Island Life by David Slack

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Island Life: Good on ya, Paula

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  • Paul Williams,

    The fact that he's (I agree Danielle) an arsehole who should be run out of the country by a random selection of people that he's screwed over the years, doesn't mean he's not entitled to be an arsehole in this particular regard.

    Does anyone else wonder how this man retains any credibility? His talismanic properties seem immune from his bumbling performance. His occassional parliamentary questions are poorly executed, he seems confused and often ends up on the wrong end of the Speaker. It's all so tragic... I remember the last days of Lange parliamentary career, it wasn't nearly as bad as Douglas's.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Stewart,

    You want to lay off Rodney's hero - he might do more than publicise your benefits.

    Yesterday's man, who never quite marched in step with the times.

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    You want to lay off Rodney's hero - he might do more than publicise your benefits.

    'S cool. I've long been resigned to the fact that I don't stand a chance of ever getting a job in a privatised prison.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    (I wonder if I can draft a member's bill for that...?)

    You might well need to assent of the Sovereign before it passes...

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report

  • ScottY,

    (I wonder if I can draft a member's bill for that...?)

    Any chance of adding Michael Fay to your Bill?

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Any chance of adding Michael Fay to your Bill?

    No no no. No adding personal "favourites".

    Someone compile a list of likely suspects and everyone gets three knives... er I mean votes.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • dave crampton,

    The fact that everybody is entitled to accomodation supplement, tax credits, plus the $60 in work payment if you work 20hrs (single) or 30 hrs (partnered)? And that DPBers are required to work 15 hours a week - that income

    Not quite. Only those who are not on benefits get the In Work Payment. And those on the dpb are not required to work but some are encouraged to look for work. If course if they are training using the training incentive allowance - which all current trainees can get until their course finishes - that would be taken into account - and those people can get childcare and student loans..But if they are in a Housing NZ place I understand they are not even entitled to the accommdation supplement..

    welli • Since Jan 2007 • 144 posts Report

  • Idiot Savant,

    You might well need to assent of the Sovereign before it passes...

    So we get rid of her too. She can take her prerogatives back to England where they belong.

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic,

    Someone compile a list of likely suspects and everyone gets three knives... er I mean votes.

    Sir Michael Fay
    Sir William Birch
    Sir Robert Muldoon (do the deceased count?)

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I think I'd have to vote in favour of the living over the deceased, as its unlikely that Muldoon can do us any more serious harm.

    Roger Douglas I think we can justify simply on the basis of the number of televisions that will not have solid objects thrown at them, let alone any wider social benefit.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Idiot Savant,

    Roger Douglas I think we can justify simply on the basis of the number of televisions that will not have solid objects thrown at them, let alone any wider social benefit.

    So you'e saying that Douglas' knighthood is good for the economy then?

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    So you'e saying that Douglas' knighthood is good for the economy then?

    I think his departure from the scene will be good for the economy. Both in that he won't have his hands anywhere near it, and we can all have a big 'stimulus' party.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Idiot Savant,

    I think his departure from the scene will be good for the economy. Both in that he won't have his hands anywhere near it, and we can all have a big 'stimulus' party.

    But will that party be bigger than the ongoing cost of replacing all those TVs?

    That's GDP, you know. How are we ever going to catch Australia if we cripple ourselves by not pointlessly smashing TVs?

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report

  • ScottY,

    we can all have a big 'stimulus' party

    Sorry man, no can do. I don't do that shit any more.

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report

  • Mark Harris,

    Sorry man, no can do. I don't do that shit any more.

    'Stimulus', 'party' or 'big'?

    Enquiring minds and all...

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Hilary Stace,

    I'm trying to recall if the beneficiary-bashing was as prevalent or as vehement in the early 1990s.

    David, you obviously weren't on the DPB then. There has always been beneficiary bashing, particularly of DPB recipients.Some of us remember Bert Walker, the ungenerous and sexist Minister of Social Welfare in the Muldoon government. Made denigration of single mothers into an sport.

    Anybody who has been on a benefit knows that the whole system is set up to make you feel guilty and unworthy as a human being. There is a hierarchy of benefits with the DPB at the bottom. In the early 1990s I went on the widow's benefit. To apply for it you even went to a different floor, to separate you from those DPB and dole bludgers, because you were slightly worthy. But by the time of Christine Rankin's reign all beneficiaries were treated the same. You hardly set foot in the place without being whisked off to a side room and being interrogated for benefit fraud. The public loved it.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    There is a hierarchy of benefits with the DPB at the bottom.

    What, worse than the in-valid one? How hard could it really have been to change that name over the last decade.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    the whole system is set up to make you feel guilty and unworthy as a human being

    Quite. Seems the only folk who feel they deserve an ongoing sense of entitlement are long-in-the-tooth politicians.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hilary Stace,

    Sacha - I think the DPB might even rate lower than the In-Valid one if you take into account the judgmental moral undertone of our benefit system. It was OK to get a widow's benefit with little children, as I did, because you were pitiable. But mothers applying for the DPB have transgressed some moral code. People who are disabled or sick are in-valid humans but they are not immoral.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report

  • Hilary Stace,

    Maybe because she started the Needs Assessment and Service Coordination system that brought it an eligibility-based ring fenced system of disability supports, based on a market of providers who competed for contracts, whereas before it had been needs,community and rights-based?

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    She was the first female Prime Minister. Knighthoods are thrown about for much less.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hilary Stace,

    Good on those who didn't convert their gong to an outdated imperialist knighthood or damehood eg Sam Neill, Joy Cowley, Ranginui Walker.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report

  • Tim Michie,

    REFUSED NEW TITLE:

    * Sir Ivor Lloyd Richardson, judge
    * Dame Silvia Rose Cartwright, former Governor-General
    Leonard Ramsey Castle, potter
    Witi Ihimaera-Smiler, novelist
    Sam Neill, actor
    Vincent O'Sullivan, writer and poet
    Ranginui Walker, academic, writer
    Joy Cowley, writer
    Patricia Grace, novelist
    Sister Patricia Mary Hook, community worker
    Penelope Ann Jamieson, former bishop of Dunedin
    Sister Pauline Margaret O'Regan, educationist
    Margaret Wilson, former Speaker of Parliament

    * Titles previously awarded

    Herald

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie,

    I think pretty much every NZ Prime Minister gets at least a knighthood; there's no reason to say that Palmer or Muldoon knighted themselves, it's just what happens to ex-PMs.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Tim Michie,

    Yes, a sirtainty in this daminion.

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report

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