The new Ministry should be called the Ministry for Roger Douglas’s Children because it was the brutal policies of Douglas and his Labour Party cohorts unleashed on New Zealand from 1984 which, several decades later, are continuing to devastate communities, families and children.
I think pitiful is the best single word to sum up this deal.
We should all feel a profound sense of shame.
As the government does its best to squirm its way out of holding any inquiry into the killing of civilians during an SAS-led raid on two villages in Afghanistan its worth looking back at why we were there in the first place – or better still – why we shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Even National’s $25 per week benefit increase last year pales into insignificance with the news that reductions in the real value of Working for Families payments since National took office have taken a cumulative $2 billion from the homes of families on low incomes.
The real devastating failure of the city rebuild is the plight of low-income families left high and dry by the Christchurch City Council.
What this situation shows most clearly is the complete lack of public service ethos in these individuals. It is a lack of ethical behaviour which now pervades the senior levels of our public services across the country – both in government and local body organisations.
A significant proportion of New Zealanders want to see the GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau) spy agency closed, its Waihopai spybase shut down and New Zealand withdraw from the “five eyes” alliance.
People are often surprised when I say I am much less impressed with Jacinda. I’ve heard her speak in public many times and have shared the platform on various panels with her and others (in my case to represent MANA Movement while she represented Labour) to discuss issues such as child poverty, housing, inequality and the struggles of beneficiaries etc
Not content to have the poorest New Zealanders face the biggest tax burdens and corrosive social problems our lowest income communities also face a plague of what can only be described as “parasites on poverty”.