General news and views
The pay equity debate
The big issue of the past few weeks has been the pay equity laws being changed and the subsequent media frenzy following a litany of Labour and union untruths and then the ongoing use of some frankly marginal language.
Firstly, let’s talk about the facts, we are not cutting pay, we are not ditching pay equity and we also support equal pay.
Under the pay equity changes no woman has had her pay cut. The 12 pay equity settlements reached to date including for nurses, social workers, midwives, teacher aides, school librarians, care and support workers remain. Those settlements resulted in higher pay for tens of thousands of women, and they continue to be funded by the Government, at a cost of around $1.8 billion a year. The pay of these women is not at risk.
Claims are still able to be raised under the new system and further pay equity settlements are expected. The Government has set aside a large amount of money to fund these claims under the new law.
So why has the Government made changes to pay equity?
The first pay-equity claim was proven in the Supreme Court by Kristine Bartlett on behalf of thousands of care and support workers. In response, the previous National Government delivered the first ever pay-equity settlement in New Zealand, it then designed a clear legal regime so that other claims could be progressed without workers having to resort to the Courts.
However, in 2020 the Labour Government put its own pay equity regime in place. This saw admin workers compared with civil engineers; social workers compared with detectives; and librarians compared with fishery officers.
What started under National as a clear pay equity regime to redress historically underpaid female-dominated workforces, became a multi-billion dollar grievance industry that departed a very long way from issues of sex-discrimination.
It also became completely unaffordable.
The Government has now put in place a much more workable pay equity regime. It has set out a transparent process through which employers and employees can negotiate the question of equal value.
The Greens Budget madness
Today's Green budget filled with extra taxes and more handouts to people not prepared to work is a warning to us all - remember these are the people who Labour will have to go into coalition with should they get anywhere close to being in Government next year.
The idea that raiding New Zealanders’ incomes will somehow make the country better off is offensive to every New Zealander struggling with the cost-of-living crisis that Labour and the Greens created. Our Finance Minister had the following to say...
“We can assume that having no businesses left in New Zealand is the ultimate goal for the Labour-Greens-Te Pāti Māori coalition of chaos.
“While the Greens’ proposals are not grounded in any kind of fiscal reality, their approach is very similar to Labour’s. It’s all about higher taxes, more spending and ballooning debt.
“In normal times, it would make sense to call on Labour to rule out letting the Greens anywhere near an economic portfolio in a future coalition. But the reality is, they are as economically illiterate as each other. The only difference is the Greens are more honest in telling New Zealanders just how illiterate they are.
The idea that raiding New Zealanders’ incomes will somehow make the country better off is offensive to every New Zealander struggling with the cost of living crisis that Labour and the Greens created. This is truly magical thinking.
“We can assume that having no businesses left in New Zealand is the ultimate goal for the Labour-Greens-Te Pāti Māori coalition of chaos.
“In normal times, it would make sense to call on Labour to rule out letting the Greens anywhere near an economic portfolio in a future coalition. But the reality is, they are as economically illiterate as each other. The only difference is the Greens are more honest in telling New Zealanders just how illiterate they are.
So that's this week's commentary - let me know what else you want to hear about.
Budget and announcements
Next week is budget week and there is always lots of work and late nights to get through the budget readings. I can't tell you what will be in the budget, but you will have seen some of the announcements out this week including -
- $140 million for attendance services for schools
- $100m for specialist maths teachers
- financial literacy to be taught at schools
- significant defence spending for upgrades of equipment
And there will be more.
All of these releases can be found on the Beehive website - www.beehive.govt.nz
Events coming up
I will be out and about running community clinics near you. If you live in one of these townships please drop ion for a catch up - I would love to see you.
Please call in and see us or email us if you have any queries or events you would like us to attend.
73 The Strand, Whakatane
60 Ballance St, Gisborne