Metiria Turei told the truth
Metiria Turei told the truth: you cannot live on a benefit in this country. You cannot pay your bills, do a decent grocery shop, heat your house, provide your children with books, new clothes, occasional treats, and cover rent on the sole parent support. That reality is there for anyone to see who cares to […]
Kick National Out! Build a Socialist Alternative
Kick National out! –Build a Socialist Alternative, Reject Racism – the Left must welcome immigrants. These are the two slogans our special conference resolved should guide the International Socialist Organisation’s approach to the upcoming election. Over 25 members spent the weekend of 8 – 9 July in Auckland debating our perspectives and approach. Debates covered […]
Niki is still resisting eviction
Niki Rauti has been staunchly defending her home at 14 Taniwha Street for years now, against a sustained attempt to evict her from it by the state. Yesterday the Auckland district court ruled to allow Niki to be evicted and this is in the process of being brought to the high court for appeal. In […]
Oppose Big Brother University
The University of Otago is pushing to have 60 CCTV cameras installed in student neighbourhoods in late 2017-2018. The project which will cost around $1,270,000 has been accepted by both the local police and the university administration who claim it is a successful crime detection and prevention tool. By extending it’s preying eyes, the university is seeking to […]
Labour must turn left to win support
The Labour and Green alliance could win September’s general election outright, without being held to ransom by Winston Peters. This statement defies the conventional wisdom of commentators, who are fixated by opinion polling that has Labour on around 30% of the vote. Unlike dialectical Marxists, the commentators struggle to grasp that stasis can give way […]
Pensions under attack – Superfund not the answer
Under Bill English the National Party has made one major policy change so far as it heads into the general election on 23 September. This is to adopt Labour’s old policy of ratcheting up the age of retirement. Bill English is proposing that from 2037 to 2040 the retirement age will be incrementally increased to […]
Housing battle in Glen Innes
Ioela Niki Rauti is standing firm in the face of property developers. Late 2014 Niki Rauti was served a 90 day eviction notice to vacate the Housing New Zealand state home she has lived in for over twenty years. With support from the local community, young activists and the Tamaki Housing group, she has fought […]
Beneficiaries locked out from services
From the 13th of February, Work and Income New Zealand will now demand that you provide a community services card and a valid photo ID such as a passport or driver’s license before being allowed to enter the building. This is nothing less than an abandonment of people in need in New Zealand, preventing them […]
Tell Otago to #LoveHumanities
Last week between 300-400 people gathered outside the Union building at Otago University to protest proposed cuts to the Humanities division. Up to 20 jobs are at risk across the History, Anthropology and Archaeology, English, Languages, and Music departments, and the TEU has been vocal in its campaign against the cuts. There was a prior […]
The Productivity Commission: problems dressed up as solutions
The NZ Productivity Commission is currently systematically reviewing tertiary education in this country. Chapter 12 of its draft report is entitled ‘A System that Supports New Models’. Here are some highlights (or lowlights): The re-introduction of interest rates on student loans, universities given complete autonomy to set fees without regulatory caps (‘unregulated fees’) to cover […]
