We're at the beginning of a new covid wave and funding for free RATs is ending on 30 June.
We all know the majority of people won't be able to afford tests; most others will not test if they have to pay for it. This means covid will spread faster and the vulnerable population is at even more risk.
Please contact your local MP and let them know we care. I have little hope but at least they cannot say they didn't know.
Open letter to the govt: https://covidaction.nz/en/keepratsfree
So in today's Q&A, the Minister of Education was asked what does she think should be done now that schools have become a meat grinder chewing through teachers, relievers, aids and students and if sending sick kids to school would make it worse. (my paraphrase)
Her answer was that they recognise that and are working hard on making sure more meat is available to throw into the grinder. (my paraphrase again)
No actual solutions there. No ability to adapt to reality.
The First Home grant was what allowed my whānau to finally be able to afford a modest townhouse in South Akl.
We love our little home. 🏘️
It is infuriating that a similar opportunity won't be available anymore to people like us.
(And I get that it was an inefficient subsidy on demand, but in a market as cooked as NZ's it was a helpful tool. One that should not be removed until the supply variables in the equation are solved. And currently they are only getting worse, thanks CoC)
University of Canterbury: we respect the right to protest for our students and staff BUT we want to maintain access to our services, so everyone needs to use their ID to enter buildings.
In my building: students stuck outside trying to get to lectures and student services. 🙄
Minister for Regional Destruction, Shane Jones, conceals meetings with mining executives on the West Coast then lies about said meetings to say they were “last minute” (they were organised days in advance).
The potential for corruption inherent in the Fast Track legislation working is exactly as designed then.
Coordinated and accelerated march to privatise, defund and destroy anything not designed directly to enrich the already rich.
The goal is clearly to make that inequality gap absolutely insurmountable.
It's so grim.
But the worst is seeing so little pushback.
The coaltion of puritans rages on. We all knew Luxon had it in his wheel house but then Seymour and Winnie... well they've tossed their 'freedom' and 'libertarian' ways to the side. With an ease that suggested they never cared about freedom or the individual in the first place.
Well I for one will be sending Winston Peters photographic evidence of my genitalia every time I use a public toilet so he can rest assured I am using the correct one.
So the government is changing the name of the Social Wellbeing Agency to the Social Investment Agency. Hmmm. I can’t help feeling that the idea we are all being defined in terms of “investments”, “outcomes”, “efficiencies”, or “savings”, is part of the problem. Capitalism is killing us and our environment. It simply isn’t working any more except for the few, the rich. There must surely be a day of reckoning coming soon.
NZ has some established institutions which have made the life of New Zealanders immeasurably better over the years; two of these are ACC and Pharmac. It's clear from statements made by by Clux and his mates that he sees no value in these operations other than as assets which can be sold off to Big Insurance and Big Pharma.
"Government considers removing election day voter enrolment
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says very few countries allow it, and New Zealand should consider changing the rules."
Very few countries have democracy too, does Goldsmith think we should consider removing that too?
On the day enrolment helps democracy, the RW seem to oppose democracy.
Seymour is announcing cuts to the school lunch program today.
They are expected to be mainly a change from hot, healthy, and cooked meals, to prepackaged food.
To cut costs.
Nothing to see here, folks. Just our Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy PM defaming a former Australian MP. The allegation is serious enough that RNZ has withdrawn the offending comments from a Morning Report interview.
I'm now wondering what it is that Melissa Lee and Penny Simmonds have done that is so terrible, so unforgivable that it is even worse than Shane Jones' and David Seymour's egregious breaches of the Cabinet Manual in their attacks on the judiciary.
"The government has released the list of organisations it provided information to on how to apply for fast-track consents - just hours before public submissions on the bill close."
If you haven't submitted yet, there's still two hours to submit your views on this.