December 13, 2004

More Children Relying On Incapacity Benefits And DPB

Social Development Minister Steve Maharey said today that New Zealand is making "tremendous progress in addressing child poverty".

According to Lindsay Mitchell, petitioner for a Parliamentary review of the DPB, "This claim is hard to swallow when the number of children relying on each of the main benefits, bar unemployment, is up."

"In June 2000 a total of 209,622 children relied on either a DPB, sickness or invalid benefit. At the end of October this year that number had risen to 218,724 - a four percent increase."

"If this is tremendous progress I'd hate to see what failure looks like."

Lindsay Mitchell petitioner for a Parliamentary review of the DPB forms available from www.liberalvalues.org.nz contact dandl.mitchell@clear.net.nz

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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>>