Lindsay Mitchell

Stephen Joyce opines in the NZ Herald today about the PM's "performative policy-making": "I thought we'd reached pea...

 A reader sent me the following quote from a Bryce Edward's article at the BFD: The Prime Minister took on the portfolio of Child Pover...

A just-published Listener article asks, "Why doesn't middle-class NZ care about child poverty?" It gathers views from half ...

The longer people are on a benefit, the harder it is to get off it. The following graph illustrates that. Someone who has been benefit-depen...

 As it is now common practice to accord sentencing discounts to criminals with childhood experiences beyond their control, what about surcha...

Our time, the Queen died very early Friday morning. Mike Hosking, a proud royalist and huge fan of Her Majesty ran an excellent show dedicat...

An advert plays incessantly on the radio telling me that "Wearing a mask is an act of intentional kindness." An intention cannot b...

MEDIA RELEASE 28 August 2022 Report - Why Do Our Young Lead Developed World In Poor Mental Health? In 2020, UNICEF ranked New Zealand last o...

Jacinda Ardern in 2017: “...we are small enough that we can absolutely introduce child wellbeing policies so that New Zealand is once again...

 A TV1 news item  says about the inquiry into abuse-in-care: "A report from the Inquiry shows one in three young people placed in resid...

Increased benefit rates drive increased deprivation. This is no surprise to logical thinkers. Simply upping benefits doesn't mean the ex...

Labour's policy was to drive down the prison population. And they have. But since March 2022 the population has levelled off. 2022 looks...

Unemployment drops by a third - benefit numbers rise by a quarter. That's what's happened during (almost) five years under a Labour ...

MSD have released a report on benefit incomes. I have long held that beneficiary advocates base their poverty pleading on the basic benefit...

  Heard any alarm bells ringing yet?

 Carmel Sepuloni announces:  Benefit numbers continue to fall “The statistics show our investment into front line case management has worked...

The following pieces of information come from a published OIA response (the images are skewwhiff because that's how they appear at MSD...

SEEK EMPLOYMENT REPORTS SEEK Employment Report - Job ads soar to new highs in April MSD REPORTS Jobseeker Work Ready recipients increase by ...

In April this year the Prime Minister laid out the progress she has made towards child poverty reduction since taking office. She said her ...

 According to the Ministry of Social Development, “The harm inflicted by gangs is a serious issue in New Zealand. We have a complex gang pr...