Category: imported_weekly
Can an individual make a difference? Sheryl Savill would like to think so. Sheryl is the instigator of the Citizens Initiated Referendum petition on smacking. Launched in February last year, her petition asked the question, “Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?”
If we are really serious about building a first world economy, then we must ensure that every child – no matter what their background – is given the skills to contribute to their fullest possible extent to our nation’s future. That is why it is surely a national disgrace that one in five New Zealand children leave school without the most basic reading, writing or maths skills.
Earlier this month the Royal Society of New Zealand issued a special statement designed to clear up the “controversy over climate change” and “possible confusion among the public”. The statement from the Society’s Climate Committee asserts that “The globe is warming because of increasing greenhouse gas emissions” and that “human activities” are to blame.1. This statement reinforces the governments’ position that in order to prevent climate disaster, legislation must be passed to force the public to make personal sacrifices and reduce their consumption of energy.
Earlier this month Britain’s culture of “moral neutrality” came under attack. In a speech in Glasgow, Conservative Party Leader Rt Hon David Cameron said that the obese, drug addicts and the poor have no-one to blame but themselves.
Last week, in a report examining the quality of government spending in New Zealand, the ANZ Bank’s Chief Economist Cameron Bagrie explained that the Government has built a “Rolls-Royce” public sector, when a “Toyota” would do. The report estimated that back-office departmental spending had grown 40 percent faster than operational spending on front-line services.1
“10,000 march against violent crime”. “Mayor wants gangs crushed by army”. “75 percent of children bullied at school”. “Toddler in Starship Hospital with critical head injuries”. These recent newspaper headlines highlight the deep-seated social crisis New Zealand is facing.
The latest data from Statistics New Zealand shows that over the first three months of this year our economy contracted by 0.3 percent, the first period of negative growth in two and a half years. If the economy shrinks in the June quarter, as is expected, then New Zealand will officially be in a recession.
According to the Christchurch Press, a 35kg greenstone pounamu travelled first class to China, accompanied by two members of Ngai Tahu, as part of a sister city exchange with the Christchurch City Council. In their editorial the Press describes the whole event as a farce, “Its journey from Fiordland to Wuhan provides the basis for a novel of the absurd, in which the voyage is preposterous, the characters pretentious and the implications portentous”.
Whether voters feel that New Zealand a better country now than when Labour was first elected in 1999 is one of the questions they will answer on Election Day. Not since the sixties has a New Zealand government had it so good with year on year record surpluses. In fact, since taking office, Labour has spent $85 billion more than if core government spending had been held at 1999 levels. The question is whether this massive additional spending has been of benefit?
The latest Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Statement will be of very serious concern to the Labour-led coalition government, given that it comes only months ahead of the 2008 general election. The Reserve Bank forecasts a seriously declining economy, inflation at an 18-year high of 4.7 percent, escalating food and petrol prices, falling house prices, 50,000 more unemployed, and even greater numbers of people leaving to live in Australia. It’s hard to see how the forecast could be any worse.1
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