Hard News: Deja Vu
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Another plan that might work, is to set aside an island, maybe Durville as a option for hunter gather training.
Excellent Smithers... I mean Crawford.
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They aren't all going to become stereo typically unemployed.
Stereo?. Eh in my day it were mono... if you were lucky.
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Do we, Mark? Is that what we do, or are you just making shit up?
Sure, consider [name withheld] Independent Youth Benefit recipient (1997-1998), subsequently had a child with partner (relationship later dissolved.) The child has been more or less bought up solely by her. Although she lives in the same city as most of her family, they seldom take care of their grandchild just as they seldom took care of their child. But now [name withheld] is pretty excited because she just received the receipt for her childcare over the last two years; value $4500 and she is able to reclaim $1500 from the IRD.
The high life? I think not. I'm just not convinced that throwing money solely at the victim is the best solution for a deeper underlying problem, and if Bill is looking at scrapping it that there need to be some better arguments/solutions offered for retaining or adapting it to do what is best for all parties involved.
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But first we will have to send in the military. Because Durville Island doesn't belong to New Zealand anymore.
What?
Do you mean that furriners own the freehold title to D'Urville Island, because that's not the same as it not being part of New Zealand. Presumably there's a title in a Land Information office somewhere in New Zealand registering that ownership.
I hope you're not serious about renationalising private title by military force, at any rate. That sort of thing hasn't been done since the 1860-70s round here.
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But, with its reliance on a counter-intuitive definition of a primary residence, this seems to be only local case that really answers to what was revealed over there.
I'm sure you'd grant that English isn't 'flipping' a property that isn't even in his constituency to avoid tax, or claiming for mortgage interest payments after the mortgage had been paid off. Hate to ever agree with Tom :), but this does have the whiff of a scandal that's been over-sold and under-delivered.
Meanwhile, anyone who'd like to tell Mary English to quit working and piss off back to Dipton with the kids... Nice knowing you. :)
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I'm sure you'd grant that English isn't 'flipping' a property that isn't even in his constituency to avoid tax, or claiming for mortgage interest payments after the mortgage had been paid off.
Certainly not. But some of the British MPs came under scrutiny for the fact that they didn't live at their "main home", or even go there very often.
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Meanwhile, anyone who'd like to tell Mary English to quit working and piss off back to Dipton with the kids..
Yeah, then she could qualify for the DPB and Bill could claim the Child Support as an expense.
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I'm just not convinced that throwing money solely at the victim is the best solution for a deeper underlying problem
That's a statement you could make about all welfare.
Which doesn't make withdraw of the money and the message "sort it out" make any sense.
People have the right to have a basic level of income to live on. When the state has decided that it's not appropriate for you to live with your family any more, that comes in the form of the independent circumstances benefit.
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Aaah Paul Holmes, the most loathsome leech ever to usher from that mediocrity factory, TVNZ.
I grew up listening to this prick's drivel in the eighties, and even as a 15 year old, had to fight to change the chanel after the 6.00 O'clock news with my parents and siblings, to avoid his vapid, moronic emptiness, 'Holmes'; the bloke was a one-man vanity show. And what did he offer? Tits!
So, now he states the dole is demeaning? disruptive? sapping? A simple question; How would you know Mr Twat? ... your journalistic ability questionable, and your hairstyle, (just to get personal here) is in need of, aaah, style? I've been on the dole sir, and it enabled me after 9 months to retain a vestage of dignity amongst my working peers, you fuck!
The sooner our country buries the memory of this ode to ordinariness, we might move on to real journalism,
Thanks Russ,
Rob. -
You're on form today Steve B!
I always love it when people say "Just throwing money at it won't cure the problem". Of course it will! It's just that we hardly ever throw enough - possibly because there isn't enough but that's beside the point.
Re Mr English - I understand that his job forces him to have a house in Wellington but that's why we pay him $267k pa (approx. $3200/week in the hand by my calcs). So that leaves him $2300 to play with if he has to pay his own way like all the rest of us in this democratic nation. Boo hoo for Bill.
Re Paul Holmes - wanker! Always was and still is. Sorry about Milly but it's probably mainly the fault of Hine and his own glorious self and I don't hear them apologising. Pay every talking head on TV and radio a flat rate of $60k pa and give the rest to people on welfare. Probably result in a lot more talent appearing per dollar. -
Thanks Russ,
Rob.Just clipped out your comment about Holmes' daughter --- which wasn't that bad, but I'd like to keep the tone higher than talkback radio ...
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Re Mr English - I understand that his job forces him to have a house in Wellington but that's why we pay him $267k pa (approx. $3200/week in the hand by my calcs). So that leaves him $2300 to play with if he has to pay his own way like all the rest of us in this democratic nation. Boo hoo for Bill.
Luke: Nobody is Parliament is on minimum wage. While I'd quite like to see them all having to budget for their accommodation/housing costs out of their not exactly ungenerous salaries (salaries, need I add, that get annual bumps well in excess of inflation), I don't think you're going to see the turkeys voting for Thanksgiving any time soon.
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Oh, and when it comes to cheap shots...
Re Paul Holmes - wanker! Always was and still is. Sorry about Milly but it's probably mainly the fault of Hine and his own glorious self and I don't hear them apologising.
And I don't expect my parents to apologize to anyone because I'm an alcoholic. Jesus Christ, the man wrote a dopey column -- is that really really the occasion for a Michael Laws impersonation?
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Because Durville Island doesn't belong to New Zealand anymore.
D'Urville Island is part of New Zealand, and belongs to New Zealanders. As part of an agreement in principle for the settlement of their historic Treaty claims, two locations on D'Urville Island will be vested in Tainui Taranaki iwi - subject to certain conditions including retaining current public access. Tainui Taranaki's fellow New Zealanders won't notice any difference, in other words.
The island will be subject to an "overlay classification" - which means that the the Department of Conservation will take into account principles agreed between the Minister of Conservation and the iwi in regard to its management of D'Urville's environment. More info here (excuse the clumsy link): http://nz01.terabyte.co.nz/ots/livearticle.asp?ArtID=-170484814#cultural
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I know what you're saying Kyle, it'd just be nice to see these spirals moving a more positive direction.
I always love it when people say "Just throwing money at it won't cure the problem". Of course it will! It's just that we hardly ever throw enough - possibly because there isn't enough but that's beside the point.
You got my vote for PM.
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What Craig said (second comment).
Let's avoid the cheap shots about Holmes' family.
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Stereo?. Eh in my day it were mono... if you were lucky.
Wind-up gramophone at 78rpm with crackly needle - but you try telling the kids of today that!! Them and their fancy portable I-p3 players.....
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Apologies. You're quite right. Paul does that to me. I just wish he would STFU sometimes and learn a bit of humility in the face of some glaring problems.
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RE: The Independent youth benefit. One of my mates in college was on it because their Mum died and their Dad had a serious mental illness.
Makes you wonder what's going to happen when they scrap it, eh?
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Guess your made would have to go live with a relie.
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Mark, in which utopia do you reside where young people have convenient relatives who can take them in? Assuming that there are relatives in the same town, which is a big assumption with current population mobility trends, who's to say they can afford to feed another mouth? Or would you uproot a youth who's probably very vulnerable, force them to leave behind their social networks and potentially current schooling, in order that the state doesn't have to support them to a very negligible level? When I was 16/17, my nearest non-immediate-family relatives who I'd actually met lived in Hamilton and I lived in Auckland. That would probably have placed them considerably closer to me than would be the case for a lot of teens who get the IYB. Hell, maybe the nearest family members are no better than the parents from whom they are so eager to escape.
To give you a succinct, and I suspect fairly widely-held within this forum, response to your position: fuck that shit!
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Back to Holmes. Does he write well sometimes? If not, how did he win the Qantas Award for best columnist when there are brilliant writers out there who are so very much better than he is. He seems to have one main subject - himself. As someone said before, he has this image of himself as a little kiwi battler - like Paula ...I don't dislike the guy, I really don't, but I'm mystified by the award ...
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So what you're saying Mark is that...
If I had kids (which I don't) and if those non-existent kids had to stop living with me for whatever reason, you'd ship them back to the UK - cos that's where my nearest rellies live...
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ww, that's certainly how it read to me. His position is consistent with an abolition of the welfare state, relying on familial charity to support those who are unable to support themselves.
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Cecelia - a very good question indeed...
Who knows what goes on in the minds of judges of writing awards ( including those formedia columnists)? I've judged a lot of awards: when you're part of a panel of judges, the results can be unsatisfactory to some of the judges...I have no idea as to how the qantas Media award judging panels are set up-
and I really loathe Paul Holme's 'work'-Tautoko Matthew Poole- mark taslov doesnt seem to know a lot about how whanau/family nets work in real life. Or be able to factor in steven crawford's words: sometimes the best and most practical solution is fir the State to provide a *very* modest income so young people can live away from their parents, especially if they're dead just now, or incapable (not attempting to be funny: in 1 of the 2 instances I know of personally , an 18yr old was expected to keep living at home with a continuously-drunken parent- out on bail- who had just killed the 18yrold's parent...)
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