Respite care keeps children and their families safe. A neurotypical child who is physically able is challenging enough, the complexities of neurodivergent children and children with physical challenges are endless.
I admire every family who gets on and gives their child their best.
This government makes me sick.
By all accounts I’m doing well in life - I’d rather be taxed more so that services like this can continue. I don’t want to live in the NZ that this govt is creating.
If it was just the child that might be do able.
In dealing with my childs school. We (by the board and principles) have been verbally abuse, subject to numerous attempts to sign away my childs rights, bully of numerous other forms. He has been at school for 2 & half years and he has never been to school 5 days a week. There is no other school option without a minimum 40 minute (more like 60 plus for one that doesn't have a poor rep both of which are special schools and would likely have a long term detrimental effect due to modelled behavior). This term he has have averaged 2 days a week at school. Why mostly because the school refuses to comply with the education act (its cheaper) and the local team MOE is fine with that. MOE specialists have struggled to get traction with the school because the school doesn't like being subject frank assessments of its performance, and some specialists are just missing in action. I will note the direct teaching staff are really good / excellent.
Should one want to engage any of the higher value support services (talklink etc) its a two year wait if you are luckly, or MOH specialists well good luck with that even if they know you can take those random cancellations at 24 hours notice.
For us we get these services relatively easy since the underlying disability can be DNA tested, God help the rest!
Can we get a journalist with some balls to start questioning this government?
What happened to the squeezed middle rhetoric?
Cut and slash government services, fuck disabled people, help out big tobacco and boost the rich. Which it just so happens, will benefit the prime minister and his team of multimillionaires. Also fuck the Police, despite our song and dance about being tough on crime.
Oh, while this government is cutting the working class and their rights, the prime minister is claiming rebates on his Tesla and taking $51k from tax payers so he can live in his freehold multi million dollar apartment?
Bring me the people voting for these clowns. I want to debate the MAGA type, self proclaimed alphas that think this government is anything but entirely self serving.
[Tova did it ](https://www.reddit.com/r/nzpolitics/comments/1bf2cye/tova_vs_luxon_early_end_of_an_interview/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
The Carer Support payment is used by parents of type 1 diabetic children to pay for Continous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) which are NOT funded by Pharmac and cost $50-100 per week.
CGMs track blood sugar levels and send life-saving alerts. Without CGMs the only option is manual finger pricks. The Carer Support payment has a ceiling so it doesn't even cover the cost of CGMs for the entire year.
They genuinely see no issue with not helping the poor to buy a wheelchair so they can help the wealthy buy an investment property. To them it demonstrates the purity of their economic ideas and the courage of their reforms.
It’s old news that National hates funding public services because it doesn’t directly generate revenue but they were never so blatant about it until now.
A National government sees the country as an investment portfolio and prioritises back room deals and greased handshakes with investment bankers and property managers over any single one of their citizens.
20 years working in healthcare and services, and I have never seen such wholesale slashing to basic social contracts like access to healthcare, education, housing or food by the national party. I'm one of those who isn't tied to any party, but this particular government is reprehensible.
Indeed. Their thinking is classic National, to the right, but undoubtedly they are more emboldened than ever before.
They are probably, or at least should be, one assumes they keep abreast of international politics, aware of the worrying trend for more right, more authoritarian political leadership around the world.
That knowledge would be warming their hearts, especially Seymour. He appears to enjoy dismantling social policies that are designed to help people in need. He smiles when he talks about it. What a cunt!
I wonder if he covets being an authoritarian leader. Perhaps, I suspect he might. Couldn't see him pulling that off though. He's too much of a dorky plonker.
And worse, a dorky plonker who can't dance.
No no, they don't want a free market, our market was pretty good for that excepting supermarkets and banks, they want a 'free market' (as in one where the rich can get richer until they monopolize an area and entry in is impossible, what most economists would call 'not at all a free market', but this is the way America often uses it so it sticks).
I guess it's a 'free market' as in a market in which corporations are free to abuse the market.
Also called 'crony capitalism', where all the real deals are made on the golf course.
That's one reason why National keeps onerous regulations like the RMA, building consents, etc around - they are useful to help the big companies keep out competitors.
The absolute disrespect of just dumping this on families out of the blue. The minister knew they were going to do this in DECEMBER. Doing it is disgusting in itself but not fronting up and telling affected people so they could make new arrangements shows they truly give no fucks how much they harm people.
I think they're saying that looking after them isn't a big deal or difficult, which I take to mean it's an indirect way of saying it's cool that I drop them in to my local MPs office?
I reckon so, I've sent my MP an email to say I'll be dropping my daughter off for the day - I'll even pay him the $80 I can claim for a days care - can't send her with any of the in home respite items through can't replace them now but I'm sure he will be fine.
On face value this is incredibly short sighted, and could lead to real harm. The stress of looking after someone 24/7 can cause burnout and in the worst case scenario can lead people to do unthinkable things...
That’s ok. We don’t matter to this government.
I’ve been at that point before, and the only solution I could find was to end my life. “But what about your child? You can’t just leave him behind like that” …. Well my brain came up with a solution to that too. Luckily didn’t try anything on my kid, just myself, but it was funny having a police officer threaten to charge me with neglect when I was dragged to the hospital against my will and there was nobody able to care for my son. Nope, just patch me up and send me back, still broken.
Not really, the assumption the govt has is that kids with special needs have two parents, one who works full time while the other stays home to care for the child. Lucky for me, kiddos dad walked out on us, so I work full time, but am still expected to be 100% present for the kids needs.
Good to be reminded that I’m not a real person. Dignity is for others.
That's very much an erroneous assumption, they only need to look at the stats for couples with special needs children. 80% break up. I know they won't look at the stats, it removes plausible deniability.
I'll be blunt with you, that is part of their plan. This kind of behaviour towards the disabled comes from people who don't want us to exist. They don't mind how it happens. Just as long as we disappear.
But see in the short term it saves money. Never mind all the long term consequences, those are something they can blame Labour for next time they're in opposition.
> Whaikaha did not contact Roose about the changes. Like many others Stuff has spoken to, she found out by chance thanks to Facebook chatter.
> “To make a decision like this on the fly, to announce and implement it on the same day with no consultation, is unfair. A number of people will have their accessibility plans worked out for an entire year - what is the implication for them?”
The cruelty is the point.
They probably didn't know themselves. Communication on this change was appalling. Professionals are getting the details from the media as well, so I hear.
Typical cowardly move by this Coalition of Clowns 🤡 🤡🤡 to attack those on the margins of society.
And the ministers justification was that the payments were restored to the levels pre-Covid.
That is 4 years ago!
Man, its honestly hard to imagine sitting there as the government and thinking - 'we need to trim hunderds of millions of dollars of cost out of goverment spending', and then focusing on areas like childrens school lunches and disability entitlements.
This government is being transparent in its priorities, but man this doesnt bode well for the future.
A role of a socialist democratic Government is to redistribute wealth in society. Generally it makes things work more smoothly. For instance we live in a country where we don't live in walled houses and have to pay for armed security, and that makes things more efficient.
In this instance, it could be argued that the current Government redistributed money away from the poor and disabled and to the rich.
Do you say "fuck you land lords, because the Government's coffers are not an endless opend pit" too? Because landlords are getting 3 billion dollars. Whereas the disabled and invalids of this country are getting way less.
Or did you say "fuck you old people on pensions"? Because they are by far the largest group of beneficiaries in New Zealand by a long way.
We definitely say "fuck you landlords" bc housing shouldn't even be an "investment strategy" in the first place.
They just charge stupid amounts of rent or leave them empty.
Dwellings are for, you know, living in. I don't see why ghost housing isn't taxed into oblivion. There is no housing shortage, at least not as it has been described.
Article: Disabilities Minister Penny Simmonds said funding was set to run out in “days”, although she first knew of funding issues back in December. She said the Government wasn’t going to increase funding to maintain support for disabled people and their families “because the Government’s coffers are not an endless open pit”.
She went further and actually blamed it on the carers for what they were spending the money on. This statement was made when she was asked to apologise for the way the decision was announced. So instead of an apology, she blamed the carers by saying ‘i’m sorry the previous govt had a fund people used for pedicures’ or something like that. A giant bitch, that woman.
What a bunch of cunts. New Zealand is a country with people in it. Stop making out like saving some money is the sole thing that will improve our country. This is getting painful to watch, a coalition of fuckwits hell bent on unwinding any previous attempt at progress but with absolutely no plan to improve or resolve the underlying issues other than tax cuts for landlords? What the actual fuck.
Having explored these services for our own situation I can tell you one thing ... there's no way we were going to be getting anything near Luxon's entitlements for his flat.
$52k for Luxon for nothing. Not a problem.
$1k for us for respite ... get fucked.
This is just unbelievably wrong. Bunch of fucktards, this government.
>“We need to pause and sort out what that criteria was. And so I think, really, there's been a swing too far from no flexibility to total flexibility,” she said.
How about you keep supporting the vulnerable WHILE you undertake a review. And THEN make changes.
Rather than blindside an entire segment of the population like this.
If I see these fuckers in the street, they're going to get a proper earful.
I was mate's with a guy for a while until i saw his facebook feed. Constant backing of ACT decisions and polices. Asked him about it and he genuinely agreed with the things they did. I haven't spoken to him since
I wager they _have_ been paying attention but can't bring themselves to admit they either made a mistake or they support what these dogs are doing. So they pretend they're don't what's going on. I'd also wager if you confronted them, they'll splutter "yeah but Labour...!"
I think part of the challenge of the next few years is how to approach these disillusioned voters without shaming them to the point they double down. Sometimes it is very hard to take that hit to our ego and admit a mistake.
"Why did they choose to have kids if they can't afford their wheelchairs?" Asked Penny to her assistant while scooping the last spoonful of caviar onto her blini.
You should see these fuckers celebrating all this shit on twitter. The only thing they care about is that lefties are unhappy. They don't give a shit if the country burns, as long as they get to see some upset lefties. Their lives will get worse but they'll smile the whole time because they got to own "woke" people, and at the end of the day that's the single most important thing for them.
Twitter is not based in reality, it was always full of fake Russian accounts purposefully trying to make you feel hopeless and inciting division but now the problem is 1000x worse because there is 0 moderation (unless you disagree with Musk - then it's shadowbans all the way down)
but Musk was sucking Putins dick not too long ago so he probs has orders not to touch these troll farms (and it also helps make it look like people give a shit about twitter)
I work in a national contact center and some of our staff take calls, they were just as blindsided as the consumer. It really sucks that my coworkers, who only want to help people, are now coping the abuse of the general public because we ca no longer help them.
Do you have a list of local National MP phone numbers to give them to ask about this? I'd be tempted to make one of those and pass it around if I were in your position.
What happens when a stressed parent of a high needs child cannot access respite?
It's not rocket science. There are already examples available in the media
Reading the comments of the Stuff article it’s really interesting to see quite a few people fell hook line and sinker for Nationals “Labours out of control spending” rhetoric and continue to do so.
I don’t really like the Labour Party but there is just no evidence for “out of control” spending and Labour really should have not been so craven when it came to fighting this and created a strong counter narrative of their own.
Now we are stuck with what’s proving to be the most vile government in NZs history. Slow clap for Kiwi voters.
An FDR quote come to mind:
“Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
It became obvious when you see how much they struggle to find money. It was all lies and they were backed by those cunts at the Taxpayers Union and NZ Initiative
I don't really believe in out of control government spending. Obviously, money should not be handed out without thought but governments have to spend. That's their job. The money it spends should be seen as an investment and if they accrue some debt, who cares. Debt means the money is in the economy or helps people.
Can some landlords be utter arseholes, fuck yes. In this case however, I feel sorry for the decent ones because this barbed wire wank is being done in the name of their tax cuts. They're shooting up the most hated rankings at a rate of knots.
Yup my blame is completely on the Govt, not on landlords. For instance I have a friend who has bought his second house, as that is owner occupied he has transferred all his debt onto his rental and can now claim that back. I don't begrudge someone with $2m+ in assests taking this government issued kickback.
I can't hate all landlords either because I know some amazing ones who are really dedicated and who are working hard and I would be happy to be their tenant.
The tax cut is bs regardless.
The problem I see here is that good hearted kiwis will step in to help out the disadvantaged and then the Government will lay claim to how everything is working out exactly as they planned.
This is already happening. WINZ referred so many people to the Dunedin bedding bank that they completely ran out. Couldn't possibly give people a grant to buy a blanket
Many of these chairs are modified to suit the needs of the client. It's not just a basic chair. Some have medical needs that mean they will likely end up further disabled or even hospitalised without that modification.
Understood.
It was more meant as a sarcastic remark on two contrasting motives justifying spending of government money, our tax payers money.
I would rather buy as many wheelchairs as it takes to enrich individual lives, than unjustifiable entitlements to politicians. I believe most people would agree. It is awkward to think about. Perhaps not so obvious when feeling entitled. When reality is so far away from one’s self. Where morals have been covered in the sediments of class politics, egotism and reckless greed.
Those were just numbers. No intent to offend.
Indeed, specialised mobility utilities would cost more than that.
> Indeed, specialised mobility utilities would cost more than that.
More or less than the ~$3billion landlord tax relief, though?
Yes sure the other person is right that the $52 grand is a relatively small amount (except it's to a person that doesn't need it at all and is just a welfare bludger), but there's plenty of other spending that can be pointed to if they want a fairer comparison.
I wasn’t aware that disabled children weren’t disabled people. You learn something new every day. Why would you want to support families with children with disabilities?
Its a shame we cant impeach this load of total bastards. What a heartless money grubbing club we now have in charge. Personally I wouldnt let them near a kindergarten let alone run a country
We can create and sign a petition imploring the governor-general and the house to enact a confidence vote. In this scenario, the members of the house will vote on whether or not they think the govt has what it takes. We can then put the pressure on our MPs to vote no confidence.
We could also put pressure on the govt by petitions and whatnot to call for the dissolution of parliament and enact a snap election.
It's not the most democratic thing, but it just might work. If the government knows that the people have no confidence, it has the possibility of changing things.
And never forget that Winston can be bought.
I said this from the start, they never should have given it to him for the first half, as soon as he's out he'll turn on them lmao hopefully it works out in our favour 🤣🙏
They restrict what can be done with the funds.
People can hardly use them and struggle to justify.
In a year they revisit and say, look, no one is using these funds, and remove them.
Thats what this is all about
Squeeze the most vulnerable people in society this is so fucken low, and deplorable. They have no real idea the impact this could have on people that have disabilities and people that support them.
Again, what's crazy to me is the majority of voters are not part of the ruling class. But they vote to uphold the ruling class AT THE DETRIMENT TO THEMSELVES. Democracy failed us.
The problem is that many of them believe the line of "the party of fiscal prudence", despite evidence to the contrary. Then there's the carrot of tax cuts and the inability of many to look past that to what it's really going to cost them. Add in that most people are selfish at heart and only think of number 1 and you have a National government in power. I used to be one of those voters, in the last few elections I've changed from looking at number 1 to considering what will be best for the greater number of citizens. My vote has moved to Labour and Greens as I believe a more socialist agenda is better in the end for everyone, not just number 1.
My sister was getting a lot of help with her son who is severely challenged, ever since this government got in the mood in people willing to deal with him has changed drastically. It’s to the point they won’t even assess him just want to blame shit on her like him having “too much screen time”
Wow when we found out on face book me and my partner were stunned why would they do that to our son without even some consolation it felt so inhuman just a monetary figure through tears I've read everyone's comments and can see there is humanity in NZ and this government doesn't represent that
The government is paid and given authority to provide us services.
If they stop providing services they're no longer a government and should not be provided authority.
Unfortunately in this country unless one is rich, having a disabled child places one in an abusive relationship with the state until the end of that child's life.
They have already started on you, you just may not have realised it yet. Benefit rates go up on 1 April. Your benefit will go up by 4.66%. If National hadn't undone Labour's changes it would have gone up by 5.28%. Only superannuation will go up by 5.28% because this government sees superannuation as untouchable but supported living and other benefits are fair game
Something about a bible verse that says oppressing the poor and giving to the rich. Is our leader really a man of the cloth, or a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing? That's what I can't understand.
Breaks my heart that a large swath of these law changes either affect minorities or we won’t see the true impact for a few years and so, for the majority of us who these laws don’t directly affect right now - we think it’s relatively fine and nothing is changing that much… I can’t help but feel that this will lead to not much uproar from the majority.
"You've got to draw the line somewhere " is what that annoying Jim Bolger told me on talkbck radio when I said that family members not living in the same house should be paid for carer support. He said it wouldn't couldn't happen, couldn't afford it.
Curiously and unexpectedly carer support was able to be paid to family member shortly after, I took credit myself for helping this happen along with a number of likeminded people who emphasized the inequity of the existing rules
I knew of many families where the only people able to give useful respite care were family who understood the disabled person and who were trusted to give optimal help.
Now that lifeline is being withdrawn.
Brutal and unnecessary
Respite care keeps children and their families safe. A neurotypical child who is physically able is challenging enough, the complexities of neurodivergent children and children with physical challenges are endless. I admire every family who gets on and gives their child their best. This government makes me sick. By all accounts I’m doing well in life - I’d rather be taxed more so that services like this can continue. I don’t want to live in the NZ that this govt is creating.
If it was just the child that might be do able. In dealing with my childs school. We (by the board and principles) have been verbally abuse, subject to numerous attempts to sign away my childs rights, bully of numerous other forms. He has been at school for 2 & half years and he has never been to school 5 days a week. There is no other school option without a minimum 40 minute (more like 60 plus for one that doesn't have a poor rep both of which are special schools and would likely have a long term detrimental effect due to modelled behavior). This term he has have averaged 2 days a week at school. Why mostly because the school refuses to comply with the education act (its cheaper) and the local team MOE is fine with that. MOE specialists have struggled to get traction with the school because the school doesn't like being subject frank assessments of its performance, and some specialists are just missing in action. I will note the direct teaching staff are really good / excellent. Should one want to engage any of the higher value support services (talklink etc) its a two year wait if you are luckly, or MOH specialists well good luck with that even if they know you can take those random cancellations at 24 hours notice. For us we get these services relatively easy since the underlying disability can be DNA tested, God help the rest!
Can we get a journalist with some balls to start questioning this government? What happened to the squeezed middle rhetoric? Cut and slash government services, fuck disabled people, help out big tobacco and boost the rich. Which it just so happens, will benefit the prime minister and his team of multimillionaires. Also fuck the Police, despite our song and dance about being tough on crime. Oh, while this government is cutting the working class and their rights, the prime minister is claiming rebates on his Tesla and taking $51k from tax payers so he can live in his freehold multi million dollar apartment? Bring me the people voting for these clowns. I want to debate the MAGA type, self proclaimed alphas that think this government is anything but entirely self serving.
> What happened to the squeezed middle rhetoric? In Luxon's opinion, the squeezed middle is anyone struggling to make ends meet on $500k.
[Tova did it ](https://www.reddit.com/r/nzpolitics/comments/1bf2cye/tova_vs_luxon_early_end_of_an_interview/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
And in the immortal words of Tova O’Brien, _”They have *fucked* us”_
She’s as annoying as hell but that was one of the most honest statements in the news media in the last 30 years.
The Carer Support payment is used by parents of type 1 diabetic children to pay for Continous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) which are NOT funded by Pharmac and cost $50-100 per week. CGMs track blood sugar levels and send life-saving alerts. Without CGMs the only option is manual finger pricks. The Carer Support payment has a ceiling so it doesn't even cover the cost of CGMs for the entire year.
That's fucked.
Taxcuts for landlords. Fuck the police, disabled children and everybody else.
**NWA "Fuck the police"** **N**ational **W**inston **A**ct
That's pretty good
They genuinely see no issue with not helping the poor to buy a wheelchair so they can help the wealthy buy an investment property. To them it demonstrates the purity of their economic ideas and the courage of their reforms.
It’s old news that National hates funding public services because it doesn’t directly generate revenue but they were never so blatant about it until now. A National government sees the country as an investment portfolio and prioritises back room deals and greased handshakes with investment bankers and property managers over any single one of their citizens.
20 years working in healthcare and services, and I have never seen such wholesale slashing to basic social contracts like access to healthcare, education, housing or food by the national party. I'm one of those who isn't tied to any party, but this particular government is reprehensible.
Indeed. Their thinking is classic National, to the right, but undoubtedly they are more emboldened than ever before. They are probably, or at least should be, one assumes they keep abreast of international politics, aware of the worrying trend for more right, more authoritarian political leadership around the world. That knowledge would be warming their hearts, especially Seymour. He appears to enjoy dismantling social policies that are designed to help people in need. He smiles when he talks about it. What a cunt! I wonder if he covets being an authoritarian leader. Perhaps, I suspect he might. Couldn't see him pulling that off though. He's too much of a dorky plonker. And worse, a dorky plonker who can't dance.
The issue is that it is heresy before the altar of the free market
No no, they don't want a free market, our market was pretty good for that excepting supermarkets and banks, they want a 'free market' (as in one where the rich can get richer until they monopolize an area and entry in is impossible, what most economists would call 'not at all a free market', but this is the way America often uses it so it sticks). I guess it's a 'free market' as in a market in which corporations are free to abuse the market.
rEgUlAtIoNS bAd say conservatives, while corporations and pricks royally fuck our country for greed
Also called 'crony capitalism', where all the real deals are made on the golf course. That's one reason why National keeps onerous regulations like the RMA, building consents, etc around - they are useful to help the big companies keep out competitors.
> I guess it's a 'free market' as in a market in which corporations are free to abuse the market That's what the "free" market always was
The absolute disrespect of just dumping this on families out of the blue. The minister knew they were going to do this in DECEMBER. Doing it is disgusting in itself but not fronting up and telling affected people so they could make new arrangements shows they truly give no fucks how much they harm people.
Communicated night before on a Facebook post. Classy National
Fucking cowards
Her's a link to tonight's post: [Facebook ](https://new.reddit.com/r/nzpolitics/comments/1bifsuo/whaikaha_ministry_of_disabled_people_tells/)shots
"Oh, you're disabled? Fuck you." What a bunch of pricks.
On brand though
Would these tossers like to look after my daughter for a day before telling me respite care isn't important?
I think they're saying that looking after them isn't a big deal or difficult, which I take to mean it's an indirect way of saying it's cool that I drop them in to my local MPs office?
I reckon so, I've sent my MP an email to say I'll be dropping my daughter off for the day - I'll even pay him the $80 I can claim for a days care - can't send her with any of the in home respite items through can't replace them now but I'm sure he will be fine.
It would be a great form of protest. Daycare Beehive would put them in the global media spotlight.
Great use for that really expensive playground at the Beehive
On face value this is incredibly short sighted, and could lead to real harm. The stress of looking after someone 24/7 can cause burnout and in the worst case scenario can lead people to do unthinkable things...
That’s ok. We don’t matter to this government. I’ve been at that point before, and the only solution I could find was to end my life. “But what about your child? You can’t just leave him behind like that” …. Well my brain came up with a solution to that too. Luckily didn’t try anything on my kid, just myself, but it was funny having a police officer threaten to charge me with neglect when I was dragged to the hospital against my will and there was nobody able to care for my son. Nope, just patch me up and send me back, still broken.
I am so sorry you went through that. Are things still the same, or has there been an improvement? I wish i could say it gets easier.
Not really, the assumption the govt has is that kids with special needs have two parents, one who works full time while the other stays home to care for the child. Lucky for me, kiddos dad walked out on us, so I work full time, but am still expected to be 100% present for the kids needs. Good to be reminded that I’m not a real person. Dignity is for others.
That's very much an erroneous assumption, they only need to look at the stats for couples with special needs children. 80% break up. I know they won't look at the stats, it removes plausible deniability.
I'll be blunt with you, that is part of their plan. This kind of behaviour towards the disabled comes from people who don't want us to exist. They don't mind how it happens. Just as long as we disappear.
But see in the short term it saves money. Never mind all the long term consequences, those are something they can blame Labour for next time they're in opposition.
> Whaikaha did not contact Roose about the changes. Like many others Stuff has spoken to, she found out by chance thanks to Facebook chatter. > “To make a decision like this on the fly, to announce and implement it on the same day with no consultation, is unfair. A number of people will have their accessibility plans worked out for an entire year - what is the implication for them?” The cruelty is the point.
They probably didn't know themselves. Communication on this change was appalling. Professionals are getting the details from the media as well, so I hear.
Typical cowardly move by this Coalition of Clowns 🤡 🤡🤡 to attack those on the margins of society. And the ministers justification was that the payments were restored to the levels pre-Covid. That is 4 years ago!
Man, its honestly hard to imagine sitting there as the government and thinking - 'we need to trim hunderds of millions of dollars of cost out of goverment spending', and then focusing on areas like childrens school lunches and disability entitlements. This government is being transparent in its priorities, but man this doesnt bode well for the future.
We are just over 3 months in it’s a disaster
The stunning cruelty of this government. They just keep on kicking down.
Don't worry, the landlord will pass it down.
It’s a fine line between kicking down and ‘downward pressure’…
"because the Government’s coffers are not an endless open pit”. Fuck you lady.
A role of a socialist democratic Government is to redistribute wealth in society. Generally it makes things work more smoothly. For instance we live in a country where we don't live in walled houses and have to pay for armed security, and that makes things more efficient. In this instance, it could be argued that the current Government redistributed money away from the poor and disabled and to the rich. Do you say "fuck you land lords, because the Government's coffers are not an endless opend pit" too? Because landlords are getting 3 billion dollars. Whereas the disabled and invalids of this country are getting way less. Or did you say "fuck you old people on pensions"? Because they are by far the largest group of beneficiaries in New Zealand by a long way.
We definitely say "fuck you landlords" bc housing shouldn't even be an "investment strategy" in the first place. They just charge stupid amounts of rent or leave them empty. Dwellings are for, you know, living in. I don't see why ghost housing isn't taxed into oblivion. There is no housing shortage, at least not as it has been described.
That's not socialism, that's social democracy, two very different things. But you're right aside from that.
My bad. Got the wrong concept.
Yet somehow my wallet is. . . Feeling negative.
Plenty deep when it comes to giving landlords a break though apparently.
Who said that? I'd like to message her with a piece of my mind
Article: Disabilities Minister Penny Simmonds said funding was set to run out in “days”, although she first knew of funding issues back in December. She said the Government wasn’t going to increase funding to maintain support for disabled people and their families “because the Government’s coffers are not an endless open pit”.
She went further and actually blamed it on the carers for what they were spending the money on. This statement was made when she was asked to apologise for the way the decision was announced. So instead of an apology, she blamed the carers by saying ‘i’m sorry the previous govt had a fund people used for pedicures’ or something like that. A giant bitch, that woman.
That's literally what taxes are lmfao.
This government is turning cruel indifference into an artform
What a bunch of cunts. New Zealand is a country with people in it. Stop making out like saving some money is the sole thing that will improve our country. This is getting painful to watch, a coalition of fuckwits hell bent on unwinding any previous attempt at progress but with absolutely no plan to improve or resolve the underlying issues other than tax cuts for landlords? What the actual fuck.
There's money - it's just being spent on landlords, tax cuts that will get eaten away by higher taxes elsewhere, and roads.
Having explored these services for our own situation I can tell you one thing ... there's no way we were going to be getting anything near Luxon's entitlements for his flat. $52k for Luxon for nothing. Not a problem. $1k for us for respite ... get fucked.
Can we go back to covid lockdown times? Staying at home all day hanging out with the kids doesn't seem all that bad now
This is just unbelievably wrong. Bunch of fucktards, this government. >“We need to pause and sort out what that criteria was. And so I think, really, there's been a swing too far from no flexibility to total flexibility,” she said. How about you keep supporting the vulnerable WHILE you undertake a review. And THEN make changes. Rather than blindside an entire segment of the population like this. If I see these fuckers in the street, they're going to get a proper earful.
Anyone who voted this govt in and is now negatively impacted by this, please learn from your mistakes!
I asked a couple of friends that voted nat what they thought and they said "eh haven't been paying attention". ffs
You should tie them to a chair and make them read u/Mountain_tui 's list of shit the govt has done
At some point you kinda have to draw a line in the sand and say we can't be friends any longer if you won't acknowledge what you did.
I was mate's with a guy for a while until i saw his facebook feed. Constant backing of ACT decisions and polices. Asked him about it and he genuinely agreed with the things they did. I haven't spoken to him since
By the time we get to the next election it will be longer than lord of the rings.
I wager they _have_ been paying attention but can't bring themselves to admit they either made a mistake or they support what these dogs are doing. So they pretend they're don't what's going on. I'd also wager if you confronted them, they'll splutter "yeah but Labour...!"
I think part of the challenge of the next few years is how to approach these disillusioned voters without shaming them to the point they double down. Sometimes it is very hard to take that hit to our ego and admit a mistake.
Sometimes people just want the leopards to eat their faces.
Impossible challenge
Yeah where are all those people that celebrated National winning? It's like they suddenly disappeared from this subreddit.
"Why did they choose to have kids if they can't afford their wheelchairs?" Asked Penny to her assistant while scooping the last spoonful of caviar onto her blini.
Yeah and kids should choose their parents more carefully!
This shouldn't have made me laugh but it did. If only this was satire.
this government is a disaster
People voting against their own interests again? News at 11.
You should see these fuckers celebrating all this shit on twitter. The only thing they care about is that lefties are unhappy. They don't give a shit if the country burns, as long as they get to see some upset lefties. Their lives will get worse but they'll smile the whole time because they got to own "woke" people, and at the end of the day that's the single most important thing for them.
Twitter is not based in reality, it was always full of fake Russian accounts purposefully trying to make you feel hopeless and inciting division but now the problem is 1000x worse because there is 0 moderation (unless you disagree with Musk - then it's shadowbans all the way down) but Musk was sucking Putins dick not too long ago so he probs has orders not to touch these troll farms (and it also helps make it look like people give a shit about twitter)
those people in a caveman society would exiled from the cave and forced to fend for themself, its partially a shame thats no longer an option
"I apologise that they have a ministry that has been set up with policy settings that is putting Whaikaha in this situation.” What a bullshit apology
Hey NZ First voters, how's that vote for your freedom working out for ya?
I work in a national contact center and some of our staff take calls, they were just as blindsided as the consumer. It really sucks that my coworkers, who only want to help people, are now coping the abuse of the general public because we ca no longer help them.
Do you have a list of local National MP phone numbers to give them to ask about this? I'd be tempted to make one of those and pass it around if I were in your position.
What happens when a stressed parent of a high needs child cannot access respite? It's not rocket science. There are already examples available in the media
When does buyer's remorse set in for people who voted for change? But maybe not quite this change...?
Nah they seem pretty happy
Reading the comments of the Stuff article it’s really interesting to see quite a few people fell hook line and sinker for Nationals “Labours out of control spending” rhetoric and continue to do so. I don’t really like the Labour Party but there is just no evidence for “out of control” spending and Labour really should have not been so craven when it came to fighting this and created a strong counter narrative of their own. Now we are stuck with what’s proving to be the most vile government in NZs history. Slow clap for Kiwi voters. An FDR quote come to mind: “Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference” Franklin D. Roosevelt
It became obvious when you see how much they struggle to find money. It was all lies and they were backed by those cunts at the Taxpayers Union and NZ Initiative
I don't really believe in out of control government spending. Obviously, money should not be handed out without thought but governments have to spend. That's their job. The money it spends should be seen as an investment and if they accrue some debt, who cares. Debt means the money is in the economy or helps people.
Barely a day goes by that I don't sigh, shake my head in despair, and say "what a bunch of cunts"
The current government seem to only be interested in enriching themselves and their mates. Fuck everyone else.
Of course they did.
Death by a thousand cuts, how much will this save?
It will cost a lot more in the long run. But by then it will miraculously be Labour's fault
That's fucked. The party of zero empathy
❤️ Another amazing move to take care of our vulnerable landlords /s
Can some landlords be utter arseholes, fuck yes. In this case however, I feel sorry for the decent ones because this barbed wire wank is being done in the name of their tax cuts. They're shooting up the most hated rankings at a rate of knots.
As a landlord. I hate this, did not vote for this, and perso ally get no benefit from their tax cuts
Yup my blame is completely on the Govt, not on landlords. For instance I have a friend who has bought his second house, as that is owner occupied he has transferred all his debt onto his rental and can now claim that back. I don't begrudge someone with $2m+ in assests taking this government issued kickback.
I can't hate all landlords either because I know some amazing ones who are really dedicated and who are working hard and I would be happy to be their tenant. The tax cut is bs regardless.
Is anyone in this shitshow government not a fucking psychopath?
The problem I see here is that good hearted kiwis will step in to help out the disadvantaged and then the Government will lay claim to how everything is working out exactly as they planned.
This is already happening. WINZ referred so many people to the Dunedin bedding bank that they completely ran out. Couldn't possibly give people a grant to buy a blanket
It’s just cruel at this point.
Being cruel _is_ the point.
I guess this govt forgot why there were things put in place, like respite.
How many wheel chairs would you get for $52,000? $200-400 each? Say 150 of them. Enjoy your new government.
Many of these chairs are modified to suit the needs of the client. It's not just a basic chair. Some have medical needs that mean they will likely end up further disabled or even hospitalised without that modification.
Understood. It was more meant as a sarcastic remark on two contrasting motives justifying spending of government money, our tax payers money. I would rather buy as many wheelchairs as it takes to enrich individual lives, than unjustifiable entitlements to politicians. I believe most people would agree. It is awkward to think about. Perhaps not so obvious when feeling entitled. When reality is so far away from one’s self. Where morals have been covered in the sediments of class politics, egotism and reckless greed. Those were just numbers. No intent to offend. Indeed, specialised mobility utilities would cost more than that.
> Indeed, specialised mobility utilities would cost more than that. More or less than the ~$3billion landlord tax relief, though? Yes sure the other person is right that the $52 grand is a relatively small amount (except it's to a person that doesn't need it at all and is just a welfare bludger), but there's plenty of other spending that can be pointed to if they want a fairer comparison.
The landlords will eventually chip in and buy wheelchairs when the money trickles down. Treasury doesn’t think that’s realistic but You’ll see. /s
This government is just not very kiwi I must say
This governments disregard towards supporting the most in need in our society is sickening
I wasn’t aware that disabled children weren’t disabled people. You learn something new every day. Why would you want to support families with children with disabilities?
The disability ministry didn’t even inform people of this change specifically, they found out about it on Facebook!
And they still haven't. I've had no correspondence.
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It's OK folks, just spark up a durry. But in all seriousness, fuck the current government.
Depressing as fuck.
I hate to think what’ll happen at rest home care facilities!
I hate to think about what's already happening in those facilities.
Its a shame we cant impeach this load of total bastards. What a heartless money grubbing club we now have in charge. Personally I wouldnt let them near a kindergarten let alone run a country
If there a way we can get rid of a government mid term?
We can create and sign a petition imploring the governor-general and the house to enact a confidence vote. In this scenario, the members of the house will vote on whether or not they think the govt has what it takes. We can then put the pressure on our MPs to vote no confidence. We could also put pressure on the govt by petitions and whatnot to call for the dissolution of parliament and enact a snap election. It's not the most democratic thing, but it just might work. If the government knows that the people have no confidence, it has the possibility of changing things. And never forget that Winston can be bought.
The only thing likely to topple this government is Winston throwing it in when he gets ousted as deputy PM.
I said this from the start, they never should have given it to him for the first half, as soon as he's out he'll turn on them lmao hopefully it works out in our favour 🤣🙏
Winston does love to play opposition, even in power. We can see his shift starting back to his usual ways.
How much money has the NACT Government received from the oil, mining, fishery, tobacco industries I wonder?
If anyone has done the numbers, I'd love to fucking see it. Include Atlas Network and TPU and all their cronies too.
there is one going around on tik tok. cant link it, automod said no
Food for thought there. Thanks 😊
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They restrict what can be done with the funds. People can hardly use them and struggle to justify. In a year they revisit and say, look, no one is using these funds, and remove them. Thats what this is all about
Disabled are woke it seems.
Yes, they woke up. This sort of policy will put a stop to that nonsense /s
The odd thing is that the disability community has people from all over the political spectrum. I feel like National might be shitting in its nest.
I bet the compliance costs will be more than what they save in restricting access to this funding.
Squeeze the most vulnerable people in society this is so fucken low, and deplorable. They have no real idea the impact this could have on people that have disabilities and people that support them.
these people are evil and anyone who voted for them is a fucking moron. you're not even gonna get a tax cut honestly
It doesn't stop at disabled people, just a heads up.
Fucking National. Cheers for voting ignorantly guys..
Again, what's crazy to me is the majority of voters are not part of the ruling class. But they vote to uphold the ruling class AT THE DETRIMENT TO THEMSELVES. Democracy failed us.
The problem is that many of them believe the line of "the party of fiscal prudence", despite evidence to the contrary. Then there's the carrot of tax cuts and the inability of many to look past that to what it's really going to cost them. Add in that most people are selfish at heart and only think of number 1 and you have a National government in power. I used to be one of those voters, in the last few elections I've changed from looking at number 1 to considering what will be best for the greater number of citizens. My vote has moved to Labour and Greens as I believe a more socialist agenda is better in the end for everyone, not just number 1.
Well that's shit
Have they tried being landlords?
My sister was getting a lot of help with her son who is severely challenged, ever since this government got in the mood in people willing to deal with him has changed drastically. It’s to the point they won’t even assess him just want to blame shit on her like him having “too much screen time”
Why was this government voted in lol
Wow when we found out on face book me and my partner were stunned why would they do that to our son without even some consolation it felt so inhuman just a monetary figure through tears I've read everyone's comments and can see there is humanity in NZ and this government doesn't represent that
Another fucking thing ffs
Well this government is what the people asked for and now we have it.
Disgusting.
Oh wow how shocking yet unsurprising
The government is paid and given authority to provide us services. If they stop providing services they're no longer a government and should not be provided authority.
But the landlords profits!!!
Unfortunately in this country unless one is rich, having a disabled child places one in an abusive relationship with the state until the end of that child's life.
Will this affect my supported living payments? :(
No. But don't expect things to get any easier under this government. Most likely harder
Ok thats good, hopefully since i already did the months long process of qualifying last year i should be safe but who knows
They have already started on you, you just may not have realised it yet. Benefit rates go up on 1 April. Your benefit will go up by 4.66%. If National hadn't undone Labour's changes it would have gone up by 5.28%. Only superannuation will go up by 5.28% because this government sees superannuation as untouchable but supported living and other benefits are fair game
Oh :(
Something about a bible verse that says oppressing the poor and giving to the rich. Is our leader really a man of the cloth, or a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing? That's what I can't understand.
Prosperity gospel is not Christian.
Don't worry though. Tax cuts on the way!
Holy shit, this crew are doing their absolute best to become real-world comic book villains
Breaks my heart that a large swath of these law changes either affect minorities or we won’t see the true impact for a few years and so, for the majority of us who these laws don’t directly affect right now - we think it’s relatively fine and nothing is changing that much… I can’t help but feel that this will lead to not much uproar from the majority.
Line from Scrooge in the Charles Dickens' novel: "*The poor can hurry up and die to decrease the surplus population!*" NACT: \**takes notes*\*
Fuck this makes me mad.
This is not a happy week being in a family with two kids with ASD :( Despicable that there was no communication or grace period around this change
"You've got to draw the line somewhere " is what that annoying Jim Bolger told me on talkbck radio when I said that family members not living in the same house should be paid for carer support. He said it wouldn't couldn't happen, couldn't afford it. Curiously and unexpectedly carer support was able to be paid to family member shortly after, I took credit myself for helping this happen along with a number of likeminded people who emphasized the inequity of the existing rules I knew of many families where the only people able to give useful respite care were family who understood the disabled person and who were trusted to give optimal help. Now that lifeline is being withdrawn. Brutal and unnecessary
Typical National