Let me get this straight
The first step of this second term Labour Government was to protect a racist drug law and their second step is to leave the poor hungry?
Sure, that’s ‘transformative’ but not what we were expecting.
Why vote Labour if they rule for National?
After ruling out a Capital Gains Tax to slow House prices, after ruling out a Wealth Tax to combat inequality, after ruling out any cannabis reform so that a blatantly racist drug law that a mere 50.7% support can stay, after all that Jacinda disappoints the Left again by ruling out the request to lift benefits by Christmas.
Look at the names in this list..
…this is the cream of the cream of NZ’s NGO Community. These are groups at the coal face, these are the groups who resonated with hope in Jacinda’s call to be transformative, these are the groups now brutally hurt by Jacinda’s latest act of disappointing the Left.
Jacinda’s NeoKindness is pointless if it doesn’t stop suffering and she is bastardising the word Transformative so much it is fast becoming a criticism, not a goal.
Labour have all the power and no plans whatsoever to use any of it. Itâs like winning Lotto only to be told you canât spend any of it because the people who didnât win Lotto will feel grumpy if you do.
Jacinda crusades when we are in a crisis, but when it comes to real transformative change, Jacinda isnât prepared to take on the neoliberal State. The Wellington Bureaucratic elite run NZ, not the Labour Party, and the Wellington Mafia have zero intention of changing things now.
Yes we will get 10 days sick leave and a Matariki public holiday, but thatâs it.
Welcome to Incremental Nothingness so as to not upset the new National voters or the neoliberal public service.
What is the point of voting Labour when they rule for National?
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The significant NGOs listed have to keep on organising and, employing well thought out direct action. Does the NZCTU really think âFair Pay Agreementsâ will be enacted early in 2021? I have news for Mr Wagstaff and it is all bad.
The Labour Caucus will have to be pressured into taking on the neo liberal representatives of capital in the top ranks of the public serviceâthe âdream teamâ of Grant and Jacinda is actually the Blairite teamâthe ideology runs deep with them so disruption of their model is needed. Anyone doubting that just needs to look at the âCovid Capitalismâ bailout that Grant Robertson employed. Billions upon billions ladled out to every corporate, SME, and tin pot aspirational business operator, whether they needed it or not! Plus, tellingly the two tier beneficiary set up, with the shocked middle classes on the Covid $490 pw. The âdirty filthy benniesâ, the children of âRogerânâRuthâ however remained on their MOAB (Mother of all budgets) pittance.
Every opportunity must be taken to get this Govt. to use their majority in favour of the NZ working class.
“The significant NGOs listed have to keep on organising and, employing well thought out direct action. ”
Agreed, but history and research tells us that such action can have devastating consequences…especially or those organisations who receive government funding for providing services or advocacy.
https://www.nzfvc.org.nz/news/fears-constraints-and-contracts-community-and-voluntary-sector
“What is the point of voting Labour …”
My conscience is clear…the signs were obvious that Labour under Ardern is firmly centrist and will always pander to the middle and business.
‘Neokindness’-you sure have a gift for creative writing. Thats brilliant-a one word encapsulation of everything.
But I wonder in hope if Jacinda is two steps ahead of us. E.g. Her acceptance speech was extremely polished te reo. This would have been unheard of in years gone by. But she normalised it, she nailed it. Those national voters who voted labour would be wetting themselves with excitement at what they saw and were part of. The timing was genius-they were so vulnerable to conversion.
What’s so bad if Jacinda and Clark leave a legacy of kindness and acceptance?
Jacinda speaks awful Te reo. Not fluent, rushed and when combined with her excessive gesticulations makes for a weird scene that looks and sounds forced and unnatural. I feel uncomfortable watching her speak Te reo. Some white people can pull it off, Jack Tame is a lot more fluent and his announciation flows better and sounds more natural rather than forced. He smiles at the same time too which makes him appear comfortable and confident in Te reo.
Jacinda frowns and speaks hastity in Te reo, a sign she is neither comfortable or confident with it. She is cringe worthy.
The truth of the matter is a good many monolinguals when speaking another language other their mother tongue could well be described as âawefulâ. Such judgements are however highly subjective and at worst betray a poor understanding of what speaking another language actually entails, for the speaker and for listeners. It is not always about âfluencyâ and âannounciationâ â although making an effort with getting the pronunciation down imbues gratitude and respect, in any language. Fluency and perfect announciation, along with an awareness of register and occasion, correct grammar and a wide vocabulary are native-speaker-like aspirations beyond most second language speakers other than the most gifted and those brought up in bilingual/multilingual communities. But native-speaker ideals are not always the point.
Yep, neo-kindness is perfect. We live in a post-kindness political environment.
While we’re at it Labour should change it’s name to the Liberal party because they basically represent the liberal wing of the establishment these days. There is no longer a party that represents the workers of this country
At the moment they appear to be demonstrating malarkeytanga.
I don’t believe capital gains tax will have any effect on house prices. Raising interest rates will.
Greens wealth tax is about as well thought out as their failed cannabis reform. Look at the Dutch system which includes the mortgage on your home. If you own a home you are wealthy.
I prefered the Clark government’s 40% over 60k.
But don’t forget Martyn, Jacinda will also ban plastic stickers on fruit!
But more seriously, we will also see Andrew Little’s “hate speech” legislation pushed through, and maybe also enforcement of gender quotas, and trans people might be allowed to fiddle their birth certificates. Jacinda’s government will be transformational all right – just not the sort of transformation I would have liked.
Progressive neoliberalism.
But, but, but Jetskis and outdoor pizza ovens for the landed gentry……
I was getting roundly criticised for calling this out before the election however I have been proved right. This is as much Helen, H2 and Cullenâs government as much as the Blairiteâs and Robbos.
Structurally all of NZâs main issues will stay the same or worsen over the next 3 years. The sad thing there is neither opposition from the right or the left.
“I was getting roundly criticised for calling this out before the election”
Ah yes I remember those numerous incidents Frank,
not even at 100 days yet and the rot begins to show from the faithful disciples of personality politics over actual policy and delivery.
That’s pretty much how I see it FTT. Neither left nor right are doing their jobs properly.
Well it’s why neoliberalism is so insidious. It doesn’t just come with various beliefs and ideology, it has its own language, its own logic, its management theory all with a committed flock of devotees who’ve grown up often knowing or experiencing nothing else, and often who do very nicely by it.
I can see why, when Lange chose to have a cup of tea, he characterised it as being in the nature of a religion. When you’re working in that sort of ‘system’ with its set of “processes and procedures” that have become so ingrained into thoughts and thinking, it can be a bit difficult to question that it might actually be the ‘system’ that needs review. Actual change and transformation is a bit scary to those that are basically fairly conservative. And as for the neo-kindness bit, its becoming obvious that its the difference between sympathy and empathy.
Fukuyama could well have been right (no pun intended) in that the committed neoliberal has reached the end of history and there is no alternative.
I party voted Labour (again), and probably for the last time – even if I do get death before the next election simply because it was by far the least worst option and we needed the landslide we got. And because JA is competent and charismatic to many in the electorate, and possesses large doses of humilty and benevolence. Doesn’t mean I see her as perfect or an idol. She needs to develop her bullshit detector a bit more (I wouldn’t let her buy a used car for me), or start working on her U.N. application and C.V. over the next 3 years
Why vote Labour when the Greens say climate change and benefit increases? I’ve never voted for them, on that basis I have hope I’ll get into the rationalist heaven. Spoiled my ballot in 87 for the lack of choice. Skuzzbags all the way down.
NZ mimics US in some respects – US Biden is better than Trump but is simply another neolib so the issues that led to the removal of the democrats at the previous election are still alive and well … likewise in NZ, certainly the Labour government is better than anything that the Nats could cobble together, but they really just another group of neolibs with continuation of that agenda the primary focus – watch out next election Nats to come storming back … not so sure about Trump as he is likely to be in prison.
The kindness rhetoric was always a marketing ploy. PM Ardern has not been kind to anyone, at lest no more so than any other competent PM would have been. She is at her best when speaking to children, and at her worst when she speaks to adults as if they were children. I believe she would have made an incredible kindy teacher, but as an MP/PM she appears way out of her depth. The constant ‘kindness’ chant is pure bs, it’s amazing that anyone falls for it.
Yes. The PMâs inability to ever pronounce âpovertyâ properly, I thought some sort of subconscious signal that it was not an issue about which she held genuine concern. Children are often good vote catchers for politicians, but using them for photo ops and smile sessions, is celeb territory, and thatâs not what pollies are for.
You can expect nothing else from Blaircinda. The disgusting orgy of Capital Gains will continue which if taxed, say 80% would overnight eradicate child poverty, raise benefits and lower house prices* plus improve our health service. This money is unearned speculative gain. I will never vote Labour again next election it’s Social Credit for me if the Greens can’t do better.
Also you have the problem of debt deflation: even if you can get a 30 year anchor round the neck mortgage you’re paying so much on principle and interest that you’re effectively poor having little disposable income left over to contribute to the economy. SciFi out of control house prices are a ponzi scheme that’s mega bad news for the real economy! đ đ đ increasing inequality and resentment of the have nots.
This 19c meaness started with Clarke in her denial of working for families support for beneficiaries.
Labour are National Lite
*Again that red herring: the family home and beach house would be exempt.
Jacinda said that it “Cannot be fixed in one term”.
Okay, but she has already HAD one term to begin to address this, and has not done so!! She is now in her second term. So, where are the changes?
And, if the wider problem cannot be fixed in a shorter term, the beginnings of those changes should now be in evidence. Changes to the MSD, changes to the broken beneficiary system. Where are those first steps?
We don’t necessarily need to see the whole picture, but we do need to see a PLAN for the changes that are needed, and to see the first steps being taken to begin to make this workable! Where are they???
There is NO EXCUSE for not having such a plan for the changes that are needed, and there is no excuse not to be able to specify the first steps to be taken, and the timeframe for this.
Because, the system as-is is simply not working! It is OLD, it is antiquated, it is from an entirely different era. It is no longer fit for purpose, now in the third decade of the 21st Millennium. NOW is the time of transformation. NOW is when change is not just needed, it is actually possible. So, WHAT are her plans to deal with this? Where are they?
This is the plan:
1). Do nothing
2). Do nothing and smile
3). Do nothing, smile and whisper sweet nothings into the electorate’s ear
4). baring that blame a tricky virus and a “1-in-a-generation” event.
Sad thing is would National have done anything different? Hell they would have probably kept the extra sick days and holiday as well……
Centre politics 101 – do nothing that could be criticised and blame everyone else for your failures.
No, Tankman. It has NOT been a case of “Do Nothing”.
Jacinda and those who have supported her through the past couple of years have turned the Aotearoa ship of state around. We are now all on a different trajectory than we were in 2017, a far safer, kinder, more unified, more confident and more secure nation than we ever were before.
No small feat, even without the dramas and crises that happened along the way. So please just DROP your “Do nothing” meme, it is old and boring as hell. It says far more about the person putting it out there than it does about the govt of the last three years.
The real test of this is now, and in the weeks ahead.
I have to admit, the slowness of any helpful response to such a desperately urgent matter, that affects the lives of so many people, so many families, is more than a little concerning.
If there has been no positive response in good time for Christmas, I may have to start agreeing with you Frank. (Damn I hope not!)
I next TVNZ/TV3 poll — will — I am guessing, show a collapse of support for Labour due to their pig headed decision on Cannabis, despite Labour voters overwhelming support it…perhaps a collapse of support will wake Labour up…and start reforming those Cannabis Laws in earnest.
Ae! I haven’t partaken since I was a teenager/20 somethinK (well, maybe once or twice on social occasions you’ll understand), but you’re probably right. As far as the polls go though, it may not be as immediate as you think.
As Rache once said: “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen” (as she toked on a spliff with Rodders) – in this space, going forward, in what was the fullness of time).
JA’s stubborn streak is both good and bad. It’s gotten us through a pandemic and various other incidents that’ve come out of left-field (Volcanoes and pathetic human fuckups equipped with machine guns and testosterone-driven egos, for example). Not so great when it comes to what most people understood to be transformative. Actually not that kind either when it comes to people at the end of the food chain.
So many groups and organisations, representing so many thousands of people, …this is a national crisis. Whether or not Jacinda is able to see it, this IS an emergency situation for Aotearoa. If she ignores it, it will only get worse.
PRINCESS NATIONAL LITE
1.The Adern team has undoubtably become National lite , with no major reform of the taxation system or redistribution in regard to on going inequality .
2.Any substantial reform of welfare will drive the 300,000 ex national voters back to National so she’s highly unlikely to act radically against poverty for fear of losing them .
3.She will not reform the tax system for the same reason.
4.The current boom in house prices , mortages and increased rents will only deepen this crisis , where the major household expense is housing and there is precious little left for food .The pressure will build .
5. Saying you care and showing you care are two different things .
6.Its is highly likely Labour’s angry center-left and low paid NZ will move towards the greens in 2023 as a protest vote .6 years of fuck all with tearful endless hollow promises just won’t cut it anymore .The paint on shiny car Jacinda will start to oxidize …
7.From a strategic point of view losing votes to the Greens in 2023 won’t worry Jacinda . If she retains middle NZ and forms a coalition with the Greens ,she still shuts National out and gets a third term .
8. Its smart politics but Marytn is right , the faux “neokindness” is increasingly disingenuous .The retention of power is starting to look far more important than a genuinely fair go NZ.
9. But as we work through covid ,the sleepy hobbits are rapidly becoming hungry hobbits and hungry hobbits are a whole different breed ……
Watch this space .
If Jacinda herself is too busy to sort this out (and I understand that this may well be the case), then she at least needs to appoint a Task Force, under urgency, to start sorting it out.
That task force needs to include people who are aware of the problem, who are concerned about it, and who are switched on enough to really start doing something about it. People like Marama, who actually has a Plan to begin with, like Kiri Allan, who has the energy, drive, positivity and enthusiasm to actually get on with it, like Ricardo who has worked with AAAP. Not mere pen-pushers, and NOT blocks to progress such as Sepuloni.
I wish I could find the interview .. it would have been about a year after Jacinda became PM.
Jacinda is being interviewed by 60 minutes Australia? 4 Corners? I’m not sure ..
She is asked about getting ahead or some such. Her reply; ‘You know, I did it, the poor can too.’ Something like that, but way more out of touch.
The hubris was staggering.
But Ardern came from a relatively privileged background : Two parents – one a cop followed by some diplomatic type job – mum a school cook or sumsuch – stable home life – uni- even if with a slick major.
The hubris of her public disavowal of her parentsâ religion shocked me – it was not fair on them, and it was setting herself up as morally superior when that may not be so. Many dump their parentsâ religion, but donât rub their noses in it. Unkind.
The fool says in their heart, “There is no God.”
~Psalm 53~
She practically says it out loud. So I guess a fool is running the show according to God?
Not bagging on unbelievers, just people who rule out the possibility of God (whichever one(s)). To do such would imply you’re all knowing – quite delusional.
Jacinda’s family are Mormon I believe and I can’t speak to Jacinda’s heart. We should pray for our leaders and respect the laws-of-the-land.
But if Jacinda is hash towards poorer citizens she will foment hate and pride ALWAYS comes before a fall.
Pride is the thing to watch, it’s often wrapped in humility and smooth words.
“Pride is the thing to watch, itâs often wrapped in humility and smooth words.”
Apparently so it would seem.
But then I’d argue it wasn’t really humility in the first place. For me, even though I’m not at all religious, Nanak understood it best: One, the virtue (Nimrata – humility/benevolence), the other the temptation (Hankaar – ego,pride)
Zack, Jacinda was being put on the spot as usual by the “Gotcha” journos, at the time of Ms Collins’ foray into the world of studio-type church photo ops.
In answer to their questions Jacinda simply said, “I am agnostic”, which can be a polite way of saying, “Please back off and mind your own”.
If she had put just about any specific religious beliefs out there at that moment it could have subjected that religion to all kinds of negative and unwanted intrusions and commentary. She was simply saying that her beliefs are her own, and are not up for mischievous discussion, harassment, or for anyone to try and cash in on.
That is how I heard it at the time. There are a lot of people who, if put on the spot in front of cameras etc, aren’t necessarily able to say “I follow this or that religion.” Beliefs don’t necessarily fit neatly into any particular box, and they may not be easily clarified in a -ten second sound bite.
Another reason that Jacinda needed to get people to back off the subject a bit is that at the same time, she was being mocked as “Saint Jacinda”. If she had mentioned any particular religion or set of beliefs in that context, it could have set off a whole new ugly “Church of Jacinda” routine by the Press. As I see it, she did just about the only thing possible, that might defuse the situation and stop further conjecture.
Jacinda never said that Zack.
We lost the referendum, End of story. Labour never campaigned on drug reform, it was never one of their policy’s. If you want to bitch and moan about it, Peters, he was the one that made it a referendum.
Labour last term never sold off our assists, brought back apprenticeships and training. Got us through Covid.
Gave pay increases, lifted the minimum wage, and lots of other things that improve all our lives.
They are not perfect and we can not all have what we want, when we want it. But just for 1 minute think where we would be right now if national had won the 2017 election. They wanted to privatize all school buildings, hospitals and who know what else. Police running around armed to the teeth. No drug reform at all, except for “Tough on crime” and more incarceration to feed their mates private prisons.
My wife is a teacher and every year under national/act there was more focus put on paperwork and bullshit rather than actually teaching the kids. My wife loves teaching kind but they just about killed that off and she was looking at changing careers like alot of other teacher she knew. There was a huge demand for teacher, but NAct did everything they could to make it hard for part time teachers to get registered. And the list goes on and on.
I remember under the Key years, we had so many regressive changes most of use felt repressed and uneasy But as soon as Jacinda came along most of that lifted.
It’s easy to sit in your chair and piss and moan about how bad things are, but they are really not that bad.
Try living in most places on this planet, people fearing for the lives of their loved one and them selves. Governments that don’t give a shit about their people, just how they can farm them for money and power.
We look at everything from one point of view, Jacinda has to try to look at all points of view.
We had 2 choices Labour or National and I know for sure as who I would rather have in power
2 Choices half a step forward or 2 steps back!
We had 33 years of Neo-liberal ideology, asset sales, infrastructural under-funding, corporatization, Globalization and trade agreements. The rich and powerful making all the rules to benefit and protect them selves. You can not just gain power and make everything all better. It’s like a huge loaded truck, you cannot just turn the steering wheel, you will crash. Look where you want to go, slow down a little, turn the wheel. Are you headed in the right direction. We need to get behind Jacinda and support her because she is the best option we have right now and far better than the alternative Collins (Shudder).
Well said K1w1. Some people have convenient short memories when it suits and they can have an assumptive whinge.
If anyone remembers a few comments of mine on TDB before the election – I was very much a Labour and Jacinda fan. I stress the “was”. Straight out of the gate, they have fully disappointed me, especially with the Cannabis issue, but mainly ignoring the appeals to lift benefits. Jacinda states that the $25 increase last April was substantial. Are you fucking kidding me? I am not the only one pissed off, according to some social media posts I see. Arrogance is unseemly, Labour, and while the next election may be 3 years away, People do not forget betrayals quickly.
I wonder what it means when even a normally centre-right winger, albeit the new and improved vegan model
đ đ – calls it out in a straight shot: What are you waiting for Jacinda, Put the benefits up .
Hands up who didnât know they were voting for a bumper sticker?
New Zealand voted for smiley Jacinda not the Labour Party.
The Labour Party will remain soulless elitist neoliberal bureaucrats until forced to refind their working class roots.
That should have happened 2 elections ago, instead we got apologies for being a man, then Jacinda.
Her charisma that saved Labour and won both elections is a curse not a blessing, it is preventing structural change in the party and the country.
The most dishonest form of populism: the âpolitics of kindnessâ. Politically correct window dressings and identity politics, 3rd way Blairite horseshit selling out the country to the globalists.
Completely agree.
Labour WILL need to reconnect with the working people who do the hard yards for all of us, for basically wage slave conditions.
Current politics has profoundly lost touch with addressing widespread hardship and despair.
Labour will do nothing to reconnect with the working people they will do everything they can to capture the middle class swing voters who every year become more and more impoverished and look to government to ease their pain.
When will people wake up and realise THEY DO NOT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU.
I think you’ve nailed it, Keepcalmcarryon. Sad but true.
Agree.
Unless there’s another out break there’s no way benefit rises would happen till may when the budget comes out. They are talking about doubling the winter energy payment which they already doubled so that would be $80 plus the $20 rise they gave earlier this year plus indexing plus extra hardships. When the alternative was no matter what Judith said slashing welfare in ruthanasia 2.0 bonfire.
They absolutely need to do more but it’s not gonna happen til budget month.
The deep ingrained benny bashing culture in NZ is not just in the rich and middle classes it’s prevalent in the working class and even min wage workers and the media nats love taking advantage of it , if Labour arent smart about how they raise benefits the nats will just get in in three years and pay landlords/ power directly and give every beneficiary a green card that gets a $50 top up for groceries so beneficiaries never actually get money in their bank accounts. That’s what they want.
Id like all benifits to be covid rates at $490 if I had my way
$490 is the amount paid to those who have lost their jobs since Covid.
It is the “cover-up” payment, the pretendy tendy payment, as in, “See, we are paying a fair, or at least bearable amount”… Except that they are NOT!!
This from 3rd June:
The meanness of the Government’s policies was highlighted by its own announcement late last month of the $490/week payment for workers who had lost their jobs specifically because of Covid-19. It is around twice the main benefit.
Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson, who, crucially, is outside of Cabinet, said the main benefits should be increased to match the $490/week Covid-19 benefit.
“Weâve been consistently clear that this needs to happen urgently and desperately. It hasnât happened yet, but we wonât give up,â Davidson said last week. Bernard Hickey, Our compassionate PMs mean policies
Yes they doubled the winter energy payment, not it has stopped altogether. They won’t be doubling on top of the doubling they did this year.
The stupid things is as a pensioner I do not need this – yes yes of course I give the money away – it should be means tested and more of those with young families should get it.
Superannuation should stop being paid out to those who are still working fullstop.
Winter is the key word here. Its no longer winter. Everyone knows its an extra payment to help during winter and if you don’t need it you can opt out and don’t take it. So why would you take it? when it could go to someone else anyway?
Thank you Corey, you’re a voice of reason amongst all the noise. Thats right, benefit increases are an operational matter and they have to be budgeted for. Any benefit changes would occur at budget time.
Well said Corey and you are correct. Benefits are an operational matter, amy changes would occur at budget time.
âNeoKindnessâ is likely to catch on, it states the essential problem with the new Labour Govt. in one simple word.
A Blairite Caucus, running neo liberal policies and structural hegemony, despite all the negative outcomes of RogerânâRuthâs toxic legacy. Crazy behaviour with the Parliamentary majority they have. They should go for broke. From Basic Income to legalising weed, sacking the neo libs in the Public Sector, and Fair Pay Agreements, But they wonâtâso they need to be put under constant pressure via the Greens, MÄori Party, MÄori Labour Caucus and the hundreds of thousands of members of NGOs and unions.
No need to pander to Nat switchers, just reconnect with the Greens and swathes of new gen voters in 2023.
Many people have spoken about the urgent need for change to our beneficiary system, particularly since the Budget release in May.
Eg, Economist Shamubeel Eaqub
“What we’ve seen as middle New Zealand experiences poverty for the first time, they’re realising our welfare system is just too mean and too stingy,” he told The AM Show on Friday.
“We are going to see this story play out over the course of the coming weeks, where many people are going to have a lot of difficulty paying their rent, buying food and these kinds of things.”
“That reform in the early 1990s [Ruthanasia] was absolutely brutal in terms of just how difficult it made life for people on the benefit,” said Eaqub. “You saw a massive decline in incomes…”
The only reason money for things like foodbanks and other top-ups like the Winter Energy Payment and Accommodation Supplement is because struggling people are expected to live on “miserable” incomes, Eaqub says.
“When you’re needing all these additional things on top, it’s telling you the basic welfare is not sufficient.”
Ups to Eaqub and you.
tHOSE WHO REMEMBER THE BUDGET OF ALL BUDGETS, all the bosses, farmers, and those hatting on dole bludgers and solo mothers having more children on the dole benefit bludger!s, lets cut their benefits was the then spud Boldger!s nats support cry, to be followed some month!s latter by Shiply.What happened in the first six month of the tax relaxation of the budget of all budgets, and the cutting of welfare support across all social needed support, the bosses shop owners all cribbing, our profits are down we going bankrupt.It only took six months of the mother of all budgets to do this in our your place Aotearoa/New Zealand. Her Shiply, held the legend of being the first ever female Prime Minister of Aotearoa/New Zealand, however appointed as the nats do, appoint within their caucus, when the first term userper, fronted the Kiwi voting public, she returned the biggest kicking the nats ever have had at the ballot box.Today i would without kicking the numbers around suggest Crusher and in fairness her crew, have been delivered a bigger one.
So, this pleasant comfortable barrier this Governance has, has some social proper soul searching to the true values of the Labour Party, and without excuse deliver, or for certain, a third term they will not have a comfortable pleasant place to be sitting, they will be dog tucker.
Jeez, more whinging on here than an entire morning of ZB. One month down, thirty-five to go until the next election.
This is not about “whinging”. It is time NOW for Jacinda to take some sort of action to BEGIN to fix this broken system.
“I’m not surprised they didn’t do a big reform in the midst of a pandemic. But as we come out of this inferno of the pandemic, I think we’re going to have to think very seriously about how we balance these things, because the welfare system as it stands it not fit-for-purpose.” The words of an NZ economist in June 2020.
Again, “the welfare system as it stands it not fit-for-purpose.”
Proud of our truth talk to power here. Labour thinks it can do it with careerist professionals and public popularity. If they dismay the idealistic Left by talking shit and doing it they run a big risk.
Read Labour’s manifesto
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13uhcVrn8HUXEoWoPQgkJYjHX_d_Za-O0/view
Hi Louis,
(long time no see đ
Regardless of their manifesto, when Jacinda was asked recently about possible changes to the Welfare system, in response to the 50 -60 + NCOs who are requesting this, she said, “This is a problem which cannot be fixed in one day” (ok…), “or one year” (oh, okay…) “or in one TERM”!
Her response, together with re-instating Sepuloni as MSD head, is a clear “NO!” to any intention of such changes in the near future.
And the PM is correct, welfare is not going to be a quick easy fix, they have said this a number of times, it will take years. As stated earlier in the thread, any benefit changes are an operational matter, increases for example would have to be budgeted for and would occur at budget time. What is in the manifesto is what Labour campaigned on and intend to do, for example, they will continue with overhauling winz and implementing more of the Welfare Advisory group’s recommendations and removing sanctions, they will also bring back the TIA that Bennett got rid of.
N.G.Os
? Are not the government
just self-correcting
Even if they hesitate to raise benefits just yet, at very least they need to get rid of the disgusting, Victorian “Check out their bedrooms” aspect of the law. It encourages spiteful neighbours to stare into the rooms of people who are sharing accommodation, to see if they’re possibly “coupling up”. For pity’s sake, bring this law into the 21st Century! Benefits cannot be contingent on whatever relationship the person may or may not be in.
Read Labour’s manifesto
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13uhcVrn8HUXEoWoPQgkJYjHX_d_Za-O0/view
Louis, thanks for posting the Labour Manifesto. In many ways it is very good.
The relevant page for this particular topic is page 14, “Social Services: Modernising our welfare system..”
Nowhere on that page can I find any reference whatsoever to raising benefit payments. Nor is there any reference to individualising benefits, regardless of who or what shares their bed at night (maybe the families’ collies or kelpies snuggle up in mid winter – So, Dock their payments????? Who knows. …Only a slight exaggeration.)
It says, “Increasing income support and addressing debt” and lets not forget that they have already linked benefit increases to wage increases which will result in more money, faster.
They have to end the sadistic ‘Two tier’ system.
It is creating a pariah class, entrenching a caste system where beneficiaries are the untouchables. This is a hideous development for Aotearoa now in the 21st Century.
its just a temporary measure, it’s not permanent.
… as some understand, the NZ cover version of this is in final production phase at JA lab and studios, Wellington …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tccpGP80oik
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What a sad lot of angry boomer men we have. Obviously tory/act voters who cant accept the election result.
I say get over it. I can understand you cant seek solace in your hero, Donald, the leader of the free world who is looking like a foolish loser. You can look to the British empire/mother England but see poor Boris floundering away in the covid-19. Then you return your thoughts to Aotearoa and see an uppity youngish commie woman at the helm. Best remedy – get back to your rocking chair, watch TV with a beer in your hand and admire the photo of your other hero John Key sitting on your mantle-piece. Good Luck.
Niko, You are wrong in so many ways.
Some of the commenters, of a range of age and gender, have put aside other demands on their time and their lives and have prioritised support for Jacinda, for Labour and the Greens over many months, to help them get over the line. Now, many groups out there in Aotearoa, representing thousands of people, are calling for one specific vitally needed change, which for some inexplicable reason Jacinda seems to have dismissed for the foreseeable future.
If you have any thoughts on the actual topic being discussed, you’re welcome to put them out here. But just to throw around crap suggestions about all those who comment, is to waste everyone’s time and resources.
Nikorima, I have to revisit my earlier reply to you and apologise, at least in part, as you took up something real that happens here. Corey Humm puts it better than I could, in another discussion thread. He says that we should not be fooled by those who are “pretending to be outraged” and “promoting constant negative disappointment stories” as a way ultimately “to get their mates in blue back in power”.
There’s more in that comment, which is just one scroll above this link to a reply.
“Pride is the thing to watch, itâs often wrapped in humility and smooth words.”
Apparently so it would seem.
But then I’d argue it wasn’t really humility in the first place. For me, even though I’m not at all religious, Nanak understood it best: One, the virtue (Nimrata – humility/benevolence), the other the temptation (Hankaar – ego,pride)
Rather, one the virtue, the other the thief. So you may well have hit on it
Very wise man. Interestingly, he believed there are many worlds like earth.
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