Local councils, regional councils and District Health Boards are all vital parts of our democracy and have a huge impact on our daily lives. For that reason it is important to vote! EveryChildCounts has been surveying candidates about what they can do to make their communities more child-friendly. You can view the responses on their…
Local body elections are one place where people can test candidates and influence councils about their position on Easter Sunday trading, now that those councils have been made responsible for making the decision. Despite a late flurry of lobbying from well-known figures like All Black great Michael Jones and boxing legend David Tua, National MPs…
Older New Zealanders live well and age well in age-friendly communities.. That is the vision guiding the draft of a new Health of Older People Strategy released in July.This vision will be supported by a system oriented to: Healthy ageing High quality acute and restorative care Living well with health conditions Better support for people…
Easter Sunday is one of the few remaining public holidays that are completely set aside for people to rest and spend time with their families. However, this is under threat from the Shop Trading Hours Amendment Bill. Late last year NZCCSS reported on this Bill (Easter Trading to be Whipped Through) and has supported other…
Take action to support better quality rental housing by submitting on the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill. Comments are due by 23rd June. The Bill looks to fill a gap in the new housing standards that does not address adequate heating and ventilation, something that NZCCSS and many others, including the Children’s Commissioner, called for when…
End of an era for Social Security Join the voices calling for a fairer welfare system and make a submission on the Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill. This new Bill will affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders and we urging all those who can to make a submission. Submissions close on…
The Government Budget on 26th May could be a time when more is done to help the 148,000 children and their families living in hardship. Last year thanks to much pressure from around the country, the Government responded by giving a small increase in benefits to some struggling families. There is a lot more that…
Fix Working for Families (WFF) is the latest campaign from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) The campaign puts forward the view that WFF needs to be made available to all low income children. The principle of equal treatment for all low-income children should be restored by adding the IWTC to the first child Family…
Urgent update! Submissions close 22nd June – check our latest post with more analysis and ideas for a submission – Welfare Law: comment due 22 June. There are some significant policy changes coming to social welfare under the Social Security Act Rewrite Bill (all 454 pages of it!) that was introduced into Parliament on 17th…
Many lives, especially those of young children, would be saved if we had decent standards for rental housing in New Zealand. It is good news that the Government is finally doing something but proposed new laws set the standards too low to make any real difference. The Government has now brought a draft law into…
Consultation on Reducing the Required Return from Pokie Trusts to the Community It seems only yesterday that NZCCSS was working hard on comments in support of increasing the amount that pokie trusts return to the community. In fact it was just two years ago in October 2013 and it was only September last year that…
The consciences of Government MPs will be “whipped” into line it seems as a new Easter Trading Bill has been introduced into Parliament. The Minister sponsoring the Bill, Michael Woodhouse, has previously voted against changes but he has now ironed out his conscience and declared himself “comfortable” with fronting this legislation. Catholic social justice agency…
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has released an updated New Zealand Health Strategy for public consultation and is running a thorough consultation process to engage New Zealanders in the future direction of their health system. Two draft documents have been produced:1) Future Direction, which sets out the high level thinking behind the strategy, and 2) Roadmap of…
What a difference a day makes! It seems an error on the part of Work and Income has seen benefits commenced after a stand down period a day later than legally required under Section 80BA (4) of the Social Security Act 1964. To err is human and in today’s world this also applies to computers. “The…
Homes for 50,000 more people in next 5 years Your feedback is needed. ‘Our Place’ is the proposed sector strategy for community housing. The goal of the strategy is to house 50,000 more people in community housing by 2020. What do you think of this goal? Can we achieve it and what will it take…