Posts by Lynn Yum
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Hard News: That escalated quickly ..., in reply to Carol Stewart,
I know I’m late to the Andrew Little party! It began last year:
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Hard News: That escalated quickly ..., in reply to Geoff Lealand,
Yes, whilst pollsters continue to rely on landline responses. This effectively precludes 90% of my students from taking part and an increasing number of older friends.y
Yes I just checked the last Colmar Brunton poll methodology. They are still calling land line only (page 2), effectively still using 20th century methodology in 21st century. *facepalm*
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Hard News: That escalated quickly ..., in reply to simon g,
Well they could have said "no we are 100% behind you Andrew" and refused his resignation. That would have projected unity. Yes it was bizarre that he openly talked about his doubts. One way to see it is to say that Andrew Little is incredibly honest. Another way to see it is to say he lacks confidence, lacks belief in his own campaign. But in the back of his mind I reckon it must have been the image of the caucus sharpening the knives after the bad polling numbers.
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I have to say I am warming to Andrew Little. Because he is definitely an adult when the (unfair) accusation is that a Labour-Green government will be run by a bunch of clueless kids/idealists. His union background is a great reassurance.
I really doubt there is any going to be policy shifts, especially this close to the election. Probably just different messaging and no more. I have nothing against Jacinda Ardern. I thought she is a very good speaker. But it is the internal Labour Party politics rearing its ugly head again. This is a great way to project an image that they are not panicking. Right.
A more resilent team would look at the polls and say "Look, this is just temporary set back. We just have to tweak the campaign a bit to get better results. And the polls can't be telling the whole picture, given that the polls were dead wrong with Brexit, Trump, and last the UK election".
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That report from The Productivity Commission is an interesting read, even for a laywoman. Thanks Paul Conway.
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Hard News: Budget 2017: How do we get…, in reply to John McCormick,
I find it odd that the question isn't answered in a writer's festival. Creative industry is exactly where the economy can grow. Writers, artists etc. produce works that can't be automated.
And the world still needs lots of scientists, engineers and programmers to make the automated world work.
And I honestly don't know why UBI is taken seriously instead of being a libertarian fantasy. The idea that structural inequities like classism, sexism, racism and colonialism can be solved by giving bags of money to those victimised by those structural inequities is just... inconceivable!
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Hard News: Every option has costs, every…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Just looking at the graph, the obvious question to ask is what happened in and since 2013-2014 to cause the migration figures to go completely out of whack? Brexit and Trump can't explain the trend that started in 2013-2014.
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Hard News: Every option has costs, every…, in reply to BenWilson,
But it’s easy for me to preach about how I wouldn’t mind higher prices, considering I also have reasonable income. The worst part about the idea of forcing work standards is that it can certainly enforce a lot of suffering directly onto the poorest people in the short term. WOFs for rentals would almost certainly increase homelessness in the short term. We should, of course, never have let it come to this.
I don't buy this argument, especially not as it stands right now. Because right now, the minimum wage isn't a living wage, especially in Auckland. Raising wage up to the living wage is simply a necessary cost to pay for a humane society.
It is like the aged care workers finally getting a pay rise. Sure, someone has to pay for it (and in this case the government, not the employers so the nominal price of aged care won't rise), but it is absolutely the right thing to do, because aged care is hard hard work, and the workers deserve to be paid decently.
The Masala case you mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg. I heard migrant workers being exploited often enough, but they simply don't know their rights, or don't know who to complain to, or they are afraid when they complain they will lose their jobs (even though in principle, minimum employment conditions apply to every worker on any kind of visa, no ifs no buts.) So NZ employers get away with it. It angers me that for some poor souls, visiting New Zealand isn't a pleasant but horrifying experience.
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Hard News: Every option has costs, every…, in reply to simon g,
I agree. Employers keep demanding overseas migrants to fill jobs because a) they don’t want to pay higher wages and b) they don’t want to train up staff, they want off-the-shelves solutions. It is the growth-at-all-cost-damn-the-consequence mentality.
I was listening to a RNZ Checkpoint segment on Friday, talking about how Auckland eateries can’t find enough qualified staff. Their argument for more migrant work force is that the Auckland taste buds will be the loser if they don’t get more migrant workers. I thought it was BS. If you don’t bother to train up people, or pay higher wages, of course people are going to leave. Or the eateries can try something new, like giving their most valued workers a small ownership stake to tempt people to stay.
If it is to choose between eating more fish-and-chips but better paid workers, and more exotic meals but with lower wage workers, I would rather choose the former.
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Isn't this kind of story the bread and butter of the right wing narrative "if you work hard enough you can be rich"? The implied corollary is "if you are poor it is because you are lazy". Never mind structural impediments like sexism, racism, or simply not having rich mom and dad.
The Herald championing right wing narrative? No way!