Using 'rape' to attack reform

A prime example of desperate opposition politics.

The British government plans to limit tax credits to two children. But the opposition is crying foul on behalf of mothers of two who  become pregnant as the result of rape or other 'exceptional circumstances'.

Typical left-wing strategy. Try and kill the broad application of a policy at the margins.

Nobody is forced to proceed with a pregnancy.

An SNP MP says,

“We think the policy on limiting tax credits is appalling anyway, and tantamount to social engineering, but putting a woman who has been raped – and her child – in that position is shocking,”

Paying people to have children is social engineering. Not paying them is undoing social engineering.

She's not old enough to appreciate context.

Sole parents on welfare - decline continues

 

 There are a few provisos to the chart above.

 1/ This is only a count of sole parents with children aged 13 and under. Those whose youngest child is 14 or older are now in the Jobseeker statistics but unidentifiable.

2/ There will also be single parents among all the other benefits, especially Supported Living Payment.

3/ The count does not include sole parents under 18.

6 hours of work to get your kids out of poverty?

I pinched this from Utopia:You Are Standing In It, aptly named considering the table below:



It shows that a sole parent with two children receiving a benefit would only need to work 6 hours to get over the 50% of the median household income threshold. Is that right?

The median household income in NZ was $1,358 in June 2013. So the 50% threshold is $679.



The average Sole Parent Support payment is just over $600. 6 hours at minimum wage is $71 net.

The calculation looks robust to me.

6 hours of work does not affect the benefit:

You can get up to $5,200 a year (before tax) in additional money (for example from working) before your benefit payment is affected, and $20 more a week if you have childcare costs.

In New Zealand the higher threshold of 60 percent is used to define 'poverty'. That's $814.

According to Paula Bennett  if the parent worked 15 hours that would result in $750. At 20 hours they leap to $814 - bang on 60 percent of the median household income

So internationally New Zealand stacks up very well in its assistance level for sole parents - without the impending benefit increase.

Questions

On my mind.

Yesterday, on NewstalkZB talking to Larry Williams. Phil Twyford insisted that Labour had taken legal advice over the leaked Barfoot and Thompson data and were assured it was non-problematic because there was nothing in the data that wasn't publicly available.

Why, then, didn't they access it through publicly available channels?

Do you know anyone who wants to change the flag? Paul Henry obviously doesn't. I don't want to but that's apparently because I "don't like change". It is lucky for the person who said so, that I don't like change and thus have not changed him. If the status quo remains, will the only lasting legacy of the  flag debate be familial disharmony?

Speaking of which, where is John Key? He seems to have gone into hibernation.Or am I just looking in the wrong places?



Why have baby murders been relegated to small photo-less snippets while front pages are given over to poor pensioners not being allowed (or being allowed depending on which day you look) to put up curtains in council properties?

When are ratepayers going to revolt?

In my research, I have worried about having to assume that Maori caregivers have Maori children, but it is unavoidable, as MSD records only the ethnicity of the primary beneficiary. How worried would I be if I had to assume that anyone (or proportion thereof) with an Asian sounding name was indeed a non-resident, Chinese home owner?

And has Labour done any modelling on what percentage their policy will wipe off property values?

Because that's the aim. Let's be honest about that at least.

NZ First bags a performance better than its own

Reported by Three News and featured on page two of this morning's DomPost:

In 2005/06 the equivalent percentage was 35%; in 2006/07 it remained the same.

Remind me when NZ First was last part of the government?

A none-news story from CTU

The Council of Trade Unions says:

“New data obtained by the CTU shows that less than half of people who come off a benefit are known to have obtained work,” says CTU economist Bill Rosenberg. “In 2014, MSD records show only 46% obtained work. We therefore cannot assume that falling benefit numbers means people coming off benefits found work.” The data was released to the CTU last month by the Ministry of Social Development under an Official Information request.
“Even adding on the 11% going into full time study means that as many as two out of five people leaving benefits aren’t going into work or study,” says Rosenberg.

The type of benefit isn't defined. All benefits or the Jobseeker?

 Anyway, we can check whether this is worse than in the past.

In 2006/07 only 41% of working age clients leaving the unemployment benefit had obtained work.

DPB was also 41%, sickness benefit 18% and invalid, 26% .

More people leaving a benefit are obtaining work now than they were in 2007.

Mad Max not so mad in UK

Max Rasbrooke, anti-poverty campaigner has gone to the UK. He writes a column that's published in the left-wing  Guardian newspaper about what UK child poverty campaigners could learn from NZ. He begins by painting the recent NZ picture:

Consider this scenario: a centre-right party, handed an unexpectedly large majority, sweeps into government – and promptly promises to make child poverty a key focus of its next term in power, before delivering the first rise in benefit rates in over 40 years.

"Sweeps into government"?  It was already in government.

"An unexpectedly large majority"? Unexpected by Max maybe.

 "First rise in benefit rates in over 40 years"?

This conveniently ignores that second tier assistance like accommodation supplement and family support preserved the value of welfare for families. As well benefits have been constantly raised to keep step with rampant inflation. For instance, from the 1976 Official Yearbook a 15% annual increase to match inflation that year:

 In both countries,benefits are low by international standards

The benefit most pertinent to child poverty is the sole parent support. So how do they stack up :

NZ is middling and the UK is high.

When it comes to solutions, both governments are focused on forcing people off benefits, with no real monitoring of what happens to them afterwards. They are also both cutting, or looking to cut, in-work benefits, sometimes by stealth

Yet the government is increasing  in-work benefits from April next year:

Lower-income working families not on a benefit also get a boost from the Budget. Working families earning $36,350 a year or less before tax will get $12.50 extra a week from Working for Families, and some very low-income families will get $24.50 extra.

Rashbrooke continues:

 New Zealand does, however, provide a slightly more fertile climate for anti-poverty campaigners: in a country of 4.5 million people, poverty is more visible than it is in Britain...

Wouldn't overcrowding make poverty more visible? The more eyes there are, the more visible something is.

But the campaigners themselves can take much of the credit. Focusing on child poverty as having both the most serious consequences and the greatest emotional pull, they have launched what amounts to a full-spectrum attack. New Zealand’s Child Poverty Action Group (Cpag) has publicly confronted governments of all stripes, taking them to court over the decision not to pay certain tax credits to beneficiary households. While the courts ultimately ruled that this decision was legal, they also found it was discriminatory. The court case kept the issue in the media for long spells and prompted many political parties to promise to end the discrimination. Meanwhile, Cpag also delivered a stream of carefully researchedreports on the consequences of and solutions to child poverty.

Many political parties? The Greens were the only party to campaign on it as policy in 2014.

My own experience of CPAG reports is that at least some aren't particularly carefully researched and I've corresponded with them to that effect.

New Zealand’s successes should not be overstated. We are a long way from making a real assault on poverty, but it shows that the debate can be shifted. 

How rich is this observation  when recently writing for a domestic newspaper angry Max could find nothing positive to say about "successes" on child poverty here?

Punishing all of NZ for Auckland's problem

How often does Labour try on this type of approach (as does National), so let's just say governments. Punishing a majority in futile attempts to control a minority.

Think anti-smacking legislation, drink-drive laws, dangerous dog laws, alcohol restrictions, etc.

It isn't just Aucklanders who will be told they can't sell their property to the highest bidder (outright wealth confiscation); so will the rest of New Zealand. On the face of it, as per Andrew Little's policy description to Paul Henry this morning, non-residents will be banned from buying residential property. Non-residents include skilled migrants who cannot gain residency for two years.

What sort of message is this? We desperately need your skills - the health sector is a prime example - but don't  expect to be able to guarantee your family security of settlement initially. You can put your salary into rent for two years, thanks.

And I won't even start on the racial profiling 'research'. Stupid Labour backed itself into a corner again. To prove it isn't a racist policy, people coming from anywhere will be punished. There are plenty of recently-arrived  Pommie families in my neighbourhood, who've brought their children here for a better quality of life, and good luck to them. They're allowing vendors to maximise their property values (and sustaining all the local services like schools, doctors and shops).

Greens talk up beneficiary debt

Green MP Jan Logie says the government is "forcing" beneficiaries into debt to MSD.

"Nearly 60 percent of all beneficiaries – 171,000 people – now have a debt to WINZ, of an average of nearly $2500 each. Before National was elected in 2008, just 49 per cent of beneficiaries had a debt to WINZ, and it was closer to $2000."

For starters "average" debt is not useful term.  MSD explained why in a letter to me providing data on debt,

"The average amount owed does not provide an accurate picture of the majority of clients who have a debt to Work and income.  This is because the average is distorted by a few large amounts  owed by a small number of people. A more accurate picture of the 'average' value of debt is shown by the median value. As at the end of November 2005, the median value of debt owed to Work and Income was $501.82 per client."

So the Green figures exaggerate individual debt. Typical.

In any case, the straight forward solution would be not to extend any repayable assistance to beneficiaries. Is that what beneficiaries want? I very much doubt it.

Logie says that benefits are not enough to heat a house or buy good food. Yet when the lowest income people are surveyed, fewer than a third say they don't have enough money.

I get sick and tired of the Greens talking up poverty and debt for cynical self-serving reasons.

Child deaths from family violence by ethnicity

Yesterday Leighton Smith had a caller who claimed to work in advocacy against family violence. She would not accept that more Maori children were victims and insisted she had seen statistics to the contrary.

For some time Cindy Kiro put about incorrect statistics and I am guessing this was the source to which she referred. See my challenge to Kiro here. She had told the media:

But out of 88 children killed between 2002 and 2006, 48 were Pakeha. Maori were 28. The remainder were Pacific Island and a few Asian.

Here are the statistics that prove she was wrong.

They come from the Office of Ethnic Affairs

In the period 2002 - 2008 (two years beyond Kiro's time frame) 49 children died through family violence.

17 were Pakeha, 23 were Maori.

Margin between benefit and work - take home incomes

Source


The first thing this graph highlights is how WFF and other means-tested assistance (like the accommodation supplement) reduces the incentive to work longer hours. Look how close the minimum wage lines are at 30 and 40 hours. The  wage difference is $14.75 (minimum hourly wage) x 10 or $147.50. After the means-tested tax credits are applied, the gap closes to around maybe $30. The Left would cry blue murder over someone working for $3 an hour - slave rates. Yet the wage subsidies they support create just that situation.

Second thing. Someone working at the minimum wage with no children will be earning $472 weekly ($590 less 20% tax). If they lived in South Auckland and rented at $220 a week, they would be eligible for $47 weekly assistance (using the AS calculator). Their take-home income would therefore be $519 a week.

The sole parent with two children in South Auckland  has a 'take-home' income of $642 weekly. Yes, I am comparing apples and oranges. But here's why. Before she becomes a sole parent, a young woman working and earning $519 doesn't see $642 as such a bad deal. Stay home with the babies and get paid considerably more.

Finally, I am pleased to see the actual margins here for the first time. The difference the IWTC credit has made - on average -  has always been difficult to ascertain.

In this scenario it looks like around $200 weekly, even at full-time employment. Hopefully it is enough to cover the costs of working like transport, clothing, and childcare. Some indication of whether it is might come from the sole parent employment rate over the same period.

Source:HLFS

Very slow improvement (GFC effects aside). Lets hope the benefit increase doesn't alter this rather tenuous trend.

I guess the pertinent question is, for someone who moves in low income circles, would you be prepared to forgo quarter of your income if it meant staying home with the kids and not having to go to work every day?

An unwelcome blast from the past

What should we do with people like this?

Still dangerous and dishonest. Still costing the country every day.

Terrible headline from TV3

Boy strangled at school suffering brain damage

Posted: 08 Jul 2015 12:15 PM PDT

A boy who accidentally strangled himself after jumping from a toilet window at school has suffered significant brain damage, his father says.

What did you think when you read just the headline?

"Making headway on inequality"

Yesterday Max Rashbrooke, campaigner against inequality had a column published in the DomPost.
Extract:

In a system where income goes disproportionately to the already well-off, ordinary workers are missing out on the rewards of their efforts, to the tune of billions of dollars a year. Welfare benefits, cut by a quarter in 1991 and increased just 8 per cent in the last budget, are far too low to meet people's basic needs.

The result is a doubling of child poverty and the return of childhood diseases unknown in most developed countries – a national embarrassment, as one researcher described it. Our cold, damp homes can be death traps, as a recent child fatality tragically showed. Our still-excellent schools are buckling under the pressures of dealing with children whose parents can't afford to buy them warm clothing, feed them breakfast, or provide a quiet space for studying.

I briefly considered challenging the claim that child poverty had doubled using different statistics but to be fair to Rashbrooke by the definition he used, the claim is accurate enough. So I decided to take a different tack:

A "dreadful" trend

In 2001 there were 1,814 substantiated findings of physical abuse against children.

By 2008 the number had grown to 2,232.

At March 2015 the number has grown to 3,144.

A 23 percent rise in the first seven year period.

A 41 percent rise in the latter 7 year period.

Today:

The Government's latest report card for the public service shows an increase in the number of children and young people being assaulted - a trend that Labour describes as "dreadful".

The trend was also "dreadful"  under Labour.

Perhaps less dreadful but dreadful nevertheless.

The politicisation of this awful blight gets us nowhere. Naturally any incumbent government can find explanations eg greater reporting and so greater opportunity to discover and substantiate. Naturally the opposition can discount this.

And so it goes...

42,000 fewer children on a benefit

Source for table (left click to enlarge)

Bill English says there are 42,000 fewer children on benefits since 2012.

That means there are now 184,896. That's lower than when we briefly had the lowest unemployment rate in the OECD. Just goes to show how unrelated the two things are.

Making a difference

Researching something else yesterday I came across this story and it really impressed me. Capitalism with generosity. While  opposed to the state redistributing wealth by compulsion, my ideal is greater redistribution through voluntary actions like those shown by Dan Price. The story is from a couple of months back so apologies if it's old news. It's still excellent and unusual news.

I am not a green eyed enviest but there are some ridiculous salaries paid in this country too - especially among those in the state sector. I am currently watching one such beneficiary to see what he does to earn his almost $1 million a year salary.

The role of contraceptives in the falling teen birth rate

From Stuff

The call from New Zealand researchers for all teen girls to be fitted with long-term contraceptive devices is not as radical as many think. In fact, a similar free birth control scheme has been a huge success in the US state of Colorado.The state saw its teen pregnancy birthrate plunge by 40 per cent from 2009 to 2013, abortion rates also saw a 42 per cent drop.Colorado health officials started the experiment six years ago. The scheme offered free intrauterine devices (IUDs) to teenagers and women in financial hardship. The implants can prevent pregnancy for up to 10 years.

For context the overall US teen birth rate was 39.1 in 2009 down  to 26.5 in 2013 - a 32% drop.

And in New Zealand it's fallen from 29.59 per 1,000 15-19 year-olds in 2009 to 21.54 in 2013 - a 27 percent drop.It dropped a further 2 percent to 19.00 in NZ in 2014.

The 'free' birth control in Colorado will have played  some role, as no doubt, have WINZ grants for LARCS in NZ.

The great thing is this significant downward trend across English speaking countries. I think it's about education, welfare reforms and contraception.

Treasury warns MSD about unsustainable spending

Out of Core Crown Tax Revenue of $61.9 billion, the largest expenditure is by MSD:

"The Ministry is forecasting to administer $24.1 billion in government expenditure in 2015/16, with departmental expenditure only six percent of the total Vote. All other areas are driven by policy settings that we are unable to change without changes in Government policy. Treasury has assessed the risk to the medium-term sustainability of the Ministry’s departmental expenses as amber. Concerns are primarily around the sustainability of New Zealand Superannuation payments and the necessity to manage personnel costs, IT spending and property costs"

 MSD continues

"...Between 2015/16 and 2018/19 the total Vote is forecast to increase by $2.3 billion. We are experiencing an increase in required support for a significant number of our clients (beneficiaries, students, retirees and vulnerable children)...Demand for our services is changing as vulnerable population groups come under increasing financial pressure, especially in relation to housing affordability. There is an increasing focus and awareness of the scale of poverty and vulnerability amongst our children and less patience with government’s strategies for addressing it. Our population is ageing, and also becoming more diverse. The move in the population away from rural areas to large urban centres has increased the vulnerability of some rural communities. Many of these communities are disproportionately or predominantly Mäori who in turn have a much younger profile than the rest of New Zealand. Twenty five percent of the population under 24 years are Māori and this proportion is expected to rise. Demand for our services has changed in response to these demographic and socio-economic trends. "

 Interesting to see MSD getting political here by commenting that, "There is an increasing focus and awareness of the scale of poverty and vulnerability amongst our children and less patience with government’s strategies for addressing it." Really? What do they base this on?

And it is then noticeable that they don't comment on the public attitude to Super spending given the Treasury warning.

MSD seems to be making a case for increasing their Vote, and, when coupled with the child poverty comment, give a direction to raise it by higher taxation.

Equally interesting is the reference to Maori rural communities which I've been banging on  about since the Jobs Jolt days when Labour tried to prevent the unemployed from moving to them but crucially didn't include sole parents. This is the first official recognition of this problem I have seen.

Grasping at straws over the suicide rate

Bomber Bradbury posts the following:

The provisional suicide toll has risen to its highest figure since the coroner’s office started releasing the statistics.From the year June 2014- May 2015, 569 people died by suicide or suspected suicide.Last year (for the year ending 30 June 2014) that number was 529.The horror of our suicide rate gives us a glimpse behind the ‘she’ll be right’ veneer of our culture and the dark torment of an alpha male macho mental landscape that is terribly fragile.
Our under funded social infrastructure, our ‘me first’ consumerism, our 30 years of neoliberal mythology, our disconnection from one another, our untreated pain, our lack of hope from grinding poverty in a first world country, our toxic masculinity, our unspoken rape culture, our inability to express emotion beyond anger – all of this demands questions we don’t want to hear as a society and the shame of suicide continues to hide and smother any healing.
We huddle frightened on these lonely grey crags at the end of a jagged world and slowly one by one slip off into the swallowing dark. Until we are prepared to confront many of the individualism-over-all myths and rebuild our tattered communities, our suicide rate will remain darkly reminding us of our whispered deceptions.

Just out of interest I went back and looked at the period before all the mayhem Bomber describes.

In 1980 there were 337 suicides - a rate of 10.8 per 100,000. In 1965 it was 9.1 and in 1945 it was 11.

In the year ending June 2014 the rate was 11.73

NZ's suicide rate is tragic and represents hellish grief for far too many. But Bomber's rhetoric about the reasons for it is over the top.

UK govt recognising and redefining child poverty

The UK is going to scrap the practice of measuring child poverty by income alone. They have been using the same measure as NZ where the official poverty line is drawn at 60% of the equivalised median household income.

Although the minister did not spell it out, there will be a moral, judgmental dimension to the new definition. The government says it plans to develop a “range of other measures and indicators of root causes of poverty, including family breakdown, debt and addiction”, which it will put together in a “children’s life chances strategy”. Further details of precisely how the new measures will work are expected in the next few weeks.

Here's one reaction

 Fiona Weir, the chief executive of Gingerbread, the charity that supports single parents, warned that “further stigmatising single parent families will do nothing to tackle child poverty”.“Family breakdown doesn’t cause child poverty. It is unaffordable childcare, low levels of maternal employment and poor wages that push families below the poverty line,” she said.

'Family breakdown' is an unsatisfactory term because it infers a family existed and the relationship between the partners broke down. But in thousands of instances of single parenthood, that is not the case. Children are born to females who have no partner to support them or the child. And the poverty begins.

But if these cases can be labelled "family breakdown" (as in being attributable to the general reduction in nuclear families) then it is indeed a cause of poverty. The children are born into a situation where the knowledge about the unaffordability of childcare and low wages already existed and was ignored.

If saying that makes me guilty of moral judgement so be it.

Child poverty often begins with a poor choice. People who make poor choices shouldn't necessarily be punished for them but any pressure or persuasion a community can apply to stop them making bad decisions has got to be good. Identifying and talking about poor choices is a start. Trying to feather-bed poor choices only makes matters worse. That's how we arrived at the current untenable situation.

(Thanks Bob McCoskrie for the link).

Idiocy from the UK

Just in from a reader:

In a move that has fired up parents, teachers in the UK have won the right to inspect pupils' lunchboxes and confiscate unhealthy snacks.
"Schools have common law powers to search pupils, with their consent, for items," Schools Minister Lord Nash said.

At least they have lunches. And the state still isn't satisfied.

Iain Austin, a Labour member of the Commons education committee, said: "With Britain tumbling down the international league tables and with a generation entering the work force with less literacy and numeracy than the generation retiring, you would have thought that teachers might have better things to do than rummage through children's crisps and fruit."

Hooray for that man.

Vikki Laws, 28, said her daughter - six-year-old Tori - was not allowed to eat her sausage snack. It was confiscated and returned at the end of the day with a note from teachers. She said another parent was warned not to give her child Scotch eggs.

Gasp. I love scotch eggs (and pork pies). Neither of these items is a problem unless that's all that is eaten and no exercise is taken. Isn't that what the teachers should be focusing on?

Educating about the science of calories in exceeding calories spent.

 

Why I support Winston

A Listener editorial warns against the  inter-generational war that politicians exploit, in particular, Winston Peters.

When it comes to inter-generational warfare, it is up to political leaders to be peace activists. Few debates are more pointless and depleting of nationhood and goodwill than those that involve the crude and sometimes cruel objectification of an entire generation. “Gen Y kids are too sheltered.” ”Baby boomers are greedy.”
None of us has any say over when we are born. Most of us do our best with the set of socio-economic cards we’re dealt. How we get on, singly or en masse, is not even necessarily within our control.
Yet the political rewards of pandering to one generation at the expense of others can be considerable for those wanting to divide and conquer. It’s in this militant vein that New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is attacking attempts to curtail the fiscal burden of SuperGold Card entitlements. He has railed against the Government and local authorities continuing to cap discounts on buses, trains and the Waiheke ferry with a ferocity he should reserve for actual elder abuse.
To be fair, this is political territory he has legitimately carved out for himself. He has long made a virtue of defending the rights of the over-sixties, and they have rewarded him with a remarkably consistent show of support over his 22 years as New Zealand First founder and leader. His extraction from the Clark Labour Government of a scheme to give those aged 65 and older free non-peak travel on public transport is perhaps his crowning achievement. The card is a busy fulcrum for other discounts, and pensioners appreciate both the gesture and increasingly the reality of free daytime travel.
But they, and Peters in his influential advocacy, have a wider duty to consider the fair limits of these benefits. Yes, free travel does help reduce the isolation and loneliness older people can suffer. Over time they may lose the ability to drive; their network of friends shrinks; their partners die. Few New Zealanders would begrudge the very real benefits of a SuperGold Card subsidy.
However, in vigorously decrying the notion of any limits to this bounty, Peters and the grey lobby are inviting a nasty backlash. As with so many pithy social-equity debates, Auckland is ground zero for resentment. When Lycra-clad retirees are highly visible touring Waiheke vineyards on their pricey bicycles at taxpayers’ expense, while young families are struggling to heat their homes and afford fares to work and school, something has to give. Does the baby-boom generation really want to invoke the wrath of younger taxpayers, who could one day choose to turn off the superannuation tap?
More

The discussion about wealth redistribution and the role age plays is an entirely legitimate one. Greece should have engaged in it a long time ago. So I am quite happy for Winston to go about his special pleading for the elderly because it wakes up younger generations to how big government is. What's that saying? A government big enough to give you all you want is a government big enough to take it away, or words to that effect. That has literally come to pass for the Greeks.

I did have another fleeting thought about inter generational resentment and family members being pitched against one another. It was sparked by a comment on the article. Within the group of 65+ there are actually two different generations. two generations very unlike each other. In fact there may even be 3 at the margins. It is entirely possible someone over 100 (there are apparently more than five hundred) has a grand child collecting Super. There's a thought.

Labour looks limp

The theatre of parliament does not excite me but occasionally I'll scan through the questions and answers. Yesterday, one about selling state houses to an Australian housing charity led to the exchange below. Labour began with a potentially promising gambit, but quickly crumbled under National's riposte. It typifies Labour's problem with Key and the government. It's stuck with its own stagnant ideology (NO state asset sales EVER) producing incoherent policy; and  a fresh leader with stale lines.

State and Social Housing—Sale of Housing Stock

2. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister : Does he stand by his statement that “Locally-based providers can be closer and more responsive to their community” in relation to the Government’s policy to sell State houses to private providers?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes, and registered community housing providers will need to have a local presence and a strong capacity to meet the needs of their tenants.

Andrew Little : How would a company based in Brisbane be “closer and more responsive” to the needs of Kiwi families in social housing?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : Because they will have to be not only registered in New Zealand but have a presence in New Zealand and be subject to the community housing provider regulatory authority. If the head office of a company or an organisation rules somebody out from doing anything, then I suggest the member never go and have another Big Mac, because, and this will come as breaking news, the head office is in America. [Interruption]

Mr SPEAKER : Order! I am wanting to call the Leader of the Opposition.

Andrew Little : What lessons can a company that provides housing on the Gold Coast teach New Zealand about running social housing in Invercargill?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : Firstly, this organisation would have to be, if it bought those properties, registered in New Zealand subject to the Community Housing Regulatory Authority, be subject to regular engagement with its tenants, be a responsible tenancy manager, have routine inspections, and be responsive when it comes to repairs and maintenance—so it would have to run a New Zealand operation. I am little surprised that the New Zealand Labour Party hates Horizon Housing, because here is a press release from the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia when the Labor Government was in office saying what an amazing organisation it is and how good it is and what a great job it has done. I know that something Australian is very scary to the Labour Party, but over here we just want somebody who can provide a good service.

Andrew Little : What precise, measurable, provable benefits would be realised by selling these houses to an Australian company that cannot be realised by Housing New Zealand?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : The member is asking a wider question about what the benefits are of social housing. If Horizon Housing were to buy these properties, it would have to provide the same role as any other community housing provider. So what I can say in regard to that is that there is widespread support for community housing providers from all parts of this Parliament. In fact, one member of Parliament has gone on to say in relation to this area that there is “no controversy” and “I see huge benefits in this vision of a bigger, more diverse social housing sector.” That of course comes from Mr P Twyford of the Labour Party.

Andrew Little : Point of order! [Interruption]

Mr SPEAKER : Order! This is a point of order. I wish to hear it.

Andrew Little : I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. My question was very straight, and it was pretty concise—

Mr SPEAKER : On this occasion I agree with the Leader of the Opposition. I am going to ask him to ask that question again.

Andrew Little : What precise, measurable, provable benefits would be realised by selling these houses to an Australian company that cannot be realised by Housing New Zealand?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : The same as New Zealand ones.

Tim Macindoe : What support has the Prime Minister seen for the Government’s policy of transferring ownership of houses to grow the community housing sector?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : I have seen lots of support, including a good summary of the Government’s social housing reform legislation that passed last year. It says as follows: “What does this bill do? It shifts housing stock out of the hands of Housing New Zealand into the community housing sector. This is something that Labour is perfectly comfortable with.” It goes on to say: “The bill is extending—

Chris Hipkins : I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Last week you made it very clear, and you have repeatedly done this over the last 2 weeks, that the Government should not use Government supplementary questions to attack the Opposition, which is exactly what the Prime Minister is doing.

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : Point of order.

Mr SPEAKER : No, I do not need assistance. That is a judgment that I make. But when I look at the question “What support has the Prime Minister seen for this change of ownership the Government is proposing.”, that is a legitimate question in my mind.

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would just urge you—your ruling is absolutely correct—to go away and consider what Mr Hipkins has just raised. What he is essentially saying is that it is impossible within a debate for the Government to point out in question time within a wider debate about social housing what has been said on all parts of this debate. That would be a ridiculous notion.

Mr SPEAKER : That is exactly the point that I am trying to make in responding to Chris Hipkins. There will be questions that I think are put down that are no more than a cheap opportunity by a Government to attack another political party, and they are the ones that I will not accept. In this case I think it is quite a legitimate question to ask about what support is out there in the community. If that answer happens to refer to another political party in this Parliament, I cannot help. The Prime Minister can complete his answer if it is required.

Andrew Little : In relation to the Government’s announced proposal to sell State houses to an Australian owner, and given that the Salvation Army in New Zealand has backed out of the proposal to it to purchase State houses, and also that iwi in New Zealand only want the houses for free, so that he now resorts to Aussie buyers, will his Government press ahead with selling State houses, even if no New Zealand providers can afford to buy them and there are no tangible benefits to the families living in them?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : The member’s question is incorrect.

Andrew Little : Is not the truth of it that this policy was always about the ideology of selling off State houses, whatever the cost, not about improving the lives of the families in those houses at all, and like all his policies it is now falling apart?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : What was falling apart were the Housing New Zealand houses we inherited after 9 years of a Labour Government, because it failed to maintain them. What everybody knows, actually, is there is more demand, and has been under numerous Governments, than there is supply. In Australia, and actually in many countries, we see the equivalent of social housing providers or community housing providers adding to the overall stock, and that is why, in a place like Australia, the Labor Deputy Prime Minister gets up and celebrates this. This is the reality. The Labour Party in New Zealand is scared of an Australian charity coming to New Zealand. They must be incredibly scary, because—

Mr SPEAKER : Order! The answer has gone on for long enough.

Tim Macindoe : What other support has the Prime Minister seen for the Government’s social housing reforms?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : I have seen a series of statements supporting the Government’s approach, including, for example: “The Minister’s vision is that Housing New Zealand should become just another tenancy provider competing in a contestable market with the community housing sector for both tenants and subsidies. We want to see a larger, more capable, empowered community housing sector. It is certainly a view that Labour shares.” That, again, was Phil Twyford.

Andrew Little : Given that the mass sell-off of State houses was meant to be his defining policy for the year, as outlined in January, what is left after 6 months of fiasco, and why does he not just give up on this failed experiment?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : On the latter, because I actually care about New Zealanders who deserve some accommodation, and I am not going to be driven by a bit of mumbo-jumbo into not providing more social houses to New Zealanders. And, secondly, that was an important policy announcement at the start of the year, but also I have made a great many other policy announcements this year, and so far we are waiting for Labour to have one policy announcement, and, guess what? Mr Little has not announced a single one yet.

State house tenant rights

MSD have just launched an initiative to encourage state house tenants to move from high demand areas to low. They provide an application form for 'community providers' - those working with a client in a state house - and advise financial assistance may be available. So there's not much particularly newsworthy there and I wasn't going to blog about it. However

With support from their community partners and financial assistance from us, a client on the social housing register, who’s willing and able, may be able to successfully move from an area of high housing demand to one of lower demand.(my emphasis)

After I'd chewed it over in real world terms I got to wondering about the voluntary aspect of all this (assuming also that HNZ takes a similar approach).

The house does not belong to the tenant. If the landlord (the state) wants to better manage the stock for social and financial reasons, isn't that their prerogative? Many tenants are now single, retired and sitting in homes that are bigger than they need and in areas where there are jobs. Why can't they be moved without their consent? In the private sector tenants can and are effectively moved on constantly because the landlord owns the property and therefore has the power to do with it as he wishes.

Why are state house tenants afforded greater rights? It seems they can sit in a house as long as they wish, and are always guaranteed another state home should they agree to move.

The idea of evicting people against their will doesn't have particular appeal to me but the anomaly is intriguing.

Confiscation ramped up

Published in today's DomPost:

A life saver

This will be a blessing. A feature that allows you to quickly retrieve an e-mail sent to the wrong address...or sent in haste. Only the first applies to me because I can't remember ever sending an "ill-advised" e-mail to anyone. Not in my nature. Too cautious and courteous.

But my laptop recently went through a strange phase of throwing up the list of like names after I typed in the first two or three letters of the addressee, but then, after I selected the correct recipient it defaulted to another on the list. So I had something I intended to send to Cam Slater go to MP Cam Calder - from memory it was only a link to something of interest. And another message intended for Rodney Hide go to Rod Vaughan at the NBR. Neither posed a problem and I was able to send a follow up e-mail telling them to disregard.

But have you ever had a real clanger or OMG moment?



Update; That's funny. Cam Calder isn't even in Parliament any more but I had to look it up on Wikipedia. Left late 2014. So "recently" must have been last year. How time flies.

Welfare state today - the good and the bad

Not widely reported in the MSM so cut and paste from the Minister:

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley has introduced a bill extending the Youth Service to 19 year old parents and other 18 and 19 year olds at risk of long term welfare dependence.
Youth Service provides intensive wrap around support for young people, getting them help with paying bills, budgeting and parenting, and supporting them into education.
“The Youth Service has been very successful, with 86.5 per cent of clients engaged in education, training or work-based learning at the end of March 2015,” Mrs Tolley says.
The Bill extends the extensive wrap around support provided by the Youth Service to at risk 18 and 19 year olds and 19 year old teen parents.
“Extending the Youth Service means more of our at-risk young people will be supported into education, training or work and be less likely to remain on a benefit long term,” Mrs Tolley says.
“The welfare reforms have already reduced the expected future time on a benefit by an average of 2.8 years for youth beneficiaries and just over half of those who left the Youth Service remained independent from benefits three months later.”
Eighteen and 19 year-olds without dependent children will be assessed when they apply for a benefit and those at risk of long term welfare dependence will receive Youth Service support.
All clients referred to the Youth Service will have a youth coach, budgeting obligations and be money managed. They may also receive incentive payments when they meet certain obligations.
Teen Parents referred to the Youth Service also have an obligation to attend a parenting course, enrol their children with a Primary Health Organisation, complete Well Child checks and ensure children attend Early Childhood Education.  
The extension of the Youth Service was part of the Government’s 2014 election manifesto.
More details on Youth Service are available at: https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/work-programmes/welfare-reform/youth-service/index.html

The DomPost has a brief snippet on page two which says the extension will mean an extra 5,700 teens will be covered. Essentially the service is moving up the age scale. In practice I think that'll mean keeping those already in the youth service from exiting to a full benefit as early, and allowing an increase in young newcomers. Remember that those connected to a youth service provider have far tighter financial controls on them through the payment card:

If you’re receiving Youth Payment or Young Parent Payment your provider will give you a payment card.
Some of your weekly benefit payment will be loaded onto your payment card for you to use for things like food, groceries, basic clothing and household items, healthcare items, public transport passes, and things you need for your education or training.
Your payment card is like an debit card, but it can only be used at certain places – such as supermarkets. Items like tobacco or alcohol cannot be purchased with the payment card.

So good move but the payment card regime needs to be rolled out further and faster.

Now for the bad. First here is snippet from the NCPA today:

Despite claims that the economy has come roaring back, Gross Domestic Product growth remains anemic. The number of people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or food stamps, alone has doubled since 2008, to 74.7 million; in troubled cities like Baltimore, more than one-third of the residents receive them.
Called the "welfare cliff" by policy wonks, this growing trend is little more than people responding to incentives. For example, eligibility for food stamps ends when annual income exceeds 130 percent of the poverty line, or a little more than $15,000 a year, for an individual. When the minimum wage increases above this level, as it has recently in many cities and states, employees reduce their hours to keep their benefits. As a result, people forgo opportunity for safety.

There is evidence that when the Wellington City Council introduced the living wage for its employees that's exactly what happened. They took the opportunity to work less rather than lose their Working For Families payments.

So what has the council done? Extended the living wage to its contractors. The living wage will also be inflation-proofed. How is it paying for this? With a 4.5 percent average annual rate rise over the next three years. Well above inflation.

That'll just push up rents and the costs of goods and services, and make the likelihood of filling all the empty retail space even more remote.

Instead of accelerating the redistribution whirlpool the council must slow it down. If people need more money in their pockets tax them less, and cut your cloth.

Seymour explains rationale behind bill

From Scoop,

ACT Leader David Seymour
The contentious issue of voluntary euthanasia is one I have been considering for some time, and I want to explain here why I am preparing a private member’s (End of Life Choice) Bill to lodge for ballot in Parliament.
The primary motivation for this Bill is compassion.
Many of my constituents have urged me to proceed with a Bill, particularly in light of the withdrawal last year of a similar Bill sponsored by Iain Lees-Galloway, originally introduced by former MP Maryan Street. Two previous Bills on this issue have in the past failed to gain Parliamentary support, but the clear international trend since the 1990s is towards the legalisation of medically assisted end of life choice.

More 


Thanks David.

Is a benefit cap on the cards in NZ?

More impending  welfare cuts in the UK include the possibility of :

- reducing the benefit cap further

- stopping under 25s claiming a housing benefit

- limiting tax credits to the first two children only

Items 2 and 3 could be implemented in NZ. The first is trickier.

The benefit cap  applies to the total amount of benefit going into one household. There is no benefit cap in NZ so it can't be reduced.

It is interesting then, that our government - for the first time -  has been exploring multi-benefit household statistics. If a benefit cap was on the cards here the first thing needed would be data. And there it was in the last Benefit System Performance Report.

126,126 main benefit clients (or 40% of main benefit clients) live in a household with two or more people receiving main benefits. 30% of the 126,126 are partners on related benefits. While some correlation between employment prospects or health status of people in the same household is expected, the extent to which there are multi-beneficiary households seems high.  35,150 main benefit clients (or 11%) live in a household with three or more people receiving benefits.

The rationale behind the benefit cap:

The government introduced a cap on the total amount of benefit that working-age households can get so that, broadly, households on out-of-work benefits will no longer get more in welfare payments than the average weekly wage for working households.

That would not be a difficult policy for National to sell.