John Key promised that under a National government we’d catch up to Australia. He has succeeded on one measure. When he took office we had a lower unemployment rate than the Aussies. Under Key we’ve not only caught up, we’ve overtaken them.
In the past month 20,000 new jobs were created in Australia, the 7th straight month the number of jobs increased over the ditch. 215,000 jobs have been created in Oz in the past 6 months. Here in New Zealand 60,000 Kiwis have lost their jobs since National took office.
National has had a year and a half to implement their plan (or come up with a new one) yet they’ve spent it sitting on the sidelines. By contrast the Labor govt in Aussie has invested in a bold stimulus package, with a particular focus on R&D and education (unlike National who have cut both). Now National wants to raise GST too.
I hope this year’s Budget will demonstrate that National does actually have a plan. If they don’t, I suspect even more Kiwis will be crossing the Tasman.
I feel another summit coming on. Of course JK will keep his eyes open during this one
Chris – you might be interested in these comments from Rudd
http://www.pm.gov.au/node/6599
This economy of ours has been the fastest growing economy, with the second-lowest unemployment and the lowest debt and the lowest deficit of all the major advanced economies, and we didn’t go into recession. What’s the net result of that? We’ve kept hundreds of thousands of people in jobs who would otherwise have lost their jobs.
Look at the unemployment rate in New Zealand, just across the Tasman. Look at the difference in terms of our unemployment rate there. If that unemployment rate was replicated here in Australia, hundreds of thousands of people would not be with jobs today, and we would be being asked questions about how you provide, frankly, an income for working families.
Now, we’re into a different part of the economic challenge now, which is having successfully negotiated the global crisis, how do we build the right foundations for our long-term economic future. That’s tough, but part of it means maintaining tough financial management so that we are producing a disciplined fiscal policy in the future of the type that was outlined in the last budget, which we are continuing to implement and will implement into the future.
My last job finished in April last year, I was working for the Ministry of Education doing assistive technology for disabled children in the schools as well as IT Support for the staff. My contract expired and there were budget cuts so they were unable to re-employ me.
I am now doing volunteer work working with disabled adults recycling old computers and rebuilding them for resale. Due to my partner’s income I get absolutely nothing for income and have been relying on donations from my parents so my wife and I can cover all the bills.
The challenge for me is finding a job where I am the suitable applicant for that job, what is stopping that from happening is the disability I have limiting my work options and doesn’t look good in the eyes of employers, now that the unemployed who get an income are now being told they have to start applying for what few jobs are out there, I am basically screwed. We are at the point where bankruptcy is looking like the only way we can survive.
I feel well and truly shafted by the govt and society in general, my whole bloody life I have slipped through the cracks and now wonder why I have wasted most of my life in this country waiting for things to improve, I now doubt it ever will.
Mark, nothing I can say will make a dent in what seems to be a travesty. Your situation, I thought, was what all our systems were designed to assist? Find out when Key is back from his trip, or catch Bennett before she goes, with a reporter in tow, and a banner that says “willing to work, find me a job John and Paula”.
I agree Tracey.
Mark – we’d be in the same boat. Being self-employed and contracted to a company that doesn’t do formal contracts (like most in our industry) my husband could come home tonight and say there is no work tomorrow and we’d be screwed. Sure, I am a wage in waiting, but question is whether I would be able to find a job – former policy analysts are a dime a dozen as are BAs with honours! I suppose we could pay even more insurance to somehow get some kind of income protection insurance however, it is hard to get this kind of cover when self-employed.
What annoys me most is that despite paying so much in taxes for so long we would get nothing from the government, that somehow on time of paying exorbitant taxes, acc levies and mortgage for a very average house we’re supposed to have been able to save enough money to keep our heads above water for an entire year or until we can get back on our feet.
I wish you all the best. I hope that a door opens and you can put this period behind you like the bad dream that it is. It seems so wrong that someone who has faced an uphill battle their entire life & done their best to always look for opportunities is being penalised because you don’t quite meet the “criteria”. If I knew how to do the horns thing that Spud does I would insert it here as it makes me so cross.
Despite the blather from the Media that the recession is over, Nuts ! If Qualified , Intelligent and highly capable people such as Mark are unable to find paid employment then we are still in a dark hole.
Cycle ways be damned !
agreed peter, and Mark, have you been told you are too qualified for some jobs yet?
For Rebecca
@Peter – there’s too much B.S. spin out there alright!
No real Journo’s around to discover and highlight the “inconvenient truth”
Mark, I hear ya, buddy. I was made redundant last May and have had only very spotty contract employment since, despite being skilled, experienced, intelligent and an all round nice guy!
And yes, Tracey, I have been told I’m overqualified for some jobs for – those that bother to reply, that is. There is just less call for what I do these days, and ever-increasing competition for any roles that do come up. I’ve lost track of the number of applications I’ve put in. I’d love to retrain but there’s no way I can keep paying the mortgage for the time it would take, interest free student loan or not.
My wife has been working as a contract teacher (hard to get permanent jobs in teaching) for most of this time so we aren’t starving, and there are certainly plenty worse off than us. We live pretty frugally, but there’s no way a teacher’s wage covers the mortgage, food, petrol, car maintenance, basic insurances, school uniforms, and all the rest, so we’re running down the little we had saved for retirement. I can’t escape the idea that it’s kinda all downhill from here…
I also have some medical limitations – I’m not disabled, but there is stuff I can’t do some days (driving, sitting, lifting) – which is off-putting to employers. No options there but to suck it up and pay the doctor and pharmacy bills. Rebecca – the income protection insurance idea is all good in principle, but it does get to be a bit of a millstone: I have had disability cover for years and daren’t let it lapse as I will never get the same cover at affordable premiums or at all. And I’ll probably need it in a few years time. Few other options there, too – ACC is increasingly sticky about covering anything, and claims degeneration whenever they can.
Just keep on keeping on Mark. Perhaps we should get some banners and go wave at Mr Key and Ms Bennett. I doubt it would achieve anything, but it might be entertaining at least!
And Chris: “I hope this year’s Budget will demonstrate that National does actually have a plan.” That has got to be the Tui Ad of the year!
(On second thought, I think they do have a plan. It’s just not one I like, very much).
My partner was out of work for 12 months too, so like rainman and mark we were fascinated to hear the recession was over. There is something disconnected about a Minister of Finance trumpetting the end of the recession while rorting the tax payer for his “second home”.
I think the situation that rainman and Mark are experiencing is where family and community come into play i.e. voluntary work rewarded with koha in no-tax trust based economy of a community that shares skills and looks after each other.
Mark is getting family help but if anyone has any work they can afford to make a donation for (without abusing it) I’m sure people like these two would value the opportunity.
If the value of the donation is less than the market rate for the work then there will be work (it’s just keeping it casual and under thresholds for tax), until steady employment turns up.
Fingers crossed for you.
Also don’t be too proud to let friends and neighbours know your situation – they can probably recommend you to their rich uncle who needs an IT guy (or similar opportunities).
Well, the government doesn’t need a plan because it inherited one from the previous government, which was to work-test all those malingering invalid’s beneficiaries into all the jobs just waiting out there. Notice how Paula Shipley Bennett’s Future Focus Bill doesn’t extend the work-test to people receiving the invalid’s benefit? It didn’t need to because Labour already did it in 2007!!! “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
How about a policy/bill that allows for those unable to get a benefit but are doing volunteer work, the ability to get a benefit…
Labour has already raised the issue of partners with incomes too high so unable to get benefits, to be shot down by National
rainman:
I hate everything ACC represents because I can’t get any cover from the damn thing, my disability I was born with, congenital conditions are exempt from ACC, A job I had some years ago was at a timber mill (only job I could get) but after 3 months my knee popped out of joint, it happened twice before I chucked in the towel but I didn’t even bother applying for ACC simply because I didn’t want to go through months of run arounds to be told no its associated with your permanent disability. I tried the public health service to get the problem rectified but I was never urgent enough, we ended up going private with medical insurance to get the surgery. Spent 3 years waiting for something from our public health system to be told no, privately within 6 months. That was knee operation number 6 and from my lifetime experience of knee operations hospital service and wait times have gotten worse not better.
Can another policy be written whereby if you suffer from a congenital condition you are exempt from paying ACC.
Why should I friggin pay for everybody else and get nothing myself?
I am not qualified in anything, I don’t learn by the academic approach, I tried the academic approach and failed and am now left with a student loan to finish paying off too. I learn by doing, have been doing IT related tasks for the most part of 13 years, could beat the pants of some pimply faced newbie with a bit of paper any day but since I don’t have that bit of paper, the pimply faced newbie will get the job.
I consider myself intelligent but employers view qualifications as to ones intelligence level.
So again I am disadvantaged in this modern world.
As far as possible work opportunities go, I probably live in one of the worst places – Dunedin which has lost Fisher and Paykels and about 5 other manufacturing plants meaning there are over 600 people been made redundant since the recession, and given on Wednesday or Saturday when jobs are in the paper, the positions are managerial, or require specific qualifications or skills. The jobs basically anyone can apply for are heavy labour and require physical fitness.
To me the only time the disabled appear able to get work is when the economy is in full swing and people willing to work are in short supply. Equal opportunities for those with disabilities is but a myth.
Anton Craig:
I would qualify for the invalids benefit if I didn’t have a partner but I chose to live a life like normal people where you work for your money and not suck off the public tit.
It’s all about motivation….
Anton – excellent point.
I think the key word in your last comment was “chose.” If someone is sick enough to get an invalids benefit then surely it should be up to them whether or not they choose to take on work. I imagine the burden would be harder if the invalid was single.
“It’s all about motivation….” I think most people here know someone who could never ever work, motivation or not, due to their condition(s)…
Also, it really depends on individual circumstances, I’m glad that you are able to work, not everyone on the invalid’s benefit could cope with that.
You’re one of the lucky ones then Mark. Not everyone is as lucky as you. Under similar changes made in the mid-1990s a wheelchair user with spina bifida was thrown on to the unemployment benefit because he was regarded as being available for “light factory work”. Also, the relatively recent appeal court decision said that a person who met the medical criteria for the invalid’s benefit was not in fact entitled to receive it on the grounds he “chose to live a life like normal people where you work for your money and not suck off the public tit”. The guy had a list of ailments as long as your arm but because he made an effort to earn a living wasn’t entitled to a reduced invalid’s benefit. So Mark, because you “choose to live like a normal person” you wouldn’t in fact be entitled to the invalid’s benefit at all anyway. Comes back to being lucky enough that you’re able to work.
Mark/Rainman & Tracey when your partner was off work: it is this kind of thing I am happy to pay a good share of taxes as you all work hard, put your best foot forward and get penalised in the process whereas people who lack any ambition, motivation, skills and integrity are able to pop kids out like they are going out of fashion and to quote Mark “suck of the public tit”. As I stated above, we could easily – as in tomorrow or the next day be in the same position and that would be hit. It would be selling or renting out our place and moving cities to move in with family and then lining up at the food banks as being in our early-mid 30s we are just starting out with mortgage, kids & savings so there is no way we would could survive for more than 3 months without some help (self-employed we have 3 months worths of expenses aside as if hubby gets injured then we need to have dollars to pay for business & mortgage).
Rainman re income protection insurance – yes I agree you’re almost damned if you do (provided you can find appropriate cover), damned if you don’t as it can be very expensive.
I absolutely accept that Labour is the better party to help people when they hit the curb in terms of principles, but all political parties at the moment do, in my view, seem to lack good solutions so that we can strike a good balance in terms of paying our fair share and being supported when we can’t.
What really annoys me is that we should have been better prepared – 9 years of fantastic growth yet 2 seconds into National govt we have the highest unemployment in years, food banks struggling to keep up with demand & mortgagee sales popping up all over the place….and that is without taking into account the further hardship those already struggling are suffering. Seems so odd and so wrong.
I am so disappointed that the Job Summit was all talk – we all expected as much, but yet we hoped it would not be the case and that hope is well and truly dashed. And then on top of this we find the MP salaries conveniently go up before the pay freeze as apparently it is too difficult to change the law to prevent this and also find out how many and how deep some have their snouts in the trough.
Question is: who has got the answers? And what are they?
Spud:
problem is anybody with a disability that shows, but willing and capable of getting work get treated the same as those who are unable to work.
From my experience I feel like a social leper.
marginalised and forgotten
“From my experience I feel like a social leper.”"marginalised and forgotten.” –
That sounds really hard, healthy people don’t know what it’s like to be a sick person trying to function in a world built for healthy people. 
Well if you’re a “social leper” Mark I don’t know what that makes all the losers out there who have no concept of work ethic, integrity, being a contributing partner in a relationship and/or making a marriage work. Health is a state of mind and you’re as healthy as they come. Kudos to you and I am sure things will work out – sounds like you have great support, something which generally speaking, can get one through anything.
“Health is a state of mind and you’re as healthy as they come.”
Tell that to the people with serious and even life threatening illnesses. Mark is not healthy, that’s why he hypothetically qualifies for an invalid’s benefit! Also, there are people with degrees who go for good jobs that match their qualifications and get discriminated against because of disability.
“can get one through anything.” – spoken like someone who doesn’t understand how hard life can be for these people.
“makes all the losers out there who have no concept of work ethic, integrity” – Just to be clear are you insulting people of the invalid’s benefit?????
Do you think just because these people are too sick to work that they are a, losers b, no work ethic, c, integrity?
- I’m sickened!
Spud my comment was in reference to Mark’s obvious determination to make the best out of life on his own two feet when he is clearly entitled to feel crap about things and expect some support. No need to take things out of context just because you have beef with the fact that I don’t always share your views.
As for your “Do you think just because these people are too sick to work that they are a, losers b, no work ethic, c, integrity?” – try reading things in context eh! Horns back at you!
This was said in reference to genuinely healthy people who take the first path out onto lazy street – these people cross all demographics, race & cultures including the likes of the tax , WFF, student allowance & property rorters.
Interestingly both Mark and my partner didnt go onto benefits when out of work, for similar reasons. We (not Mark and I ) would have had the maximum stand down because of the salary earned before the redundancy and at some point would have become eligible. I do not begrudge those who need iut getting a benefit, but we couldn’t see the point of us getting it ,possibly at the expense of others, or future others… at some point we would have had to consider it.
As it turns out I have also recently been offered a new position, we have gone from famine to feast. We are well aware that it is not like this for everyone.
Spud _ i’m pretty sure rebecca said that as a way to indicate she understands that Mark is not defined by his disability, that is, having a disability does not mean unhealthy per se. Not that I can spak for Rebecca, just dont want ya fretting over a comment I seuspect you took the wrong way.
Chris Hipkins
Australia didn’t have it’s economy in recession prior to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the global economic crisis that followed. Our economy had stalled entirely on it’s own, well not on it’s own eh, under the “prudent” management of Labour.
We had unemployment increasing months before the election – have you forgotten this?
Is it all National’s fault now because they couldn’t make a silk purse from the pigs ear economy they took over late 2008?
Thanks Tracey and yes, it is a hard one re your situation, but after the stand down (which no doubt which have been fairly long as don’t the gross up your last 6 months to a years wage then work it out from there?) if you could get it you should as it should be something that is there as a safety net for all New Zealanders, including ones who are apparently deemed rich and are in the top tax bracket.
This recession and the subsequent tough times faced by your family, Marks and all the thousands of others has shown how flawed our welfare system is.
If we can get anything from this then I would hope it would be lessons that result in better policy and fiscal management so that should this hit us again (not assuming of course that we are out of the current recession!) we are in a much better position to provide real and meaningful assistance for all those that need it.
Reading those comments by Kevin Rudd about NZ was shameful and embarrassing. We got it so wrong.
Rebecca
If I wore working on the word-smithery for the budget Kevin Rudd’s words would be like winning Loto.
It is indeed shameful we got it so wrong.
My family and friends have been talking about this a lot.
Seems to me that the promise and the Govt’s many lines that have been scripted and practised to assure and lull NZers to supporting them demonstrate characteristics that are bordering on the pathological.
Tracey and Rebecca – Labour removed the high-income stand down in late 2008 as part of what it called moves to reduce effects of the recession. It went down to the standard two-week stand down and it’s still the case now. This was actually quite uncharacteristic of Labour at that time given it’s Social Security Amendment Act that extended the work-test to the invalid’s benefit and did all sorts of other nasty things you’d expect from a national government. Like I said before, the current Future Focus Bill does very little to the invalid’s benefit because Labour did the damage for them in 2007.
Act caucus meeting scheduled for 1st May, will Rodney Hide still be the party leader on 2nd May?
Well, as Basher Bennett forces invalids off benefits and solo parents to abandon their kids to on-the-cheap child care, at least John Key kept one promise. Of course, he said that before he realised there was a journalist present.
Anton Craig – now that you mention that I do remember something of the kind being reported. Good to know and yes very uncharacteristic of the Social Security Amendment Act and yes, I totally agree re the Invalids Benefit – saw the consequences of those changes with my own eyes when seconded briefly to help ease policy changes in the frontline office. Not a pleasant time to be working there at all.
“No need to take things out of context just because you have beef with the fact that I don’t always share your views.”
- No it was your use of the words – loser, no work ethic, and no integrity! I don’t care whether you share my views or not, but I’m not about to ignore such vitriol towards invalids!
Growing unemployment IS the plan for jobs…
Low unemployment is a driver of higher wages (and inflation) and National loves higher wages for workers… Right..? That’s why they are spending every waking moment trying to create jobs and stimulate the economy…
*sarcasm*
@Tracey – We were discussing invalids at the time so that’s the way I read the comment. But I have trouble with any group of beneficiaries being subject to negative stereotypes. If it was a straight forward congratuations for Mark then I would’ve been happy.
I think it’s great that Mark goes for it!
And I hate that he faces discrimination.
Maybe you meant well Rebecca, I dunno, I was just telling it as I saw it at the time.
@BLiP and Jeremy – figures
Child care? Surely the mothers have the right to raise their own children. 
Budget 2010:
‘The Plan, The Plan’
Fantasy Island cometh to North Island & South Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFK1rvL2NoQ
(there’s a longer Youtube clip that continues on after “another day, another dollar” … “today, i’ve decided to be selfish”)
“It’s the economy, stupid.” Goff and Cunliffe could do worse than to borrow a page from Slick Willy.
The whole affair is starting to look like Forbes-Coates v2.0.
Burt @5.20pm – Under Labour the overall number of people on benefits decreased dramatically. Govt debt levels fell dramatically. Cullen took steps to secure the future of Super by setting money aside in the NZ Super Fund. Despite all of National’s spin, Labour left the economy in very good shape. We were always going to feel the effects of the international recession, yes we were one of the first, which was all the more reason for National to have a plan in place by now. Instead throughout the campaign they turned a blind eye to the unfolding economic situation globally and lied to people about the affordability of tax cuts (which they eventually had to admit they couldn’t afford and had to pass legislation under urgency to cancel them). They’ve had a year and a half to come up with a plan, they can’t blame the last govt for their lack of action.
Chris Hipkins
Labour left the economy in good shape… The economy was in recession before the global crisis, can you list any other OECD countries where that was the case?
Ignored. Cheers Chris.
Given Australia are the ONLY nation NOT to have gone through a recession – I believe they had one quarter of negative growth- isnt it even more ludicrous that NACT trumpet follow Australia, follow Australia… speaking of which exactly HOW have they closed the gap so far??
Mark yes I agree: Chris has completely belittled your position and on behalf of Labour, has accepted no responsibility for how quickly this economy went to hell.
@burt… Japan…
Mark – sorry, I’ve been reading the comments on my blackberry and didn’t see any from you that asked for my feedback??? I was responding to a question burt had asked me directly. Having now read your comments can I first respond by saying that I’ve always been concerned that people with the same disability can be treated differently depending on whether they happened to have it from birth or acquire it through accident. I don’t think that’s fair and I’d support moves to address the disparity. I certainly feel for your situation and yes, I agree that employers are short-sighted if they look only at qualifications and not also at experience (which is itself a qualification in my view). Did you have anything else in particular you wanted me to respond to?
Burt/Rebecca – during Labour’s time in office NZ experienced some of the highest rates of GDP growth in the OECD. Between 2000 and 2009, Labour reduced net debt (incl NZSF) by over 78%. Between 2000 and 2008, Labour built up Crown net worth from $12.6 billion to over $105.5 billion. Total net worth at June 2009 was $99.5 billion. As any economist will tell you, the economy goes in cycles, and in 2008 NZ was on the downward part of the cycle, but we were very well placed with low debt levels and plenty of room to move. Bill English even admitted this much himself. So what have they done to “shallow out” the down swing in the cycle? Not as much as other OECD countries have and the result is showing.
I know they have borrowed (are borrowing) $250m per week. I just dont “get” what proactive steps this government has taken to move us out of the recession. Having blamed labour for the economy, they have done nothing to rectify. I still believe that is, in part, because National knows our economy was slammed by external factors mainly, over which Labour had no control.
I agree.