Received tonight:
The TVNZ 7’s political pub programme, “Back Benches” is gutted about the fire which has damaged our home pub, The Backbencher. We were hoping to end our programme where we began four years ago but look forward to seeing her glory restored in the coming weeks. In the meantime, however, “Back Benches” will be filming its final shows from The Shepherds Arms & Speight’s Ale House on Tinakori Road in Thorndon. We hope our fans will join us in our new location.
Personally, I think the last episodes should have been at parliament. Would have been fitting.
Meanwhile the fight to Save TVNZ 7 continues. More than 200 at last night’s meeting in Dunedin. That’s close to 1500 people who have attended meetings around the country in the last three weeks. More than 28,000 signatures on the petition. Hundreds of emails to John Key and Craig Foss. One thing is clear; public broadcasting television is valued in New Zealand. Just not by this government.
The present broadcasting system was set up by Richard Prebble under the Labour-Act government in 1989. It has survived successive governments with some minor tinkering around the edges. It is unique in the developed world in that it uses public funds to subsidise commercial programmes for fully commercial channels. The question has to be asked why our politicians believe that the rest of the world has got it wrong and only NZ has it right. The rest of the world, of course, uses public funds to subsidise public service channels. One suspects that our politicians believe that public ownership of fully commercial channels (eg TV1, TV2 and Channel U)is the same as public service TV.
I thought the words “Richard prebble” and mentioning the period 1984-89 were banned on this site.
The filter is clearly faulty with that last comment
Good on the Backbenches team for keeping it going. We will miss this home grown brand of Kiwi political improv when it is gone.
New Zealanders will have lost access to 5 public service channels over the last 12 months: TVNZ6, TVNZ7, Stratos and the excellent SBS1 and SBS2 from Australia. We need to ensure public service TV can survive changes of government.
As cost is a factor the least expensive way would be to rebroadcast SBS1 and SBS2 and add a few hours a week of New Zealand content. In return we should allow the Maori channel and Te Reo channel to be rebroadcast in Australia to cater for the 130,000 expat Maori living across the ditch.
This post should probably be the basis of the parting show of Back Benchers.
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/what-superannuation-crisis.html
It’s well deserved disrespect for Labour for dancing to the media’s cutting government super cost tune.
My own contribution to that debate follows.
The real problem is the poverty of the aging beneficiary struggling in poor health until the age of 65 on benefit rates much lower than super and the relative injustice of paying full rate super to someone still in a well paid job. While this situation exists, increasing the age only exarcerbates this problem.
Before the age is increased (I favour an increase from 65 to 70 over 25 years from 2025 to 2050) we should determine that people over the age of 60 on benefits should get the super rate payment if invalids or on a work tested benefit. This could be funded by a surtax on those working over the age of “65″ (65-70) at say 10 cents in the dollar of work income above the minimum wage. So if they earned say $80,000 – 10 cents in the dollar over $50,000 would be $5000, less than 1/3 of their super. Someone would have to earn about $200,000 before they lost single rate super entirely.
It seems pervierse that those who can continue to work while getting universal super are not helping in this way those aging beneficiries who cannot find work or are unable to work.
Otherwise the Cullen Fund needs regular annual contributions while the baby boomers are still working to ease the demographic bulge cost later and this can only come from dedicated (compulsory) contributions out of wages (2% matched by 2% from employers).
And those people who will pay work and pay taxes to support the baby boomers in retirement should be given reassurance that they will get tax paid super and that their Kiwi Saver will be in addition to their tax paid super. They should receive the same tax paid super support from the generation after them that they are expected to give in the coming years. This is how the tax paid scheme is supposed to work. Barring the baby boomer bulge being accomodated by the Cullen Fund this is what should occur.