Its embarrassing that China, India, Malaysia, Siganpore, Hong Kong and Australia all fare better than us. We used to lead the world when it came to representation of women. Kate Sheppard must be turning in her grave.

I thought Institute of Directors Ralph Chivers hit the nail on the head when he said:”There is no shortage of women who aspire to work at that level, or potentially suitable candidates. Women have told us they have difficulty getting noticed for opportunities to be promoted.” How refreshingly honest! He wasn’t prepared to use the tired, worn-out excuse that the problem is women dont want to be directors, or that they weren’t good enough and needed “mentoring.” If I had a dollar for everytime I’ve heard that one, I would be a wealthy woman.

Despite the National Government having a glitzy launch of a “Women on Boards” initiative aimed at the private sector in 2009, the reality is they had just scrapped the target Labour had set of getting 50% women on public sector boards. And so the survey shows that there has been no increase in the proportion of women on our boards and in the public sector (where the Government itself appoints board members) there has been no improvement on the 41% representation Labour had achieved by the time we left office. And its important, because research shows that companies do better with women involved in their decision-making. Women directors are better at risk management, less prone to group thinking, better at problem-solving and better able to link to diverse customers. That’s what research tells us.

Across the ditch, they have made some quick progress on this issue by simply requiring companies to report the facts of the organisation’s gender balance. The result has been that women now make up 25% of new appointments to ASX company boards, compared to just 5% in 2009 before the measure was brought in. In less than a year, the number of women appointed to Australia’s corporate boards has gone from 8% to 14% by just taking this simple measure.It seems that when companies are required to look at their own dismal records, that’s when women start to get noticed. We could do the same – actually we were doing something remarkably similar to this with pay equity audits in the public sector before National scrapped it when they came into Government.

Funny that!

On the opposition benches there will be a number of Parties who will vote against Asset Sales. Labour was unequivocal at the 2011 election SoEs were Not For Sale. But the country has voted and National will drive ahead with its agenda, despite widespread concern from Maori about inadequate protections as affirmed in s.9 of the SoE Act.

Rather than delve into the debate, I wanted to raise whether there was an opportunity for a culture shift in the way opposition parties attacked the Government on specific BIG ISSUES like Asset Sales, like Growing Inequality, Like Children Living in Poverty. Some may consider this a broad coalition of the opposition, and to be frank post-election it will be an organic exercise.

Could it be an opportunity for doing things differently in opposition in an MMP environment – your thoughts?

Couldn’t help but share…

I’m pleased to be able to champion the Bill.  It aims to ensure hard working kiwis get the holidays they deserve. My thanks to Grant Robertson who developed the bill originally.

The Bill seeks to ‘Monday-ise’ Waitangi Day and ANZAC day when they fall on a weekend.

The good news is that families may be entitled to a day off for each and every Public Holiday – before the year is out.

It corrects for an anomaly that happens roughly twice every seven years.  When this glitch happens, New Zealanders miss out on the usual full complement of 11 public holidays.

All 11 public holidays are listed in the Public Holidays Act, but only two are missed out when it comes to ensuring a corresponding day off with the family.

The bill makes sense and the idea is not new. Aussies do this already.  When ANZAC day falls on a weekend, the celebration is held on 25 April just as it is every other year, and a public holiday is observed two days later.

It was great to see families out enjoying the various local Waitangi celebrations as part of a long weekend.  Won’t it be great when they can do this every year.

That is how much Craig and Carla Bradley can spend to feed each of their kids each day.

After rent, power, petrol and bugger all else.

Thank you to Simon Collins for his excellent reality check on inequality in Auckland in today’s Herald – see Trevor’s post below.

Equally sobering: a “comfortable” family – Anita and Nigel’s – on $150k (an MP’s salary) is close to the top 10% of NZ households. 

Fact is, we live in a poor and divided country.

So our constituency is not just the so-called ‘underclass’; it is most New Zealanders.

No-one wants to be poor. 

Every Kiwi kid deserves good fresh food, a few treats and trips to the beach.

Being poor is grinding and demoralising. 

It takes all your time; and your gut turns when your kids go without.

Most parents strive to do their utmost. 

There is unbelievable sacrifice and heroism all around us.

But most people don’t see the point in politics – they are too busy just living.

Despite this, a  gap this big between the 1% and the rest cannot stand.  It never has…

The change we want is that of Mickey Savage and the New Deal.

Not extremism, or racism; or God forbid, another ‘Great’ War.

So we must be relevant to New Zealanders’ daily struggles:

Feeding our kids; caring for our sick and old;

Making sure there are good schools and jobs for our young;

Looking after our living earth;

Seeking out those doing good stuff in our communities and working with them.

Humble enough to know we don’t have all the answers, because no-one does…

…and going on anyway.

Perspective is a great moderator of opinion and even though our nation can still be consider a young 172 years in the making – the way forward remains very clear.

Our path as a nation predicates itself on the Treaty of Waitangi as a founding document which in its time has been the focal point of debate that has shaped our sense of nationhood. Maori as tangata whenua, continue to assert a prerogative for doing things differently. Perspectives regarding environmental stewardship are most keenly asserted by tangata whenua who want to preserve our natural resource inheritance for future generations. This year we might expect evidence of this in debates regarding increased mineral use, oil exploration and growing angst in the reliance of our economy on fossil fuels and thermal power generation. On this front the great majority of Maori opinion would see itself at the centre of a renewable energy programme of action and potentially helping to lead the low carbon economic agenda. Now the Crown might do well to see how Treaty claimants and post-settlement iwi might partner investment in this area rather than looking offshore. Even in the research and development space, some iwi should be approached by the Governments CRIs to partner ‘cutting edge’ projects as a real opportunity to do things differently.

A strong driver of opinion on s. 9 of the SoE Act will be the potential impact of the National Governments agenda on natural resources. A case in point from my own electorate is the process Genesis is currently embarking on to renew its 35year consents to take water. Waikato-Tainui may do well to consider their position on consents against a backdrop of any proposed sale of energy companies. Shorter consents may prove no certainty for private interests. But, if the National Government in selling SoEs presume they have the absolute right to divest 49% of their shareholding on behalf of Maori – think carefully. Tainui tested s.9 in the CoalCorp case which was a predecessor to the 1995 Waikato Raupatu Settlement. When the National Government undertook to separate ECNZ into 3 energy companies Tainui sought an undertaking from the Minister via the High Court that by doing so, the tribes interests in the Waikato river would not be prejudicially affected. The 2008 Waikato River Settlement contains a clause that gives Tainui first right of refusal over the Huntly Power station. No position on water rights was reached by the then Labour Government or the National government. This remains a live issue for many competing water users – but there are many roads to Rome and it could well be time to revisit water allocation and consent rights.

I would be very interested to see an opinion from Crown Law on the ability of the Crown to sell a 49% shareholding in Crown Assets without the full resolution of Treaty Settlement claims. At a political level one can only deduce that National has a high level of comfort in selling energy companies first because of the perceived interest from iwi like Ngai Tahu and Tainui. But as tribal members will confirm, no solid proposal or business case has been revealed. Neither iwi nor ‘mum and dad investors’ should be scapegoats for an over-zealous ideology.

These are interesting times and as we also enter the Year of the Dragon – the lack of political leadership on the Treaty of Waitangi may unleash a Taniwha….just saying.

Interestingly in the Education portfolio, the Treasury report was more informative about planned intentions then the Education BIM itself. A suggestion to increase class sizes ignores previous evidence and experience which shows that benefits to students learning will be marginal at best.

The Ministry of Education BIM states that:

“Central to improving student achievement is the quality of the learning environment and the interaction between a student and teacher that takes place within that environment. Highly effective teaching makes the biggest difference to student achievement within the education system. First and foremost good teachers acknowledge the language, culture, and identity of a student and utilise that to support student learning. They establish respectful relationships with parents, families and whānau, and create learning opportunities for the student that match well to the student’s current capability and interests. They have high expectations for every student, provide high quality feedback to students and clear pathways to enable learning to progress. They use assessment both to track progress and chart future learning.
Our recent synthesis of research evidence has also underlined the importance of professional leadership. The evidence from the schooling sector is that leaders make their greatest contribution through planning, co-ordinating, and evaluating teaching and the curriculum and through promoting and participating in teacher learning and development. At present, professional leaders undertake a range of educational and administrative tasks.
Leaders also play an important role in creating a school culture that supports positive and respectful relationships between students and teachers and amongst students. New Zealand students report relatively high levels of bullying behaviour which can impede both successful learning and some of the social outcomes sought from schooling. Successful leaders create environments and learning that counter these issues.”

All this suggests that good quality teachers and focussed leadership will propel success in learning. So why does the Minister delete the part of the BIM which suggests increased class sizes.

NZPPTA were clear to point out that larger classes will increase stress on teachers – the Minister would do well to visit kiwi classrooms and hear first hand the types of pressures our teachers are dealing with on a daily basis.

There is a fundamental difference between the National Governments approach to education and a Labour approach. We believe that investment in a good quality public education system is our opportunity to give everyone the tools to contribute to the future of our great country. A high performing economy requires a highly skilled population – for everyone. In the New Zealand context recognition of culture, language and identity will form strong pillars for educational success and opportunity.

If the Government is determined to create more attention on cost saving measures in the public education system and drive expectation around achievement, they may be softening the entry of Charter Schools as a more plausible alternative…just saying.

December was pretty grim. Students coming out of uni tend to contribute to a rise at this time of year, but even taking that into account, the overall picture from 2008 till now is poor. Here are the numbers:

For December:
• Main Benefits are up 4.15% from November 2011 (up 14,011 people)
• Unemployment benefits up 10.6% (up 5,481 people)

Compared with this time in 2008, there are 29,456 more people receiving an Unemployment benefit – an increase of 96.5%

The Government’s focus continues to be on welfare reform generally, but this is not just about the quality of ‘work ready’ programmes and changes to case management (where there is certainly much to be said about the government reforms) but the availability of work. I’ll be interested to see whether the Minister or indeed the government will take a second look this term at the role it can play alongside the private sector in the area of job creation, or continue to tinker around the edges.

The easy route would be to complete the round of consultation hui and satisfy the Governments ‘obligation’ to consult. But, I suspect iwi and Maori are well past the box-ticking mentality.

Perhaps even some concessions that would see c.9 of the SoE Act being substituted for something ‘more meaningful’ to the current political landscape, the PM may even a propose to iwi a shareholding interest in SoEs (albeit too small to be effective).

But the Real Issue confronting all New Zealanders – Maori and Paakeha alike is that we have a vested interest in these SoEs not because of some romantic view that the State knows best, but that we must take leadership and derive the benefits from more efficient and high performing companies that deliver to us as citizens. Privatisation in itself will be a shortsighted gain with very few people benefiting – the risk being greater disparity between ‘haves and have nots’.

Waitangi Day is a time to see who walks their talk, a debate on retaining a Treaty of Waitangi clause in the SoE Act must not detract from the central issue of keeping kiwi assets in kiwi hands. Now is a time to have Maori on your side!