The first reading of the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill 2012 was passed passed by Parliament on Tuesday 27 March. The Wellington Archdiocesan Catholic Commission for Justice, Peace and Development Commission has expressed concern about the government’s welfare reform package with a particular focus on 3 areas: 1. Legislation and social policy that devalues Read more
This week 97-year old Compassion Sister Felix received a medal for 7 decades of work as a sister. The medal was given to Sister Felix primarily for the work she did in the Wellington soup kitchen which was then in Buckle St. For more than 12 years she cooked breakfast and dinner every day, visiting sick, Read more
The Catholic Diocese of Auckland’s Justice & Peace Commission has just issued a leaflet entitled “Catholic Social Teaching and the Ports of Auckland Dispute” which is being distributed to all parishes in the diocese. It is accompanied by a letter of support from the Bishop of Auckland, Bishop Patrick Dunn. The leaflet gives an overview of Catholic Read more
Catholics who are passionate about the family, the life issues and the sexual issues go to one side of the room, and Catholics passionate about the social teachings of the Church to the other. And from their sides they both hurl blame, venom, scorn, and debate who is a true Catholic and who really cares Read more
A new two-tier immigration system that favours the wealthy means that fewer Pacific Island migrants may be able to gain New Zealand residency. The government will scrap the sibling and adult child immigration categories to “reduce the number of unskilled migrants who find it difficult to get jobs and are more likely to get benefit Read more
Members of regional parliaments are increasingly alarmed at the continuing violence in the Indonesian Papuan provinces and at the seeming inability of the Indonesian Government to administer these territories without a large military presence. The refusal of permission for journalists and many aid workers to enter the provinces is a growing cause of concern. On Read more
The Government is rejecting opposition criticism of welfare reforms and says it’s on track to get 46,000 people off benefits over the next four years. Laws are going to be changed, requiring solo parents on a benefit to look for part-time work when their youngest child is five and fulltime work when that child turns Read more