Press Release
MANA Leader Hone Harawira
Monday 27th February 2012
Where are the Jobs?

“The welfare reforms announced today only punishes those who need a helping hand” says MANA Leader Hone Harawira. “How can John Key and Paula Bennett stand there and tell beneficiaries they want them to work when there are no jobs out there? Just look at the contribution the Government has made towards creating beneficiaries – 50 from TPK, 300 from MFAT, 440 from Air NZ and Housing NZ are shutting their offices. That’s almost 1000 public servants joining the dole queue! The Government isn’t creating jobs – they are taking them away!”

“The creation of electronic food stamps for youth is punitive – how can we teach the youth of today self-responsibility by reintroducing measures that were last seen fifty years ago? How can we say that we want babies to have the best start in life when we are demanding that their mothers return to the workforce before they turn one? I’m all for putting people into work, but the Government needs to take leadership on the issue rather than creating cycle tracks that employ no-one”.

“For Maori and Pacific Island people the situation is going from bad to worse. Together, Maori and Pacific Island people make-up one in four of those who are unemployed and constitute over 50% of those who access the DPB. Today I heard not one thing about what the Government plans to do for Maori and Pacific Island people. Maybe that responsibility will fall to Tariana Turia who says that she is angered by the high rate of Maori unemployment, but keeps supporting a Government that is willing to do nothing about it”.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On The Government's Assault On Maori

This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Audrey Young in the NZ Herald has compiled a useful list of the many ways Christopher Luxon plans to roll back the progress made in race relations over the past forty years. He has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. More