Then
Food, shelter, clothing
Now
Food, housing, education, health, power, a job, a vote, connectivity, (not sure about the order)
Then
Food, shelter, clothing
Now
Food, housing, education, health, power, a job, a vote, connectivity, (not sure about the order)
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under community, democracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
It’s a shame Labour didn’t fix it when they had 9 years and surplus after surplus. Why do you think people will believe you now?
I’m unsure of what this thread is about.
How long before you start calling this revised list ‘rights’?
It’s a list the colluding two main parties have in order to remove, in no particular order.
Clothing is not on the second list. We’re all nudists now?
I would put adequate income instead of a job. As I’m nearing retirement age the focus on jobs as income seems to exclude many people. The job issue comes under right to work for those who are able and of relevant ages, but I’m not sure how to put that briefly.
Clare, can I cast a vote for putting “clothing” back in the new list somewhere? I think if your South Dunedin constituents got wind of your secret plan to make New Zealand a nudist colony, they in particular would not be too thrilled.
Damn! I/S beat me to it!
How long before you start calling this revised list ‘rights’?
Not long. The only “rights” we have are those in our Bill of Rights. Which you can read here:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM224792.html
Note, lefties, education isn’t on there. I don’t know why people keep saying it should be, it’s free, and then it’s tertiary and that is certainly a privilege.
Also I can’t help but scoff at “connectivity” , what a lame addition. You can function quite easily without the internet. Essentially this is a list of things that Labour will blow heaps of money on for little result should it get back in.
When I wrote this post, my hand hovered over clothing. I wanted to write school uniforms, because so many families struggle to afford them, but it seemed too specific. Despite my free spirit, I think the nuddy thing would be a bit much for my elderly constituents. Apologies, I guess I figured it was a given
Louis, try applying for most a job or doing any kind of course, especially secondary school or uni course without access to the Internet. Many jobs require the applicant apply online these days, but I guess not all….. yet.
Clare, could you check that Louis in this thread http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2011/01/30/lets-talk-about-these-green-jobs/#comments isn’t the same as Loius in this one.
As they are very simmilar politically, it would be unfair to the rest of us if they are indeed one poster.
“connectivity” Not having it if you are very rich or if you are desperately poor. (If you are cold and hungry do you care about the finer points of democracy? Ditto for the very rich.)
@ Al1ens Same Louis
Re connectivity. Big debate building around the world. Digital divide will entrench further inequality. Access to technology can be a way of emerging from poverty. Feel very strongly about this. Look at Egypt. Why is connectivity being removed by an authoritarian regime?
Maslow.
http://tinyurl.com/6ujce
oh, naughty naughty
Thanks, Clare.
ps Don’t tell Trevor what she/he called him in that thread.
@Al1ens stay on thread
Yeah, fair enough, Clare, just checking that Louis and Loius (spelt differently) is using two login names, because I was under the impression we are only allowed one on here.
Anyway, feel free to delete whatever of my posts you see fit.
Have deleted Louis comment on other post. Feel free to email me if you discrepancies. Sometimes offensive, personal comments get through unmoderated. Not a perfect system
clare.curran@parliament.govt.nz
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from having kids, it’s that entertainment is one of their highest priorities.
These priorities are good but not as important as the left reconnecting with feminism!!!.
http://thestandard.org.nz/guest-post-why-the-left-needs-feminism-ii/
What is a priority for labour? From the herald this morning:
“So would Labour restore funding to previous levels? Goff confirmed it was a “priority”. Almost in the same breath, though, he said that would happen as spare revenue “becomes available”. Given other priorities, Labour would not be able to restore those previous levels in its first Budget.
That begged the question of when is a priority really a priority or when is a priority just something on a long list of things a new Labour Government would want to do if it had the money.”
Im guessing its the later.
These priorities are good but not as important as the left reconnecting with feminism!!!.
To Labour MPs: Is that the offical core Labour view on this topic, or one that’s viewed by the party as ‘Looney Left’?
I’m sure that the electorate would be interested to know…
Ummmm… what’s wrong with ensuring that women and girls get equal consideration within all the priorities listed?
Looks like a diversion to me.
And FYI, the standard is an independent blog & doesn’t produce official Labour Party policy.
Priorities 2011
Continuing saving the NZ economy that was gleefully put on a crash course for nine long wasted years.
Recovering from the scorched earth , cupboard is bare and here are the bills mess inherited in Nov 2008.
Where is Spud ?
Ummmm… what’s wrong with ensuring that women and girls get equal consideration within all the priorities listed?
Not sure whether that’s a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. Perhaps a ‘yes but don’t push it too much in front of the wider electorate for the time being’, perhaps?
And FYI, the standard is an independent blog & doesn’t produce official Labour Party policy
I’m very aware of that. Which is why I asked for a response from Labour’s MPs on how they viewed the opinions expressed in the posting rather than assuming that it’d come directly from the party.
This is sort of on topic, but it’s actually my response to the report released today – about savings and investment policy.
This a response to the report of the group looking at savings and investment policy changes by the government.
Any increase in GST should be to 20%, but only if combined with a 10% rate for food, power and medical and educational costs. The effective tax paid by the poor would go down, but overall revenue would be the same. This change effectively making the tax less regressive.
This is important if Kiwi Saver is to be compulsory (and so is the Labour moves on the tax free threshold).
The tax incentives for Kiwi Saver should go. The compulsory rate at 2%, but the employer 2% should be paid into the New Zealand Super Fund. If the employee pays 4%, then the employer pays an extra 1% to the employee account (later increasing to 2%).
That saves a $B from the tax incentives for Kiwi Saver and also raises money for the affordability of tax paid super with the payments into the New Zealand Super Fund.
The $1B savings can be placed into the pool for affording a reduced rate of tax on interest income. Inflation proofing is difficult, it’s easier to just go with 3 withholding rates – 10% for those on below the minimum wage, 20% for those on the top rate/2 times the average wage and 15% for the rest.
Another way to raise money for this pool is to place a surcharge on mortgages (it’s not that bad for home owners as the OCR will fall to compensate – so it actually means a lowering of borrowing costs for business and a lower dollar and little change in cost of paying off home laons). Bollard has been after this tool to move away from reliance on raising the OCR for some time. As it tool that also raises revenue, it’s useful for implementing structural change in the savings/investment regime of the country.
A 1% surcharge would raise over $1B pa (home mortgages are over $100B of foreign debt alone). It would prevent any need to raise the OCR from 3 to 4% later next year.
@Carol – “FYI, the standard is an independent blog & doesn’t produce official Labour Party policy.” Sorry, i have to stop for minute, my sides are splitting. Saying the Standard is not a left wing lunatic mouthpiece is like saying Beck from Fox News is a Social Democrat. Utter hogwash. The Standard is as independent from the lunatic Left fringe and the Labour Party, as the CTU is.
Loius : you’re correct that the right to education isn’t in the BORA. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Quite apart from NZ being a party to the ICESCR, check out s3 of the Education Act 1989:
Right to free primary and secondary education
Except as provided in this Act or the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975, every person who is not a foreign student is entitled to free enrolment and free education at any State school during the period beginning on the person’s fifth birthday and ending on 1 January after the person’s 19th birthday.
And this goes back a long way. It was in the 1964 version of the Act, and I think it was in earlier ones as well.
How about the right to participate in decision making. (and clothing of course)
and by the right to participate in decision making I mean more than just a vote once every three years( though I want that too of course) I mean that our workplaces and all our major institutions should be subject to at least some degree of democratic control.
“Right to free primary and secondary education” – Question then, why have I been paying School fees for the last 12 years if it is free? Surely Government don’t underfund Schools, including the Labour Government for their 9 year term? Underfunding maybe? Free means Free, it doesn’t mean a little bit free, or partially free, it means free. Why isn’t it then? Will Labour make it truly free?
and by the right to participate in decision making I mean more than just a vote once every three years( though I want that too of course) I mean that our workplaces and all our major institutions should be subject to at least some degree of democratic control.
What so the factory floor workers vote in a CEO? Please.
Louis, scoff if you will, but strange as it may seem in this weirdly authoritarian land, where the basic workers right to strike is extremely curtailed, other western democracies, arguably more successful than ours, allow and in fact require a degree of workplace democracy.
It is telling that morality or community or any other such non-materialist matter appears on this list of ‘priorities’.
Jen – I would agree that unions and their activities are over-regulated, as is the rest of the market, but there is still no great barriers erected by the state to workers forming their own cooperatives with their own capital competing in the market and carrying out workplace democracy. However, that is not something that is delivered from above, it requires work, especially with the material disadvantage they are at. It appears to me that unions would rather curry favour with the state and debauched political parties than work towards something that many might believe is in their workers best interests.
@Alex – Here!
!
Potatoes are part of a good staple diet.
Internet is important because everybody else has it so one must go on to talk to mates! 