Posts Tagged ‘labour’
On child poverty
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, April 29th, 2008 - 26 comments
The Child Poverty Action Group has released a report [PDF, 400k] showing there were 185,000 children living in poverty in New Zealand in 2004. That’s a big number but it is out of date and already well down from the dark days of the 1990s. It is estimated that higher employment, higher wages, paid paternal […]
Helen Clark answers your questions
Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, April 25th, 2008 - 62 comments
We’re very pleased to have Prime Minister Helen Clark respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? I am proud to lead a government which has worked so hard to restore fairness, opportunity, security, and hope to many New […]
Clearly confused but no conspiracy
Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, April 22nd, 2008 - 47 comments
If there’s one thing the confused saga of Mike Williams and the Labour Party’s secret plot to use KiwiSaver and Working for Families pamphlets as campaign material has shown is that there never was a secret Labour Party plot to use KiwiSaver and Working for Families pamphlets as campaign material. Laila Harre put her finger […]
National makes work rights the defining issue
Written By: - Date published: 1:41 pm, April 21st, 2008 - 32 comments
National’s strategy, the strategy of a weak party, is to present a ‘small target’ by promising to change virtually nothing if they were in government. Problem is, their small target has a great big bull’s-eye on it called work rights. With flip-flops on health, education, welfare, annual leave, parental leave, assets, Working for Families, Kiwisaver, […]
Cost of benefit system plummeting
Written By: - Date published: 1:40 pm, April 17th, 2008 - 26 comments
Continuing our benefits theme, here’s a look at how much the benefit system costs you. The figures are the combined expenditure by the Government on the Unemployment, Sickness, Invalids’, and Domestic Purposes benefits per day per working age New Zealander, in 2007 dollars. Sources: MSD (1,2,3), StatsNZ (4,5) The portion of the working age population […]
Peters doesn’t trust National
Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, April 16th, 2008 - 10 comments
Yesterday, Winston Peters said that in any deal with National he would require all National MPs to personally sign the agreement and that he wouldn’t require the same conditions of Labour. That is an unprecedented demand and one that no leader could agree to without losing face. The deeper message here from Peters is ‘look […]
On the scrapheap
Written By: - Date published: 3:54 pm, April 15th, 2008 - 31 comments
This graph shows the number of people employed in New Zealand, and employment would have been had the number of people with a job as a portion of the working-age population had remained steady at 76% as it was before 1987. Look what happened during the rightwing economic revolution from 1987 to 1999 (when National […]
A decent job with fair pay
Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, April 15th, 2008 - 30 comments
That’s what the labour movement is all about: ensuring that people who want to work can find jobs and that they receive fair reward for their labour in decent conditions, so they can afford a good standard of living for themselves and their families. A job gives people a sense of purpose, a feeling that […]
Interview the leaders IV: ACT
Written By: - Date published: 3:06 pm, April 14th, 2008 - 34 comments
A big thanks to Greens’ co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimmons for participating in our ‘Interview the leaders’ series. Her answers provided an insight into how the Greens view themselves as influencing political culture as much as promoting specific policies. Our next leader is Prime Minister Helen Clark of Labour. The general question remains: Of which of your achievements in politics are you […]
Fraser Colman has died
Written By: - Date published: 1:58 pm, April 14th, 2008 - Comments Off on Fraser Colman has died
The Dom reports that “Fraser Colman – best known for being the cabinet minister on board the frigate that sailed to Mururoa Atoll in 1973 to protest against French nuclear tests – has died aged 83.” A year after winning the election in 1972, the Kirk government decided that a cabinet minister should be on […]
Student debt, it’s the interest that matters
Written By: - Date published: 4:36 pm, April 10th, 2008 - 48 comments
Today, outstanding student loan debt reaches $10 billion. That’s a fair old swag of money but what has been ignored in the coverage so far is that this debt is interest-free. Now, an economist will tell you that the price of money is the interest rate, so student loans are free money. It’s not quite […]
NZ Growing Faster Than Aussie, US, Japan, and UK
Written By: - Date published: 11:16 am, April 10th, 2008 - 42 comments
The Reserve Bank produces a series of helpful tables of economic data. One table compares our growth to that of Australia, the US, Japan, and the UK. Here’s a graph comparing growth across the countries between National and Labour’s periods in government. National has a pathetic track record on growth. Under them, our economy grew 1% […]
Interview the leaders III: Labour
Written By: - Date published: 5:14 pm, April 7th, 2008 - 64 comments
A big thanks to Progressives’ leader Jim Anderton for being the first participant in our ‘Interview the leaders’ series. The quality of his answers has set a standard for the others to emulate. Our next leader is Jeanette Fitzsimmons of the Green Party. The general question remains: Of which of your achievements in politics are […]
A dereliction of duty
Written By: - Date published: 3:20 pm, April 7th, 2008 - 39 comments
John Key’s failure to ask a parliamentary question last week exposes a crisis of confidence in National’s ranks. It is unprecedented for an Opposition leader to be in attendance in the House for a full sitting week, and to not once challenge the Government. This never happened when Helen Clark led Labour in Opposition from […]
If I were Labour’s campaign strategist
Written By: - Date published: 2:49 pm, April 4th, 2008 - 18 comments
Part three of the ‘If I were [Party X]’s campaign strategist’ series brings us to Labour. The strategy for a major party is very different from that of a smaller party. Rather than trying to grab attention public attention and target niche concerns, a major party needs a broad-based platform that will appeal to most […]
April 1 changes boost wages and cut taxes
Written By: - Date published: 10:02 am, April 1st, 2008 - 15 comments
Today is a big day for government policy affecting Kiwis’ incomes: The minimum wage is now $12 an hour, up from $7 when Labour gained power. Youth rates have been effectively abolished, meaning young people will get the same pay for the same work. From today, employers must contribute to employees’ Kiwisaver accounts equivalent to 1% […]
Blackball centenary
Written By: - Date published: 4:32 pm, March 25th, 2008 - 10 comments
The weekend marked the centenary of the Blackball miners’ strike. TV3 reported that: “Politicians flocked to Labour’s spiritual home on the West Coast to celebrate the centenary of a miners’ strike which helped build the country’s Labour movement into a political force.”
Policy Summary: Labour v National
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, March 25th, 2008 - 24 comments
The Sunday-Star Times has an interesting list of the policies the election will be fought on and where the two major parties stand on them. Here’s the article in summary, see if you can spot the pattern: KiwiSaver Labour: Set up KiwiSaver, added government and employer contributions. Half a million Kiwis have now joined. National: No final policy yet. […]
$700m for R&D
Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, March 11th, 2008 - 11 comments
The Dom reports that “Prime Minister Helen Clark unveiled the $700 million funding boost for research, development and innovation projects today and said the fund would grow to around $1 billion as it earned interest over the next 10 to 15 years. Industries would be expected to match the government’s commitment, causing the fund to […]
Stepping in
Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, March 11th, 2008 - 8 comments
No Right Turn makes a good point about the government’s $700 million innovation fund for the agricultural and food sector: I’m a little surprised that its the government doing this. We have a number of large companies involved in these sectors, and under competent managers, they’d already be making these investments themselves. Unfortunately, corporate management […]
Protecting New Zealand’s assets
Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, March 4th, 2008 - 90 comments
The government has made a series of moves to prevent strategic New Zealand assets being exploited by foreign companies. Last week tax law was changed to prevent the Canadian Pension Fund avoiding tax in its bid for Auckland Airport. Yesterday, the government changed the Overseas Investment Act to give Ministers veto power when strategic land […]
Rod Oram: Insight into 2008
Written By: - Date published: 11:31 am, February 26th, 2008 - 6 comments
For those who are looking to the Beehive to bring some single minded focus to the current situation Labour finds themselves in, this article from Rod Oram at the begining of the month reads like a good starting point (SSTimes, 3 Feb 2008). He raises what the challenges for Labour are: If it wants to […]
Margaret Wilson to stand down
Written By: - Date published: 1:14 pm, February 22nd, 2008 - 8 comments
Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson has announced she will not be seeking a position on Labour’s list next election. This won’t come as a huge surprise, and after what she’s had to put up with in the house over the last couple of years I’m sure she’ll be pleased to be moving on.
Labour with its claws out
Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, February 19th, 2008 - 31 comments
The Press has a good article on the political blogs. The Standard and our mates Kiwiblogblog are referred to as “Labour with its claws out”. As has been explained before, we are not Labour: we are a loose group of Leftwing writers, some of whom are associated with the labour movement, but the image is […]
Tim Barnett to leave parliamentary politics
Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, February 19th, 2008 - 10 comments
The Press reports that “Christchurch Central MP Tim Barnett has announced he will not stand as a candidate for any seat in the general election.” At the end of October, Labour MP Barnett announced he would not stand for the Christchurch Central seat again. Now he has withdrawn entirely, saying he will not put himself […]
Clark targets housing affordability
Written By: - Date published: 3:57 pm, February 12th, 2008 - 24 comments
In her speech today, the Prime Minister announced a slate of government plans on housing affordability. New land will be freed up for housing but it will not a National-style free-for-all where land would be gobbled up by wealthy individuals and private developers for over-priced, up-scale housing that will exclude most people. Rather, areas will […]
Solution to wage-gap in hands of business
Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, February 8th, 2008 - 61 comments
Larger (but still small) numbers of kiwis are leaving for Australia and higher incomes are part of the attraction. At the same time unemployment here is at a record low, which is good but employers are complaining about a lack of workers. To keep skilled workers in New Zealand higher wages are needed. The government […]
Cullen puts tax cuts in context
Written By: - Date published: 2:38 pm, February 7th, 2008 - 53 comments
In a speech today to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce Cullen has further differentiated the role of tax cuts under National and Labour. What was interesting about Cullen’s speech is that it wasn’t really a speech about tax cuts. It was a speech about (much broader) economic sustainability. Essentially it pitted National’s vaporware ‘tax cuts’ […]
Clare Curran takes Dunedin South
Written By: - Date published: 4:01 pm, February 2nd, 2008 - 39 comments
News just in reports that Clare Curran has won the Labour nomination in Dunedin South over former cabinet minister David Benson-Pope, Don Pryde, president of the Engineers Union and Keith McFadyen of the PSA. More as it comes to hand.
Substance, not style
Written By: - Date published: 1:37 pm, January 31st, 2008 - 46 comments
I don’t know if this is breaking some cyber protocol (oh, but I don’t much care if I am) but I want to put Jordan Carter‘s post on Helen Clark’s speech up here on The Standard. The reason is that while I agree with a lot of what IrishBill said – mainly that her speech […]
Dull
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, January 30th, 2008 - 78 comments
I haven’t had time to do a thorough analysis of Clark’s speech but from a quick once-over I can say with certainty that it is underwhelming. Let’s face it, this was her chance to take the front foot and show the government had a policy agenda fit for a new term. Instead her speech is […]
- Lake Alice redress payments won’t have sway on what other survivors receive
Lead minister of the government's response to abuse in care Erica Stanford said Cabinet looked at this case very separately. ...4 days ago - Help Me Hera: I hate spending Christmas with my in-laws
I grew up in a family where Christmas was all about tradition and hospitality. My husband’s family takes a different approach. How do I get over my resentment and have a nice day? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nz Dear Hera The Christmas I had growing up was always quite lovely, ...4 days ago - AI will continue to grow in 2025. But it will face major challenges along the way
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daswin de Silva, Professor of AI and Analytics, Deputy Director of the Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition, La Trobe University cybermagician/Shutterstock In 2024, artificial intelligence (AI) continued taking large and surprising steps forward. People started conversing with AI “resurrections” ...4 days ago - Fifty years ago, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin. The lessons from it have still not been learnt
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Farram, Associate Professor in North Australian and Regional Studies (History), Charles Darwin University It is hard to comprehend the force with which Cyclone Tracy struck Darwin early on Christmas Day, 1974. It was so ferocious that it killed 66 people, partly ...4 days ago
- Australia has an ongoing GP shortage. Why can’t we just train more GPs?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Harrison, Senior Lecturer, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney NotarYES/Shutterstock If you have Australia is critically short of GPs – and the shortfall is growing, predicted to be 8,600 GPs by 2048. So why can’t we just train ...4 days ago
- Could NZ’s two kākā subspecies actually be remnants of a more diverse species? Here’s why we n...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Knapp, Associate Professor in Biological Anthropology, University of Otago Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images As many Wellingtonians will know, kākā can be trouble. New Zealand’s pesky forest parrots have expanded throughout New Zealand’s capital city since they were reintroduced 22 ...4 days ago
- More than 1,300 Hajj pilgrims died this year when humidity and heat pushed past survivable limits. I...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Ramsay, Research Affiliate in Climate Adaptation, Monash University Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims undertake the Hajj –the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca. In 2024, the pilgrimage took place in mid-June, the start of the Saudi summer. But this year, ...4 days ago
- How a Cold War satellite and Robert Menzies changed the way Australian schools are funded
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Clark, Adjunct Professor of History, University of Adelaide Prime Minister Robert Menzies during the 1963 federal election campaign. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: A1200, L46014 As students and teachers prepare to go on holidays, there’s a ...4 days ago
- Where does Santa live? It’s a trickier question to answer than you may think
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcus Harmes, Professor in Pathways Education, University of Southern Queensland Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland. Roman Babakin/Shutterstock Sending a letter to Santa can be difficult as no one can agree on where exactly Santa lives. Several countries are competing to ...4 days ago
- Winston Peters spends much of year’s last speech criticising Te Pāti Māori, Waititi breaks i...
Watch: "Have a good Christmas, 'cos you'll need it sunshine," the NZ First leader said in a rowdy final debate in the house. ...4 days ago
- The year in five news events
For the penultimate Bulletin of 2024, editor Stewart Sowman-Lund flicks back through some of the biggest headlines of the year. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...4 days ago
- Swimming loses public funding but elite duo protected
High Performance Sport New Zealand will invest $162.8m into 36 national sporting organisations and athletes over the next four years, up from $131m in the four years leading up to this year’s Paris Olympics.From March next year, nearly $41 million per annum will go directly to national sports organisations for ...4 days ago - Former National MP joins push for University of Waikato’s third medical school.
A former National MP and incumbent Hamilton City Councillor has been hired by the University of Waikato to advocate for its proposed third medical school. ...4 days ago
- Transmission Gully: New plan to tackle long-standing fight
A new plan has been hatched to try to resolve a years-long fight to protect native fish at Transmission Gully. ...4 days ago
- Opposition parties move towards ‘formalising’ collaboration
Te Pāti Māori had to "get past ourselves" and is figuring out working with Labour. Labour says collaboration is still "casual", but the Greens say they'll be meeting regularly. ...4 days ago
- The Spinoff’s biggest stories of 2024
From malls to gods, woke foods to putrid stenches, the year’s greatest hits had a bit of everything. A tip: to create a perfect summer reading list (albeit with a crowded browser), click the headline of every story you missed to open it in a fresh tab. The 10 most ...4 days ago
- Ten stories that defined New Zealand’s media in 2024
It was a torrid year for almost every aspect of New Zealand’s media. Duncan Greive breaks down the key storylines – and the one vast, existential threat lurking underneath. Duncan Greive and Glen Kyne discuss many of these stories on The Fold’s year in review. 1. The end of ...4 days ago
- Daily crossword, Thursday 19 December
.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-title { font-size: 1.2em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .entry-meta { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: center; margin-top: 0.5em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-meta { font-size: 0.8em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .avatar { height: 25px; width: 25px; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .post-thumbnail{ margin: 0; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .post-thumbnail img { height: auto; width: 100%; ...4 days ago
- Huzzah! The 2024 ReadingRoom awards
And so 2024 in New Zealand literature will be remembered for not all that much, hardly anything to do with actual literature, more to do with politics and money, as in it will be remembered for 1) the shameful hunting of poet Tusiata Avia for having the gall to express ...4 days ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 19 December
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('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 19 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 days ago
- Vanuatu quake: Hospitals under pressure as death, damage toll grows
By Harry Pearl of BenarNews Vanuatu is taking stock of damage from a powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 14 people and collapsed buildings in the capital Port Vila, as the first trickle of international assistance began arriving in the disaster-prone Pacific nation. The quake rattled the ...4 days ago
- Civil society groups call on NZ to bar new Israeli envoy over ‘flagrant’ Gaza genocide
Asia Pacific Report A broad coalition of civil society organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand have signed an open letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters urging the coalition government to refuse to accept the credentials of a new Israeli ambassador while the state continues to disregard international law and to ...4 days ago
- Mediawatch: The good, bad and weird media in 2024
Biggest flip-flop; best leading media by the nose; the Billy Connolly prize for breaking news about a single animal - Mediawatch's not-very-prestigious and not-at-all coveted annual media awards. ...4 days ago
- Vanuatu quake: Services still down nearly 24 hours after Port Vila hit
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist World Vision’s Vanuatu country director says electricity and water are still affected in the capital Port Vila and strategic bridges connecting the city are damaged, nearly 24 hours after a 7.3 earthquake just before 1pm on Tuesday afternoon. The city has had multiple aftershocks ...4 days ago
- Vanuatu quake: State of emergency declared, Fiji’s Rabuka offers help
By Monika Singh of Wansolwara Vanuatu is now in a state of emergency with at least 14 confirmed deaths following a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck the capital Port Vila yesterday, followed bya 6.1 quake and other after shocks today. According to the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) in Vanuatu, ...4 days ago
- Christmas can be challenging for people with hearing loss. Here are 7 ways you can help
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Ekberg, Senior Lecturer, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University Paulina Rojas/Shutterstock For many people, Christmas can be the most social time of the year. The holiday period is often filled with parties, lunches, dinners and celebrations of all ...5 days ago
- If Treasury forecasts are right, it could be a decade before Australia is ‘back in black’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra After two successive surpluses, the federal budget will be back in deficit in 2024–25, according to the much-anticipated budget update released on Wednesday. Known as the Mid-Year Economic ...5 days ago
- Lake Alice Payments Discriminatory
“While we applaud the Govt for trying to do the right thing for Lake Alice survivors & in recognising international recommendations, why is this Govt not doing right by all other survivors and recognising domestic recommendations?” Ms Cooper and ...5 days ago - Attorney-general ‘appalled’ after Judge and former doctor verbally abuse Winston Peters ...
Attorney-general Judith Collins said she was aware of what happened and was "appalled by it". ...5 days ago
- Why Vanuatu should brace for even more aftershocks after this week’s deadly quakes: a seismologist...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Rescue services working in Port Vila, December 18 2024. Vanuatu Police Force/Facebook The death toll from Vanuatu’s earthquake disaster continues to rise, with international search and rescue operations underway to help people hit by the initial ...5 days ago
- Lake Alice survivor realises house bus dream with redress payment
Robyn Dandy plans to use her $150K payment to go on a South Island roadtrip with her pets in honour of the grandson she's lost. ...5 days ago
- Cabinet sets aside $22.6m for survivors tortured at Lake Alice
Analysis: More than 50 years after the first children were tortured at Lake Alice, the Government has announced redress, which includes either a rapid payment of $150,000 or an uncapped personalised payment.The Prime Minister set expectations that redress for Lake Alice survivors would be announced before the end of the ...5 days ago
- Final decisions on TVNZ restructure to be announced in coming days
TVNZ's chief executive Jodi O'Donnell appeared before MPs at select committee on Wednesday for its annual review and outlined the big costs for the company. ...5 days ago
- Let’s take the boat out! 5 tips on staying safe on the water if you fancy a drink
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Peden, NHMRC Research Fellow, School of Population Health & co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW Sydney View Apart/Shutterstock Australia is a nation of boaters, with one of the world’s highest rates of boat ownership. There are about one million ...5 days ago
- A bitter rivalry is emerging in the Middle East between two old adversaries over the future of Syria
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Conversation; Mohammed Badra (EPA), Maxim Shemetov (Reuters Pool/EPA), Stoyan Nenov (Reuters Pool/AP) The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has opened a new front for ...5 days ago
- Flying this holiday season? Here’s why air travel makes us so cranky – and what to do about it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Senior Lecturer of Urban Risk & Resilience, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The holidays are coming, airports are packed and emotions are running high. You’ve probably seen it or even been part of it: that tense moment when a passenger snaps ...5 days ago
- Minister Needs To Listen To The Evidence On Engineered Stone Ban
“We need to follow Australia’s example and implement a total ban of engineered stone, a dangerous product that is killing workers,” said Polaczuk. ...5 days ago
- How to not hug people you don’t want to hug this holiday season
You dread it, but they love it: here’s how to tell your family you’re hoping for a no-contact Christmas before they wrap their unwanted arms around you. There is nothing like Christmas to bring the blow of family obligation hurtling through your otherwise enjoyable life like a wrecking ball. And ...5 days ago
- MPs Should Take A Break & Reject Easter Trading Bill
We reject any liberalisation of Easter trading laws and also Anzac and Christmas days because workers deserve this special annual break to spend time with their families. ...5 days ago
- Watch: Lake Alice survivors to get $150,000 each in redress
Erica Stanford has unveiled the government's redress plan for those tortured at the psychiatric hospital. ...5 days ago
Recent Comments