Post-budget thoughts

What I enjoy about post-budget day is the graphs depicting government spending get prominence in all the papers and people, for at least one day of the year, look at where the money is going. Wow. We are spending as much on the DPB as we spend on Defence. Well, actually, we spend more on people on the DPB. An extra 1 percent is hidden away in "other" benefits. (1 percent equates to over half a billion dollars).

Of course, the big story with welfare spending is that it's static. If this is what we get after the 'up' stage of the economic cycle what can we expect after the 'down'?

And why all the focus on National Identity? I think there is a word conveniently missing off the end. What is the government softening us up for? Think Britain and Blair.


Hey Diddle Diddle
Cullen's on the Fiddle
The Cow's just Over the Moon
The Poodle laughed to see such fun
As the Pork Barrels rolled into June

Intent on state dependence

The Ministry of Social Development releases a Statement of Intent to accompany the 2006 Budget.

What do they intend? To ..... provide income-tested benefits to almost 1.2 million New Zealanders

The provisional population estimate for 15+ year-olds in 2006 is 3,257,480.

Well over a third receive an income-tested benefit.

When Child, Youth and Family merges with the MSD on 1 July 2006 the Ministry will have 9,000 staff. Hallelujah.

Serious stuff from the socialists

Ooooh, this is scary. According to the Worldwide Socialist Website, Clark has been throwing dust in the eyes of the electorate while she secretly cosies up to the Bush administration. Even the Poodle is part of a clever conspiracy to deceive.

CPAG get green light

According to Stuff, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has won its bid to take legal action against the Government's Working for Families package.

....in a reserved decision in the High Court today, Justice Ronald Young dismissed the (government's)challenge to the case going ahead.

Simply, Working for Families introduced an In Work payment that only single parents working a minimum of twenty hours or partnered parents, 30 hours, would qualify for. CPAG claim this discriminates against children of beneficiaries. I argue against the proposition here.

Just this morning I read a statement by author Margaret McClure. "As early as 1979 the New Zealand Planning Council had feared that 'the welfare state faces a built-in problem that it is almost impossible to stop doing what has been done before.'"

Ain't that the truth.

" The GDP needs our misfortune"

Pita Sharples is making a big hit in some quarters. He has charisma and presence. He is also off the planet. Here he argues that GDP grows on the back of Maori misery. That building prisons creates economic activity and treating heart attacks, which Maori men suffer more of, brings money into the country.

The construction of new prisons is not just good news for GDP - it is great news! New buildings, new jobs, associated industries and a flurry of economic activity.....

The life expectancy for Maori is significantly lower than the life expectancy of the total population; with a difference of about 7.6 years between Maori and the total population.

Heart attacks are counted to mean something in the GDP.

They bring cash in to the economy - through drugs, hospital beds, medical supplies, nurses, doctors, theatre and intensive care staff, heart surgeons and community workers who support coronary care.

I'm not an economist but this looks like Henry Hazlitt's broken window fallacy.

A vandal throws a brick through a shopkeeper's window. The shopkeeper will have to purchase a new window from a glass shop for a sum of money, say $250. A crowd of people who see the broken window decide that the broken window may have positive benefits:

"After all, if windows were never broken, what would happen to the glass business? Then, of course, the thing is endless. The glazier will have $250 more to spend with other merchants, and these in turn will have $250 to spend with still other merchants, and so ad infinitum. The smashed window will go on providing money and employment in ever-widening circles. The logical conclusion from all this would be ... that the little hoodlum who threw the brick, far from being a public menace, was a public benefactor." (p. 23 - Hazlitt)

The crowd is correct in realizing that the local glass shop will benefit from this act of vandalism. They have not considered, however, what the shopkeeper would have spent the $250 on something else if he did not have to replace the window. He might have been saving that money for a new set of golf clubs, but since he has now spent the money, he cannot and the golf shop has lost a sale. He might have used the money to purchase new equipment for his business, or to take a vacation, or to purchase new clothing. So the glass store's gain is another store's loss, so there hasn't been a net gain in economic activity. In fact, there has been a decline in the economy:

"Instead of [the shopkeeper] having a window and $250, he now has merely a window. Or, as he was planning to buy the suit that very afternoon, instead of having both a window and a suit he must be content with the window or the suit. If we think of him as a part of the community, the community has lost a new suit that might otherwise have come into being, and is just that much poorer." (p. 24 - Hazlitt)

When we lock somebody up, or we treat their heart attack, it takes money that could have been spent elsewhere adding value.

"I know - it sounds crazy," Pita says.

It sounds crazy because it is crazy.

United Future - saps

Last night United Future voted with the government against the Green's micro-chipping amendment which would have seen this pathetic idea sent back to select committee for review. The amendment was defeated 61 to 60.

In March Gordon Copeland argued vehemently for farm dog exemption, then later conceded all the arguments applied to non-farmdogs. But given the opportunity to demonstrate this concession wouldn't take it. How foolish he looks. As Hone would say, that's politix.

"Babies having babies"

On Monday I blogged about out-of control Eltham youths. Last night 300 people turned out to a public meeting to discuss what to do (300 in a town the size of Eltham is an amazing turn-out).

Resident Mavis Higgins told the meeting, organised by the local Lions club, that petty crime, vandalism and bullying was caused principally by "too many babies having too many babies".

"They don't know how to bring up their kids and we've let the situation happen because we've sat back and done nothing," she said.

I'd have to disagree with Mavis. We've done plenty to encourage "babies having babies."

Horomia; "It is very hard working with Maori"

If you can be bothered, read through these exchanges from today's question time. Listening to it was worse. Tau tackles Te Puni Kokiri but gets tripped up with trivia, Horomia eventually tells us what he really thinks and Tariana says the opposite of what she intended.

12. Hon TAU HENARE (National) to the Minister of Mâori Affairs: Does he stand by his translated statement in the House yesterday regarding Te Puni Kôkiri that it is not right to say here whether his ministry is “a waste of time for Mâori”; if so, where does he believe Te Puni Kôkiri should be held to account?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Mâori Affairs): Yes, I stand by the interpretation of my statement. It is not right to say here that Te Puni Kôkiri is a waste of time for Mâori. Te Puni Kôkiri is held to account in a number of ways to this House through the parliamentary process, which includes financial reviews.

Hon Tau Henare: Does he stand by his chief executive’s position that the laws of New Zealand, passed by this very Parliament and enforced by the courts, are not prescriptive but rather merely a set of guidelines one can follow if one wishes?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: Part of that I agree with, but certainly I believe that people in glasshouses should not throw stones; that certain members who should abide by the legislation that binds this House to good governance go out and leak documents from financial review committees.

Dave Hereora: What will be the specific focus of Te Puni Kôkiri over the next 12 months?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: Te Puni Kôkiri is on a roll. Certainly, I remember—[Interruption] Te Puni Kôkiri’s Mâori Business Facilitation Service—and I can tell that member that this Minister of Health is going to be here for a long time—won the Vero award for the best participation development between the private sector and the public sector, and we are going to do a lot more about that. We are about keeping Mâori out of prison, about putting more Mâori into jobs, and about helping Mâori achieve a higher level of education. That is what we will do.

Tariana Turia: Tçnâ koe, Madam Speaker; tçnâ tâtou te Whare. Further to the Minister’s answer yesterday, that monitoring reports were to be found in Te Puni Kôkiri’s annual report to Parliament, and in light of Te Puni Kôkiri’s 2005 annual report, which failed to provide any information on the output purchased monitoring of other State sector agency initiatives, can he tell this Parliament what monitoring reports Te Puni Kôkiri has produced and where they are?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: Te Puni Kôkiri takes its monitoring and liaising role very seriously. Te Puni Kôkiri is meeting its responsibilities under its legislation and it is doing that well—and a whole lot more. The Office of the Controller and Auditor-General found in its audit for the last financial year that there were no significant legislative breaches, and it is noted that the office gave Te Puni Kôkiri a good assessment.

Hon Tau Henare: Given the Minister’s answer to my supplementary question, which asked: “Does he stand by his chief executive’s position that the laws of New Zealand, passed by this very Parliament and enforced by the courts, are not prescriptive but rather merely a set of guidelines one can follow if one wishes?”, which part of that question does he agree with?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: I agree with most of it. But I want to talk about that former Minister when National had its time in Government, in the sense of the endless reports that that Government produced on negative statistics. We should look at what this Government is doing. It should not be about leaking and it should not be about members in this House who use it to ignore the rules.

Tariana Turia: Will he direct Te Puni Kôkiri to monitor the health of nearly 50 percent of Mâori children, some 93,423 children, who will benefit from the heavily promoted in-work payment because their parents are beneficiaries; or is the monitoring of the health and well-being of tangata whenua also a waste of time?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: It is a role that the Ministry of Health, steered by this Government, is managing very well. I assure the member that we have delivered reports, and supports, and those developments that we take very seriously. Working for Families is about that, and making sure that those parents and those children are being looked after is something this Government takes very, very seriously.

Tariana Turia: I seek leave to table the annual report of Te Puni Kôkiri, which clearly shows that no monitoring of other State agencies was done.

Leave granted.

Hon Phil Goff: Can the Minister confirm that during his time as Minister in charge of Te Puni Kôkiri, Mâori unemployment has halved and that the real waste of time for Mâori people was the Minister from 1996 to 1998, Tau Henare, who promised to halve unemployment among Mâori but instead increased it by 5 percent?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: Mâori unemployment has decreased by exactly 61 percent. Mâori enjoy being in work, and they enjoy being paid. That member set up three commissions, wasted a lot of money, and got nothing done for Mâori. We have done plenty for Mâori.

Hon Tau Henare: Is the Minister concerned that the recent financial review of his ministry found that it could not even answer questions about the delivery of its local level solutions programme; and when is he going to brief his ministry on what he is doing for his $180,000 per year?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: It is actually $195,000. I tell that member that we have moved on, and the issue is that we are going to focus on Mâori potential. We are going to use those good deeds out of local level solutions that my friend Tariana Turia was involved in, and we are making better use of them—more Mâori in jobs, more Mâori in high level education, and more Mâori getting into asset development. It is great stuff.

Hon Phil Goff: Did the Minister find in that financial review that one Tau Henare had yet paid back the $47 he owed the department as a beneficiary, which he said he would not be paying back?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: I am not too sure about that. But what did concern me is that that member flouted the laws and the rules of this great bastion of governance. He did that. He leeched us.

Hon Tau Henare: Does the Minister stand by his support of Mita Ririnui’s statement—support he gave in this House on 14 March this year—that advocacy of Mâori is tiresome; if so, what new career is he looking at now that he is tired of advocating for his people?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: I do not believe that my colleague made such a statement. But if we are honest, and we are in this party, it is stressful at times—[Interruption] Totally honest! Those members should ask Dr Sharples. They should ask Hone Harawira. It is very hard working with Mâori. Tariana Turia will tell members that. So I do not know what people he is talking about, because our people are trying at times. But me and Mita Ririnui love them, and we will do our best while we are in Government to make sure they go forward, not backwards.

Hon Tau Henare: I seek leave to table the speech of Mita Ririnui—the one where the Minister of Mâori Affairs actually supported him.

Madam SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is.

Hon Tau Henare: I wish to make a personal statement relating to the accusations that the Hon Phil Goff just raised. I advise the House that some years ago, when this issue was raised, I did pay back the $47 to the then Minister of Social Welfare, Roger Sowry.

Hon Phil Goff: I seek leave to table an extract from the Sunday Star-Times of December 2000, in which Tau Henare said he would not be paying back a social welfare payment of $47, a debt he had incurred as a beneficiary 20 years ago.

Madam SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection.

Hon Tau Henare: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Just a matter of clarification, I actually said that when I was in the House. I was not in the House in 2000.

Ron Mark: Does the Minister believe that the role played by Te Puni Kôkiri in promoting the ahu whenua awards and promoting Mâori excellence in farming such as that showcased in Rotorua last Friday evening is work of value, and what feedback did Te Puni Kôkiri receive from AgResearch, Federated Farmers, Dairy InSight, and the other key players in the agricultural industry in respect of Mâori farming and Mâori development?

Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA: It was all positive, and Te Puni Kôkiri has been involved in it. The big companies and the industry training organisations were there and they reaffirmed the 1,375 Mâori who are working in the agricultural industry training organisations and whom we will move on, and up, and into employment.

Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker.

Madam SPEAKER: This is not in the guise of a supplementary question, I hope, Mr Brownlee.

Gerry Brownlee: No, it is not. I am extremely worried by the revelation in the House today that the Hon Parekura Horomia is getting a salary of $195,000. I am wondering whether we can seek leave to have him explain whether perhaps that is his salary, while other Ministers’ salaries are $216,000?

Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order; nor was it a supplementary question.

ENDS

"Buy Kiwi-made" is another immoral programme

Apart from the anti-trade nature of this $11.5 million programme there is another aspect I find repugnant.

Importers are forced to pay government to encourage people away from their products. They are doubly-diddled.

If a bunch of NZ producers want to get together to promote Buy Kiwi-made, fine. But it should not be funded from taxation.

Misery loves company?

Why on earth would anyone google "misery"? Auckland has more people googling the word "misery" than any other city in the world.

Update; I gave in and googled "misery". This might have something to do with it:-)

What Hone thinks

Hone Harawira has launched a newsletter, Tokerau Times. As well as urging people to join the Maori roll he presses them to tune into Parliament;

LISTEN TO PARLIAMENT 882 AM

Most of it is crap, but whenever the Maori Party speaks, it’s always worth listening to!

Ka Kite!!

Well, he's not wrong. And the Maori Party speeches are always entertaining if not for the sheer audacity of their ideas. Is it just me or has Parliament really degenerated of late?

Benefits of the War on Drugs

In the interests of balance here is an article about the benefits of keeping drugs illegal.

(Link from Reason.com)

Census cost doubles

Thanks to parliamentary questions from Chris Tremain we now know that the budgeted cost for the 2006 Census is $74.2 million (excluding GST). This total includes the development of the online Census option. The actual costs are not yet available as the processing and output phases of the Census are still underway. The total budget for the 2001 Census was $37.9 million (excluding GST). The actual cost was approximately $39.1 million (excluding GST).

That is one heck of a lot of money, one heck of a big rise.

Imagine if, in 2011, they funded it directly. You would be presented with an invoice with your forms, billing you around $20 per person in the household. Of course the poor wouldn't be charged meaning the "rich" would have to pay considerably more - maybe $40 per person. That might focus a few minds on where the money goes.

Priorities

The government is going to spend an extra $500 million on 1,000 police.

Given the amount of offending that occurs before we lock criminals up and the level of re-offending that occurs when we let them out, wouldn't we be better using the half billion on the justice system and prisons? After all, the stated aim here is reducing the number of victims.

My understanding was (some years back) that police demoralisation was largely about delivering criminals to a court system which returned them to the community.

Pensioning the Politicians

I am not hugely fussed one way or the other about Rodney Hide's participation in Dancing with the Stars. Given there wouldn't be an ACT party without him, he can write his own ticket. But I was musing about some role reversal, perhaps a similar series called "Pensioning the Politicians."

High profile contestants would partner an MP, one from each party, who would coach them on parliamentary performance. Every week each contestant would get a question and several supplementaries, and be required to make at least five points of order. The press gallery would comment and score their performance and the public would vote.

Each week we would eliminate not only the contestant but his or her buddy MP! What a great way to dump six MPs.

And, of course, as the best parliamentarian, this is the contest Rodney would win.

Very funny

Heard about this on the radio yesterday. The BBC interviewed the wrong bloke. (Thanks to the WelfareStateWe'reIn for the link.)

IDAHO....

...stands for International Day Against Homophobia. (The 'O' is unexplained). Tomorrow is the second such day. Apart from the irritation these done-to-death "days of this " and "weeks of that" cause me, the following I found just plain baffling.

"Many people who are subjected to homophobic bullying or violence may not even identify as gay or lesbian. Schoolboys who are called “sissy” or abused for “playing like a girl”; girls labelled as tomboys; transgender women and men abused or beaten for their gender identity – are all victims of homophobia."

I don't get this. I was frequently described as a tomboy. My daughter is too. Is she a victim of homophobia?

I support the aim of, " ....ensuring that homosexual people here and throughout the world can live in freedom without fear," but this sort of silliness does GAP's cause no favours.

Don't tell the PM

Better hide this from HC. Her grand plan could kill two birds with one stone - fighting obesity and pumping up production.

Juggling a career along with being a wife or partner and parent may help to keep women healthy, scientists said this week....

...in the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, McMunn and her team analysed self-reported health records of more than 2,000 women at the ages of 26 and 54 and their body mass index, a method of measuring obesity.

Information on their marital status, work history and whether they had children was also included.

The researchers found that women who had been homemakers most of their lives were most likely to report poor health, followed by single mothers and childless women.

Homemakers tended to gain weight more quickly and had the highest rate of obesity at 38 per cent while women who were employees, wives and mothers had the lowest.

Careless comment from Commissioner

The Canadian Council on Social Development publishes a quarterly journal, Perception. In their Spring 2005 edition an article appeared; View from down under, Lessons from the New Zealand Experience. The writer interviewed Graham Kelly, New Zealand's High Commissioner to Canada;

New Zealand offers a cautionary tale of how bad thing can get when government wields a machete over its social programmes......

Through the 1990s, New Zealand’s government was known not for progressive social policy, but rather the opposite – radical dismantlement of government.

Graham Kelly, a former Labour MP who for 16 years “mostly represented poor people,” refers to that period as “a revolution.”

“When Stalin sold the wheat crop to industrialize, six million people starved. It was about that scale in NZ,” says Kelly, who is now New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Canada.

Graham Kelly has been trouble before when he made careless remarks about Maori and other ethnic minorities. I am astounded that our High Commissioner to Canada would make such an ignorant statement.

CCSD published this article. Their president, Marcel Lauziere, is currently serving a two-year stint as Deputy Chief Executive of our Ministry of Social Development.

A tragic trend

In 2004 436 people died on the roads.

In 2004 488 babies were still-born.

I contrast the two because the clamour over the first is constant and strident. What have you heard about the second, beyond one or two high profile incidents?

A stillbirth is a terrible tragedy. Miscarriages are bad enough but if you go on to conceive again quite quickly the result is you have a gorgeous child who otherwise wouldn't have been. There is nothing good comes from a stillbirth. Just loss.

The rate of stillbirths steadily dropped up until 1995. The definition of a stillbirth was changed in August that year resulting in a larger number than in 1994. Since, the numbers have fluctuated in the 300's. In 2004 there was a significant jump - 40 percent up on 2003. I will post the 2005 figure when it becomes available.

There is something amiss here.

Update; In 2005 there were 362 stillbirths. A drop back to "normal" range. But still one a day.

What to do?

On one hand we wonder about stories like this, where a Turangi teenager kills another and this, where Eltham youths, "thieves, taggers, vandals and thugs" run riot.

On the other we get reports about kids who nobody will provide a home to - not even their own parents.

I'm afraid I don't see anything but our prison population continuing to rise.

UK govt to advise home births best

Given the state of the NHS perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that the government is considering a new policy - official advice; stay at home for the birth of your baby. Perhaps the balance has tipped and home is indeed now the safer option. Even in NZ (seven years ago at least) the maternity ward wasn't as clean as my own home. I'll spare you the details.

The Independent on Sunday reported yesterday that Tony Blair's Labour Government is planning a "strategic shift" in childbirth policy away from hospital delivery and has commissioned research to support the case for home births. and "challenge the assumption that births should take place in hospitals".

The Secretary of State wants to "demedicalise" pregnancy

Where Britain goes, we usually follow. Given the huge push over the past 2-3 decades to shorten the maternity stay (even resorting to bribes), having no stay at all should look pretty appealing to struggling health boards.

Disenchantment with the State

The enormous cost of a handful of Christchurch crime families made news this week. Here is an excellent Hawkes Bay Today editorial by the consistently good Louis Pierard.

....a study in Hawke's Bay would likely show families that perpetuate the plundering of others with equal enthusiasm and cost; families for whom "parenting" is merely the biological imperative of reproduction; in which the young are schooled exclusively and extensively in the parasitic arts and in exploiting the law that is supposed to be discouraging them.

When Canterbury's statistics are extrapolated nationwide, it is little wonder disenchantment - of public and police - runs so deep at the State's record of protecting its citizens from crime.

"The man who would be Gordon's guru"

Fraser Nelson of the Spectator talks to libertarian author Charles Murray.

"Here's what I don't understand. Gordon Brown is very well-read, including books he doesn't agree with. He will have noticed things are getting worse. Things have not just failed to improve as welfare has increased; civil society in lower-income Britain is going off a cliff. So why doesn't he ask whether there could possibly be a relationship between the welfare efforts he is making, and the deterioration observed?"

"Cruelty consists of a glib assumption that government support for children can compensate for the absence of the father. That is an assumption which is now refuted by a mountain of data. In the United States, unlike Britain, there has been a wealth of studies on children in different marital situations. You can control for income, race, all the usual suspects. Again and again the same findings come out: children do best raised by both biological parents, whether you measure depinquency, truancy, psychological development, anything."

"A divorced mother is next best. Doesn't really matter if she remarries or not, step-fathers don't do much good. And way down the ladder, right at the bottom, are the outcomes of children born to single women. This has been proven again and again, yet when I go over the England and talk, scholars over there are not even aware that this literature exists in the United States. It's a kind of head-in-the-sand thing, yet what we are talking about is empirical fact, with which Britain refuses to come to grips."

"I think the Left finds it very difficult to give up its power to stage-manage the lives of the people it is trying to help. Allowing people to do what they want causes them deep distress. Gordon Brown seems to show this as much as anybody."

But will Murray's thinking shape the Conservatives? Murray holds out little hope.

"Just look at the Tories, including my dear friend David Willetts, calling for a softer, kinder Conservative Party. It's hopeless. For some reason, in England you still cannot say,'I want to slash all those welfare programmes because they are screwing poor people to the wall.'"

My note. You can't say it in New Zealand either.

Funding Women's Refuge 2

Earlier in the week I was critical of the Women’s Refuge asking for more taxpayer money when the major cause of their under-funding seemed to come from the big jump in the average length of stay. I asked why refuges were being used as an accommodation source when the government provides state housing and accommodation supplements.

This reveals that around 400 women, staying in refuges for sometimes over a year, are immigrants who don’t qualify for benefits. It should also be said that the rise in domestic violence is due in part to growth of some ethnic populations.

Getting this sort of information out to the public is critical. I am more inclined to put my hand in my own pocket now I understand the problem.

It's true, Oswald!

OK. Where's 290 degrees? 250 and two notches more must be it. Whack it up. Leave one hour, as per instructions. Hell's bells. Smoke billowing out of oven, out of house... oven is still filthy. Grab conventional heavy duty oven cleaner. Spray on madly. AAAaaah. All gasping and gagging as the smoke carries caustic fumes throughout. All don emergency teatowels burkha-style. Slam oven shut. Re-read instructions.

"If using caustic oven cleaners in the Oven, remove all Self-Clean panels prior to application." (Emphasis by oven manufacturer.)

Ohhhhh bugger. Chill bottle of wine - quick. Deep freeze usually chills in couple of hours. Forgot just cleared out massive icebergs and is now ops normal. 2 hours later - one frozen solid bottle of ... oh, who cares. Anything that comes out of the bottle will do.

Could've been worse. Could've been Mother's Day.

The rich are getting richer......

How many times have you heard that? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Why, just the other day I read it in an editorial in that lefty rag, the Manawatu Evening Standard.

This is a graph from the UK, released by National Statistics yesterday, where income inequality is falling.

It illustrates well how incomes are flattened by the tax and benefit system. I'd like to see an equivalent one for NZ, especially since the introduction of Working For Families. Note the final columns and the gap between them. That's the financial cost of state redistribution. The social costs are another matter......

!@#$%^&*&^%$#@!

Do the persons who invented a/ self-cleaning ovens and b/ frost-free freezers read this blog perchance?

If you do I have a message for you.......!@#$%^&*(*&^%$#@!......there are only two lies bigger than the ones you told.

There's got to be better ways to spend a sunny Saturday......

More on breeding in bonnie Scotland

Here's a good idea. Either put contraceptive into prescribed methadone or link the contraceptive regime to the methadone administration.

The Scotsman reports;
"Why are we in a situation where so many who are addicted to drugs are having children? As a first step, we should explore putting some form of oral contraception in methadone or using other methods. In that way we could reduce these problems and prevent some of these children coming into harm" - Duncan McNeil, Labour MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde

As long as the addict consents I can't see a problem.

From the sublime to the ridiculous

Last week we heard about the oldest mum-to-be in the UK. Now it's the youngest.

Her 34 year grandmother-to-be is very "proud" of her 12 year-old daughter who only smokes 20 cigarettes a day, according to the Scottish Sun.

Half full, half empty

The Maori Party serves at least one useful purpose. Spats periodically break out between their MPs and the Maori Labour MPs. Today it is between Parekura Horomia who is trumpeting Maori unemployment hitting a record low at 8.6 percent and Pita Sharples, Maori Party co-leader who is aghast that the Minister for Maori Affairs should be pleased with coming last.

Just as with any other group of individuals Maori have different ideas about what it takes to succeed and what constitutes success. The Maori Party believe in a collective view but, ironically, will provide the proof it can't be forced on all of their people. And I was encouraged that a few thousand Maori have actually moved from the Maori roll to the General roll during the recent electoral campaign.

On the subject of unemployment and Maori individuals, a teenage boy lives in a beneficiary home where there is genuine sickness and inability for the mother to work. He's not at school fulltime but he is involved with one-to-one educational catch-up for part of his day and has a job at Burger King for the other part. Things are looking up for him....except WINZ are set to cut his family support because he is too old to be a dependent, wiping $80 off his mother's income despite his still being at home.

WINZ recommendation to his mother is he goes on the unemployment benefit. But he doesn't want to go on the benefit, she says. He's got a job. If he has to give her his small wage he'll have none left for himself. He's proud of making his own money, but if he does what WINZ recommends he will have some to give his mother and some for himself. But he can't do that and work, unless he lies about it. Notice too, if he takes the second option the taxpayer will be even further out of pocket. It's a mess. It's so damn typical.

That's big-state bureaucracy. Their massive welfare agency can't be flexible or assess a situation based on its distinct characteristics. They have to stick to rules which keep people dependent, dispirited and directionless. Damn them again.

ME Awareness Day

No, it's not all about me. It's about ME.
Usual story. Government isn't doing enough.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Any experience or theories?

Parliament is a serious business

To Minister of Police, Annette King, regarding the use of uniformed civilians in police roles, National MP Simon Power asked, How do rural members of the public know, when they approach a person in police uniform and in an emergency situation, whether that person is a sworn and fully trained police officer, a decoy cop, or the lead singer from the Village People?

Parliament votes in more welfare

A commentor on the previous post said the lack of personal responsibility in NZ is a top-down phenomenon. He's only partly right. I see the lack of it coming from all directions. For instance, last night Parliament extended Paid Parental Leave, with cross party support.

Well, if you are going to pay unemployed mothers to stay home then it's hard to argue against paying working mums to stay home, and if you are going to pay working mums then it's hard to argue against paying ALL working mums. Now father's rights activists want it extended to them, as of right.

Rather than do away with policies which undermine personal responsibility Parliament just keeps on extending them. Has anybody ever heard of the PNR? And where was the opposition??

What a crock

"While we are disappointed our ranking has declined, this has more to do with changes in overall economic conditions, many of which are cyclical, than any genuine deterioration in our competitiveness."

That's Minister of Finance, Michael Cullen weasling his way out of dropping 6 places in the World Competitiveness Yearbook. SIX places.

Dole down - unemployment up 2

December 2005 Unemployment benefit = 51,426 Official unemployment rate = 3.6%
March 2006 Unemployment benefit = 44,549 Official unemployment rate = 3.9%

Hypothesis;

- the anomaly is caused by the lag between becoming unemployed and going on the dole
- the unemployed are on other benefits
- people went off the dole for reasons other than becoming employed eg went to Aussie
- the figures are wrong

Dole down - unemployment up

Back in early April I was critical of NZ Statistics for their sluggishness in releasing HLFS results. The US and Australia had their March 2006 quarter unemployment figures out within days. Over one month later our HLFS results are available.

Unemployment is up from 3.6 to 3.9 percent.

One area I monitor closely is the number of single parents with dependent children who are in "none employed" households. As the number of people on the DPB dropped by just under 3,000 from Dec 2005 to March 2006 I was expecting a drop in the "none employed" households. In fact, the result is the reverse of that. There was a rise of 2,700 taking the total to 46.6 percent of all One Parent with dependent children only.

Which would indicate the people who moved off the DPB did so for reasons other than work. Typically the main reasons would be transfer to another benefit, change of marital circumstances or leaving the country.

One mystery is solved though. Now I know why David Benson-Pope left it till yesterday to trumpet the March quarter dole numbers. Perhaps he knew today he'ed have to tell us the official unemployment rate has gone up. Confused?

.....an end to cats in the city!

So says the cat-curmudgeon Ray Springer. He wants $10 million from Christchurch rate-payers to operate his cat control programme which includes euthanising cats who break a curfew and microchipping.

"Get a goldfish" he says. I am sure there are plenty of Christchurch residents busting to tell him what he can get.

Blame it on the eighties

According to the NZ Herald, Members of Parliament's health select committee heard yesterday how New Zealand had experienced a "profound change" in the increase of obesity numbers in the late 1980s and a range of action was urgently needed to bring the numbers down.

Don't be surprised if some bright spark doesn't pop up today blaming obesity on the economic reforms.

Four years ago UNICEF published a report, "When the Invisible Hand Rocks the Cradle" which blamed New Zealand's child poverty problem on the eighties economic reforms. It's legitimate to consider what role they played. Unfortunately, having already decided what the cause was, the authors confined themselve's to the mid-eighties on. Any effects of the reforms were implicitly tied up with developments earlier than that. And, of course, we can never chart what the effects of NOT instigating the reforms would have been.

Good News

"The Welfare State We're In" is soon to be published in paperback AND the Sunday Telegraph will be serialising it. What we need is a New Zealand version.

Mothering isn't everything

Conservatists argue for at-home mothering but in some instances a child has improved life chances when they experience structured and quality child-care and early education.

Noble prize-winning economist, James Heckman of the University of Chicago says that the way a person's brain develops is heavily influenced by their interaction with their mother, father and any other care giver. The environment a new brain needs is one that is nourishing, nurturing and both intellectually and emotionally stimulating. Children often lack these if they come from families that are disadvantaged by poverty, the absence of a parent, the absence of wider family support or by the parents' lack of education or child-rearing skills.

Heckman did a follow-up study on a group of black children in Michigan who had been identified as having low intelligence and given special pre-school training that helped boost their IQ. The Perry intervention programme, which lifted the children's IQs initially, was later deemed a failure because the gain these children made seemed to be lost by the time they reached age 10. But 30 years later, compared to a control group, the Perry programme children had finished high school in the minimum amount of time, earned more money, owned their own homes, had never been on welfare and were less likely to have been arrested. Heckman says the difference was the "emotional intelligence" the children obtained during their special pre-school training when their brains were forming.

Emotional intelligence is how well people get along with others, how motivated they are and their ability to persevere and be tenacious. These are the attributes — combined with IQ — that helps people succeed. Heckman concludes that the emotional intelligence that disadvantaged children can gain from early childhood intervention results in their doing better in school, raises their productivity as workers, reduces welfare dependency and reduces crime. Heckman says the community benefits by eight-fold the cost of the early childhood intervention programme.

NB That's not to say I am advocating an increased role for state.

Things I would never think of

Reading this news from Australia about their "Dob-in-a-welfare cheat" scheme I was reminded of the latest dodge revealed to me. Get yourself into a position where WINZ agrees to subsidise or pay your power bill and then stick a fork in the electricity meter. Very soon you'll have a credit on your power statement. Don't know what the chances are of getting a cash refund but they were giving it a go!

State - the "parent" with more power

Reading this, by Sheldon Richman, made me feel slightly ill. Several Californian parents objected to their children, pupils at a public school, being asked sexually explicit questions as part of a mental health survey. The children were 7 - 10 year-olds. Reading the questions I would have objected too.

After filing an unsuccessful complaint with the school district, several parents went into federal court for an injunction and damages, charging that the school violated their rights to privacy and “to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex.” The district and appellate courts rejected those claims. At this writing, the plaintiffs have not decided whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The judge decided that the parents "chose" to send their children there (if you can't afford any other option due to taxation it isn't choice) and they "they do not have a fundamental right generally to direct how a public school teaches their child."

Then Judge Reinhardt invoked parens patriae, or "father of the country".

"The questioning can also be justified on the basis of an alternative state interest — namely, parens patriae.... [The] School District’s interest in the mental health of its students falls well within the state’s authority as parens patriae. As such, the School District may legitimately play a role in the care and nurture of children entrusted to them for schooling."

Again, the writer asks, did the parents have any choice but to entrust their children to the state?

Half the story 2

David Benson-Pope is congratulating his government over the lowest unemployment seen since the mid-eighties. There are now 44,549 on the dole compared to 42,405 in 1986.

If he wants to make comparisons here's a few more.

DPB 1986 62,570 2006 103,362 +65 percent
Invalid benefit 1986 21,993 2006 74,401 +238 percent
Sickness benefit 1986 9,517 2006 46,072 +384 percent

Funding the Women's Refuge

In 2000/01 the average stay in a women's refuge was 14 days. Now it is up to 44. It appears the women's refuges are becoming a source of accommodation.

"Ms Henare said the Government had identified violence as an issue, but it had been 'incredibly lax' in funding non-government organisation providers."

Work and Income already provide housing and accommodation supplements so why is the government expected to fund further services?

Women's refuge perform an important function which the public support voluntarily. We are told the current financial crisis is due to rising domestic violence but it must also be due to the length of time that people are spending there. They need to sort that out instead of calling for more government funding.

Fat, Drunk and Broke

I'd be interested in any comments on this article by ex Treasury assistant in the Reagan administration, Paul Craig Roberts.
It all sounds vaguely familiar if not on a much grander scale. Huge deficit, shrinking manufacturing, job growth in the services; health, education, social assistance and financial, living on credit, hidden unemployment and so on. It's a bit glum.

Judith Collins MP

Collins has a confrontational manner. She enjoys the put-down method of dealing with what she doesn't like and can dish out as good as she gets. Whether it will serve her well waits to be seen. If she wasn't "boorish" on this occasion she has been on others. Personally I balk at deliberate rudeness. It's unneccessary.

Too much time is spent in public institutions observing Maori cultural traditions that, on balance, serve no positive purpose but she's intentionally making a mountain out of a foothill. The place she walked out of, a CYFS youth centre, is about kids. It's about their (probably) last chance to get a life, to turn around. Getting into a row with the kaumatua shut down any possibility of working together.

I supported Josie Bullock's protest which she went about with dignity and reason. With any cause there are good advocates and bad ones. Being right doesn't give licence to behave badly. And on occasion there is a bigger issue than the barrow you are pushing.

Centrebet post odds on Dancing with the Stars

Doesn't it irk when we have to look to the Australians to tell us what we think?

As bookies are illegal in this country we turn to Centrebet to see what odds are on offer on certain outcomes. We followed Centrebet's odds on the election result. From memory, they got it right.

Can they predict the winner of Dancing with the Stars? They have installed Queen Bea as favourite, Rodney Hide as fifth, and Lorraine Downes as last (with an interesting reason why).

I mention these contestants because the talkback verdict yesterday was that public "popularity" would be divided between these three.

Bad for your health

It is surprising, even to me, how quickly the public has taken a dislike to Pete Hodgson. People know there is something wrong with the health system and are past being patronised. One e-mailer to Newstalk ZB said, "The Health Minister makes me sick."

I came across a quote in a British paper, by one Tim Hames, which, adapted goes;

'The only justification for keeping Hodgson at Health is that he might save the public health system money by draining the electorate of the will to live'

Quite.

No longer just fathers

The group led by Jim Bagnall, which has been protesting at the homes of family court judges and lawyers, now includes three mothers who have been denied access to their children. They are continuing with their new strategy after eight years of protesting outside family courts failed to achieve change. Homes targetted over the weekend included the Speaker Margaret Wilson's.

Half the story

Here's David Benson-Pope on the latest beneficiary numbers, down 2.9 percent in the year to March.

As he has only given you the overall decrease, here is the breakdown;

Invalid benefit - up 2,100 or 3 percent
Sickness benefit - up 2,300 or 5 percent
DPB - down 2,300 or 2 percent
Unemployment benefit - down 10,400 or 19 percent

"The government believes that ultimately work is the best way out of poverty, and provides the best social and economic outcomes for families in the long run," Mr Benson-Pope said.

There's a problem word in that sentence. ULTIMATELY. Finally, eventually, sooner or later, in the end. Why did he use it?

The power of TV

Apparently DIY shows are causing men to have DIY accidents.

So perhaps those TV ads showing blokes falling off ladders are making blokes.....fall off ladders. Afterall, this is the leading cause of DIY accidents.

Whatever, here comes the government galloping to our rescue.

".....this could soon be a thing of the past. New government rules are set to limit the size of projects handymen can tackle. At present, anyone can renovate as long as building inspectors check the work. By 2011, only licensed builders will be able to carry out the work."

Failing that the government will consider passing legislation to ban further production of DIY programmes....

One busy boy

The Scotsman reports, Lesbians and single women are receiving IVF and other fertility treatments on the NHS in Scotland despite a nationwide shortage of sperm donors......It has also emerged that Scotland currently has just one active sperm donor, following changes in the law that removed the right to anonymity.

Couple of silly sheilas

Dopey dog and daughter. They're the same silly age. Here they are hanging out together.

Maori Party disquiet over Treaty settlement process

The Maori Party are considering calling a halt to the treaty claims process because of problems it lists in a letter posted on their website.

# Government said the country could only afford $1 billion for treaty settlements.
# That proposal has already been rejected by iwi at the Hirangi hui in 1992.
# The 2005 Budget listed a surplus of $7 billion.
# Clearly, government's settlement offer of $1.3 billion is insultingly low.

* The Crown is settling at about 2% of the real value of claims.
* Maori are being forced to accept far less than their claims are worth.

It is not our intention to oppose Treaty settlements at this point, but to signal our very clear disquiet with the process, the terms, the quantum, and the agency managing Treaty settlements.

It is because of the seriousness and the breadth of those concerns, that the Maori Party is considering a call :

"That all Treaty settlements be suspended until there has been a full review of the Treaty Settlement process".

Their "disquiet with .... the quantum" must be extreme. By my calculations the Maori Party believes the government should pay $65 billion in treaty settlements.

Headlines

What is the function of a headline?

Childcare role of women, say parents

Which parents?

The survey of more than 1000 parents showed 34 per cent agreed the father should be the breadwinner, while 53 per cent disagreed.

Taxpayer foots another market failure

What was it Steve Maharey told us in March, when figures showed New Zealand music accounted for a record 20.8% of music played on commercial radio in 2005 - up from 18.6% in 2004?

"This is a fantastic result for the music industry, and it demonstrates what we've known all along - that New Zealanders want to tune into more of their own music," Steve Maharey said.

But the result was boosted by Kiwi FM which played 100 percent NZ music that hardly anyone was listening to!

Kiwi FM was launched on Waitangi Day last year and attracted just 0.7 per cent of the Auckland audience with a national listenership of about 43,000.

This week, with CanWest about to shut the station, the Government granted the company three FM frequencies to keep it going ...

So Maharey is basing his claim on the number of hours played - not the number of ears listening. Anybody operating in the real market would know the danger of that fallacy - basing your decisions on what you produce and not what was purchased. You go bust.

But even worse than the taxpayer being forced to subsidise the station, is Maharey's use of a "rigged" result to bully other stations into upping their own quotas because that's what we - you and I - want.

Move over Keith......

I love Chuck Berry and I love the free market. This morning I found a DVD of his 1969 Toronto stadium performance for $9.99 at the big red shed.

Berry is still peforming, next appearance at a jazz and blues festival in Duluth in July.

He's only 79.

Growing gap between rich and poor women

This US research backs up what I have been saying for a while; that the economic polarisation of women is greater than for men. And much of it is due to the welfare state.

When you consider the 70's expansion of the welfare state was largely driven by feminists they haven't done their "poor sisters" much good.

In the past eight years, unplanned pregnancies, births and abortions have risen among the nation's poorest women, while these rates have fallen for more affluent women......The Washington Post reports that 50 percent more poor women gave birth to babies in 2001 than in 1994, while the birth rate decreased in affluent women...

I am unaware of research confirming a similar trend in NZ but I believe it's happening, possibly at a greater rate. Why? Because our overall abortion rate is still climbing whereas in the US it is dropping.

In the forseeable future the likelihood of poorer women reproducing will be stronger than for the more affluent. In fact if you look at NZ regional fertility rates they are already highest in Gisborne (2.64 births per woman) and Northland (2.51) compared to the lowest Otago (1.61) and Canterbury (1.72).

Interesting that the researchers are calling for more publicly funded contraception and abortion, with equal access for all. NZ policy is closer to what they want but the results aren't. As Michael Bassett recently commented, it is a mystery why the growing availability and choice in contraception hasn't impacted on the incidence of births into poor families.

Naenae - breeding ground for trouble

Only a couple of weeks back Naenae, north of Wellington, made the national news headlines. I blogged about it then. Tonight, another horrid story about the beating of a twenty-one year-old female. The twist is, this time the attackers were women.

Forget beer goggles......

A man died, but there'd been too many sins so he found himself in hell. A guide met him at the entrance. "You have a choice; you can go to Capitalist Hell or Communist Hell."
Being a shrewd chap, he decided to survey both before deciding. He met the Capitalist Devil first, all suited up, hair greased back, and asked: "So what goes on inside Capitalist Hell?"
"Ahh, well we like to boil people in oil, ram them with spikes and flail them alive."
"What?! Right, that's it - I'm off to Communist Hell."
Once there, he met a Karl Marx type devil, ushering him towards the gates...
"Hey, I'm not in yet - tell me, what goes on in Communist Hell?"
The Marx Devil scratched his beard and said: "Well, we like to boil people in oil, ram spikes through their bodies and flail them alive."
"What?! But that's just the same as Capitalist Hell?! Wait, though....why is there a queue?"
"Ah, yes...um...we've run out of oil, there's no more spikes and the flail's broken."

(Lifted from Adam Smith blog)

A Washington perspective

Came across this Washington Post list of ten things American tourists should know about Aoteroa. Here's number four ;

4. Nuclear Free

You might want to be prepared if a New Zealander comes at you with this one: "Why doesn't America want us to be nuclear free?" Here are the basics as they apply to the U.S. and as we understand them: New Zealanders overwhelming want their country to be 100 percent nuclear free and they've elected governments who have passed legislation to ensure that. This extended to a ban on nuclear powered/armed ships, which inevitably caused problems for the U.S. and N.Z.'s mutual defense treaty (Anzus Treaty).

The U.S. Navy has a keep-your-cards-hidden policy of neither confirming nor denying nuclear material aboard its vessels and so they are unwelcome in N.Z. ports. The U.S. sees it as a betrayal of commitment and a slap in the face, whereas N.Z. sees it as a point of morality and national pride.

The result is that (a) no American military ship has docked in a New Zealand port for over 20 years, (b) no free trade agreement can be established between the two countries, and strangest of all (c) unsuspecting American tourists will occasionally be confronted by Kiwi tour guides bearing a grudge. This diplomatic standoff was big news in the States during the Cold War, but it mostly just makes headlines in N.Z. these days. Well, thank goodness for the Web because if you attempt to shyly profess ignorance that just makes your civic-minded guide angrier as he mounts his soapbox.

You can study up more about it here and here. (Unfortunately, no links to an American point of view could be found, which probably reflects the general level of interest on this side of the Pacific. After all, N.Z. is 45th on the list of U.S. trading partners. Love their movies though!)

Crime snapshot

Here's some interesting statistics from Richard Worth's Newsworthy;

In 2004 there were: - 167 arrests for every 10,000 Asians in New Zealand - 320 arrests for every 10,000 Europeans, and - 1,448 arrests for every 10,000 Maori.

Having caught my attention I thought I'd find out what the arrests were for. Unfortunately I had to settle for a 2003 breakdown.

For all three, the major offence was Dishonesty, the respective percentages were Asian 31, European 31, Maori 36.5

For Maori and European the second biggest category was Drugs and Anti-social offences with Maori 24 percent and European 30.

The second biggest reason for Asian apprehensions was Violence at 23 percent

The third for Maori and European was Violence at 18 and 16 percent respectively,

Third for Asians was Drugs and Anti-social offences at 18 percent.

The other offences were Property Damage and Abuse and lastly, Administrative offences, where Asians were prominent at 14 percent compared to Maori 7 and European 5 percent....

...bearing in mind, of the total apprehensions for these three groups, Asians made up 2 percent, Maori 45 and Europeans 53 percent. I think Worth's intention was to dispel the impression that Asian crime is high. It isn't. Not when they make up about 7 percent of the population.

There should be a law against it....

Just kidding. And there is anyway, but not in Italy.

The Guardian reports, Psychiatrist to become UK's oldest mother at 63.

Does anybody have any strong feelings about this? My natural inclination is to say it's up to the individual and legislation has no place. But it doesn't stop me wondering, what the hell are these people thinking of?? My youngest was born just before I turned 39. Plenty old enough. Putting aside the arguments about financial security, what about the child's emotional future?

This one will grow up as an "only child" and the statistical probability is she will lose both of her parents by twenty. Maybe one of the doctor's adult children will be very much involved. We don't know. Perhaps I should just butt out.

Update. I hadn't seen the NZ Herald report. She didn't have the IVF treatment in Italy which has tightened its laws.

"Rock Bottom"

It pains me to say so but I find it easier to think of examples of bad Kiwi music than good. The DomPost journalist who got this job was the least challenged. Tom Cardy has kicked off New Zealand Music Month with his 10 worst Kiwi songs in today's edition. Here they are;

1 Sailing Away - All of us 1986 (mercifully I was out of the country)

2 Join Together - Steve Allen 1972 (1972? the best thing to come out of the 1974 Commonwealth games was the official blue and red striped HQ holdens - my brother bought one)

3 Life begins a Forty - Dave and the Dynamos 1983 (just the worst images are conjured up of perenniel party twerps)


4 Shoop Shoop Diddy Wop Cumma Cumma Wang Dang - Monte Video 1982 (what was I doing in 1982? Looking at the picture, what was Michael Laws doing in 1982?)

5 Liverpool to America - The Knobz 1981 (never heard of it but if it's as good as the band's name I'm not missing much)

6 The Blue Monkey - Suzanne Paul 1994 (again, new to me. Is there no end to that woman's talents?)

7 They Can't Take That Away - Ben Lummis 2004 (trail-blazing the way for one-hit-wonder NZ Idols)

8 Destiny in Motion - Satellite Spies 1985 (I confess to being responsible for selling this one as a record rep. Dreadful. Around the same time I was trying get people to listen to Bruce Hornsby. Brilliant. Not Kiwi.)

9 I Love my Feet - Shona Laing 1975 (she should. Probably the only one out of this lot still on them)

10 Tonight - True Bliss 1999 (completely passed me by)

So nothing by Hogsnort Rupert, Ray Woolf, Prince Tui Teka, Max Cryer, Suzanne Prentice, John Hanlon, Howard Morrison, The Mockers, Bill and Boyd, Rog Guest, David Curtis, Bunny Walters, any punk band......

The Post is running a competition for challengers with a prize of ....drum roll....a CD of Kiwi music.

My most cringe-making song was How Great Thou Art by Howard Morrison. The song is bad enough but Howie's struggle to find pitch just gives it an edge over the competition. It's my No 1.

You might be paying your nextdoor neighbour's mortgage

Nearly a quarter million NZers receive an accommodation supplement averaging $62. This is used to pay rent or a mortgage. I don't have current data for how many use it to pay a mortgage but through the nineties and early 2000's the figure was consistently around 40,000.

If these people can't afford their mortgage repayments shouldn't they reduce them and extend the payback period? Is it fair that the taxpayer tops-up their equity while struggling with his own mortgage?

Hone on the 'bear pit'

I am quick to criticise Hone Harawira and he gives me plenty to criticise but just now I want to compliment him. The Maori Party are proving a party can get plenty of attention without yelling. This is from a speech about leadership he is delivering at Victoria University today;

Tikanga and kaupapa guide our behaviour

When the idiots in parliament start shouting and hurling abuse at one another, the Maori Party does not get involved. Speaking on marae, is a great lesson for speaking in the House.

When others speak, we are silent. When we stand to speak we do so with as much preparation as possible, and we speak clearly and strongly about the issues as we see them. And both parties notice.

They call this a 'study'?

Some research is totally pointless. Take this piece of time-wasting. American company Salary.com figured out what a stay-at-home mother should be earning by comparing her activities to similar paid roles.

To reach the projected pay figures, the survey calculated the earning power of the 10 jobs respondents said most closely comprise a mother's role - housekeeper, day-care teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive and psychologist.

They found a full-time at home mum should be paid $NZ212,000. A website is even available for a mum to calculate her "worth".

This is the stupidest idea. I gather I should list all my activities (right now I am a computer operator/writer) and put an equivalent dollar value on them. In a minute I'll go and get the washing out of the washing machine and make a major decision about whether or not to put most of it in the dryer (laundry machine operator/chief executive). So I reckon I'll earn anything up to $80 for the half hour.

Trouble is nobody is going to pay me because the activities weren't worth $80. I didn't add any economic value with my activities. I wasn't writing a commissioned article or working for someone who makes a business out of taking in laundry.

So beyond providing fodder for insecure feminists constantly carping about their worth and lack of recognition, I don't see the point. Though I am forced to admit some fool probably paid for it.

It's the 'means' you've got to watch

The government's decision to force loop unbundling will be acclaimed by many as pro-competition and progressive. Actually, the government stepped in and told the rightful owners what they will do with their property. This is one of those situations where the 'end' looks favourable to so many people that they are quite happy to overlook the 'means'.

Doesn't make it right.

Oz sends British peadophile packing

Australia is sending British paedophile packing but keeping ours. Go figure. Do they still hold a grudge against the motherland?

...and more commonsense prevailing

The judge has found against Janice Pou's family who took a landmark case against British American Tobacco and WD and HO Wills.

NZMA reverses stand on drinking age

The NZMA, New Zeland Medical Association, has reversed its position on raising the drinking age back to twenty. They now oppose it preferring tighter advertising restrictions and better policing of current laws. This from one Dr Boswell addressing the Health Select Committee today.

Tobacco Ban Poll

The Maori Party are running a poll on whether you agree with their anti-smoking legislation. Interesting that they don't call it a ban on tobacco or the criminalisation of tobacco use. 4.1 percent wanted more information, 77.2 percent support it and 18.7 don't (out of 342 votes received so far).

Maori Party reject organ donation

I'm listening to an interview with Andy Tookey who has campaigned for greater awareness of organ donation. He has just learned that the Maori Party are going to vote against Jackie Blue's bill because they "don't believe in organ donation". A few weeks ago they told him they would be voting for the bill because Maori formed a large percentage of people waiting for organ donation.

Unbelievable.

Fact or fiction?

Is it merely prejudice that makes us unsurprised when we hear or read that a crime was committed by a person on a benefit?

According to the 2001 Census of prison inmates 69 percent of female prisoners were on a benefit prior to entering prison. The equivalent figure for males was 39 percent.

That equates to 1,807 prisoners or 44 percent.

If the prison population proportionately reflected the working-age population there should only be 614 prisoners who were previously on a benefit. The public perception, via the media, that people who commit crimes are frequently beneficiaries, is founded in fact.

For balance it has to be said that only o.6 percent of all working-age people on a benefit end up in prison. The percentage for the non-beneficiary working-age population (15+) is 0.07 percent.

Statistically speaking a beneficiary is nine times more likely to end up in prison.

Forced cultural awareness?

"A parliamentary inquiry will ask why 20 per cent of New Zealand school pupils fail...... That large disparity prompted the ERO to require all schools to prove they are helping struggling students - a requirement that will come into force next month...... Schools will be expected to make special efforts with literacy, numeracy and cultural awareness."

Why is the ERO making cultural awareness a priority?

The small independent school my son attends only has five teachers - more teachers than Maori pupils. This is what their ERO review says;

The board, through its charter and strategic plan, has a clear commitment to recognising the Treaty of Waitangi. It is continuing to seek a teacher of te reo and tikanga Māori. In the meantime, students wishing to learn te reo Māori are able to do so through The Correspondence School courses and students may choose to include a Māori perspective in any aspect of their studies.

Which is as it should be. The students can learn te reo Maori if they choose. I hope the school is not being "pressured" to find a further teacher but with ERO's stated priorities it wouldn't surprise.

Good on the Greens.....

...and shame on United Future. Microchipping dogs is a waste of time and money. United Future MP Gordon Copelnd is being inconsistent. Every argument he put for exempting farm dogs applies to all dogs. He recently rang talkback to put the case for farm dogs and the host had him conceding as much.

Alternative to the Welfare State

"The welfare system actively prevents our pursuit of happiness. It discourages enterprise, innovation, risk, work, marriage, and personal responsibility for procuring medical care, caring for loved ones and saving for the future. It outsources compassion and criminalizes common sense."

Anybody want to argue with that?

Read this short article. It endorses Charles Murray's latest thinking about an alternative to the welfare state; that government should redistribute money directly to all individuals over 21 ($10,000 pa) and get out of everything else - health, education and social welfare. I need to read the book to be convinced of such a scheme but, as an improvement on what we do now, I wouldn't dismiss it out-of-hand. Nothing that comes out of Charles Murray's head should ever be dismissed.

No getting away from the Greens

Tourism New Zealand has imported 950 plants, including some rare and endangered species, for its 100 per cent Pure New Zealand Garden, angering Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Norman Baker MP and Green Party London Assembly Member Darren Johnson.

Mr Johnson said importing plants from New Zealand for a tourism promotion was "appalling".

"There are better ways of promoting tourism than flying plants out for a five-day show," he said.

I heard Mr Johnson interviewed by Paul Holmes this morning. The main thrust of his argument was his objection to jetliners. The above is dishonest because when it came down to it, he wants less air traffic period. That means less trade, less tourism and fewer NZ plants flying to Chelsea. But it is always amusing when Greens attack people with better environmental credentials than their own. I wonder if our lot will soon be jumping on the band wagon and which band wagon they will choose?

Welfare US

This illustrates the rapid decline in families on welfare in the US.

The red line is families on welfare, the majority single parent families though a surprisingly large percentage headed by an aunt or grandparent.

The green line is the number of female single parent families living in 'poverty'.

The blue line is births to unmarried mothers. Because it represents absolute numbers it continues to rise but I think if it were a percentage of all births it might be levelling or declining slightly.

There are now 1.9 million families on welfare. One-parent families make up 53.8 percent, two parent families 1.7 percent and families headed by a grandparent, aunt etc 44.5 percent

As a rough guide there are around 76 million families in the US, so 2.5 percent are on welfare.

NZ has approximately 1.1 million families with around 11 percent on welfare.

(Graph from Scientific American May 2006)

There's no pleasing some people

Despite the government making student loans interest free and broadening the eligibility for student allowances, the Otago Polytech student copresident wants more - a universal student allowance.

A century apart

My husband was reminded of a Goldie image by this photo of Keith Richards. I can see why.

Childcare controversy

This clamour over the first 24 hour childcare centre shows how conservatives want to tell people how to live their lives just as much as any other group. I confess to sometimes wondering why people have kids if they don't want to be with them as much as possible. And then I pinch myself. I remember that my parents both worked full-time to escape working-class Manchester to live in a country where they believed my brothers and I would have better lives and better futures. They worked damn hard. Let families work out their own priorities.

From the coalface

The following is a comment on the Welfare State We're In blog. James Bartholomew admits he cannot vouch for the authenticity of the commentor. But because I've had support from people at WINZ, I'd say it's genuine. My petition received around a dozen signatures from one office. Another girl told me a PSA rep was circulating my press releases around her WINZ workplace so caseworkers could see what was going on statistically.

(The DWP is the Department of Work and Pensions).

I work for the DWP on the Lone Parent section and am confronted with lone parents quite blatently fiddling the system all the time, unfortunately because the government has cut so many jobs within the sector our fraud section only deals with a minute selection of cases. I have come across people who have had sanctions imposed on their benefits for not attending appts and then a further sanction imposed for not responding to the sanction. This in my eyes would say to me that they are either working or got someone helping them out with money as surely they would've noticed 40% of money gone if on such a tight budget? Another common thing we see quite often is that as soon as the child of a lone parent is about to turn 16 the parent gets pregnant again just so as to stay on benefit. I believe that the government should bring in something so that if a lone parent has another child while on benefit they get little or no benefits with it. I'm not trying to to sound harsh but this would save the government millions and also force parents back into work when their child reaches 16 rather than just sitting back and doing nothing while us tax payers pay them for it!

Quote

"Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."

Justice Robert H. Jackson - (1892-1954), U. S. Supreme Court Justice Source: West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 1943 (via Information Clearing House)

A couple of 'ups' for Labour

I have it from a member of an audience that contained Sue Kedgley, the Minister of Health, Pete Hodgson, said today in his maiden "state of the health sector" speech, a fat tax was a demonstrably stupid idea. The transaction cost would be prohibitive. And I see HC was pouring cold water on Sue's proposed happy meal ban on radio this morning. Which is more than National MP Jackie Blue could muster. I've said it before. The centre is getting very mushy, very interchangeable. At this rate, come next election, it won't matter which main party wins.

Overbearing bureaucracy

The government is increasingly interfering with the early child education area. Here Early Childhood Council CE, Sue Thorn gives an example of just how stupid their rules can be.

"I know of one centre owner who has spent a large amount of money on laptops for which he has developed software programmes ... He has fitted out a van so these can be taken to all his centres," Thorne said.

"The ministry has decided that the children walking out to the van is a field trip, each time the children visit the van, (so) the centres need written permission from every parent.

"If this sort of control is happening now, we are really concerned about the future when so many more of these nonsense rules are imposed."

State housing research spin-off

A study has revealed that people on the waiting list for state houses have worse health than those already in them. So the researchers conclude we need more state housing.

I suppose it would be too politically incorrect to conduct a study which compared the health of people in state housing to that of people in private housing, controlling for income. But if they did and the second group had better health, then the researchers should logically conclude we need less state housing.

Best NZ painting

TV One arts show, Frontseat, hosted by the likeable Oliver Driver, has been running a "competition" to find the best NZ painting ever. Here is the winner, announced this evening. "Cass" by Rita Angus. I like her work but I was surprised there wasn't a Goldie in the top ten.

Dissension over Maori seats

There is clear dissension in the National Party over its policy of abolishing the Maori electorates.

National appears to be backing away from one of its major policies - abolishing the Maori seats in parliament.

The party now accepts it doesn't have enough support for the idea and that pursuing it may jeopardise a potential coalition deal with the Maori Party.

But....

National leader Don Brash is rubbishing claims the party is softening its policy on the Maori seats.

Brash is pouring cold water on suggestions National is rethinking its plan to abolish the seats.

"I'm making it clear to you the National Party remains committed to the abolition of the Maori seats," he says.

There they go again. Pragmatism before principle.

Selective morality

The following is from a blog called Capitalism Bad; Tree Pretty - so you get the gist.

"There should be no consequences for people on the sickness benefit or the DPB (or the unemployment benefit, but that's another rant) if they avoid WINZ's 'employment services'. Otherwise the state is compelling people who have a societally recognised reason not to work in paid employment at that time to do things that the state believes will help them return to work at some future time."

The glaring problem here is the writer opposes the state compelling anyone on a benefit to do something. But she must uphold the state's right to compel people to pay taxes. In her world Benefit Boulevard is a one-way street. If enough of us went down it the country would collapse.

Mexico decriminalises drugs

According to Newsroom; Possessing marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if they are in small amounts for personal use, under new reforms passed by Congress that quickly drew US criticism.

Way to go, Mexico.

Questions

If the Herald on Sunday politicial columnist and Sunday Star Times political columnist can do it, so can I.

Why is it small parties need two leaders and the big parties get by with one?

Is it possible for an MP to be demoted three places on the party list and promoted to Deputy Leader in less than thirteen months?

Did anybody know that Jim Anderton's Progressive Party has five portfolio spokespeople outside of Parliament?

Who will be elected Prime Minister of New Zealand in the same year we host the Rugby World Cup and will anybody notice?

Why did DPF give Peter Dunne 8 out of 10 for his performance since the election?

Is National's commitment to Individual freedom and choice, Personal responsibility and Limited government as sincere as the US Republican's?

Would HC be better off getting her teeth and face fixed in real life or just in the photos?

Why are our political scandals so second rate when compared with the UK?

Are there any rules against turning up to Parliament in a tux or fatigues?

Does Don Brash ever allow himself the tiniest uncharitable thought about National Party ingrates?

A bridge too far

"Nats see Maori Party as future partner".

You know, this really is as bad as seeing a headline that says Nats see Greens as future partner - no, it's worse.

The Maori party is racist, socialist, separatist, tribalist and reactionary. A party of "freedom and choice" doesn't get into bed with a party like that - not on a permanent basis. They sleep with them when it suits. Which is a partnership that speaks ill of both camps and will inevitably end in tears.

Who is actually being critical of the Maori Party world-view at the moment? Nobody. Not one party is prepared to challenge their blatantly racist proclaimations and their schizophrenic attitude to welfare dependence - probably the most pressing issue Maori face.

The Maori Party has shown extraordinary energy since the election. Their MPs are passionate and deservedly high-profile but their ideas are awful. They are still caught up in the victimhood mentality and all the bitterness that entails. Some more than others. It is my sincere belief that they will not advance the social circumstances of the Maori people. Not if they stay on their current course.

And there ought to be a party prepared to point this out.