Zet, I take the point that National care less when one considers that Labour reduced unemployment by 100000 during 9 years of relative prosperity and good times. The big question is why in a country of 4 million a whopping quarter of a million (yes thats right 250000) were still out of work at the end of Labours run?
I would suggest that the continuation of new right economic orthodoxy under Labour has only been ramped up by National. When will a Labour Party commit to full employment policies in the way that Savages Labour Party did?
you’re conflating benefits with unemployment. Only 17K on the dole at the end under Labour. The rest were sickness, invalids, DPB
They got unemployment under 4% and joblessness under 150K. Not good enough in my books but ‘full employment’ according to the economists and a fuck load better than these days.
Thanks Zet, when I saw the graph I thought “jeez” thats not good. I take it back, the Nats are proportionally off the scale. Still want full employment as a plank policy though.
Zet, its even better with the table included. What it shows me is that we dont have “bludgers” as the Nats would insist but a lot of deserving recipients.
National dont see these as real people with real needs / circumstances, they only see them as a cost to avoid so that those who have most can have more. Its a sick philosophy for sick puppies based upon venality and avarice. Thats 100,000 extra years in Purgatory John…..
wow, check out the way unemployment benefit cost fell under Labour. All the costs have blown out with the Nats, $3.7 billion more in 3 years, only $1.5 billion from super.
I’d rather be spending that $2.2 billion on job creation than benefits. National has no vision.
It’s fucking laughable, all this focus on dole bludgers while the elephant in the room taking up nearly 50% of the spend keeps getting bigger and bigger.
And a recent poll reckons half of us think raising the age of eligibility to 67 is acceptable. But not the PM.
Long term welfare dependency for single people is tantamount to self imposed home detention since without spare money they have to stay in, unless mates and family help. There’s nothing essentially wrong in trying to help people into work, but it costs money. So National clamp down on bludgers would likely throwup more cost not less. The bludger myth came out of the surfer culture where some young very healthy man would be on a benefit while they went surfing every day. In those perverse tides of history, now we want beneficiaries to get and remain fit, and want them to enjoy surfing and turn it into a job. But the myth has been morphed into a tool, that is used to cut (rather than grow) our economy and its individuals potential. Lack of work should be rejoiced by society as a opportunity to grow, educate, re-skill, find what you love. But in the world of National Socialism as talked up by the media and both major parties, its all about workers fighting for the betterment of the economy even if in the same sentence the elites say they should do everything to avoid taxation. Will someone tell ACT that money is not just the only way government taxes the people! The writing is on the wall, energy will not cost less next year as it did last year, we do not have three decades of cheap middle east oil to come, the politics of tyranny for the greater good of the people’s republic where the elites can snob their noses up at avoiding paying their fair share are over. And so why are National so reckless in there pursuit of the bottom? Simple anyone who is hurting is getting a lesson in life, that in hard times you start looking after your neighbour than doing them injury, and National policies whether intentional or hopeless vacant of the reality coming. But alas I think National want citizens to move to Australia, because the big banks here like the status quo of profits flowing out to Aussie.
Our banks have an interest in keep NZ a back water economy, less churn means less uncertainty and greater profits for them.
So why is the NZ dollar so high? Could there be a wind of change in the NZ economy? What would happen if Labour-Greens won power and introduced a CGT. Well lots of debt would be less valuable as debt holding and more valuable paid down. And to stop a loss of wealth those who lent the debt would want to insure their investments and have to help the holders of the debt pay down their debt. Think US home owners and banks not foreclosing since then the property goes on the depressed market and the bank loses heavily across its mortgage portfolio when all the homes are downgraded in value.
So is National trying very hard to screw the economy now, just so they lose and middle NZ pulls its finger out, takes its debt medicine and puts in the adults to broaden the tax system?
Well if National fail, and are returned to office, kiwis will have chosen to delay inevitable and pay heavily in assets the world currently awash in cash wants to buy. Only the dullest of business people would want government to sell assets into this market.
The reforms in the 80’s and early nineties allowed Labour to prosper from 99 onwards. That was the point of the reforms. Policy takes years to manifest, and this is the best example. The opposite is now the case: The shoddy Labour government of 99-08 has led to terrible a terrible economy now. These things don’t happen overnight.
In your dream world, they created absolute hell at the time they were introduced but, by wonderful and mysterious coincidence, created growth and jobs for the exact period of the fifth Labour-led government. And then, equally mysteriously, stopped at exactly the point when Labour left government.
And Labour’s ‘terrible’ economic policy equals record growth, record low unemployment, record wage increases, record low government debt during the time Labour was in power but then manage to fuck up the economy after Labour left power.
How did the reforms know exactly when to work to apparently give the exact opposite impression to your hypothesis? Come on. Explain why the neoliberal reforms only worked from 1999 to 2008 and Labour’s ‘bad’ management had no bad effects until exactly after Labour led office.
And whether you look at the last 20 years or the last 70 years growth is significantly greater (by ~0.5%pa) on average under Labour governments. Presumably always a coincidence.
First time there’d been no net debt (in fact 6.7% of GDP in credit) since Vogel borrowed for a rail network in the 1870s? Also a coincidence, Labour clearly rubbish at managing the economy…
Wow, some reforms take 20+ years to come through (the RWNJ reforms) and others (The reforms done by a right of centre government that he sees as left) just days according Nick K.
He obviously failed to see the big problem caused by the 1980s/90s which is now called the GFC.
What the top graph cannot show is that the reduced number represented mainly people who spent only short periods relying on a benefit. The long term dependents which feature mainly amongst the DPB and IB remain. National’s reduction goal of 100,000 is too small. It can be achieved without touching inter-generational dependence.
“What the top graph cannot show is that the reduced number represent people who spent only short periods relying on a benefit”
that’s wrong. long term benefit numbers fell under Labour. There are now 40,000 more people who have been on a benefit for longer than a year than three years ago.
Will you grow up and admit that Labour has the better record on reducing benefit numbers?
Neither National nor Labour have anything but the most fleeting effect on the economy and employment numbers.
With a population and economy as small as ours we will always be more affected by externalities (apart from the impact of those rare occurrences like the Canterbury double earthquake)
“So, the clear and undeniable fact that benefit numbers go up under National and down under Labour is just a coincidence?”
Simple correlation does not = causation
“If National and Labourâs economic policies donât matter, then why do you support National?’
Perhaps you should check out my previous musings on political parties and politicians I’d hardly call myself a supporter of any of the retards in parliament.
Eddie, It is not a matter of growing up. The big drop under Labour, and I don’t mind admitting it, was in the unemployment benefit. That is where most short term receipt lies.
Under Labour the DPB dropped slightly but the sickness and invalid benefits grew. Those are the benefits where reform needs to be focussed.
Lindsay you’ve been repeating that myth like a mantra along with the rest of the fuckwitterati for a long time but the numbers simply don’t bear it out and it’s time you faced up to that.
For a while you just looked ignorant but it’s getting hard to see this behaviour as anything other than deliberate lying.
Why do you think I wouldn’t like it? I said it would be interesting, I didn’t say it would please me. I’ll look at it later when I have more time.
One neat graph does nothing to prove a government in waiting. I thought you might want to present a more complete picture to make a case. Do you mean you don’t like the result?
Try this one then seeing as they are supposed to influence our and the world economies so much – shows some similar (last 10 years) and some different trends for the US, .
Funny thing is they had righties while we had lefties.
The OECD area unemployment rate, at 8.2% in March 2011, was unchanged from February following three consecutive monthly decreases. The Euro area unemployment rate was also stable at 9.9%.
These countries must have even Toryer governments than ours:
Hungary (11.9%), Ireland (14.7%), Portugal (11.1%), and the Slovak Republic (13.9%). Spainâs 20.7%
Those totals are 000s, and there seems to be a distinct tweak in 2009 that Michael Mann would be proud of. Seems to correlate with Zetetic’s graph, but we know that correlation doesn’t mean anything.
PeteG. I can’t be bothered doing the whole graph for you, but each HLFS release from stats ranks NZ in the OECD countries for unemployment. In March, we were ranked 11th best. Three years ago, we were ranked 6th.
Yeah that would be interesting. Especially if you broke down the countries according to where they sit on the spectrum of being free market, mixed, or planned economies.
If the wingnut view of the world is right the number of bludgers has increased since the election of John Key by 100,000. Why would this have caused this massive outbreak of bludgerism?
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The level of bludgerism is going to be somewhat below the lowest number of unemployed during Labour’s nine years – a fair proportion of that base level will be churn, and there will also be a permanent level of unemployable.
There can be a fine line between trying to encourage people to go out and look a bit harder for jobs and being seen to be bene bashing.
Labour had money to help long termed unemployed into work. National doesn’t, and does not have the will to provide real opportunities. National purpose seems to be trying to shake the tree that even those who are ill make for the crossing to Australia. The great exodus continues. We will of course have a higher percentage in jails, and on benefits for health reasons since we export our brightest, healthiest and skilled. Even our migrants more here to move to Australia! And we all now that once a kiwi has a criminal record they aren’t let in. So when they do get caught in crime in Australia they will be sent back to NZ. Is like a bad farmer, pulling and eating the best crop and using the seeds from the worse of the crop to grow farm output.
National are fill with people who got where they are by being tough, single minded in a low energy, easy credit, when it mattered that you were a rock in the great wash of money and activity. But now with energy prices rising and credit hard to get (and keep) those in power are unless to our economy since their edicts no longer hold sway, their time has passed. Now we need people with business, not fiscal experience, we need people who think outside the ideological strapped box, we need people who worry about risk and real lost opportunities. The market has not got a lot of spare capacity, money, to suddenly fill the gaps. The tide is out, the rocks are now just rocks, not hidden channels of power and turbulence.
As someone pointed out, greed isn’t the problem, its people who define themselves by their greed, who make greed their virtue, their reason for living. We could sustain them when the cheese was overflowing and they seem to help make the mountains of excess cheese go down, but now they look like little mice starving and needing our charity to keep up their invincible supermen egos.
While I agree with Labours approach of removing barriers to work and creating incentives to work (over Nationals ‘make things harder as an incentive to change’) – I think that taking into consideration the boom-bust cycle of the economy would be more objective.
National ‘making things harder as incentive to change’
You mean:
Attacking peoples fundamental right to raise their own children and not have them raised by the state in child-care brainwashing centers (which the govt force parents to pay for by slaving away in a low wage economy)
Stigmatizing and demonizing beneficiaries by portraying them as lazy unmotivated druggies and alcoholics
Removing even the pretense of a ‘minimum wage’ through work for the dole type schemes.
In short trying their damnedest to make no job, no money = no rights.
The only genuine ‘incentives’ to work are fair pay, good working conditions and meaningful work, anything else is just a stick to beat people with.
There’s no such thing as a “boom-bust cycle of the economy”. That boom bust cycle belongs solely to the delusional capitalist paradigm. Get rid of that and the real economy, the environment and hard work, can supply us with everything we need to ensure that everyone has a good living standard.
so simple correlation does not equal causation?
then will someone explain the facts?
and.
we have record exports and overseas funds but the economy is tanking.
where the hell is the redqueen hiding?
Keep in mind that the further to the right you go, the greater the population is, so Labour’s reduction in people on benefits for that period, far outstrips the percentage ‘inflation’ you’d expect with a growing population
You forgot the arrow indicating when the global boom ended, and the worst recession since the ’30s hit. I wonder where that would be? And who was the Government at the time? And would it be fair to blame that Government, any more than to take credit for a global boom?
The record shows that Labour knows how to create government jobs that are an overhead.
I haven’t seen a record that shows Labour knows how to create productive jobs. The graph in the post only shows what happened across Labour’s terms, and before and after, not what caused the changes.
Not at all. Any Govt could “create” 100% employment immediately, if it wanted to. Just like any Govt could “create” surpluses by putting the tax rate up to 90%. The trick is making them real jobs and surpluses, and not destroying the economy.
You may not have noticed but NAct are doing their very best to destroy the economy by giving farmers a free pass to pollute and over-exploit it. They want to do the same for minerals as well.
The pattern goes back way, well before the 1990’s. While the business cycle has it’s own global rythyms, there is no denying that centre-left wing govts tend to get things moving.
Long ago it was Bob Jones who said he prefered Labour govts to Nat ones because the economy does better under Labour.
Yeah. Like Zetetic proposed a hypothetical solution.
S.T.Y.D.J.
Ah, no felix, many people with vested interests try and speak up their own party and speak down opposing parties. It can get a bit predictable, can’t it.
My “vested interests” are that I want a better society to live in. Selfish, I know.
My idea of “a better society” includes measures like more people in jobs and less on the dole. My bias must be palpable.
I’m truly sorry that I can’t just vote for everyone, Pete. I know they all deserve a crack. But I really think I should vote for the parties who serve these “vested interests” of mine or I’d be doing myself a disservice.
“The latest Labour Market Report tell us that the unemployment rate for 20-24 year olds is 12.5%. In reality the number of 20-24 year olds without a job is closer to triple that amount. 34.9% (110,100 out of 315,500) 20-24 year olds in New Zealand are currently not in paid work.”
In the 1980s the local Waikato MP said in public “That NZ needs at least 7% unemployment to be financialy sound . That’s the Tory philosophy .National despite its denials believes in unemployment.Why ? Because their rich mates can then reduce wages and hire low paid help.
It weakens their arch enemy the unions . They have a fear of working people demanding decent wage ,conditions and equality . The answer to these troubles for them unemployment!!.
PeteG can’t tell the difference between mentioning an event that epitomises a problem (and demonstrates its non-recent origins), versus using a low-incidence event to besmirch a larger group (e.g. saying too many undeserving people are on benefits because of the mythical “long term beneficiary”).
Yes because correlation implies causation, obviously this is air tight. Data on one labour government is obviously sufficient. Excellent analysis. Cannot think of any confounding factors at all.
It really is up to the proposer to prove the link rather than I to produce evidence for the null hypothesis.
But to entertain you first I’d like to say global financial crisis.
Second I’d like to say that the government in this country is functioning much the same as it was under labours last term. There have been changes but these are relatively minor in the scheme of things. You need to point out exactly what teh national government has done that a labour governmetn would have done differently and make a strong case that these differences could have such a dramatic effect.
Well, they wouldn’t have given tax cuts to the rich and then complained about government deficits. And then there’s the gutting of the public service, which is obviously good for the employment rate and the consumer demand of several thousand >=average wage earners. Let’s not forget building rail wagons overseas, when we have 2 very good local suppliers.
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Fuck, Key can’t even build a cycleway to get jobs going…
Eddie’s comment this morning is so fecking on the money I’m reposting it here:
I love these magical reforms.
In your dream world, they created absolute hell at the time they were introduced but, by wonderful and mysterious coincidence, created growth and jobs for the exact period of the fifth Labour-led government. And then, equally mysteriously, stopped at exactly the point when Labour left government.
And Labourâs âterribleâ economic policy equals record growth, record low unemployment, record wage increases, record low government debt during the time Labour was in power but then manage to fuck up the economy after Labour left power.
How did the reforms know exactly when to work to apparently give the exact opposite impression to your hypothesis? Come on. Explain why the neoliberal reforms only worked from 1999 to 2008 and Labourâs âbadâ management had no bad effects until exactly after Labour led office.
Yep it’s all a coincidence. Policy means nothing. Stated aims are irrelevant. Whatever happens happens and it doesn’t matter who’s in govt or what they do.
If you are old enough you might remember being sold the line that technological change would relieve us of the need to work so bloody hard and give us lots of leisure time and money to spend on it.
I can tell you now the technology to do this did arrive, but instead of more time at the beach / pub / golf it was harder work for the few of us not made redundant.
It was the same lousy fuckers who took the gains from the Roger revolution who had already taken those gains, and who today insist they should not be taxed. Who the hell else can we tax, they are the only ones left with money?????????
And it all went on under National Labour National Labour National….
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In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that âNew Zealandâs economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerfulâ. They also believe that âNew Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerfulâ. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
âYou talking about me?âThe neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hallâs âGlide Timeâ caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
Our two-tiered system for veteransâ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veteransâ affairs spokesperson Greg OâConnor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxonâs management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last yearâs severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labourâs environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our countryâs most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Governmentâs Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a âget out of jail freeâ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealandâs good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National governmentâs lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for TÄmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Governmentâs democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Governmentâs proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change thatâs great for the planet and great for consumers after her memberâs bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the countryâs books after Teanau Tuionoâs membersâ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his memberâs bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Todayâs advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Governmentâs newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealandâs urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Distinguished guests - Â It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Â Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Â Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. âOur Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealandâs hydrogen future, with the opening of the countryâs first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. âI want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealandâs own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealandâs energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. âThe report shows that New Zealandâs emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,â Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where heâll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Governmentâs work to restore law and order. âAttending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealandâs human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the worldâs largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. âThe reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealandâs wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin  NgÄ mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho  Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today.  I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. âOur Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealandâs overseas missions.  âOur diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealandâs interests around the world,â Mr Peters says.  âI am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. Â âOver 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. âIt is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. âOur coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
âChina remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,â Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.  Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. âRecently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachersâ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul.  âThe Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. âScience, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During todayâs meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. âThe Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in TaupĹ as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the TaupĹ International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. âAnticipation for the ITM TaupĹ Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. âThe coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. âThis project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sectorâs productivity,â Mr Jones says. âThe project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Governmentâs plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. âBenefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Governmentâs commitment to doubling New Zealandâs renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealandâs latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. âOur Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. âNew Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Governmentâs intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. âThe introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Todayâs announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Governmentâs plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. âInflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sectorâs role in the export-led recovery of the economy. âI am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Governmentâs support for the revitalisation the sector.  "New Zealandâs wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Muskâs vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandelaâs grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesnât normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australiaâs inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and itâs now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
PĹneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealandâs complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the RĂĄkĂłczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).SĂĄndor HegedĹąs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesnât really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didnât really want to, because of a war they didnât ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the publicâs democratic right to have âa fair sayâ and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard â in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
Iâm on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Heraâs help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener youâre likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
âNever again - No AUKUSâ was the message of the wreath laid at this morningâs national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now sheâs very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice â both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high schoolâs head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble. Â Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhireâs 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.  My World War I Poem  Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging.  Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihanâs gorgeous and sad debut KĹhine, Noelle McCarthyâs memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend NgÄhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australiaâs University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourneâs Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australiaâs inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and itâs now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this weekâs Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealandâs coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Leeâs spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammageâs Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australiaâs forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmersâs third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief â beyond the tax cuts â although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Leeâs recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmannâs defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Leeâs âforensicâ and ânuancedâ application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Itâs one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayersâ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of âsix decades of treacheryâ over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazineâs 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish Iâd writtenIf I wish Iâd written a ...
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Zet, I take the point that National care less when one considers that Labour reduced unemployment by 100000 during 9 years of relative prosperity and good times. The big question is why in a country of 4 million a whopping quarter of a million (yes thats right 250000) were still out of work at the end of Labours run?
I would suggest that the continuation of new right economic orthodoxy under Labour has only been ramped up by National. When will a Labour Party commit to full employment policies in the way that Savages Labour Party did?
you’re conflating benefits with unemployment. Only 17K on the dole at the end under Labour. The rest were sickness, invalids, DPB
They got unemployment under 4% and joblessness under 150K. Not good enough in my books but ‘full employment’ according to the economists and a fuck load better than these days.
Thanks Zet, when I saw the graph I thought “jeez” thats not good. I take it back, the Nats are proportionally off the scale. Still want full employment as a plank policy though.
nah, fair enough. added a line to make it clear.
Zet, its even better with the table included. What it shows me is that we dont have “bludgers” as the Nats would insist but a lot of deserving recipients.
National dont see these as real people with real needs / circumstances, they only see them as a cost to avoid so that those who have most can have more. Its a sick philosophy for sick puppies based upon venality and avarice. Thats 100,000 extra years in Purgatory John…..
Is that a Plank policy, or something core? đ
(Agreed it should be core. Less keen on Key Plank stunt)
Thanks for the information. It would be good to know how much more National are paying out than what Labour did in its last three years..
good idea. added table from budget.
fuck, I must be in a good mood this morning.
wow, check out the way unemployment benefit cost fell under Labour. All the costs have blown out with the Nats, $3.7 billion more in 3 years, only $1.5 billion from super.
I’d rather be spending that $2.2 billion on job creation than benefits. National has no vision.
It’s fucking laughable, all this focus on dole bludgers while the elephant in the room taking up nearly 50% of the spend keeps getting bigger and bigger.
And a recent poll reckons half of us think raising the age of eligibility to 67 is acceptable. But not the PM.
Long term welfare dependency for single people is tantamount to self imposed home detention since without spare money they have to stay in, unless mates and family help. There’s nothing essentially wrong in trying to help people into work, but it costs money. So National clamp down on bludgers would likely throwup more cost not less. The bludger myth came out of the surfer culture where some young very healthy man would be on a benefit while they went surfing every day. In those perverse tides of history, now we want beneficiaries to get and remain fit, and want them to enjoy surfing and turn it into a job. But the myth has been morphed into a tool, that is used to cut (rather than grow) our economy and its individuals potential. Lack of work should be rejoiced by society as a opportunity to grow, educate, re-skill, find what you love. But in the world of National Socialism as talked up by the media and both major parties, its all about workers fighting for the betterment of the economy even if in the same sentence the elites say they should do everything to avoid taxation. Will someone tell ACT that money is not just the only way government taxes the people! The writing is on the wall, energy will not cost less next year as it did last year, we do not have three decades of cheap middle east oil to come, the politics of tyranny for the greater good of the people’s republic where the elites can snob their noses up at avoiding paying their fair share are over. And so why are National so reckless in there pursuit of the bottom? Simple anyone who is hurting is getting a lesson in life, that in hard times you start looking after your neighbour than doing them injury, and National policies whether intentional or hopeless vacant of the reality coming. But alas I think National want citizens to move to Australia, because the big banks here like the status quo of profits flowing out to Aussie.
Our banks have an interest in keep NZ a back water economy, less churn means less uncertainty and greater profits for them.
So why is the NZ dollar so high? Could there be a wind of change in the NZ economy? What would happen if Labour-Greens won power and introduced a CGT. Well lots of debt would be less valuable as debt holding and more valuable paid down. And to stop a loss of wealth those who lent the debt would want to insure their investments and have to help the holders of the debt pay down their debt. Think US home owners and banks not foreclosing since then the property goes on the depressed market and the bank loses heavily across its mortgage portfolio when all the homes are downgraded in value.
So is National trying very hard to screw the economy now, just so they lose and middle NZ pulls its finger out, takes its debt medicine and puts in the adults to broaden the tax system?
Well if National fail, and are returned to office, kiwis will have chosen to delay inevitable and pay heavily in assets the world currently awash in cash wants to buy. Only the dullest of business people would want government to sell assets into this market.
end rant
The reforms in the 80’s and early nineties allowed Labour to prosper from 99 onwards. That was the point of the reforms. Policy takes years to manifest, and this is the best example. The opposite is now the case: The shoddy Labour government of 99-08 has led to terrible a terrible economy now. These things don’t happen overnight.
I love these magical reforms.
In your dream world, they created absolute hell at the time they were introduced but, by wonderful and mysterious coincidence, created growth and jobs for the exact period of the fifth Labour-led government. And then, equally mysteriously, stopped at exactly the point when Labour left government.
And Labour’s ‘terrible’ economic policy equals record growth, record low unemployment, record wage increases, record low government debt during the time Labour was in power but then manage to fuck up the economy after Labour left power.
How did the reforms know exactly when to work to apparently give the exact opposite impression to your hypothesis? Come on. Explain why the neoliberal reforms only worked from 1999 to 2008 and Labour’s ‘bad’ management had no bad effects until exactly after Labour led office.
NickK obviously took the bluepill.
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Dig faster, and if we don’t see sunlight again its our own fault for not digging fast enough.
And whether you look at the last 20 years or the last 70 years growth is significantly greater (by ~0.5%pa) on average under Labour governments. Presumably always a coincidence.
First time there’d been no net debt (in fact 6.7% of GDP in credit) since Vogel borrowed for a rail network in the 1870s? Also a coincidence, Labour clearly rubbish at managing the economy…
Wow, some reforms take 20+ years to come through (the RWNJ reforms) and others (The reforms done by a right of centre government that he sees as left) just days according Nick K.
He obviously failed to see the big problem caused by the 1980s/90s which is now called the GFC.
What the top graph cannot show is that the reduced number represented mainly people who spent only short periods relying on a benefit. The long term dependents which feature mainly amongst the DPB and IB remain. National’s reduction goal of 100,000 is too small. It can be achieved without touching inter-generational dependence.
I also support raising the Super age.
“What the top graph cannot show is that the reduced number represent people who spent only short periods relying on a benefit”
that’s wrong. long term benefit numbers fell under Labour. There are now 40,000 more people who have been on a benefit for longer than a year than three years ago.
Will you grow up and admit that Labour has the better record on reducing benefit numbers?
Neither National nor Labour have anything but the most fleeting effect on the economy and employment numbers.
With a population and economy as small as ours we will always be more affected by externalities (apart from the impact of those rare occurrences like the Canterbury double earthquake)
So, the clear and undeniable fact that benefit numbers go up under National and down under Labour is just a coincidence?
If National and Labour’s economic policies don’t matter, then why do you support National?
“So, the clear and undeniable fact that benefit numbers go up under National and down under Labour is just a coincidence?”
Simple correlation does not = causation
“If National and Labourâs economic policies donât matter, then why do you support National?’
Perhaps you should check out my previous musings on political parties and politicians I’d hardly call myself a supporter of any of the retards in parliament.
I really hate idiots who quote cliches as indisputable facts.
Correlation is a prima facie case for causation. You show another explanation for the correlation.
Strange that, I really hate idiots who don’t know what a logical fallacy is.
Eddie, It is not a matter of growing up. The big drop under Labour, and I don’t mind admitting it, was in the unemployment benefit. That is where most short term receipt lies.
Under Labour the DPB dropped slightly but the sickness and invalid benefits grew. Those are the benefits where reform needs to be focussed.
I
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/ten-myths-about-welfare/
Lindsay you’ve been repeating that myth like a mantra along with the rest of the fuckwitterati for a long time but the numbers simply don’t bear it out and it’s time you faced up to that.
For a while you just looked ignorant but it’s getting hard to see this behaviour as anything other than deliberate lying.
Wow, spending on unemployment benefits has doubled since National took office. And meanwhile the spend on sickness and invalids continues to rise.
So much for the moronic right-wing myth that Labour only got unemployment so low by putting unemployed people on the sickness and invalids benefits.
Truth is they got unemployment so low by running an economy that created jobs.
It helped just a tad that they had the international economy going for them too. Didn’t it?
It would be interesting to compare that graph against the unemployment rates in other developed countries. Not just Australia.
make the graph, then. Stats NZ has the data on OECD unemployment rates.
I don’t think you’ll like the result.
Why do you think I wouldn’t like it? I said it would be interesting, I didn’t say it would please me. I’ll look at it later when I have more time.
One neat graph does nothing to prove a government in waiting. I thought you might want to present a more complete picture to make a case. Do you mean you don’t like the result?
Please do, Pete. Seriously.
You obviously have the required time on your hands. Chop chop.
Try this one then seeing as they are supposed to influence our and the world economies so much – shows some similar (last 10 years) and some different trends for the US, .
Funny thing is they had righties while we had lefties.
You were going to compare us to the rest of the OECD weren’t you?
Or are you stopping now?
Not so pretty but more meaningful:
These countries must have even Toryer governments than ours:
The current NZ rate is 6.6%
OECD total unemployment:
OECD – Total
2000 – 32,370.5
2001 – 33,201.2
2002 – 36,549.4
2003 – 37,566.0
2004 – 37,288.4
2005 – 36,484.1
2006 – 34,025.8
2007 – 31,848.7
2008 – 33,866.6
2009 – 46,714.6
Those totals are 000s, and there seems to be a distinct tweak in 2009 that Michael Mann would be proud of. Seems to correlate with Zetetic’s graph, but we know that correlation doesn’t mean anything.
Yes, correct, they are and they’re presently initiating strong austerity measures as recommended by the RWNJs around the world.
Have you given up on comparing NZ to the other countries in the OECD then Pete?
I’m still very interested to see the results as I’m sure you must be.
PeteG. I can’t be bothered doing the whole graph for you, but each HLFS release from stats ranks NZ in the OECD countries for unemployment. In March, we were ranked 11th best. Three years ago, we were ranked 6th.
Yeah that would be interesting. Especially if you broke down the countries according to where they sit on the spectrum of being free market, mixed, or planned economies.
I’m really looking forward to this graph you’re going to post PeteG, with all of felix’s ideas please, it’s going to be great…
Do you think you’ll have the graph done today Pete? Or will you be posting it as part of your early morning slew tomorrow?
Let us know, won’t you? Don’t want to miss it.
If the wingnut view of the world is right the number of bludgers has increased since the election of John Key by 100,000. Why would this have caused this massive outbreak of bludgerism?
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I don’t know which wingnuts you’re talking about.
The level of bludgerism is going to be somewhat below the lowest number of unemployed during Labour’s nine years – a fair proportion of that base level will be churn, and there will also be a permanent level of unemployable.
There can be a fine line between trying to encourage people to go out and look a bit harder for jobs and being seen to be bene bashing.
It’s a fine line if the jobs are there.
It’s a dark, thick, heavy line if they aren’t.
Agreed PeteG.
So you agree also that bene bashing is counterproductive and not called for and based on a mistaken view of reality?
Labour had money to help long termed unemployed into work. National doesn’t, and does not have the will to provide real opportunities. National purpose seems to be trying to shake the tree that even those who are ill make for the crossing to Australia. The great exodus continues. We will of course have a higher percentage in jails, and on benefits for health reasons since we export our brightest, healthiest and skilled. Even our migrants more here to move to Australia! And we all now that once a kiwi has a criminal record they aren’t let in. So when they do get caught in crime in Australia they will be sent back to NZ. Is like a bad farmer, pulling and eating the best crop and using the seeds from the worse of the crop to grow farm output.
National are fill with people who got where they are by being tough, single minded in a low energy, easy credit, when it mattered that you were a rock in the great wash of money and activity. But now with energy prices rising and credit hard to get (and keep) those in power are unless to our economy since their edicts no longer hold sway, their time has passed. Now we need people with business, not fiscal experience, we need people who think outside the ideological strapped box, we need people who worry about risk and real lost opportunities. The market has not got a lot of spare capacity, money, to suddenly fill the gaps. The tide is out, the rocks are now just rocks, not hidden channels of power and turbulence.
As someone pointed out, greed isn’t the problem, its people who define themselves by their greed, who make greed their virtue, their reason for living. We could sustain them when the cheese was overflowing and they seem to help make the mountains of excess cheese go down, but now they look like little mice starving and needing our charity to keep up their invincible supermen egos.
I say fire National, we can’t afford them.
While I agree with Labours approach of removing barriers to work and creating incentives to work (over Nationals ‘make things harder as an incentive to change’) – I think that taking into consideration the boom-bust cycle of the economy would be more objective.
National ‘making things harder as incentive to change’
You mean:
Attacking peoples fundamental right to raise their own children and not have them raised by the state in child-care brainwashing centers (which the govt force parents to pay for by slaving away in a low wage economy)
Stigmatizing and demonizing beneficiaries by portraying them as lazy unmotivated druggies and alcoholics
Removing even the pretense of a ‘minimum wage’ through work for the dole type schemes.
In short trying their damnedest to make no job, no money = no rights.
The only genuine ‘incentives’ to work are fair pay, good working conditions and meaningful work, anything else is just a stick to beat people with.
There’s no such thing as a “boom-bust cycle of the economy”. That boom bust cycle belongs solely to the delusional capitalist paradigm. Get rid of that and the real economy, the environment and hard work, can supply us with everything we need to ensure that everyone has a good living standard.
Lookng at this graph you’d think there was some sort of global financial crisis or something in 2008.
Lookng at this graph you’d think there was some sort of global financial crisis or something in 2008.
Indeed you would. Anything else you notice?
so simple correlation does not equal causation?
then will someone explain the facts?
and.
we have record exports and overseas funds but the economy is tanking.
where the hell is the redqueen hiding?
All these years randal… and I have to say you’ve grown on me. đ
Keep in mind that the further to the right you go, the greater the population is, so Labour’s reduction in people on benefits for that period, far outstrips the percentage ‘inflation’ you’d expect with a growing population
You forgot the arrow indicating when the global boom ended, and the worst recession since the ’30s hit. I wonder where that would be? And who was the Government at the time? And would it be fair to blame that Government, any more than to take credit for a global boom?
How? And why not 200K?
Yes we’re aware that YOU don’t know how to create jobs.
The record shows, however, that Labour does.
The record shows that Labour knows how to create government jobs that are an overhead.
I haven’t seen a record that shows Labour knows how to create productive jobs. The graph in the post only shows what happened across Labour’s terms, and before and after, not what caused the changes.
You’re right, it could be a coincidence that we always have high unemployment under right-wing govts and low unemployment under left wing govts.
And Labour’s stated goal of full employment, and National’s stated belief that this goal is unrealistic?
Probably coincidence too.
Not at all. Any Govt could “create” 100% employment immediately, if it wanted to. Just like any Govt could “create” surpluses by putting the tax rate up to 90%. The trick is making them real jobs and surpluses, and not destroying the economy.
You may not have noticed but NAct are doing their very best to destroy the economy by giving farmers a free pass to pollute and over-exploit it. They want to do the same for minerals as well.
Why not 170K, like the Nats “predicted” in this budget. Oh, in the last budget too. Which somehow didn’t happen.
Nah.. QstFarmer,
The pattern goes back way, well before the 1990’s. While the business cycle has it’s own global rythyms, there is no denying that centre-left wing govts tend to get things moving.
Long ago it was Bob Jones who said he prefered Labour govts to Nat ones because the economy does better under Labour.
Do you think the economy would always do better if Labour were always in government? Serious question, not just a ra ra Labour opportunity.
Or are government changes a part of the cycles?
“Do you think the economy would always do better if Labour were always in government?”
Based on the evidence, yes.
Where’s the evidence that under Labour we would have reduced 100k off the benefit if they won the last election?
Where’s the evidence that Labour have the policies to get 100k off the benefit if they win the next election?
You’re outdoing yourself today PeteG, asking for evidence to hypothetical questions. P.I.T.W.
Yeah. Like Zetetic proposed a hypothetical solution.
S.T.Y.D.J.
Ah, no felix, many people with vested interests try and speak up their own party and speak down opposing parties. It can get a bit predictable, can’t it.
Can you explain that? Sounds like sarcasm but it’s hard to tell.
If it is, can you explain what you mean by it? Do you think Zet should be proposing hypothetical solutions?
Bit of clarity would be helpful.
I don’t have a party to promote, Pete.
My “vested interests” are that I want a better society to live in. Selfish, I know.
My idea of “a better society” includes measures like more people in jobs and less on the dole. My bias must be palpable.
I’m truly sorry that I can’t just vote for everyone, Pete. I know they all deserve a crack. But I really think I should vote for the parties who serve these “vested interests” of mine or I’d be doing myself a disservice.
I’m a prick like that.
That’s obviously impossible to prove as it’s a hypothetical scenario.
However the record of each party speaks for itself.
“The latest Labour Market Report tell us that the unemployment rate for 20-24 year olds is 12.5%. In reality the number of 20-24 year olds without a job is closer to triple that amount. 34.9% (110,100 out of 315,500) 20-24 year olds in New Zealand are currently not in paid work.”
http://theglobalcircus.blogspot.com/2011/05/elephant-in-room-youth-unemployment.html
In the 1980s the local Waikato MP said in public “That NZ needs at least 7% unemployment to be financialy sound . That’s the Tory philosophy .National despite its denials believes in unemployment.Why ? Because their rich mates can then reduce wages and hire low paid help.
It weakens their arch enemy the unions . They have a fear of working people demanding decent wage ,conditions and equality . The answer to these troubles for them unemployment!!.
Interesting to hear that the whole future of Toryism is doomed by one statement by a local Waikato MP in the 1980s.
Bloody employers. If we didn’t have any of them everyone would have a decent job.
It’s true, they would. And no company tax at all. You may have stumbled onto utopia.
It was a statement echoed by the current finance minister who thinks our present low wage economy (caused by high unemployment) is a “competitive advantage” in the 1990s.
PeteG can’t tell the difference between mentioning an event that epitomises a problem (and demonstrates its non-recent origins), versus using a low-incidence event to besmirch a larger group (e.g. saying too many undeserving people are on benefits because of the mythical “long term beneficiary”).
PeteG couldn’t tell you the difference between a butch lesbian and a supermodel …
Yes because correlation implies causation, obviously this is air tight. Data on one labour government is obviously sufficient. Excellent analysis. Cannot think of any confounding factors at all.
So show us the rest of the data that disproves it JaJ. Pete’s been trying his best but he’s struggling.
It really is up to the proposer to prove the link rather than I to produce evidence for the null hypothesis.
But to entertain you first I’d like to say global financial crisis.
Second I’d like to say that the government in this country is functioning much the same as it was under labours last term. There have been changes but these are relatively minor in the scheme of things. You need to point out exactly what teh national government has done that a labour governmetn would have done differently and make a strong case that these differences could have such a dramatic effect.
They would have convinced everyone to spend up large to keep the economy moving rather than tighten their belts in tough economic times. Or something.
Well, they wouldn’t have given tax cuts to the rich and then complained about government deficits. And then there’s the gutting of the public service, which is obviously good for the employment rate and the consumer demand of several thousand >=average wage earners. Let’s not forget building rail wagons overseas, when we have 2 very good local suppliers.
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Fuck, Key can’t even build a cycleway to get jobs going…
Quite right JaJ, the govt couldn’t have possibly done anything differently that would’ve seen more people in jobs today.
Oh, apart from sacking all those people and destroying the economy of course.
Just a coincidence though I suppose, like everything else.
Eddie’s comment this morning is so fecking on the money I’m reposting it here:
Yep it’s all a coincidence. Policy means nothing. Stated aims are irrelevant. Whatever happens happens and it doesn’t matter who’s in govt or what they do.
Eejits.
If you are old enough you might remember being sold the line that technological change would relieve us of the need to work so bloody hard and give us lots of leisure time and money to spend on it.
I can tell you now the technology to do this did arrive, but instead of more time at the beach / pub / golf it was harder work for the few of us not made redundant.
It was the same lousy fuckers who took the gains from the Roger revolution who had already taken those gains, and who today insist they should not be taxed. Who the hell else can we tax, they are the only ones left with money?????????
And it all went on under National Labour National Labour National….