CANDIDATE QUESTIONS from GREY POWER – TGA & WBOP ASSN
Responses from Nathaniel Blomfield, Labour Candidate for Coromandel
Housing – Older People and the Rental Market in the Western Bay of Plenty Sub-region. Dr Bev James (PP&R) and Dr Kay Saville-Smith (CRESA) Nov 2016.
Labour believes everyone deserves a decent roof over their heads. As the Salvation Army* has shown, growing numbers of older New Zealanders are living on superannuation and struggling in the private rental market. We are seeing the re-emergence of elder poverty for the first time in generations because of rising rents and a lack of affordable housing. Labour will work with Councils and non-profits to increase the delivery of affordable, safe and secure, warm and dry, tenure-secure housing for older people, using the principles of lifetime design. We will stop National’s state house sell-off, and build thousands of new state homes. We will also reform the tenancy laws to give renters more security of tenure.
* See Taking Stock jhttp://www.salvationarmy.org.nz/sites/default/files/uploads/20170814spputakingstockreport.PDFs
Apprenticeships –
The days when someone could walk out the school gate and into a job for life are long gone.
In the modern economy and society most people can expect to dip in and out of the education system throughout their working lives. For most young New Zealanders, a school education is no longer enough. A major priority for Labour will be ensuring all New Zealanders have the opportunity to retrain and re-educate themselves throughout their lives.
Labour will progressively introduce an entitlement to 3 years of free-post school education or training for New Zealanders to use throughout their lives, as they see fit, for in-job training, apprenticeships, polytech, or university education.
Labour’s Dole for Apprenticeship scheme offers employers who are willing to train an apprentice the equivalent of the unemployment benefit to help them afford the cost of taking on an apprentice.
I am very pleased that Labour will designate funding for night classes and other adult learning opportunities, and that Labour will review the current inequities between the financial support offered to those who seek to retrain or re-educate after they find themselves unable to find work and those receiving a Job Seeker benefit
Labour will change funding systems to encourage the development of ‘hop-on, hop-off’ training to equalise the focus that is placed on completing a qualification and gaining work experience
National Super –
I support Labour’s policy that opposes any changes to the superannuation age, due to the strain it could place on some elderly people.
I think that 66% of the average is not sufficient for many people today. I’d note that Labour’s Industrial Relations policy will deliver higher average wages and as a consequence this will raise the level of national Superannuation. Whether we can move to a higher rate in the future is something for us to explore in government.
A couple of other points I’d like to highlight are:
• Labour will resume contributions to the New Zealand Super Fund with $2.4 billion extra in contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which Labour would restart three years earlier than the current National Government.
• Labour will pay beneficiaries and super annuitants a winter energy payment to help them keep their homes warm and dry.
Education –
Yes. I am very excited about Labour’s education policy.
As the parent of three young children I am especially concerned about making sure they have the best opportunities to learn at all stages of their lives.
I know that children need to learn their 3Rs, but there are many ways this can happen if we harness their interests at a young age, including in the context of equipping them for a future that includes new systems and processes of work that we almost cannot imagine.
I am a very strong supporter of Labour’s intention to invest in education, so schools can get on with teaching, not begging for money through so called voluntary donations. I am particularly excited about plans to introduce fees-free post-school education and training, and pleased that Labour will continue to champion a free public education system that provides all New Zealanders with lifelong learning opportunities so that they can reach their full potential.
Labour will give school leavers the practical skills and knowledge they need for adult life with a new School Leavers’ Toolkit. Labour’s School Leavers’ Toolkit will help students learn to drive, understand practical budgeting, be equipped with workplace skills, and learn how our political system operates through civics education at school. Every secondary school will be resourced to provide these courses.
For me, the contrast between the current government and Labour’s approach would be one of the most compelling reasons to change the government, and one of the most effective ways to ensure our country’s future and our children’s futures will be in good hands.
Health –
Yes. Our access to proper medical care should not be dependent on where we live, and how our local health board defines its outcomes or how they manage their insufficient resources.
New Zealanders are not getting the healthcare they need now because National has cut $2.3 billion from health funding since 2010.
We know that hospitals are understaffed, doctors and nurses are overworked, services are being cut, and people are missing out on the latest medicines that are available in Australia.
I support Labour’s intended investment in health, including lowering doctor’s charges, providing more operations, funding breakthrough life-saving cancer medicines and easier access to mental health services.
Labour will spend $8 billion more on health than the Government planned in Budget 2017, including paying back $293 million worth of underfunding due to inflation and population growth spending $6.7 billion on delivering a modern health system.
Water -No.
Labour plans to restore our rivers and lakes to a truly swimmable condition within a generation. We think that clean rivers are our birth-right, a taonga to Maori, a favourite place of recreation for New Zealanders. Everyone wants to be able to swim in their rivers and lakes. It is time to restore them for future generations.
Labour will require a reduction of run-off and pollution of our rivers, and lift water quality standards. Labour will employ young people off the dole through our Ready for Work programme to help with fencing, riparian planting, and other work to clean up our waterways.
A clean water royalty on commercial water consumers (not households, councils, or hydro dams) will help Regional Councils with the cost of cleaning up their rivers and lakes. The clean water royalty will vary between regions, water quality, and use – it will be fair and proportionate, and be set after we’ve consulted all the relevant stakeholders.
Nathaniel Blomfield
Labour Candidate for Coromandel
Nathaniel.blomfield@labour.org.nz
CANDIDATE QUESTIONS from GREY POWER – TGA & WBOP ASSN
BY J Tinetti- Candidate for Labour Party
HOUSING -Labour recognises we need more housing for older people. We will work with Local Councils to provide more and better housing for pensioners. Our housing spokesperson, Phil Twyford, has identified pensioner housing as a “major priority” for Labour.
APPRENTICESHIPS –Labour will progressively introduce 3 years of free post-school education, allowing access to university, polytechnic or on-job training for young New Zealanders and those who have not studied before.
Labour is boosting its “Dole for Apprenticeships” scheme. We will expand our previous commitment to pay the equivalent of the unemployment benefit to employers who take on an apprentice. This will be available for all 18 to 24-year olds not earning or learning.
We will also give unemployed young people a job for six months doing work of public value, so they can gain work experience and avoid long-term unemployment.
NATIONAL SUPER –Labour believes eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation should remain at 65. A Labour-led Government would restore payments to the NZ Superannuation Fund to secure its future. There needs to be review of payments to ascertain the elderly are being well supported.
EDUCATION – While the “3Rs” are important education is more than these. It is about providing all New Zealanders with the opportunity to develop their potential. We need to bring out the best in everybody. Labour will abolish National Standards to return the focus to a broad and varied curriculum with the key competencies at the heart. We will ensure that the education system embraces and fosters essential skills and competencies such as attitude, communication, commitment, teamwork, willingness to learn, motivation, self-management, resilience and problem-solving.
HEALTH –Yes Labour believes in equal access to elective surgery. At the time of writing we haven’t released our health policies but we will be addressing the chronic underfunding within the health system by investing $8 billion more in health than was proposed in Budget 2017.
WATER – Clean water is the birth-right of all New Zealanders and vital to our continued prosperity. Labour will:
•Restore our rivers and lakes to a truly swimmable state within a generation
•Help farmers and other owners of waterways with fencing and riparian planting through our Ready to Work programme
•Give the regional councils the resources to clean up their waterways through a water royalty.
A royalty on the commercial consumption of water will assist with the cost of keeping our water clean. Households and councils will not pay any water royalty.
The royalty will be flexible to reflect the scarcity or abundance of water in different regions, the different quality of water, and its use. The royalty for bottled water will be based on per litre and the royalty for irrigation water will be based on per 1000 litres. It will be proportionated and fair. Levels will be set following consultation and the revenue will largely be returned to regional councils.