Four Promises, Fifty Years On
Norman Kirk once said people do not ask for much: someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work, and something to hope for.
Social issues
disability
Where the Fight Against the DSS Bill Now Stands
On Thursday, Victoria Coleman handed over a petition at Parliament calling for the Disability Support Services Bill to be scrapped — 16,458 signatures got in five weeks while she cares full-time for her seven-year-old son Levi. Campaigning on top of that responsibility tells you whats at stake for thousands.
The cut to Total Mobility doesn’t add up
7 days after petitioning parliament seeking proper funding for Total Mobility, the government instead cut the funds.
PSA: Help Us Now – 23,000 Home Support Workers Hit By Petrol Price Hikes Urge Govt. To Act
“There are 23,000 home support workers on low wages who look after our most vulnerable people – the elderly, disabled and injured – every single day who need help urgently, right now. They deserve better than being left to foot the bill” – Fleur Fitzsimons, PSA
Cuts to Disability Services Are Part of a Class War
Over the last year, the Coalition has unleashed a series of cuts which have been devastating for the disabled community. These cuts are part of a class war — and it’s time to organise and fight back, writes Elliot Crossan.
BHN livestream: Foreshore and Seabed doco, Fast Track protests, and Whaikaha name removal
Livestream from 9pm tonight.
This is what happens when you give landlords a big tax cut #1
No funds to continue to give families of disabled people
Why won’t Labour help disabled people out of poverty?
The sheer waste of so many people’s talent, energy and lives is staggering. It doesn’t have to be that way. So why is it?
Long covid, omicron and the precautionary principle
There are still so many things we don’t know about long covid and omicron presents a whole new set of challenges.
Covid and kindness
The vaccine is a bloody useful tool, not a panacea. This is a long crisis that requires us to pay heed the bigger picture.
Green Party rocks their new Guaranteed Minimum Income policy
The Greens’ audacious new social security policy, the Poverty Action Plan, places manaakitangi and compassion at the centre. It includes guaranteed income across the board for those in need, reorientating ACC to include illness and prioritise care, support for children and single and double parented families, and it pays for it all by taxing some of the assets and income of the wealthy.
UBI: what is it good for?
Please don’t let economists, lefties, the right, or TOP design a UBI until we start talking about bolting welfare on. Here’s why.
Having us squabble over the welfare pie
When we hear a supposedly progressive economist talking about elderly people as decrepit, or rendering the elderly poor invisible, it’s time to revisit our moral compass.
Parliament votes to give disabled people the right to a good life
Before we get to talking about the right to die, can we please have a conversation about the right to live?
Tell the Health Committee: Make our cannabis law fair for those in pain
“The Health Select Committee is about to consider the government’s changes to medicinal cannabis law. This is your chance to tell politicians they have not gone far enough.”
The Greens have a handy online submission form that you can send as is or add your own thoughts. Submissions close on Wednesday.
NZ Court of Appeal and the Ministry of Health
The government has a responsibility to act fairly, centre its services around the needs of people, and treat NZ citizens as human beings.
To you live, from bed! – Writehanded
Writer Sarah Wilson blogged about her experience of the recent Nethui event, looking at Nethui itself, corporate control and the internet, safety for kids, sex worker access to the net, disability access, the importance of digital inclusion and literacy, and the social/cultural consequences of the internet.
Beneficiary for life: the joys of permanent disability in present day NZ
What happens to long term beneficiaries who can’t increase their income with paid work?
WINZ: where hope and dignity go to die
“It is not okay that nearly everyone I have advocated for at WINZ, has broken down in tears during appointments and have often been close to a panic attack. Most people I advocate for at WINZ unanimously tell me it is a humiliating and utterly defeating experience.” – political writer and community activist Chloe King.
The failure of TOP’s Youth UBI policy
Safety nets should be for all people and the best way to ensure that is to design them for social need not as economic tools. Despite Gareth Morgan’s assertion that policy is everything, The Opportunities Party has managed to create a youth policy that is discriminatory.
Green Party announces a better deal for students
“Students are the only group in society expected to borrow just to get by. We believe that students should be supported so that they can focus on learning the skills they need to contribute to a smart, innovative economy and a fairer society”
Brutal
Punitive welfare settles into a new low.
National’s view of disability
The Minister for Disability Issues would rather be sailing.