"Any expectation that we just simply allow that the market to dictate our outcomes for people is where I would want to make sure that we were more interventionist," Ardern told Radio New Zealand.

So what is neoliberalism?

As colleague Henry Cooke put it: "neoliberalism traditionally describes the political shift in the 1980s towards privatisation of government services, a focus on individual freedoms over collective good, and a general glorification of market principles".

Laissez-faire (let them do as they choose) was in, and intervention became something of a dirty word.

As well as rewarding individual toil, proponents believed that greater wealth creation by some would, as if by magic, trickle down to the less fortunate, and on average people would be better off.

Plenty argue it came off the boil in the 1990s and has never really recovered. Some on the Right claim a neoliberal agenda exists only in the minds of the Left, used as a term of disparagement.

When did it arrive in New Zealand?

While the Closer Economic Relations treaty between New Zealand and Australia came into force in 1983 (the significance of which is often overlooked in market reform terms), New Zealanders generally agree the 1984-90 Labour Government was the real start of neoliberalism.

Subsidies were broadly eliminated from most industries, dozens of state-owned companies were sold and the financial sector underwent major market reforms, including the free floating of the dollar.

GST of 10 per cent was slapped on the cost of practically everything and the top income tax rate, of 66 cents in the dollar, was halved over two years.

Later, under National, labour relations saw dramatic changes with the Employment Contracts Act, passed in 1990. Welfare payments were cut. University fees were hiked and have risen since. Continue reading

Sources

• Stuff article by Hamish Rutherford, Wellington business bureau chief at Fairfax Media
• Image: Independent Australia

Moreover, their ambitions are bold and explicit.

National is promising to reduce child poverty by two-thirds - at least on one specific income-based measure - by the end of the next parliament.

Labour has committed to ending child poverty and enacting legislation containing multiple official poverty measures and related targets. Several other parties, notably the Greens and the Maori Party, support broadly similar initiatives.

These political commitments are of historic significance. They mark the first serious cross-party consensus in New Zealand on the need to tackle child poverty in several generations - perhaps ever.

Whatever the composition of the next government, the outcome is destined to be positive for many of our poorest families. This is great news.

Not only will reducing poverty alleviate family hardship and suffering, but it can also be expected to generate better long-term social and economic outcomes: improved health status, better educational results and lower unemployment.

Yet any effort to reduce child poverty on a durable basis must proceed carefully.

First, there is no universally agreed way of measuring poverty and no one correct poverty threshold. As most people recognise, poverty is multi-dimensional. It has many aspects, as well as many causes and consequences.

Ideally, therefore, a range of measures is required.

These should include measures using various income thresholds as well as those assessing the level of material deprivation or hardship based on how many specific necessities people lack.

Additionally, there should be explicit measures of poverty severity and persistence.

A comprehensive measurement and reporting framework along these lines was proposed by the Expert Advisory on Solutions to Child Poverty in 2012, based partly on the British Child Poverty Act 2010 and partly on advice from leading international poverty researchers.

Under this approach, explicit medium-term and long-term targets would be set for several selected poverty measures.

Second, any official poverty measures and targets must be buttressed by relevant child-poverty related indicators.

The Expert Advisory Group recommended five types of indicators covering outcomes in the domains of health, education, social inclusion, disability and child quality of life. Continue reading

• Jonathan Boston is Professor of Public Policy at Victoria University of Wellington.

In a 2015 World Fisheries message, Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio said that in order to restore the dignity of the work of fisheries, all social forces had to work together.

He called for the proper implementation of laws and conventions to protect the human and labour rights of fisheries workers.

He also urged seafood companies to implement policies to eliminate human and labour exploitation in their supply chains.

The cardinal appealed to consumers to be vigilant and more conscious not only of the quality of the seafood that they are buying, but also of the human and labour conditions of those in the fishing industry.

Continue reading

The conference posted a new section on its website about euthanasia and assisted suicide.

The site comes as a bill in Quebec aims to allow physicians to administer "terminal palliative sedation" or "medial aid in dying" to patients who request it.

The bishops' site is "to help make available and share resources on this important question which is so much in the news across the country," a statement from the conference explained. Continue reading

School chaplains at 1,000 extra schools will receive A$222 million more. The significant increase in funding comes despite a High Court challenge to the programme on constitutional grounds and speculation prior to the budget that the future of the school chaplaincy programme was in doubt.

The school chaplaincy announcement was one of the Labor Government's major education announcements.

The $222 million increase promised before the election will provide chaplains for up to 3,700 schools until 2014.

Schools will be able to access up to $60,000 over three years to establish or expand chaplaincy services.

While funding is available to all faiths, most school chaplains are Christian.

The extra funding seems to have come at the expense of the "education revolution" of former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Rudd's trade training centres promised to secondary schools face delays and the $2.4 billion digital education revolution programme has also suffered significant cuts.