BLOGWATCH: Gordon Campbell’s 19 reasons Why We Can’t Afford Another National Government

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National Party Billboard if it was honest

 

The ever brilliant Gordon Campbell over at Werewolf has put together 19 reasons why we can’t afford another National Government. I highly recommend you read the entire thing – his 19 reasons are…

 

1. The Key government is planning to reduce the extent and quality of public services.

2. Despite the existing levels of child poverty. Working For Families has been cut by stealth.

3. National’s decision to stop payments into the Cullen Superannuation Fund has been idiotic.

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4. National has failed to acknowledge, let alone resolve the housing crisis.

5. The government has violated privacy and increased the powers of the surveillance state.

6. Beyond the Christchurch rebuild, there’s not much going on in the way of net job creation.

7. After six years of this government, New Zealanders are barely keeping their heads above water.

8Our sovereignty in foreign policy and trade has been diminished.

9. No discernible plan exists for growing the economy in partnership with the private sector.

10. The Key government sold down stakes in our highly performing assets – power companies and Air New Zealand – for no good social or economic reasons.

11. Our export economy is still dangerously dependent on dairy products and raw logs.

12. The Key government has presided over persistently high levels of unmet, unmeasured need in our health system.

13. A slim Budget surplus has been achieved by real cuts in health and education. This will get worse.

14. Child poverty is being virtually ignored. 

15. The Ultra Fast Broadband rollout is too little, too slow, and is self-defeating.

16. The Key government has lowered the standards of ethical governance, and accountability.

17. The state’s coercive treatment of beneficiaries will pick up pace.

18. The government is failing to fund the gathering of essential information.

19. National and its crackpot allies in the Act Party still believe cutting taxes is a path to growth.

10 COMMENTS

  1. We could round the list off to 20 with their climate change apathy. Mind you Mr. “Dolphin & Dole” is also saying very little on this matter.

  2. A friend of mine, who is a very self sufficient woman, and a phenomenally hard worker, but relies on orchard / farm / vineyard work, is between jobs and reluctantly went to WINZ in Canterbury yesterday to apply for the dole. She came out absolutely shattered by the experience. Pages and pages of stuff to fill out, all having to be done online, and a CV required. She has no computer, and is not particularly computer literate, so asked if she could do it another way. The rude woman behind the desk told her no, and if she had no computer skills she would just have to get herself to CPIT where they have free courses for “people like her”. All this before she could even complete her application. Then she was told basically WINZ would become her employers, and she was required to be contactable by phone 24 hours a day, so that if the WINZ “employment broker” wants to contact her late at night they can do so. She was told that she will not be allowed to leave the REGION without asking permission from the local WINZ office, even to go to Motueka to visit her brother for the weekend. If she breaks that rule and they find out she will loose her benefit. Jobs are listed on a board in the WINZ office but no employers’ names or contact details are supplied. All contact between a jobseeker and a prospective employer is through the WINZ employment broker. In short her life is to be conducted totally at the beck and call of WINZ. She was so traumatised by the attitude of the WINZ person that she broke down when she left. This woman has come from a background of sexual abuse by her father as a 10 to 14 year old, then two abusive relationships with men, one of her kept her a prisoner in her house for several months, until she escaped by climbing out the toilet window and stealing a push bike to get to the Women’s Refuge. Last night she said it was being put back into that situation of being subjected to total control, and she found it terrifying. If this is the new face of WINZ then heaven he us. She said that she dreads to think what being treated like that will do to other women or men who may have come from abusive homes, who are less staunch than she is. As for her, she says she will beg and borrow from friends rather than be subjected to that sort of control. But what about others. No wonder the numbers of people living rough and begging are rising, and the numbers of people on the “Jobseekers Allowance” are dropping. I wonder how Paula Benefit would have coped if she had been treated the same way when as a young solo mum she found it too stressful to be working and trying to look after her kids, and took a wee rest for a few months, at the taxpayers expense, by going on the DPB. Poor Paula. What a bloody HYPOCRITE.

    • that is absolutely disgraceful!….but tell her she is not alone and even PhDs are given a very hard time, so i have heard and read….and come away very angry and dehumanised

      We MUST change this John Key Nactional government to a far more caring one… and hence there will be a far more caring and helpful WINZ staff ( or they will get the sack!)

    • I believe in everything that you have printed. Yesterday i was at work and income in Mangere and when I arrived there was a disturbance at the entrance and winz was on the verge of a lock down.

      All the poor man wanted was to drop his paper work in but because he had no ID was told he could not enter and he wanted to know why and tried to explain, because the office was late in opening there was pushing from behind and he was pushed onto the security guard who then hit back. The police turned up and the poor man was arrested, I went up and had a word with one of the officer and said that if work and income wants people to present ID’s before entry then they should have advertised it on TV or Radio and he agreed.

      I am sorry for what happened with the shooting of the winz workers but there are two sides to the story and so far the news are only reporting on the deaths of these lovely ladies!!!! but what about the poor man… what drove him to commit such terrible vengeance.

      I hear rumors that if they do( winz staff )save on special needs grants they are actually rewarded with bonus……Who knows maybe these are all true.

    • That’s so wrong. A man just went in and shot two winz workers and injured another. Why did he do that? Il tell you why because of the way they treated him, like a number on there books there workers aren’t qualified enough to handle the physchological ( not sure if that’s how you spell it) disorders that people have, so they haven’t been trained to spot these temperaments in people. Your best bet is to get counselling and to strengthen your confidences and self esteem, i know this i suffered the same abuse. those two things did wonders for my mana i am now a student at Te Wananga O Raukawa and i am so elated with my new sense of pride i want to start a rebel party up of abused victims of any nature and vote them out and to give an ultimatum of the new government to speed up the process of historical claims that this government refuses to acknowledge because of the enormity of cash they would have to pay out. This is just my whakaaro (thoughts) so please don’t take them literally concerning the rebel party of abuse victims. Kia pai to ra (have a good day)

  3. Take comfort – knowing she will be GONE soon.

    Just need to get last elections non-voters to cast their vote and we’ll be right.

  4. 13. A slim Budget surplus has been achieved by real cuts in health and education. This will get worse.

    Latest just out form Greens re education:

    “Go ahead for charters schools wrong

    The Green Party is warning all four organisations named as new partnership schools by Education Minister Hekia Parata today that they will have no future under a new Government.

    Ms Parata’s decision to name the four organisations breaks with a long held convention for the Government of the day to refrain from making significant political decisions in the days before an election.

    “This decision should not have been made just days before an election, which could ultimately lead to charter schools ceasing to exist,” Green Party education spokesperson Catherine Delahunty said.

    “It’s doubly irresponsible to commit an additional $15.5 million for these experimental schools in a week where there’s been revelations of serious under-enrolment in existing schools, and major management issues in at least one school.

    “There’s been no review of the existing schools to see if they’re working. And all the evidence so far is that they are not good value for the millions of dollars that’s been ploughed into them.

    “It is completely irresponsible to open up more of these expensive schools when there is no evidence that they work, and when no one wants them apart from the Act Party and a handful of groups who want to own their own school.

    “Act has made no secret of its plans for public education to be taken over by private organisations. Another three years of a National/Act Government poses real threats for the future of a strong, free and inclusive public education system, which is what New Zealand needs.

    “Carving off swathes of the public education sector to give to private organisations, and then spending disproportionate amounts of money on them, is not the answer.

    “The answer is dealing with the impact of poverty on children’s education by establishing schools as community hubs in low decile areas, and providing the support that kids with learning difficulties need,” Ms Delahunty said.

    Subject: Education”

  5. I speak for the poverty of children and abuse of woman and men, who clearly aren’t been heard. Generational patterns that are present today that are affecting our children our grandchildren, why? because the lack of education to these parents who have know idea how to get out of it or who don’t even know it’s origin, train our parents to find the solutions give them legit tools to go by. Education is the key, making parents accountable for there actions could solve the problem of, force them out of there comfort Zones and WINZ COULD BE THE INSTIGATORS SINCE THEY WANT TO BE OUR EMPLOYERS. Give us these tools then in turn we may have the ability to become educated and qualified to work in a field we know alot about. Sorry if i am off track i am having a tangent moment.

  6. I would urge every reader to also read the Gordon Campbell article that Martyn recommends. It’s a riveting review of the current National government’s time at the helm. Quite a long read but essential if you want to get a detailed picture of the last six years, and worth keeping for future reference.
    Here’s the link again
    http://linkis.com/werewolf.co.nz/2014/NOWz2

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