Red Alert

Posts Tagged ‘Quotes’

From the Archive: MJ Savage

Posted by Chris Hipkins on August 15th, 2010

This week’s quote comes from the late great Michael Joseph Savage:

“It is just as well for us to turn around and have a look at ourselves sometimes. What is not good enough for me is not good enough for the fellow I am representing in this House, whether it is a house or an income. There is enough of the best for all of us, and I want to bring about security for everyone during illness, whether it be temporary incapacity due to accident, or anything else. I should think it was the inalienable right of every person to be secured against distress of any form. That is only commonsense. I so not know whether I would call it ’sound economics’ or not … I do not think it is any use talking about national wealth unless we can use it for national purposes … In a word or two, I would say that is applied Christianity.”

Taken from the Hansard of debate on the Social Security Bill 1938.


From the archive: Peter Fraser

Posted by Chris Hipkins on August 8th, 2010

Last week my post quoting Walter Nash generated some great debate, so this week I thought I’d stick with that era and select a few quotes from another great Labour leader, this time the Rt Hon Peter Fraser. One of the founders of the modern Labour Party, Fraser was our wartime PM and before that, Minister of Education and Health. He appointed C.E Beeby to the Education Department and between them they massively expanded the role of public education in our country.

“The government’s objective, broadly expressed, is that all persons, whatever their level of ability, whether they live in town or country, have a right as citizens to a free education of the kind for which they are best fitted and to the fullest extent of their powers.”

“Schools that are to cater for the whole population must offer courses that are as rich and varied as are the needs and abilities of the children who enter them.”

Both of those quotes are as relevant today as they were back in the 1930s. If we want all Kiwis to have the best possible start in life, then a quality public education system is critical. National’s cuts to early childhood education suggest they don’t agree. The introduction of national standards risks narrowing the focus of our schools, forcing them to adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach, failing to recognise that different kids learn at different speeds and have different strengths.