A Look at the Last Nine Years Under National

I was raised in New Zealand and lived there most of my life. Looking in on this election from overseas, I think it'd be a great time to recap what National has done for our country over the past nine years—the good, the bad, and the plain ugly.

We'll start with the good.

There are some that would argue that there is nothing good that National has done over the past nine years. I certainly don't think there's a heck of a lot, but there are a few things that can be dragged up.

The Three Month Probationary Period

The three month employment probationary period, on the surface, gives more rights to employers. However, I think it brings New Zealand more in line with what other countries in the developed world, such as Australia and Canada, are offering. I totally get why some people are against it—it can lead to situations such as hiring three employees and only keeping the one that works the hardest, or hiring based on a WINZ grant and then letting employees go or laying them off when the money runs out (which is why I think WINZ grants should only be available for apprentices or employees that have worked for more than a year). However, I have also seen it lead to employers giving more employees a chance when they otherwise wouldn't have. For example, when I first started out as a nanny, the family that took me on imposed a one month trial period, then we reviewed at the end of it. It gave me the time to get used to the job, a chance to correct mistakes and learn from them and a chance to see if I was really a great fit for the family.

The Starting Out Wage

Again, I could totally see how a lot of people would consider this idea discrimination, pure and simple. However, for a teenager that's never worked before and/or is going through training, it could be a useful tool to get them a leg up and a foot in the door.

New Zealand's Health System

I've put this in the good section as well as the bad section, because National has made some good improvements to the system—for example, they have made GP visits free of charge for children aged thirteen or younger. My mother went through chemotherapy under National and while I think there were some glaring faults, the staff taking care of her were compassionate, kind, caring, and genuinely concerned for my mother. Even her oncologist, a very busy woman with lots of other patients, did the very best she could to try and help my mother get better.

Another reason I've put this in the 'good' section is because despite the system's shortcomings, we have a lot to be thankful for—Namely, we should be thankful we don't live in the United States!

New Zealand's Education System

I've put this in both the good section and the ugly section. Having gained an early childhood education qualification, I have seen our extremely dedicated early childhood teachers. Our curriculum, Te Whariki, is second to none—it truly is excellent. There are schemes, such as the PORSE Nanny Intern Programme, that provide free training and qualifications to young people who want to work in early childhood education and help get them the skills to get into teacher training college if they didn't finish high school. Added to that, we have twenty hours of free early childhood education per week for all three to five year olds in New Zealand, and while some centres still ask for donations, it is a lot less than paying the usual rate. It is also possible to get a childcare allowance if you have younger children, are on a low income and need or want to work. Our schooling system isn't the best, but a majority of the staff are dedicated, compassionate, outstanding individuals who do the best they can.

Next, the bad.

Raising the Driving Age

A hell of a lot of people would say that doing that is a good thing. I certainly don't think that the world fell over because they raised it, but don't really see a heck of a lot of good that came from it either. First—it was raised from 15 to 16 in the first place because a lot of people were worried about road accidents being caused by motorists in the 15-24 age bracket. But they only raised it by one year, and I don't really see what good it did to combat accidents caused by young drivers—because most young drivers that have accidents are caused by inexperience, bad teaching, stress, or alcohol-related factors. Teenagers aren't the most mature people in the world, but then again, the same could be said about a lot of 20-30 year olds. I know that science has said that the frontal lobe isn't fully developed until around age 25, but are we really going to raise the driving age that much?

The Anti-Smacking Bill

Now, before you all say, "But that law was passed under a Labour government!"—yes, it was. But the referendum, in which around 87% of voters voted AGAINST having smacking as a criminal offence, was conducted under the current National government's first year in power. And Prime Minister at the time, John Key, refused to honour the overwhelming result of a referendum with a very sizable turnout. Now, I worked as a nanny for three years and am not advocating that parents should be hitting their kids as punishment—there are most certainly other ways to discipline kids that are far more peaceful and far more effective. But at the same time, this law has given unprecedented power to CYFS/Ministry for "Vulnerable Children" workers to interpret however they please. It removes the defence for reasonable force, and replaces it with a direction for police and social workers to use reasonable judgment—without providing any guidelines as to what "reasonable judgment" is, meaning that yes, parents can be prosecuted and even have their children removed for smacking, forcibly placing children in time out, etc. Meanwhile, due to the large workload of underpaid social workers, real abusers are literally getting away with murder (google Moko Rangitoheriri).

Failing to Even Consider Legalizing Cannabis, Even for Medical Reasons

I know a lot of people that smoke pot, either for medical or recreational reasons. A vast majority of them are ordinary law abiding citizens who go to work, go home, and go about their lives as usual. Even in the cases of those I know who have gone off the rails, there have almost always been other multiple issues, such as alcoholism, mental illness, or tandem use of harder drugs such as P. And yet, this government has for nine years failed to even consider legalizing medical cannabis, and worse, has failed to properly address the use of synthetic cannabis. Synthetic cannabis is a dangerous substitute that can be called little more than garbage. I know seasoned cannabis users that have tried this and become seriously ill. Yet, real cannabis is banned, regardless of the fact that it helps many desperate, chronically ill people function on a daily basis. For example, I know a man with MS who without ingesting cannabis, probably wouldn't be walking. I know another person who takes it to help with glaucoma. I am betting that it would have helped my cancer ridden mother, who was too afraid of being caught to try it. And yet, there have been cases of chronically ill people being caught with it and unnecessarily dragged through the court system without mercy. Oh, I know there's Sativex, but how many people have a spare 2000 bucks a month for that stuff?!

New Zealand's Health System

As I said earlier, I have put this in both the good and the bad sections. I don't think we have an adequate mental health system, as there have been suicidal people sent home from the hospital after two days with a few pamphlets due to overcrowding. There have also been suicidal patients that have had the police called on them ending up being detained and thrown into holding cells while the police try and find a nurse to decide what to do with them. Added to this, there are elderly people either bumped off waitlists or added to never ending waitlists because there aren't enough qualified doctors to give hip replacements. My mother had a scan that showed her cancer had shrunken enough to make a second operation viable, only to be told that she needed to wait three months for the surgery, by which time the cancer had started growing again. She was able to get her first operation right away, only because her last job offered Southern Cross Health Insurance—otherwise, she would have been added to a waitlist for "elective surgery" and her cancer would have gotten bigger.

And next... the ugly.

So for this section, let's start with WINZ, CYFS and the MSD.

WINZ is the government branch of the Ministry for Social Development that deals with people on welfare—meaning, they deal with Working for Families tax credits, "Jobseeker" benefits, child support, etc. Let's talk about the "Jobseeker" benefits. The name of this particular benefit is just out of sync with basic logic here, as it is not only the actual jobseekers that are put on this, but people who are sick, disabled, mentally ill, and unable to hold down a job, have young children, etc. There have been cancer patients who, every six weeks, have been told to "send in proof" that they still have cancer. Let's let that sink in. Someone going through chemo, radiation, and Lord knows what else, put on a JOBSEEKERS' BENEFIT—for people who, you know, are seeking a job. I have heard of people who have had their benefits cut without warning, because they didn't submit a form they weren't even told about when first applying. Still, there have been numerous others who have had benefits cut or missed out on entitlements, because the paperwork they did submit was "lost"—and the next appointment is in a month. These things have happened to the point that any time anyone I know needs to visit a WINZ office, I tell them to demand the office staff date stamp and photocopy the paperwork, so they at least have proof they did submit it. And then there's the office staff. Granted, I have heard of some WINZ staff who are doing a phenomenal job under crap management and impossible working conditions, but the majority I have heard about are rude, condescending, victim-blaming numbnuts who would be fired if they were working in any other customer facing role. And to top it all off, the former head of this organization is our now deputy prime minister, a woman who had a baby at seventeen and relied on this department to help her through university.Then there's CYFS—Child, Youth and Family Services, AKA the Ministry for "Vulnerable" Children. Hoo boy, strap yourselves in, folks. I addressed this organization partially already, but I don't think I illustrated how crap they really are. We had a kid that was beaten to death by the early childhood educator who was supposed to be caring for him and her useless, gang member boyfriend—who was around twenty years older than her. The early childhood educator was involved with CYFS and Women's Refuge at the time, and rather than make a home visit to check on her, they took her word for it that "she was managing wonderfully well with six children." Added to that, these two idiots weren't convicted of murder, but manslaughter instead, because apparently a reasonable person would have no idea that if you consistently beat a child for two months, you will likely kill them. On top of that, this is not the first time this has happened—a similar case happened in 2007, with the family also being known to CYFS and yet no home visit, no nothing. And just to top everything off, in this later case, the mother, who was in Starship Hospital with another child in a critical condition at the time, loses custody AND access to her remaining children for having the audacity to be trapped in an abusive relationship in the first place.

The Pike River Mining Disaster

Moving on, I will address the absolute failure of the government not only to prevent this catastrophic disaster from happening, but also to take proper care of the victims' families—at all. For those of you who aren't from New Zealand, Pike River Coal was a mining company operating a mine near Greymouth, on the West Coast of the South Island. I remember the day of the second explosion vividly—I was eighteen, driving home with my father from school, hoping against hope that some of the men were still alive and able to be rescued—when we heard a breaking news broadcast that the mine had exploded a second time and extinguished all hope that any of the men could be rescued. I remember the way Peter Whittall, the mine's CEO and general manager, sobbed his eyes out on national TV. I actually felt sorry for him. All the while, this "man" knew about the constant failures at the mine with equipment, emergency exits, and ventilation. He failed to show up to evacuation training with the other two senior managers, because he had better things to do. The two senior managers that did show up attempted the evacuation up through what was supposed to be the emergency exit—one of them got halfway before being too exhausted to carry on, the other one didn't even manage that, and this was under clear conditions. The only man that successfully completed the evacuation was a local volunteer firefighter who was trained especially to do this. He was exhausted by the end, and this too was under clear conditions. This was only a couple of months or so before the explosion—and yet, somehow, the mine was able to keep operating without a safe emergency exit that a reasonable person could climb.

There was a manager who quit on the spot because he was met with denial and anger when he brought up the mine's constant failures in a board meeting. And the continued operation of this death trap mine was made possible thanks to a previous National Government's deregulation of mine safety standards and chronic underfunding of safety inspectors. At the time of the explosion, there were two safety inspectors qualified to inspect mines, and one of them was dealing with the loss of a grandson. Added to all this is the way the victims' families have been treated. To this day, they have been stonewalled by the government whenever they broach the subject of a re-entry—supposedly due to safety reasons. However, one of our MPs used to work as a coal miner and has put his hand up to be the first person in the mine if re-entry is allowed. The families also have several other mines rescue experts who have volunteered to go in. I have spoken to many people who still think the re-entry shouldn't go ahead, as they believe the risk of another explosion is just too great. Okay, fine, but the government has also systematically failed to give the families any significant form of compensation—many of these families are now widowed mothers with children who relied on the income their husbands brought home from the mine. There was supposedly a compensation fund from the mine's insurance which was offered in exchange from dropping all manslaughter charges against the General Manager/CEO, but as I understand it, this either hasn't materialized or went to pay the mine's legal fees.

New Zealand's Education System

There are some dedicated people in New Zealand's education system, as I said when I mentioned this in the "good" section. Unfortunately, many of these people aren't getting the support or respect they need. I have heard from many teachers who have had the power of discipline taken out of their classrooms—and I'm not talking about having the strap taken away. I'm talking about having the power to reasonably discipline misbehaving students without fear of repercussion. These days, in our student-centered universe, it is much easier to get a teacher fired, and respect for adults is on its way out the window. Some principals are great at backing teachers up, but others have a "student/parent is always right" mentality and don't trust their own teachers to be honest. These schools are slowly becoming daycares for older kids, where the kids don't really care much about gaining qualifications, but are there because they have to be.

To add to all this disrespect, under this National government, many teachers have even had to beg for their paychecks. While it was the previous Labour government who contracted Talent2 to build Novopay, what was supposed to be an updated, innovative payroll system, it was National that oversaw the final tests and gave the go ahead to roll it out—despite some serious, unresolved flaws in the system that caused what can only be described as sheer chaos. And it's not just the teachers that are underfunded—parents themselves have to fork out school donations that are, in theory, voluntary, but in reality, more like the tipping system in America—where if you don't contribute extra money that's supposed to be optional, you get guilt tripped big time by fellow parents and the school board. A lot of people blame the schools for this, accusing them of being greedy, but if schools want money to cover much needed resources such as new computers, whiteboards, field trips, and sometimes even heating in winter, they don't have much choice but to ask for them. The best part? Parents also have to pay for uniforms and stationery, both of which are outrageously overpriced, especially since so many schools are now embracing the "bring your own device" movement.

The Housing Crisis

I don't think I could not mention this. Our housing crisis in Auckland is just ridiculous. I used to work for a family where the husband was a businessman, former diplomat, and retired senior navy officer. He stated outright that he knew Chinese nationals who were being driven around Auckland, looking at house after house and then asking if they were allowed to buy every house they viewed. These foreigners look only at how much money they can wring out of New Zealand, and certainly don't have any intention of living in New Zealand, working with New Zealanders, or contributing to the New Zealand economy. With that in mind, why National still allows them to buy property in New Zealand at all, let alone unlimited properties, is beyond me. Yet every time National is confronted about it, playing the racism card is their go to course of action—when this really has nothing to do with racism. While banning these types of parasitic speculative buyers probably wouldn't solve the entire housing crisis, it would certainly go a long way.

A Final Look

In 2008, I remember how excited everyone was to have a National government after nine years of Labour. Labour had its fair share of problems back then, and they certainly have had them in opposition, but I never remember things being this difficult for the poor under Labour. They never had the long wait times or condescending staff at WINZ offices. They didn't have ridiculous house prices. I doubt that they would have let the Novopay saga get as bad as it did. National have done some things that are very good for employers and businesses, and some things that are good for ordinary folk, but it's time for a change of government.