I doubt that the PM would have much depth of knowledge of this...though I'd be delighted to be proved wrong.

There are only seven sitting Government MPs who actually spoke about this in the House that day; Dyson, Faafoi, Logie, Lees-Galloway, Wall, Hipkins…

You could be right....and it is not immediately obvious who/which entity is responsible.

However....Curran did jump onto this particular instance of nefarious government practise back in 2013, and has scored her 'dream' portfolio of Associate Minister for State Services(Open Government)....

So,…

We have written to the Ministers of Justice, Health Disability Issues, and I understand others have written to the PM about the Public Health and Disability Amendment Act(2)...what Peter and…

Just in case y'all thought this was a forgotten outrage, a vague scar in our memories of the Previous Administration That Wrought This Shit...

I have written to the New Minister in Charge of Restoring the Voters' Trust in Government, to wit, Clare Curran.

And I'm publicising the…

Parliamentary sovereignty will generally apply to the former, in that the government may lawfully pass legislation that has…

Needless to say the current GPSoLT (the…

Plateau's Republic starts here...

I don't think there is such a law. AFIK there exixts a…

Expecting 'top-down' solutions belongs to the past. Corporate ambition has such a grip on our educational, judicial and legislative mechanisms that the only change for any public benefit has to…

Perhaps it was apathy, perhaps it was the pretty colours and slick presentation, most likely it was willful ignorance, honestly I’ve no idea why I didn’t reach this point sooner, but I’m boycotting Fairfax henceforth.

Hmm, it’s a tricky one. I feel I can’t quite get my expression of my point on this right, possibly because I have no technical…

True, that is an example of acting smarter.

Successful social change movements would disagree.

It doesn't matter how smart the leadership is if the politicians refuse to engage. In each electorate, we're a tiny minority and an invisible one because of factors…

Totally agree – which is why it's even more important that change leadership be smart. It isn't.

Getting change involves more than meek begging.

They can only get change that politicians have been willing to grant them, no matter how well they lobby. Disability NGOs suffer from the handicap (excuse the anachronistic pun) that their constituency is least…

When Australia is ahead of us on any social policy, something is wrong with what we're doing. Once upon a time that was an article of faith.

Funded by all taxpayers through the Medicare health insurance scheme, DisabilityCare, when in full operation, will provide "long-term, high-quality support for around 410,000 people…

Your name has been noted, citizen. Your corporatist overlords will be sending re-education specialists to your location momentarily, to address your disturbing display of unwillingness to bow before the paternalist puppet-masters who have hold of your city’s strings.

Constitutional Guillotine. Which means a law removing any purported right of…

This article caused me to shout at my computer today. Yes, the big expensive civic projects CERA is insisting we must have…

Maaaate. What's not to love about a rugby stadium? Sponsors and construction companies agree with me.

It does. Cabinet had to support changes for them to happen – just like this current result is not purely on Ryall but also English, Joyce, Collins and their fellow humanitarians.

And on us citizens. I really am grateful for the…

..unless they qualify for ACC, where family funding arrangements have worked just fine for years.

-the development of the 2001 NZ Disability Strategy by disabled people, and the establishment of an Office for Disability Issues to monitor it
– disability made a…

You could suggest the continued and unchanging policy of not paying relatives to care for their disabled family members was a direct implementation of Labour Party policy.

Lazy...
;-)

Nah, joking aside I see this as the biggest reason that society as a whole has a responsibility…

Rather than blame "disloyal public servants" for being secretly National supporters while Labour was in government, you could make the same argument based on the more reality-aligned view that the cause was growing tendencies to corporate…

Hi George,

Yes, I was interested to get that reply. Unfortunately my followup question – was Dunne comfortable asking the Opposition to vote on the Bill without providing them the full Regulatory Impact Statement – has gone unanswered thus far.

I'm aware…

I have a…

I would find it unbeleivable that a labour government would go to the…

My suspicions rest with the growth in epidemic disability. In 2011 the number of cases of diabetes in New Zealand exceeded projections by more than 20% in some areas. The…

The HoL has voted down numerous Commons bills. What happened (roughly) with the Asquith government was that Conservatives in the Lords set themselves against a number of that government's policies (specifically finance and Irish Home Rule). Asquith wanted the King to create…

Downshifting to Hamilton, or sprawling to Hamilton? Draw your own conclusion.

We are opting for a string of suspicious accidents until we see a drastic change of heart.

Disabled people and our families are a larger number than those who could be considered part of a politicised movement. Refusal to address even that most basic reality hinders effective disability policy and political action.

http://privacy.org.nz/the-privacy-act-and-codes/privacy-principles/access/legal-professional-privilege/

and this.

This

Please do. This stuff will wait.

Someone pointed out that as part of the Budget they were obliged to under the confidence and supply agreement they signed up to with Joyce and co.

Knock me down with a feather

Nah, you're good. This is an excellent discussion, and I think it has legs. And thanks for the compliment; I wish I didn't have to state these…

Ah, yes, my bad. However, the wider Canterbury area also didn't express particular disgust with their National Party MPs over the whole ECan thing.

That would be a massive surprise to the people of Christchurch East, and their MP, Lianne Dalziel. The National Candidate in Chch East was a guy you…

Read transportblog, with the best comment ever from Stu Donovan
on May 20, 2013 at 5:55 pm:…

I can't see Queen Elizabeth getting her head chopped off (or the GG for that matter). The worst that…

My understanding is that the Ministry has always considered it culturally appropriate for whanau rather than strangers to care for their disabled members, and have always paid whanau to do so. So the Bill had no effect on whanau and this might have made it a lot easier for…

Nothing we don't already know about: a deep-seated belief that its not the state's job to make sure that everyone gets a fair go.

You mean those same people of Canterbury who elected a National Party MP into the formerly safe-Labour-seat of Christchurch East? That "affected population"?

If they know they're losing votes, quite a bit. It depends on how organised sectors who are able to sway voters are. That, in this…

[Asking from ignorance.]

I wish Patrick Gower would report shit like this, instead of literally making up leadership coups…

In the very bowels...

Britain appointed the Governor and then the Governor-General [EDIT: they were called G-G before they became independent of the UK] and directed the delay or veto of legislation. Note that it was not the…

There is something lurking deep at the seat of all this evil.

That's an awesome…

They're also sacked by the queen on the PM's advice. For the monarch to refuse to act on…

Yes. It is pretty small beer.

You may well think that the Government is motivated more by petty resentment at being forced into doing anything by the Courts than actual concrete concerns with the policy, but I couldn't possibly comment.

Word, I just wrote pretty much that, then deleted it because I wasn't sure at all on your second speculation.…

Thought so.

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/AboutParl/HowPWorks/FactSheets/5/b/8/00PlibFactsheetRefusalAssent1-Refusal-of-assent-a-hidden-element-of.htm

I think that an onion article, from back when it was funny, has been doing the rounds in the past few weeks, and it did feel a bit like life imitating satire when the news of this came out.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/cia-realizes-its-been-using-black-highlighters-all,1848/

Incidently, does the legislation preventing intervention by the courts apply to the Privy Council also?

A friend of mine's quip on Facebook. In two senses, he's absolutely right. The first is that anything that is being redacted is almost certainly something that should have been highlighted, and the second is that by redacting the entire…

Yes but ... that calculation assumes they are able to pay minimum wage. Since professional caregivers are paid more than minimum wage then again the govt could have been challenged to force them to pay the same…

And as No Right Turn blogs today, this is Not Acceptable.

What gets built in Christchurch should be up to the people of Christchurch, not dictated by a Minister in Wellington. Sadly National still doesn't…

I'd welcome any journo drilling in to why Ryall has fought this so hard and so long.

The Herald article says
$23 million would be allocated in the Budget to pay people who cared for a disabled adult family member [but] the new policy did not extend payments to spouses of disabled adults or parents of disabled children. [...] If payments were extended…

I was thinking more that the situation mirrors that of America – the Democrats' support core is in the big metros, while the Republicans dominate the suburbs and rural areas. And we…

Its odd in that it sits badly with our supposed support for human rights and international law.

You would have thought the Maori Party might be a bit more vigilant about…

Once again, the Black Triangle Campaign in Britain provides a template.

What does that say?

Aside from the fact that this Government has clearly shown that they consider disabled people nothing more than a financial burden to society, and therefore a group underserving of the…

More than half of NZ's population has lived in cities for over a century now, despite the rural myth we continue with.

However we only have one world-scale city.…

Technically, the legislation was part of the budget, hence covered by the MP's agreement for confidence and supply.

That, and they wouldn't have read it before voting.

Just as long as you don’t ask Pita Sharples, he won’t have a clue why.

Our regional council was placed under statutory management in 2010, because it did not simply rubberstamp massive new irrigation projects. The dry Canterbury Plains, perfect for arable farming, are…

Actually, it’s perfectly logical. It has been the continued trajectory of human social evolution for 10,000 years. There have been some attempts at reversing urbanisation – e.g Cambodia – but none successful AFAIK.

Stop Press: Govt slammed over censored caregiver legislation

Unless of course, the plan involves effectively raising the barriers to entry to full participation in society. Just like a cartel from a high school economics textbook.

http://aboutown.tumblr.com/post/50868745451/bill-english-vetos-election

doing something about it either way requires a plan, and as their opposition to the UP and PT and any regional development plan indicates, this government is ideologically opposed…

Add to that condescending indifference at best towards Wellington. That means the usual suspects are effectively offside with NZ's 3 biggest cities – notice a pattern here?

It defies logic for a city to be bursting at the seams while the rest of the country seemingly empties out. Unless of course, you're setting up…

Perhaps. But maybe you had to be there. When someone stands up and says 3 stories are possible and are told, no its 2, that's a bit worse than mumbling your words…

That's not that odd. We're not a party to the optional protocols allowing complaints to UN bodies about a bunch of the international treaties to which we…

Claire Browning =/= Clare Curran.

That would be Claire Browning.

The Ombudsman is not a court or tribunal, and so still has jurisdiction. They might very well find that a family care policy was…

You can try, but they will likely withhold it as legal advice. That withholding ground is one of the stronger ones, and it would take an exceptionally strong public interest, or an implicit waiver of advice…

Not sure its all been one way in that regard Tom. I went to a meeting about the Unitary Plan in Beachhaven about a week ago, and the officers there still, despite being repeatedly told by members of the public…

from his twitter...
@TonyRyallMP
Tonight NZ becomes only 3rd country in world to pay wages to some family carers of disabled adults. $92m over 4 years.

and
‏@TonyRyallMP
Wow! Labour and Greens vote against supporting parents who care for adult…

I’d just like to end with a little thought experiment for the class: imagine that Labour were in power and passed any legislation – say, to plant more native trees on public land, or to make it illegal to…

The problem is less the hideous bunch of clowns currently in power than the number of our fellow citizens who are enamoured with them. It's not as if Key and co's ruthless "pragmatism", lack of…

Mentioned in passing on Stuff. The Granny…

http://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/regulatory-impact-statement-government-response-family-carers-case.doc

Put another way, a court overturning Parliament-made law for violating the constitution would itself be violating the contstitution.

(prepares for Edgeler schooling on constitutional law)

Well, he's a member of Cabinet, so he has to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_collective_responsibility

I would've thought my subsequent suggestion of kneecapping children showed I was exaggerating for comic effect, but I guess not.

Simon Bridges flatly denies Moana Mackey’s claim that the legal advice on amendments to the Crown Minerals Act (which somehow needs correcting a month after it was passed) was that they were in breach of international law.

But [[http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2555653/simon-bridges-rejects-allegations-mining-legislation-breaks-law|the minister cannot explain why the…

The doctrine of parliamentary supremacy was created by the Courts.

The doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty/supremacy is precisely that, a doctrine. It's not enshrined in law. The Courts could, in a suitable case, actually strike down legislation as being unconstitutional.

Please explain. This is not my understanding.

Stuff off.

I think you mean the Office of Human Rights Proceedings. And it's an independent office within…

The way things are going, edited for truth...

Also, unless conservatives know someone who's in the position of caring for a disabled person, they don't care. So obviously the solution is to kneecap…

It's legally privileged – they don't have to provide it under the OIA.

But there are plenty of others who can be mobilised to get out and vote, and to take action in the…

The CERA law could be seen as just…

This is an important point. I'm a carer now for my…

We have to start somewhere. The Black Triangle Campaign in Britain offers a pointer in the right…