Letter No.30
15 December, 1995

23 November 1995

Woolworths supermarket staff have won the right to two weeks' paid parental leave, prompting a union push for other employers to follow suit.

24 November 1995

Lockwood Smith tells Parliament that the state need not necessarily own schools: "... a public school should actually serve the public, not necessarily be owned by the public."

25 November 1995

Bill Birch says his tax cut package will be targeted to low and middle-income families with a reduction in the 24c tax rate and increases to Family Support.

27 November 1995

Visiting multinational employers' consultant Ian Farman warns that employers will be forced to pick up more of the cost of retirement, health and disability programmes as governments around the world back away from their provision.

30 November 1995

A National Bank survey reports a sharp upswing in business confidence in November.

1 December 1995

A Taranaki Healthcare director of dental services, Tony Waghorn, says that 80% of dental disease was being seen in 20% of the population. He says the 20% tended to come from those on reduced incomes, Maori, and those who lived in isolated areas where transport was a problem.

2 December 1995

The National Bank drops its home mortgage rate to 9.95%.

The Insurance Council says that the ACC scheme is technically broke.

3 December 1995

The firefighter's referendum is held. 87% of voters do not wish to see a reduction in the number of professional firefighters. 72% of the population did not vote.

4 December 1995

The Government will raise the threshold for the superannuation surtax to $90 a week for single superannuitants and to $135 for couples, from July 1st next year. This threshold will rise to $100 for singles, and $150 for couples in July 1997.

Trusts who are providing beds for `at-risk` young people say they are being crippled financially because Social Welfare will not pay their full costs. Many Auckland trusts are in financial trouble, or have already folded.

The Community Funding Agency says that it is government policy to pay no more than a third of the costs involved.

5 December 1995

The ANZ predicts that tax cuts will result in a 7.5% growth in annual retail spending.

The government announces a crackdown on superannuation surcharge avoidance.

The architect of the ACC scheme, Sir Owen Woodhouse, says he has lost patience with government tinkering and `big business propaganda' about the scheme. He says that economic dogma is being put before people.

6 December 1995

The fifth anniversary of the repeal of pay equity legislation. Women are still paid less than men.

The Building Industry Training Organisation is to fund only nine of the 16 polytechnics which presently offer carpentry apprenticeship courses, citing a lack of money from the government ETSA funding agency.

Helen Clark says that the government is planning to force local bodies to fund their services with user-pays charges on libraries, sports-fields, swimming pools and community halls.

7 December 1995

The growth in building activity is waning, according to latest figures from Statistics NZ

The government is to resume fast-track training of primary school teachers next year in efforts to counter teacher shortages at a time of big growth in primary school rolls.

8 December 1995

The government announces increases in ACC levies, including substantial increases for employers.

9 December 1995

A government stocktake of mental health services shows that nearly 700 extra staff and 450 more residential beds are needed to adequately care for the mentally ill living in the community.

11 December 1995

More than half the teacher-aide hours requested by schools to help children with special needs in the first half of next year have been turned down by the Ministry of Education. Some principals are threatening to shut children with special needs out of their schools unless resourcing improves.

12 December 1995

Lockwood Smith announces that the implementation of the national qualifications framework will be delayed for another year, citing problems with teacher workloads and the development of new standards.

In France, amidst the worst labour unrest for a decade, French Prime Minister Allain Juppe refuses to back down on the core of his welfare reforms.