Disability Support Services.
You may or may not remember these guys…..from various MSM reports of neglect, abuse, assaults and deaths at their hands.
Not all of them.
But enough to make a significant proportion of the disability community unwilling or unable to trust them. Enough of these compainies were unable to provide care for some with very high and complex needs, so family HAD to provide the care.
Hence, the Family Carers Case.
And decisions from the Human Rights Review Tribunal, the High Court (x2) and the Appeal Court (x2) saying that if the person is eligiable for government funded disabilitiy supports THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHO PROVIDES THOSE SUPPORTS.
Sorry to shout…but …are you actually listening?
One of the potential outcomes of this case is to loosen the stranglehold of those contracted providers (some multinationals) on the $1.2 billion of government funding for MOH:DSS supports.
Some of these companies now have contracts with MSD, the DHBs and ACC.
Think about that for a minute…while the current incumbents are formulating a plan to privatise social services and child, youth and family services.
We are talking about a SHIT LOAD of taxpayer money up for tender to ….well….any company who cares to bid.
Like Compass. Or Serco.
Now….let’s think about the TPPA….an issue that Labour has yet to make any clear and unequivocal statements about….an issue that scares the shit out of any Kiwi that has given it more than a passing thought.
Prof Kelsey tells us about contracts with multinationals that would leave our government exposed to legal action if we exercise our democratic and sovereign right to pass laws and have policies that undermine the ‘return on investment’ of these companies.
Now, quietly, and under the radar of the Left, there has been a wee little battle going on, that if the Government had responded in a fair and reasonable manner, would have had the potential to cause a significant reduction in income for companies that the Government has contracts with.
Which I wonder is what the government hid from ALL of us in the Regulatory Impact Statement…you remember….the one with pages and pages of blanked out bits.
Think about that….the government passing legislation that removes people’s rights and casts them forever into the margins….and THEY HIDE THE REASONS WHY.
Rant over.
Laws – good people don’t need them, and the bad people will just change them to suit themselves.
Rosemary McDonald +100…scarey
…where is the New Zealand Labour Party on this?!….they should be jumping up and down!
Labour could have dealt to this prior to the 2008 election. They did a Pontious Pilate and had it go to the HRRT.
They did verbally protest on the 17th May 2013….but, as yet, I have seen no public comment from any party since the release of this latest Appeal Court decsion.
Having the Appeal Court tell the Government they have passed legislation that is not fit for purpose….to put it mildly…should have at least got a publicised mention in the House.
Maybe if it had a ponytail attached?
Methinks there is more to this than immediately apparent.
Jill Sobule – greatest living folk singer?
Great take on USA politics
Ani Difranco (also a contender for great living folk singer).
Key & Peele
Where there ain’t no pain, ain’t no sorrow
heads-up..!
don’t even think of taking the piss out of trp for his election-prediction..
..he’ll ban yr arse..
You did note the tags, didn’t you?
Odd Miliband
Ed Miliband trying not to touch a Scottish person
Ed Miliband trying to understand human emotion
Ed Miliband trying to shake hands with people
Ed Miliband looking at his fingers
and best of all
Ed Miliband trying to look natural
no..where are/were they..?
..and..yr point..?
The post was a piss take – the accompanying video sort of gave it away.
Categories: elections, labour, social media lolz, uk politics
i never watched the video..
..and i am not such a completist – that i read ‘categories’…(my bad!)
(does ‘social media lolz’ signify that a whole post is ‘a piss-take’..?..i must remember that..)
..so i have to admit – i took it at face-value..
..and in fact..going on the pre-election polling..
..like many others – i also thought lab/snp had it sewed up..
..and thought that if trp was guilty of anything..
..it was premature-triumphalism..
..silly/unobservant me..!..eh..?
i was in the habit of watching prime news..and then 3 news..
..but no more..
..as any significant content on prime is repeated on 3 news a few minutes later – word for fucken word..
..they really are trying to play us for fucken fools..
..but no more..