Labour and Greens pushed the ‘no plan’ plan in the eledction campaign and are continuing the theme, hoping it will stick by the next election? Both parties said Key’s goals announced yesterday wer absent any plans.
Pete, it is your scussy self serving little Dunne monster that will enable the Nats to achieve their plan of gifting themselves and their paymasters NZs assets. Yes they have a plan and it is very scummy, and you soil yourself with it by wiling association. Disgusting.
Not content to murder the English language, logic, reasoning and any measure of quality in their profession, the media are now attacking their sources!
A rare animal was killed last week by a camera man in Germany.
Who watched Campbells interview with the PM last night? Key was well rehearsed and his usual smooth as glass self when answering questions about the loss of jobs in the public sector. The ultimate snake oil salesman charm oozed.
Repeating the following mantras …”Salient point is outcomes not numbers (of public servants reduced)..dont need to know numbers….better product, outcome, and experience for NZers engaged with the public service…..all businesses innovate and change is a constant….we will target transparency, delivery of outcomes, results…”.
Sounds good until you break it down. It is the language of a sociopath.
People to Key are numbers and numbers dont matter, only outcomes matter. Ergo a public servant is a number who exists to the PM only as an outcome producing number.
We the NZers who engage with the Public Service are expected to recieve business outcomes, measured with us as the primary outcome (eg 85% of us getting NCEA L2), ergo we too are mere outcomes, mere numbers.
Keys language is the language of business, not of public service or community / citizenry. He kept as far as possible away from talking money but it was obvious that Key used business words such as efficiency, effectiveness to avoid the plain grubby fact that this is all about paying less to deliver less.
Keys sociopathology was there for all to see, his words said it all: is not about delivering service to citizens, its about delivering $ outcomes to our masters. And he is master number one, a number, devoid of humanity, a mere cypher.
.
…the plain grubby fact that this is all about paying less to deliver less.
Although words like ‘expenditure’ and ‘efficiency’ will be peppered throughout any explanatory justification for what’s happening, the truth of the matter is that whether services cost less or more is neither here nor there in the scheme of things. What matters – all that matters – is that the public service is diminished, unions knackered and that services are privatised.
A well-written article on the origins of the culture of poverty. 50 years ago Michael Harrington’s book ‘The Other American’ introduced the invisible poor, such as Appalachian cultures, the inner-city ghettos, farm workers and the poor elderly, amongst others, to middle America – disabusing them of the notion of a classless society. Harrigton described a the poor in terms difference:
“There is … a language of the poor, a psychology of the poor, a worldview of the poor. To be impoverished is to be an internal alien, to grow up in a culture that is radically different from the one that dominates the society.”
Harrington thought the poor were distinguished by a ‘culture of poverty’. This was in turn interpreted (apparently unintended by Harrington) in a way that meant although they should be helped, there was in fact, something wrong with them. The result of this thinking is a prevalence of victim-blaming and a belief that entrusting the poor with money, for instance, would only lead to a worsening of their condition:
By the Reagan era, the “culture of poverty” had become a cornerstone of conservative ideology: poverty was caused, not by low wages or a lack of jobs, but by bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles. The poor were dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to “defer gratification”, or possibly even set an alarm clock. The last thing they could be trusted with was money. In fact, Charles Murray argued, in his 1984 book Losing Ground, any attempt to help the poor with their material circumstances would only have the unexpected consequence of deepening their depravity.
The author of this article finishes with the following observation:
Fifty years later, a new discovery of poverty is long overdue. This time, we’ll have to take account not only of stereotypical Skid Row residents and Appalachians, but of foreclosed-upon suburbanites, laid-off tech workers, and America’s ever-growing army of the “working poor”. And if we look closely enough, we’ll have to conclude that poverty is not, after all, a cultural aberration or a character flaw. Poverty is a shortage of money.
This interpretation of a ‘culture of poverty’ enables some people to contrast themselves as “disciplined, law-abiding, sober, and focused. In other words, not poor.” Whereas in reality the only culture of poverty is in their heads. Poor people are poor – that is all. Deal with poverty, not to the poverty-stricken.
I couldn’t agree more Rosy. Thanks for posting that.
It’s been all too easy for, particularly the smug, comfortably off, to pat themselves on the back believing themselves to have naturally risen to the top in a kind of moral, as well as intellectual “meritocracy”. They “know” that people get what they deserve and we shouldn’t interfere with the natural order because giving to the undeserving only further weakens them and hastens their decay. The compassionate thing is to be cruel to be kind, but make sure the children of the poor always have books available, in case the genes of the inferior, somehow throws up a potentially upstanding and worthy citizen.
Thanks JS, I think articles like this are really important in breaking down the narratives of difference that are accepted into common usage with no real understanding of how accurate they might be.
I agree with DH, below, that people lack empathy with the poor, I don’t agree that money doesn’t matter though. It does matter – money is what makes the non-poor see themselves as ‘different’ when they’re not. In my climb up the social ladder I’ve seen similar behaviours exhibited in a variety of social settings, but with different results, for example drunkeness, assaults, children having accidents while off playing ‘unsupervised’, taking financial risks and indiscriminate spending, but also a pride in work, family and achievement. The rich and poor are not different groups, they do however live in different contexts.
I also very much resent, as you suggest, how the non-poor see rewards, from a secure financial base as necessary to incentivise themselves but believe withdrawal of rewards, from an already financially precarious base will incentivise the poor. It simply can’t happen, for the majority of the poor, that their lot will improve without a stable base and positive reinforcement. The opposite is equally likely IMO – life will get worse and poorer decisions will be made. This is also where DH’s contention that money doesn’t matter falls down.
And in Uturns words
No one will fix poverty by standing back, hand out, just out of reach, calling, “Reach out, take my hand if you aren’t lazy!” Helping people help themselves involves stooping, picking people up, holding their hand, and then walking forward together. And while that happens, inside that person, they being to discover they can make steps themselves and they participate with you. And while you are with them you too are changed. Sometimes the person you assist lets go of your hand, sometimes they will always need a place to lean – but that does not mean things are not changing, that they are not growing and that each action is not a development from the last.
The sons of widows and teenage mothers climbing the socio-economic ladder, supported by a stable financial base and positive reinforcement, and then kicking the ladder away is the complete opposite to this.
I think it’s more than just money Rosy. Self respect is hugely important and it generally follows that when you’re poor you’re lacking in that area. We are social creatures & we all want to be accepted & respected in society. If you’re poor you feel like a social pariah; a lesser human being. Strip a man or woman of their pride and what have you got left?
I’ll always maintain that the poor don’t want charity or sympathy. They just want self respect and for that they need access to decent jobs before they build up so much baggage from being social outcasts that they’re irredeemable.
The word empathy comes up from time to time & I think that is what is lacking among us. To truly understand the poor we need to walk a mile in their shoes and most people seem incapable of doing that.
That’s not to disagree with you btw, just that money isn’t the solution it’s only a stopgap IMO.
“We are social creatures & we all want to be accepted & respected in society” – Speak for yourself, the acceptance of society to me, I take as an insult from a bunch of people who don’t know a thing about me…
Take your point though in regards to the social aspect, but as far as accepted by society….No thanks, Ill decide the personal acceptance criteria for myself!
In my opinion, the opposite of rejected, is appreciated.
Appreciation means knowing what something is and what it is used for. In the case of a human being, instead of “their use”, it means understanding how they relate to you, to others and their effect on the world. It is the begining of a respect for people that does not have to be earned through meeting arbitrarily enforced cultural rules.
By understanding that appreciation is the opposite of rejection, we move out of the binary accept/reject cycle which requires no thought, no rationality, no understanding. Anyone can like or hate something.
DH, good to see you are trapped into the 2 dimentional thought process..
Look at it this way, we have been shovelled into little boxes, which society like to be able to relate to in order to feel they are safe, secure and in control, when really this is far from the truth.
People who understand what life is a little more, and see the constraints that have been set around us, will see that the essence of a person is far more important than what they have, what they do for a job or any of that meaningless stuff, its a slave mindset to focus on the trivial, or only on ones ownself, without looking outward to those who most need assistance!
Society needs to get out of its collective coma, and see that they are making this place into a shitehole of their own making, and due to selfish arrogance, foolishly believe that because they perceive “society” to accept them, that they, and society are actually “right”
I’ll always maintain that the poor don’t want charity or sympathy. They just want self respect and for that they need access to decent jobs before they build up so much baggage from being social outcasts that they’re irredeemable.
That’s right, but in the interim, money is a solution! How can someone get a job with bad teeth, glasses from a $2 shop and no money for bus fares to interviews?
I’m pretty wary of the ‘money isn’t the solution’ meme too.
Using the anaolgy of a deficiency disease, you treat the deficiency with what is deficient eg vitamin C for scurvy and tackle the reasons that the patient became deficient. Too many people who like to tut tut about ‘fishing rods’ (and I’m not saying you are one of them DH) or, in the modern parlance, bollocks like “excellence in education”, are really advocating that we not provide what is deficient, and often use abhorrent quasi-moral arguments about supposed moral deficencies in the poor, in order to absolve themselves from any ethical obligation to help those in need.
Well money is certainly the solution to the problem of not having money. But giving people more money doesn’t address the problem of why they don’t have money in the first place. Giving more money in the form of decent jobs solves both problems IMO.
Present thinking from both the Nats & Labour seems to be that poverty in NZ is caused by poor education; the solution being to make sure everyone is well educated and poverty & unemployment will disappear because there’s always a shortage of skilled workers. So they pump more & more dosh into the education system. That we’ve been trying this for a good twenty years now with little success doesn’t seem to sway the pundits of this…. just chuck more money at it, has to work sooner or later.
Another line of thinking is that if beneficiaries had enough income to get by on they’d sort their own problems out. It does have some merit but I don’t subscribe to it as a solution per se; jobs don’t appear out of thin air and the real problem is we don’t have enough decent jobs for people. Take Vicky’s example above. IMO she’s right, some more dosh would help that person with bad teeth get a job. But they’d get the job at the expense of someone else. The underlying problem would still be there.
“Harrington thought the poor were distinguished by a ‘culture of poverty’. This was in turn interpreted (apparently unintended by Harrington) in a way that meant although they should be helped, there was in fact, something wrong with them. The result of this thinking is a prevalence of victim-blaming and a belief that entrusting the poor with money, for instance, would only lead to a worsening of their condition.”
This is the problem of social commenters forgetting the bias trained into psychologists, well, the good ones at least: You cannot observe something in its natural state. The limitations of being an observer include interpreting the subject/object by your own values. You change the subject/object every time you interact with it. These limitations can only be reduced by investigating yourself first and knowing your own bias and the many ways a mind will trap you, unconsciously. Of course, stopping to investigate yourself costs time and is very inconvenient to business that wants immediate results. But I’ll not go that way in this comment. The point that you highlight and that we see in action from Shearer’s speech yesterday below, is that the epidemic of forgetting the influences of your upbringing and culture is spreading:
“Now, what happens if we put this in the New Zealand context?
The first thing we can say is this: we have some very high-achieving children and some high-achieving schools.
The best and the brightest do very well and I am proud of them.
But I’m not just interested in the bunch that leads the marathon into the stadium.
Some of them are outstanding and the very best of them finish their race in world record time.
They’re an inspiration for the others.
But if you track back along the rest of the field, it doesn’t look so world class.
Many of them are coming in hours later.
Many of them are giving up before the finish.
And too many of them aren’t even turning up at the starting line.
We have a long tail of failure.
We have to fix it.”
We have to fix it? Listen to him praise “success”, that is, money, coming first, beating others, individual effort. Listen to him talk of inspiration, pride and admiration like they are, inherently, desirable concepts for the psyche – some kind of peaceful clearing in a forest where nothing happens – and morally correct states. Listen to him proclaim that life is a competition. That time is a factor, an inconvenience – to him. That we must be “world class”, no choice. And that if we don’t hurry up, we will assumedly lose the race. Listen to him say that “giving up”, leaving the race, having an alternate view is “wrong”. We must fix what is “Wrong”. Good rich kids will freely join the race; bad poor kids are wrong and need fixing. They will be fixed.
Now to be fair, though I hate to be fair right now, Shearer failed to define any of his points. They were empty vacuous statements, so wide in parameters that they could mean anything, but where they did link up, as in the marathon example, we begin to see what beliefs Shearer supports.
His ideas cater to those infatuated with themselves, with a small world view and limited understanding of who they are in relation to the outside world.
“Inspiration” is a personal experience, felt by the individual, usually pleasurable. It generally doesn’t last and historically can even be the beginning of a series of incidences leading into schizophrenic episode. Admiration is a projection of one man’s fantasy wish – he sees something he wants, imagines the value of it above all other traits, his mind departs for the future when he too might possess those traits. He’d like to be the acclaimed Hero, too – neglecting the present and who he is right now and how his own qualities might be developed and expressed in the world.
Admiration tricks the mind into another state of infatuation: a good athlete is admirable, look at him score tries; surely he would also be a good business man, a great husband, a sober driver, of sound mind and worthy of political comment and influence? Every few months, from the stories of stupidity from our national level athletes, we discover that one thing does not mean another.
Is life a competition or have we made it a competition? In Shearer’s brave new, New Zealand, will anyone be allowed to drop out of the money race of infatuation fantasy to find out? Will poverty and social exclusion be the price they pay? How much time should Shearer allow an explorer to search? Whose measure will he use? That of the Boomers, who rarely look outside the last sixty years to understand just how fragile the material gains of free-market economics really are? Will he take a longer view and realise that a man could spend his whole life searching, pass incomplete information to his colleague and that person pass it to another before a clearer understanding is reached? Will they too have to live in an increasingly hostile society, because of their now enforced poverty? Will the crowd in the marathon stadium have gone home by then?
Will he take an Eastern View, and simply sit and wait, comfortable in the unknowable unexplained, the Tao? Probably not. Will he frown on and ridicule the Buddhist athlete, who will not eat meat, or participate in farming animals, or the construction of electronic materials used for things that are not “mindful”. How does the blatant dismissal of alternative culture in NZ set us up for the multitude of friends here now that are not Christian, and are not interested in Shearer’s marathon? Could it be that Shearers marathon is so utterly morally flawed, it is actively divisive? And all this to court 10% swing voters – a group that will never stay put because self interest has no loyalty to anything but it’s owner. And right at the bottom, children being forced into holes that don’t fit them, being destroyed mentally, labeled as wrong, and condemned to poverty.
Shearer has forgotten the impact of his own viewpoint. Poverty is not “wrong”, though it certainly is a painful reality. Poverty is no more wrong than cancer is wrong. Cancer exists, poverty exists – understand and intervene as necessary. Poverty is a symptom of a problem we create by impatiently believing wrong ideas. We fail to observe our environment in the present, see who is here and who they are and we certainly do not live with them each day, letting time be a coincidental measure of what happened instead of a distance between now and our impatience to see a future that we do not understand.
No one will fix poverty by standing back, hand out, just out of reach, calling, “Reach out, take my hand if you aren’t lazy!” Helping people help themselves involves stooping, picking people up, holding their hand, and then walking forward together. And while that happens, inside that person, they being to discover they can make steps themselves and they participate with you. And while you are with them you too are changed. Sometimes the person you assist lets go of your hand, sometimes they will always need a place to lean – but that does not mean things are not changing, that they are not growing and that each action is not a development from the last.
What people forget with their focus on imagining the future is that no two days are the same, they don’t know the future and there is more to learn in the present than the past can tell us. If life was all about past experiences defining our futures, we’d all be completely satisfied by now! Life would be easy, no surprises, just follow the official recipe.
Helping people to help themselves is a matter of participation in the moment and for the long term, realising that that the time measure of how long you are together is irrelevant to the discoveries and developments made. It is not a case of reading a magazine about the activities of the Red Cross, deciding you want to help – from the position of your privileged white middle class existence – parachuting into a ravaged country with aid structures already in place and when you get tired, going home to general applause.
Stay home and fix the messes we’ve created. Learn about yourself and your people in the face of the hatred from your family, your friends and society that will pour on you when you try, from nothing, with nothing, to make a change. Then you’ll see your own culture in a different light, it will start to crumble, and you’ll comprehend it a little like those from a position of poverty would. What good is charity and assistance when it is just the comfortable helping the poor on the weekends while during the week they vote in regimes that maintain and create more hobby problems for them to attend?
There’s a unattributed story that talks about true assistance and what it can do:
A master and his disciple were walking in the garden and the young monk asked, “Master, in the old days men often saw God. Why is it so hard to see him now?” The master replied, “No one now is prepared to stoop low enough”.
A plan that is based around infatuation with material success will discourage people not just from stooping, not just from bending their knees, but even glancing below waist height.
From Rosy’s post:
“ The author of this article finishes with the following observation:
Fifty years later, a new discovery of poverty is long overdue. This time, we’ll have to take account not only of stereotypical Skid Row residents and Appalachians, but of foreclosed-upon suburbanites, laid-off tech workers, and America’s ever-growing army of the “working poor”. And if we look closely enough, we’ll have to conclude that poverty is not, after all, a cultural aberration or a character flaw. Poverty is a shortage of money.”
And here is another proof of cultural bias from that author. Poverty, as has been outlined here from various commenter’s recently, is not just about money, it effects resources, minds, perspectives. That author believes that somehow, those that ran in Shearer’s marathon were superhuman from the start. They did not suffer flaws. The identities of those people were not humans first, professionals second, but professionals first and only. Well, those now out of work professionals find out pretty fast that human identity is not anything to do with what you do for money. Sometimes the shock leads them to suicide.
Our nation is sick, mentally, philosophically, spiritually. Instead of facing that fact, Shearer and others like him, have done the equivalent of offering free cigarettes to those with self induced emphysema; cheap proof alcohol to cirrhosis suffering drunks; and live-in slaves to sociopaths. Then gone further to encourage children into the cycle. I’m pretty pissed of about that.
…parachuting into a ravaged country with aid structures already in place and when you get tired, going home to general applause…
Add in a one percenter salary and pension scheme and you’ve described Shearer.
I find it interesting that Shearer went to Papatoetoe High School (I believe he was head boy) at a time that the lower middle class, such as made up the majority of people in Papatoetoe at that time, never had it better. Among fellow students were those from the deprived state-housing suburb of Otara, they were poor, often hungry and generally despised by Papatoetoe Pakeha. Shearer would have been exposed to daily incidences of racism from teachers and students alike. He left school and aspirationally voted National in that Labour stronghold. Like many of his peers (such as Phil Goff), he made excellent use of his education and natural advantages, and moved up the socio-economic staircase.
It wasn’t until he was overseas that he was suddenly moved by poverty and oppression. Like so many middle-class warriors, poverty and injustice is so much easier to get angry about when it’s happening somewhere else, and doesn’t entail any reflection on one’s own place in perpetuationg the causes.
Nobody wants to read continuous vexation built on speculation, we want a functional and truthful rightwing commentary, which is unfortunately largely lacking from New Zealand’s blogosphere…
Beautiful descriptions of Cactus…another overblown by her own importance has been….. Catcus is such an old windbag full of hollow threats…. a discredited and defunct commentator who hides behind a barbed wire fence, too afraid of her own shadow to step out into the light.
(My Local Government) OIA request to UNELECTED Auckland Council CEO – Doug McKay
(15 March 2012)
“WHO GOVERNS THIS AUCKLAND $UPERCITY COUNCIL?
ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OR THE UNELECTED COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND?
What is driving this Ports Of Auckland dispute has been the Auckland Council Investment Limited’s ‘Key Performance Indicator’ (KPI) that ‘POAL’s ROE (Return On Equity) increases from 6.3% to 12% over the following 5 years by 30/06/2016″.
Councillor Richard Northey, Chair of the Auckland Council Accountability and Performance Committee asked the Chief Executive of Auckland Council Investments Ltd (ACIL), Gary Swift in a letter dated 20 January 2012 asked:
“2. What was the origin and justification for the above KPI? …”
The answer from the Chief Executive of Auckland Council Investments Ltd (ACIL), Gary Swift in a letter dated 27 January 2012 :
” I’m not exactly sure where the return on equity target of 12% originated…..
I think Doug McKay may have suggested 12% when he met with the POAL Board.
……”
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS IN STATEMENTS OF INTENT ARE ‘GOVERNANCE’ MATTERS – TO BE DECIDED BY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES – NOT THE UNELECTED CEO OF AUCKLAND COUNCIL, DOUG MCKAY, WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ‘OPERATIONAL’ MATTERS.
Please provide the following information which confirms:
1) IN WHAT LAWFUL CAPACITY, AND ON WHOSE LAWFUL AUTHORITY DID YOU, UNELECTED CEO FOR AUCKLAND COUNCIL DOUG MCKAY MEET WITH THE POAL BOARD AND ‘SUGGEST’ A 12% RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE) KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR?
2) PLEASE PROVIDE THE MINUTES OF ALL/ANY MEETINGS BETWEEN THE POAL BOARD/ THE ACIL BOARD AND YOURSELF AS CEO OF AUCKLAND COUNCIL WHERE A 12% RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE) KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR WAS DISCUSSED.
3) PLEASE CONFIRM WHETHER A 12% RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE) KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR WAS EVER DISCUSSED BETWEEN YOURSELF AS A MEMBER OF THE UNELECTED PRIVATE LOBBY GROUP – THE COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND – AND THE CEO OF PORTS OF AUCKLAND, TONY GIBSON, ALSO A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND.
4) PLEASE PROVIDE THE INFORMATION WHICH CONFIRMS HOW MANY CONTRACTS HAVE BEEN AWARDED TO COMPANIES WHICH ARE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND, FOR THE PROVISION OF GOODS, SERVICES OR PEOPLE, SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AUCKLAND TRANSITION AGENCY (ATA); THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AUCKLAND COUNCIL, AND/OR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ‘COUNCIL CONTROLLED ORGANISATIONS’ (CCOs):
ACIL
RFA
ATEED
ACPL
Auckland Transport
Waterfront Auckland
Watercare
Hey, Penny, I heard you stuffed up MUNZ’s chance to talk with the AK council yesterday by constantly interrupting proceedings to the point where the meeting was shut down. Is that true?
From what I saw at union meetings Voice, MUNZ did not even know what the ROE/SOI/PBE even were
These documents, and the employment contracts and legal freamework should have been the core of the strategy, and it looks as if they were not!
Can’t comment on yesterdays meeting as I was not there, but MUNZ should actually be thanking others who have handed to them on a plate, information that MUNZ were clueless about!
Thank you for attempting to seeki TRUTH from FACTS Te Reo Putake.
The FACTS are that – yes – I did make some interjections.
(It is VERY difficult to just sit there and listen to information which is factually incorrect – whether it comes from Auckland Council ‘in-house’ lawyers, or the Mayor of Auckland.)
The meeting was closed down after I asked if I could speak, (and was refused) after hearing the Mayor get it completely wrong by comparing the situation of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) – which are PROFIT-ORIENTED ENTITIES, with this POAL situation – where the Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) – Auckland Council Investments Ltd (ACIL) is a PUBLIC BENEFIT ENTITY.
I waited until just before the vote was to be put – before I asked to speak and was declined.
So – as I have done on many othe occasions – ‘when people’s rights are under attack – stand up fight back!’ – that’s what I did on this occasion.
I pointed out the FACTS and the LAW.
(Given that I have been previously arrested on 22 occasions in Auckland City Council days, and it has been 21 – 1 to me – that I know that the legal advice upon which Council has been relying, hasn’t been reliable.)
I also knew once the Mayor had stated that he was not going to support the motion – that there wouldn’t be the numbers for it to pass.
The normal situation under ‘Standing Orders’ is that ‘DEPUTATIONS’ are heard BEFORE the Council or Council Committee starts items of business set down for that meeting.
So – if MUNZ had applied for ‘speaking rights’ they would have already been heard.
(I arrived about 15 minutes late, because I had widely distributed by email the above-mentioned ‘Local Government) OIA request to UNELECTED Auckland Council CEO – Doug McKay
(15 March 2012)
“WHO GOVERNS THIS AUCKLAND $UPERCITY COUNCIL?
ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OR THE UNELECTED COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND?”
Please be advised that I have raised the issue of ‘Public Benefit Entities’ and broader issues regarding opposition to ‘contracting out’ , at Council meetings for quite some time.
That’s only because you don’t know much, and to compound that, you are incurious.
If you had a clue, you would know that the people on this film have been chosen carefully to present a stereotypical picture of southerners as illiterate, superstitious, toothless fools. The woman asking the questions is the daughter of Nancy Pelosi, and she has a vested interest in doing that.
These guys say some hair-raisingly ignorant things, for sure, but they are no worse than what you’ll hear from the likes of Whaleoil, David Farrar—and more disturbingly, John Key.
The only reason you have to laugh at these guys is that they are dirt-poor, and they have funny southern accents. At least they’re funny to the minds of sniffy insiders like the Pelosi family.
You really think I didn’t realise they went and picked the most backwards people possible with extreme views.
That doesn’t stop it being amazing that people in America still hold those views. If you really think that the views expressed on there are the same as those held by Whaleoil David Farrar and John Key then it is who doesn’t know much and is incurious.
Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows increasing strong support for Prime Minister John Key’s National Party 48.5% (up 3% since February 27-March 11, 2012). Support for Key’s Coalition partners has changed little with the Maori Party 1% (down 0.5%), ACT NZ 0.5% (unchanged), and United Future 0.5% (unchanged).
Support for Labour has fallen 1.5% to 30%, Greens 12.5% (down 0.5%), New Zealand First 5% (unchanged), Mana Party 0.5% (down 0.5%) and Others 1.5% (unchanged).
If a National Election were held today the National Party would be returned to Government.
If you really think that the views expressed on there are the same as those held by Whaleoil David Farrar and John Key
It’s not a matter of whether I think so or not; the fact is that they do. Their anti-democratic statements are just as extreme; they are just more affluent, and their accents don’t sound funny to the likes of Alexandra Pelosi.
then it is who doesn’t know much and is incurious.
I know a lot more than you do about American politics, and obviously a lot more about New Zealand politics.
So the Chinese government are very aggressive, calling me and other kiwis racist and laying out bare threats, while at the same time being racist themselves about who can buy their land.
The very fact they have done this requires heavy resistance.
An extemely well written article about how increasing use of private health care is wrecking the public health system:
Expanding the pay-for-treatment sector may wreck the free one, writes Tim Parke
New Zealand’s world-class hospital care depends on extremely well motivated senior medical staff.
The solution to rising healthcare costs in tough economic times is not, as some vested interests would increasingly have you believe, to maximise the number of people using the private health sector. As a public hospital emergency specialist, I fear that expanding private healthcare may instead fragment and irretrievably damage an effective public system, resulting in the country as a whole paying more for potentially worse healthcare
Well worth reading in full.
He concludes:
So, if a mainly public hospital healthcare system is cheaper, fairer, less divisive, and produces good outcomes on international comparisons, why encourage the use of alternatives? Instead of spending money on private health insurance, perhaps a lesser sum invested in the public system through taxation could make up for some of its current deficiencies and protect it for the future. It certainly has the best chance of delivering comprehensive health protection to all – even if they get old, lose their job or get sick with something unprofitable.
* Tim Parke is clinical director, Adult Emergency Department, Auckland
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
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Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
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"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
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Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
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Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
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As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
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The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
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Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Labour and Greens pushed the ‘no plan’ plan in the eledction campaign and are continuing the theme, hoping it will stick by the next election? Both parties said Key’s goals announced yesterday wer absent any plans.
Shearer said yesterday “Everyone in this room knows the difference between a woolly plan”. ‘No plan’ plan – plainly plonkers.
(Maybe MOM is not a plan that’s worth highlighting).
Pete, it is your scussy self serving little Dunne monster that will enable the Nats to achieve their plan of gifting themselves and their paymasters NZs assets. Yes they have a plan and it is very scummy, and you soil yourself with it by wiling association. Disgusting.
Why is it that ALL the Links you use, are to your own bloody website? Where nothing of any substance is done.
Not content to murder the English language, logic, reasoning and any measure of quality in their profession, the media are now attacking their sources!
A rare animal was killed last week by a camera man in Germany.
“…it was a direct hit…”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,821389,00.html
Who watched Campbells interview with the PM last night? Key was well rehearsed and his usual smooth as glass self when answering questions about the loss of jobs in the public sector. The ultimate snake oil salesman charm oozed.
Repeating the following mantras …”Salient point is outcomes not numbers (of public servants reduced)..dont need to know numbers….better product, outcome, and experience for NZers engaged with the public service…..all businesses innovate and change is a constant….we will target transparency, delivery of outcomes, results…”.
Sounds good until you break it down. It is the language of a sociopath.
People to Key are numbers and numbers dont matter, only outcomes matter. Ergo a public servant is a number who exists to the PM only as an outcome producing number.
We the NZers who engage with the Public Service are expected to recieve business outcomes, measured with us as the primary outcome (eg 85% of us getting NCEA L2), ergo we too are mere outcomes, mere numbers.
Keys language is the language of business, not of public service or community / citizenry. He kept as far as possible away from talking money but it was obvious that Key used business words such as efficiency, effectiveness to avoid the plain grubby fact that this is all about paying less to deliver less.
Keys sociopathology was there for all to see, his words said it all: is not about delivering service to citizens, its about delivering $ outcomes to our masters. And he is master number one, a number, devoid of humanity, a mere cypher.
.
Although words like ‘expenditure’ and ‘efficiency’ will be peppered throughout any explanatory justification for what’s happening, the truth of the matter is that whether services cost less or more is neither here nor there in the scheme of things. What matters – all that matters – is that the public service is diminished, unions knackered and that services are privatised.
So true Bill, these bastards are so cock arrogant that they think the blarney Shonko comes up with will trump our poor little minds.
The poor: always with us, necessarily not us
A well-written article on the origins of the culture of poverty. 50 years ago Michael Harrington’s book ‘The Other American’ introduced the invisible poor, such as Appalachian cultures, the inner-city ghettos, farm workers and the poor elderly, amongst others, to middle America – disabusing them of the notion of a classless society. Harrigton described a the poor in terms difference:
“There is … a language of the poor, a psychology of the poor, a worldview of the poor. To be impoverished is to be an internal alien, to grow up in a culture that is radically different from the one that dominates the society.”
Harrington thought the poor were distinguished by a ‘culture of poverty’. This was in turn interpreted (apparently unintended by Harrington) in a way that meant although they should be helped, there was in fact, something wrong with them. The result of this thinking is a prevalence of victim-blaming and a belief that entrusting the poor with money, for instance, would only lead to a worsening of their condition:
The author of this article finishes with the following observation:
This interpretation of a ‘culture of poverty’ enables some people to contrast themselves as “disciplined, law-abiding, sober, and focused. In other words, not poor.” Whereas in reality the only culture of poverty is in their heads. Poor people are poor – that is all. Deal with poverty, not to the poverty-stricken.
I couldn’t agree more Rosy. Thanks for posting that.
It’s been all too easy for, particularly the smug, comfortably off, to pat themselves on the back believing themselves to have naturally risen to the top in a kind of moral, as well as intellectual “meritocracy”. They “know” that people get what they deserve and we shouldn’t interfere with the natural order because giving to the undeserving only further weakens them and hastens their decay. The compassionate thing is to be cruel to be kind, but make sure the children of the poor always have books available, in case the genes of the inferior, somehow throws up a potentially upstanding and worthy citizen.
bah
Thanks JS, I think articles like this are really important in breaking down the narratives of difference that are accepted into common usage with no real understanding of how accurate they might be.
I agree with DH, below, that people lack empathy with the poor, I don’t agree that money doesn’t matter though. It does matter – money is what makes the non-poor see themselves as ‘different’ when they’re not. In my climb up the social ladder I’ve seen similar behaviours exhibited in a variety of social settings, but with different results, for example drunkeness, assaults, children having accidents while off playing ‘unsupervised’, taking financial risks and indiscriminate spending, but also a pride in work, family and achievement. The rich and poor are not different groups, they do however live in different contexts.
I also very much resent, as you suggest, how the non-poor see rewards, from a secure financial base as necessary to incentivise themselves but believe withdrawal of rewards, from an already financially precarious base will incentivise the poor. It simply can’t happen, for the majority of the poor, that their lot will improve without a stable base and positive reinforcement. The opposite is equally likely IMO – life will get worse and poorer decisions will be made. This is also where DH’s contention that money doesn’t matter falls down.
And in Uturns words
The sons of widows and teenage mothers climbing the socio-economic ladder, supported by a stable financial base and positive reinforcement, and then kicking the ladder away is the complete opposite to this.
I think it’s more than just money Rosy. Self respect is hugely important and it generally follows that when you’re poor you’re lacking in that area. We are social creatures & we all want to be accepted & respected in society. If you’re poor you feel like a social pariah; a lesser human being. Strip a man or woman of their pride and what have you got left?
I’ll always maintain that the poor don’t want charity or sympathy. They just want self respect and for that they need access to decent jobs before they build up so much baggage from being social outcasts that they’re irredeemable.
The word empathy comes up from time to time & I think that is what is lacking among us. To truly understand the poor we need to walk a mile in their shoes and most people seem incapable of doing that.
That’s not to disagree with you btw, just that money isn’t the solution it’s only a stopgap IMO.
“We are social creatures & we all want to be accepted & respected in society” – Speak for yourself, the acceptance of society to me, I take as an insult from a bunch of people who don’t know a thing about me…
Take your point though in regards to the social aspect, but as far as accepted by society….No thanks, Ill decide the personal acceptance criteria for myself!
The opposite of accepted is rejected muzza. Would you prefer to be a social reject that no-one wants anything to do with?
In my opinion, the opposite of rejected, is appreciated.
Appreciation means knowing what something is and what it is used for. In the case of a human being, instead of “their use”, it means understanding how they relate to you, to others and their effect on the world. It is the begining of a respect for people that does not have to be earned through meeting arbitrarily enforced cultural rules.
By understanding that appreciation is the opposite of rejection, we move out of the binary accept/reject cycle which requires no thought, no rationality, no understanding. Anyone can like or hate something.
DH, good to see you are trapped into the 2 dimentional thought process..
Look at it this way, we have been shovelled into little boxes, which society like to be able to relate to in order to feel they are safe, secure and in control, when really this is far from the truth.
People who understand what life is a little more, and see the constraints that have been set around us, will see that the essence of a person is far more important than what they have, what they do for a job or any of that meaningless stuff, its a slave mindset to focus on the trivial, or only on ones ownself, without looking outward to those who most need assistance!
Society needs to get out of its collective coma, and see that they are making this place into a shitehole of their own making, and due to selfish arrogance, foolishly believe that because they perceive “society” to accept them, that they, and society are actually “right”
#couldnotbemorewrongiftheytried
That’s right, but in the interim, money is a solution! How can someone get a job with bad teeth, glasses from a $2 shop and no money for bus fares to interviews?
I’m pretty wary of the ‘money isn’t the solution’ meme too.
Using the anaolgy of a deficiency disease, you treat the deficiency with what is deficient eg vitamin C for scurvy and tackle the reasons that the patient became deficient. Too many people who like to tut tut about ‘fishing rods’ (and I’m not saying you are one of them DH) or, in the modern parlance, bollocks like “excellence in education”, are really advocating that we not provide what is deficient, and often use abhorrent quasi-moral arguments about supposed moral deficencies in the poor, in order to absolve themselves from any ethical obligation to help those in need.
Well money is certainly the solution to the problem of not having money. But giving people more money doesn’t address the problem of why they don’t have money in the first place. Giving more money in the form of decent jobs solves both problems IMO.
Present thinking from both the Nats & Labour seems to be that poverty in NZ is caused by poor education; the solution being to make sure everyone is well educated and poverty & unemployment will disappear because there’s always a shortage of skilled workers. So they pump more & more dosh into the education system. That we’ve been trying this for a good twenty years now with little success doesn’t seem to sway the pundits of this…. just chuck more money at it, has to work sooner or later.
Another line of thinking is that if beneficiaries had enough income to get by on they’d sort their own problems out. It does have some merit but I don’t subscribe to it as a solution per se; jobs don’t appear out of thin air and the real problem is we don’t have enough decent jobs for people. Take Vicky’s example above. IMO she’s right, some more dosh would help that person with bad teeth get a job. But they’d get the job at the expense of someone else. The underlying problem would still be there.
From Rosy’s post:
“Harrington thought the poor were distinguished by a ‘culture of poverty’. This was in turn interpreted (apparently unintended by Harrington) in a way that meant although they should be helped, there was in fact, something wrong with them. The result of this thinking is a prevalence of victim-blaming and a belief that entrusting the poor with money, for instance, would only lead to a worsening of their condition.”
This is the problem of social commenters forgetting the bias trained into psychologists, well, the good ones at least: You cannot observe something in its natural state. The limitations of being an observer include interpreting the subject/object by your own values. You change the subject/object every time you interact with it. These limitations can only be reduced by investigating yourself first and knowing your own bias and the many ways a mind will trap you, unconsciously. Of course, stopping to investigate yourself costs time and is very inconvenient to business that wants immediate results. But I’ll not go that way in this comment. The point that you highlight and that we see in action from Shearer’s speech yesterday below, is that the epidemic of forgetting the influences of your upbringing and culture is spreading:
“Now, what happens if we put this in the New Zealand context?
The first thing we can say is this: we have some very high-achieving children and some high-achieving schools.
The best and the brightest do very well and I am proud of them.
But I’m not just interested in the bunch that leads the marathon into the stadium.
Some of them are outstanding and the very best of them finish their race in world record time.
They’re an inspiration for the others.
But if you track back along the rest of the field, it doesn’t look so world class.
Many of them are coming in hours later.
Many of them are giving up before the finish.
And too many of them aren’t even turning up at the starting line.
We have a long tail of failure.
We have to fix it.”
We have to fix it? Listen to him praise “success”, that is, money, coming first, beating others, individual effort. Listen to him talk of inspiration, pride and admiration like they are, inherently, desirable concepts for the psyche – some kind of peaceful clearing in a forest where nothing happens – and morally correct states. Listen to him proclaim that life is a competition. That time is a factor, an inconvenience – to him. That we must be “world class”, no choice. And that if we don’t hurry up, we will assumedly lose the race. Listen to him say that “giving up”, leaving the race, having an alternate view is “wrong”. We must fix what is “Wrong”. Good rich kids will freely join the race; bad poor kids are wrong and need fixing. They will be fixed.
Now to be fair, though I hate to be fair right now, Shearer failed to define any of his points. They were empty vacuous statements, so wide in parameters that they could mean anything, but where they did link up, as in the marathon example, we begin to see what beliefs Shearer supports.
His ideas cater to those infatuated with themselves, with a small world view and limited understanding of who they are in relation to the outside world.
“Inspiration” is a personal experience, felt by the individual, usually pleasurable. It generally doesn’t last and historically can even be the beginning of a series of incidences leading into schizophrenic episode. Admiration is a projection of one man’s fantasy wish – he sees something he wants, imagines the value of it above all other traits, his mind departs for the future when he too might possess those traits. He’d like to be the acclaimed Hero, too – neglecting the present and who he is right now and how his own qualities might be developed and expressed in the world.
Admiration tricks the mind into another state of infatuation: a good athlete is admirable, look at him score tries; surely he would also be a good business man, a great husband, a sober driver, of sound mind and worthy of political comment and influence? Every few months, from the stories of stupidity from our national level athletes, we discover that one thing does not mean another.
Is life a competition or have we made it a competition? In Shearer’s brave new, New Zealand, will anyone be allowed to drop out of the money race of infatuation fantasy to find out? Will poverty and social exclusion be the price they pay? How much time should Shearer allow an explorer to search? Whose measure will he use? That of the Boomers, who rarely look outside the last sixty years to understand just how fragile the material gains of free-market economics really are? Will he take a longer view and realise that a man could spend his whole life searching, pass incomplete information to his colleague and that person pass it to another before a clearer understanding is reached? Will they too have to live in an increasingly hostile society, because of their now enforced poverty? Will the crowd in the marathon stadium have gone home by then?
Will he take an Eastern View, and simply sit and wait, comfortable in the unknowable unexplained, the Tao? Probably not. Will he frown on and ridicule the Buddhist athlete, who will not eat meat, or participate in farming animals, or the construction of electronic materials used for things that are not “mindful”. How does the blatant dismissal of alternative culture in NZ set us up for the multitude of friends here now that are not Christian, and are not interested in Shearer’s marathon? Could it be that Shearers marathon is so utterly morally flawed, it is actively divisive? And all this to court 10% swing voters – a group that will never stay put because self interest has no loyalty to anything but it’s owner. And right at the bottom, children being forced into holes that don’t fit them, being destroyed mentally, labeled as wrong, and condemned to poverty.
Shearer has forgotten the impact of his own viewpoint. Poverty is not “wrong”, though it certainly is a painful reality. Poverty is no more wrong than cancer is wrong. Cancer exists, poverty exists – understand and intervene as necessary. Poverty is a symptom of a problem we create by impatiently believing wrong ideas. We fail to observe our environment in the present, see who is here and who they are and we certainly do not live with them each day, letting time be a coincidental measure of what happened instead of a distance between now and our impatience to see a future that we do not understand.
No one will fix poverty by standing back, hand out, just out of reach, calling, “Reach out, take my hand if you aren’t lazy!” Helping people help themselves involves stooping, picking people up, holding their hand, and then walking forward together. And while that happens, inside that person, they being to discover they can make steps themselves and they participate with you. And while you are with them you too are changed. Sometimes the person you assist lets go of your hand, sometimes they will always need a place to lean – but that does not mean things are not changing, that they are not growing and that each action is not a development from the last.
What people forget with their focus on imagining the future is that no two days are the same, they don’t know the future and there is more to learn in the present than the past can tell us. If life was all about past experiences defining our futures, we’d all be completely satisfied by now! Life would be easy, no surprises, just follow the official recipe.
Helping people to help themselves is a matter of participation in the moment and for the long term, realising that that the time measure of how long you are together is irrelevant to the discoveries and developments made. It is not a case of reading a magazine about the activities of the Red Cross, deciding you want to help – from the position of your privileged white middle class existence – parachuting into a ravaged country with aid structures already in place and when you get tired, going home to general applause.
Stay home and fix the messes we’ve created. Learn about yourself and your people in the face of the hatred from your family, your friends and society that will pour on you when you try, from nothing, with nothing, to make a change. Then you’ll see your own culture in a different light, it will start to crumble, and you’ll comprehend it a little like those from a position of poverty would. What good is charity and assistance when it is just the comfortable helping the poor on the weekends while during the week they vote in regimes that maintain and create more hobby problems for them to attend?
There’s a unattributed story that talks about true assistance and what it can do:
A master and his disciple were walking in the garden and the young monk asked, “Master, in the old days men often saw God. Why is it so hard to see him now?” The master replied, “No one now is prepared to stoop low enough”.
A plan that is based around infatuation with material success will discourage people not just from stooping, not just from bending their knees, but even glancing below waist height.
From Rosy’s post:
“ The author of this article finishes with the following observation:
Fifty years later, a new discovery of poverty is long overdue. This time, we’ll have to take account not only of stereotypical Skid Row residents and Appalachians, but of foreclosed-upon suburbanites, laid-off tech workers, and America’s ever-growing army of the “working poor”. And if we look closely enough, we’ll have to conclude that poverty is not, after all, a cultural aberration or a character flaw. Poverty is a shortage of money.”
And here is another proof of cultural bias from that author. Poverty, as has been outlined here from various commenter’s recently, is not just about money, it effects resources, minds, perspectives. That author believes that somehow, those that ran in Shearer’s marathon were superhuman from the start. They did not suffer flaws. The identities of those people were not humans first, professionals second, but professionals first and only. Well, those now out of work professionals find out pretty fast that human identity is not anything to do with what you do for money. Sometimes the shock leads them to suicide.
Our nation is sick, mentally, philosophically, spiritually. Instead of facing that fact, Shearer and others like him, have done the equivalent of offering free cigarettes to those with self induced emphysema; cheap proof alcohol to cirrhosis suffering drunks; and live-in slaves to sociopaths. Then gone further to encourage children into the cycle. I’m pretty pissed of about that.
…parachuting into a ravaged country with aid structures already in place and when you get tired, going home to general applause…
Add in a one percenter salary and pension scheme and you’ve described Shearer.
I find it interesting that Shearer went to Papatoetoe High School (I believe he was head boy) at a time that the lower middle class, such as made up the majority of people in Papatoetoe at that time, never had it better. Among fellow students were those from the deprived state-housing suburb of Otara, they were poor, often hungry and generally despised by Papatoetoe Pakeha. Shearer would have been exposed to daily incidences of racism from teachers and students alike. He left school and aspirationally voted National in that Labour stronghold. Like many of his peers (such as Phil Goff), he made excellent use of his education and natural advantages, and moved up the socio-economic staircase.
It wasn’t until he was overseas that he was suddenly moved by poverty and oppression. Like so many middle-class warriors, poverty and injustice is so much easier to get angry about when it’s happening somewhere else, and doesn’t entail any reflection on one’s own place in perpetuationg the causes.
Odgers vs Bomber
Nobody wants to read continuous vexation built on speculation, we want a functional and truthful rightwing commentary, which is unfortunately largely lacking from New Zealand’s blogosphere…
Beautiful descriptions of Cactus…another overblown by her own importance has been….. Catcus is such an old windbag full of hollow threats…. a discredited and defunct commentator who hides behind a barbed wire fence, too afraid of her own shadow to step out into the light.
FYI Brian Rudman’s view of yesterday’s Auckland Council’s decision on the Ports of Auckland issue.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/brian-rudman/news/article.cfm?a_id=1&objectid=10792426
(My Local Government) OIA request to UNELECTED Auckland Council CEO – Doug McKay
(15 March 2012)
“WHO GOVERNS THIS AUCKLAND $UPERCITY COUNCIL?
ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OR THE UNELECTED COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND?
What is driving this Ports Of Auckland dispute has been the Auckland Council Investment Limited’s ‘Key Performance Indicator’ (KPI) that ‘POAL’s ROE (Return On Equity) increases from 6.3% to 12% over the following 5 years by 30/06/2016″.
Councillor Richard Northey, Chair of the Auckland Council Accountability and Performance Committee asked the Chief Executive of Auckland Council Investments Ltd (ACIL), Gary Swift in a letter dated 20 January 2012 asked:
“2. What was the origin and justification for the above KPI? …”
The answer from the Chief Executive of Auckland Council Investments Ltd (ACIL), Gary Swift in a letter dated 27 January 2012 :
” I’m not exactly sure where the return on equity target of 12% originated…..
I think Doug McKay may have suggested 12% when he met with the POAL Board.
……”
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS IN STATEMENTS OF INTENT ARE ‘GOVERNANCE’ MATTERS – TO BE DECIDED BY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES – NOT THE UNELECTED CEO OF AUCKLAND COUNCIL, DOUG MCKAY, WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ‘OPERATIONAL’ MATTERS.
Please provide the following information which confirms:
1) IN WHAT LAWFUL CAPACITY, AND ON WHOSE LAWFUL AUTHORITY DID YOU, UNELECTED CEO FOR AUCKLAND COUNCIL DOUG MCKAY MEET WITH THE POAL BOARD AND ‘SUGGEST’ A 12% RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE) KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR?
2) PLEASE PROVIDE THE MINUTES OF ALL/ANY MEETINGS BETWEEN THE POAL BOARD/ THE ACIL BOARD AND YOURSELF AS CEO OF AUCKLAND COUNCIL WHERE A 12% RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE) KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR WAS DISCUSSED.
3) PLEASE CONFIRM WHETHER A 12% RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE) KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR WAS EVER DISCUSSED BETWEEN YOURSELF AS A MEMBER OF THE UNELECTED PRIVATE LOBBY GROUP – THE COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND – AND THE CEO OF PORTS OF AUCKLAND, TONY GIBSON, ALSO A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND.
4) PLEASE PROVIDE THE INFORMATION WHICH CONFIRMS HOW MANY CONTRACTS HAVE BEEN AWARDED TO COMPANIES WHICH ARE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND, FOR THE PROVISION OF GOODS, SERVICES OR PEOPLE, SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AUCKLAND TRANSITION AGENCY (ATA); THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AUCKLAND COUNCIL, AND/OR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ‘COUNCIL CONTROLLED ORGANISATIONS’ (CCOs):
ACIL
RFA
ATEED
ACPL
Auckland Transport
Waterfront Auckland
Watercare
or any subsidiaries thereof …..”
Penny Bright
Who is REALLY running Auckland Council and the Auckland region?
In my considered opinion – the UNELECTED Committee for Auckland.
Check it out for yourself:
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz/membership/member-organisations
Penny Bright
‘Anti-Corruption Campaigner’
Hey, Penny, I heard you stuffed up MUNZ’s chance to talk with the AK council yesterday by constantly interrupting proceedings to the point where the meeting was shut down. Is that true?
From what I saw at union meetings Voice, MUNZ did not even know what the ROE/SOI/PBE even were
These documents, and the employment contracts and legal freamework should have been the core of the strategy, and it looks as if they were not!
Can’t comment on yesterdays meeting as I was not there, but MUNZ should actually be thanking others who have handed to them on a plate, information that MUNZ were clueless about!
Thank you for attempting to seeki TRUTH from FACTS Te Reo Putake.
The FACTS are that – yes – I did make some interjections.
(It is VERY difficult to just sit there and listen to information which is factually incorrect – whether it comes from Auckland Council ‘in-house’ lawyers, or the Mayor of Auckland.)
The meeting was closed down after I asked if I could speak, (and was refused) after hearing the Mayor get it completely wrong by comparing the situation of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) – which are PROFIT-ORIENTED ENTITIES, with this POAL situation – where the Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) – Auckland Council Investments Ltd (ACIL) is a PUBLIC BENEFIT ENTITY.
I waited until just before the vote was to be put – before I asked to speak and was declined.
So – as I have done on many othe occasions – ‘when people’s rights are under attack – stand up fight back!’ – that’s what I did on this occasion.
I pointed out the FACTS and the LAW.
(Given that I have been previously arrested on 22 occasions in Auckland City Council days, and it has been 21 – 1 to me – that I know that the legal advice upon which Council has been relying, hasn’t been reliable.)
I also knew once the Mayor had stated that he was not going to support the motion – that there wouldn’t be the numbers for it to pass.
The normal situation under ‘Standing Orders’ is that ‘DEPUTATIONS’ are heard BEFORE the Council or Council Committee starts items of business set down for that meeting.
So – if MUNZ had applied for ‘speaking rights’ they would have already been heard.
(I arrived about 15 minutes late, because I had widely distributed by email the above-mentioned ‘Local Government) OIA request to UNELECTED Auckland Council CEO – Doug McKay
(15 March 2012)
“WHO GOVERNS THIS AUCKLAND $UPERCITY COUNCIL?
ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OR THE UNELECTED COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND?”
Please be advised that I have raised the issue of ‘Public Benefit Entities’ and broader issues regarding opposition to ‘contracting out’ , at Council meetings for quite some time.
Hope this helps.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’.
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2012/03/16/gordon-campbell-on-the-speeches-by-key-and-shearer/#more-1992
Gordon Campbell’s take on yesterday’s speeches.
You’d think after Sheare’s grand speech yesterday his fan clubs would be all over it, but it seems like they are already over it. http://yournz.org/2012/03/16/hey-david-the-troops-arent-listening/
Once again John Key gets the attention.
I know not many here like Whaleoil but you really should watch this:
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/03/the-redneck-south/
It amazed me.
What amazes you about it?
Nothing said in that video would be out of place in the average kiwiblog or whaleoil comment thread.
Thats funny Felix, I always imagined that you came from a similar place.
It amazed me.
That’s only because you don’t know much, and to compound that, you are incurious.
If you had a clue, you would know that the people on this film have been chosen carefully to present a stereotypical picture of southerners as illiterate, superstitious, toothless fools. The woman asking the questions is the daughter of Nancy Pelosi, and she has a vested interest in doing that.
These guys say some hair-raisingly ignorant things, for sure, but they are no worse than what you’ll hear from the likes of Whaleoil, David Farrar—and more disturbingly, John Key.
The only reason you have to laugh at these guys is that they are dirt-poor, and they have funny southern accents. At least they’re funny to the minds of sniffy insiders like the Pelosi family.
You really think I didn’t realise they went and picked the most backwards people possible with extreme views.
That doesn’t stop it being amazing that people in America still hold those views. If you really think that the views expressed on there are the same as those held by Whaleoil David Farrar and John Key then it is who doesn’t know much and is incurious.
How can this be true?
Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows increasing strong support for Prime Minister John Key’s National Party 48.5% (up 3% since February 27-March 11, 2012). Support for Key’s Coalition partners has changed little with the Maori Party 1% (down 0.5%), ACT NZ 0.5% (unchanged), and United Future 0.5% (unchanged).
Support for Labour has fallen 1.5% to 30%, Greens 12.5% (down 0.5%), New Zealand First 5% (unchanged), Mana Party 0.5% (down 0.5%) and Others 1.5% (unchanged).
If a National Election were held today the National Party would be returned to Government.
Another rogue Roy Morgan……
If you really think that the views expressed on there are the same as those held by Whaleoil David Farrar and John Key
It’s not a matter of whether I think so or not; the fact is that they do. Their anti-democratic statements are just as extreme; they are just more affluent, and their accents don’t sound funny to the likes of Alexandra Pelosi.
then it is who doesn’t know much and is incurious.
I know a lot more than you do about American politics, and obviously a lot more about New Zealand politics.
So the Chinese government are very aggressive, calling me and other kiwis racist and laying out bare threats, while at the same time being racist themselves about who can buy their land.
The very fact they have done this requires heavy resistance.
It is an indicator moment everybody …
Very true. Until they start selling theirs, they should keep their hands off ours…..
The volume of political comnmentary will speak volumes.
Just like the voluminous nature of the Chinese governments comment.
Care to comment anybody?
What you on about VTO?
Fracking program on 60 Minutes Sunday evening TV3.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10792353
An extemely well written article about how increasing use of private health care is wrecking the public health system:
Expanding the pay-for-treatment sector may wreck the free one, writes Tim Parke
New Zealand’s world-class hospital care depends on extremely well motivated senior medical staff.
The solution to rising healthcare costs in tough economic times is not, as some vested interests would increasingly have you believe, to maximise the number of people using the private health sector. As a public hospital emergency specialist, I fear that expanding private healthcare may instead fragment and irretrievably damage an effective public system, resulting in the country as a whole paying more for potentially worse healthcare
Well worth reading in full.
He concludes:
So, if a mainly public hospital healthcare system is cheaper, fairer, less divisive, and produces good outcomes on international comparisons, why encourage the use of alternatives? Instead of spending money on private health insurance, perhaps a lesser sum invested in the public system through taxation could make up for some of its current deficiencies and protect it for the future. It certainly has the best chance of delivering comprehensive health protection to all – even if they get old, lose their job or get sick with something unprofitable.
* Tim Parke is clinical director, Adult Emergency Department, Auckland
So taxation, clearly not a Labour man then 🙂
I wonder if the healthcare system as Tim Parke describes would have the same effect on ACC?
Dismantling State Unions – the blueprint for our future is currently in the UK.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116214/Budget-2012-End-sight-public-sectors-national-pay-deals-Osborne-confronts-unions.html