“Threats and fists have been flying in Work and Income offices across New Zealand, with 54 people physically assaulted at work last year, new figures reveal.
Work and Income staff reported 3757 incidents of abusive client behaviour in 2012, including 448 classified as “serious abuse” – 54 cases of physical abuse and 394 verbal.
Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett said the numbers, obtained by Fairfax Media under the Official Information Act, were unacceptable.
“We should never accept this behaviour as just ‘part of the job’ – there is no justification for it whatsoever.”
But the union representing staff said recent government welfare reforms that tightened up on benefits could cause even more friction.”
Quoted from ‘Stuff.co’ and the ‘Manawatu Standard’ as part of Fairfax Media, here is a link to the online story:
So here we have the tip of the iceberg figures on how the increasingly stringent, draconian and punitive welfare regime under the National led government and Paula Bennett is affecting clients and staff at Work and Income. It seems like some cannot handle the pressures, expectations, demands and in some cases also arrogant, insensitive treatment by some WINZ case managers any more.
Naturally this also reflects badly again on beneficiaries, and the media just love such reports and statistics, to reinforce the prejudicial views of WINZ clients too often being seen as nasty, abusive and prone to criminal behaviour.
While I am not usually listening to talk back on 1ZB, this morning I was made aware of many WINZ clients and others that had experience with WINZ calling in to their midnight to 06 am talk-back with Garry Denvir. He mentioned this news as one of the topics he was open to talk about.
He may have anticipated some different reactions, but a lot of the callers had quite some stories to tell. Here are some audios that can be downloaded and listened to:
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10230.mp3" /]
(a caller calling in at about 06 minutes and 40 seconds into the track, with a story of unreasonable expectations and him getting his benefit cut off)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10315.mp3" /]
(one audio track where about 8 minutes into it Gary reads out an email from a listener, about pressures WINZ case managers now put on clients, and how Dr Bratt and designated doctors are used to put pressures on sick and disabled to get jobs)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10330.mp3" /]
(another audio with another caller calling in about 5 minutes into this track, on WINZ and Dr David Bratt as Principal Health Advisor, talking about his insight in what is happening at WINZ, ACC and so forth)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10345.mp3" /]
(the same caller from the track before still carrying on…)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10515.mp3" /]
(another audio with a disgruntled older client of WINZ calling in at about 06 minutes and 20 seconds into the track, sharing his experiences)
So a usually somewhat “conservative” host with insufficient insight into the WINZ workings and present benefit categories had to listen to some stories by those affected, not having much good to say about the welfare system and how it is being administered.
P.S.: If there is some problem with the audios, try to download the tracks from about 02:15 am onwards, and especially listen to times from about 03.25 am and close to 03.36 am at least.
Thanks for that X, I read the story in Stuff and thought it presented staff as victims. Most people who are subjected to our benefit system have a vastly different take on things.
That being said, a small proportion of the clients ARE crazy and violent for no specific reason – but that is what remote client units are for and for those staff threats are part of the job.
FFS. Whatever the circumstances, an assault on a WINZ staffer is NEVER, EVER acceptable. If it was a corner dairy the in-house camera footage would be on National television immediately and the police would be in pursuit.
FFS If you are refering to my comment re threats being part of the job in the Remote Client Unit, the clients who are there are dealt with remotely (different from being tresspassed – I’ve no idea why but it is) because they pose a physical risk to staff, hence the “remote” component, the fake staff names, and secret location. This risk is the same for prison staff, police, mental health workers dealing with violence and the risk involved is part of the job (although it is possibly higher due to the fact they have to have direct contact).
Make no mistake this story is part of the ongoing public relations campaign to turn the public against beneficiaries. Work and Income can and do call the police on occassion if they deem it necessary, as would the corner dairy. And Work and Income have in house cameras which cover all parts of their office.
Yep, most WINZ front line offices are set up as secure, locked down areas. For instance you cannot move from one space to the next without swipe cards, key pad access, etc.
“Whatever the circumstances, an assault on a WINZ staffer is NEVER, EVER acceptable.”
Not as simple as that. If you subject people to regular humiliation, strip them of their power, in a situation where their survival is at stake, then it’s likely you will get some violence. I doubt that many people understand quite how institutionally violent WINZ is to its clients. Eventually something has to break. I feel sorry for many WINZ frontline staff, but there is a massive problem with the system. Maybe someone could report on that.
Definitely ‘not as simple as that’, take the case of the wheelchair bound beneficiary in Northland,( can’t remember if it was earlier this year or late last year),
Refused his legal entitlement on the basis of God knows what this beneficiary finally snapped and resorted to taking a hammer to the local WINZ office where He smashed a number of windows,
Lo and behold, the media attention which resulted from this ‘madness’ had WINZ reviewing His case again and He suddenly became the recipient of what were His full entitlements all along,
His treatment, or should i say mistreatment at the hands of WINZ staff isn’t an isolated incident, such mistreatment happens on a daily basis in WINZ offices and the abhorrent Bennett driven changes to the system which puts into the hands of ‘case workers’ even more ‘power’ to effectively destroy what little livelihood beneficiaries have will only worsen an already dire situation…
His treatment, or should i say mistreatment at the hands of WINZ staff isn’t an isolated incident, such mistreatment happens on a daily basis in WINZ offices…
Yep and the only real way to stop that abuse is to go to a Universal Income that pays more than enough to live on (at least 20k). That way the only time you’d go to the MSD was when you’re really, really desperate.
I doubt 20k is affordable but 12-15 probably is. Then there would be no welfare, no WINZ no work tests, no nothing. Everyone gets a cheque for $300 per week. Have a nice life.
You’re killing me man (in a good way), the UBI in some form is an absolute must if we are going to cut through the complex mess that the benefits/taxation system has become.
Well, meds maybe, special assistance, special equipment, well – tough for them, there’s no WINZ to help them out. We can lock ’em up when they finally go overboard, problem sorted.
Nope. The UBI looks good because there are no details. You saw what spy wrote – an arbitrary base figure, no winz, nothing else from them. Fucked if you need dental work, or a social worker.
The devil is in the details. Basically, the tory looks at the UBI and goes “oh, here’s something we can set to average needs (and forget those who need more), forget to link it to inflation, and still blame people for their imagined shortcomings if they need more than that”.
I know people who could live like kings on $300/w.
I know others who, for a variety of reasons, would need more.
So we set it to $500/w, and tories bitch about the ones who live like kings (and ignore those who might need more).
Or we set it to $200pw, and when the morbidity/mortality stats start to rise the tories would point out that the same group of perople are scraping by.
I like the idea of a UBI from far off, but something nags at me about it. I think what might be nagging is that applying one value (whatever it might be) to a diverse population as never had a single instance of good outcomes in the past.
“but I think that some of the detail can be worked out over time.”
Why not work some of it out now?
Srylands says $300/wk. But how many people can live on that and be ok? There are reasons that welfare payments and entitlements are complicated. Part of it is historical. Part of it is the abatement issue. Part of it is ideological (neoliberalism says stick not carrot, therefore you cannot pay welfare at a livable rate, therefore you have to have a system of supplementary benefits). And a big part of it is simply that different people have different needs in regards to income. How do we make this fair? How do we make this affordable? How do we make this workable? I can’t see a UBI progressing if we can’t even figure out some basic concepts.
Well I’m saying let’s have that discussion, and it will be one which takes months, but don’t toss away the concept of a UBI just because we haven’t had that discussion yet.
“But how many people can live on that and be ok? ”
A sign of success would be that over the next 30 years the proportion of people making more than the guaranteed minimum rises. That is because you divert enforcement and abatement testers into useful work helping people to upskill.
There are many pitfalls with a universal income, but they can be worked through – no system is perfect but it offers a better solution than the current one because it gets rid of the fear (work testing) and high EMTRs (abatement) from the system.
“Well, meds maybe, special assistance, special equipment, well – tough for them, there’s no WINZ to help them out. We can lock ‘em up when they finally go overboard, problem sorted.”
No there would be no WINZ. There would be a specialised crown entiity to deal with disability issues and a massive investment in dealing with mental health problems, especially in youth.
I didn’t say there was nothing except a minimum income, just that a universal income would replace the nightmare of work and means testing. You would shut down the crazy state aparatus dealing with work testing and overpayments and redepoy them to do useful things – i.e helping people.
I would also have a massivew investment to prevent reoffending and abolish all prison sentences of less than 5 years – prison as a last resort, and only for serious offences or where the public are threatened.
Of course to pay for all this, we need a vibrant market economy, which is where I suspect we part company.
Quite frankly, I’d want to double check any social policy suggested by someone who thinks that the first step involves kowtowing even more to the market economy.
I reckon the only reason worktesting is crazy is because tories have been running it for thirty years, and turned it into a tool of harassment rather than assistance.
I would also have a massivew investment to prevent reoffending and abolish all prison sentences of less than 5 years – prison as a last resort, and only for serious offences or where the public are threatened.
You’re continuing to stun me with progressive ideas
wrylands
What’s happened to you. You are noting ideas that sound practical, effective and good-outcome oriented. They sound as if based on George’s Seinfeld principle that if all the time what has been done has turned out wrong, then turning right round to a different approach must be right. Of course what you hear in a comedy show can’t be taken as serious steps to a better society, but then many a true word has been spoken in jest they say.
Of course to pay for all this, we need a vibrant market economy, which is where I suspect we part company.
A market economy fails to produce any more wealth due to the simple fact that the amount of wealth that can be generated is dependent upon the actual resources available.
20k is affordable. Wages averaged across the entire adult population is about 40k so that would leave another 20k that everyone could earn by working. Of course, that does mean that CEO salaries and similar will have to come down.
Also, the reason why I think it should be that high is that it should be enough to allow people to be entrepreneurial rather than the slightly less than subsistence existence that the present welfare provides which really only wastes a huge amount of talent.
Our present system is, quite literally, rewarding the wrong people.
Exactly. I had an encounter with a WINZ lackey a while back that showed that their job is now to prevent the poor from getting benefits and off the lists. She was rude, ignorant and her only sparks of intelligence were aimed at blocking any claims. She tried to conceal her identity from me, but I found out that her name is Carmila. She works at Wellington’s Willis St office. Note that and record any conversation you have with her. She’s one of many.
I’m not brave – just a bloody stubborn Scottish bastard. Underestimating that quality has got some presumptuous arseholes (hello Massey “university”!) in trouble and out of pocket before though…
Well Carmila poor girl did not know what she was dealing with …is all I can say …I almost feel sorry for her …smile
….except that begging for a life support benefit is no joking matter!….it is humiliating to good NZers and it should NOT happen in a caring society !!!!
….This is why the real Labour Party must get back into being a voice for all the people, especially those vulnerable at the bottom of the economic heap…and be a viable force for those 800,000+ disaffected Labour who did not vote last time.
This is why the real Labour Party must get back into being a voice for all the people
Yeah, Labour isn’t the party of the bloated middle class ageing yuppies like Goff and Mallard. We poor aren’t all roof-painting bludgers and that’s why I don’t feel at all sad about the hypocrite Mumblefuck’s resignation.
Hopefully that arsehole didn’t go too late and hopefully his cronies won’t have too much influence after.
“I reckon the only reason worktesting is crazy is because tories have been running it for thirty years, and turned it into a tool of harassment rather than assistance.”
The state should assist people to find work. But it should not be a “test” i.e linked to threats to reduce someone’s income. You can’t control that system.
“The state should run the economy so there are enough jobs.”
When you have 20% of students not graduating from high school, that is impossible. What are they going to do? Who would employ them? To do what, exactly in a modern society?
Here’s a hint – when you ask a rhetorical question, you’d better have an answer ready right away, otherwise people will come up with their own, and they won’t be the answers you want.
You don’t need to graduate from high school in order to be able to work. Or learn a trade or skill. So that’s not really a useful measure of anything.
There is plenty of work needing doing, so that’s not an issue either.
That leaves how to pay them. And we have plenty of options there if we really wanted to take them – fairly distributing wealth, and relocalising economies. If the effort that WINZ and the MSD put into punishing benes instead went to supporting people wanting to be self-employed or set up businesses that fed the local economy*, the picture would change immensely.
*rather than the global economy.
Plus there are going to be a percentage of people who can live on the $300/wk UBI (although I tend to think the UBI should be tied to some expectation of contribution to society).
I’m guessing the reason none of that is obvious to you is because you can’t see past neoliberal economic ideology and theory.
“You don’t need to graduate from high school in order to be able to work. Or learn a trade or skill. So that’s not really a useful measure of anything.”
Yes you do. Without NCEA L2 you can forget about a trade in NZ. Simple as that.
“If the effort that WINZ and the MSD put into punishing benes instead went to supporting people wanting to be self-employed or set up businesses that fed the local economy*, the picture would change immensely.
So get rid of WINZ and work tests and income tests so there is no dreaded WINZ debt.
*rather than the global economy.”
No our future is exactly the opposite of what you are proposing – the future is in serving the global economy. All our efforts should be devoted to playing a leading role in APEC integration and the WTO. Otherwise we will end up looking a bit like a temperate Samoa, with a similar GDP per capita.
One of the (few) good aspects of the 5th Labour government is that Clark/Cullen/Goff realised this objective and pursued it. Nothing will change with the 6th Labour Government.
There’s a lesson: “should” is not the same as “is” and it never will be.
What “is” is globalisation. It will be pursued full steam ahead by the Labour/Green government after the 2014 election, which they are likely to win.
No our future is exactly the opposite of what you are proposing – the future is in serving the global economy.
Nope, the future will be a a primarily local economy with minimal international trade.
All our efforts should be devoted to playing a leading role in APEC integration and the WTO. Otherwise we will end up looking a bit like a temperate Samoa, with a similar GDP per capita.
Nope. Continue that route and we’ll end up looking like Palestine. They were owned by foreigners as well and look what happened to them. Nearly a century since the fall of the Turkish Empire and they still don’t have control of their land or their lives.
Ah yes, naive libertarians… you’re almost amusing. “Should” is your favourite word isn’t it?
Gravity should be less, so I don’t get sore feet, cancer shouldn’t exist so my friends don’t die, the market should be fair so everyone gets what their labour is worth, fairies should exist so everyone has their wishes granted. “Should” is such a wonderful word isn’t it?
Here’s a lesson: “should” is not the same as “is” and it never will be. Try to think about that.
Xtasy
+1 Thankyou for the good work 🙂 My impression they’re trying to bring in the fascist punitive sanctions regime already going in the U$K. It’s scary while you’re appealing with a review you’re expected to live on nothing. If you have a bastard landlord you could end up on the street, once homeless you’re not entitled to a benefit until you get an address. (Correct me if I’m wrong) This is not the Kiwi way, we are not fascist bastards though Europe has a sad history of that cruel disease.
The 800,000 who didn’t vote last election allowed Yankey john to get in with his extremist ideology, they must get off their rears and vote the coming election.
key’s Mum was a Jewish person who left Austria due to its fascist persecution of her people. It’s sad her son is now a fascist too persecuting the new Jews right here in NZ. 🙁
Not condoning violence, but if confronted with the fact that I have no way of meeting the weeks living costs, I would be lashing out as well.
Sometimes violence is the last resort of those who have been completely robbed off all power. And that is what the right is about — giving the powerful more power over the powerless.
Those on a benefit need to get off their butts and…..ORGANIZE!!!
Millsy
+1 What beneficiaries are up against is institutional violence at the touch of a computer key. OOPS! that’s your living gone ’cause we sanctioned you. If you commit suicide that’s not our fault- You had to apply for 24 jobs in 24 days but only applied for 17.
7.30 this morning the first comment on Open Mike was from Xtasy and included audio links to Talkback ZB I think, wherein beneficiaries described their various experiences at the hands of WINZ.
When I came back after double right clicking my comment in Open Mike yesterday in general support of Xtasy’s important contribution – /open-mike-24082013/#comment-684411 – it was no longer there.
Which is a pity. Hopefully it will reappear, allowing everyone the chance to walk in the mocassins perhaps.
For your ears Xtasy I repeat – your contributions on this topic are important and for me, welcome. Keep it up, along with your spirits !
North – thanks, I see the comment awaiting moderation, possibly for someone to double check the audio links. I hope it will appear again soon. Maybe it will take a while, given it is early Sunday morning.
IB – I understand, and try not to put too many links into posts, just this one necessitated it somehow, as 1ZB have this piecemeal kind of download option. Thanks!
Xtasy – I listened to all the audios linked to your comment.
The following general conclusions seem apposite –
1. In the drive to deal with those Paula Bennett/50 million dollar 170,000 new jobs man John Key chooses to identify as unworthy, the government has created an out-of-control bureaucratic monster which even its administrators cannot leash.
2. Treating unemployed people like rubbish, as well the ill, the physically disabled, the mentally impaired, the illiterate and innumerate, does happen on a significant scale in the execution.
3. Stand downs for three months and more understandably induces terror. Some people in terror act badly. Of course.
4. It is unintelligent, facile, indeed cruel for people not in the grips of such terror to “tut tut tut” when deliberately conceived and applied terror measures have ill consequences. Worse to then cite those consequences as further proof of unworthiness.
Those are my conclusions. Now for some hard facts –
5. To my sadness I recognised a voice on the audios as a man I have known for nearly 30 years. Very, very, very talented, decent, caring of others. Has formal training. Has addiction. I know his shame and his reaction to the terror of a 3 month standown. Variously, anger, verbal abusiveness, resort to addictive acting out, petty crime. Surprise surprise. Be honest people – just imagine out-of-the-blue being rendered destitute, penniless, for 3 months.
6. The 70% disabled man who smashed two windows at a WINZ office late 2012 had gone to WINZ with all his bank statements and a professionally prepared budget to apply for a food grant. Incredibly he was repeatedly told, loudly and roughly in front of numerous other waiting “clients”, to go away and get a new budget – there being a 3 week waiting list to see the budgeter. The WINZ person knew that.
7. No matter – “Go to the budgeter !” Repeatedly, in front of people. Callously, viciously, humiliated.
8. At court he was convicted and discharged without further penalty. I was there and I am satisfied that in a heart of heart sense this man was identified by everyone present as a person inhumanly pushed to the end of his tether. That on a broad appreciation this was a justifiable act.
There will be more of this. Key and Bennett, and the tea partiers seated behind them are the social criminals here.
As for those budget advisors, those services are now “financed” at a shoestring budget approach by MSD, and the rules to follow, i.e. to abide by the expectations of the Ministry and WINZ have been substantially “tightened” under NatACT, so that there is no room anymore for too much true independence and even “dared” advocacy work for them to be allowed to do. Do NOT bite the hand that feeds is the domineering approach by MSD and Bennett and her government.
I met people on benefits, whatever types, who unfortunately only have temporary additional support available, as the more lenient, former “special benefit” has largely been phased out. They were confronted with astronomical rent increases here in Auckland, but only entitled to a capped TAS top up, which left them in situations nobody could survive under. So some had been sent to the WINZ suggested “budget advisor”, and one here in Central Auckland even clearly stated for one client I know, that no way could he survive on the benefit he was getting.
He went to WINZ with the report, showing a clear shortfall between income and totally basic essential outgoings, and they just told him: “You will not get any more, as that is all you are entitled to!!!” So he had to lose his flat, rented for 9 years on a private market, and ended up in a cockroach infested, damp, unhealthy and overcrowded boarding house, even run illegally.
He was fobbed off endlessly by Housing NZ, saying he had “suitable accommodation”, and in the end I and him went to the very top, and also the Herald on Sunday by the way, to raise issues, and within a week or two, he suddenly was offered at least a humbly suitable Housing NZ home, which they repeatedly claimed before he had not entitlement to.
That is how damned rotten the system is, and sadly most do not get what they need, as they have no knowledge and strength to see it through as we did in that case. That is just one story by the way, and do not start me on many other ones, I will be here all night. WINZ and Bennett now heading the Ministry are the worst abusers and liars out there, and this must be exposed!
National ACT party dictatorship, and you are a benfactor, due to supporting it, we are the enemies, we get surveilled, and persecuted, so you fascist cunts run the show and deal to us, that is my message.. [deleted]
[lprent: Ok – I missed that. You are now on notice of a rather long banning if I see this happen again. And my toleration level just dropped. ]
srylands – my angry comment was not to be meant literally, of course, but it disturbs and dismays me what this government is dishing out to sick, disabled and some sole parents on benefits now. As I am affected, I am furious about what I see and hear. NatACT is the combination of the villains behind it, and some of their thinking resembles a soft form of fascism. That is where I am coming from.
So why do you think I am an apologist for the Government’s benefits policies? I have posted repeatedly that I support dismantling the punitve apparatus that seeks to punish beneficiaries.
“Of course to pay for all this, we need a vibrant market economy, which is where I suspect we part company.”
While some of your ideas may sound ok and sensible, others are just ideologically coloured, and more of what this government is already doing or planning to do.
The market economy will never allow for social fairness for disabled and longer term sick with incapacities, as they will never be able to compete in a “vibrant market economy”, except perhaps very few.
Competing with fit and healthy for jobs will continue to be a problem. A universal income of $ 300 is not going to allow for most to survive reasonably and humanely, certainly not in Auckland, and I feel you are not having the real answers to solve existing issues effectively and fairly.
“The market economy will never allow for social fairness for disabled and longer term sick with incapacities.”
Well I would be surprised if the incoming Labour Government actually dismantles the market economy.
In fact I predict the incoming Left Government will institute less ambitious changes to the benefits system than I am proposing. Under Labour you will still have the general WINZ apparatus that punishes beneficaries – you know the one I am sugegsting should be dismantled, and for which you suggested that I should be hung from a lampost?
You may want the market economy overturned and for NZ to withdraw from the WTO and on and on, but it is not going to happen. A guaranteed minimum income and an end to beneficary bashing on the other hand, is a realistic objective. Advocating it does not warrant my hanging.
I did not state that the total abolition of a market economy was necessary, only that disabled and sick with incapacities would not be able to compete and would thus not be treated fairly and socially equally. So there will always be special needs such people have and that must be met.
As for WINZ and abolishing it, whatever would replace it will inevitably have to cater for normal unemployed and others unable to work, on a case by case basis. Letting an agency like IRD look after them, or privatising it all, that will lead to even worse outcomes.
I am not taking this further, as I made my point and am mindful of presence here being screened by other agencies, that this government has empowered to do more, for “security” and whatever else. It pays to be very careful now.
“As for WINZ and abolishing it, whatever would replace it will inevitably have to cater for normal unemployed and others unable to work, on a case by case basis. Letting an agency like IRD look after them, or privatising it all, that will lead to even worse outcomes.”
Just a final word to clarify my views –
WINZ would be replaced with nothing. Because there would be no social welfare system to administer. Everyone would receive a guaranteed income.
Unemployed people would be given employment assistance by a new agency with a focus on assisting people to fins work or training.
I also advocate a massive increase in assistance for the disabled and sick. mental health care in NZ is a disgrace (for example).
IRD would be out of the picture and there would be no privatisation of such services. (IRD is there to collect tax.)
I am convinced that a government cannot provide such services if it is also maintaining the current WINZ machine that focus on administering income and work tests (and inevitably pursuing “overpayments”).
I am convinced that a government cannot provide such services if it is also maintaining the current WINZ machine that focus on administering income and work tests (and inevitably pursuing “overpayments”).
I agree, but the govt would still need a department to administer income. And supplementary benefits. How else are you going to take into account individual circumstances?
Both Fitzsimons and Locke seemed sad to see former leader David Shearer depart.
Fitzsimons said it was “a shame that being a good and principled and honest and caring person is not enough to be prime minister because I think David Shearer was all of those things . . . I think it’s sad that in politics, really good people often don’t make it”.
Archetypal feral Michael Laws. Imagine taking the tragic example of two people, that’s right, two people to brand much, much wider ? And this vicious, narcissistic polemicist fancies he’s fit to resume a mayoralty ?
Ae, Lhaws. The vicious, demented stoat of politics taking yet another lunge at the neck of the weakest. Toxic filth personified, an evil spectre lurking round poor old Whanganui, the pervading stench of shit dooming its proud heritage until the day this mutant mustelid is eliminated.
And well done Xtacy – keep on exposing the truths they try to bury in the wee hours, much appreciated.
Get in contact with him, North. I did in February last year, as you will see if you click on the link. Just a warning, my friend: Laws is not a serious or thoughtful correspondent, so don’t take it personally when he calls you a sickness beneficiary or a loon. That’s just his way of engaging with people.
It a nasty word that Laws uses to dehumanise those he despises.
We should be thankful that the guy ended up leaving parliament. The thought of him in cabinet leaves me cold. Its people like him that end up dressing in unfiforms and making stiff armed salutes, and having undesireables exterminated.
“Feral” is an apt description for the same group of people. It is used widely in the UK and in Australia, including by the Left. Interesting essay by Mark Latham covered the growing problem of a feral underclass in Australia.
“According to Latham, poverty isn’t about a lack of money. The dole is generous enough to cover people’s basic needs, he says. It isn’t about a lack of opportunity either. He says our thriving post-Keating economy has plenty of jobs for those with the ambition to pursue them.
“According to Latham, the real problem is an underclass mired in a culture of poverty. It’s a group of people trapped by shared sense of hopelessness and a pervasive lack of aspiration. Instead of taking responsibility, these people have gone feral “leading lives of welfare dependency, substance abuse and street crime.”
“You want the poor to live on the street dont you.
And you want to take money off people as well.”
No on the contrary. I would very much like to see a universal income of $15,000 per year for everyone over 18, and a guaranteed State house (or flat) for everyone who wants one. Nothing flash, but basically the state guarantees a basic income and a basic house.
The subtext of Matt McCarten’s, HoS article is pushing for Robertson over Cunliffe. I get the impression that McCarten has always been afraid of Cunliffe, I suspect he feels that Cunliffe will cannibalize voters from Mana, more so than Robertson.
Anyway, I liked his second last paragraph…I think he has a good point here:
“Personal support for National and Key is a mile wide – but only an inch thick. In any event, the possibility of National sleepwalking to victory at the next election evaporated this week.”
Agree they rely heavily on key and a fawning MSM cheering his every move.
If DC gets the gig and he places hard working focused shadow ministers across the main areas the house of cards will crumble.
I mean who are labours spokespeople on education, justice, welfare, industrial relations, resources and environment under DS as they should be all over crusher, benefit, bridges to nowhere, nickless smith etc.
One of them at least, Fran O’Sullivan apparently got ‘a slap’ for Her piece of ‘Jonolism’ in yesterday’s Herald,
i didn’t see the retraction, but, it was reported in yesterdays Open Mike that O’Sullivans ‘opinion piece’ of that day had to be pulled and replaced with the retraction after O’Sullivan had claimed Council of Trade Unions Prez Helen Kelly had said that the Union Affiliates to the Labour Party would be ‘block voting’ in the contest to decide the next leader of Labour and Prime Minister after 2014,
A total crock of course, Helen Kelly made no such statement and it is virtually impossible, from what i understand, for the Union Affiliates to ‘block vote’ on this issue,
My view is that the Herald should get some ‘decent’ opinion writers that show some balance of opinion equally across the political spectrum on a daily basis, and i know that’s a forlorn thing to call for, i will ‘see God’ befor i ever get to see the mass media in this country exercise that political balance on a daily basis across the spectrum,
For Her abysmal efforts at ‘Jonolism’ the Herald’s Fran O’sullivan is the recipient of a much coveted ‘Golden Turd Award’ for dis-services to truthful and unbiased journalism in New Zealand…
I’m pleased the self-proclaimed “newcomer” Andrew Little has the nous to admit that the job of leader is one he is far from being ready for. If only Shearer had done the same thing 20 months ago!
LIARS OF OUR TIME No. 27
Lyse Doucet: “I am there for those without a voice.”
Radio NZ National Mediawatch, Sunday 25 August 2013
I don’t know which was more depressing: hearing Lyse Doucet pretend to be a respectful and serious journalist, or the supremely ignorant comment by Colin Peacock at the end of this cozy little interview.
Lyse Doucet has recently been appointed as the Chief International Correspondent for BBC World News. She made a flying visit to New Zealand and was interviewed by her old friend and colleague Colin Peacock….
LYSE DOUCET: We really do want Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security side by side. …. The great moral leaders of our age say that if you don’t take a side, you are siding with the oppressor. I have always found that there are stories on both sides of a conflict. … I do take a side—on the side of people. I do speak out when I see injury, suffering, abuse and impunity. I do take a side. I am there for those without a voice.
COLIN PEACOCK: How do you deal with criticism of your journalism?
LYSE DOUCET: I welcome criticism—as long as it’s not done to score a point or because someone has an agenda. When I get negative Twitter messages, unless I think there is an agenda and I have no control over that, I respond with kindness. Some people are on a certain campaign… I always say journalism is story-telling. I listen to our competitors. I listen to Al Jazeera, and Russia Today.
COLIN PEACOCK:[snorting] But some of those are backed by the state, aren’t they, in a way that is different to the BBC obviously….
Thanks for the heads-up, my friend. Lanthanide is an old buddy of mine, in the cyber sense of the word of course. When one sees one’s oeuvre described as “strident raving”, even if it is by a buddy, it’s not nice, of course, but I’ve been served up much worse on this forum.
Lanthanide remains a good friend, even if we disagree occasionally. For instance, I would not support the siting of a nuclear power station in Christchurch.
On Q&A
Anger management problem boy Hipkins trying to avoid a contest.
Like all ABCs he beleives that matters should be sorted behind closed doors.
His is a caucus centric view of the party that has to be removed.
How refreshing to see Russell Norman refusing to comment on the Labour leadership, saying “That’s Labour’s business”.
Very refreshing against all the rest, each attempting to demonstrate their omnipresence. Prebble for example. Why the hell would anyone take seriously that mad dog of a scab, about anything ?
People who have been financial members of the Labour Party
sometime between January 1 2011 and August 22 2013
but have not yet paid their membership for 2013
can renew their membership and vote,
so long as they do so before 12.00am on Friday 6 September.
Amusing how the feed from Brian Edwards’ latest post ‘On the extremely rare danger of overestimating Labour Party stupidity!’ starts off with: Normal 0 false false false. LOL!
Lolz, amusing, i have been refraining from taking the piss in any way as far as Dave goes, good little kid i am showing a little respect for His feelings which i cannot say He fully earned with the ‘Bene on the roof speech’…
From the Paris Design Week self-portraits, it looks like the great and continuing quest for Tory Art might have have some slim joy in the next generation…..maybe even the mythological Tory Humour and Tory Compassion might be based on a distant reality, who knows? (so very glad she ordered chips with that…) http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/9084573/John-Keys-daughter-strips-off-for-art
This is ridiculous. What parent would not celebrate a chance for a child to attend the Paris Art School rather than Weltech in Petone? In fact we should all celebrate it.
In spy lingo “SIGINT” is “signals intelligence”. So what is “LOVEINT”?
National Security Agency officers on several occasions have channeled their agency’s enormous eavesdropping power to spy on love interests, U.S. officials said.
And I bet that is just the start. Making money on stocks and bonds suddenly becomes a hell of a lot easier when you have access to the emails of Apple senior management.
Hmm. Used to have some regard for Ames. But that piece, fairly packed with innuendo as well as fact, alongside an interview he recently did where he dissed Snowdon – being more concerned with wanking on about his own time in Russia, how terrible the Russian state is and how Snowdon will become a lackey, are kind of shifting my perceptions quite fast.
Grant Robinson was just provided with 6 minutes of TV3 news by Paddy. mmm I wonder if he has been Paddy’s “inside leaker”. I thought the contestants were going to be announced tomorrow.
I’ve been away and have just caught up with the scurrilous little NACT badmouth piece on the Shearer stepdown on National Radio. They interviewed seemingly, every one of the NACT cabinet and they all put their poisoned daggers in to Labour. With a lot of specious nonsense implying that Labour were awful and they by contrast were good and wise. A very, little comment from the Greens and Winston.
Finlayson’s remark on the Labour caucus being feral was spiteful and Poorer Benefit commenting was laughable right wing populist stuff which she excels in. A number of speakers gave Shearer the faint praise of being a nice person, as if that was the difference between him and the other Labour contenders.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport
Opponents say Shearer couldn’t handle a feral caucus ( 3′ 31″ ) Friday 23/8/13
06:38 Just 20 months after David Shearer beat David Cunliffe in a battle to replace
Phil Goff as leader of the Labour Party, the party is now beginning the process of selecting a new leader.
Hi LPrent,
The Standard has been going back in time, for me at least. Three times I returned to the site and each time there were less comments on the Robertson post. And a different picture. Last time this sort of thing happened there were serious problems. Hope it’s okay this time.
This is all a bit over boisterous, by the socialist leaders of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and so forth, but it may be good for the spirit.
AND to worry –
SORRY guys, this is maybe my final message here! There are highly suspicious things happening to my browser and other things, and I cannot exclude the fact this site and traffic to and from it are now being surveilled 24/7. Some unexplained and very strange things are happening.
I am fearful and frightened, and I will advise everybody to no longer communicate via internet and blogs in NZ, and resort to letters and physical means of tradition.
We are BEING WATCHED and SURVEILLED here, 24/7, and I have NO doubt about it, and I now realise what RedLogix mentioned last night!!!
This country is under threat, real threat, we are being surveilled and there is NO MORE real freedom here, you would have to be brainwashed and ignorant to not understand.
xtasy …
26 August 2013 at 2:28 am
National ACT party dictatorship, and you are a benfactor, due to supporting it, we are the enemies, we get surveilled, and persecuted, so you fascist cunts run the show and deal to us, that is my message.. [deleted]”
_____
This seems OTT behaviour.
[lprent: It is. Usually a moderator would give a rather stern warning/banning over any suggestion or encouragement of violence towards groups or individuals (and X has already had a warning so it’d likely have been banning).
However I was asleep for most of the last couple of days after doing an over-nighter working on this site last week. I prefer to ban within hours of the offense to maximize the effect on others. So X gets a pass this time
But I’ll warn X again with an escalation. Thanks for highlighting it ]
Just responded to your earlier post at the top, it is over the top, apologies, but was not meant literally of course. I have seen similar stuff on sites like Whaleoil’s and even hints of it on Kiwiblog. As one affected by soft forms of fascism by this government, I have been through hell, so I have little sympathy for anyone supporting NatACT style government (National – ACT Party aligned policies).
[lprent: Doesn’t matter if it is on Whaleoil or the Kiwiblog. What matters to me is if it is written here. In this case I didn’t see it within a reasonable timeframe and obviously no other moderator did either.
However I’ve now marked you down for a double up ban next time. I seem to remember that you’re already been banned for this previously. If so, then you’d be looking at about 4 weeks ban. I’d suggest that you proceed very cautiously because I will be looking for it. ]
by the Council of Disobedient Women When Moana Maniapoto recently lamented that Rachel Stewart was no longer writing for the Herald, political commentator Morgan Godfery was quick to brag on Twitter, like a schoolyard bully, how proud he was of “driving Rachel Stewart from the Herald”. What a contrast Morgan ...
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Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...
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While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
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Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met today in Suva, and renewed their commitment to continue to strengthen Fiji-New Zealand relations on a foundation of shared values and equal partnership. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the kinship between Fijians and New Zealanders, one that has endured over ...
A $19.9 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund will help develop essential infrastructure for an industrial hub in the Bay of Plenty town of Kawerau, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “The funding will go to three projects to further develop the Putauaki Trust Industrial Hub, an industrial ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.3 million on a roading package for Mahia that will lead to greater and wider economic benefits for the region and beyond, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at an event in Mahia today. The $8.3 million announced consists of: $7 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed new reporting showing the Coalition Government is on track to meet its child poverty targets, with 18,400 children lifted out of poverty as a result of the Families Package. Stats NZ has released the first set of comprehensive child poverty statistics since the Government ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today announced that Bikes in Schools facilities have been rolled out to 20,000 more kiwi kids under this Government. She made the announcement at the opening of a new bike track at Henderson North School in Auckland. “Bikes in Schools facilities give kids ...
Benefit settings rise in line with wages as of 1 April Main benefits will increase by over 3 percent, instead of 1.66 percent, on 1 April with the Government’s decision to annually adjust benefit rates to increases in the average wage. The Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said ...
Strengthening New Zealand’s political and business ties with India will be the focus of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s visit to India this week. The Ministers are co-leading a high level business delegation to India to support increased people and economic engagement ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio continues to champion for greater Pacific participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers with the announcement of the Toloa Awards, with 8 recipients of the Toloa Community Fund and 13 Toloa Tertiary Scholarships. “The Toloa Programme encourages more Pacific peoples ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ngā ...
Tougher penalties for gun crime are a step closer with the passage of firearms reform legislation through another stage in Parliament. The Arms Legislation Bill has tonight passed its Second Reading. “The changes have one objective - to prevent firearms falling into the wrong hands,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Introduction Mr Speaker We all know why we are here today. It has been a long journey. The journey did not actually begin on 15 March 2019. It began on 30 June 1997. Almost 23 years ago, Justice Sir Thomas Thorp told us what was wrong with our firearms legislation. ...
The Government’s work to put trades and vocational education back on the agenda took another major step forward today with the passing of the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “This is a watershed day for trades and vocational education. These law changes formalise ...
Speeding up the return of Christchurch regeneration activities to local leadership is behind the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today by Minister Megan Woods. “As we approach nine years since the February 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, and with the transition to local leadership well underway, the time ...
Hundreds of New Zealanders and international visitors will be able to get back out into nature with the Milford Track partially reopening next week, after extensive assessments and repairs, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The popular Great Walk has been closed since 3 February after an extreme ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
OPINION:By Murray Horton in Christchurch For as long as the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (Cafca) has existed – more than 45 years now – we have called for the closure of the aluminium smelter, owned by giant transnational corporation, Rio Tinto. There are numerous grounds for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The inquiry into allegations of misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan is examining 55 separate incidents or issues, according to the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force report, tabled Tuesday. These involve “predominantly” allegations ...
Tourism bosses have been invited to join a new advisory group, allowing them to stay in "constant communication" with the government in their response to the coronavirus. ...
Alex Casey delivers her eighth power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where a humble avocado changed everything forever. Click here for previous instalments. Glass me with the talking bottle, slice my hand off with a fax machine and send me straight to the Centre De Emergencies, because this was the most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition government has supported Labor’s motion in the Senate to call for men’s rights activist Bettina Arndt to be stripped of her Order of Australia award over her comments on last week’s horrendous murder-suicide ...
he Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa welcomes the withdrawal of the hugely controversial resolution on anti-semitism from the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting. It is a victory for free speech and human rights. PSNA looks forward to working with other organisations ...
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is calling on New Zealand to back his country in pushing Australia to commit more to climate change action. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bianca Fileborn, Lecturer in Criminology, University of Melbourne The downfall of disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has come to a head following his conviction for rape in the third degree and a criminal sex act in the first degree. He was acquitted ...
After days of rumours, Mediaworks have removed Hannah Tamaki as a cast member for the 2020 season of Dancing with the Stars. Sam Brooks reflects on the controversy.On Sunday, the NZ Herald gossip column Spy broke the news that Hannah Tamaki – wife of Destiny Church founder Brian and head of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rick Sarre, Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South Australia Queensland Coroner James McDougall has handed down his findings into the tragic deaths of four people on Dreamworld’s Thunder River Rapids ride in 2016. He reported a litany of failings ...
Sri Krishnamurthi reflects in this special report on what life is really like trying to live and cope with the effects of a stroke for three years. Those were the most horrifying days of my life. It’s only now that I find the courage to write about my trials ...
Dear Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern (Prime Minister), Hon David Clark (Minister of Health) and Hon Chris Hipkins (Minister of Education) We are students, educators, staff and leaders across the tertiary sector in Aotearoa New Zealand. We have an urgent message ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan N Williams, Associate Director/National Technical Leader-Aboriginal Heritage, EMM Consulting Pty Ltd, UNSW The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that without a substantial decrease in our use of fossil fuels, we are on track for a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Onno van der Groen, Research Fellow in the school of medical and health sciences, Edith Cowan University You may have heard of binaural beats, an auditory illusion that has been touted as having stress-busing properties, and is the subject of countless hours ...
Over the weekend, a Twitter spat blew up into a full blown controversy when New Zealander Jason Lei Howden blew up his own movie with a bizarre series of tweets.The trailer for Guns Akimbo makes it look like a fun romp, the sort of film your flatmate who keeps all ...
By underfunding investment in the young we've been able to create budget surpluses to be siphoned into the NZ Super Fund at the current rate of nearly $2.5b a year. This has some serious impacts for a lot of families. ...
‘Over the last six months I’ve realised there are always more tears.’ In August, Emily Writes wrote about the tough months following her son’s hospitalisation and diagnosis. This is what’s happened since.Part 1:Ward One: Emily Writes on love and fear and hope at her son’s hospital bedSix months ago I ...
Mercury's first half profit has dropped as weak wholesale conditions and intense competition drove down revenue. The power generator and retailer's net profit dropped 20.2 percent in the six months to December to $83 million, reflecting below average generation and divestment of its smart metering business. Revenue was down 14 ...
He’s been the country’s leading supporter of the strangest films in the world, and now he’s made his first feature film. Sam Brooks talks to Auckland film champ Ant Timpson about his directorial debut, Come to Daddy.My first encounter with industry legend Ant Timpson was from afar, at a 2010 ...
Summerset's annual profit is down with higher wages expected to continue to be a drag on earnings over the coming year. The retirement village operator's net profit fell 18.3 percent to $175.3 million in the year to December, as expenses rose, while the construction of fewer living units contributed to ...
NZME media group has slumped to a large loss after writing down the value of its business as it pursues a merger with its rival Stuff. The company's loss for the year ended December was $165 million, which included a write down of $175m in the value of the business, ...
Whoopee! A pay rise. No – to be precise, a rise in the national super which is paid to some of the team at Point of Order. Super was included in the boost to benefits announced yesterday by Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni. Fair to say, this boost did not ...
Movie Mogul Harvey Weinstein has been convicted of rape. But the problem is much bigger and more insidious than a few bad men, writes Victoria University's Jan Jordan. In May 2017, New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor had a conversation with Hollywood actress Rose McGowan that began the downfall of movie ...
Jamela Alindogan reports on journalists in the Philippines protesting and demanding better protection of press freedoms. Video: Al JazeeraBy Neil Joshua N. Servallos in Manila The University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, which has the biggest and oldest journalism school, has released a statement supporting television broadcaster ...
Homeownership has long been touted as the great Kiwi dream, but not everyone’s looking for a permanent fix. Jihee Junn explores the rising phenomenon of renters by choice.Even if I had a hundred grand sitting in the bank for me to spend right now, I’m not sure buying a house ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Parr, Lecturer, Australian Catholic University German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) is sometimes dismissed as a malevolent figure, obsessed with the problem of nihilism and the “death of God”. Understandably, these ideas are unsettling: few of us have the courage to confront ...
US politics ain’t for the faint-of-heart. Signs of desperation are emerging in the Democratic Party as Senator Bernie Sanders surges to the lead after three key polls – and party grandees worry whether mainstream United States is ready to elect a “socialist”. Then, Republicans fear the US intelligence agencies, labelled ...
The Opportunities Party (TOP) today proudly announced the first tranche of candidates that will contest the upcoming 2020 New Zealand General Election. After two successive “smile and wave” governments Kiwis can see through the charade. Politics has ...
Media company NZME sees a further modest fall in revenues and earnings - and declares itself the "right owner" for rival Stuff Ltd as it gives more details of its push for political and regulator support. ...
Media company NZME declares itself the "right owner" of Stuff and gives more details of its push for political and regulator support. NZME expects further details of its proposed bid to buy rival Stuff to be made public in "coming weeks" - and any Kiwishare offered to the Government to be ...
The Council of Trade Unions is pleased that the Government is continuing to shine light on the issue of poverty in New Zealand and specifically child poverty with new statistics out today. CTU policy director and economist Andrea Black was at the ...
Forest & Bird is concerned at misinformation circulating regarding a policy statement aimed at protecting New Zealand’s unique biodiversity. The National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity is being consulted on by the ...
QUOTE from; Article: NZ Energy and Environment Business Week https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2002/S00150/govt-vehicle-fleet-emissions-heading-in-wrong-direction.htm First published in Energy and Environment on February 13, 2020. “The latest data shows the Government’s attempts to electrify its vehicle fleet and cut its emissions ...
The defendants in the National Party donations case have pleaded not guilty to charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office. The four men entered their pleas today during their first appearance in the Auckland District Court. Yikun Zhang (48), Shijia (Colin) ...
A teenager who was stabbed more than 16 times by her ex-partner has spoken out about her ordeal, and thanked those who ran to her aid. Crystal Tupou was left fighting for her life after her ex-partner stabbed her multiple times in broad daylight on ...
The New Zealand stock exchange has fallen more than 2 percent on the opening, following drops in global stock markets amid coronavirus fears. Overnight the three main indexes in the US have fallen by about 3 percent, while the UK's FTSE 100 share index closed 3.3 percent lower. Yesterday, the ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentForeign affairs and trade Barbara Dreaver (1News): Ardern’s visit to Fiji, Australia a test of New Zealand’s climate change ...
Four men facing Serious Fraud Office charges over donations made to the National Party - including MP Jami-Lee Ross - have pleaded not guilty at their first court appearance. ...
It competes directly for talent with the lavishly subsidised film industry, yet Simon Dasan, creative director of Wellington powerhouse A44, says New Zealand’s game creators are still thriving. There’s an uncanny parallel between New Zealand’s gaming industry and Ashen – the action role-playing game which is one of its most accomplished ...
Low observations of Hector’s dolphin calves, and dolphins much further out to sea than usual in early summer, have raised fears for this endangered species only found in New Zealand waters. The concerning summer comes after another delay in the ...
Bay of Plenty Police have acknowledged the findings of an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into an incident at Tauranga Hospital in March 2018. The IPCA investigated an allegation of excessive use of force by officers transporting ...
By Will Steffen of the Australian National University Opposition leader Anthony Albanese’s announcement on Friday that a Labor government in Australia would adopt a target of net-zero emissions by 2050 was a big step in the right direction. But a bit of simple maths reveals the policy is too ...
The Tasman District mayor is vowing to press on with a large irrigation project, despite a 25 percent jump in its cost. When finished in 2022, the Waimea Dam will be 53 metres high and hold 13 billion litres of water - that's more than the contents of 5000 Olympic ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denise Buiten, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice and Sociology, University of Notre Dame Australia As the country mourns the horrific murders of Hannah Clarke and her three children, Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey at the hands of their father, many people are trying ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Varney, Senior Research Dietitian in the Department of Gastroenterology, Monash University The FODMAP diet is used to help manage irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but it’s becoming more popular. Now bloggers and so-called health gurus have jumped on board, claiming it can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Notley, Senior Lecturer in Digital Media, Western Sydney University Like adults, children use the news to learn about what’s happening in the world. But the circulation of misinformation, such as the recent spread of fake news about COVID-19 (the disease caused ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Kirk, Postdoctoral Fellow, Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group (ICON Science), RMIT University People living in cities far from the unprecedented bushfires this summer may feel they can do little more to help beyond donating to organisations that support affected wildlife. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katarina Miljkovic, ARC DECRA fellow, Curtin University We’ve all heard of earthquakes, but what about marsquakes? NASA’s InSight mission has, for the first time, recorded seismic activity coming from Mars’ interior. The observations, recorded in 2019 and published today, will help understand ...
In today’s edition: Coronavirus’ harsh impact on New Zealand’s economy starts to reveal itself; Bridges advocates matching Australia’s deportation policies and the Shelly Bay dispute ratchets up.
As major outbreaks were confirmed in Iran and Italy, the impact of Coronavirus on New Zealand’s economy started to become more clear, ...
ReadingRoom is devoting all week to the best-selling book in New Zealand right now, In The Clearing, the brilliant thriller by Ngāpuhi author JP Pomare. Today: Steve Braunias interviews journalist Chris Johnston, who has written extensively about the creepy cult which inspired Pomare's novel. When I looked ...
While two companies give conflicting accounts of past events, authorities are silent on the sale of a piece of equipment which could be used to process the 830,000 litres of dangerous solvents. The distillation unit essential to process the almost million litres of toxic and flammable solvents abandoned in Ruakaka ...
Laura Robertson once hated running, was overweight, then battled a heart condition. But nothing, it seems, will stop the athletic paramedic lining up in the punishing Ironman. Laura Robertson was a cross country cheat. She hated the race and did anything and everything she could to shorten it. She simply wasn’t a ...
Vivienne Martini, who worked for OT and its predecessor CYFS for 15 years, says the case of the boy badly injured at his home in Flaxmere raises deep issues about the practices at the children’s ministry. This case is about the terrible abuse of a child. But it is also ...
A group discovered to be digging for proof of a giant pre-Māori race in the limestone caves of Waikato have not lost their minds all of a sudden, but are continuing a legacy of religion-based racism in the area, writes Scott Hamilton.Earlier this month, RNZ’s Susan Strongman reported that amateur ...
A long-awaited bill to regulate vaping has been unveiled at parliament. Here’s the skinny.What does the bill do?The bill, which associate health minister Jenny Salesa is calling “the most significant change to New Zealand’s smokefree laws since they were introduced 30 years ago”, will introduce a complete ban on the ...
This month's Treaty settlement with Moriori includes an unusual provision - setting the official record on the people's history straight For more than 100 years, New Zealanders have been fed a myth. The myth goes something like this: that once upon a time, Aotearoa was home to a race of ...
By Vasinatta Yama in Mt Hagen Eight prisoners at the Baisu Correctional Service prison near the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mt Hagen are dead following a massive jail breakout. Western Highlands Acting Provincial Police Commander David Kongui confirmed that two prisoners have surrendered, while an unknown number of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A foreign intelligence service sent a “sleeper” agent to Australia, who provided logistical support for visiting spies, the head of ASIO, Mike Burgess, has revealed, in a speech pledging to intensify the fight against the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Apart from committing a crime, what do you have to do or say to be stripped of your order of Australia award? Where “a line” should be drawn is the question the Council for the ...
Open mike 25/08/2013 
by the Council of Disobedient Women When Moana Maniapoto recently lamented that Rachel Stewart was no longer writing for the Herald, political commentator Morgan Godfery was quick to brag on Twitter, like a schoolyard bully, how proud he was of “driving Rachel Stewart from the Herald”. What a contrast Morgan ...7 hours ago
You’re probably aware that the Achievement Standards used to assess senior school students’ learning are being reviewed. Science is one of the ‘pilot’ subjects in this process, where a ‘Subject Expert Group’ has developed 4 draft Science standards¹ (a significant step away from the current 30+, and a response to ...9 hours ago
It seems we can’t even get through a week these days without the National Party's leader, Simon Bridges, making some sort of silly announcement about a policy that doesn’t actually exist.Usually concerning Bridges’ gut instinct and the undoing of whatever the Government has recently announced, National’s reactionary opinions and uncosted ...10 hours ago
Oh look! NZ First's secret slush fund was laundering donations from Talley's:One of the country's biggest fishing companies, Talley's, and its managing director donated nearly $27,000 to the New Zealand First Foundation, which has been bankrolling the New Zealand First Party. The foundation received $26,950 from seafood giant Talley's and ...12 hours ago
High Risk Call: Insensitive though it may seem to even pose the question: how will the electorate respond to what the Prime Minister’s opponents will undoubtedly characterise as an attack on New Zealanders’ freedom of speech? At more than twelve month’s remove from the terrible events of 15 March 2019, ...2 days ago
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Climate change leads to more violence against women, girls Rape, domestic violence, forced marriages: A new ...2 days ago
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...3 days ago
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...6 days ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...1 week ago
Kids learn better with a full stomach. That's why we launched our Lunches in Schools programme, which is already providing free and healthy school lunches to thousands of children so they can focus on what's important - learning. ...13 hours ago
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...16 hours ago
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...8 hours ago
OPINION: By Murray Horton in Christchurch For as long as the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (Cafca) has existed – more than 45 years now – we have called for the closure of the aluminium smelter, owned by giant transnational corporation, Rio Tinto. There are numerous grounds for ...1 hour ago
Tourism bosses have been invited to join a new advisory group, allowing them to stay in "constant communication" with the government in their response to the coronavirus. ...5 hours ago
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“Welfare staff hit, abused”
“Threats and fists have been flying in Work and Income offices across New Zealand, with 54 people physically assaulted at work last year, new figures reveal.
Work and Income staff reported 3757 incidents of abusive client behaviour in 2012, including 448 classified as “serious abuse” – 54 cases of physical abuse and 394 verbal.
Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett said the numbers, obtained by Fairfax Media under the Official Information Act, were unacceptable.
“We should never accept this behaviour as just ‘part of the job’ – there is no justification for it whatsoever.”
But the union representing staff said recent government welfare reforms that tightened up on benefits could cause even more friction.”
Quoted from ‘Stuff.co’ and the ‘Manawatu Standard’ as part of Fairfax Media, here is a link to the online story:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9083093/Welfare-staff-hit-abused
So here we have the tip of the iceberg figures on how the increasingly stringent, draconian and punitive welfare regime under the National led government and Paula Bennett is affecting clients and staff at Work and Income. It seems like some cannot handle the pressures, expectations, demands and in some cases also arrogant, insensitive treatment by some WINZ case managers any more.
Naturally this also reflects badly again on beneficiaries, and the media just love such reports and statistics, to reinforce the prejudicial views of WINZ clients too often being seen as nasty, abusive and prone to criminal behaviour.
While I am not usually listening to talk back on 1ZB, this morning I was made aware of many WINZ clients and others that had experience with WINZ calling in to their midnight to 06 am talk-back with Garry Denvir. He mentioned this news as one of the topics he was open to talk about.
He may have anticipated some different reactions, but a lot of the callers had quite some stories to tell. Here are some audios that can be downloaded and listened to:
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/listen-on-demand/weekondemand/
(this is the download overview for Sunday midnight to 06 am this morning, which allows tracks at 15 minutes a go to be downloaded from the night time talkback show)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10230.mp3" /]
(a caller calling in at about 06 minutes and 40 seconds into the track, with a story of unreasonable expectations and him getting his benefit cut off)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10315.mp3" /]
(one audio track where about 8 minutes into it Gary reads out an email from a listener, about pressures WINZ case managers now put on clients, and how Dr Bratt and designated doctors are used to put pressures on sick and disabled to get jobs)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10330.mp3" /]
(another audio with another caller calling in about 5 minutes into this track, on WINZ and Dr David Bratt as Principal Health Advisor, talking about his insight in what is happening at WINZ, ACC and so forth)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10345.mp3" /]
(the same caller from the track before still carrying on…)
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10400.mp3" /]
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10415.mp3" /]
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10430.mp3" /]
[audio src="http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/10515.mp3" /]
(another audio with a disgruntled older client of WINZ calling in at about 06 minutes and 20 seconds into the track, sharing his experiences)
So a usually somewhat “conservative” host with insufficient insight into the WINZ workings and present benefit categories had to listen to some stories by those affected, not having much good to say about the welfare system and how it is being administered.
P.S.: If there is some problem with the audios, try to download the tracks from about 02:15 am onwards, and especially listen to times from about 03.25 am and close to 03.36 am at least.
Thanks for that X, I read the story in Stuff and thought it presented staff as victims. Most people who are subjected to our benefit system have a vastly different take on things.
That being said, a small proportion of the clients ARE crazy and violent for no specific reason – but that is what remote client units are for and for those staff threats are part of the job.
FFS. Whatever the circumstances, an assault on a WINZ staffer is NEVER, EVER acceptable. If it was a corner dairy the in-house camera footage would be on National television immediately and the police would be in pursuit.
FFS If you are refering to my comment re threats being part of the job in the Remote Client Unit, the clients who are there are dealt with remotely (different from being tresspassed – I’ve no idea why but it is) because they pose a physical risk to staff, hence the “remote” component, the fake staff names, and secret location. This risk is the same for prison staff, police, mental health workers dealing with violence and the risk involved is part of the job (although it is possibly higher due to the fact they have to have direct contact).
Make no mistake this story is part of the ongoing public relations campaign to turn the public against beneficiaries. Work and Income can and do call the police on occassion if they deem it necessary, as would the corner dairy. And Work and Income have in house cameras which cover all parts of their office.
Yep, most WINZ front line offices are set up as secure, locked down areas. For instance you cannot move from one space to the next without swipe cards, key pad access, etc.
“Whatever the circumstances, an assault on a WINZ staffer is NEVER, EVER acceptable.”
Not as simple as that. If you subject people to regular humiliation, strip them of their power, in a situation where their survival is at stake, then it’s likely you will get some violence. I doubt that many people understand quite how institutionally violent WINZ is to its clients. Eventually something has to break. I feel sorry for many WINZ frontline staff, but there is a massive problem with the system. Maybe someone could report on that.
Definitely ‘not as simple as that’, take the case of the wheelchair bound beneficiary in Northland,( can’t remember if it was earlier this year or late last year),
Refused his legal entitlement on the basis of God knows what this beneficiary finally snapped and resorted to taking a hammer to the local WINZ office where He smashed a number of windows,
Lo and behold, the media attention which resulted from this ‘madness’ had WINZ reviewing His case again and He suddenly became the recipient of what were His full entitlements all along,
His treatment, or should i say mistreatment at the hands of WINZ staff isn’t an isolated incident, such mistreatment happens on a daily basis in WINZ offices and the abhorrent Bennett driven changes to the system which puts into the hands of ‘case workers’ even more ‘power’ to effectively destroy what little livelihood beneficiaries have will only worsen an already dire situation…
Yep and the only real way to stop that abuse is to go to a Universal Income that pays more than enough to live on (at least 20k). That way the only time you’d go to the MSD was when you’re really, really desperate.
I doubt 20k is affordable but 12-15 probably is. Then there would be no welfare, no WINZ no work tests, no nothing. Everyone gets a cheque for $300 per week. Have a nice life.
You’re killing me man (in a good way), the UBI in some form is an absolute must if we are going to cut through the complex mess that the benefits/taxation system has become.
because everyone needs no more than that, right?
Well, meds maybe, special assistance, special equipment, well – tough for them, there’s no WINZ to help them out. We can lock ’em up when they finally go overboard, problem sorted.
Far be it for me to defend srylands, but I think that some of the detail can be worked out over time.
Nope. The UBI looks good because there are no details. You saw what spy wrote – an arbitrary base figure, no winz, nothing else from them. Fucked if you need dental work, or a social worker.
The devil is in the details. Basically, the tory looks at the UBI and goes “oh, here’s something we can set to average needs (and forget those who need more), forget to link it to inflation, and still blame people for their imagined shortcomings if they need more than that”.
I know people who could live like kings on $300/w.
I know others who, for a variety of reasons, would need more.
So we set it to $500/w, and tories bitch about the ones who live like kings (and ignore those who might need more).
Or we set it to $200pw, and when the morbidity/mortality stats start to rise the tories would point out that the same group of perople are scraping by.
I like the idea of a UBI from far off, but something nags at me about it. I think what might be nagging is that applying one value (whatever it might be) to a diverse population as never had a single instance of good outcomes in the past.
“but I think that some of the detail can be worked out over time.”
Why not work some of it out now?
Srylands says $300/wk. But how many people can live on that and be ok? There are reasons that welfare payments and entitlements are complicated. Part of it is historical. Part of it is the abatement issue. Part of it is ideological (neoliberalism says stick not carrot, therefore you cannot pay welfare at a livable rate, therefore you have to have a system of supplementary benefits). And a big part of it is simply that different people have different needs in regards to income. How do we make this fair? How do we make this affordable? How do we make this workable? I can’t see a UBI progressing if we can’t even figure out some basic concepts.
snap with McFlock
Well I’m saying let’s have that discussion, and it will be one which takes months, but don’t toss away the concept of a UBI just because we haven’t had that discussion yet.
“But how many people can live on that and be ok? ”
A sign of success would be that over the next 30 years the proportion of people making more than the guaranteed minimum rises. That is because you divert enforcement and abatement testers into useful work helping people to upskill.
There are many pitfalls with a universal income, but they can be worked through – no system is perfect but it offers a better solution than the current one because it gets rid of the fear (work testing) and high EMTRs (abatement) from the system.
“Well, meds maybe, special assistance, special equipment, well – tough for them, there’s no WINZ to help them out. We can lock ‘em up when they finally go overboard, problem sorted.”
No there would be no WINZ. There would be a specialised crown entiity to deal with disability issues and a massive investment in dealing with mental health problems, especially in youth.
I didn’t say there was nothing except a minimum income, just that a universal income would replace the nightmare of work and means testing. You would shut down the crazy state aparatus dealing with work testing and overpayments and redepoy them to do useful things – i.e helping people.
I would also have a massivew investment to prevent reoffending and abolish all prison sentences of less than 5 years – prison as a last resort, and only for serious offences or where the public are threatened.
Of course to pay for all this, we need a vibrant market economy, which is where I suspect we part company.
Quite frankly, I’d want to double check any social policy suggested by someone who thinks that the first step involves kowtowing even more to the market economy.
I reckon the only reason worktesting is crazy is because tories have been running it for thirty years, and turned it into a tool of harassment rather than assistance.
You’re continuing to stun me with progressive ideas
wrylands
What’s happened to you. You are noting ideas that sound practical, effective and good-outcome oriented. They sound as if based on George’s Seinfeld principle that if all the time what has been done has turned out wrong, then turning right round to a different approach must be right. Of course what you hear in a comedy show can’t be taken as serious steps to a better society, but then many a true word has been spoken in jest they say.
A market economy fails to produce any more wealth due to the simple fact that the amount of wealth that can be generated is dependent upon the actual resources available.
20k is affordable. Wages averaged across the entire adult population is about 40k so that would leave another 20k that everyone could earn by working. Of course, that does mean that CEO salaries and similar will have to come down.
Also, the reason why I think it should be that high is that it should be enough to allow people to be entrepreneurial rather than the slightly less than subsistence existence that the present welfare provides which really only wastes a huge amount of talent.
Our present system is, quite literally, rewarding the wrong people.
Exactly. I had an encounter with a WINZ lackey a while back that showed that their job is now to prevent the poor from getting benefits and off the lists. She was rude, ignorant and her only sparks of intelligence were aimed at blocking any claims. She tried to conceal her identity from me, but I found out that her name is Carmila. She works at Wellington’s Willis St office. Note that and record any conversation you have with her. She’s one of many.
Name and shame them.
Going back a good 11 years now, when I was on the dole, the chick told me, they get bonuses for getting people off the benefit.
Also, last time I was in one of these places, it was all opened planned.
Hi RhinoCrates
You’re brave, many would be dismayed and disheartened dealing with this darkness, keep the light shining mate. 🙂
I’m not brave – just a bloody stubborn Scottish bastard. Underestimating that quality has got some presumptuous arseholes (hello Massey “university”!) in trouble and out of pocket before though…
@ Rhinocrates
Well Carmila poor girl did not know what she was dealing with …is all I can say …I almost feel sorry for her …smile
….except that begging for a life support benefit is no joking matter!….it is humiliating to good NZers and it should NOT happen in a caring society !!!!
….This is why the real Labour Party must get back into being a voice for all the people, especially those vulnerable at the bottom of the economic heap…and be a viable force for those 800,000+ disaffected Labour who did not vote last time.
This is why the real Labour Party must get back into being a voice for all the people
Yeah, Labour isn’t the party of the bloated middle class ageing yuppies like Goff and Mallard. We poor aren’t all roof-painting bludgers and that’s why I don’t feel at all sad about the hypocrite Mumblefuck’s resignation.
Hopefully that arsehole didn’t go too late and hopefully his cronies won’t have too much influence after.
That’s a lot to hope for, I know…
Well Carmila poor girl did not know what she was dealing with
They take their money and they stamp on us for their coins. Never pity them. Name them and expose them.
“I reckon the only reason worktesting is crazy is because tories have been running it for thirty years, and turned it into a tool of harassment rather than assistance.”
The state should assist people to find work. But it should not be a “test” i.e linked to threats to reduce someone’s income. You can’t control that system.
“The state should assist people to find work.”
The state should run the economy so there are enough jobs.
“The state should run the economy so there are enough jobs.”
When you have 20% of students not graduating from high school, that is impossible. What are they going to do? Who would employ them? To do what, exactly in a modern society?
Here’s a hint – when you ask a rhetorical question, you’d better have an answer ready right away, otherwise people will come up with their own, and they won’t be the answers you want.
NZers don’t “graduate” from High School.
And your 20% number is made up.
Further it doesn’t matter if you have a uni education, you’re just as likely to be unemployed in the USA now.
We are creating a financialised economy which does not need workers.
You don’t need to graduate from high school in order to be able to work. Or learn a trade or skill. So that’s not really a useful measure of anything.
There is plenty of work needing doing, so that’s not an issue either.
That leaves how to pay them. And we have plenty of options there if we really wanted to take them – fairly distributing wealth, and relocalising economies. If the effort that WINZ and the MSD put into punishing benes instead went to supporting people wanting to be self-employed or set up businesses that fed the local economy*, the picture would change immensely.
*rather than the global economy.
Plus there are going to be a percentage of people who can live on the $300/wk UBI (although I tend to think the UBI should be tied to some expectation of contribution to society).
I’m guessing the reason none of that is obvious to you is because you can’t see past neoliberal economic ideology and theory.
“You don’t need to graduate from high school in order to be able to work. Or learn a trade or skill. So that’s not really a useful measure of anything.”
Yes you do. Without NCEA L2 you can forget about a trade in NZ. Simple as that.
“If the effort that WINZ and the MSD put into punishing benes instead went to supporting people wanting to be self-employed or set up businesses that fed the local economy*, the picture would change immensely.
So get rid of WINZ and work tests and income tests so there is no dreaded WINZ debt.
*rather than the global economy.”
No our future is exactly the opposite of what you are proposing – the future is in serving the global economy. All our efforts should be devoted to playing a leading role in APEC integration and the WTO. Otherwise we will end up looking a bit like a temperate Samoa, with a similar GDP per capita.
One of the (few) good aspects of the 5th Labour government is that Clark/Cullen/Goff realised this objective and pursued it. Nothing will change with the 6th Labour Government.
There’s a lesson: “should” is not the same as “is” and it never will be.
What “is” is globalisation. It will be pursued full steam ahead by the Labour/Green government after the 2014 election, which they are likely to win.
Try to think about that.
“We are creating a financialised economy which does not need workers.”
We will always need workers. We will need bartenders to serve all the tourists for a start.
We need dairy workers.
Why do we import Samoans to pick crops?
I pay a cleaner $70 to clean my house every week. He looks like a worker to me – albeit running a v successful cleaning business.
Good to have the shitlands we know back in force. How rya mate?
Nope, the future will be a a primarily local economy with minimal international trade.
Nope. Continue that route and we’ll end up looking like Palestine. They were owned by foreigners as well and look what happened to them. Nearly a century since the fall of the Turkish Empire and they still don’t have control of their land or their lives.
Ah yes, naive libertarians… you’re almost amusing. “Should” is your favourite word isn’t it?
Gravity should be less, so I don’t get sore feet, cancer shouldn’t exist so my friends don’t die, the market should be fair so everyone gets what their labour is worth, fairies should exist so everyone has their wishes granted. “Should” is such a wonderful word isn’t it?
Here’s a lesson: “should” is not the same as “is” and it never will be. Try to think about that.
“Nope, the future will be a a primarily local economy with minimal international trade.”
Nope, the future will be a a primarily global economy with massive international trade.
Doubtful. The process of deglobalisation and deterioration in western incomes is well underway and will continue.
Xtasy
+1 Thankyou for the good work 🙂 My impression they’re trying to bring in the fascist punitive sanctions regime already going in the U$K. It’s scary while you’re appealing with a review you’re expected to live on nothing. If you have a bastard landlord you could end up on the street, once homeless you’re not entitled to a benefit until you get an address. (Correct me if I’m wrong) This is not the Kiwi way, we are not fascist bastards though Europe has a sad history of that cruel disease.
The 800,000 who didn’t vote last election allowed Yankey john to get in with his extremist ideology, they must get off their rears and vote the coming election.
key’s Mum was a Jewish person who left Austria due to its fascist persecution of her people. It’s sad her son is now a fascist too persecuting the new Jews right here in NZ. 🙁
Not condoning violence, but if confronted with the fact that I have no way of meeting the weeks living costs, I would be lashing out as well.
Sometimes violence is the last resort of those who have been completely robbed off all power. And that is what the right is about — giving the powerful more power over the powerless.
Those on a benefit need to get off their butts and…..ORGANIZE!!!
Millsy
+1 What beneficiaries are up against is institutional violence at the touch of a computer key. OOPS! that’s your living gone ’cause we sanctioned you. If you commit suicide that’s not our fault- You had to apply for 24 jobs in 24 days but only applied for 17.
7.30 this morning the first comment on Open Mike was from Xtasy and included audio links to Talkback ZB I think, wherein beneficiaries described their various experiences at the hands of WINZ.
When I came back after double right clicking my comment in Open Mike yesterday in general support of Xtasy’s important contribution – /open-mike-24082013/#comment-684411 – it was no longer there.
Which is a pity. Hopefully it will reappear, allowing everyone the chance to walk in the mocassins perhaps.
For your ears Xtasy I repeat – your contributions on this topic are important and for me, welcome. Keep it up, along with your spirits !
North – thanks, I see the comment awaiting moderation, possibly for someone to double check the audio links. I hope it will appear again soon. Maybe it will take a while, given it is early Sunday morning.
If you put too many links in a comment the auto-moderation will treat it as potential spam and throw it into moderation.
IB – I understand, and try not to put too many links into posts, just this one necessitated it somehow, as 1ZB have this piecemeal kind of download option. Thanks!
Xtasy – I listened to all the audios linked to your comment.
The following general conclusions seem apposite –
1. In the drive to deal with those Paula Bennett/50 million dollar 170,000 new jobs man John Key chooses to identify as unworthy, the government has created an out-of-control bureaucratic monster which even its administrators cannot leash.
2. Treating unemployed people like rubbish, as well the ill, the physically disabled, the mentally impaired, the illiterate and innumerate, does happen on a significant scale in the execution.
3. Stand downs for three months and more understandably induces terror. Some people in terror act badly. Of course.
4. It is unintelligent, facile, indeed cruel for people not in the grips of such terror to “tut tut tut” when deliberately conceived and applied terror measures have ill consequences. Worse to then cite those consequences as further proof of unworthiness.
Those are my conclusions. Now for some hard facts –
5. To my sadness I recognised a voice on the audios as a man I have known for nearly 30 years. Very, very, very talented, decent, caring of others. Has formal training. Has addiction. I know his shame and his reaction to the terror of a 3 month standown. Variously, anger, verbal abusiveness, resort to addictive acting out, petty crime. Surprise surprise. Be honest people – just imagine out-of-the-blue being rendered destitute, penniless, for 3 months.
6. The 70% disabled man who smashed two windows at a WINZ office late 2012 had gone to WINZ with all his bank statements and a professionally prepared budget to apply for a food grant. Incredibly he was repeatedly told, loudly and roughly in front of numerous other waiting “clients”, to go away and get a new budget – there being a 3 week waiting list to see the budgeter. The WINZ person knew that.
7. No matter – “Go to the budgeter !” Repeatedly, in front of people. Callously, viciously, humiliated.
8. At court he was convicted and discharged without further penalty. I was there and I am satisfied that in a heart of heart sense this man was identified by everyone present as a person inhumanly pushed to the end of his tether. That on a broad appreciation this was a justifiable act.
There will be more of this. Key and Bennett, and the tea partiers seated behind them are the social criminals here.
” Key and Bennett, and the tea partiers seated behind them are the social criminals here.”
Well said North.
“There will be more of this”
Sad but so very true.
North – you got it!
As for those budget advisors, those services are now “financed” at a shoestring budget approach by MSD, and the rules to follow, i.e. to abide by the expectations of the Ministry and WINZ have been substantially “tightened” under NatACT, so that there is no room anymore for too much true independence and even “dared” advocacy work for them to be allowed to do. Do NOT bite the hand that feeds is the domineering approach by MSD and Bennett and her government.
I met people on benefits, whatever types, who unfortunately only have temporary additional support available, as the more lenient, former “special benefit” has largely been phased out. They were confronted with astronomical rent increases here in Auckland, but only entitled to a capped TAS top up, which left them in situations nobody could survive under. So some had been sent to the WINZ suggested “budget advisor”, and one here in Central Auckland even clearly stated for one client I know, that no way could he survive on the benefit he was getting.
He went to WINZ with the report, showing a clear shortfall between income and totally basic essential outgoings, and they just told him: “You will not get any more, as that is all you are entitled to!!!” So he had to lose his flat, rented for 9 years on a private market, and ended up in a cockroach infested, damp, unhealthy and overcrowded boarding house, even run illegally.
He was fobbed off endlessly by Housing NZ, saying he had “suitable accommodation”, and in the end I and him went to the very top, and also the Herald on Sunday by the way, to raise issues, and within a week or two, he suddenly was offered at least a humbly suitable Housing NZ home, which they repeatedly claimed before he had not entitlement to.
That is how damned rotten the system is, and sadly most do not get what they need, as they have no knowledge and strength to see it through as we did in that case. That is just one story by the way, and do not start me on many other ones, I will be here all night. WINZ and Bennett now heading the Ministry are the worst abusers and liars out there, and this must be exposed!
“NatACT”
What is NatACT?
National ACT party dictatorship, and you are a benfactor, due to supporting it, we are the enemies, we get surveilled, and persecuted, so you fascist cunts run the show and deal to us, that is my message.. [deleted]
[lprent: Ok – I missed that. You are now on notice of a rather long banning if I see this happen again. And my toleration level just dropped. ]
srylands – my angry comment was not to be meant literally, of course, but it disturbs and dismays me what this government is dishing out to sick, disabled and some sole parents on benefits now. As I am affected, I am furious about what I see and hear. NatACT is the combination of the villains behind it, and some of their thinking resembles a soft form of fascism. That is where I am coming from.
So why do you think I am an apologist for the Government’s benefits policies? I have posted repeatedly that I support dismantling the punitve apparatus that seeks to punish beneficiaries.
“Of course to pay for all this, we need a vibrant market economy, which is where I suspect we part company.”
While some of your ideas may sound ok and sensible, others are just ideologically coloured, and more of what this government is already doing or planning to do.
The market economy will never allow for social fairness for disabled and longer term sick with incapacities, as they will never be able to compete in a “vibrant market economy”, except perhaps very few.
Competing with fit and healthy for jobs will continue to be a problem. A universal income of $ 300 is not going to allow for most to survive reasonably and humanely, certainly not in Auckland, and I feel you are not having the real answers to solve existing issues effectively and fairly.
“The market economy will never allow for social fairness for disabled and longer term sick with incapacities.”
Well I would be surprised if the incoming Labour Government actually dismantles the market economy.
In fact I predict the incoming Left Government will institute less ambitious changes to the benefits system than I am proposing. Under Labour you will still have the general WINZ apparatus that punishes beneficaries – you know the one I am sugegsting should be dismantled, and for which you suggested that I should be hung from a lampost?
You may want the market economy overturned and for NZ to withdraw from the WTO and on and on, but it is not going to happen. A guaranteed minimum income and an end to beneficary bashing on the other hand, is a realistic objective. Advocating it does not warrant my hanging.
I did not state that the total abolition of a market economy was necessary, only that disabled and sick with incapacities would not be able to compete and would thus not be treated fairly and socially equally. So there will always be special needs such people have and that must be met.
As for WINZ and abolishing it, whatever would replace it will inevitably have to cater for normal unemployed and others unable to work, on a case by case basis. Letting an agency like IRD look after them, or privatising it all, that will lead to even worse outcomes.
I am not taking this further, as I made my point and am mindful of presence here being screened by other agencies, that this government has empowered to do more, for “security” and whatever else. It pays to be very careful now.
“As for WINZ and abolishing it, whatever would replace it will inevitably have to cater for normal unemployed and others unable to work, on a case by case basis. Letting an agency like IRD look after them, or privatising it all, that will lead to even worse outcomes.”
Just a final word to clarify my views –
WINZ would be replaced with nothing. Because there would be no social welfare system to administer. Everyone would receive a guaranteed income.
Unemployed people would be given employment assistance by a new agency with a focus on assisting people to fins work or training.
I also advocate a massive increase in assistance for the disabled and sick. mental health care in NZ is a disgrace (for example).
IRD would be out of the picture and there would be no privatisation of such services. (IRD is there to collect tax.)
I am convinced that a government cannot provide such services if it is also maintaining the current WINZ machine that focus on administering income and work tests (and inevitably pursuing “overpayments”).
I am convinced that a government cannot provide such services if it is also maintaining the current WINZ machine that focus on administering income and work tests (and inevitably pursuing “overpayments”).
I agree, but the govt would still need a department to administer income. And supplementary benefits. How else are you going to take into account individual circumstances?
Georgina Beyer on stuff re: NZ not ready for gayness
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9083770/Gay-prime-minister-may-be-a-step-too-far
From the same link
Both Fitzsimons and Locke seemed sad to see former leader David Shearer depart.
Fitzsimons said it was “a shame that being a good and principled and honest and caring person is not enough to be prime minister because I think David Shearer was all of those things . . . I think it’s sad that in politics, really good people often don’t make it”.
Archetypal feral Michael Laws. Imagine taking the tragic example of two people, that’s right, two people to brand much, much wider ? And this vicious, narcissistic polemicist fancies he’s fit to resume a mayoralty ?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/9083148/Laws-Love-among-ferals-its-a-weird-world
Ae, Lhaws. The vicious, demented stoat of politics taking yet another lunge at the neck of the weakest. Toxic filth personified, an evil spectre lurking round poor old Whanganui, the pervading stench of shit dooming its proud heritage until the day this mutant mustelid is eliminated.
And well done Xtacy – keep on exposing the truths they try to bury in the wee hours, much appreciated.
Get in contact with him, North. I did in February last year, as you will see if you click on the link. Just a warning, my friend: Laws is not a serious or thoughtful correspondent, so don’t take it personally when he calls you a sickness beneficiary or a loon. That’s just his way of engaging with people.
Here’s that correspondence I was talking about….
Thanks Morrissey but I won’t bother writing to Laws……..narcissistic feral is narcissistic feral after all.
“Feral”
It a nasty word that Laws uses to dehumanise those he despises.
We should be thankful that the guy ended up leaving parliament. The thought of him in cabinet leaves me cold. Its people like him that end up dressing in unfiforms and making stiff armed salutes, and having undesireables exterminated.
Annnd Godwins law strikes again…
“Feral” is an apt description for the same group of people. It is used widely in the UK and in Australia, including by the Left. Interesting essay by Mark Latham covered the growing problem of a feral underclass in Australia.
http://clubtroppo.com.au/2013/03/11/mark-latham-and-the-return-of-the-underclass/
“According to Latham, poverty isn’t about a lack of money. The dole is generous enough to cover people’s basic needs, he says. It isn’t about a lack of opportunity either. He says our thriving post-Keating economy has plenty of jobs for those with the ambition to pursue them.
“According to Latham, the real problem is an underclass mired in a culture of poverty. It’s a group of people trapped by shared sense of hopelessness and a pervasive lack of aspiration. Instead of taking responsibility, these people have gone feral “leading lives of welfare dependency, substance abuse and street crime.”
You could say much the same about New Zealand.
You want the poor to live on the street dont you.
And you want to take money off people as well.
“You want the poor to live on the street dont you.
And you want to take money off people as well.”
No on the contrary. I would very much like to see a universal income of $15,000 per year for everyone over 18, and a guaranteed State house (or flat) for everyone who wants one. Nothing flash, but basically the state guarantees a basic income and a basic house.
😯
😀
““Feral” is an apt description for the same group of people”
There’s already a subculture of people in Australia called ‘ferals’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_%28subculture%29
The subtext of Matt McCarten’s, HoS article is pushing for Robertson over Cunliffe. I get the impression that McCarten has always been afraid of Cunliffe, I suspect he feels that Cunliffe will cannibalize voters from Mana, more so than Robertson.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11113881
Anyway, I liked his second last paragraph…I think he has a good point here:
“Personal support for National and Key is a mile wide – but only an inch thick. In any event, the possibility of National sleepwalking to victory at the next election evaporated this week.”
i would have said that personal support for National and Slippery the PM was miles thick but a mere inch wide…
Agree they rely heavily on key and a fawning MSM cheering his every move.
If DC gets the gig and he places hard working focused shadow ministers across the main areas the house of cards will crumble.
I mean who are labours spokespeople on education, justice, welfare, industrial relations, resources and environment under DS as they should be all over crusher, benefit, bridges to nowhere, nickless smith etc.
One of them at least, Fran O’Sullivan apparently got ‘a slap’ for Her piece of ‘Jonolism’ in yesterday’s Herald,
i didn’t see the retraction, but, it was reported in yesterdays Open Mike that O’Sullivans ‘opinion piece’ of that day had to be pulled and replaced with the retraction after O’Sullivan had claimed Council of Trade Unions Prez Helen Kelly had said that the Union Affiliates to the Labour Party would be ‘block voting’ in the contest to decide the next leader of Labour and Prime Minister after 2014,
A total crock of course, Helen Kelly made no such statement and it is virtually impossible, from what i understand, for the Union Affiliates to ‘block vote’ on this issue,
My view is that the Herald should get some ‘decent’ opinion writers that show some balance of opinion equally across the political spectrum on a daily basis, and i know that’s a forlorn thing to call for, i will ‘see God’ befor i ever get to see the mass media in this country exercise that political balance on a daily basis across the spectrum,
For Her abysmal efforts at ‘Jonolism’ the Herald’s Fran O’sullivan is the recipient of a much coveted ‘Golden Turd Award’ for dis-services to truthful and unbiased journalism in New Zealand…
Wow……..useless Old Boardroom Trout Fran ! Who said attendance at Parnell BBQs was not an educative exercise in Political Slime Tricks 101 ?
The Herald is well known for itsvery Right -Wing columnists whom are the majority of the
The Herald is well known for itsvery Right -Wing columnists whom are the majority of the
(a review of ‘the nation’..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/the-nation-a-review-a-program-where-everyone-looks-back/
(excerpt..)
“….williams then talks utter shite..by saying he wants shane jones to run..(!) (‘can i do a shout out to my best friend shane..?..rachel..?.’.)
(and funny story..!..williams relates how labour (under his presidency) received its’ lowest vote ever..
..and he seems to be puzzled by this/looking around for someone to blame..(!)..
..get thee to a mirror..!..mike..!..)..”
phillip ure..
Andrew Little is not contesting for the Labour leadership.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/217822/little-rules-himself-out-of-labour-leadership
I’m pleased the self-proclaimed “newcomer” Andrew Little has the nous to admit that the job of leader is one he is far from being ready for. If only Shearer had done the same thing 20 months ago!
Heads up – the TPP has little to do with Free Trade and even less to do with Fair Trade:
http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3402#
LIARS OF OUR TIME No. 27
Lyse Doucet: “I am there for those without a voice.”
Radio NZ National Mediawatch, Sunday 25 August 2013
I don’t know which was more depressing: hearing Lyse Doucet pretend to be a respectful and serious journalist, or the supremely ignorant comment by Colin Peacock at the end of this cozy little interview.
Lyse Doucet has recently been appointed as the Chief International Correspondent for BBC World News. She made a flying visit to New Zealand and was interviewed by her old friend and colleague Colin Peacock….
LYSE DOUCET: We really do want Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security side by side. …. The great moral leaders of our age say that if you don’t take a side, you are siding with the oppressor. I have always found that there are stories on both sides of a conflict. … I do take a side—on the side of people. I do speak out when I see injury, suffering, abuse and impunity. I do take a side. I am there for those without a voice.
COLIN PEACOCK: How do you deal with criticism of your journalism?
LYSE DOUCET: I welcome criticism—as long as it’s not done to score a point or because someone has an agenda. When I get negative Twitter messages, unless I think there is an agenda and I have no control over that, I respond with kindness. Some people are on a certain campaign… I always say journalism is story-telling. I listen to our competitors. I listen to Al Jazeera, and Russia Today.
COLIN PEACOCK: [snorting] But some of those are backed by the state, aren’t they, in a way that is different to the BBC obviously….
Nine years ago, Glasgow writer and blogger John Hilley, one of those point-scorers with an agenda, was trying to get Lyse Doucet to explain her fawning coverage of a glamorous U.S. general….
http://medialens.org/23_fg_75_lc/viewtopic.php?t=3096&sid=eaccb0620a0d5537261aa7f5d8aaa3be
Hey Morrissey……. Lanthanide thinks you’re dumb –
Then Mr Smith says to Lanthanide – “No…….you’re dumb
“/open-mike-24082013/#comment-684550
Further down, Lanthanide unrepentant.
Cha !
Sorry Morrissey………messed up those links. Check out Open Mike 24/8/13 @ 22, 22.1 and 22.1.1
Good fun. Await your response.
Thanks for the heads-up, my friend. Lanthanide is an old buddy of mine, in the cyber sense of the word of course. When one sees one’s oeuvre described as “strident raving”, even if it is by a buddy, it’s not nice, of course, but I’ve been served up much worse on this forum.
Lanthanide remains a good friend, even if we disagree occasionally. For instance, I would not support the siting of a nuclear power station in Christchurch.
On Q&A
Anger management problem boy Hipkins trying to avoid a contest.
Like all ABCs he beleives that matters should be sorted behind closed doors.
His is a caucus centric view of the party that has to be removed.
A future ambassador to Nuie.
What have Niueans ever done to you that makes you want to wish Hipkins on them?
How refreshing to see Russell Norman refusing to comment on the Labour leadership, saying “That’s Labour’s business”.
Very refreshing against all the rest, each attempting to demonstrate their omnipresence. Prebble for example. Why the hell would anyone take seriously that mad dog of a scab, about anything ?
People who have been financial members of the Labour Party
sometime between January 1 2011 and August 22 2013
but have not yet paid their membership for 2013
can renew their membership and vote,
so long as they do so before 12.00am on Friday 6 September.
This can be done by opening this link:
http://www.labour.org.nz/renew-labour-membership
Amusing how the feed from Brian Edwards’ latest post ‘On the extremely rare danger of overestimating Labour Party stupidity!’ starts off with: Normal 0 false false false. LOL!
helen clark has endorsed cunnliffe for the top-job..
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/q-a-a-review-night-n-day-from-dann-a-tale-of-two-interviews-and-helen-clark-thinks-cunnliffe-is-the-man-for-the-job/
(excerpt..)
“….with the only revelation being williams saying that helen clark thinks that cunnliffe is the best man for the job….”
phillip ure..
Another “The Secret Diary”…this time of David Shearer
http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/9079283/The-secret-diary-of-David-Shearer
Lolz, amusing, i have been refraining from taking the piss in any way as far as Dave goes, good little kid i am showing a little respect for His feelings which i cannot say He fully earned with the ‘Bene on the roof speech’…
I hope Shearer stands again in Mt Albert. He would make an excellent Cabinet Minister and I look forwards to seeing him in action in Government.
If he thinks beneficiaries and teachers are useful public sacrifices, then the bastard can go to Hell.
From the Paris Design Week self-portraits, it looks like the great and continuing quest for Tory Art might have have some slim joy in the next generation…..maybe even the mythological Tory Humour and Tory Compassion might be based on a distant reality, who knows? (so very glad she ordered chips with that…)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/9084573/John-Keys-daughter-strips-off-for-art
That will go down well with the Old Nats in the Otago Electorate. Let them eat Macs.
1) What the PM’s daughter does is no one elses business and..
2) I hope one day we get a PM’s offspring who go to the local co-ed/uni/polytech.
“2) I hope one day we get a PM’s offspring who go to the local co-ed/uni/polytech.”
Why? What difference does it make where there PM’s daughter/son go to be educated?
None whatsoever.
Just like it makes no difference where the PM takes holidays.
Just like it makes no difference where the PM has chosen to spend most of his life.
These are all isolated, unrelated questions and none on its own says anything about the PM’s connection to our country.
“Just like it makes no difference where the PM takes holidays.” Not the PM’s son
“Just like it makes no difference where the PM has chosen to spend most of his life.” Not the PM’s son
“These are all isolated, unrelated questions and none on its own says anything about the PM’s connection to our country.” Not the PM’s son.
So any comment on why it matters where the PM’s child is educated?
It doesn’t. Did you not read a single word of what you quoted?
EDIT
“Not the PM’s son” should read “Not the PM’s children”
“2) I hope one day we get a PM’s offspring who go to the local co-ed/uni/polytech.”
Why?
Some of us prefer representatives to uberlords.
This is ridiculous. What parent would not celebrate a chance for a child to attend the Paris Art School rather than Weltech in Petone? In fact we should all celebrate it.
That’s education on the right side of the train tracks for yer
“What parent would not celebrate a chance for a child to attend the Paris Art School ”
So what srylands? Doesn’t make Key any more representative of the people than any of the other trappings of his international jet-set lifestyle.
In spy lingo “SIGINT” is “signals intelligence”. So what is “LOVEINT”?
And I bet that is just the start. Making money on stocks and bonds suddenly becomes a hell of a lot easier when you have access to the emails of Apple senior management.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/23/nsa-officers-sometimes-spy-on-love-interests/?mod=e2tw
Weirder and weirder.
https://www.nsfwcorp.com/scribble/5699/c2d2ec58365dffdd3ad9de31e9c75b7d356db3c4/
Hmm. Used to have some regard for Ames. But that piece, fairly packed with innuendo as well as fact, alongside an interview he recently did where he dissed Snowdon – being more concerned with wanking on about his own time in Russia, how terrible the Russian state is and how Snowdon will become a lackey, are kind of shifting my perceptions quite fast.
http://www.frontpage.co.nz/stories.php?storyid=308
Is anyone surprised..?
And Grant Robertson is the first to throw his hat in the ring:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11114182
Grant Robinson was just provided with 6 minutes of TV3 news by Paddy. mmm I wonder if he has been Paddy’s “inside leaker”. I thought the contestants were going to be announced tomorrow.
Not sure. I know they have until 10.00pm tomorrow evening to declare their intentions to run. Stuck at work until 8.00pm so missed the news…bugger.
Fingers crossed, eventual failure will teach the overstuffed bastard some much-needed humility.
I’ve been away and have just caught up with the scurrilous little NACT badmouth piece on the Shearer stepdown on National Radio. They interviewed seemingly, every one of the NACT cabinet and they all put their poisoned daggers in to Labour. With a lot of specious nonsense implying that Labour were awful and they by contrast were good and wise. A very, little comment from the Greens and Winston.
Finlayson’s remark on the Labour caucus being feral was spiteful and Poorer Benefit commenting was laughable right wing populist stuff which she excels in. A number of speakers gave Shearer the faint praise of being a nice person, as if that was the difference between him and the other Labour contenders.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport
Opponents say Shearer couldn’t handle a feral caucus ( 3′ 31″ ) Friday 23/8/13
06:38 Just 20 months after David Shearer beat David Cunliffe in a battle to replace
Phil Goff as leader of the Labour Party, the party is now beginning the process of selecting a new leader.
Hi LPrent,
The Standard has been going back in time, for me at least. Three times I returned to the site and each time there were less comments on the Robertson post. And a different picture. Last time this sort of thing happened there were serious problems. Hope it’s okay this time.
Just downloaded this, BUT …
This is all a bit over boisterous, by the socialist leaders of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and so forth, but it may be good for the spirit.
AND to worry –
SORRY guys, this is maybe my final message here! There are highly suspicious things happening to my browser and other things, and I cannot exclude the fact this site and traffic to and from it are now being surveilled 24/7. Some unexplained and very strange things are happening.
I am fearful and frightened, and I will advise everybody to no longer communicate via internet and blogs in NZ, and resort to letters and physical means of tradition.
We are BEING WATCHED and SURVEILLED here, 24/7, and I have NO doubt about it, and I now realise what RedLogix mentioned last night!!!
This country is under threat, real threat, we are being surveilled and there is NO MORE real freedom here, you would have to be brainwashed and ignorant to not understand.
I am signing off, sorry, maybe for good.
X
Be safe friend
“srylands …
25 August 2013 at 10:52 pm
“NatACT”
What is NatACT?
xtasy …
26 August 2013 at 2:28 am
National ACT party dictatorship, and you are a benfactor, due to supporting it, we are the enemies, we get surveilled, and persecuted, so you fascist cunts run the show and deal to us, that is my message.. [deleted]”
_____
This seems OTT behaviour.
[lprent: It is. Usually a moderator would give a rather stern warning/banning over any suggestion or encouragement of violence towards groups or individuals (and X has already had a warning so it’d likely have been banning).
However I was asleep for most of the last couple of days after doing an over-nighter working on this site last week. I prefer to ban within hours of the offense to maximize the effect on others. So X gets a pass this time
But I’ll warn X again with an escalation. Thanks for highlighting it ]
[deleted]
[lprent: are you really looking for a ban? ]
I dunno. The guy’s a dick, but I reckon the wording’s getting a bit much for my taste.
Sorry Srylands, sorry Lprent 😳
Just responded to your earlier post at the top, it is over the top, apologies, but was not meant literally of course. I have seen similar stuff on sites like Whaleoil’s and even hints of it on Kiwiblog. As one affected by soft forms of fascism by this government, I have been through hell, so I have little sympathy for anyone supporting NatACT style government (National – ACT Party aligned policies).
[lprent: Doesn’t matter if it is on Whaleoil or the Kiwiblog. What matters to me is if it is written here. In this case I didn’t see it within a reasonable timeframe and obviously no other moderator did either.
However I’ve now marked you down for a double up ban next time. I seem to remember that you’re already been banned for this previously. If so, then you’d be looking at about 4 weeks ban. I’d suggest that you proceed very cautiously because I will be looking for it. ]