Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, August 17th, 2012 - 22 comments
Collins can’t credibly call for zero tolerance on privacy breaches while working alongside a Minister who has not only breached privacy, but is unrepentant, and boasting that she might do it again. Bennett has breached the Privacy Act – what is she doing still in cabinet? The Nats have no credibility while she remains.
Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, August 16th, 2012 - 22 comments
I look forward to Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little calling Paula Bennett as a witness in their defamation suit with Judith Collins. Bennett openly admits doing what Collins has sued Mallard and Little for accusing her of doing: using ministerial powers to leak the private details of a political opponent. Bennett even says she’ll do it again. She obviously doesn’t see doing it as hurting her reputation.
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, August 16th, 2012 - 75 comments
What a mess of a week Paula ‘out of her depth’ Bennett is having: Found to have breached the rights of a beneficiary who dared to speak out against Bennett’s cuts to a training allowance, which Bennett herself used while a solo mum. Caught out making up the story about drugged up beneficiaries turning out jobs. Delivered another rise in benefit numbers, when there are meant to be more jobs and fewer people on the dole.
Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, August 15th, 2012 - 114 comments
The Human Rights Commission has concluded that Paula Bennett breached the privacy of a private citizen. Apart from releasing an agreed statement, the HRC is not proposing action. John Key won’t propose any either.
Written By: - Date published: 10:50 pm, July 21st, 2012 - 51 comments
Today’s big announcement from Paula Bennett at the National Party Conference was that those on the run from police will have their benefits stopped. But the question needs to be asked: how many people on the run are collecting the benefit?
Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, June 3rd, 2012 - 236 comments
The Nats have a thoroughly unhealthy obsession with the politics of reproduction. They’re talking about “stopping ‘unfit’ parents reproducing”, but Paula Bennet let slip the real agenda months ago.
Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, May 8th, 2012 - 96 comments
The Government is planning to offer free long-term contraception for beneficiaries and their daughters. At one level its a sensible idea. But it comes with too much baggage attached. The Nats have already made such a mess of it that they can’t make this proposal with any credibility.
Written By: - Date published: 10:23 am, February 29th, 2012 - 17 comments
There are quarter of a million jobless people. In a typical quarter, about 250,000 people start new jobs. Does that mean we can eliminate joblessness in a quarter? Of course fucken not, but that’s what National is telling you when they rabbit on about ‘10,000 jobs on Trademe’. To get joblessness and benefit numbers down you need a net increase in jobs,not just churn.
Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, January 25th, 2012 - 94 comments
National is letting children go to school hungry to try to teach their parents a lesson. Every fool knows the basic requirement for learning is food in the tummy. No decent person would turn their back on a hungry child. But Mike Sabin wants 20 children in his electorate to starve pour encourager les autres. And Paula Bennett has just cut the money that was feeding them.
Written By: - Date published: 6:51 am, December 17th, 2011 - 143 comments
The judicial recount has given Waitakere back to Bennett. By 9 votes. Could swing back on a high court petition. Who knows who really has more support out west. Sepuloni and Bennett are essentially as popular as each other. Just shows the stupidity of winner take all electoral systems.
Written By: - Date published: 9:53 am, December 12th, 2011 - 33 comments
Paula Bennett did pretty well in 2008, she won a seat that gave more party votes to Lab+Greens than Nat+ACT. But she was a bad MP. The electorate swung away from Nat+ACT and Bennett lost. But does she take it with grace? No she whines that Labour used “nasty and vicious” tactics like “mobilising the left” and getting out the vote on election day.
Written By: - Date published: 11:34 am, December 8th, 2011 - 18 comments
Paula Bennett’s staff in tomato-growing contest with MSD staff – Stuff
Benefit costs up up $2 billion pa in the last 3 years – Treasury
Written By: - Date published: 6:56 am, November 7th, 2011 - 49 comments
Sunday morning’s RNZ Insight program was an excellent examination of poverty in NZ. Labour’s policies were slowly reducing poverty. National’s are making it worse again. How much do we care?
Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, September 13th, 2011 - 70 comments
The Child Poverty Action Group has released yet another shaming report on child poverty in NZ. The Nats’ cuts to Working for Families are making matters worse. If the election doesn’t return a Labour government, then we’re going to have three more years of inaction punctuated by brief ritual hand-wringing over each new report.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, August 19th, 2011 - 60 comments
Bennett and Key are divided in their opinions and their stats, but at least they’re united in their state of denial.
Written By: - Date published: 6:31 am, August 18th, 2011 - 77 comments
Who said: a payment card for people on a benefit that forbade alcohol and tobacco purchases would require moral judgments by the Crown, would be highly intrusive, would rob individuals of freedom of choice, and would impose an enormous administrative burden on Work and Income, and there was no need to change the way in which welfare is paid or assessed?
Written By: - Date published: 6:46 am, August 17th, 2011 - 46 comments
Having decided to beat up on a few thousand of the most hard done by young people in the country, National is now refusing to acknowledge the problem of disconnected youth that has ballooned under their watch. There are enough young people who aren’t in education, training, or work to fill Eden Park, and Key is literally running from the issue.
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, June 7th, 2011 - 217 comments
John Key “thinks” that parents on the DPB are “breeding for a business”. Now his government is testing the waters for a eugenics program, to single out these undesirables and forcibly control their fertility.
Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, May 26th, 2011 - 85 comments
In last year’s budget, the Nats awarded a $4.8m contract to an unknown organisation called PEDA without tender and against official advice. The people behind PEDA were apparently tied to Bill English via his wife. The full truth still hasn’t come out. Now, the Nats are up to the same trick with Parents Inc.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 23rd, 2011 - 22 comments
John Key reckons the unemployed need “a kick in the pants”. Paula Bennett reckons the Nats’ harsh reforms mean that “the dream is over” for beneficiaries. Meanwhile, back in the real world…
Written By: - Date published: 4:04 pm, April 27th, 2011 - 21 comments
“Make The Politician Work” is a new “reality” series from TVNZ, with its first episode on Easter Sunday. I don’t particularly like the premise, as the vast majority of our politicians work very hard. But despite that, and the shonky reality stylings, the first episode with Paula Bennett was most enlightening. Bennett, about to help […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, April 7th, 2011 - 21 comments
Government ministers seem blind to the most obvious of issues because they have “received no advice”. Remember back in the dark ages when Ministers had some initiative? Remember when we elected leaders to lead?
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, February 16th, 2011 - 35 comments
Because it’s failed ideology prevents it from leading job creation, National came up with ‘Community Max’. Pointless make work schemes have flourished. At the end, more participants are back on the dole than would have been if they had never left. A waste of time and money. Just like boot camps with a higher reoffending rate than home detention.
Written By: - Date published: 1:37 pm, February 4th, 2011 - 98 comments
PM Key says we shouldn’t lose confidence despite rising unemployment. Pledging to go ‘on the pull for jobs’, Key said he will prostitute NZ to any multi-national corporation and Kiwis should be willing to work for free. The PM was last seen smiling at himself in a mirror, muttering ‘Hey baby, wanna come back to my place and clean it for $12.75 an hour?’
Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, February 3rd, 2011 - 5 comments
Crushless Collins’ double-bunking money saver costing $2.6m.
Shock! Paying someone else to build and operate our schools won’t save money.
Nat-appointed public service chiefs paid to air-commute. Pay cuts for frontline.
Key smiles at launch of new science ministry, waves in $3m of science funding cuts.
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, January 21st, 2011 - 45 comments
Minister for Unemployment and Associate Minister for Overseas Holidays Paula Bennett.
She really seems to be enjoying herself and not posing at all in this picture by Herald photographer Brett Phibbs.
Written By: - Date published: 12:12 pm, January 21st, 2011 - 49 comments
Herald, 21 December. Paula Bennett details the hideous abuse of a 9-year-old girl found shortly before by police. Says: “As soon as this case was brought to my attention I started demanding answers.” “I hope to God justice comes.” Today revealed, the child’s mother and teacher each separately wrote to John Key months before. Letters were transferred to… Paula Bennett.
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, January 20th, 2011 - 43 comments
Remember back when Labour was in power and the Right had this myth that dole numbers had only dropped because Labour had moved people to other benefits? It wasn’t true but that didn’t stop John Key saying it during one of the 2008 debates as he promised to get more people into work. Now, 2 years later, 83,879 more Kiwis are on benefits.
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, January 8th, 2011 - 65 comments
Youth unemployment is 19.8%, but is there much coverage of a shockingly high number? That’s 1 in 5 young people Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEETs to the initiated); higher than the OECD average.
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