Posts by Kerry Weston
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From the Herald article, Ms Bennett says:
"They're already getting a huge amount of support from the Government.
Bullshit. Is everyone aware that the government keeps child support payments, made by the liable, non-custodial parent that are supposedly for the children? In effect, the cost of the DPB is offset by the govt hanging onto child support monies. bear in mind the rate is around 24% of income in liable payments for two children.
When WFF was brought in, the base rate of DPB was cut by $20 per week - a move masked by the rise paid out to everybody on Family Support. This cut put DPB recipients on the same rate as Unemployment Benefit. No monetary reward for bringing up kids by yourself - your work counts for nothing. As for mother-child bonding - what an outmoded concept*, when professional child care is available.
Make no mistake - they're going to can the DPB. Removing TIA for study that might actually result in a step up the social ladder sends the unmistakable message to women that if they're not in a marriage-type relationship, they are the lowest form of life. Fit only for low-paid service work. As for motherhood - ha! Just a little glitch on the superhighway of proper work.
Half of all kiwi women will be solo parents at some time in their lives. This doesn't affect only a few. All those women gutsy enough to escape shithouse relationships have just been given a message - you don't matter.
*sarcasm
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naughty sock puppet
Gio or Sacha??
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Opiki Chick
actually that's quite cool in a retro Wayne Mason kind of way....
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Actually, I've seriously considered changing from real name to an alias. I so often forget that this is a public forum and blather on, then wish I could take stuff back.
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Well, the evening began at the gentleman's club, where we were discussing Wittgenstein over a game of backgammon.
You just said that coz you haven't got any hair to brush and you thought you could get away with that paisley dressing gown at the gentlemen's club anyway.
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I'm doing a paper on New Media this semester and have been discussing you lot in class - expect a few new drive-by lurkers to check us out this week. Highly pertinent to our virtual communities topic.
So ya better get dressed, brush yr hair and polish up yr wit!
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@ Rich of Obs and Steve Reeves: no offence intended.
I certainly did not intend my words to imply a generalised judgment of all UK migrants. That's why I specified it was about UK migrants i had met. Perhaps some more information is required.
I live in a very conservative part of the country - we brought you Simon Power, after all (well, not me, but...) - which depends on farming and the Defence Forces to prop up the local economy. In fact, most of the migrants i encountered and socialised with were ex-RAF coming into the RNZAF, plus a couple of builders/sparkies and a business consultant. What struck me was that all of these families seemed to think they were coming to a Little England, 1950s style. The RAFs had all been sold the same picture via a recruitment drive, but even the civilians had pretty similar expectations and none had come for a visit prior to migration.
My response to these families was firstly, to listen. Encourage them to share their stories - why they came, why they left, what they hoped for - then offer an alternative picture of NZ. Of a country trying to come to terms with its history and find a workable balance - that this was the society they would find a place in. Suggested they have a read of King or Belich. I'm not into browbeating people over who they "ought to be".
Steve, there are plenty of kiwis around with the attitudes you encountered and found distasteful. It's commonplace in these parts. I truly hope you make your own place here and come to call it home.
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Hey Sacha, late back to this....and yeah, I've been rambling a bit, I blame it on being stuck at home with the oinky flu this week. Finally got out today, but only becoz the cupboard was bare.
investing in genuine and ongoing informed consent, which would provide some grounding when public discussions do arise.
informed consent for what exactly? To publish/share personal stories or something broader?
targetted information kits and training resources
which share info on how to care for and engage with a broad spectrum of society with significant abilities? I'm being a bit facetious but really, i would have thought that happened already. my bad.
Recording and properly contextualising stories from real people
Like an oral history archive - not necessarily an oral history, some kind of multimedia resource, but approached like oral history/biography?
This is interesting stuff.
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I've gotta go in a minute, but will come back to this later, as it has been on my mind. I'd be interested to hear about how we get to
hearing from families and disabled adults about what life has been and is like for them
in regards to transitory debates like this - how can the path between the journo asking the questions and someone putting their head above the parapet to answer? I'm picking that some/many may feel intimidated by the media?
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I wonder if if any journos thought of actually asking anyone with NTD their opinion of this debate?