Economy, Work, & Welfare Archive

  • Denise Roche

    Unemployment: one step forward, two steps back - by Denise Roche



    Hot on the heels of yesterday’s minimum wage increase announcement – of a paltry 50c an hour – comes the December 2011 Household Labour Force Survey quarterly report . On the face of it, the statistics indicate a steady decrease in unemployment – and no doubt John Key’s government will be pitching it in this [...] read more
    February 9, 2012 6:01 pm - 12 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Super Fund invests in Chinese property bubble? - by Russel Norman



    The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has, on our behalf, decided to take a $23 million bet on a property development company with significant exposure to China — a country where some reports say that there are 64 million vacant apartments. The Fund’s stake in Hong Kong-based property development company Sun Hung Kai is the tenth [...] read more
    February 9, 2012 8:05 am - 2 Comments
  • Denise Roche

    A stingy and evidence-averse decision on the minimum wage - by Denise Roche



    As I predicted in my blog post last week, John Key’s Government has announced today what amounts to a nil increase in the minimum wage – a paltry increase of 50c an hour. The nominal increase is 3.8% – but at the same time the Consumer Price Index increased 4.6% in the year to September 2011 [...] read more
    February 8, 2012 5:33 pm - 15 Comments
  • frog

    Member’s Bills drawn - by frog



    Today, there was a ballot at Parliament for two Member’s Bills – they get drawn by a Lotto-style “numbers in a bucket” system as there are always many more MPs outside the Cabinet wanting to progress legislation than there is time in Parliament to deal with their Bills. I had high hopes for a Green [...] read more
    February 7, 2012 8:54 pm - 6 Comments
  • Holly Walker

    A nation divided? - by Holly Walker



    The Herald has launched a six part series highlighting inequality and poverty in New Zealand, showing why we need action on the root causes, not the consequences. read more
    February 7, 2012 1:37 pm - 38 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Public education under attack - by Catherine Delahunty



    This has been a week of disturbing announcements by the National Government although the leader of the pack was actually John Banks – the lone ACT MP. Before final sign off and maybe as a way to keep the pressure on, John announced that Catherine Isaac (number 3 on the ACT list and rumoured to [...] read more
    February 3, 2012 5:42 pm - 17 Comments
  • Jan Logie

    Another reason to care about equal pay - by Jan Logie



    Aside from the obvious ‘minor’ issues of justice, equality, child poverty, women’s ability to participate in society on an equal footing with men, ethnic/gender disparities and poverty, Australia has just given us another reason to care about Equal Pay. Fair Work Australia workplace tribunal has just made an historic equal pay decision for aged care [...] read more
    February 3, 2012 10:07 am - 4 Comments
  • frog

    Doing a stretch in the safety net - by frog



    United States Republican Presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney is getting a pasting for his comment: …I’m not concerned about the very poor; we have a safety net there. Over on Denise Roche’s minimum wage thread here at frogblog, commenter dbuckley recalls for us just what that “safety net” actually is: Yeah… but… you have that wonderful [...] read more
    February 3, 2012 9:17 am - 9 Comments
  • Denise Roche

    Government stuck in the ‘80s on the minimum wage - by Denise Roche



    Sometime around now, Cabinet will be undertaking its annual review of the minimum wage, which currently stands at a lowly $13 an hour. My bet is that we will see another effective nil increase, with the minimum wage being adjusted upwards no more than the level of inflation over the past year. That would be [...] read more
    January 31, 2012 1:19 pm - 59 Comments
  • Holly Walker

    Govt asking the wrong questions on child abuse - by Holly Walker



    The Green Paper for Vulnerable Children should be focused on how to address the root causes of child abuse and neglect – poverty and inequality. read more
    January 26, 2012 11:29 am - 60 Comments
  • Holly Walker

    Talking Child Poverty in Whangarei - by Holly Walker



    Yesterday I went on my first official trip as an MP, to Whangarei. My colleagues tell me the novelty of the travel will wear off, but I don’t think the buzz from connecting directly with people doing amazing and inspiring work on the issues I care about is going to wear off any time soon. [...] read more
    January 24, 2012 5:57 pm - 37 Comments
  • Holly Walker

    Good news for landlords, not for renters - by Holly Walker



    Hey guys, guess what? GOOD NEWS! TradeMe Property has analysed house rental listings for the last three months and determined that tenant demand is up. The number of enquiries from potential tenants about rental properties in the December quarter was up 13 percent since the same time in 2010. Great news right? If you’re a landlord. read more
    January 18, 2012 12:17 pm - 32 Comments
  • Denise Roche

    Ports of Auckland’s agenda: Casualisation, union-busting and privatisation - by Denise Roche



    As the dispute between Ports of Auckland Ltd Board and management and the Maritime Union’s members continues, I’m starting to question whether there’s a less obvious agenda in play than the one espoused by Ports of Auckland management. Ports of Auckland have consistently said that they want to increase productivity. However the hardline approach and [...] read more
    January 14, 2012 6:45 pm - 25 Comments
  • frog

    The Christmas story: Russel Norman’s Address in Reply speech - by frog



    “These are the values that help to lay down the essential nature of what it means to be human and guide us to live a ‘good’ life – good to ourselves, good to one another, and good to the world in which we make our livelihoods.” – Russel Norman. Address in Reply speeches are long, [...] read more
    December 21, 2011 9:48 pm - 8 Comments
  • Denise Roche

    Workers’ rights in Fiji - by Denise Roche



    When the Fijian military rule decided to deport New Zealand Council of Trade Unions President Helen Kelly and her Australian union counterparts yesterday they gave a clear signal that the reports of abuse of workers’ rights and the physical attacks on Fijian trade unionists are probably accurate. Ms Kelly was part of an Australian and New [...] read more
    December 14, 2011 4:15 pm - 12 Comments
  • frog

    Catching up with Australia - by frog



    New Zealand is finally catching up with Australia – at cricket! Australia 136 and 233 (Warner 123*, Bracewell 6-40) lost to New Zealand 150 and 226 by seven runs. Pity we can’t do this with wages too, but the Government’s policies will result in that gap widening. read more
    December 12, 2011 5:59 pm - 6 Comments
  • Holly Walker

    Inequality solutions there, if we’re willing - by Holly Walker



    The OECD has confirmed what we already suspected with its ground-breaking report on inequality – Divided We Fall. The gap between rich and poor has grown exponentially since the 1980s in most developed countries – but none more so than in New Zealand. read more
    December 8, 2011 10:41 am - 78 Comments
  • Julie Anne Genter

    The future will be walkable - by Julie Anne Genter



    Last week I went to watch my colleague and friend Holly Walker on the Backbenches TV show (14’30”). Being a new MP myself, Damien came up to me in the audience for some freshman hazing. He asked me what I hoped to achieve in the next three years. Quite ambitiously, I launched into a short [...] read more
    December 8, 2011 8:02 am - 11 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Minister should come clean on uneconomic motorways - by Gareth Hughes



    What does the Minister have to hide on his expensive motorways? read more
    December 7, 2011 2:07 pm - 2 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Corporate welfare at its worst - by Catherine Delahunty



    It seems that National is using the confidence and supply agreement with its former MP John Banks acting as an ACT Party MP to push through some silly ideologically driven policies and hope that the terminal ACT rather than National cops the blame for them when the wheels fall off. Among those polices are several [...] read more
    December 6, 2011 1:40 pm - 12 Comments
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