Sunday, November 06, 2011

Announcing...WELFAREREFORM.CO.NZ

For some time I have been working on a new website called Welfare Reform. This has only been possible because of the generous help of Linda Reid who encouraged me to create a more comprehensive site than just my blog. Linda has done all the technical work involved in building the site unpaid. And I am indebted to her.

With the election less than three weeks away it is ready to officially launch.

The site is intended to be a resource for anyone interested in welfare reform. It contains most of the information I have obtained from the Ministry of Social Development under the Official Information Act since 2001. It has links to overseas sites, recommended books, press releases, interviews etc.

Because it has taken me so long to put together given my changed 'occupational' circumstances this year, there is a possibility some of the information or a link may have already become obsolete. If you find anything that doesn't work please let me know.

And if any fellow bloggers want to link to the site that would be much appreciated.

13 comments:

Tribeless said...

Great resource Lindsay. All the best with it. I shall certainly promote wherever I can.

(Will you still keep this blog running?)

Oswald Bastable said...

Linked and mentioned in dispatches!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations and thank you, it's a very valuable resource.

I'm writing a post which will link to it.

On the page for policy by party the National link goes to page-not-found.

There's a Q&A on the policy here: http://admin.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Welfare_Factsheet_and_Q&A.pdf

Lindsay Mitchell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lindsay Mitchell said...

Ele, The update hasn't been competed yet. It should be up soon. I used the MSD factsheet. Thanks for the links all.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Completed.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

That is to say I meant 'completed', not that it has been. Less haste and all that....

Anonymous said...

Fantastic website which I will be sure to poor over (pun intended!) in my allocated daily 'reading & writing time' and link wherever possible. Good stuff for always pushing ahead on this issue - you speak for many of us!!!

Peter Cresswell said...

I suppose I could bitch about the Libz welfare policy not appearing there:
http://www.libertarianz.org.nz/policies/welfare/

But that would be churlish. :)

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Not churlish. I shall make amends asap. Tribelss, this blog will continue.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your new site! A great resource.

It's a little short of information on programs that have successfully helped people move from welfare. Like.....the ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE scheme which had a very high success rate.

I watched Campbell Live when they interviewed beneficiaries about National's new welfare policy and several mentioned convictions preventing them from getting work. The Enterprise Allowance scheme targets these people. In 2009 just after National became government the scheme had it's funding completely axed, only to be brought back awhile later but now it only has the funding for a small proportion of applicants. Why? If PB is serious about targeting those who are disadvantaged in the labour market then restoring the EA to it's former glory is a no-brainer.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Anon, If you can provide a link to monitoring research that shows the EA was a success I will certainly include it. Thanks.

James said...

Lindsay....please also post updates to it on your Facebook page so we can link and spread your great stuff to many others...also your fantastic art needs promoting far and wide too...;-)