– Dorothy – 4/12/98 Some of the media have recently had a field day featuring the huge debts incurred by students with student loans – debts sometimes incurred because the students used their loans to travel overseas or purchase expensive motorbikes or cars. These are a minority of students, but the government has moved to…
– Dorothy – 13/11/98 Government shoots messenger and wounds local social services. Which umbrella groups have had a funding cut? The Government’s Community Funding Agency has cut $148,000 in funding support for three voluntary sector umbrella groups, the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services, the Council of Social Services and the Federation of Voluntary…
– Dorothy – 16/10/98 What was the impelling need for the Hikoi? What was the hope? The Hikoi of Hope in Christchurch (Photo Source: Peter Hide of Anglican Care) (Click here for a larger version) Unemployment, poverty, overcrowded and inadequate housing, health problems, and lack of education – these are problems that many New Zealanders…
– Dorothy – 11/9/98 Parties breaking promises, MPs swapping parties, unexpected political alliances – how do we know what we are voting for? When I heard on the news that if the National Party did not move to a more right wing policy then Act would withdraw its support and force an early election, I…
– Dorothy – 13/2/98 A response to the suggestion that nuclear weapons may be used against Iraq. An extract from the 2 February statement by General Lee Butler USAF (Ret), CinC Strategic Command 1991-94 in charge of all US nuclear targeting, now turned nuclear abolitionist. He gave it when launching a statement for abolition by…
Conrad – 9/10/97 The vote for a change of electoral system to MMP in 1995 was fuelled as much as anything by public disillusionment with politicians, and frustration at the difficulty in having any impact on Government policy. We have limited options when it comes to expressing this: we can sign petitions, we can march…
– Conrad – 11/9/97 No one would deny that Christchurch, New Zealand, has a problem with smog in the Winter. It’s an asthmatics nightmare and can, at times, exceed the World Health Organisations standards. That the Canterbury Regional Council is serious in its desire to tackle the problem is admirable, but the community is divided…
– Conrad – 4/9/97 A recent report, by retired High Court judge Sir Thomas Thorp, recommends that military-style semi-automatic weapons should be banned and that the New Zealand Government should buy back currently owned ones at market prices. This is a move similar to that made recently by the Australian Government, which has spent an…
– Lynda – 21/8/97 We all complain about politicians’ dishonesty and greed, and we’ve brought about some changes – the change to MMP for starters. But I wonder if a little “civil disobedience” mightn’t get them listening more carefully. Civil disobedience isn’t violence, it doen’t involve damaging property or endangering people in any way. But…
– Conrad – 14/8/97 The New Zealand Police have recently trialled the use of hidden speed cameras. Up until now all speed cameras have been in designated and sign-posted areas only, enabling speedsters to slow down and then speed up again as necessary. New Zealand motorists have become extremely fast in their braking reaction times…
