Comments on: Has the Minister seen any reports…

By: Unemployment: Real people’s lives « Red Alert

Unemployment: Real people’s lives « Red Alert — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:04:51 +0000

[...] government is still to show us the plan to

By: johnbt

johnbt — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:19:06 +0000

Chez, sorry to rain on your parade, but, I am sure that Australia is not technically in a recession. We are now in our 7th quarter of recession. That will ,no doubt, be the fault of National.

If that good management that you mentioned was so good how come we ended up facing 10 years of deficits as at the end of last year? After the best economic conditions we have ever had. Remember the PREFU? Remember the $4.5 billion of extra spending in Cullen’s last budget? And how he smirked that the cupboard was bare? Don’t mention the train set. Let’s blame National.

It is crazy to compare NZ and Oz because of so many differences in economies and the asset bases. Let us just be grateful for what we have. (Including competent economic managers after so many wasted years). Smiley face.

By: Paul Williams

Paul Williams — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:29:44 +0000

Grant’s right to identify and contrast the approach followed in Australia with that of NZs. There’s a range of initiatives being implemented, the funding for retrenched workers is only one part – the significant additional funding in the Productivity Places Program is another and most states have implemented their own arrangements (NSW for instance has given gaurantees to apprentices whose work is affected by the crisis). The federal Treasury expects the economy to recover in 2010/11 and given that prior to the crisis there were significant and persistent skill shortages in most states, increasing the training effort now is essential.

By: Chez

Chez — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:53:26 +0000

Nicola,
Create a whole post (on Grassroots) – your issue is important – but so is this one!
Go Hilary! It’s all relative johnbt! (What an idiot! fancy thinking that Australia isn’t in a recession)- get busy looking around at our stats and demogs, we’re in a marginally more comfortable position than most others – because we have had good management – sustainable good management – for nine years!

It’s sliding down now though – like a rocket on a rail! No investment in the people or the infrastructures you understand!

By: Hilary

Hilary — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:26:44 +0000

johnbt – Australia is affected by the Global Economic Situation too.
NZ has resources too – they are called people. Invest in people and people will get us out of this.

By: johnbt

johnbt — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:29:46 +0000

Hilary… I was not aware that Australia was in a recession. Apart from which, they have resources that we do not have. Little things like mountains of minerals. That they can sell. We have cows. And water, don’t forget. But when the minerals have gone we will still have the cows and the water. Really, we can’t compare the two countries. Do you really think that tax and spend is a good policy long term? Oh, of course you do. That is how Labour would do it.

By: Nicola Weaver

Nicola Weaver — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:22:19 +0000

Has the minister any reports on what Mr Rudd promised to do in 2005, and yet has failed to deliver or even consider?

No?

Well… there’s a whole song about it now… a song for Mr Rudd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg5l9J4Qj1k

Would the minister like to tell the world when Mt Rudd is going to back up his statement? or is he waiting for her to die, so he can jump off the hook?

That singer is American and the song gets airplay there (but is supressed on Australia, which is another appalling story), so it appears that the world IS watching.

Keep your word Mr Rudd.

By: Pascal's bookie

Pascal's bookie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:03:04 +0000

I agree with what others have said above. ‘There Is No Alternative’ is no longer operative.

By: jarbury

jarbury — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:23:11 +0000

This is seriously THE big issue that I think Labour should be jumping on here. Our government is basically ignoring the recession in its policymaking, or actually using the recession as an excuse to implement cutbacks that it would have absolutely done anyway.

Meanwhile in Australia their government is actually responding to the economic situation and actually doing something about it. I suppose time will tell which approach has worked better. However, certainly if we start to see Australia coming of the recession and their unemployment falling but things don’t get better in NZ there will be a very receptive audience to a “right National are fiddling while Rome burns, THIS is how we’d bring the country out of the recession!”

By: Chez

Chez — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:16:21 +0000

Bang on Hilary! Not even so much as ‘new’ initiatives as hanging on to the ones that were working for communities, look at the initiatives in communities that were working for the bare 3% of the communities who were jobless pre-2009 and now, of all times, crank those up – don’t pull them apart. – Funding these initiatives was not what caused the deficits we live with today – they were enabling resilience in communities to protect against these times. There were some inefficiencies in Com Ed – this was recognised in 2005, and years of work since then in needs analysis, outcomes based research and moving toward optimising Com Ed was progressing and showing the outcomes we planned for – before the Government changed and rhetoric reigned.

And Simon, Off you go and read the Tertiary Education Strategy 2009-2012 – its all there in black and white. The sector is on that waka – we helped to shape it, through engagement with policy, planning, collaboration, and being the first to put our hands up and state – IT COULD BE BETTER! We know times are tough – Government or not, we know the resource is limited and we are endeavouring to work with (what we have) to prioritise, tighten up and ensure that our learners, our communities are still able to access the learning opportunities that will ensure optimum skill levels as we climb out of the hole and employment rises again – and it will!
It’s about meeting Community Learning Needs through Education – not Welfare. You seem to confuse the two things – put funding into one and you reduce the other, strip the education budget in these economic times and you find the welfare bill seems to rise – you’ll work it out in another year.

While you’re at it Simon – have a look at the unemployment figures and the subsequent welfare bill from 2002-08 and compare that to today’s and the projection for the next (what is it? 15 years – your MinFin is promising) – then come back and tell us all about ‘breathtaking hypocrisy’and then lets chat about FALSE ECONOMY!