Labour opening new offices
This Monday had me up at 4am to attend the opening of the new Labour Electorate Office in central Whangarei. A crowd of about 50 local kaumatua, kuia, Labour members, office staff, supporters and friends joined myself, Parekura Horomia, Shane Jones and Kelvin Davis were at the 5am opening.
This office provides a modern and professional looking base for both of Labour's northern MPs Kelvin Davis and Shane Jones and is staffed by Esme Connell JP and Te Aupouri Whautere.
The office just off the main mall in the central city stands out in it is bright red Labour livery and sends a bold message to the people of Whanagrei and Te Tai Tokerau that the Party has arrived in town.
Next week, I will be in Motueka to open a new office in the town for Damien O’Connor. It is situated in a great location at 232 High Street, Motueka, and will be staffed by Cecelia O'Connor.
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Radical agenda threatens local government viability
A Cabinet paper from April, released recently, shows National apparently in agreement with Rodney Hide’s goal of emasculating local government.
The plan is to restrict local government’s role to a narrow range of core functions and for central government to cap its expenditure.
In my view, these are decisions for local residents and ratepayers to make through the ballot box, and not for a Wellington-based government.
Mr Hide obviously thinks that central government knows better than local government about how to deal with issues and provide services locally, and that locally-elected people are incapable of making sound decisions on issues of local importance.
He wants strict fiscal limits on local government to restrict it to core services – transport, water, sewage treatment and public health and safety issues.
This means that local government should not provide recreational facilities like swimming pools and libraries or have anything to do with culture and heritage, social services and the environment.
Curious that, at the same local government conference Mr Hide spoke at, John Key was telling local government to spend on cycleways – hardly a core service.
Sell it on, John
It was only a matter of time.
Before the election National kept its head down on privatisation and selling assets to foreign buyers, knowing their unpopularity with the public.
Last week that all changed with the restructuring at Meridian Energy, readying it for sale, and National’s foreshadowing changes to the Overseas Investment Act.
With National at the helm, overseas moneyed interests will once again be eyeing infrastructure assets such as airports, ports and electricity generators, which are like monopolies and make billions of dollars in profits.
It is not in our interests to give away ownership of our strategic assets and watch billions of dollars in profits disappear offshore each year.
And now of course, the guru of right-wing ideology and newly appointed chair of National’s Productivity Taskforce, Don Brash, is again promoting the return the Employment Contracts Act.
Jobs – people need action
Labour is not against cycleways. The iconic Otago Rail Trail was developed under Labour and cycleways being constructed under Labour in the Waikato and Auckland had their funding cut by National.
What we are exposing is the fraud of John Key’s national cycleway proclaimed at the Jobs Summit as one of the big ideas for saving jobs.
The cycleway idea, conceived on the back of an envelope, was meant to create 3700 jobs. Now we are told the actual number of jobs will be 160 – or 280 if we are lucky. That’s about the same number of people who are losing their jobs every single day.
The Government is turning its back on hard-working Kiwis who are losing their jobs through redundancy. Unemployment next year will reach around 180,000.
That figure represents for many real personal and financial hardships. Most have been hardworking and taxpaying New Zealanders who have never claimed a benefit. Now they are told that the one time they need a helping hand short term, they are out of luck.
The government response has been woeful. Labour’s idea to temporarily extend training support to the unemployed whose spouses are still in work but who really need the help was drowned out by dog whistling Nats and its proxies. Once again: John Key’s style over substance.
Maori Language Week 2009, Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2009
Hei ngā rangi katoa o Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori ka whakaihia ki te whakanui i te Te reo Māori. Me hopu e tātou tēnei huarahi wātea ki te whakatairanga i te mea whakahirahira, te whakamau i te oranga me te tīkorikoritanga o te wairua o te reo ki roto i ngā hapori.
Mā te whakamanawa i te whakamahinga i te reo Māori ki roto i ngā kāinga, ki roto i ngā rūma karāhe ako, ki tua ake hoki, ka pūmau kia ora tonu tētahi o a tātou taonga ā-motu, hei painga harikoa mō ngā reanga kei mua. Nā reira, i te wā o Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, mahia ōu mahi ki te whakaora i Te Reo Māori, haere atu ki waho rā, whāia ko te Reo Māori.
Click here for a translation.
Obesity – pies in, apples out
Most people I talk to are shocked that New Zealand has the third highest rate of obesity in the developed world according to an OECD study this month.
This means inevitably poorer health and huge costs for the future, in treatment of preventable illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
Knowing this, it is staggering that National has put pies back in schools, while at the same time is threatening to cut Labour’s Fruit in Schools programme, which provides free fruit for 100,000 kids in low decile schools a day.
Teachers, principals and health professionals I have spoken to up and down the country are amazed at the government’s actions, which include abolishing the Nutrition Fund and removing good nutrition from the Government’s healthy goals.
Community fighting back against adult education cuts
Around 500 people turned out at Papanui High School in Christchurch this week for a fiery meeting on the Government’s cuts to night school and community education. Similar meetings are taking place across the country
Accessible and affordable community education has been a tradition in New Zealand for 100 years. It improves skills, enhances employability and the quality of people’s lives and helps people get back into formal education.
Labour is strongly opposing National’s actions.
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