Family First says the Government is undervaluing mothers by not allowing a bill, proposing to extend paid parental leave, to proceed to a first reading. In the week before Easter a member’s bill which aims to extend paid parental leave in New Zealand from 14 to 26 weeks came up in the ballot. It is being proposed by Labour’s Sue Read more
It was made very clear in polls before the November 2011 election that more than 70% of respondents wanted our publicly-owned state assets retained in NZ ownership, not 49% sold off to the highest bidder. The incoming National government chose to ignore this expression of New Zealanders’ views, and has been taking steps to change Read more
It takes political courage to contradict the prevailing nostrums of the day, and National’s deputy prime minister and Finance Minister, Bill English, is to be commended for doing just this. Opening a Families Commission’s 50 Key Thinkers forum in May, Mr English referred to prisons as a moral and fiscal failure. In so doing he Read more
Most beneficiaries are genuine, a Catholic delegation told Finance Minister Bill English last week, and the government should not describe beneficiaries in ways that stigmatise and stereotype the poor. The delegation, led by Archbishop John Dew, met Mr English on 15 August to discuss welfare reform, a day after the National government began a series Read more