Ethnicity matching

"The state thinks it's ok to place children outside their genealogical links."

This from Dame Tariana Turia speaking at the 'Hands off our Tamariki' rally at parliament yesterday.

Clearly the state tries very hard to keep children within their whakapapa links. That may actually be part of the problem of re-abuse in 'state care' - that children have been left  or placed with unsafe family members.

But the state certainly tries very hard to place children within their own ethnicity. (Again not something I necessarily agree with if the child's best interests are not being served.)

That's why they measure their achievement in this endeavour:

 Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, who attended the protest with a host of other MPs, said the "torture and abuse" at the hand of the state must stop.

That is one seriously misguided, dangerously inflammatory individual.

If  abuse at the 'hand of family' were to stop Oranga Tamariki, the focus of all this venom, wouldn't need to exist.

Active engagement with beneficiaries declines - numbers increase

Another of the 'key facts' advanced by the WEAG was:

In June 2014, employment-focused case managers engaged proactively with 50% of their clients every month to support them into employment. This has fallen to an all-time low of 19%, and, over the past year, has continued to drop by an average of one percentage point per month.

Source

Again I OIAed the statement:

Under the OIA  please supply the data source and current percentage relating to the following claim:

"In June 2014, employment-focused case managers engaged proactively with 50% of their clients every month to support them into employment. This has fallen to an all-time low of
19%, and, over the past year, has continued to drop by an average of one percentage point per month."

Source:

http://www.weag.govt.nz/assets/documents/WEAG-report/efc60ff2a8/Whakamana-Tangata-Key-Facts-v2.pdf

A table of data has been provided along with this statement:

I have charted the data:

I took the liberty of adding in jobseeker numbers though 'active engagement' could I assume be happening with other beneficiaries, those on sole parent support for instance.

What the picture appears to be telling us is that as active engagement with beneficiaries has declined, their numbers have increased.

"Key fact" is not

We live in a time when so many 'facts' turn out to be lies. They are not facts and the untruthfulness degrades the level of understanding and debate.

According to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group:

Source

Curious and dubious I sent an OIA to MSD:

Under the OIA  please supply the statistical evidence for the following claim:
"Over 50% of Māori children are growing up in households receiving a main benefit."
Source:
http://www.weag.govt.nz/assets/documents/WEAG-report/efc60ff2a8/Whakamana-Tangata-Key-Facts-v2.pdf

Here is their response:

 "...we have not been able to locate any data that was provided that might support the statement."

Neither can I.

This is a big deal.

If MSD didn't provide the data, where did it come from?

Who wrote the 'key fact'?

'Harm in state care' does not mean harm inflicted by the state

Not my first post on this subject but there now seems to be an official response from Oranga Tamariki clarifying the true situation.

While Maori organisations plan to protest the uplift of Maori children many people are under the misapprehension that the state is actively harming children under its care.

That only happens in a handful of circumstances and usually as part of attempts to manage the child or young person.

Oranga Tamariki deputy chief executive Hoani Lambert said the majority of the harm to Māori children happened in placements where they had been left with their family.

OT has to front-foot this issue due to biased media reporting. For instance, a letter I wrote (published) to the DomPost back in March:

Michelle Duff (DomPost, March 28) writes about the 220 children abused "in state care", they were "...taken from their families, from their homes, to a place that's meant to be safer". Most children who are 'in state care' are placed with an approved family member or returned to their original caregivers. They are under the legal custody of the state (Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive) but not living in foster care or residential homes. Most of the abuse occurred in placements that were family-related or having been returned to parents. Most of the abusers were family members or parents. No abuse or re-abuse of children is acceptable. But the facts show that family members and parents posed the greatest danger to these victims. This suggests that where the state primarily fails is in poor decision-making and monitoring of risk. 

Does Duff exaggerate?

Maori organisations have just announced a rally to Parliament a week tomorrow, July 30,  to protest the state removing Maori children from their whanau caregivers. It'll be called the Hands Off Our Tamariki rally.

I felt weary reading about it.

Then by chance I read an excerpt from Alan Duff's new book, A Conversation with My Country.

Poor Shahlaya wasn't 11 when I first saw her — she was 111. She was discreetly pointed out to me at a low socio-economic primary school many years ago. She came from a place like Pine Block, my fictional suburb in Once Were Warriors.
The school principal whispered, "See that girl . . . the sad-looking one? The one not smiling? We know she's on a house-to-house circuit, suffering sexual abuse. A tragedy, and too many like her."
The sub-society she was born into stole and violated her right to childhood. Men took turns at possessing her body, subjecting it — not her, the innocent child — to indecencies. Too weak to resist, she was an "it", a body solely to give pleasure to sick-minded adult males. And you can bet they figured out that should she go to the police or to the school authorities, her allegations would not be believed. It probably did occur to her abusers that what they did was wrong, but wrong only if they were held to
account. As to evil, it has to be assumed that abusers like this lack
a self-reflective, moral mechanism.
They may as well have put her brain into an electric mixer. 

I've read most of what Alan Duff has written over the years. In my estimation he falls into the 'been there, done that' category (though I hasten to say not as a child abuser.)

If his description of the abuse of Maori children by Maori is not an exaggeration - indeed if it holds any weight - doesn't Hands Off Our Tamariki suggest an entirely different visual image?

"Most of us don't come close to paying our way in the tax system"

In a flippant attack on Superannuation the writer states:

"Most of us don't come close to paying our way in the tax system."

Really?

Source

12 percent of individuals are paying 48% of income tax.

But that doesn't mean that a young person with no dependents isn't "paying their way" ie putting in more than they take out in either transfers or services.

Most people tend to "pay their way" at different times during their lives.

I'm not "paying my way" as an individual but I am as part of a couple. 

So it's a fraught statement. As is much of the opinion piece bursting with generalizations.  Interestingly, the comments (closed almost immediately) aren't very favourable.

(Update: Comments have gone from 8 when I first read the article to 285. My observation was based on the 8 I read.)

Justifying beneficiary increase

According to TV Three News:

"...the number of people on benefits has increased by 15,000 since the Government took office - but it's insisting that's down to population growth..."

And "...the number of people on a benefit has increased by 15,000 - though the numbers remain in line with population growth."

Labour is backtracking to "since the Government took office" because it can't defend its more recent record.

Another big jump in benefit numbers

"The number of working-age people receiving main benefits as at the end of June 2019 was 5.2 percent higher than at the end of June 2018."

Here's ACT's press release on the matter:

Beneficiary numbers spike by almost 15,000
Thu, 18 Jul, 2019

“A massive spike in the number beneficiaries shows Labour’s anti-growth policies are slowing the economy and making it easier for people to stay on welfare”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“There was an increase of 14,559 people on a benefit in the last 12 months.

“That is a shocking indictment of Labour’s economic record and a reflection its approach of failing to sanction beneficiaries who don’t comply with their obligations.

The number of New Zealanders on a main benefit has grown to 291,969, or 9.7 per cent of the working-age population.

“Even more damning is an 11.2 per cent increase in the number of people on Jobseeker Support – that’s 13,720 more than this time last year.

“Uncertainty over a capital gains tax, industry-wide collective bargaining and foreign investment and a higher minimum wage are starting to take their toll on the economy.

“Labour needs to take responsibility for the harm it is doing to the economy.

“It is completely unacceptable that nearly 300,000 New Zealanders are on a benefit when some industries are desperate for workers. If people can work, they should.

“The Government should alleviate genuine hardship, but Labour’s anti-growth policies will see many more New Zealanders dependent on handouts, rather than living productive, independent lives.”

Why children are uplifted

(Left click to enlarge)

Above is a graphic from a short article by Ian Lambie, Chief Science Advisor for the Justice Sector, which appears in the latest edition of the New Zealand Corrections Journal.

It shows that 292 children aged 0-5 had been exposed to 5 or more known family violence incidents within a year.

Lambie writes:

"Talking about the wellbeing of babies seems a long way from arguments about the prison muster, but that is where the evidence says we must begin."

This should be to the forefront of thinking while the controversy about uplifting Maori children plays out. There are certainly cases where Oranga Tamariki have been heavy-handed or overly rules-bound, and while social workers continue to be human beings, variation in the way they approach cases will exist. But there is also a great deal known about the circumstances some babies are being born into and it would be reprehensible not to act.

Steep decline in fraud prosecutions

Having scanned through the OIA responses mentioned below I found a couple of interesting tables. The first shows that fraud prosecutions are well down:

The reduction began before Labour became government. The decrease was 27% from 2016 to 2017; and 35% from 2017 to 2018. Have people suddenly become far more law-abiding?

The accommodation supplement is topical given high rents are always in the news.

At September 2018 there were 292,006 payments in place.
Two thirds were to beneficiaries; the rest to veterans, super-annuitants or non-beneficiaries.
66% were renting, 22% boarding and 11% owned their own home.
24% were receiving the maximum amount available.
8% were couples with children; 26% were sole parents with children; 57% were single.

And finally this caught my eye. Another accommodation problem that's been in the news but here's some stats:

Perhaps it isn't a 'problem' for the owners of ageing motels being displaced by better quality establishments.

Well done MSD

On June 27 I posted about MSD lagging behind in its publication of OIA responses at its website.

They have now got up responses from January and March 2019.

(Which does kind of beg the question, were there none in February?)

RNZ witch hunt finds ... reasonable numbers

RNZ is constantly on Oranga Tamariki's back trying to show them as a failing agency.

Oranga Tamariki published data not long ago detailing the number and nature of abuse/neglect cases happening to children in state care. I pointed out then that many children who are 'in state care' officially are nevertheless in the day-to-day of their parents or family members.

Today RNZ reports:

Oranga Tamariki released data showing its own staff have harmed children in care eight times in the space of six months: six cases of physical harm, and one each of sexual and emotional harm.

My immediate response is surprise at how low the number is.

'Children' can include individuals up to 18 years of age. Some will be incredibly difficult to handle. Doubtless they will require firmness; may provoke and may attack. Some will be pre-prison characters.

I would dearly love to know more about these cases but privacy dictates details can never be released.

But I don't see 8 cases in 6 months as a rod to use on the back of people doing extremely difficult work.

OIA response publishing - MSD lagging behind

Government departments have to make OIA responses public.

MSD has fallen off not posting anything since September 2018

Treasury is keeping up their latest posted is June 24 2019.

Corrections latest is also September 2018.

Now I have to go looking in places I don't normally lurk.

The Ministry of Health is doing well, particularly well, with an up-to-date concise display of information.

So is Education.

So what's with MSD in particular?

It has the largest expenditure of any government department and as such, impacts on thousands of lives.

Seems in keeping with their general philosophy of loafing off. Not really trying to get people into work. Not really trying to get fathers to take responsibility for their children. Not really trying to get clients to turn up for appointments.

Hoped the Minister would be pensioned off today but no such luck.

There will be war

Between them, the risk averse and the environmentalists are quite determined to severely reduce the quality of our lives to preserve the quantity.

The closure of amenities such as the Wellington Public library has a huge negative impact on thousands of regular users. Some of those people virtually lived there through the winter months. The church my husband infrequently attends in Eastbourne has been closed down due to earthquake risk. The Naenae pool which is quite iconic to those of us who grew up anywhere in the Hutt Valley and the backbone of Naenae's economy is closed until further notice. We've lost cinemas. Rising insurances due to earthquake risk (which are more real than rising seas at this stage) rob us of money we might spend on other pleasures - then again they might not if there is bugger all left to spend the disposable dollar on.

The environmentalists - AKA the climate-crisis calamitists - are steadily restricting dog exercise areas and ostracizing cats. At the same time SAFE - animal rights activists - would have horses become extinct as they try to shut down racing and rodeo. Perhaps that meshes in nicely with the other environmentalist - the vegan, who wants us all to desist with our love of meat and dairy. One even tried to explain to me why cheese is addictive and I should wean myself off it.

Need I mention cars, cabin cruisers in the sky, cheap clothes, cows, coal....and children?

Going childless is now the new demand from the environmentalists. The very, very best way to save the planet (with nobody left to inhabit it anyway). I expect no grandchildren.

But this morning I flew into an apoplexy. There will be war. I am now under notice that "companion pets are looking more and more like a selfish and unnecessary extension of a carbon footprint we should be going all out to reduce."

What is the vision of these guilt-tripping oppressive obsessives? A world where ageing childless pet-less people  can only go where their legs carry them (with no four-legged friend in tow)? Can only eat what they can grow from soil and barely heat their tiny houses?

No thank you. You can keep your horrid hands off my beloved dog. She is saner, more tolerant and infinitely better company than any grim and glum greenie. She stays.

Leaving a benefit lifts income but not life satisfaction

Which is probably a key finding for explaining long-term benefit dependency.

From a sample of 423 people, incomes and the life satisfaction ratings are plotted in the 150 days before and after leaving a benefit:

Source

What the heck is going on at WINZ?

What the heck is going on with WINZ?

According to advice given to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group in February 2019:

Source

Obviously here will be a time lag between writing the statement and publication but we can only assume that the percentage may now be as low as 10%??

Unbelievable.

Hood Aerodrome not

Have been following the horrible news today of  two light aircraft colliding just south of Hood Aerodrome in Masterton. I was flying there at the club a couple of years back and thinking one of the planes is the one I flew. It's not looking good. Tragic for the families.

But whoever put up the following photo is clueless. Someone who has never been south of Auckland perhaps:

Update: Corrected now

Outrageous lie from Tariana Turia

Dame Tariana Turia was interviewed by Ryan Bridge on Magic TalK yesterday evening regarding the removal of Maori children by Oranga Tamariki. Her words:

Dame Tariana calls this "overkill", and disputes Te Puni Kōkiri (the Ministry of Māori Development)'s statistics that Māori children are six times more likely to die from abuse and neglect than non-Māori."The stats aren't telling us that," she says. "In the last few years since 1993, we have had 83 non-Māori children killed, we have had 17 Māori children die, so the fact of it is this is an overkill when it comes to Māori families. Now if you don't want to call it racism, you can call it what you like."

Source

Source

Slightly muddied by the fact that the first set represent children under 15 and the second set, children under 19, combined they show that a total of 105 children (or youth) lost their lives in CAN (Child Abuse or Neglect) deaths over the 14 year period and 51 percent were Maori.

I take no pleasure in these stats but Turia needs pulling up.

How do lies like this happen?

Last week it was reported locally that a Dutch teenager was assisted to end her life. This was grasped by the end of life bill opponents in this country. I heard a little of the discussion on Magic Talk and turned it off tired of hearing people who want to run my life when I am quite happy to leave them be.

As it happens the report was incorrect. The girl died because she refused to eat and drink. Not uncommon for anorexics. She had been rejected from an end of life medical centre.

A little more searching answers my own question (and I've updated my original link). It appears a suspect source promulgated the original news story.

"According to multiple sources at British national newspapers, news outlets were alerted to the story by the newswire Central European News, which specialises in supplying unusual and quirky foreign stories to English-language news outlets.

CEN, which has previously been accused of providing unreliable information, did not immediately return a request for comment."

"Strong economies create wellbeing, not government"

From a plethora of commentary on the well-being budget this is my pick. The author, Bruce Cotterill, is unknown to me but that doesn't matter.


"The Wellbeing Budget left me uninspired and disappointed.

Don't get me wrong. There have been big allowances made for improving mental health services, which are long overdue. A substantial investment into the hospitals of our growing population is a good thing too.

It's just that when it comes to government services, and health in particular, I'm not convinced that much of the new money will get to the patients, and the others that need it.

To me, critical to well-being is a society where people are able to have aspirations and the education to support those goals.

It also means economic growth powered by business and industry that's supported by global demand for the goods and services we produce.

When business is growing and people are capable, we get a society that looks after itself.

Against that background, the trouble with the budget announcements is that we just parked another raft of expensive ambulances at the bottom of the cliff.

In other words, while I don't want to diminish the real needs in terms of mental health for example, the budget focus seeks to help those who have developed mental health problems, rather than stopping those problems from occurring.

Firstly, governments throwing a lot of money around is a inefficient way to get things done.

The trouble with most of this spending is that a lot of it will be chewed up with establishment costs and bureaucracy.

By the time they set up a couple of new departments within various ministries, design a new logo and letterhead, lease some offices and refit them, and establish the ministerial reporting lines, there could be little left for those who need the help.

What if we put some funding into ambulances at the top of the cliff?

We can fix a lot what's wrong, or even stop some mental health issues from occurring in the first place, by building an economy that is aspirational and growth-minded.

The foundation of doing so is education.

But education is a mess. It's been under-invested for a long time and it's starting to show. Principals are protesting at Government induced curriculum changes. Teachers are striking aggressively for higher pay.

Uninformed students who have been brainwashed by the liberal left are striking too for causes that many don't understand.

Imagine a society where all our kids – not just the privileged few – left our schools informed, educated and aspirational. And then imagine if those aspirations were met by a business community with equally passionate ambitions, and with a need to take on the educated talent on offer.

I spoke to someone who works close to the mental health sector.

She said that "too many kids leave school, or one of the myriad of underperforming tertiary skills development programmes, without the prospect of work".

Many can't get a job. Those that can, often only get something part-time, usually in retail or fast food, with no real prospects.

The trouble with those employers is they only call you when they need you. So, these kids sit around not knowing whether they will be required or not.

Often, they're not, and a feeling of unworthiness can quickly creep in.

Idle minds turn their attention to other pursuits, booze and drugs included. You can see where mental health difficulties can start.

If those kids have somewhere to go, a place that needs the skills and ideas they have developed, they will feel worthy indeed.

Our economy suffers from having a plethora of businesses doing low value stuff at a low level of productivity.

We continue to export logs with the bark on while we import kitset timber furniture or modular houses.

If you have the luxury of owning a house, and you need new window frames, just ask why they will take 12 weeks to be delivered.

It's because they're made overseas. And this is a country that exports timber. Lots of it. How stupid is this?

This need to build a productive economy is where governments, and the Budgets they so willingly trumpet, should start, but often fail.

Let's get education working. Build kids up. Make them believe in goals and aspiration. Feed them accurate information on the state of the world and give them the skills to participate in that world. Enable them to chase and achieve their dreams.

And then let's support and build a business community that can take on those youngsters, give them a career, encourage their greatness and celebrate what they can achieve.

Wellbeing doesn't happen because governments throw money at underprivileged minorities. Wellbeing happens when you create a society and an economy that enables people to help themselves."

Source

Bruce Cotterill is a company director and advisor to business leaders. He is the author of the book, "The Best Leaders Don't Shout". www.brucecotterill.com