Lindsay Mitchell

It has been clear for a long time that a disproportionate number of children who are reported to CYF, have a substantiated finding of abuse ...

The anti-smacking law has failed to reduce the abuse and neglect of children. It was never going to make a difference because lawless peo...

I noticed two editorials that related this morning. First the DomPost lamenting the bizarrenness of US politics but citing Republican candi...

The NZ Hearld has a headline , New Zealand now much safer for children as injury cases plunge. There must have been data availability res...

At the supermarket checkout this afternoon I spotted the header on the Sunday Star Times heralding two new columnists - David Seymour and J...

"The proportion of gang members and affiliates in New Zealand’s prison population has grown. The 2003 Department of Corrections censu...

I've agreed to speak at the next ACT Party conference three weeks today. I'll cover what's been happening in welfare - the go...

Here's a tidy illustration of a phenomenon I occasionally blog about; the growing incidence of benefit dependence due to psychiatric or ...

Just reflecting on the back of yesterday's post , it must cause just a little bit of discomfit for politicians when they get it so wrong...

Statistics NZ is reporting the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.3%. It was 6 percent in the September 2015 quarter. This is the lowe...

These pie graphs show the percentage of beneficiaries aged 16-17 who had a parent(s) who were also on welfare. For instance 56% of Maori...

Front page headline in DomPost reads, Third of crims sent home now reoffending 30 percent to be precise. That's entirely predictable...

The closure of many Wal-mart stores (with the re-establishment of new ones simultaneously) seems to provide very practical evidence of what ...

Radio NZ is reporting : New Zealand has slipped again, to fourth, in the latest anti-corruption global rankings. NZ was 1st in 2012 and...

The NZ Herald asked for a brief op-ed  (200 words) responding to the suggestion that going off welfare isn't providing better incomes. I...

A Blenheim single mother of three has found she is only $34 better off working. "When you weigh it up, is it worth going to work? ...

With Ratana celebrations looming some are saying the church's loyalty to Labour is still strong and National needs to show what it has d...

National is publicising a drop in benefit numbers over 2015. But Labour MP, Carmel Sepuloni is bitching about National not knowing where...

The quote I referred to earlier this week sounded like something Margaret Thatcher would say but was actually contained in a response from M...

The Dompost has the biggest, boldest $1b on their front page I have ever seen. You couldn't cover it with a mobile phone. Not mine anywa...