Urge Iran to Free Nazanin

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May 27, 2016

I am writing this knowing full well that, one day, it might land me in an Iranian jail where British-Iranian National Nazanin is at the moment.

On April 3rd, 37-year-old Nazanin and her 22-months-old British daughter, Gabriella, were arrested at Imam-Khomeini’s airport on their way back to the UK. They had travelled to Iran to visit Nazanin’s parents in Tehran.

53 days have now passed since the arrest. Nazanin was put in solitary confinement for 45 days before being moved to a group cell.

No charge has been laid and Nazanin has no access to a lawyer.

It must be heartbreaking for both Nazanin and Richard to be separated from Gabriella when she is at such a tender age and under such difficult circumstances. Nazanin’s parents are caring for Gabriella at their home in Tehran.

Gabriella is unable to join her father in the UK because her British passport has been confiscated.

Nazanin’s husband has started a campaign page to put pressure on the Iranian government to free Nazanin.

The campaign has had a celebrity endorsement and, so far, more than 70, 000 signatures have been gathered from all over the world; but many of Nazanin’s close Iranian friends have been too afraid to sign because they want to be able to travel to Iran to visit their families.

I know many of my own Iranian friends living in the US, UK and here in NZ haven’t signed the petition either because they are scared of the consequences.

I must say that I had huge reservations about writing this piece too.

I love Iran and would like to be able to visit the country that I grew up in.

It is taken a long time for the mental scars of living under the Islamic Republic to heal but the older I get the more of a pull I feel towards the country that I emotionally abandoned over 30 years ago.

Most importantly, I would like my 13-year-old son to be able to visit Iran one day and to find out more about its rich culture and history.

So, is it not easier to stay silent? Yes, it is. But is it right to stay silent?

The despotic Iranian regime has sustained itself through creating fear: fear of isolation and abuse, fear of torture and death.

As recently released Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani said, we must stop being afraid.

Shortly after her release from prison for “insulting members of parliament through paintings”, 28 year-old Farghadani released a YouTube video detailing her ill treatment in the hands of female prison guards.

Atena Farghadani’s cartoon depicted Iranian Members of Parliament as animals for their attempt to reverse access to contraception and criminalising voluntary sterilization.

Farghadani was released on May 3rd following considerable international pressure and after serving more than a year in prison. New Zealand comic artist, Toby Moriss, was part of that international support. His webcomic for The Wireless was inspired by Faraghadani’s courage to speak out.

We can do the same for Nazanin.

Let’s make sure that Nazanin is released by June 11th in time for Gabriella’s 2nd birthday.

Nazanin’s husband, Richard, has asked for hand-made cheerful birthday cards for Gabriella to be sent to the nearest Iranian embassy.

If you can, please get your children or grandchildren or even your school involved to make birthday cards for Gabriella. I am sure it will be of great help to the family.

You can send your birthday cards to:

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran

151 Te Anau Rd,

Hataitai

Wellington

6021

Lastly, let’s not forget other prisoners of conscious currently languishing in Iranian jails. You can read about them here.

Donna Miles-Mojab is a British-born Iranian New Zealander interested in human rights and justice issues. She is currently studying postgrad journalism at the University of Canterbury.

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EXCLUSIVE: State house sell-off in Tauranga unravelling?

By

Frank Macskasy

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May 27, 2016

20

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State Houses – “Wrong place/wrong size”?

Last year (2015), National confirmed it’s intention to sell-off thousands of state houses to “community groups”;

Hundreds of state houses in Tauranga and Invercargill could be sold to independent providers in the first phase of the Government’s plans.

In January Prime Minister John Key announced that state house reforms would see up to 2000 state homes sold to “community housing providers” this year, as it cuts the number of state houses it owns by 8000 over three years.

Although the Government was marketing the process as “transfer” the houses would be sold to community groups, generally charity based providers. Because the houses would have to be kept as social housing rather than private sales, the houses were expected to be sold at a discount to the market value.

After nationwide consultation, Housing New Zealand Minister Bill English and Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett said that the first sales were likely to take place in Invercargill and Tauranga.

In a blogpost in November last year, I pointed out the oft-repeated phrase used by our esteemed dear Leader and various Ministers;

Various ministers, including our esteemed Dear Leader, have indicated that up to “a third” of state houses are “in the wrong place or wrong size (or ‘type’)”.

The “wrong size/wrong place” claim is the argument used by National to advance a major sell-off of Housing NZ properties.

On 1 November, 2014, Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett said on TV3’s ‘The Nation’,

“It’s about being smart in what we’re doing. So you just look at us having the wrong houses, in the wrong place, of the wrong size..”

On 2 December, 2014, the Minister responsible for Housing NZ, Bill English expressed his agreement with the proposition of one third of Housing NZ homes being in the “wrong size/wrong place” ;

“Yes. As recently as just last month Housing New Zealand issued a press release that said: ‘around one third of our housing stock is in the wrong place, wrong configuration or is mismatched with future demand’.

[…]

… in fact, a third of them are the wrong size, in the wrong place, and in poor condition.”

On 28 January this year, John Key announced in his “state of the nation” speech;

“Around a third of Housing New Zealand properties are in the wrong place, or are the wrong type to meet existing and future demand.”

After lodging an OIA request with relevant Ministers late last year information released under the Act suggests that National’s oft-repeated claim that around “one third” ( or 22,000) of state houses are in the “wrong place and wrong size” was not wholly supported by Housing NZ’s own figures. As I reported last November;

Housing NZ currently “manages 67,245 homes” (as at 30 June 2015). When Key, and other National ministers refer to “around a third of Housing NZ properties”, simple arithmetic translates that fraction into 22,190 homes being the “wrong size/wrong place” .

[…]

In a response eventually received on 29 October 2015, information in the form of a chart -“Stock reconciliation taking into account impaired properties as at 31 January 2013” – was attached;

.

.

In two columns headed “Right Place, wrong home” and “Wrong Place“, the respective figures add up to 13,560. This constitutes a little over half of the “22,000” that is being bandied about by National.

Like much of National’s “facts”, the numbers did not stack up.

Which led to the last question I put to the Minister; “If HNZ houses that are in the “wrong place” are sold/given away to community organisations – what will make those houses suddenly become in the “right place”?”

Because if it’s in the “wrong place” when owned by Housing NZ – why would it suddenly be in the “right place” owned by someone else?

The Minister’s response was baffling. In his 29 October 2015 letter to me he said;

“The Government has no plans to offer Housing New Zealand properties that have been
identified as being in the ‘wrong place’ to community housing providers. In Tauranga and
Invercargill for example, the areas identified for initial potential transfers of social
housing properties from Housing New Zealand to community housing providers, MSD’s purchasing
intentions anticipate stable demand. Following a transfer, any new provider would receive
both the properties and a contract with MSD to continue to provide social housing.”

[See full text of letter here]

English’s response seemed to cast a distinction between State housing “in the wrong place/size” and properties to be sold/transferred to community organisations.

Yet, his statement above would appear to contradict a statement issued by English and Bennett earlier on 6 May last year, which is explained further below under the heading, “The Great Invercargill and Tauranga Sell-Off”.

See: State houses – “wrong place, wrong size”?

State Houses, “Wrong place/wrong size”? – Up-date

English’s responses to my questions were vague and offered little in the way of specific detail. In a follow-up letter to the Minister, I repeated two of my questions;

I refer you to two questions which you have not answered in my OIA request;

4. Where are they situated that are considered the “wrong place”?

5. How many areas have been designated “wrong places”?

His response arrived too late to be included in my November 2015 blogpost, but is still highly relevant to the growing housing crisis in this country. On 9 December 2015, English said;

“The analysis produced by Housing New Zealand in 2013 and provided to you with my previous response [see table here – FM] identifies the number of houses as being in the wrong place on a regional basis. No specific locations have been designated ‘wrong places’ and, based on this analysis, each region has some properties assessed as being in the wrong place. These will generally be in provincial areas away from the main centres.”

[See full text of letter here]

In none of the Minister’s correspondence was he able to provide specifics as to where State houses were in the “wrong place”. The ‘best’ he could do was list five regions; Auckland East & South; Auckland North West & Central; South Island, Central North Island, and Lower North Island.

Surprisingly, Auckland was deemed to have 8,180 houses that are supposedly “Right Place, wrong home” and a further 420 that are in the “Wrong Place” – 8,600 in total.

However, the Minister’s data was contradicted by the 2014/15 Housing NZ Annual Report which confirmed the on-going high demand for housing in Auckland;

“Across the country we also have too many three-
bedroom properties, while demand has grown for smaller
one- or two-bedroom homes or for much bigger homes.
Demand for homes in the Auckland region is high and
more Housing New Zealand homes are needed.” (p22)

English did, however, point out that “these will generally be in provincial areas away from the main centres“.

Even that has proven to be a mis-leading assertion from the Minister. Tauranga is certainly a “main centre” by most definitions, and the choice of that city would prove to be embarrassing to National, as the next chapter below showed.

The Great Invercargill and Tauranga Sell-Off

As National began to roll out it’s sale of State houses, Bill English specifically referred to State houses being sold in Tauranga and Invercargill. On 6 May last year, Bennett and English released this statement;

“This is another important step to creating a more effective and efficient social housing sector with more housing providers supporting tenants and their needs.” – Housing New Zealand Minister Bill English.

As announced by the Prime Minister in January, the Government’s Social Housing Reform Programme includes plans to transfer 1000 – 2000 HNZC houses to registered CHPs over the next year.

“We’ve gone through a robust process to identify the first areas for potential transactions. Tauranga and Invercargill have been chosen because they have stable demand for social housing, and active community housing providers keen to consider the next steps. Providers in other regions are also interested.” – Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett

The same media statement referenced;

The Social Housing Reform Programme (SHRP) is designed to get more people in need into quality social housing – either through Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC) or registered Community Housing Providers (CHPs). The objectives of the Social Housing Reform Programme are to:

[…]
Ensure social housing is the right design and size and is in the right places for people who need it.

English and Bennett continued to exploit the “wrong size/wrong place” spin that National was using to disguise the privatisation of State housing.

Bear in mind English’s statement in his 29 October 2015 letter to me, where he said;

“The Government has no plans to offer Housing New Zealand properties that have been
identified as being in the ‘wrong place’ to community housing providers. In Tauranga and
Invercargill for example, the areas identified for initial potential transfers of social
housing properties from Housing New Zealand to community housing providers, MSD’s purchasing
intentions anticipate stable demand. Following a transfer, any new provider would receive
both the properties and a contract with MSD to continue to provide social housing.”

Obviously the Ministers find it difficult to keep their “story” straight.

In March this year, potential buyers for State houses in Tauranga and Invercargill had been lined up;

Four potential buyers have made the final shortlist to buy over 1400 state houses being sold in Tauranga and Invercargill.

[…]

In Tauranga, Accessible Properties, Hapori Connect Tauranga, and Kaiana Community Housing Partners made the shortlist to take over 1124 properties or tenancies.

However, even as National’s English and Bennett were prepping State houses for sale, the country’s housing crisis began to be reported elsewhere throughout New Zealand.

Tauranga was one of them;

.

People resorting to living in camping sites and caravan parks?

Is that what this country has come to after thirty years of neo-liberal “reforms”? To become a South Pacific version of America’s trailer-park “communities”?

.

If, by shuffling ownership of State houses from Housing NZ to “community groups”, National believes it will solve our housing crisis and growing homelessness – they are far more out of touch than I ever thought possible.

This is not just a stubborn pursuit of a free market dogma that has failed to meet basic social needs – this is pseudo-religious self-delusional behaviour from our elected representatives. English, Key, Bennett, Smith, et al, appear to be paralysed into inaction, like possums caught in the headlights of an approaching truck.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett floundering around like a beached cetacean. She first denied that a housing crisis existed in New Zealand on 20 May;

.

Five days later, she was willing to bribe homeless and State housing tenants up to $5,000 to quit Auckland, making a sudden announcement that caught Finance Minister Bill English off-guard;

.

I have said it before and will repeat my conclusions that National is incapable of resolving this crisis. Considerable State intervention is required, and that is anathema to a political party whose very DNA is based on the free market; reducing State involvement in commercial and social activities; and promoting private good over community benefit.

It will take a collective anger from New Zealanders to take notice of what is happening in their own society. At the moment, so many New Zealanders seem insulated from the growing social problems that are worsening with each passing day.

As Shamubeel Eaqub said on Radio NZ’s Checkpoint, on 26 May, there is an absence of empathy amongst many New Zealanders – a moral-disconnect with the poor; the homeless; those who have been left behind after thirty years of failed neo-liberal theory.

Remarkably, Eaqub invoked the name of Michael Savage, when New Zealanders were capable of building and solving social ills. For an economist, Eaqub has deep insight where we have arrived in the year 2016;

“The only thing that’s missing now is aspiration and leadership,” he said.

Perhaps our economist friend has nailed the problem perfectly; 21st century New Zealand is not just suffering from economic poverty. There is a poverty much, much worse.

A poverty of spirit.

And that affects us all, regardless of wealth and income.

.

References

Fairfax media: Invercargill and Tauranga chosen for first state house sales

TV3: The Nation – Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett

Parliament: 6. State Housing—Suitability of Housing Stock

Fairfax media: John Key Speech – Next steps in social housing

Letter from Bill English, 9 December 2015

Housing NZ: 2014/15 Annual Report

Beehive.govt.nz: Next steps in social housing reform announced

Fairfax media: Invercargill state houses may survive sell-off as Government reveals short-list

Radio NZ: Housing situation critical – Tauranga principal

Sunlive: Tauranga gripped by housing crisis

TVNZ News: Housing crisis hits Tauranga, forcing families into garages and cars

Bay of Plenty Times: Community leaders, social agencies call for urgency on ‘housing crisis’

Bay of Plenty Times: People living in caravan parks while waiting for a rental

Bay of Plenty Times: Campsites for emergency housing debate

Radio NZ: No housing crisis in NZ – Paula Bennett

Interest.co.nz: Paula Bennett announces plan to offer $5,000 to homeless Aucklanders

Radio NZ: Airport CEO, health leader & economist look at the Budget

Additional

Dominion Post: Housing MPs cost taxpayers more

Treasury: Social Housing Transactions

Other bloggers

The Daily Blog: Paula Bennett blindsides her own Finance Minister in desperate scramble to respond to housing crisis

The Standard: Newshub poll – Key’s government has failed on housing

The Standard: Bennett’s housing “announcement” is a re-announcement and a lie

Previous related blogposts

Can we do it? Bloody oath we can!

State houses – “wrong place, wrong size”?

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= fs =

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Smoking Tax Hike Is Shortsighted Smoke And Mirrors – Budget 2016

By

Curwen Ares Rolinson

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May 27, 2016

14

One of the core functions to modern taxation is to influence behavior. Activities which have perceived positive benefits (such as taking up private health insurance, which eases pressure on the public healthcare system) are encouraged via tax-breaks … while goods, services and pursuits which seem to have negative consequences for users and those around them are discouraged via punitive additional revenue-raising.

We generally call these “excise taxes” or “sin taxes”, and while they’re often levied with the explicit and express purpose of “internalizing externalities” (to use the economics jargon) by putting money in the pocket of the state to pay for damages caused by the consumption or production of the product in question … but as we can clearly see with smoking (wherein the cost to the economy and healthcare system of smokers was long since paid for and then some by taxes levied on tobacco some time ago), there is also often a secondary purpose to these taxes.

Expressing societal disapproval.

Now whatever you might think about raising revenue as an overt form of condemnation of something we view as undesirable, something interesting occurred to me while looking at the figures from yesterday’s budget.

The increase in price for a packet of cigarettes to around thirty dollars apiece is projected to generate about 425 million dollars worth of taxation revenue.

That’s just a little sort of the estimated $490 million per year which the top twenty tax-dodging multinationals suck out of our government’s coffers through creative and cunning unethical structurings of their financial affairs.

Now unless I’ve missed something drastic, despite vociferous demands from a number of quarters that the government’s 2016 Budget do something about this problem – both in the name of revenue-raising, and at least somewhat purely for the principle of the thing – it would appear that National’s still frankly unconcerned about this issue.

As mentioned at the outset of this piece, one role of taxation policy is to disincentivize certain behaviors – and, in extremis, to express societal condemnation for the activities in question.

Large-scale tax-avoidance to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per annum is quite clearly something which ought to be stamped out and disincentivized. I would also posit that the widespread popular scorn for such activities when they came to light again most recently in an NZ Herald expose additionally suggests that there is much societal enthusiasm for expressing condemnation at the perpetrators in question, and hitting them in their ill-gotten bottom lines.

It is a frank demonstration of their priorities and ethical valuations, along with who and what they care about, that National are prepared to prioritize levying a lower figure of revenue from smokers – ordinary people – over securing a higher figure through cracking down upon the dodgy dealings of the rich and powerful corporate few.

This is particularly the case given the well-known regressive nature of consumptive taxes in general, and excise taxes levied on smoking in particular.

The way it works is that people on lower incomes spend far more of their income than do the wealthy. Therefore, taxes upon what we spend consume a far greater proportion of their income than the incomes of the rich.

In addition to this, cigarette smoking is disproportionately a feature of the ‘working’ classes. It’s been steadily declining amongst ‘upper income earners’ and bureaucratic ‘movers and shakers’ for quite some time now. Thus, cigarette tax increases hit those in lower tax-brackets the hardest.

There are also racial preponderances when it comes to who in our society will be predominantly affected by this tax-hike. Thirty five percent of Maori, and twenty two percent of Pasifika people versus fifteen percent of the general population.

So what the government has in fact said with this curious decision to massively increase taxation revenue derived from smoking … is that they’re quite comfortable with extracting hundreds of millions of dollars more at the direct expense of the poorer, browner, and presumably less likely National-voting segments of their community.

And, in so doing, conspire to let their rich mates ‘off the hook’ when it comes to taxation policy reform elsewhere, while also putting a bit of extra ‘fiscal headroom’ in the tank to further ‘justify’ electoral-bribe tax-cuts either immediately before or immediately after the next Election.

Apart from this, about the only way this policy makes any semblance of strategic sense is if we conclude it’s one of those “Dead Cat” stunts we’ve recently heard so much about. If you’re unfamiliar with the technique, it’s what happens when a party that’s potentially vulnerable on an issue puts an even more immediately comment-inducing issue upon the table in the hopes of providing a bit of a ‘distraction’ from whatever it is that’s previously been plaguing it. In this instance, National may very well have held a back-room strategic discussion and decided the best way to take some measure of wind out of the sales of other swells of discontent as applies taxation policy (whether the aforementioned $490 million in taxes being dodged by top multinational firms here; or the wider demands for reform of NZ’s tax laws in the wake of the Panama Papers), is to put out a fairly prominent piece of new policy (the cigarette tax hike) which will get everyone talking about that instead – yet which it’s very difficult for many sides to obviously and readily oppose. Progressives, after all, can’t really be let themselves perceived as pro-smoking.

Except one.

To nobody’s especial surprise, New Zealand First Leader (and inveterate smoker) Winston Peters is pretty much the only party-political figure of note coming out against the change.

He’s quite correctly pointed out that due to the nature of an addictive consumable like cigarettes (which are what economists would call a good that is “inelastic” in consumption), increasing the price of a pack isn’t going to lead to people cutting them out altogether. But instead, to money which could otherwise be diverted into worthy ends like feeding one’s kids being rather used to buy cigarettes.

This is a social outcome which really benefits nobody except the taxman.

But it gets worse.

As a number of commentators and observers have pointed out, the recent spike in thefts, ram-raids and burglary against dairies, service stations and convenience stores over the last few months has chiefly been driven by previous rounds of cigarette excise tax increases. The spiraling price of tobacco has put satiating their habits out of financial reach of many low-income consumers, yet it hasn’t necessarily lead them to stop smoking. Instead, cigarettes are stolen rather than bought – and a thriving black market in illicit tobacco has been created in consequence.

Will the $425 million in extra taxation revenue this policy creates be used to properly staff and resource Police so they can respond to ever more (occasionally quite brutal) cigarette heists? I think not.

All things considered, on both dynamics I’ve touched on in this article – increases in tax on cigarettes, and a complete lack of interest in properly enforcing tax-collection on wealthy multinationals – National has displayed an almost callous lack of foresight; prioritizing easy and low-hanging fruit limited revenue gains over genuinely useful (if a little more difficult to garner) policy initiatives that would actually be in our long-term interest.

Come to think of it, that pretty much sums up their attitude to government all up.

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Waatea 5th Estate Budget Special

By

The Daily Blog

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May 27, 2016

9

Our Budget Panel is

Allan Johnson, the social policy analyst for the Salvation Army and Child Poverty Action Group

Phil Twyford the Labour Party spokesperson on Auckland and Housing

Julie Anne Genter, the Green Party Finance Spokesperson

They will join Marama Fox Co-Leader of the Maori Party, Bill Rosenberg Council of Trade Union Economist, Russel Norman former Green Party Leader and head of Greenpeace, Auckland Action Against Poverty, National Director of Campaigning for E tū Annie Newman and convener of the Living Wage Campaigner, National Secretary of the Public Service Association Erin Polaczuk and from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Ian Powell to answer…

how does budget impact Maori?

how does budget impact economy?

how does budget impact the environment?

how does the budget impact beneficiaries and the poor?

how does the budget impact women and workers?

How does budget impact public services?

How does budget impact health?

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How we tessellate – Dance Review

By

The Liberal Agenda

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May 27, 2016

0

Reviewed by Genevieve McClean

Drumpf and Mea Tau

If you’re looking for a show to see between tonight and Saturday you will be entertained enthralled and inspired by the two new works in development, stationed at Basement theatre as a double act.

Interdisciplinary thinking gives these works a level of provocation and satisfaction that will widen audiences and broaden the minds of the skeptical or the young.

The interaction between performers on stage is a dedicated and powerful force of play in both works. This is interdisciplinary work that dances well along those seams with language and performance, and weaves interdisciplinary thinking into the crowd.

All the dancers are infinitely watchable, and in their ownership of the basement theatre space, (black, with a single long wing you can disappear into), intensely present. Both pieces offer a poeticism intricately developed around their themes, and both occasionally deliver moments that are heartstoppingly brilliant. As they appear inside the business of the dance as well as looking out from their choreographies, the engagement is beautifully measured.

I agreed with another person leaving the building that it was ‘worth braving the weather for’, but we were talking in that slightly smug delight of treasure finders and I’m still enjoying the momentum and the melding, the melting and the mechanics. Every now and then a certain combination of people come together and are the ingredients of an alchemy of diversity, scholarship, and desire, and create a synergy, – and by that I mean sometimes the different elements come together so successfully that the show flares in a spectacle that surprises, or even you know, levitates a bit. This is one of those shows.

Drumpf meddles with expectation from the outset, but no spoilers! The musicality of breath and body sit at first in a jarring interface with the super congenial voice that plays alongside. This is a well crafted management of audience through some cognitive dissonance and into new language.

A political umbrella narrative on the whole (Drumpf we know is Donald Trump’s real sir-name thanks to John Oliver), means a world that explores dysfunction and media, operatives of horror, monster mythology, and emergence of power symbols, questioning us in any sense of propriety we might have (left) about mainstream media.

Mea Tau raises the bar for precision engineering. Opening with overtones of Coen brother, and hints of urban Auckland a troupe of four men, dance an engagement with struggle, to put it delicately, with cleverly obfuscated forces, again, no spoilers, but let’s just say the work exceeded expectations in all directions. Tight, and strict choreographies aid the manly themes in this piece, which are ultimately so much broader than you might expect. While less verbal than the previous work, I was impressed with the beauty of carefully managed rhythm, and carefully weighed choices around the use of stillness which was memorable, when there was so little of it.

Both pieces are quite different but admirable for their delicately managed grading of humour and the local vernacular against the more hearty and heady themes, and the opportunity to engage performatively in an intimate space made exhilarating for any lucky audience members who read this review in time, and get to see it.

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GUEST BLOG: Dave Macpherson – Open Letter to Board of Waikato DHB re: Nicky Stevens

By

The Daily Blog

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May 27, 2016

4

Dear Board members

We have not heard from the Waikato DHB for many months in relation to the ‘serious incident review’ your organisation is required to undertake into the death of our family member Nicky Stevens, while he was in your care as a compulsory inpatient under the Mental Health Act.

Your delay in starting any investigation is appalling, and has added to our family’s distress; worse, your communication to us from anyone in a leadership position is non-existent.

Your attitude and actions are in stark contrast to those of the NZ Police, who similarly made serious mistakes in regard to Nicky and his death, but who have ‘owned’ their part of the problem, and have communicated appropriately and frequently with us.

It appears you are relying on senior management advice in your stonewalling; if so, that advice, and your inaction, is as flawed as your care for Nicky was.

Below is a link to a media article and video footage, fairly reporting the findings against Police by the IPCA in relation to Nicky. You would do well to read the article, and to watch the Police on video owning up to their part of the problem:.

There are many other examples of media coverage of Nicky’s case in recent days.

As Board members, you are charged not with blindly accepting the advice of managers intent on keeping a bureaucratic ‘lid’ on bad news, but on acting fairly on behalf of the whole community to ensure good provision of public health services.

There has been no fairness shown to our family by the Waikato DHB.

To claim, as your Chair has, that your Chief Executive has got the “delegated authority” to ignore and deny our requests for action and answers, over 14 months after Nicky’s death, is a/. cowardly, and b/. misleading, in that at any time you could remove such ‘delegated authority’ if indeed it exists. It is time you stopped hiding behind bureaucracy and delivered us some answers.

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GUEST BLOG: Arthur Taylor – Just another fight in prison

By

The Daily Blog

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May 27, 2016

1

I’m sad to say, that the five month (must be a world record in a maximum security prison) hiatus from a violent incident on this landing ended yesterday morning.

It was a hell of a racket going on, when I arrived, JUST as’Rameka’ was about to cave ‘Paki’s’ head in with a weapon. Paki is just over 6 foot tall, and a bit like a down-sized version of Joseph Parker. Rameka is a bit smaller. So,obviously thinking he was about to get the shit kicked out of him, (no doubt why he grabbed the weapon) I managed physically to keep them apart, (and I do mean physically) for a good 5 minutes, which seemed like a lifetime(!)

There were only 2 other prisoners on the landing, one was in the shower the other hiding in his cell, so they were no use: I had a wrist lock on the guy, then, seeing him disarmed, Paki charged. I had to separate them both, to drag them apart until the riot squad arrived. The screws, who were watching through the grille at the end of the landing appeared shocked awaiting back up, and here am I coming up 60, (although many here say I look many years younger.(ha!ha!) I can just hear my Li’l Princess Siobahn (she’s a tiger on the rugby field- only girl on the team, 9 next month) saying “I would sort them out for you,Daddy!”

Arthur Taylor is a prisoner rights activist and is TDBs blogger inside prison.

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Malcolm Evans – refugees?

By

Malcolm Evans

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May 27, 2016

3

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Political Caption Competition

By

The Daily Blog

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May 27, 2016

11

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The Daily Blog Open Mic – Friday – 27th May 2016

By

The Daily Blog

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May 27, 2016

8

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

Moderation rules are more lenient for this section, but try and play nicely.

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Not the New Zealand we want – CPAG

By

The Daily Blog

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May 27, 2016

0

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) endorses the Government’s stated commitment to improve the lives of all vulnerable children. It has failed dismally with the 2016 Budget announcement today.
CPAG asked for meaningful policies for incomes in this budget but there is nothing in this budget for families with children. When so many New Zealand families are in crisis and children are bearing the brunt this budget does nothing. “All families need sufficient resources for their children to thrive” says Professor Innes Asher, CPAG health and housing spokesperson.
Children are mentioned in the context of there being 40,000 fewer living in benefit-dependent households. Social security spokesperson Mike O’Brien says, “This is meaningless when it appears so many more families are clearly needing foodbank and other social services. Moreover the Government is not monitoring the children in families that are increasingly being sanctioned.”
The Prime Minster has claimed that this Government has maintained Working for Families. However the reality is that Working for Families continues to be undermined with progressive reductions that began in 2012. “Moreover there has been no adjustment for inflation for 4 years,” says income spokesperson Susan St John.

“A few families got an extra $12.50 a week and there was a few crumbs for those on benefits with children in last year’s budget. A large number of the worst-off families facing uncertain labour market and variable hours got absolutely nothing – not even an inflation adjustment. Changes set in motion in 2012 actually reduce payments for working families.”

We could compare this with policies in Australia:

A sole parent in New Zealand with one child under five gets support from WFF to the tune of $92 a week, which is less than one half of that given in Australia ($186 a week). In Australia the threshold to which payments are made in full is adjusted annually and is now $51,000. Contrast this with New Zealand’s WFF threshold being adjusted down to $35,000 over time.

“There is no fundamental change to housing policy. The provision of 750 beds – or ‘places’ – represents an underwhelming response to the several thousand families languishing on the Priority A list – those with a persistent and severe housing need requiring an immediate response,” says CPAG housing spokesperson Frank Hogan.

CPAG has prepared a brief summary of the 2016 budget and its implications for children and families.

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Budget 2016: Public servants do the hard yards but still miss out – PSA

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The Daily Blog

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May 27, 2016

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Public servants are the ones who deserve a standing ovation in this year’s Budget, the PSA says – not finance minister Bill English, who’s outlined a lacklustre and unimaginative set of figures today aimed at further reducing the size of government.

PSA National Secretary Glenn Barclay says members have worked magic, forgoing holidays and doing unpaid overtime to deliver the savings that allow National to hint at election year tax cuts.
“This is an uninspired Budget which promises little comfort for our members – who are straining to delivery good quality services while funding and staffing levels lag behind,” Mr Barclay says.

“New Zealanders needed a firm commitment to public services in this government, and they did not receive it.

“There are isolated pockets of extra funding for staffing costs in Child Youth and Family, Customs and the Police.

“But overall, funding does not keep pace with rising demand and the growth in our population – which means our members will have to work magic to maintain good quality services.

“Mr English confirmed government expenditure on public services is now under 30 per cent of GDP and likely to remain so – below the OECD average, and well below wealthy countries like Denmark.”

PSA National Secretary Erin Polaczuk says the health sector particularly will struggle – because the promised $568 million in extra money will not reach the CTU’s estimate of what’s needed to stand still.

“Mr English trumpeted a $2.2 billion health funding boost over four years – but by 2020, real health spending will be about $300 lower for every New Zealander,” Ms Polaczuk says.

“And at a time when the mental health system is in crisis, the extra $3 million a year would pay for just 30 mental health nurses across the whole country.”

Ms Polaczuk says there is good news in the Budget for home support workers and other low paid groups – with contingency made in the Fiscal Update for the outcome of equal pay negotiations.

“We are concerned though that no specific funding amount has been attached to this potential liability.

“We urge the government to make a firm commitment to funding all additional requirements of these talks – which will see New Zealand women finally recognised as being Worth 100%.”

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Time for an honest look at funding of New Zealand’s public health system – ASMS

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The Daily Blog

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May 27, 2016

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An article in the latest New Zealand Medical Journal, out today (Friday), dismantles claims that the cost of public health care in this country is excessive and unsustainable.

The article, Funding New Zealand’s public health care system: time for an honest appraisal and public debate, examines data from the Treasury and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and concludes that claims about New Zealand’s health care spending are based on a misrepresentation.

It was written jointly by Lyndon Keene and Ian Powell from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), Christchurch surgeon Phil Bagshaw (who chairs the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust), Emeritus Professor M. Gary Nicholls (Department of Medicine, University of Otago), Council of Trade Unions economist and Director of Policy Dr Bill Rosenberg, and Professor Christopher Frampton (Biostatistician, University of Otago – Christchurch).

The article illustrates how New Zealand’s health care spending is low compared with most other OECD countries and how it is falling as a proportion of GDP. In particular, it argues the Government can afford to spend more on health care and that there is a compelling case for doing so; for example, to respond to population growth and aging.

“Health professionals of all types are dealing with a tsunami of unmet health need in this country, people who have a clearly defined clinical need for treatment but cannot get it because the health system isn’t resourced properly,” says Ian Powell, ASMS Executive Director.

“If these needs are not met by public health services, the costs do not magically disappear. Those patients and untreated health issues will resurface elsewhere and the costs will still have to be borne by the economy. So all the Government is doing is robbing Peter to pay Paul rather than actually addressing the issues.”

The Medical Journal article appears a day after the Government announced its Budget for the coming year. A preliminary analysis shows an overall operational funding shortfall of $304 million, including a funding shortfall for district health boards of approximately $131 million.

One of the other authors of the Medical Journal article, Christchurch surgeon and Chair of the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust, Phil Bagshaw, is currently researching the level of unmet adult health need in New Zealand.

“The amount of unmet need for hospital care has increased to an unacceptable level,” he says. “The Government must address this problem urgently. We are at risk of sliding into an American-style health system where a large section of our community is left without an acceptable level of care.”

Mr Powell says the Medical Journal article brings together various perspectives on the funding of health care in New Zealand, and highlights the need for honest scrutiny of the facts and figures.

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Funding shortfalls for health set to continue under Government Budget,’

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The Daily Blog

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May 26, 2016

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“The Government had an opportunity to fund public hospitals and health care properly after years of funding shortfalls – and decided not to,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

He was commenting on the Government’s Budget outlined today. A preliminary analysis shows an overall operational funding shortfall of $304 million, including a funding shortfall for district health boards of approximately $131 million.

“There have been significant funding shortfalls for at least each of the last five years,” says Mr Powell.

“This latest shortfall means that public hospitals’ continuing struggle to resource health services adequately in the coming year will get even worse. More New Zealanders will find it difficult, if not impossible, to get the health care they need.”

“It’s very disappointing that the Government has, once again, failed to invest adequately in our public health system. While it will undoubtedly talk up the numbers as a win for health funding, the amount set aside in this Budget is anything but.

“Senior doctors and dentists, along with nurses and other health professionals, now face another year of holding the public health system together while the Government looks the other way.”

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Budget an insult to the thousands without homes – AAAP

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The Daily Blog

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May 26, 2016

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“Today’s Budget is pitiful in the face of the biggest housing crisis since the 1930s Depression.

“With thousands of people homeless in Auckland alone, Bill English’s Budget is an insult to their desperate and immediate need,” says AAAP spokesperson Sue Bradford.

“The Government says it will increase land supply in Auckland, but under the current regime all this is likely to do is create more opportunities for private developers and investors.

“English confirms a $41m budget for emergency housing that offers no new beds over the coming year, despite demand which grows by the day.

“He adds a tiny amount – $200m over four years – to the grants available to meet social housing need. Much of this will be soaked up by rising costs and subsidies without creating significant new housing.

“Yesterday Paula Bennett served up a revised version of an earlier announcement, offering up to $5000 to 150 families to move out of Auckland into districts where locals already face employment and housing issues.

“In the unlikely possibility that this is a success, it will still be a tiny drop in an ocean of need.

“Anne Tolley also partially backed down yesterday on MSD’s demand that beneficiaries should be made to repay all debt incurred when Work & Income places them in overpriced, shoddy accommodation, but with no clarity on how this will work in practice.

“National continues to flounder hopelessly in response to the homelessness crisis.

“AAAP calls on the Government to immediately drop its commitment to state housing privatisation and commence a major state house build and acquisition programme, employing and training some of the 280,000 jobless people who are also largely ignored by this Budget.

“The consequences of National failing to deal with the emerging catastrophe in Auckland and elsewhere will be felt for years to come in downstream welfare, education, health, housing and justice costs.”

“This is hardly the responsible fiscal management so dear to Bill English’s heart, nor the kind of compassionate conservatism once espoused by some in the National Party, including the Finance Minister himself.”

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