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The problem is child poverty not CYF

Written By: - Date published: 1:49 pm, September 28th, 2015 - 34 comments

The Rebstock Panel inquiry could be read to confirm that Child Youth and Family is unable to perform its job properly because of it is not properly resourced to provide the job. But it is clear that National is loathe to provide it with any more resources. And the elephant in the room is that the Government fails to understand that escalating child poverty is the cause the crisis.

From out of the Shadows

Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, September 28th, 2015 - 20 comments

Goff has attempted to throw a fire-cracker into the notion of the National Party leadership and caucus being one big happy family. Is this the Labour Party’s way of sowing seeds of discontent without tainting the image of their leader? It is NOT Dirty Politics by any normal understanding of that term as captured in the book of the same name. Is this Goff’s role now? To box from the shadows?

The political machinations of the flag debate

Written By: - Date published: 7:23 am, September 25th, 2015 - 276 comments

The Green’s agreement with National to allow for Red Peak to be a referendum candidate potentially helps John Key out of a major difficulty and raises issues about the state of the Labour-Green relationship.

Paula Bennett’s loopy rules do not actually exist

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, September 23rd, 2015 - 26 comments

The Government has admitted that at least some of the loopy rules mentioned by Paula Bennett in support of the Loopy Rules review do not actually exist.

Increase productivity. Make builders subject to criminal charges.

Written By: - Date published: 8:51 am, September 23rd, 2015 - 97 comments

Nick Smith is being his usual dickhead self again suggesting that self-certifying electricians, directly subject to criminal prosecution, are the same as self-certifying builders who do not. The Government’s rules reduction taskforce is repeating the same mantras from the 1990s that lead directly to the destruction of productivity by National’s policies to create leaky buildings.

Housing Corp’s privatisation by stealth

Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, September 22nd, 2015 - 15 comments

One News has discovered that over the past five years Housing Corporation has divested itself of 2,472 houses at the same time that the need for social housing has escalated.

Twelve long months

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, September 20th, 2015 - 103 comments

Twelve months on from the last election and that brighter future we were promised has not happened.

The strip mining of Housing Corp is accelerated

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, September 17th, 2015 - 33 comments

Not only is Housing Corp planning to pay a $118 million dividend to the Crown this year but hidden away in its accounts is the payment of a further capital contribution of $336 million.  Talk about strip mining …

This Government’s priorities

Written By: - Date published: 7:52 am, September 16th, 2015 - 37 comments

In recent news it has been stated that the Government has let Serco off fines totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars while at the same time it is sneaking through retrospective changes to the law to deny thousands of beneficiaries money they are otherwise entitled to.

Warner Bros – corporate welfare beneficiary

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, September 9th, 2015 - 63 comments

Figures have been released showing that Warner Bros were paid NZ $191 million in tax rebates to create the Hobbit Trilogy.  The films were very profitable.  Why is corporate welfare for profitable activity tolerated?

The strip mining of Housing Corporation

Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, September 9th, 2015 - 82 comments

At a time where the need for social housing has possibly never been greater the Housing Corporation is to pay the Government a dividend of $118 million, the third largest in the Corporation’s history.

National’s refugee backdown

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, September 5th, 2015 - 82 comments

In both England and New Zealand conservative Prime Ministers are looking to urgently backtrack from recent refusals to do anything further for refugees.

Is Syria the first failed state because of climate change?

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, September 2nd, 2015 - 172 comments

A climate change induced drought from 2006 to 2009 appears to have sparked the instability that has caused the Syrian Civil war.  The mass exodus of citizens that we are witnessing may be the first of many climate change induced events.

Imagine if National had not sold the shares in our companies 2015 version

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, August 30th, 2015 - 55 comments

The latest financial reports for the privatised companies suggests that the New Zealand Government has lost in the past twelve months $470 million in dividends it would have received had it held onto the shares.

Finlayson criticises Law Society but gets it wrong

Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, August 28th, 2015 - 38 comments

Chris Finlayson has criticised the New Zealand Law Society for not being aware that a change to the Health and Safety Reform Bill affecting human rights introduced after submissions had been heard was itself being changed.  But all this does is reinforce the Law Society’s criticisms that such provisions should have been part of the original bill.

Dita De Boni’s last column for the Herald?

Written By: - Date published: 2:37 pm, August 27th, 2015 - 42 comments

Dita De Boni’s possibly last column for the Herald is a must read.

Forget worm farms the Health and Safety Reform Bill proposes secret trials

Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, August 26th, 2015 - 23 comments

The Government has snuck into the Health and Safety Reform Bill a provision that allows for withholding from the parties to court proceedings of classified security information and for decisions affecting their rights to be made on the basis of information they have no access to.  This was not in the original bill and you have to wonder why such a contentious provision has been introduced so late.

National Ltd™’s Shane Reti Caught Out In Another Lie

Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, August 26th, 2015 - 32 comments

Shane Reti lied about the process of ratifying the TPP. In a Press Release to the Northern Advocate, Reti states “. . . the agreement comes before parliament and opposition parties and select committees for debate and modifications . . .”

Zero integrity on zero hours

Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, August 21st, 2015 - 4 comments

If you thought the Nats promising to sort out zero hours contracts was too good to be true — you were right.

John Key’s brighter future is not for everyone

Written By: - Date published: 1:43 pm, August 20th, 2015 - 46 comments

While beneficiary numbers decrease the incidence of beneficiaries being trespassed and the numbers of pregnant women living homeless is increasing. Are we really seeing things improve or are more and more people falling through the cracks?

Hosking, Henry and Media Bias

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, August 18th, 2015 - 187 comments

Yesterday a debate that has occurred on the Standard about how main stream media has a right wing bias became mainstream when Winston Peters accused Mike Hosking of being a National Party Stooge.  An online poll provided overwhelming support for his statement.  And recently Steven Joyce attacked Rod Oram because his analytical thoughtful analysis critical of the Government displayed evidence of left wing bias.

Who is to blame for Solid Energy’s failure

Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, August 16th, 2015 - 64 comments

… and why is Solid Energy removing links to its Annual reports from its website?

Free beer for all

Written By: - Date published: 10:46 am, August 12th, 2015 - 191 comments

Diversion alert.  The Government considers that urgency should be given to changing the law to allow more beer to be drunk when the All Blacks are playing during the Rugby World Cup.

#Sheepgate and the war of metaphor

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, August 12th, 2015 - 96 comments

The war of metaphor requires the continuous repetition of a simple statement in the hope it becomes the accepted truth.  Most of the time it works.  But with #sheepgate it is starting to unravel.

National’s terrible deal making

Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, August 9th, 2015 - 114 comments

A brief analysis of a number of deals that National has negotiated suggests that its reputation as a supposedly tough dealmaker is misplaced.

#Sheepgate – Key’s cheerleaders are sent in

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, August 7th, 2015 - 62 comments

John Armstrong thinks that National has bested Labour over #sheepgate because Key keeps saying it is all Labour’s fault.  And Hosking thinks the payment has a good business case despite the payment having not achieved the result that was being sought,

NRT: 43,000 unemployed under National

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, August 5th, 2015 - 93 comments

Unemployment has risen for two quarters in a row despite the optimistic Treasury forecasts.

The dump of the #sheepgate papers

Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, August 5th, 2015 - 97 comments

The sheepgate papers have been dumped and despite John Key’s claims to the contrary the only evidence of a change in position on live sheep exports is that of the National Government, not the previous Labour Government.

# Talleyban

Written By: - Date published: 5:50 pm, August 4th, 2015 - 47 comments

Talleys have fired the first shots in National’s new class war. You can stand with the AFFCO workers and reject the Tories new anti-union law. Boycott Talleys. Make a stand for your fellow Kiwis.

The real reason Solid Energy is failing

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, August 4th, 2015 - 37 comments

There has been some discussion about the reasons why Solid Energy is facing liquidation.  A brief review of its history suggests that this Government’s incompetence is a major factor.

Let’s Lynch the Landlord

Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, August 3rd, 2015 - 53 comments

As The Standard said at the time, the Government’s decision to destroy Relationships Aotearoa could be a colossal stuff up. And this morning we learn that a Canterbury landlord has allowed access to the sensitive files left behind when RA closed. Anne Tolley must act or Anne Tolley must go.