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Political opportunists out in force over Sydney hostage crisis

By
John Minto
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29

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It hasn’t taken long for supporters of New Zealand’s so-called “anti-terror” legislation passed last week through parliament to try and justify it in the wake of the Sydney hostage crisis.

Before we even knew much about the gunman or hostage situation we had National MP Mark Mitchell, who chaired the select committee which rushed the legislation through parliament in a disgraceful and undemocratic manner, saying the legislation was 100% justified in light of what was happening in Australia.

“It becomes a lot more real for people when it’s three hours across the ditch,” says Mitchell.

Labour’s Andrew Little joined in saying the risks the new law dealt with “are real.”

Prime Minister John Key went further and has linked the hostage crisis to an “ISIS outreach programme”.

These comments are political opportunism to justify the unjustifiable.

The laws rushed through last week by National and Labour allow for 24 hour warrantless surveillance of New Zealanders by the Security Intelligence Service and for New Zealanders passports to be cancelled for up to three years.

They add to the plethora of laws passed since 2001 which bring in the surveillance state with broad attacks on our civil liberties and the slow strangulation of our democracy.

It goes without saying that the Sydney siege was not prevented by similar laws in Australia and neither would this law make New Zealanders any safer from a similar incident.

In fact the greater danger New Zealand faces is from the behaviour of individuals such as Mark Mitchell who spent a decade in the Middle East supporting and profiting from the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq – classic blood parasite behaviour by a westerner of the sort which has stimulated retaliatory terrorist behaviour in countries outside the Middle East.

While I’m not advocating this step, New Zealand would be better protected from terrorism by withholding Mitchell’s passport than the laws passed last week to withhold the passports of others.

The best protection from terrorism for this country would be for New Zealand to unshackle itself from US global military and political objectives which are the drivers of 90% of worldwide terror attacks.

In the meantime the likes of Mitchell, Little and Key should show more respect for New Zealanders than promote political opportunism in the wake of the Sydney crisis.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

NZs new hobby – hating the poor

By
Kate Dickie-Davis
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118

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Last week people queued at the doors of the Auckland City Mission. They are people that are living without enough income to afford the basics let alone the extras we as a society have come to expect at Christmas. Extras like presents for the children and a feed on Christmas Day. Some media came and asked them questions. The people standing, waiting, were forthcoming. They told their stories simply. They didn’t have enough. They were hoping for more. Some had been queueing since 4am. They were there because they were in need.

Many appeared cheerful, some were resolute and then there would have been the ones who did not wish to be filmed at all. I couldn’t help but scan the faces for people I know. People I have met during the year while working at AAAP that I hope are doing okay. I don’t want to see familiar faces. I’m hoping that for some, their situations have improved, but for the others whose situations remain the same, I hope that they are in the queue.

That was last week, but I hear the City Mission is still busy. So are we. It is the week before Christmas and the Beneficiary Advocates at Auckland Action Against Poverty are being run off their collective feet. Yesterday there were four advocates working and none of them had time to chat to me about this blog.They were all busy dealing with real people grappling with how they are going to put more food on the table. More than just a bowl of potato salad. Potato salad is cheap. So is homemade pav. The proof of poverty is not in the pudding.

The proof of poverty is in the protein.

Let me be clear. I have not spoken to a single beneficiary who is waiting for the butcher to call, alerting them to the delivery of their free range, hand reared, organic turkey. When times get tough the more standard response is ‘ we’re just having a barbie this year.’

Everyone expects sausages at a barbie.

Last week as the people formed orderly lines and waited for hours at the City Mission for a food parcel, the OECD released a report. Their report indicated that high and growing inequality reduces economic growth. New Zealand got a special mention in the report because of our rising inequality. The OECD report echoes the findings of other reports. There was a study from Victoria University, there was the documentary by Nigel Latta which resulted in my first blog for this site. The blog was called Inequality Glosses Over Poverty. There was all the work by Max Rashbrooke in 2013.

Meanwhile at the City Mission, Diane Robertson, the CEO for as many years as I can remember, stated that the numbers this year were three times what they were last year. Diane said the numbers, the stories and the desperation was overwhelming. This is also what we at AAAP have encountered this year.

Both John Key and Bill English dismissed the OECD report. Key has quite a history of denying inequality. Following his election win he did however state he wanted to reduce child poverty. Hmm. Colour me fucking puzzled? Denying inequality, dismissing the findings of report after report and yet admitting there might be some child poverty. Obviously someone is wrong.

I do not believe it is the plethora of reports that are wrong anymore than I believe that either Diane Robertson or I are exaggerating or lying about the number of people in need.

It’s climate change all over again. No matter how much evidence, how many reports are issued from institutes and organisations our government pays to be a member of, when the facts don’t fit, suddenly they are dismissed. I guess it is easy to dismiss a report. It is only numbers and graphs and on paper.

How can you dismiss the hundreds of people clamouring at the doors of the City Mission? How ignorant, uneducated and stupid do you have to be to see the queue outside the City Mission and still insist that those families, desperate enough to stand there for hours on end to get a food parcel and hopefully an emergency food grant, are on some kind of benefit gravy train. Anyone with an iota of common sense knows you don’t put gravy on barbecued sausages.

Cameron Slater suggested that. He wrote a blog called Pimping the Poor. In it he derides the people queuing for food. It is offensive, it is ill informed and it is disgusting. Meanwhile John Key and Bill English insist the OECD are wrong. Inequality is not a problem and neither is poverty. Maybe Key and Slater send texts to each other about it.

Today at AAAP we talked about how long we would be closed. Several of the volunteers have decided to work through the holiday, keeping the doors closed and trying to clear files from October. Like the City Mission this year we were overwhelmed.

When I was watching Campbell Live I scanned the queue and I couldn’t help but wonder if I would see a familiar face. Like the guy who had been laid off from a Labour Hire company due to his hearing, who was stood down by WINZ without an income because he couldn’t get a wage slip. The companies payroll was managed from Australia. We eventually managed to assist him and he eventually got a Job Seeker benefit approved. He was lucky he was living with an Aunt and only paying $180 board. His benefit was for $207 per week.

Welcome to life on the gravy train.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

The only people who believed National’s surplus illusion were voters

By
Martyn Bradbury
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42

Sigh – the sleepy hobbits of muddle Nu Zilind are pretty easy to con aren’t they? National’s surplus was always a joke that would never happen, but in every single focus group, voters believed by overwhelming numbers that National were the best political party for the economy.

This despite all National doing is place all our cows in one paddock with dairy (now going bust), rebuilding from an earthquake (that economic stimulus is now coming to an end) and cheap immigration policies inflating property prices to create a false sense of wealth for the property class.

National peddle small business morality but really only help big business. Labour are better for the economy, National are great for monopolies but muddle Nu Zilind cling to Key’s vacant aspiration like a child to candy.

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The global collapse in oil prices suggests that the level of poverty post the global finical collapse was being masked by cheap credit and bank bail outs, all National have achieved is a sugar high. The dismantling of adult education, draconian welfare reforms, grinding poverty and unaffordable housing has communities without the spare resource to survive another down turn. Grant Robertson and Andrew Little have their moment to build an alternative.

At some point New Zealanders will start demanding real solutions from political parties.

Surely?

If political corruption won’t change voters minds, simple self interest must right?

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

Key’s crocodile tears over dirty politics

By
Martyn Bradbury
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13

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John Key: Bloggers ‘not big part of my day’
Prime Minister John Key says bloggers are not a “big part of his day” but he lives in a world where he can’t ignore them.

Speaking on TVNZ’s Breakfast programme today, Mr Key said the “ugly” tone of the 2014 general election campaign was the low point of his year.

“It was all kind of hate stuff…the whole thing was just awful.”

Can you believe this crap? Oh it was all awful was it? Your Office initiated and co-ordinated with the SIS to falsify information to smear Phil Goff months before an election, while hacking into the Labour Party’s website, while feeding a far right hate blogger smears, while calling Slater regularly!

Where the hell does Key get off playing the victim?

Key’s claims that he doesn’t have any contact with Slater now is just a joke. Slater says he has dirt on Key and the rumour is Slater has taped all of his conversations with Key and one such tape has Key referring to a West Coast mother as a ‘feral bitch’. Key is trying to generate some damage control and is now signalling that Slater’s real master, Judith Collins, will make her way back to Cabinet in an attempt to pacify Slater and keep him on side.

That our PM has to suck up to a far right hate speech merchant and keep him happy is sickening.

The fact that the only apology Key has made is to Slater for pissing him off by revealing a private conversation regarding Collins speaks for itself.

This is the leader NZers fell over themselves to re-elect.

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Why we are in inequality denial and climate change denial

By
Martyn Bradbury
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18

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We are a country in denial over our inequality and climate change.

Both issues have the same thread that runs through them. 30 years of neoliberalism has generated its own cultural narratives and myths. We have been taught that success is an individual pursuit, thus those who don’t succeed are personally liable for that failure. 30 years of neoliberalism has ignored the hegemonic structures of power within a society to explain inequality, it has sought the simplistic answer of personal responsibility. Such simplistic generalisations appeals to the deeply anti-intellectual nature of NZers.

Even though the latest OECD report proves that inequality driven by far right policy has actually impoverished us all, such ideas are simply too big for the average Nu Zilinder to grasp.

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The immediate gut response to inequality is best summed up when the debate on feeding hungry kids in schools comes up. It doesn’t matter that the benefits have been set lower than the required minimum adult calorie intake in the hope of  forcing hungry beneficiaries to find jobs. It doesn’t matter that no political party has rescinded the dreadful Ruth Richardson Mother of all Budgets benefit cuts. It doesn’t matter that welfare agencies are structured now to be as difficult and as unhelpful as possible with a mind to find any reason to disqualify people rather than help them. It doesn’t matter that this Government have borrowed billions in tax cuts for the richest while the poor rot. It doesn’t matter that our inequality and poverty have soared.

None of those issues matter, the answer from many NZers to hungry children is ‘it’s the parents responsibility’.

The problem isn’t empirical evidence based solutions, it’s cultural myths and lies we have convinced ourselves of. When a madness like Charter Schools can be adopted minus any actual evidence that they work, it’s clear as day that idealogical fantasies by the right trump actual evidence.

Likewise with climate change.

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The climate denial voices of whaleoil and Kiwiblog scream that it’s all some sort of socialist scam because for the Right, their achilles heel to rampant free market capitalism is that its greed goes beyond the ability of the biosphere to provide. Those who drive their large 4×4 in suburbs don’t want to accept that there may not be a tomorrow for their children. The Dairy interests don’t want to question the sustainability of shipping milk off to China, the coal industry wants to turn a blind eye as well and the gas and oil speculation around our coastlines don’t want to hear anything about global warming either. Those vested interests spend vast sums of money convincing people that human pollution causing climate change is a myth and those who never want to accept that the ride is over are eager to accept it.

The problem is cultural, and that places the responsibility directly at the feet of those who are in denial.

Inequality and climate change damages us all. The cultural denial that refuses to accept the evidence and solutions exacerbates that damage. For those on the Right who scream ‘personal responsibility’, they are actually taking none.

 

 

 

 

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This weeks Waatea news column – Why proclaiming Key as the Politician of the Year is ethically bankrupt

By
The Daily Blog
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3

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This weeks Waatea news column – Why proclaiming Key as the Politician of the Year is ethically bankrupt

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Britomart violence raises questions over rail staff safety

By
The Daily Blog
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1

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Media Release: Rail and Maritime Transport Union

 

Britomart violence raises questions over rail staff safety

 

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union is raising serious questions over the safety of the staff on Auckland’s train network after violent incidents on Saturday night stopped services at Britomart Station and frightened staff and passengers at other stations.

 

The violence followed the annual ‘Christmas in the Park’ event. At around 10pm dozens of brawling youths brought Auckland’s Britomart station to a standstill, throwing rocks and other objects at each other and clambering across turnstiles as security guards and Maori wardens struggled to get control of the situation. Even police were shocked at the intensity of the situation, and passengers were left stunned.

 

Once trains were moving again another fight broke out at Glen Innes Station, when youths held train doors open and threw rocks at the train, breaking nine windows. The Train Manager ordered that the train be evacuated, moving passengers to a safe point.

 

Another train manager was assaulted from a fight that broke out inside a train on the Western line.

 

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union is appalled that staff on the rail network and members of the public were left exposed to such violence, according to General Secretary Wayne Butson.

 

“There is no excuse for this kind of a situation, and the offenders must be held to account.”

 

“However the larger concern is with Auckland Transport, whose biggest fear was getting trains moving rather than the safety of staff and passengers. This is not the first time we have brought up the issue of safety on the rail network, but this is the worst incident yet.”

 

“Under no circumstances should rail staff or passengers have to face such security risks in their workplace, and it raises serious questions about the preparedness of security and police to deal with these risks after major events.”

 

“Members have also expressed concerns that those involved in the Britomart violence were then put on to different trains to separate them. Putting potentially violent individuals and groups onto the trains puts both staff and passengers at risk and is an extremely inappropriate course of action.”

 

Wayne Butson added that the actions of the Glen Innes Train Manager ought to garner high praise and respect.

 

“Train Managers normally go unnoticed, but his clear instructions to passengers and willingness to put passengers’ safety ahead of his own should be well noted.”

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Australia stares down Siege – National Party politicise tragedy

By
Martyn Bradbury
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48

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The Sydney siege has finished, from the reports that are breaking the gunman, Man Haron Monis is dead and two of the hostages have also been killed.

The Australian Police seem to have acted incredibly professionally and the real Australian spirit has shone through with their #illridewithyou hashtag . The way the Australian media worked with the police to not broadcast any of the demands was admirable and suggests a means of cutting off oxygen to any possible future events.

When an event like this plays out in real time, people get angry and emotional. That’s very human, but Monis represents Islam in the same way the KKK represent Christianity. His actions should not be considered representative of Muslims as a whole. There are enough hateful voices in this debate, let’s not add to them.

In terms of NZ, holding his actions up as justification for the new warrantless spying powers which the National Government have rammed through Parliament, when we know that warrantless spying won’t be limited to religious terrorists, are the sorts of actions of a political vulture.

Enter one such political vulture.

The MP who chaired this latest erosion of NZ civil liberties, former mercenary Mark Mitchell, has had the poor taste to come out claiming that the siege in Sydney justifies National’s warrantless spying powers.

There needs to be a special place in hell reserved for politicians who play to our fears while justifying their abuses of power. Now is not the time to grand stand on a neighbouring country’s misfortune. Warrantless spying doesn’t protect us from thugs who go off the deep end, that’s a fallacy that Mitchell is making to politicise a tragedy.

Ugly politics from an ugly, corrupt dirty politics Party.

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The termination of the Internet Mana alliance

By
John Minto
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37

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Last week the Mana Movement and Internet Party wrote to the Electoral Commission to cancel the registration of the Internet-Mana political party.

It was a decision which brought the arrangement between the parties to a natural end after failing to win seats at the election. The parties had agreed to review their relationship six weeks after the election and by mutual agreement the arrangement was formally terminated.

Mana described the arrangement as a strategic political alliance to ensure that all votes cast to change the government at the 2014 election would be counted.

It was a link-up which worried the political establishment because the Mana Movement’s strong political platform to challenge inequality and poverty backed up with resources to enable it to run a strong political campaign had the ability to upset the cosy Labour/National neo-liberal consensus.

And they became more worried as five weeks out from the election Internet-Mana was polling 3.5% to 4% and on the rise with the possibility of bringing several MPs into parliament.

So Labour wound up the rhetoric and campaigned hard to crush Internet Mana by unseating Mana leader Hone Harawira in Te Tai Tokerau. They were joined by Prime Minister and National Party leader John Key who urged voters to vote for Labour in the seat. (When was the last time a National Party leader urged voters to vote Labour?) The Maori Party behind the scenes were urging their supporters to also back Labour as did New Zealand First leader Winston Peters for his own political reasons – knocking out any other small party which might upset his chance to choose Prime Minister.

Most of the mainstream media joined the chorus and what because a tsunami of negative publicity around Kim Dotcom swamped the Internet Mana campaign and our 1.4% of the party vote on election night meant no MPs after Hone lost his seat.

From the outset Mana realised there were big risks in the arrangement because of the massive wealth and polarising character of Kim Dotcom but it was a risk we were prepared to take. I’m proud of the fact we risked our parliamentary representation for something much bigger – challenging corporate wealth and power which is expressed politically through the Labour and National Parties.

For now the MANA Movement continues the battle in the community on many fronts. Housing will be the biggest political issue in the next three years as National looks for public support to sell billions of dollars in state housing – a bigger sale of state assets than the electricity companies in the last term of government.

To achieve this National has positioned no less than three ministers on the job: Bill English as Minister of Housing New Zealand, Paula Bennett at Minister for Social Housing and Nick Smith as Minister of Housing.

National has taken up another very big stick to beat up on the poor on behalf of the 1%. Mana’s up for the challenge.

Political representation or not – Mana is still here because the job isn’t finished.

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Peace breaks out between Greens and Labour

By
Martyn Bradbury
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19

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Finally some good news for the Left.

Peace has broken out between the Greens and Labour.

One of the greatest barriers to a real relationship between the Greens and Labour has been the uncompromising arrogance of the Labour Party Caucus who have shown all the ability to share of an only child at Christmas. Any time in the past when the suggestion has been to work with the Greens, the right of the Party have threatened all sorts of aggro. It was so extreme that Labour were quietly looking to shaft the Greens once again if Labour, NZ First and the Greens had been the majority with a NZ First-Labour minority Government using the Greens to prop up their supply and confidence votes.

That all seems to have ended. Little recently met with the Green leadership and the new strategy is to spend the next 3 years talking about a Green-Labour Government. This news was finally met with acceptance within the Labour Caucus which serves to highlight that Little meant it when he threatened to knock heads together.

At last Labour have a leader who the factions are afraid enough of to follow and the relationship between NZs two largest progressive political parties is finally workable.

Pity it has taken so bloody long.

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Little keeps it stupid, simple

By
Martyn Bradbury
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8

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Labour MP drops euthanasia bill
A bill which would legalise voluntary euthanasia has been dropped by Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway at the request of his leader Andrew Little.

Mr Lees-Galloway had been canvassing support for his End of Life Choice Bill before deciding whether to return it to the private members’ bill ballot.

But Mr Little confirmed yesterday that he had told Mr Lees-Galloway not to put it in the ballot because it was not an issue Labour should be focused on when it was rebuilding.

The last election proved without a shadow of a doubt of the low imagination threshold of  most NZ voters. If progressive political parties rejected using MMP strategies as a means to gain the majority, then it’s all about wooing over the sleepy hobbits of muddle Nu Zilind, and to do that you gotta keep it stupid simple.

Muddle Nu Zilind don’t much like words with big syllables, and euthanasia has 4. The anti-intellectualism of the neoliberal middle means Labour have to focus on boiled meat and 3 vege politics. All you will hear from Little is “Jobs, jobs, jobs”.

Progressives can hope that once in power Labour will show the same ruthless ease with which National have shown by implementing policy they haven’t actually campaigned on and Little might surprise with a raft of real left policies.

We can hope.

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Dear Ministry for Social Development,

By
Rachael Goldsmith
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28

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Dear Ministry for Social Development,
I realise you probably already know this, but just a wee reminder of REALITY. You know – the reality of the vast majority of us who aren’t making ends meet and are struggling to live on benefits, childcare & accommodation supplements and casual work.

Suspending or cancelling benefits & supplements for missing an appointment, or a bit missing off a form – or let’s even try you guys losing a form or your system failing – might make you feel good in your alternative reality that is ‘people need to make better choices and get a job’.

But are you really just punishing the ‘bludger’? Well yes, but you’re ignoring another reality.

The vast majority of ‘bludgers’ don’t spend their benefit on smokes & alcohol. The money goes to: their landlord/flatmates, power provider, the local supermarket, the guy they are paying off their car/repairs to, their kids school, their kids, their ex’s child support, the caring friend they had to borrow $$ off last time this happened, etc etc etc.

So who are you also really hurting? The support network you expect them to be surrounded by? And even more heinously – their children?

Yup.

No wonder our Child Poverty Action Group is campaigning for a benefit & assistance system that actually works for all who use it. The above scenario is compounding on top of compounding economic problems for individuals, families, support agencies, our communities, our health, justice & housing systems and more. Ministers for Social Development fronting press conferences crowing about how many bludgers they hope to stomp on this year may please the haters but there is no mention of the economic & human impact of these overly punitive and unnecessary reforms.

And before anyone says ‘there’s no excuse to miss an appt’ etc etc etc, – guess what? LIFE HAPPENS. And massive IT systems have glitches. Staff are not perfect. And call centres can ask you to please call back later because we are overloaded for quite some time – triggering suspensions for not contacting them quickly enough.

This blog started out as a Facebook rant after one of my friends was in this very situation this week. Unsurprisingly it only took minutes for many other examples to flood in.

Are all my friends ‘bludgers’? Heck no. They range from tertiary students, to single mums in part time work, to physical labourers, to temporarily unemployed, to highly qualified professionals in full time work, to people with serious disabilities, or whose children are disabled. People of all walks of life have many reasons to need WINZ assistance. And with the gap in equality forever growing, with the cost of living forever increasing as wages generally stay low, with many working families struggling to make ends meet – even having something like a childcare subsidy cancelled can derail everything.

The most common reasons I have heard of anecdotally are:

  • Health/surgery – including an emergency c-section the day of an appointment, childcare cancelled after a planned surgery that meant taking a few days off pre-school, serious ill health preventing people from getting to their appointment – right down to a normally healthy person with a tummy bug who can’t get through on the phones that day.
  • Out of town looking for work/job interviews/clashes with part time work – someone either unaware of a letter, or ringing to reschedule and speaking to staff who didn’t put in the system properly.
  • WINZ losing forms handed in before the due date. Often repeatedly.
  • Changes of address/contact details not correctly entered in WINZ’s system.
  • Glitches in WINZ’s IT systems cancelling disability & childcare allowances
  • Part-time work hours not being recorded correctly.
  • Malicious accusations of fraud causing instant cancellation. Often clients in this situation, especially single parents with children have to wait some days for an appointment to provide proof that is quickly & easily available – and even then as Catriona MacLennan recently pointed out, they may not be believed.

It’s time to break out of the ‘bludger’ box Anne Tolley, strategists and policy advisors. There hasn’t been a single independent review of our current welfare system that hasn’t raised serious concerns about the impact of these sanctions on our vulnerable.

It’s also time for all parties in Parliament to agree to the Child Poverty Action Group and the Green Party’s plea for cross-party talks on solutions to poverty & inequality.

We need a welfare system that works, and is that is fair. For everyone. Right now we have neither of these utterly vital provisions – just a punitive system pouncing on the innocent in the hopes of catching this apparently huge underclass of bludgers out at being a bunch of useless ferals – an idea that is continually being proven by their own statistics to be a ridiculously miniscule minority.

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Social Policy still in the dark ages when it comes to relationships

By
Susan St John
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5

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Two years ago I became aware of the work of two very able barristers who defend low income women accused of relationship fraud.

CPAG then began collecting cases and stories of horrendous misery and victimisation.

Then penny was slow to drop but finally it became clear that the cases that get to court are just the tip of the iceberg.  The welfare system as a whole is utterly bereft of any principle on relationships, except that if they can be found to exist, the state can save money. Under the last 6 years of welfare reform the screws have been tightened in unprincipled ways with very little challenge.

Finally this week we published our report The complexities of ‘relationship’ in the welfare system and the consequences for children.  

Read it and weep for the direction we are taking.  Low income sole parents are increasingly subjected to surveillance and intrusion on a scale, surely unimaginable in good old, tolerant New Zealand?

Worse still, any children involved may suffer greatly especially if their mother is sent to jail. She can emerge still owing the same debt with repayments that burden the mother for the rest of her life. The resulting hardship further penalises the children.

Let’s think about the big picture here. Surely Work and Income should encourage healthy repartnering as good for sole parents and their children, and good for society.   But oh no… the strange truth is that policy operates to ferret out and punish fledgling relationships.  Unlike the tax system, the welfare system treats two people living in a relationship ‘in the nature of marriage’ much worse than two singles.  Unlike New Zealand Superannuation or ACC, ‘married’ people on welfare also face a draconian claw-back of extra income no matter which partner earns it.

Who is Solomon and can judge what qualifies as a relationship and when ‘dependence’ of a mother on a new partner begins in today’s complex world? When does a boarder become a de facto partner?  When do two sole parents sharing accommodation become more than flatmates? And why should it mean he ought to be responsible financially for her children?  Why, if there is some unsatisfactory man in and of her life, maybe violent and unreliable,   should she be branded a ‘fraudster’ and have her life and that of her children ruined?

Recent new legislation makes partners also accountable for so-called ‘relationship fraud’. While it acknowledges that the focus on the sole parent’s so-called ‘offending’ alone can be most unjust this is also just another step further in the wrong direction. We can expect some very iniquitous outcomes from the expected 700-1000 cases a year.

The answer does not lie in searching for the magic formula that defines ‘relationship’ and thus makes ‘relationship fraud’ a black and white issue. The way forward in the 21st century is to progressively remove all married and single distinctions in the welfare system.

Great to see Brian Easton’s wise words: Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. He has been writing about these issues for more than 35 years. We need a groundswell of voices insisting that social policy is adapted to the 21st century.  The technological revolution is outstripping our social institutions and leaving us socially retarded and victims of outmoded thinking.

The report outlines numerous recommendations intended to open up dialogue for thinking anew about how we can better support mothers for their own sake and for their children’s well-being and surely for the good of us all.

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The truth about inequality

By
TheDailyBlog Reposts
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4

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The truth about inequality

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Rather Than Sending Troops To Iraq … Brownlee May Wish To Consider Better Force Recon!

By
Curwen Ares Rolinson
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8

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There’s something a little unsettling going on at the moment. Ok, many somethings.

Of particular concern is the fact that right now, New Zealand troops are training at Waiouru for deployment to Iraq – and, assumedly, the ongoing war against ISIS.

Brownlee, of course, denies this is happening. Although it would appear that his office didn’t *quite* get the memo…

So where are we at? The New Zealand Defence Force is undertaking  training for a deployment to Iraq. “Contingency” training? Or preparation for joining our domineering TPPA partners in yet another illustrious attempt at Peace Through Superior Firepower.

Either way, it would appear that Defence Minister  Gerry Brownlee hasn’t exactly been straight-up about what’s going on here. Recent statements made in Parliament by this “honourable” member suggested rather strongly that *no* pre-deployment training for Iraq was being undertaken.

Fortunately, New Zealand First’s sources have kept us abreast of developments straight form the get-go – and told us that a company-sized force of up to 150 Kiwi troops had been undergoing training for deployment to Iraq from as late as mid-November.

So either we have a situation wherein a newly-elected Opposition MP is considerably better informed as to the interior goings on and force goings-on of the New Zealand Defence Force than the Minister responsible is (possible – we’re well connected); or, somewhat more likely, somebody’s trying to pull that fine sheep-derived fiber-export we’re so renowned for *directly* over the body politik’s eyes about ensnaring New Zealand in what will become a deeply unpopular foreign war that we really have very little prima-facie reason to become directly involved in.

Brownlee’s knowledge of all things NZ[D]F continued to be shown up in the House by Major Mark during the same exchange, when the aforementioned Illiterate Woodwork Teacher demonstrated a habitual National Party grasp of facts … by trying to diminish Ron Mark’s extensive and transcontinental military service and confusing him with fellow NZ First MP (and one of my favourites of the new intake – one to watch) Darroch Ball.

For the record: Ron Mark is, if you will, a bit of a Parliamentary bad-arse. He spent 15 years in the NZ Army, having joined up at age 16; and with a service record that includes much time with the Special Air Service and more than a year’s worth of overseas deployments  with our Army to the Middle East. His CV also includes an additional half-decade stint in the military of the Sultanate of Oman – first in the Sultanate’s Land Forces, and then in their Special Forces. 

So when it comes to discussing the relative merits of deploying Kiwi troops to Iraq, I *suspect* that I might *just* place *slightly* more credence in the contacts, information and analysis of a former New Zealand soldier with extensive deployment experience in the Middle East … over the breathless assurances of a perniciously treasonous former financial trader, and a man whose greatest contribution to national security thus far was the $2000 fine to the Civil Aviation Authority he coughed up for breaching airport security at Christchurch Airport. 

Oh and, as you may have noticed … nowhere on Mark’s resume does there appear the title “storeman”.

In fact, the closest thing we have to one of those in Caucus at the moment is first term NZ First MP Darroch Ball – who, in a previous life, was a commissioned officer with the 3rd Logistics Battalion, before discovering a serious and admirable passion for working with youth – first through the Army, and then in a subsequent career as a high-school teacher.. And even then … “commissioned officer” =/= “storeman”, any more than “Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act” equated to “rule of law” …

In any case, this is evidently how the Nats intend to prosecute their pre-War campaign. Through lies, deceptions, falsehoods, iniquities, and inaccuracies. How else to explain Brownlee hamfistedly attempting to denigrate in the Parliamentary and popular record the real nature of Ron Mark’s actual military service when the latter presents evidence of the Minister’s duplicity.

We’re rapidly reaching a point wherein every time I hear a Nat MP assure us that they haven’t made a decision to send “boots on the ground” to Iraq, I think of this… 

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