July 2009 Archives

• benefit status or history;
• family status or history;
• ACC status or history;
•  health status or history - including information held by DHBs, PHOs, central government agencies and private providers whether directly or indirectly contracted by the state;
• interactions with justice or law enforcement - including complaints, interviews, interactions, documents supplied;
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We have an incredibly dumb $9 million referendum happening here in the next few months with an appallingly written question, "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?".

I'm sure you will have had to re-read that again.

The irony of the question is that you have to vote Yes if you don't want to see increased child-abuse in the country.

Someone very smart realised that of all the things we could be asking the citizenry right now, this isn't really the top of the list given that the current government and the opposition overwhelmingly voted in favour of the current legislation, and the Prime Minister has said that no matter what the outcome of the referendum is, it won't change his mind.

A website has gone up where users can add whatever they like as subjects for referenda. I'm loving it.

The current Prime Minister has just been on a junket to Samoa and has taken a couple of high-profile New Zealand rugby celebrities with him, both of whom did election campaigning for him last year. These celebrities were last seen together in a factory in Auckland telling factory workers that they shouldn't work in the factory, they should own the factory. Apparently you get to own the factory if you vote for a right-wing party. With currently 1100 people a week being made unemployed, i'm hoping those factory workers still have their jobs.