Lindsay Mitchell

The welfare state is unsustainable economically, socially and morally.

Friday, October 24, 2025

What an effective welfare system might look like

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For three decades following the 1938 introduction of most social security benefits (including Invalid, Sickness and Unemployment), ...
2 comments:
Monday, October 20, 2025

National's problem epitomised

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Why did National pick two former welfare-dependent sole mothers to be Ministers of Social Development? Because National is woke. They...
1 comment:
Sunday, October 12, 2025

Who Moves from Welfare to Super?

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The National government is presiding over significant growth in benefit dependency, in both numbers and the length of duration people remain...
Sunday, October 05, 2025

National trying but nowhere near hard enough

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RNZ's headline reads : "Jobseeker: Parents earning more than $65k must support 18-19yo children" ...
1 comment:
Saturday, October 04, 2025

A Confused Country

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New Zealand is a hopelessly confused country where people talk past each other, use the same words to mean different things, and can't d...
2 comments:
Monday, September 22, 2025

The Future of Welfare in an Ethnically Changing Population

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 Asians will make-up a third of New Zealand's population by 2048. (View interactive image here ) For those worried about one in eight wo...
Saturday, September 13, 2025

The other side of the story

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 The Latu family first appeared at RNZ pleading poverty. Their household consists of mum, dad, eight children and two relatives...
1 comment:
Thursday, August 28, 2025

Judge undermines government intent

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The National coalition government banned the wearing of gang patches in public places in November 2024. The legislation  states: ...
3 comments:
Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Why I disagree with Helen Clark

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According to the NZ Herald this morning: "Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has described the departure ...
1 comment:
Sunday, August 10, 2025

Unemployment - Digging beneath the headline rate

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The unemployment rate rose in the June quarter to 5.2 percent. For those who are interested, here's some finer detail behind the ...
1 comment:
Sunday, August 03, 2025

Study results baffle researchers

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Fascinating news out of the US this week. The prevailing ideology - mirrored in NZ - is that poverty in and of itself harms children's d...
1 comment:
Saturday, July 26, 2025

Proof that National is Labour-lite

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National governments are better economic managers BUT avoid the entrenched age-old problems that hold NZ back. Welfare for sole mothers is o...
Monday, July 14, 2025

PM's new line

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The Prime Minister is back from his holiday and insists the economy has turned a corner. But it's not showing in the unemployment data. ...
2 comments:
Friday, July 11, 2025

Is there a relationship between marriage rates and welfare dependence?

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With new data available from the 2023 census, it is possible to answer questions that contemporary policy makers seem disinterested in. Earl...
Sunday, July 06, 2025

Who relies most heavily on welfare?

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This short piece is a partial answer to the question posed. It addresses the ‘who’ but not the ‘why’. The following chart uses Census data f...
2 comments:
Thursday, July 03, 2025

The Death of Personal Responsibility

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The following quote typifies the thinking that's rampant across New Zealand's health and education sectors:     "The presentati...
Saturday, June 21, 2025

Is 'by Maori for Maori' shifting the dial?

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On June 18, 2025, Health New Zealand published extensive data (March 2025 quarter) in a two-page spread contained in The Post . I assume th...
1 comment:
Wednesday, June 04, 2025

Ardern: If she insists on being remembered, I will oblige

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One thing children who get murdered never seem short of is names. The latest example is Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene, the four-year-old ...
5 comments:
Thursday, May 22, 2025

Means-testing Jobseeker Benefits for 18–19-year-olds: What does it amount to?

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As part of today's budget the Minister for Social Development announced : "Parents rather than the state will be ...
1 comment:
Thursday, May 15, 2025

What's up with ACT?

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I won't even use the C word in Scrabble. It just represents a vulgar low standard never to be stooped to. But I have heard my grown-up k...
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About Me

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Lindsay Mitchell
Lindsay Mitchell has been researching and commenting on welfare since 2001. Many of her articles have been published in mainstream media and she has appeared on radio,tv and before select committees discussing issues relating to welfare. Lindsay is also an artist who works under commission and exhibits at Wellington, New Zealand, galleries.
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