Hard News: If wishing made it so ...
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I don't think this policy announcement is awful. I think this Government's approach to public health is awful, and this amelioration doesn't change that.
I thought it was the Maori Party and Tariana Turia who pushed for this in their confidence and supply agreement as noted here and here. That might go some way to explain the amelioration.
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Sacha, in reply to
wild, unobtainable
Please don't think of these as 'unobtainable', especially the harmful goals. This govt has been steadily laying the groundwork for the last few years while the opposition wrung its hands.
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The target for Reducing Assaults on children is, as they say, "extremely ambitious". 4,019 children expected to experience substantiated physical abuse down by 1,083 to 2,936 in 2017. Current numbers are around 3300 .
Firstly the projections are for a substantial increase and the target only aims to zero this projected increase not to lower our current levels by much.
Secondly the only action they name that might effect this decrease is "raising awareness of child abuse" and a mention of the Green Paper.
I am not convinced "raising awareness" will do anything other than increase reporting, given that 90% of sex abuse cases go unreported .
Its one thing to have a target and quite another to have an plan to get to achieve that target . Can't see the plan here . -
It speaks volumes to me that the focus is on getting people off benefits, not on getting them into employment
Yup, National, treating the symptoms, ignoring the causes.
National, Spreading the wealth, amongst themselves. -
Auckland’s $98 million public transport ticketing project is in deep trouble
How much???
That is equivalent to almost 100 people on the average wage for their entire working life, the BCR is appalling.Labour’s transport spokesman, Phil Twyford, blames the “shambles” on Government interference that let the company work on the scheme despite failing to win the main contract.
“It was the National Government that insisted Snapper be allowed to roll out their card in Auckland well before the implementation of the integrated system,”
“That has led to the delays that are costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars every month."And that’s not all folks…
Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee, who has previously indicated NZ Bus could lose at least $70 million in annual subsidies from the Government and Auckland ratepayers if it fails to install compliant machines by November 30, would not comment.
Way to fuck up Public Transport, Transport Minister my ass.
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Sacha, in reply to
the BCR is appalling
Far from it. This is a critical core part of the region's transport system. It enables people to seamlessly use trains, buses and ferries to get around with a single ticket.
It's also at least a decade overdue for a city that aspires to even second-world status (much like rail to the airport, which in turn requires the core rail link first). Meanwhile, our govt geniuses divert all the transport funding into provincial motorways.
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Sacha, in reply to
I recommend Transport Blog for details - and see earlier posts on the same topic. At root, this is another great example of the govt favouring cronies over sound practice.
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merc,
John Key said today that his coalition government could not be held to task for dictatorial and draconian warfare waged against the poor... the trains don't run on time , he said.
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
the BCR is appalling
Far from it.Not at all, all it required was a “plug-in” for that 500 million SAP system, not a stand alone system. 98 million is a piss take, unless of course, it is being developed by future directors of our utility companies. then we must accept that is what it “should” cost.
the trains don’t run on time
I’m sure johnkey aspires to be known as “Someone who made the trains run on time"
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Kyle MacDonald, in reply to
And there's the nub of it
"Psychological or psychiatric conditions 41.5"Just like with incentives to get long term ACC claimants "off claim" or acheive "actuarial release", which targets in large proportion Traumatic Brain Injury and Sensitive Claimants (Sexual abuse/ assault psycholigical injuries) this 30% will come from the invisible psychological injuries.
I was incredulous that this was announced alongside the outcry about exactly the same process occuring at the ACC. This goverment simply hs no clue about the reality of poverty, mental helath and disability.
Not a f**king clue!There, that's my vent.
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merc,
Don't you mean the trains must be sold on time?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/security-locks-alarms/other/auction-487089487.htm -
Andrew E, in reply to
Its one thing to have a target and quite another to have an plan to get to achieve that target . Can't see the plan here
Exactly. And while public management academics such as Bill Ryan at VUW are quietly optimistic (PDF) about Better Public Services, the critical part, as ever, is implementation. And in that regard, this is a slightly cheeky view of 'the plan', as far as I can see:
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Tom Beard, in reply to
This goverment simply hs no clue about the reality of poverty, mental helath and disability.
Not a f**king clue!An absence of either clues, or fucks to give.
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Kyle MacDonald, in reply to
Quite.
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
Auckland’s $98 million public transport ticketing project is in deep troubleHow much???
Calling it “Auckland’s” is deeply misleading. It’s a national smart-fare system (ETA: including the comms standards) developed by the old ARTA and the NZ Transport Agency. That figure is high, but it’s inclusive of work to allow the back-end systems to be used in support of smart-card public transport ticketing in other parts of the country. That figure includes rolling out hundreds of on-board readers for buses and ferries, plus installing on-platform infrastructure for trains, and that includes all of the data back-haul.
It’s actually not as horrendous as it sounds. It’s the whole system, not just the computing back-end.
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Sacha, in reply to
all it required was a “plug-in” for that 500 million SAP system, not a stand alone system
You're getting two things mixed up. The govt decided to chip in funding for a nationwide public transport ticketing system so other cities could use it. Complex anywhere in the world and different requirements than Auckland Council's own IT system. No SAP plugin mentioned.
snap, Matthew
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Sacha, in reply to
this 30% will come from the invisible psychological injuries
Mainly depression. Joy.
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Also, NBR estimates Snapper's float to be about $9.3m in Wellington at any one time. In addition to the benefits for end users, that should net Auckland Transport some extra income!
On rheumatic fever: While the strategy is not necessarily addressing the underlying causes, there are some really good initiatives. I've heard the people behind Say Ahh present, and if they can reduce the number of cases in Flaxmere over a year from 8 to 0 then it may be possible. It tends to occur in quite geographically targettable catchments, and there are only 140-180 cases per year, and if you can remove that many reasonably simply and cheaply from a small place like Flaxmere, it has to seem possible. There are a lot of good minds and initiatives on this, so it would be great to think that this could be achievable. On the other hand, May 2012 was not a good month!
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The new review process for the sickness benefit requires an appointment where:
"We will review your medical information"
"We will ask you questions relating to your medical condition and its effect on your capacity for work."This happens in an open plan office. All the glossy mental health awareness campaigns mean nothing when you're doing this to people.
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Lilith __, in reply to
It’s a national smart-fare system (ETA: including the comms standards) developed by the old ARTA and the NZ Transport Agency. That figure is high, but it’s inclusive of work to allow the back-end systems to be used in support of smart-card public transport ticketing in other parts of the country.
Christchurch has had one of these systems for years: smart cards, reloadable on bus or online, usable on all buses and joining seamlessly with the Harbour ferry. Has transformed public transport into speedy and efficient.
We also have real-time GPS bus-locators, which tell you how long you’ll be waiting for your bus. Many bus stops have a gizmo that reports this information, and it’s now also checkable by mobile phone.Don’t know why Auckland always seems to lag way behind in public transport initiatives, given its population and size.
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
Christchurch has had one of these systems for years
Beijing too, good for buses, subway, many taxis and even some shops. But I think a realtime GPS bus locater would just serve as yet another reminder of the atrocious traffic here.
So why's Auckland so slow about these things?
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Kyle MacDonald, in reply to
Not to mention this pseudo health review will be carried out by non-health professionals, who are answerable to no board, review or clinical oversight.
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
Don’t know why Auckland always seems to lag way behind in public transport initiatives, given its population and size.
Because the last time National were in power, they flogged off our council-owned transport services and we ended up with a multi-private-player tendered mess with no way for the Council to enforce anything across all providers. Just getting to this point required a law change late in Labour’s term to allow a change in how transport routes are tendered, amongst other things. Imagine that Auckland’s bus providers are cats with ADHD, then imagine trying to herd them…
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Sacha, in reply to
Because Auckland's scale means we always need to seek govt buy-in for funding - and that's usually where the problem is, no matter who is in charge or what the mechanism is.
Cullen dragging his heels on rail electrification springs to mind, as does Joyce's ninnying numptiness over the core rail link. However, we have had one of those real-time bus timetable systems for a while (no opinion about its effectiveness).
snap again.
on a roll -
Kumara Republic, in reply to
Because Auckland’s scale means we always need to seek govt buy-in for funding – and that’s usually where the problem is, no matter who is in charge or what the mechanism is.
It's also a side effect of the abolition of regional development. While Auckland is running out of room, the rest of the country is running out of people.
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