The 2017 Election Thread

[Ocean1]

Have those old buggers Trevor and Annette resigned yet?

No idea, I really try not to keep up with the whole circus, I just get mugged by the big shit now and then.

[Swoop]

People have also seemed to have forgotten Nandor Tanzcos - who admitted breaking the law by smoking cannabis ...

I doubt the taxpayer was defrauded by his actions though.

Have those old buggers Trevor and Annette resigned yet?

Trevor isn't on the liarbour webpage, but Annette is still there...
They are also saddled with that utter cockwomble Greg O'Connor. Now there is a special needs retard.

[Katman]

What's good for the goose.......

https://www.change.org/p/justice-min...-fraud-inquiry

[Grumph]

What's good for the goose.......

https://www.change.org/p/justice-min...-fraud-inquiry

Whatever the outcome, if you looked at anyone in NZ who has been on a benefit in the past 20 oodd years, it would be possible to find some wrongdoing.
The rules are so complicated - and WINZ staff don't know them - that it's quite possible to err without intention.
In my experience it probably makes up for the staff not informing clients of their correct entitlements. Invariably they err on the low side.

I'd be surprised if Meteria Turei actually realised at the time that she was breaking the rules....But in my opinion anyway, where she went wrong was in misjudging the NZ public's hatred of anyone on a benefit. Given a target like her, the appetite for beneficiary bashing is immense.

And this comes from a background of a partner who worked in WINZ for years - then the two of us worked in a private firm placing long term beneficiaries back into work.

[Ocean1]

Whatever the outcome, if you looked at anyone in NZ who has been on a benefit in the past 20 oodd years, it would be possible to find some wrongdoing.
The rules are so complicated - and WINZ staff don't know them - that it's quite possible to err without intention.
In my experience it probably makes up for the staff not informing clients of their correct entitlements. Invariably they err on the low side.

I'd be surprised if Meteria Turei actually realised at the time that she was breaking the rules....But in my opinion anyway, where she went wrong was in misjudging the NZ public's hatred of anyone on a benefit. Given a target like her, the appetite for beneficiary bashing is immense.

And this comes from a background of a partner who worked in WINZ for years - then the two of us worked in a private firm placing long term beneficiaries back into work.

I rarely see unqualified hatred of beneficiaries.

What I see a lot is frustration with beneficiaries who display a complete lack of awareness of the fact that someone else has worked for and earned the money they've received.

That, and the growth in expectations about exactly what represents the "needs" that those benefits are supposed to cover.

You're old dude, How would your parents standard of living compare to that of today's beneficiaries?

[Katman]

Whatever the outcome, if you looked at anyone in NZ who has been on a benefit in the past 20 oodd years, it would be possible to find some wrongdoing.
The rules are so complicated - and WINZ staff don't know them - that it's quite possible to err without intention.

I'd suggest that living with her partner, while renting out her house, while claiming the DPB shows clear intent.

[Grumph]

I rarely see unqualified hatred of beneficiaries.

What I see a lot is frustration with beneficiaries who display a complete lack of awareness of the fact that someone else has worked for and earned the money they've received.

Well, that is the common attitude - but given that everything including GST (paid by beneficiarys) and personal tax (also paid by beneficiarys) goes into the consolidated fund, I'd argue that personal tax payments are a very small part of what gets paid out. But received wisdom is that it's coming out of your pocket...



That, and the growth in expectations about exactly what represents the "needs" that those benefits are supposed to cover.

You're old dude, How would your parents standard of living compare to that of today's beneficiaries?

My parents - single income, mum at home - had SFA. And what they had they'd worked for. Their standard of living was affordable at the time and a shitload better than a beneficiary can afford now. They'd been through the depression and were aware of what could happen.

I'd suggest that living with her partner, while renting out her house, while claiming the DPB shows clear intent.

Possibly - but I've seen cases where the individual plus kids lived where they could - including family and estranged partners - as a temporary thing. Sub letting a rental out to make a tad more money isn't uncommon. Ever tried living with a kid on the DPB ?

[Katman]

Possibly - but I've seen cases where the individual plus kids lived where they could - including family and estranged partners - as a temporary thing. Sub letting a rental out to make a tad more money isn't uncommon. Ever tried living with a kid on the DPB ?

Dude, I'm just saying that Paula Bennett should be held to the same account as Metiria Turei.

[merv]

Dude, I'm just saying that Paula Bennett should be held to the same account as Metiria Turei.

Do you know some bad stuff she (Paula) has done but not been outed on yet?

[Ocean1]

My parents - single income, mum at home - had SFA. And what they had they'd worked for. Their standard of living was affordable at the time and a shitload better than a beneficiary can afford now. They'd been through the depression and were aware of what could happen.

Aye, mine also. Untl recently the mother in law wouldn't throw out rubber bands or bits of string.

I drove past the house the olds bought a few years after they married the other day, maybe 80sqM 2 bdrm railways type job. I have pictures of that house when I were a nipper, and other than a tiny wee formica table there was no furniture inside the old man hadn't made out of packing crates. The one store-bought chair they did have was bolted into the passenger's side of the Bradford baker's van he'd bought. He'd saved up and put a couple of strips of concrete down by way of a driveway so he could work on it off the road. There was a vege garden out back, home made clothes line, you've got the pictures in your head, don't you? Neither they nor their neighbors considered themselves "poor" in any way at all.

There's fences there now, a garage, driveway and 50 years of neglect.

The point. Yes, yes it's coming. Some stuff's dearer than it used to be, some's cheaper, and there's a shitload that most people take for granted now that simply wasn't available then at any price. But the point of the comparison is this: That house is now considered unsuitable to rent. Doesn't have the required insulation and a bunch of other stuff considered necessary to meet today's "minimum standards". See where this is headed? It was good enough for my parents, (it had to be, there wasn't any alternative whatsoever), and yet it's now considered shamefully inadequate, third world stuff. Unacceptable even for someone who's not paying for it.

Comparisons like that, of most of the ways you can compare life then and now mean I tend to take talk about plummeting standards of living with at least a pinch of salt, even as complaining about that shit has become somewhat of a national pastime.

Ask Katflap, he'll point you at the actual numbers that matter.

I think the sooner we give the responsibility for people's lives back to them the sooner you'll see a reduction in the "disadvantaged" beneficiaries we now have.

[jasonu]

Do you know some bad stuff she (Paula) has done but not been outed on yet?

I'll bet there is plenty.

[jasonu]

I think the sooner we give the responsibility for people's lives back to them the sooner you'll see a reduction in the "disadvantaged" beneficiaries we now have.

Don't hold your breath mate.

[Katman]

Do you know some bad stuff she (Paula) has done but not been outed on yet?

Half of Taupo knows.

[merv]

Half of Taupo knows.

Are you part of the other half of Taupo then if you can't tell us?

[Katman]

Are you part of the other half of Taupo then if you can't tell us?

Post #202 Merv.