Byron Clark - Instablogs
Dec 8 2008
Newstalk ZB is reporting that Overall debt levels for local councils are on the rise. Briefing documents to new Local Government Minister Rodney Hide show local authority debt levels rose by more than 60 percent between 2004 and 2007, from $1.9...
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Dec 6 2008
Union membership and strength in New Zealand fell significantly after the 1991 passage of the Employment Contracts Act under the previous National government, the nine years of Labour government then have shown such continuity of Nationals policies,...
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Nov 30 2008
Yesterday workers at the Pak ‘n Save supermarket on Lincoln Road in Auckland held a picket as part of their campaign to get an improved employment agreement. The site was unionised last year by the National Distribution Union and the collective...
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Nov 29 2008
The Christchurch City Council’s controversial rent increase for social housing has been overturned by the High Court. Legal action was taken by the welfare group the Council of Social Services (Coss), who have achieved a significant victory,...
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Nov 24 2008
New Zealand’s unemployment rate has risen to 4.2%, the highest rate in nearly five years, and the Bank of New Zealand is predicting it will be as high as 6% by the end of next year, a loss of 32,000 jobs. Property and finance, construction,...
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Nov 20 2008
Age Concern, an advocacy group for the elderly, is attempting to highlight the issue of ‘energy poverty’ before the (southern hemisphere) winter brings a power crisis. Energy poverty is defined as households having to use more than 10...
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Nov 16 2008
The Maori Party has made an agreement with the National party to support them on confidence and supply votes, a similar agreement made with the ACT party means National will rule New Zealand as a minority government. The move has come as a surprise to...
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Nov 11 2008
As the election results came in last Saturday a number of beneficiaries rang a Government family helpline because they were “stressed” their welfare payments would change. A Wairarapa man was so upset by National’s win that he called...
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Nov 9 2008
The New Zealand election proved the old adage that “governments don’t win elections, governments lose them.” Many politically centrist labor voters switched their vote to National, which had campaigned as “Labour lite” pledging to...
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Nov 3 2008
The Cycling Advocacy Network (CAN) an umbrella group made up of various local cycling groups has pointed out that around a quarter of voters are cyclists. The organisation is calling for all cyclists to cycle to their polling booth on election day...
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