Letter No.58
18 April, 1997

26 March 1997

The Waitangi Tribunal reports on the Muriwhenua land claims in the Far North. It finds that the tribes were "reduced to penury, powerlessness and eventually state dependence " by land transactions last century between Maori and European.

Cash and staff shortages are forcing the police to let known marijuana plantations grow to maturity and be harvested.

27 March 1997

Labour Minister Max Bradford is planning a massive overhaul of employment law. He believes that recent decisions of the Employment Tribunal could be "adversely affecting employment prospects and flexibility in the labour market ..."

29 March 1997

The Children's Commissioner reports that one person a month is killed or commits suicide while involved with the Children, Young persons and the Families Service.

1 April 1997

New work tests for beneficiaries come into effect today. About 60,000 of the country's beneficiaries -- people on domestic purposes benefit, widows benefit and spouses of the unemployed -- now have to find work or go into training.

The Wellington People's Resource Centre holds a lunchtime protest in central Wellington to highlight the effect of the changes .

Wellington's Downtown Community Ministry says that work-testing of people receiving benefits for the caring of children was being touted as one of the recommendations of the Employment Taskforce, but the idea does not appear in the Taskforce report or in its recommendations.

New legislation will be introduced to enable courts to dock welfare benefits -- without the consent of beneficiaries -- for the collection of unpaid fines.

10th anniversary of the creation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Minister Jenny Shipley salutes the 'foresight' of former Labour Ministers Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble.

2 April 1997

Doubts are being cast on whether the coalition government will honour its promise of 500 more police. While the government was promising the 500 new staff on the one hand, Minister of Police Jack Elder says that 540 jobs still had to be axed to fund their multi-million dollar crime fighting computer system.

Labour Minister Max Bradford is concerned about plans to raise the minimum wage to $7.50, and has asked the Labour Department to research the impact this will have on raising unemployment. The next review of the minimum wage was due in December and Bradford says the government needs to have the "real facts" to use as the basis for its decision.

A survey of 120 manufacturing businesses in Auckland shows that they may have bottomed out after 12 months of shedding staff and falling profits. 26% of the businesses said they expected to increase staff numbers, while 60% said they did not expect any change.

Ivan Sowry of the Auckland people's Centre says that children will suffer under the new benefit work-testing rules. Sowry: "The problem is we are asking beneficiaries to be doing at least 15 hrs work a week if their children are over 14. There seems to be an assumption inherent that those children will be in school during the time that the parents are at work. But there are lengthy periods of the year when children are not in school, making them vulnerable ..."

3 April 1997

Employment Minister Peter McCardle told a business sector conference in Wellington that he would never support a time limit for a person receiving state support. McCardle: "That has never been raised as an option.

More than 2200 school pupils have been suspended in the first nine weeks of the school year, 458 of them for drug use.

PM Jim Bolger says that the elderly may have to survive well past 65 years of age to get national superannuation, if NZ continues with its present scheme.

A quarter of NZ households now own a computer, with one in five NZ'ers having access to the internet at home or at work. There are nearly 10,000 NZ organisations are now registered on the internet.

4 April 1997

The government's work-for-the-dole scheme will not be ready to run until late next year. This contrasts with Australia's plans to have their work-for-the-dole plan in place by July.

5 April 1997

Scores of people are living in 'squalor' in two run-down Otahuhu apartment blocks owned by Housing NZ.

The US Secretary of State reports that nearly one billion people go to bed hungry every night as a result of population increases and declining world food reserves.

6 April 1997

In Britain, investigations of the Job Centres have shown that staff have been registering thousands of phantom job placements in order to enhance the Government's employment figures.

7 April 1997

Job advertisements in Auckland and Christchurch rose in the month during March, but continued to fall in Wellington.

Concerns are being raised in New Plymouth about Taranaki Healthcare's plan to use healthcare assistants -- who may only have six weeks' training -- in place of registered nurses at Taranaki Base Hospital.

8 April 1997

The Shortland Cannery in Otahuhu -- producers of Hellaby's Corned Beef, amongst other items -- has been sold and will be moved to Australia.

The US apparel industry adopts a voluntary code of conduct what is a step towards eradicating sweatshops in America, and in the Third World contractors that work for US firms. The code of conduct prohibits the use of forced labour or child labour, bans harassment or abuse of workers, and requires a safe and healthy workplace. The companies which agree on the code will be able to be able to advertise their products as sweatshop-free.

9 April 1997

Up to 60 Land Information staff will be made redundant by December and many more could follow, according to department chief executive Russ Ballard.

10 April 1997

A report on gambling shows that gamblers lost $849m last year -- 25% more than they parted with in 1995.

11 April 1997

Fiji's exporting policies were lambasted by an International Confederation of Free Trade Unions report lodged with the World Trade Organisation. It says that Fiji is violating basic labour standards, including labour rights abuses and child labour, as part of its policy of creating a cheap labour force to attract foreign investment and increase exports.

14 April 1997

Auckland City police chiefs may hire "temporary constables" for duties normally done by fully trained officers.

15 April 1997

Treasurer Winston Peters says that a state-run pension would be abandoned in favour of private schemes if the public votes "yes" to compulsory superannuation in the September referendum.

The former Ministry of Works has changed its name to Opus International Consultants, and will soon recruit up to 200 more specialist staff in Wellington.

16 April 1997

Two Auckland urban Maori authorities are asking Maori who use their services to register with them and agree that the authorities represented their Treaty rights. The Manukau Urban Maori Authority, and the Waipareira Trust are renewing their claim for a direct stake in the several hundred million dollars worth of Treaty settlement assets.

The Police Commissioner Peter Doone calls for police staff cuts to be delayed because of new set-backs in the plans for a $100m police computer.

The government's truancy service has failed to find nearly 500 children that are still missing four months into the school year.

17 April 1997

The number of NZ'ers in tertiary education is considered low by OECD standards, and growth is likely to be stunted because of rising costs, according to an OECD report.