Repealing seabed and foreshore, umm not now.
Abolishing Maori seats immediately, umm not now.
Making Corrections separate from Justice, umm not now.
Pepperpotting state houses is bad, umm not now.
Fabulous champion of the poor.

That's FOUR FLIP-FLOPS in one week folks, a fabulous new National record.

So much for that.

I incline more…

But they'd have to be voluntary – otherwise, how would you avoid discriminating between someone who belonged to a community with an employment programme (and had to join it or lose their dole) and someone else who didn't belong to such a community and…

I agree with Sharples in that our previous work for the dole scheme does not make all efforts to help people out of welfare with incentives and assistance inevitable failures.

If done with thought and care (incorporating the efforts of people such as Bronwyn and…

So, perhaps Sharples and like minded politcians could look at what's already in place and see how they could make it work better (i.e. make it easier for people to actually use the money) instead of hatching grand plans to establish yet another scheme...

(or maybe that's just too simple)

…

Of course I can see the need to be accountable with use…

I couldn't give a stuff if Maori are overrepresented. I see that as most likely because of historical reasons than for cultural or racial reasons.

Regardless of whether one agrees with Samuel Huntington's politics or not, he had a point when he wrote in Clash of Civilisations : "The…

Pita Sharples wouldn't be the first to want to change the status quo on welfare policy.

I don't quite see why Maori need to feel obliged to vote for the Maori Party against their political judgment

You misunderstand, voting with Maori Party is not some obligation to support the resistance or something. It adheres with my best political judgement because i agree more than I disagree…

I don't expect the work-for-dole concept to survive debate on the marae, which according to Maori Party tikanga anyway, should occur before the MP's drop a vote on it in the House, or confirm it as an Official Party…

Metiria Turei is Maori and has much better and more thought out policies, IMHO.

I have a friend who switched over to the Maori roll after Georgina Beyer stood down in the Wairarapa. She now splits her vote, and I had thought that was what a lot of people on…

Metiria Turei is Maori and has much better and more thought out policies, IMHO.

That's how I see it too. I like Sharples, but Turia sometimes says stuff I'd be appalled by no matter who said it. Her conspiratorial press release on the reviews of the dioxin studies being this…

Of course he's a politician – running for election makes you a politician straight away. Any one who says they aren't, be they Bob the Bollox or George Bush is full of it. Plus, on the evidence of his policies, he's a…

I think he's a decent man, and well motivated, but he really didn't seem to know what he was talking about.

At one point he said for it to work the dole would have to be brought up…

The Song Remains The Same.

Let's not forget that Key's speech is more about politics than policy. It's the same old appeal to "common sense" that we saw in '05's "Who wouldn't want more of *your* money returned to *you*?" In fact, is it not…

Sound cr*p but we were proud of it, it took 6 months but it was the best damn fence in the area, played a useful purpose in keeping kids away from a busy railway…

It's clear he hasn't actually done anything in the way of policy work but he did provide some details.

He acknowledged the failure of the prior WFD scheme(s), citing poor design, inadequate funding and draconian entry requirements. He operated a scheme,…

4. Not all work experience programmes are mindless – but are more likely to have a positive outcone than task force green.

I've always had a soft spot for Taskforce Green, ever since a bunch of us used it to get off the dole and publish Planet magazine in the…

The fact is, a lot of people on the dole *do* work – they just don't declare it – benefits aren't…

oh, and frictional unemployment is just a fancy name for the short term unemployment of people in between jobs.

The wikipedia has a good entry on unemployment types

How can he applaud raising the minimum wage yet also support people working for the dole? Which is far less than the minimum wage.

I have been on the dole a couple of times, for a couple of weeks each time, & the workshops I was…

There's only one thing I'd quibble with: that is that if I recall correctly the number of longterm unemployed as a percentage of overall unemployed probably isn't decreasing. I could be mistaken here but I think you'll find that while, absolute numbers of long term…

I can imagine it's stink to be on the dole if you don't want to be but can't live otherwise. But apart…

No, as the title implies its a party of (and for) Maori. The left and the right polarity of the Pakeha political spectrum is rendered largely irrelevant if your kaupapa is improve the political-economic status because

Shoud've have read

No, as the title implies its a party of (and for)…

Prove they're milking, then take their benefit off them.

Great idea, the kids who happen to be lumped with 'dole bludging' parens will love it. We'd create a new class of urban hunter gatherers living off the land in a post-industrial wasteland. In the short term they will hate us…

Anyway, the Maori Party isn't a party of the left and won't be while Turia is there.

Australia has a work-for-the-dole programme, with mixed results. The schemes are outsourced to community groups like the Salvation Army, and I heard a horror story from a…