Student Emergency Unemployment Benefit Needs Restoration—New Zealand First

New Zealand First is urging the Government to restore the Emergency Unemployment Benefit for students in the upcoming budget.

“At present if a student is not receiving an allowance they face a normal stand-down period if they are unable to get paid employment during the summer break. This is a double whammy for students caught in such a circumstance,” said New Zealand First Education Spokesperson, Hon Brian Donnelly MP.

The logic behind the current policy is warped. It is based on the false assumption that if a student is able to survive during course time without an allowance, they should be able to continue to do so over the Christmas break. This ignores the fact that many such students survive on student loans which are not available during non-course time.

“If this Government is truly committed to removing unfairness, it will restore the Emergency Unemployment Benefit for students in the budget,” said Mr Donnelly.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>