Letter No.40
10 June, 1996

18 May 1996

The government is to increase the Accommodation Supplement by up to $15 a week for about 43,000 of the 283,000 low income families receiving the supplements.

Latest opinion polls by TV3-CM Research show that the Labour Party has lost a third of its support, mostly to NZ First.

NZ First plans to spent $6.2m on 300 extra police in its first year if it becomes government.

20 May 1996

The government announces its `green' policy package, which includes an extra $10m for upgrading visitor facilities, and extra money for the protection of endangered species and control of pests and weeds.

21 May 1996

Phil Goff warns that Triad links with NZ gangs were posing a new criminal threat "so powerful it could become untouchable".

A survey by the ANZ bank shows that new home-buyers will lose the benefits of tax cuts because of rising interest bills.

22 May 1996

PM Jim Bolger sets the 12th October as the date for the first MMP election.

International tourism earned NZ a record $4.8 billion last year. We had a 7% rise in international visitors to about 1.4 million visitors.

Telecom's `cheap phones for the poor' scheme has only spent $300,000 of its $4 million budget. The scheme, co-ordinated through the Budget Link service, was offering free connections and half-price phone rentals for six months, but so far only 1000 households have been connected.

A TVNZ opinion poll puts Labour at is lowest support since polling began in 1974, with NZ First leader Winston Peters rising to his highest level of support.

Budget wish-list: welfare groups want $100m for income-related rents, and $250m for extending the family tax credits to beneficiaries. Sue Bradford wants a 1% `social responsibility tax' on business to fund jobs.

23 May 1996

BUDGET DAY
see feature in this issue

25 May 1996

Despite serious teacher shortages, the Wellington College of Education is raising the academic level required for entry to primary teacher training, in a move to create `more quality graduates'.

26 May 1996

Labour's fisheries spokesman Graham Kelly accuses Sealords of trying to back away from an undertaking to pay foreign fishing crews at least the minimum NZ wage. He accuses Sealords of `a vicious campaign' of telling its workers that their jobs will be at risk if the company was forced to pay the NZ rates to foreign crews.

The number of Asians migrating to NZ is tumbling following a major change in Government immigration policies.

27 May 1996

The OECD's 1996 Survey of New Zealand urges for more reform of the NZ economy, echoing policies advanced by the Business Roundtable and the ACT Party.

The Labour Party President Michael Hirschfeld apologises for the mistakes the party made under `Rogernomics'. He says that what should have happened was public consultation, less speed and more talk with Labour's traditional supporters.

Mortgage Corporation announces it will lift its rates to 12.5%, effecting 9000 former Housing NZ mortgage clients.

Labour's Paul Swain comments that the lowest-paid NZers are "once again paying the highest mortgage interest rates".

28 May 1996

NZ ranks 11th in the world in a Swiss survey of world competitiveness, dropping two places from its 1995 ranking.

Frank Clark, of the Combined Beneficiaries Union, fears that low-income earners who are also Mortgage Corporation clients will default on their mortgages and lose their homes.

Sealords says it supports absolutely the payment of NZ minimum wages to foreign crews, and says there were `no plans' to move processing overseas.

Auckland police numbers will be boosted to better cope with growing population and crime levels but at the expense of staffing numbers in other regions.

29 May 1996

The government wants to scrap its controversial superannuation surtax, replacing it with an abatement regime which would reduce superannuation as other income rose.

Westpac buys the Mortgage Corporation mortgages, and says it will reduce the interest rates on the mortgages of the former Housing NZ clients.

30 May 1996

The latest National Bank Business Outlook says: "Forget speed wobbles, the wheels of confidence have fallen off the NZ economy..."

A damning report on the state of Mental Health services in NZ, commissioned by the government, says that services are in disarray because of lack of leadership and lack of money. It says the workforce is demoralised and the service survives only through the goodwill and expertise of those remaining in it.

The Labour Party is embroiled in moves to change their leadership. The challenge was supported by many high-profile Labour front-benchers including Phil Goff, Michael Cullen, Annette King, Koro Wetere and Jim Sutton.

31 May 1996

Paediatrician Dr Alan Farrell tells a national conference on school health and children at risk that `diseases of poverty' were impairing the learning ability of up to a third of the children in the Porirua area.

Helen Clark dismisses attempts at a leadership coup as "the last gasp of Rogernomics" in her party.

1 June 1996

Gloom in the corporate sector as high-profile companies such as the warehouse Group, Brierley Investments, Noel Leeming and Deka all announce that big profit drops were imminent.

Major banks all move in unison to increase their home mortgage lending rates to 11.5%.

Initial census results: NZ's population has risen 6.6% since 1991 to 3,660,364 people on census night this year. Auckland has had the biggest increase, up 119,240 people to 1,073,220 people.

2 June 1996

The ACT party has drastically cut its operating budget, but denies suggestions that its major bankrollers have pulled the plug.

3 June 1996

Habitat II, the United Nations conference on human settlement, begins in Istanbul. It's aim is to lay a code for future living standards for the world's population, and looks at issues linked to housing, poverty and the environment in the 21st century.

15,580 low-income workers are having their wages topped up by the Income support Service because they do not get enough to live on, according to figures released by Labour's employment spokesman Steve Maharey.

4 June 1996

The Labour Party releases its Education policies, with proposals for $2.7 billion in spending to cut tertiary fees, soften the student loan scheme and boost teacher's pay.

A survey by women's groups shows that women on low incomes are avoiding going to the doctor because they cannot pay or are too embarrassed to ask for special arrangements to pay.

The Income Support Service approved almost 100,000 special needs grants for food in the first four months of this year, up 17,000 on the same time last year.

Labour's police spokesman George Hawkins predicts that 300 police jobs will be sacrificed in order to pay for a rise in officers salaries. This claim is denied by the police commissioner.

In a speech in London, Reserve Bank governor Don Brash calls for NZ's economic reform package to press ahead, advocating the sell-off of Electricity Corp, ACC, and NZ Post.

5 June 1996

Winston Peters begins his appearance before the Cook Islands `wine-box' tax commission of inquiry.

The $100m Ford-Mazda car assembly plant at Wiri will close next march with the loss of hundreds of South Auckland jobs.

Sharebrokers Ord Minnett say that the NZ economy is being driven into a `mini recession' by tight monetary policies.

Labour's leadership crisis flares again with Mike Moore leading a coup attempt to topple Helen Clark.

6 June 1996

About 2000 Cook Islanders will be made redundant later this month as part of a government austerity programme aimed at rescuing the Cook Island economy. The redundancies represent 10% of the population and will mean the reduction in the number of government departments from 52 to 22.

The Electricity Corporation spinoff Contact Energy will be shedding as many as 150 jobs so that it can `compete effectively'.

7 June 1996

Hawera-based Kiwi Co-op Dairies and its Manawatu neighbour Tui Milk Products will merge, forming a company that will represent 25% of the country's dairy industry. The merger will probably result in factory closures in the Manawatu with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Children needing Social Welfare Department residential care and protection were waiting an average of 97 days for a bed, according to figures from Social Welfare Minister Peter Gresham.

Much of NZ's aid money for the Cook Islands next year will end up in the pockets of public servants as redundancy payments.

A nutritional survey of low-income families concludes that people on low incomes are often wrongly criticised for wasting money on junk food. The survey found that most are wisely considering their financial limits, and that children generally fared well although they eat a narrower range of foods.

8 June 1996

The USA economy created 348,000 new jobs in May compared to April, but the unemployment rate also rose to 5.6% from 5.4%.