LECs were first set up after recommendations from the 1994 Employment Taskforce report which called for greater co-ordination and collaboration between local groups at a local level. There are 42 committees throughout the country with a total of about 750 active members drawn from different government agencies, local authorities and community groups.

National Manager Jan Francis says that providing information, advice and ideas from these local groups to Regional Commissioners will continue to be a very important element in the development of regional plans and initiatives. Francis: "I am confident that delivery through the regional structure will maximise the benefits of LEC and provide great opportunities for the development of local solutions to local problems ..."

Jan Francis and her Wellington-based assistant Simone Ferigo will stay on until the National Unit completes its transition activities by the end of March. The former Northern Regional Manager Brenda Radford has already left WINZ to take up a new position at the Race Relations Office. All contracts with LEC co-ordinators will remain valid until their expiry dates (mostly in June).

Source _ letters from Jan Francis and Simone Ferigo January 1999

The currency is based on the combined economies of these eleven countries, totaling 290m people or 19% share of world trade. This compares with the dollar in the USA with 267m people and 17% of world trade.

The new central bank inherits the low-inflation targets of the previous major central banks in the area, such as German Bundesbank. In preparation for the Euro launch, most of the region's central banks cut their varying official interest rates to a standard 3%.

All this will have a significant effect on each individual nation's ability to enact job creation policies. The 11 countries have jobless rates ranging from 20% (in Spain) to less than 3% (in Luxembourg) And with a new wave of centre-left European governments seeking to spark more job-creation initiatives ... a political struggle with the policies of the new ECB seems inevitable.

To win popular support, the ECB will have to maintain the Euro's buying power while keeping Europe's growth-rate fast enough to make real inroads into its average 11% jobless rate.

Source _ Sunday Star Times 10 January 1999 "Euroland needs more reform than ever before" by Michael Stutchbury

McCardle also reports that 2,100 sponsors are already taking part ... in spite of claims by opposition parties that there would be no support for the scheme. He lists support from schools, marae, Trusts, Councils and a wide range of social organisations including the Wellington City Mission, the Salvation Army and many Maori groups such as Kohanga Reo. McCardle: I am pleased that the Labour Party's attempt to drum up a boycott has failed because the people it would have harmed are the jobseekers who need work opportunities the most ..."

As far as penalties for not taking part are concerned, McCardle reports that, in the first two months of the scheme, 81 people had their Community Wage payment reduced or suspended.

Source _ press release from Peter McCardle 22 December 1998 "Community Work Numbers rising fast"

Ullrich says these people are vital to the infrastructure of NZ industry, but they are being replaced `a tidal wave' of graduates in technical subjects. But this specialised technical training has not replaced the need for creative and adaptable workers who can turn a hand to any task. Ullrich: "The workplace warrior was versatile, creative and imaginative ... and he was the lifeblood of production..."

Parker: "The workplace warrior emerged from apprenticeships within industry and from formal polytech training. Others came through military training schemes. They spent most of their working hours around machines and developed a sixth sense for them. They could fix just about anything, and improve imported machinery with cost-effective solutions ... Certainly, the contribution of these people to the nation's export effort is probably underrated."

Parker reports that there are dramatically fewer apprenticeships available now than in the mid-eighties: "They have, in part, been replaced by "training agreements" ... but the issue is whether they meet the manufacturing sector's needs..."

Source _ New Zealand Herald 20 January 1999 "Industry lacks workplace warriors" by Selwyn Parker

Localities in the Otaki electorate which have high levels of deprivation are Shannon, Levin South, Foxton Beach, Foxton and Waitarere. The Otaki electorate ranks 19th among electorates for poverty. ( Electorate statistics compiled by Judy Reinken, and based on 1996 Census).

Source _ Judy Reinken, statistics based on 1996 Census of Population and Dwellings

Source _ nga korero o te wa December 1998

At the meeting, according to the church leaders, PM Shipley focussed on the Winiata proposal rather than address the wider Hikoi concerns about poverty and social justice. She later told parliament that the government "does not support a separate Maori nation, a separate Maori parliament, a separate Maori law-making process, or a separate tax-based funding allocation system as was presented to us by church leaders ..."

Waldegrave says his paper presented clear policies that could be implemented quickly: "it was not a simple `wish-list'. It included policies that could fit easily into the government's current framework like value-added, hi-tech strategies, innovative product and market development with an emphasis on new abilities, skills and professional development by management and staff. It also recommended policy changes in housing to make it more affordable, and in health to make it more accessible..."

"The church delegation is deeply disappointed by the misrepresentation of the meeting. They are acutely aware that the price of government failing to act against the growing levels of poverty immediately, will continue to be paid by the low income households of New Zealand ..."

Source _ Nga Korero o te wa 30 December 1998, Evening Post 4 January 1999 "Hikoi was all about poverty, not separatism' by Charles Waldegrave

Source _ flyer from Ian Ritchie

Source _ email flyer from Alan Fricker