Louise Upston ensures beneficiaries can't pay rent or utilities while Matt Doocey undermines public mental health
Commentary on some of today’s top headlines
Hi Readers,
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I don’t control the Substack algorithms but have been disappointed to see ACT affiliated posts on the app under my posts, which I don’t endorse.
- hopefully will see some positive changes in future.
Doocey The Incompetent:
Fears over minister's bid to loosen psychologist rules (RNZ)
Doocey, possibly one of the most uncaring Ministers in a suite of weak National Party talent, is proposing to create associate psychologist roles in New Zealand, rather than address the real challenges of insufficient mental health resources.
The profession is alarmed and everyone should be. It’s a protected class working with vulnerable and important conditions, and should require rigor, dedication, professionalism and comptency.
Doocey is the same man who appeared sincere in caring about mental health issues when he was first appointed - but hasn’t lifted a real finger for mental health, and claims ignorance at every turn - e.g. over funding cuts, over no staff in the Suicide Prevention Office; he never bothered to read the Abuse in Care report despite being sent it months ealier, and being one of the Ministers responsible for its recommendations.
Didn’t bother to apply for any increase in mental health beds despite sorely needing it…
Why have a Mental Health Minister who doesn’t actually care, and is looking for band-aid solutions?
Mental health has always been in crisis, but as usual, National’s policies took a vulnerable state and appears to be actively pummelling it to an even worse state.
If we want genuine productivity, well-being, prosperity and economic strength, no country can afford to ignore mental health.
National Robs Peter To Pay Paul in Mental Health
Community organisations get easier access to mental health support funding (RNZ)
Another RNZ headline that follows the government narrative is out today:
“Smaller NGOs are set to benefit from funding for mental health support, the Minister for Mental Health Doocey says, as the government lowers the threshold required to access it.”
But this $10mn mental health fund - already partially allocated - is the money that RNZ’sAnusha Bradley, told us was being taken away from from frontline doctors and nurses in mental health.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) asked why the government didn’t fund the promised mental health doctors and plug existing critical vacancies:
"There are now 650 mental health vacancies, including 130 psychiatrists. Some regions have a 30 percent vacancy rate among psychiatrists.”
Today’s RNZ article omits this context.
This is just National robbing Peter to pay Paul - when Paul’s results are neither strategic, proven and long term - while Peter is desperately trying to keep his head above water.
Another example of National intentionally de-funding our public sector health capabilities.
When the warnings are ignored - Louise Upston’s consistency:
Beneficiaries on money cards may not be able to pay rent (RNZ)
The average beneficiary spends 53% of their income on housing costs. Despite this, and Luxon and Louise Upston admitting there are only a very minute proportion (~5%) of beneficiaries who do not follow their stringent rules, her punitive regime continues.
It’s confirmed today that beneficiaries sanctioned with money management cards cannot use it to pay rent or utilities.
This comes as homelessness rises by over 53% in major cities such as Auckland and the government throws tenants out of emergency housing and makes it almost impossible to get into.
And of course, Upston was warned it would only further damage the anxiety and social standing of people already down in the dumps.
She didn’t care.
This is the problem with dog-whistling politics.
ACT and National politicised on ‘losers’ and delinquent beneficiaries. They lambasted Labour for creating a welfare state as jobseekers rose.
National has now exceeded Labour’s jobseeker record in record time, despite making it much harder to stay on jobseekers - a not positive economic achievement.
One of Upston’s media appearances as pending Minister involved her telling Kiwis an anecdote about a beneficiary turning up to an interview in pyjamas.
Anecdotes are not facts - they are not statistical measures. They shouldn’t be relied on or used by political leaders.
They often paint inaccurate and misleading stereotypes, the same way Trump says “a lot of people are saying” or David Seymour claims un-nameable principals praise his school lunches.
And, as Upston herself admitted the large proportion of beneficiaries try and comply, why the need to punish in such illogical and harmful ways?
Well mainly they have built grievances in their base of ‘loser beneficiaries’ and now need to demonstrate that they will be the ones to punish them.
This is much worse when we consider that Upston and Luxon spread misinformation regularly - intentionally misquoting researchers on the value of punitive beneficiary measures, fails to provide evidence at every turn, and ignores facts.
Upston speaks a big game about accountability and responsibility yet can’t even be bothered turning up to her own bill in Parliament.
That seems deserving of a sanction but for Louise, it’s simply ‘my bad, oops’ - “I stuffed up”.
Beneficiaries in New Zealand are sanctioned for much less here - missing a phone call is enough of a reason for Upston’s MSD.
Then there are unquantifiable facts such as how much harder it is for people with depression, anxiety, low self esteem, bad experiences with authority etc. to deal with minor issues.
Add on top of that, National’s cuts to MSD staffing and budget, while increasing their workloads - what do they think will happen?
This type of aggregated approach is not conducive to a society’s well-being or prosperity. Loading up staff without adequate care, compassion and balance inevitably leads to downstream problems on our citizens.
I’ve mentioned before that Upston is the only Minister who Luxon looks demure in front of. Just don’t call her heartless.
But from what I see, National Ministers such as her and Doocey, Simon Watts, Bishop, Willis, Luxon, Uffindell - side together is a sea of closed hearts and incapable minds.
A pity for the country and those who deserve so much more - our children, the most vulnerable, poor, homeless, anxious, unwell and sick - so too our natural wildlife and nature.
Is this what New Zealand stands for or not?
Marc Daalder’s work is always worth reading:
Govt doubles smelter’s carbon subsidy to $75m, overriding officials (Newsroom)
Government grants $75m subsidy to Rio Tinto (British-Australian multinational miner), ignoring official advice, while Climate Change and Energy Minister Simon Watts uses his always-babbling, always-obfuscating skillset to explain it away.
In essence, the government ignored modelling and a thoughtful, considered methodology, to give Rio Tinto $37m more to pay their energy bills - at the expense of taxpayers.
Climate policy expert Christina Hood:
“I’m pretty uncomfortable when I read through the documents. It looks like there was good modelling done by the Government that said that a lower allocation would have been appropriate, that was peer-reviewed, and the peer reviewer agreed with that. But it appears that ministers had maybe given [the smelter] a different indication when they signed their contracts and that’s what they went through with,” she said.
“I think a lot of people will be surprised that companies get free units from the government to help pay for their power bills and I don’t think that’s something we should be doing at all.”
$75m to help a global mining powerhouse pay their energy bills, while public health doctors, infrastructure, lunches for poor kids etc is a bridge too far.
Shame on National.
A Moral and Fiscal Failure In The Works:
Opposition cries foul over tougher sentencing laws, Anneke Smith (RNZ)
This is an interesting headline choice because it gives the impression opposition parties are light on crime. The thrust of it is opposition commentary that locking people up for longer won’t be effective and we should be more nuanced and considerate on how to address crime.
This was affirmed by Bill English a number of years ago when he called harsh and longer prison sentences in NZ a “moral and fiscal failure”. No such luck here because the public will never remember history, and this government will never care to educate on the nuances of research and debate. Some of the actions implemented include scrapping discounts for repeat youth and remorse, penalising offenderrs who change their plea to guilty during trial by only allowing a 5% discount, as well as capping judicial discounts to 40%,
Jim Grenon might not be a billionaire
Billionaire or belligerent, Herald board raider is relentless (Newsroom)
An excellent article by Newsroom’s Tim Murphy does a further deep dive into Grenon and his boisterious, somewhat belligerent past.
Some of it has been covered here but the article is excellent for diving even deeper into Grenon’s battles with the Canadian tax agency, uncovering beliefs such as claiming there is “constitutional discrimination against men”. That argument was based on the CRA disallowing Grenon to claim tax deductions for his child support battle with his ex-wife, a point highlighted in the first article on Grenon on this publication.
The new alt-right often appears to be based on grievances - including for its drivers, resentment at having to pay taxes - and this theme appeared no different.
Interestingly, Murphy posits that Grenon may not be a billionaire - more in the hundreds of millions of dollars category.
That would put him in line with the Wright Family whose businesses receive hundreds of millions of taxpayers funding a year, and pay little to no tax through their “charity” set up.
The Wright Family’s Wayne Wright Junior last year boasted of his increasing political influence on his program “The Platform”
How Grenon Aligned Centrist Covered James Grenon’s Letter to Michael Wood - Don’t Miss Their Headline on Auckland University
Where Wealthy “Losers” Go When They Make Real Mistakes
A Holiday To Base Camp Everest for a Hike To “Clear His Head”
As Luxon said, Bayly has worked “incredibly hard” and didn’t deserve what he got. Manhandling female staffers is worthy of honour and praise in National’s books. Good on Bayly for his paid holiday break during Parliamentary sitting.
You say that Upston and Doocey don't care - but they do. They care deeply about implementing the Coalition of Cruelty's slash and burn policies so as to further transfer wealth from the poor to the rich. The more we truly understand neoliberal economics the more we can see that "growth" can only be achieved by such a transfer. The world does not have unlimited resources and the only way we can keep growing is to take those resources from the masses and give them to the few. And that's exactly what the Coalition is doing - across all aspects of their leadership. They care deeply about that.
The most glaringly example of incompetence and misrepresentation this disaster we now call government continues to peddle is “GROWTH “ and then continues to denigrate and destroy the morale of those who will in the main create that,The People of this once fine nation.