poverty Archive

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  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
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  COGS grant scheme cut - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  One of the worst aspects of the “death by a thousand cuts” Budget is the cut to the Community Organisations Grants Scheme (COGS). read more
  May 27, 2011 12:14 pm - 5 Comments
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  On tour with welfare - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Since March, I have been travelling to different communities to discuss issues of welfare justice in light of the Welfare Working Group‘s final report which suggests major reforms to our welfare system. So far I have met with people in Rotorua, Whangarei, Waihi and Turanga (Gisborne). Many of the people attending the meetings are community [...] read more
  May 16, 2011 4:19 pm - 13 Comments
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  Will Labour really take action on child poverty? - by Metiria Turei

  
  
  
  Annette King’s speech to the Labour Party conference over the weekend was all about how Labour’s policy will focus on children and “put our children first”. It all sounds quite familiar, but, all cynicism aside, it is really good to hear Labour talking like this. The more political parties put children at the heart of [...] read more
  October 18, 2010 10:32 pm - 138 Comments
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  What can we learn from “The Miniature Earth”? - by frog

  
  
  
  “Appreciate what you have. And do your best for a better world.” That’s the message from this interesting video that presents global demographic information for a world scaled down to just 100 people. More info at The Miniature Earth. read more
  September 15, 2010 6:17 am - 1 Comment
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  Paula Bennett asks Iwi for a handout: Govt is broke - by Metiria Turei

  
  
  
  The person ultimately responsible for child abuse is the abuser. Holding individuals to account for their violence and cruelty is critical but more is necessary. We need to make families more resilient, build community responsibility to break the code of silence. There have been better descriptions than I can give written by others about how [...] read more
  August 23, 2010 10:02 pm - 43 Comments
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  Government dodges on disease of poverty - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Sometimes the House is frustrating. I succeeded in my bid for a question today, but when we have two primary questions in a day we don’t get any more supplementary questions added to us. My boss had question 2 and mine was 11 and, since the Gallery journalists start drifting off after about 5 questions, [...] read more
  July 29, 2010 9:40 am - 50 Comments
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  Bring the SAS home - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  When John Key was in Afghanistan he flew a kite about extending the SAS mission there beyond the middle of next year. He’d be wise to can the idea, judging by a poll reported in yesterday’s Dominion Post. It shows that 40 percent wanted complete withdrawal and another 37 percent partial withdrawal, with only 10 [...] read more
  June 1, 2010 3:37 pm - 42 Comments
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  Change the world one coffee at a time - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  Right now it is Fair Trade fortnight in NZ. There have been events all over the country to raise awareness of the terrible working conditions many people in the developing world suffer from - tiny wages, ridiculously long hours, or dangerous conditions – and the benefits of buying ethically produced goods. If you haven’t been to any events yet [...] read more
  May 13, 2010 1:44 pm - 20 Comments
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  Paula, Peter and Peter: a perplexing predicament - by frog

  
  
  
  Today in the House, Catherine Delahunty posed a perplexing problem to Paula Bennett. Which Peter was she talking about? Last week, Catherine hit Paula up about the Welfare Working Group and the obvious bias of the people she had appointed. When asked about Peter Saunders’ statement that there is a link between “low average intelligence [...] read more
  May 5, 2010 5:56 pm - 34 Comments
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  The tsunami of child poverty - by frog

  
  
  
  New Zealand’s “tsunami of child poverty” came under the microscope at the recent Child Poverty Action Group hui at Manurewa marae. The hui was designed to build activism to end child poverty in Aotearoa. Activism is clearly what is needed to bring about change, was the consensus of speakers and participants. One of the overriding [...] read more
  October 13, 2009 5:30 pm - 147 Comments
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  We can’t grow our way to fairness - by frog

  
  
  
  Last week I pointed to New Scientist’s special issue on The Folly of Growth.  One of its really compelling articles was Andrew Simm’s explanation of why growth didn’t and couldn’t end poverty as its proponents have often claimed: THE last line of defence for advocates of indefinite global economic growth is that it is needed [...] read more
  November 4, 2008 1:53 pm - 22 Comments
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  What happened to the food crisis? - by frog

  
  
  
  Do you remember disease of the week movies?  It seems we now have global problem of the month causes: Five months after countries pledged to give more than $12bn to address the global food emergency, less than $1bn has been delivered, says Oxfam. In a report to coincide with World Food day, the international agency [...] read more
  October 17, 2008 6:39 am - 36 Comments
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  Impoverished food - by frog

  
  
  
  There is a vibrant food debate going on between New Zealand blogs Object Dart and In a Strange Land on the politics of food. It began last week when No Right Turn pointed to this Guardian article about Jamie Oliver’s latest television show, where Oliver attempts to teach people to cook and eat healthy food. [...] read more
  October 10, 2008 1:14 pm - 50 Comments
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  More hardworking families forced into foodbanks - by frog

  
  
  
  We have more than our share of beneficiary bashers here at frogblog. They just love to point out how all those ‘bludgers’ are bilking them out of their hard earned dollars. This is a deluded viewpoint. While there is no doubt that some benefit abuse occurs, (and will always occur under any system), the vast [...] read more
  August 16, 2008 10:38 am - 24 Comments
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  Rural public transport - by frog

  
  
  
  I was a bit surprised that my rather flippant comments about the relationship between cyclists and cars drew criticism yesterday that I secretly wanted to ban all cars and didn’t care about rural people.  I would have thought people living in rural areas have the most interest in townies like me saving petrol, kyoto carbon [...] read more
  June 27, 2008 8:06 am - 21 Comments
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  A family wage - by frog

  
  
  
  The Families Commission is apparently releasing a report today on the well-being of families. I can’t find it online yet so I’m guessing it is being released later today but the Dominion Post reports news from it that many ‘Kiwi families are living on Struggle St’ A drop in the buying power of wages means [...] read more
  June 19, 2008 9:19 am - 86 Comments
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  GE Rears Its Head as Saviour of World Food Emergency - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  It was to be expected, but still a shock, to find Bill Gates and the Rockefeller foundation at the conference (they weren’t excluded like the NGOs) launching a new bold sounding “Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. In partnership with various UN agencies, aimed at ‘lifting millions out of poverty and hunger by increasing [...] read more
  June 8, 2008 2:13 pm - 29 Comments
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  John Key on foreign aid - by frog

  
  
  
  John Key gave a speech yesterday on international affairs.  I thought it was worth pulling out this one quote from that speech, where he discusses aid to the Pacific: It is also important that this aid is properly focused. New Zealand’s aid in recent years has been targeted at “poverty elimination” – the focus should [...] read more
  April 9, 2008 12:56 pm - 10 Comments
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  Hunger - by frog

  
  
  
  Earlier this week the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) announced that the rapidly rising price of food was having a two-fold impact on its efforts to feed people in food poverty.  First more people were suffering food poverty because of the price rises and second, the WFP could afford less food on its existing [...] read more
  February 28, 2008 2:35 pm - 41 Comments