If you thought the public service was going to look or behave any differently under a National government, you will be disappointed. Indications are that the propagandist public service is just marking time till a left-wing administration is restored.
The welfare system has evolved from providing a safety net for those genuinely unable to provide for themselves to offering an alternative lifestyle to paid employment.
Reform can’t wait for who looks the part and how ‘kind’ it will be. It’s urgent. Now.
Welfare is like an iceberg. The visible tip gets all the attention – the young and unemployed. But below the surface is a very large group of people for whom welfare is a way of life – whether they chose it or not.
As policies go, it’s a plus, but barely positive and would rate a one out of 10 in the overall need for real welfare reform.
If ethnicity trumps humanity, all we face is a future filled with conflict.
Can we expect that as Asian values become more prevalent we will see less tolerance for people who make benefit dependency a lifelong habit? I hope so.
The more the state does, the more the state is expected to do.
In this judge’s application of the law, the very clear message the ban is meant to send has been muddied and weakened.
Whether tribalism is along gender or ethnic lines, it discourages, if not extinguishes, freedom of thought and speech.
The numbers don’t necessarily support the narratives pushed by the likes of RNZ and Stuff who appear intent on winding up anger against the current government.
The theory that unconditional cash improves child development amongst the poor has been dealt a significant blow.
Politicians should be designing policy that discourages females from becoming sole parents in the first place and, especially, from further adding to their families.
This is an adjustment – a new explanation – because the economy is not improving anywhere near as fast as he had hoped or it needs to. At half-time National is struggling to make a real difference to voter’s lives. That’s what the polls are saying.
In New Zealand it is very unfashionable to praise marriage as an institution. Perhaps because marriage is viewed as patriarchal and Christian?
What is it that academics and public servants are afraid of? That the consequences of enforced personal responsibility would drive worse outcomes?
