sign up log in
Want to go ad-free? Find out how, here.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pleased with 'significant progress' government has made as its 100 Day Plan reaches halfway stage

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pleased with 'significant progress' government has made as its 100 Day Plan reaches halfway stage

The following is a press release issued by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Progress accelerating on 100 Day Plan

This week marks the half way stage of the Government’s 100 Day Plan and will see further pleasing progress on delivering on our commitments, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

“We promised we would be a different government, one that makes dealing with child poverty and reducing inequality a priority. We are delivering on that promise.

“On Thursday we will introduce legislation to give effect to the Families Package. Changes to Working for Families will boost the incomes of low and middle income earners and lift tens of thousands of children out of poverty.

“In addition, Best Start and the Winter Energy Payment will provide other much needed support to parents, superannuitants and beneficiaries.

“We also promised we would be a fiscally responsible government. By cancelling the National government’s tax cuts we can afford to deliver that support while still meeting the financial targets we have set ourselves.

“This week we will reach the half way stage of our 100 Day Plan and I’m pleased with the significant progress we have made to date.

“There’s much more to come as we continue to deliver on our plan, tackle National’s legacy of underfunding in health, housing and education and ensure the gains of economic growth are more fairly shared,” says Prime Minister Ardern.

Update on 100 Day Plan

1.     Fees free for post-secondary school education or training for first year from 2018 - announced 5 December

2.     Student allowances and living cost loans to increase by $50 from1 January 2018 - announced 21 November

3.     Extension of Paid Parental Leave - legislation passed 29 November

4.     Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill setting minimum standards for rentals - legislation passed 29 November

5.     Legislation to give effect to the Families Package - to be introduced this week

6.     Ban on overseas speculators buying existing houses - legislation to be introduced this week

7.     Issue directive to Housing New Zealand stopping the sell-off of state houses – to be delivered shortly

8.     Begin work to establish the Affordable Housing Authority and KiwiBuild programme - underway

9.     Tax Working Group – Terms of Reference announced and Chairman appointed 23 November, further appointments shortly

10.  Restart contributions to the Super Fund - announced at the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update

11.  Pike River Recovery Agency - establishment underway

12.  Legislation to provide greater fairness in workplace - to be introduced when Parliament resumes late January

13.  Minimum wage to rise to $16.50 to take effect from April 2018 - formal approval underway

14.  Introduce legislation to set a child poverty reduction target and to change the Public Finance Act so the Budget reports progress on reducing child poverty - Child Poverty Reduction Bill to be introduced early next year when Parliament resumes

15.  Legislation to make medicinal cannabis available for people with terminal illnesses or in chronic pain - to be introduced next week

16.  Set up an inquiry into the abuse of children in state care - underway with chair and scope of inquiry to be announced in January

17.  Set up a Ministerial Inquiry in order to fix our mental health crisis - underway, announcement early in New Year with inquiry members and terms of reference

18.  Set zero carbon emissions goal and begin setting up independent Climate Commission - underway.

We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.

Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.

103 Comments

Brilliant!
Spend spend spend, and nothing at all about what is going to increase productivity for the country to be able to pay for this spend spend spend.
Let’s give all the taxes paid by average kiwis to the people who are the takers in this country!

Up
0

From this list:
Cheaper higher education to encourage a higher skilled workforce
Improving living standards in rentals = a healthier population more able to work, taking less sick leave
Working towards cheaper houses, which will allow higher spending in other areas of the economy and encourage a more productive construction industry
Looking at changer to the tax code
Higher minimum wage
Giving people better access to an effective painkiller = a population more able to be productive
Attempting to treat mental illness better = a healthier more productive population

Quite a few things which could increase productivity in there if you take a quick look.

Up
0

@ THE man2. "Brilliant! Spend spend spend, and nothing at all about what is going to increase productivity for the country to be able to pay for this spend spend spend. Let’s give all the taxes paid by average kiwis to the people who are the takers in this country!" I have yet to hear you winge about all the money spent on rent support under National and the exorbitant costs of providing motels for our destitute.

Up
0

Didge, sorry to disappoint you but most of our tenants do not get rent support.
This Govt. Is going to be very bad for this country over the next 3 years.

Up
0

How do you know that? Do you have an intimate knowledge of your tenants' finances?

Up
0

Pretty much, yes!

Up
0

Well that's creepy.

Up
0

If the government stopped subsidizing rents for those that can't afford to pay 'market rents', then rents would reduce to what tenants can afford to pay and house prices would reduce to a level that first home buyers can afford. In my opinion it is the governments interference in rent subsidies that has contributed to the national housing crisis.

Up
0

He probably owns a motel.

Up
0

The education is not cheaper, what has changed is WHO pays that cost.

I think you will find the actual total cost of the education product delivery is going higher all the time.

Up
0

Wouldn't be surprised if that's driven in part by the drive to make education a business rather than an investment in the country's future. You only need to see how this has resulted in the reaming of young Americans by their for profit education sector there - even down to $300 text books that a student is not allowed to not buy.

I also don't see how the underlying cost of education can do anything other than increase while ignoring a housing crisis, as has been the habit for years. We're just now seeing this playing out in the crisis of teachers willing to teach in Auckland, for example.

Up
0

Not sure I agree with that Rick, I think costs of education started rising way before the privatisation idea took hold. I would point some finger at the rising level of expectation the community has over what education is supposed to deliver.

Up
0

Possibly. I'm ruminating in discussion with you, really.

Obviously we do face a little bit higher percentage of people participating in study than in the past (albeit a lesser difference than I expected last time I checked). And we face inflation of this number due to companies making the possession of a university a mandatory requirement for many jobs.

But is that businesses outsourcing some training onto the public purse that would have been carried out by the business in the past? (i.e. during the "In my day I went straight from school into a job and learned on the job!" times.)

Interesting situation, really - if businesses require a mandatory university degree to get a job, we seem to have gradually demanded of society and of young people that they both spend a whole lot more to train people for the job market than in the past, taking this cost off businesses and socialising it. (And as a back-up plan, businesses can then import cheaper workers instead.)

(Obviously, you also can't blame businesses for not wanting to pay that training cost given the days of employment for life have also passed too. Albeit both sides clearly have a role to play in that change.)

Up
0

Ruminating is good.

My experience could switch that idea 180 degrees, consider this:

I have one job and 54 applicants. Of those 54 applicants I can rule out at least 50% as, can't do the job, so down to 27 who quite possibility could do the job. I look very closely and find some marginal excuses why 13 of that 27 *might* not be able to do the job as well as the others. If I look in the mirror at this point and am honest I can say some of these are a bit thin really, because lets face it, the job interview process is a terrible way to choose people to work with.

Unfortunately I now have 14 people for one job. So, in truth, I am waning up excuses without real evidence. Maybe my prejudice is coming to the fore. I manage to ditch another five from my view.

Nine people now. So I am making up unneeded things now that have nothing to do the job. I make up meaningless policies like, 'Must have a university degree" knowing full well it has no material bearing on the issue.

Of course I can't talk about things in these terms, because employment law is so complex it precludes me from practices that extend outside the role. I can't ask about the PERSON in the interview, that is legal. The law treats people like machine parts, as if it's just about finding a fit of skills. In a relational world its ludicrous.

I suspect businesses reacted and did not plan any escalation cycle in educational requirements.

Look at this guy, Marcus Beck. Admitted to university in 1860 age 17; House surgeon in 1863, age 20. Publishing clinical cases in 1870, age 27; Teaching sugary in 1875, age 32; professor in 1885, age 42.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Beck

How times have changed.

Up
0

Good, enjoyable discussion :)

Thinking about some of my own stupid mistakes and attitudes early in my career, I can also see a couple of jobs I didn't get. There are a lot of silly things we do and say when we're young.

Surely kids must've been pretty stupid back in the 1960s and surrounding decades too (heck, witness hippies). Yet companies took them straight out of school.

There are many young overachievers now too. I don't think that has changed much.

It would be interesting to look at culture (not race, mind) and the role this plays in achievement, e.g. why are Ashkenazi Jews so overachieving? (Similarly with Scots when education was prioritised in Scotland earlier than in England.)

Does it come down to how we're raising our kids? And is this related to the seeming willingness we have as society to burden the kids with debt while expecting them to fund our retirement? Have we become selfish and less valuing of education as an investment for society?

NZ does seem to have a slight streak of anti-intellectualism too...

Up
0

Agreed, but with the Government/tax payer shouldering more of the costs, there is more encouragement for individuals to take a degree and become more highly skilled. You could reasonably expect this to improve productivity in the future. Not arguing that there is no cost to the policy.

Up
0

National did nothing to improve productivity. Instead they increased red tape for construction to halt productivity and increase house prices. Your issue here is not productivity but house prices instead.

Up
0

That is not true dictator. Running a smaller government reduces the cost that business has to carry, given in an economic sense government is necessary but a dead weight on productivity.

Enlarging government, all things being equal (which they never are of course), must reduce what productivity might have been if that dead weight of government cost had been smaller.

Up
0

That is already happening via tax payer accommodation supplements to many takers.

Up
0

Where did The Man go ?
Jacinda & Winston make a wonderful dynamic team with Greens excellent help
They have a strategy which is something Nationals JK appeared oblivious to needing

Up
0

Eighteen points and they have missed the two critical to their getting my vote. I feel badly let down since the promised points were cheap to implement and needed no parliamentary time. Both in their electoral promises too.

1. Labour inspectorate dramatically boosted to eliminate the worker exploitation and business fraud that is endemic with out current immigration rules.

2. No work permits or path to residency for foreign students at low level education tertiary colleges (PTEs).

Dishonest businesses are driving honest businesses out of business. Our countries international reputation is at risk (already there are countries which will not buy our fruit because of reported worker exploitation) and IMHO we are importing 3rd world wages - great for the wealthy but an attack on the poor and unemployed.

Up
0

1. will hopefully be part of the mini budget announcement yet to come. And yes, I'd like to know what is happening on 2. as well - that directive should be given before the new term registrations start coming in..I don't imagine that they can cancel the work visas of those who have already registered/studied in prior years.

Up
0

1. Increasing the labour inspectorate should not require a mini-budget. Just redirect staff from other duties or pay them some overtime. The problem is foreigners hoping they might eventually get residency/citizenship; they are not paying employers $20,000 or more just for the right to work. Even just making it a very public announcement will get some dodgy employers to be straight.
2. Your are right; it had to be done the day they got power. It is unfair to these naive foreign students to take the money to do a pseudo-study course and then alter the rules applying to their study visa - they know and we know that they are coming for work which they hope to trade up into permanent residency.
If the study course is genuine they would still come without a right to work.
Those who are on a multiple year course should not have their work visas cancelled or at least not without compensation but we should be able to remove the capability to 'stay a year after you studies and work'.

I think the clear emphasis should be on the employers - at present the handful who have been caught escape with very light penalties. In the case of my local restaurant that had been paying under $3 per hour for 80 hour weeks the owner just left the country and has not returned. meanwhile the other 50 local restaurants had not had a 'fair go' for the few years this abuse continued.

Up
0

Agree. Both issues are Iain Lees-Galloway's portfolio, I assume;

Iain Lees-Galloway: Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety; Immigration; ACC; Deputy Leader of the House

I'll flick him an email and post here when I get a response. I've sent other queries through and have been impressed with the early responsiveness of the ministerial offices.

Up
0

Email sent:

Dear Minister

I note with pleasure, the Prime Minister’s press release of today, outlining an update of 18 points on the 100 Day Plan.

I have two questions with respect to progress on issues not mentioned in that press release, and I believe both relate to your portfolios.

If your office could provide an update on these, that would be most appreciated.

1. Intention to boost the work of the Labour Inspectorate to address those issues related to migrant worker exploitation.
2. Changes to immigration rules associated with overseas students ability to work while studying in New Zealand.

Kind regards in anticipation,

Up
0

wow!

Up
0

Double Wow, I await the answer

Up
0

I totally agree. This education industry as its currently configured is just a massive immigration scam and a national disgrace. It’s not a place I want to see us go. If we want to sell education services internationally then let’s do that and do it well. If the industry can’t survive without the residency scams then we are better off without it.

I would go further than you and say no work permits or path to residency for foreign students at any PTEs. If we want to sell work permits (which is the substance of what is happening) let that money go directly to the govt, not an “education” provider. As things stand those providers take all the benefit of the states issue of residency rights while everyone else has to bear the burden of it. And all the while it seems there is no shortage of unscrupulous employers set to shaft these “students” prior to them securing permanent residency. The whole thing just stinks.

Up
0

Education, as an industry, has been broken for a long time. It is an industry that creates a product nobody can afford to buy without massive government loans.

I suspect the policy you call 'a national disgrace' was allowed because the money it brought in created a level of subsidy for locals. Already there are numbers of people calling for us to spend even more on education (which must increase the cost of a product nobody can afford at the current levels). If you remove the subsidy then something must give; either

1. Education must increase in cost even more, or

2. The industry must restructure,

I don't think anybody is ready for option 2.

Up
0

The “local” education industry (represented by the unis and ploytechnnics) and the “overseas” one (represented by the business and language schools) are completely separate. One does not subsidise the other. The local industry I have no issue with, the overseas one I do as it is just an immigration scam. People are paying the money to get work and residency rights, not an education

Up
0

I have a bit of a beef with the “local” education industry as well. Well, with the polytechnics/'Insitute of Technologies' to be specific

I feel they are dragging out their courses to get extra fees.

With the first year free now, I'd expect to see these pre-apprenticeship trade courses start to move to be 2 years in duration .....

My own personal frustration was when I decided to take a diploma at a polytechnic rather than a degree in the same subject at a universtiy (as I already had an unrelated degree and wanted practical learning). The diploma took 2 years while the degree was 3 years. I quit after half a year.

Up
0

Yes, I don’t doubt you might have a fair gripe here. I was really focussed on the residency issue.

Up
0

And the problem has spread to the primary and secondary sectors as well - many of whom now also rely to a degree on funding/fees paid by international students. It's crazy - virtually every school in NZ has a policy and associated fees scale;

https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/international-education/…

e.g.,
http://www.internationalstudents.school.nz/

https://www.pinehurst.school.nz/Admissions/International-Students

Received a flyer in my letterbox today, a local secondary school seeking homestay hosts for international students - offering me a weekly payment of $240, paid fortnightly in advance.

I thought that very interesting - as I think that amount is in excess of the tertiary student weekly living allowance.

Up
0

And it's less than our caregiver allowances for NZ children in need;

https://www.mvcot.govt.nz/caring-for-someone/financial-help/

Up
0

Halls of residence were $350 per week, so $240 per week is close to charity.

Up
0

Cost pressures in education might be one unintended consequence of the anti-immigration policy.

Up
0

That seem to be a slightly different thing: i don’t think those students are sent here to acquire residency rights as a part of their education package. I may be wrong. To be honest, if we have something valuable to sell like English language education then we should do so PROVIDED that is actually what we are selling (ie it’s not a residency scam) and its not at the expense of local students and families ie those overseas students need to be adding to the pie. That doesn’t need to be purely financial. It can be cultural. I don’t think the PTEs could ever be said to crowd out the locals, they are different markets. But secondary schools are plainly different. Yes I can see how it can work, but boy it really needs to be closely managed.

I must admit to a conflict: a woman I worked with in Hong Kong was a PRC citizen who went to school in Invercargill. Her family sent her there in the 90s. I can’t even begin to imagine making that kind of sacrifice And she was wonderful person. Totally Chinese, she spoke mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, bla bla. But was also totally kiwi. That can’t be a bad thing.

Up
0

No not a residency issue at all - just a fee paying student issue. It's the fees charged that incentivises primary and secondary schools to seek out international students. Effectively, they (the international student numbers) are subsidizing some of the funding shortfalls these schools are experiencing.

Up
0

Yup, it's overseas students spending a year in NZ to better their language skills, it's something that I don't have a problem with, many of the students that head over are positive influences on schools - but as you rightly point out, it isn't a case of doing it for the cultural sake, it's about a massive under-investment in education that has forced schools to operate in this way.

It seems to be an anglo-centric thing, an anti-intellectual culture that has permeated its way through society, where education isn't valued, teachers aren't valued, partly I'd say driven by media. Whenever a story about education pops up you get the " those who can do, those who can't teach" tropes, they only work 4 days a year, always on holiday. Not so long ago, teachers were up there as the pinnacles of profession - teachers, doctors, lawyers, bankers - those were the white collar professions that people aspired to be.

Up
0

And that has been going on for years

Up
0

Often a bit more than that too. Had a few in an earlier home. They need to be close to city centre or school, a bed with linen, drawers, desk & chair in a separate bedroom and normally at least two meals a day (prepared by host, or occasionally after teaching the student). For $300 a week for a room it is worth it and the competition for homestay students like this can be fierce with hosts offering lots of other activities, tours, private bathrooms etc. Incidents are rare but occasionally happen so hosts must be checked and pass reviews. Many young adult students are relatively independent but for the young ones schools prefer they share a family home with other teenagers going to the same school (like a buddy system). It has been a well known market to plumb for a few decades operating outside of the mainstream. Normally still advertised via flyers, school news, and occasionally out of date homestay sites run by 3rd parties.

Up
0

Are they giving horticulture etc some breathing space (this growing/fruiting season) to prepare for their new realities?

Up
0

I've no problem with foreign workers in orchards so long as it is (a) all above board and (b) local Kiwi workers are not disadvantaged - this could be achieved by making employers pay for the right to use foreigners (as is done in many other countries).

Up
0

Contain yer enthusiasm, chaps and chapesses. Wait for:

  1. Thursday's small-b Budget, which will at least confirm just how accurate them guesses about costs were.
  2. Pay particular attention to Revenue estimates, because Gubmints may pencil in such items as GST or Company tax takes, but Consumers and Companies in fact decide, by voting millions of times with their wallets, just exactly how much they are gonna contribute.
  3. Tertiary Ed intakes and total Student numbers. These won't coalesce until March earliest, but as they are a significant expense, and per head, no-one actually knows what We the People who Pay for this, are gonna be stuck for.

Slow Train Wrecks take.... Time.

Up
0

Totally agree with your last comment, we're desperately trying to apply the emergency brake on the last 9 years, the driver jumped off and saved himself though, so that's good news.

Up
0

Yes, good analogy.

Up
0

Judging by the comments to date the enthusiasm is very well contained.

Up
0

First year students should not be getting their course costs free as it encourages people who haven’t got the ability to go to tertiary colleges.
It would have been far better to subsidise the last year of study to reward students that have been dedicated.
It is a blatantly stupid policy that will backfire on the country and will put up the costs for the second and 3rd year students as they will realise that there is not enough money to cover.
You are all b,atantly dreaming if you think that these policies are great for NZ?
Reducing child poverty?? How on earth do you judge this?
That’s right we will give the takers and liabilities to NZ extra money so they can drink smoke and gamble more and not provide for the excess no. of children that they have.
May sound cruel but it is the truth and is what the silent majority will be thinking.
Nothing but spend spend spend without the explanation on how it is going to be paid for?????

Up
0

".. it encourages people who haven’t got the ability to go to tertiary colleges."

The milieu of our day is equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity Mr Man.

Up
0

TM, then you'll want to sign this petition;

Ban pokies - protect whānau
https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/ban-pokies-protect-whanau

... to prevent that kind of exploitation.

Just about everything these Action Station folks campaign on - they make progress.

Up
0

Yet another detail harvesting site cloaked in warm fuzzies.

2.9 When you provide us with your email address and, at your option, your mobile phone number, you consent to receiving messages (including by email, SMS and/or MMS):
•From the individuals and organisations who have signed your campaign;
•From us in relation to your campaign and other campaigns created on our website; and
•From ActionStation in relation to other campaigns and causes that we think may be of interest to you.

Change.org is the same. As someone wrote in a FB post to me, "if it doesn't cost you anything you are the product"

Up
0

I got a Rolls Royce spam filter - *wink*

Up
0

Cool, that was easy. Thanks Kate. We need gambling problems in this country about as much as we need more recreational drug problems.

Up
0

Kate - I’d sign your petition if the Govt (read tax payer) first agreed to replace the hundreds of millions of dollars in grants that these pokies charities give to good causes, and in my case/experience, sports. That grant funding is already reducing as the sinking lid policy is reducing the grant amounts - some sports are struggling hugely, most are at varying stages of raising player subs, and many players are starting to stop playing (one associated club I’m aware of lost so many players who couldnt afford the sub rise (50-100%) that they folded - they are not alone in what’s happening, and will happen further.

Banning pokies many stop a bit of gambling, but most will go into other forms of gambling, and forms of gambling that don’t fund charitable causes- understand that this is a huge huge issue for sports alone, and your petition will have marginal benefits in one area, and a huge negative in others.

Up
0

Grant, can you see the futility in your argument. These pokies are concentrated in impoverished communities which cost the taxpayer dearly in terms of poor health, education and labour productivity outcomes. So, take them out of those communities - prevent the addiction in the first place - and there will be more government money for everyone.

You can then lobby the Minister of Sport (as I'm sure you are doing anyway) but he/she might then have more money to devote to sports promotion.

Clearly, we have to fix our problems from the bottom up - call it 'trickle up' economics.

Most certainly, there is no future in hoping to fund sport off the back of NZs poorest communities - which is what the pokie proliferation theory is doing. No future whatsoever.

Up
0

Trickle Up economics I like that

Up
0

I have an interest in sports and community funding.

It's a challenge and it's been interesting watching as funding reliance shifted from Tobacco sponsorship.

I've signed the petition linked above. Reading this it reminded me of an article a few years ago that I read about the funding of Remuea's College Rifles Rugby Club's two new artificial turfs with the majority coming from a Manukau based pokies trust.

I looked for the article; http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11114737

If the government were to outlaw Pokies. I'd expect something like 'Smokefree' to be set up to help fund clubs while they looked for new funding sources.

Up
0

"Working for Families will boost the incomes of low and middle income earners and lift tens of thousands of children out of poverty."
Sounds commendable and making perfect sense. It does however presume that the income boost given to the parents will be passed onto benefitting the children and I hope it will.

Up
0

Well I signed that anti gambling petition so that might help.

Up
0

It isnt just the poor that gamble thru pokies!
People need to take responsibility for their own actions!
Are we going to ban horse racing, drinking alcohol etc?
The people who have children that place their own children in poverty needed to take responsibility for what they have brought into the world and not rely on other people to,provide for them.
Yes very simplistic and will never happen but by this coalition Govt. Doing what they say they are going to do only encourages more of this inexcusable preoccupation for having children that they can not afford.
Never been on any type of social welfare benefit and never will be. Why should the average working person I. NZ Abe responsible for shelling out their taxes to irresponsible people who are an absolute liability to the country?

Up
0

It's very easy to spot problems but finding solutions is difficult. Not sure many of your posts are constructive in that regard. At least this government has recognised the under investment in certain areas and are looking to move in the right direction. We shouldn't wash our hands of the children of the less fortunate but should look at ways of breaking the cycle of poverty and poor education. If you and I pay more taxes to get us to that goal then I'm ok with it.

Up
0

"Not sure many of your posts are constructive in that regard"

That accusation could be levelled at almost all of us.

"If you and I pay more taxes to get us to that goal then I'm ok with it."

It is just as likely you will both pay more taxes and not get to that goal. What you might be missing is opportunity loss.

Up
0

"People need to take responsibility for their own actions!"

True. But you may have been born in the wrong age. Today we champion rights and ignore responsibilities, except when demanding money off other people. Mercy is my portion and justice is something done to other people.

On the plus side, politicians are largely ineffectual, existing as they do in a fantasy of artificial power. So while they won't delivery a 10th of the empty windy they spout forth, in all likelihood they won't be as destructive as you worry either.

Up
0

It isnt just the poor that gamble thru pokies!

No, but

In New Zealand the ratio of suburban pokies to people in wealthy areas is one in 465, while in poorer areas is one in 76.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/pokies-addictiveness-compar…

Getting the poor addicted - first to drugs, now to pokies - is a deliberate choice made by those in power.

They can very, very easily - with the stroke of a pen - stop the exploitation.

When the solution is staring you in the face, the only reason not to act would have to be an intention to keep the oppressed oppressed. It's all part of a libertarian mindset - i.e., I'm okay, why are they, the hopeless 'others', not?

Up
0

@Kate I will keep you posted on 23 Ranui Rd. Hope it will be sold soon. I am sure they are still negotiating with the highest bidding couple in their 40's. I thought $4.65M was a reasonable price but obviously the vendor thinks it is worth much more...hence the asking price of $4.98M hmmmm.

Up
0

So yesterday.

Up
0

So tomorrow...hmmm hopefully tomorrow ;-)

Up
0

Agreed and until people take responsibility for their own decisions nothing is going to change.
All we are hearing is we are going to fix this problem and that problem by spending Taxpayer money.
How's about some practical policy on how this country is going to increase is income base. i.e. create meaningful jobs so that this country can pay its way in the world Banning anything never fixed anything

Up
0

So you won't / haven't signed up for NZ super then? Very noble.

Up
0

It’s no doubt that education is a great investment for the future. In New Zealand, primary and secondary school education is free for every child with NZ citizen or residency. But the reality is many schools are under-funded to such an extent that many classroom curriculum-based activities would be in major jeopardy if their international students drastically decline. For example, for a Auckland college(decile 9 or 10), their 2016 income from international students equalled to 90% of the government grant, the school also hugely needs parents’ donations to continue some programme and provides resourcing such as class materials, computer technology, library books, sport and cultural activities etc. The total donation from parents in 2016 was equivalent to 25% of government’s funding. By calculating, government funding only accounted for 44% of the fund for this college. I guess the situation is similar to other high decile schools. Since the new government has a great aspiration to provide “free education”, it’s better they do this from primary and high school. The money should be also used to increase teachers’ salaries so that we can keep good teachers. After this, we could consider free “tertiary education”.

Up
0

I guess the situation is similar to other high decile schools.

Similar in all decile schools - the ad that arrived in my letterbox today looking for homestays for int'l students is a decile 4 secondary.

Up
0

At least the low decile schools don’t ask donations from parents.

Up
0

Yes, they do too. Although Labour has a policy to end these voluntary payments if schools wish to opt-in;

http://www.labour.org.nz/labour_taking_action_on_school_donations

Up
0

Kate, $150 is not enough. For my child’s school which is 10 decile primary school, the donation is around $300. Except donations there’re many fundraising activities every year. Because school needs to upgrade playgrounds and hall etc. For those activities some parents including myself are very supportive but some are not. The point I want to make is that our primary and secondary school are severe under founded. Also I heard the news we have teachers shortage at school.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11957620

Up
0

Yes, not all schools will opt-in as some such as yours do need more money - 4 out of 5 will opt-in according to this report;

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/99764639/four-in-five-nz-sch…

And I'm sure once your child's school gets that backlog of capital projects behind them, perhaps they too will.

Up
0

"Also I heard the news we have teachers shortage at school." Yes because who studies 2 tertiary degrees, (one STEM degree with large work experience requirements and the other education with work experience requirements) just to be paid a paupers wage and constantly having to regrade and register every year. They even offered a few scholarships, (a pitiful amount which are oversubscribed), to pay for the second education degree on the proviso that the person works in South Auckland etc for a few years. Even though foreign teachers, (normally a lot of brits) don't even have to have teaching education & training to go into some of the teaching roles, (just less experience than most of the NZders). It is hilarious because politicians and teachers wages used to be so close and now the teachers (while they require twice the tertiary education from NZ) they get less pay in a senior role than a junior STEM graduate. It is kind of obvious, there comes a point where those working the roles have a choice; for teaching and donating for the future or just to get a job after the first degree to be able to live in a home without poverty. Seems pretty obvious to many students. They could not disincentivise teaching any more than they have done already.

Up
0

Thanks for the explanation. Yes, teachers also need raise families and their hardworking should be rewarded financially. Can government provide some housing subsidies for the teachers to help their mortgage etc? Some teachers left Auckland due to high cost of housing.

Up
0

Recommend it to me?

Up
0

?????

Up
0

Got it, that’s for you.

Up
0

I'm beginning to think it's DGZ's place given the level of promotion!

Up
0

Rather than worrying about giving free education to first year students at the taxpayers expense, this coalition would far better off changing the curriculum so that the less fortunate were taught how not to get themselves in the crap financially and also how to become responsible for,their own actions.
This pandering to the so called less fortunate becomes somewhat tiring as they expect everything to be given to them on a plate and Mother Theresa and her assistants will realise that they will not be able to improve things.
All this extra spending will only force up prices and they will be none the better.
Very hard to help people that can’t be helped unfortunately!

Up
0

They can be helped - sign the pokies petition (above) if you really want to help.

But then perhaps you just want to wallow in the misery of others. Strange mindset.

Up
0

Kate, sorry but don’t wallow in anyone’s misery.
I would love everyone to be successful and have a great life.
However, by increasing beneficiaries benefits will not improve their lot,as they will just blow any extras they get and keep having more children that they can’t afford to!
Unfortunately it will continue in NZ as we are such a soft touch now, thru many generations.

Up
0

@The Man 2, Agree. Chinese saying “授人以鱼不如授人以渔”, Meaning “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime; knowledge is the best charity”

Up
0

And how does that work when someone has already fished the fish bro, particularly when they don't throw the undersized ones back to breed, so everyone can fish?

Up
0

The saying 'you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink' is a bit more appropriate here given the Man has been given an action he could take toward achieving his aims, but he's talking instead of drinking....

Up
0

Are you sure he isn't drinking?

Oh, I see what you mean. Never mind.

Up
0

Sign... responding to TM2 is pointless... again with the rabbit hole thing. But I do like the fish example, however if that were true then TM2 would not be the person fishing but the guy who sits at the dock side demanding all fishermen to pay him a fish because they are fishing in his "claimed turf". After all that is what landlords are, they do not work but reap the reward of others.

Up
0

So sign the petition and be part of the solution!

Up
0

I'm more concerned by pandering to landlords, sucking at the taxpayer teat to be honest, taking advantage of those less fortunate. I think empathy should be taught in school, so future generations don't take advantage of their luck to deny younger generations the opportunities they had.

Up
0

TM2 you remind me of someone, Mugabe, Putin.

Its all about me me me. Pandering, so called less fortunates, your empathy levels are amazing.

Its not that easy when you are bought up in poverty. When your parents are not well educated and are brought up as people who work hard, that save everything to pay rent and bills. After bills then theres not much money to get ahead with. These type of people teach there children to work hard but thats it. But as we know working hard gets you nowhere. Working smarter does.

But the problem is a lot of people find it hard to work smarter, to make the right investments as a lot are snowed under with bills, children or whatever, and cant see the wood from the trees. This is life and probably applies to 80% if not more. You see the world only through your eyes hence why you dont understand why people hassle you for being TM2. You have made wise decisions and only see that its easy. Its not easy for a lot of people. Once you are caught in that poverty trap its hard to get out of.

NZ use to be a great place, free education, you could get a job anywhere and jobs such as manufacturing, you could get a good wage, working shift etc and you could buy a house for under $200,000. Now that is nigh on impossible for some people. The poverty cycle has increased to cover more people and its hard for people to get ahead. This poverty trap is getting worse, and the only things that come from it are increased crime, homelessness and starving children. I like Kates term trickle up economics.

Education is the best and only way to snap this, but it takes generations. We had it right, ruined it and now we have to go back to it again.

Lets build a better society of a highly educated people, not build a society of spoilt children that has theirs and dont want to share.

Got this from Interest Article think its a little apt for this discussion:

3) America’s lost Einsteins.

New research, led by Stanford economist Raj Chetty, argues there may be millions of ‘lost Einsteins’ in the US – people who would have become inventors and innovators if they’d grown up in different neighbourhoods. By linking patent data with tax records and math test scores, they show that children from high-income (top 1%) families are ten times as likely to become inventors as children from below-median income families, with similarly large gaps by race and gender. This is not driven by differences in ability, as the gaps remain after accounting for primary-school test scores.

They also show the importance of role models – kids growing up with more inventors are more likely to become inventors, and girls especially benefit from being around women inventors. These results hold even when looking at patent inventions within 445 narrowly-defined technology subclasses, showing that it’s a neighbourhood effect and not an ability effect. We know that innovation drives economic growth. Chetty notes that even people uninterested in equity/fairness should care about these results – equal opportunity may boost innovation and growth.

Up
0

Cobblers!
Landlords do not get pandered to in NZ at all!
They provide a invaluable service that the Government should not be involved in as they generally do a less than average job of it!
We need less government intervention and more personal responsibility for NZ to thrive.

Up
0

Whatever helps you to sleep at night champ.

By less government intervention you mean, things like universal suffrage, education, health?

At the end of the day apparently I pay your wages, you take govt subsidies for some of your tenants, through my taxes, I want to know where my money is being spent, so please go ahead, let me know where my tax dollars are going...

Up
0

TM2 do not understand that if you pull out govt intervention it will only accelerate his downfall. What is he and his family going to do should the mob demand a communist style cultural revolution? Nope the army is not going to save his ass because he wants no govt intervention. The old nz socialists way prevents these types of uprising, but TM2 and the likes are only into what is in it for me!! Not knowing that he is only in his position because everyone contributed.

Up
0

I'd assume we'd exempt the pension from that list of evil government interventions.

Up
0

Agree with you Man 2. Personal responsibility is a key. A lot of these people that I meet in transitional homes and my wife meets at her parenting courses want to help themselves but dont have the education in basic knowledge and skills to do so. So they give up.They need a lift up.

Up
0

.we all ignore that the position we hold in life due to luck. The Man child should remember that.

.try lifting up a young kid who doesn't go home for a dinner, his own bedroom, let alone bed, a disturbed sleep on a couch or floor and woken regularly as drunken adults arrive at all hours. A kid who then gets up for work to find find there is no food in the house, and he has no cash as the adults demanded this on payday. The car has broken down or being 'borrowed' by others or is out of gas. No one else gives a toss if he goes to work and he has no money for the bus. So he walks the hours to work and is late again.

That's the reality for many so called looser kids. We wonder why they give up, become angry and criminals.

Up
0

There was a great exhibit at the Auckland Library recently on the path into homelessness and the path out of it. What it highlighted to me is how incredibly difficult it can be to get out of homelessness once you're in that state. As in, the practicalities of it would be very difficult for me to navigate, let alone someone without all the advantages I've enjoyed in life that would help me.

Up
0

“The Man” does look after himself and doesn’t rely on others at all!
Not everyone can be like this but they do need to take responsibility for their actions!
Hope everyone has a great Xmas!

Up
0

yeah you really need a new years honor. Such a special person...we should all look up to you.

Up
0

Except for my taxes that prop up some of your "investments" of course...

Merry Christmas fella, hope you don't get a visit from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, while you're counting all your money taken from the work of others.

Up
0