In an age where the gap between rich and poor in New Zealand is steadily widening, the government has a duty to not just implement new technology that will benefit the rich, but even to target it primarily at those who are so often left out of our thinking. We hear a lot about India’s rapid economic progress, but much less about the fact that there are millions of youth in India who just can’t find a job

Brazil has the goal of giving every school-age child a personal wi-fi lap-top, and to this end has entered into a contract with a major computer firm to manufacture a computer that is a distinctive colour and size and will not be sold commercially. This whole commitment is solely aimed at poor children.

At the moment anyone can access the internet in public libraries. This at least gives the possibility of being part of the IT age to those willing to make the effort to go to the library. However we now hear even this is threatened by new legislation which could take a public library to court if someone (unknown) was downloading material for which they did not have the appropriate licence. Another example of how so many things, unwittingly, are slanted to benefit the well-off, who do not need to go to public libraries for internet access. How ironic if the effect of UFB was to remove what little internet access they presently have, from our New Zealand poor.

At 56 when he takes over from Sir Anand Satyanand, Lt Gen Mateparae is certainly the youngest governor-general in a long while and this could help him connect with young people – he himself has five children the two youngest still at school and home. His record is impeccable. He does not seem to have been out of step with the powers that be in the army since he joined nearly 40 years ago.

Apart from my concern over the fact that the appointment was made by a prime minister whose government has just rammed through legislation preventing Maori from seeking claim to the foreshore and seabed, I have another niggle. Forgive me if this seems a trifle churlish but I can’t find any reference, on the internet at least, to Jerry Mateparae’s whakapapa except for a hint in the biographical notes which say that he comes from Whanganui.

Now given that the British colonial government consistently disenfranchised Maori to the point of near extinction by 1900 – making it illegal to own land in common, suppressing the practice of an important figure in Maori health, the tohunga, and punishing children for speaking te reo at school to name a few repressive devices – it seems to me a bit rich to appoint a Maori to represent the queen, particularly one who clearly fails to identify his whakapapa. Could this be a serve for Maori who are grounded in their cultural heritage and who do speak as tangata whenua?

As a result of a report  by by Dame Margaret Bazley radical changes are to be introduced to the to the legal aid  system. It will no longer be possible to choose a lawyer to represent you should you have to appear in court. Instead, lawyers – paid between $105 and $182 an hour – will be put on a roster to be assigned cases.

In her report Dame Margaret noted that some lawyers take on too many cases. An item in the New Zealand Herald names several lawyers who received over legal aid payments of over $500,000 dollars in one year.

It also reports that the defence lawyer who took on the most legal aid cases last year – 599 – failed in a court bid to stop the amendments.  Justice Rebecca Ellis refused to grant the injunction, as legal aid recipients did not have the right to pick their lawyer.

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While I do not condone what these people have done I also wish to avoid demonizing them. These objects of derision are real people, people like you and me; people who have partners, children, parents, and friends. I am distressed by the way they have been humiliated. Although victims of their own stupidity they do not deserve to be put on public display and bullied, prodded and poked until they submit.

I used to think public figure must have exceptionally thick skins… and I still suspect some of them do. But I have seen and heard enough about the private anguish of some of our public figures to know that many experience deep anguish. David Lange, for example, said that at one stage he was afraid to walk down the road for fear of being abused.

OK what they did was wrong, but it was hardly a hanging offence. Let’s forgive them and show them a little humanity. These men and women are my brothers and sisters

Let’s show a little human decency

Being named the world’s most peaceful nation is a special opportunity for me to pause and reflect. And to savour, celebrate and give thanks for this special peace that covers our beautiful land.

In November 2009, we were also ranked the world’s least corrupt nation¹. Both these plaudits come at the expense of Scandinavian countries, which for many years have been models of social harmony, but have recently been affected by the financial crisis and its consequences for all.

We have since learnt how this global crisis was caused by the greed of a few with disproportionate power and access, enabled by the flaws in our existing structures. While many Kiwis have felt some of the effects, we’re blessed to have been spared the worst.

At a homily given in Christchurch in November 1986, Pope John Paul II said that “Peace in the world can never be won so long as injustice controls the relationships among people and social and economic imbalances are allowed to continue”. As I reflect, I feel that acknowledging the relative justice and fairness of our society – and seeking to protect and build on our achievements – are precious keys to our peace.

I acknowledge we have wounds, yet to be healed. I pray that as we work toward healing, we continue to show the respect for each other’s dignity, that has earned us our peace, and enabled our mahi in bringing peace elsewhere in our world. I am reminded of the image given to us by the NZ Bishops, of Te Kahu-o-te-ora²; the sacred cloak of integrity and wholeness that embraces all aspects of human life. Strengthen and perfect our peace, Lord – our kahu – and as it preserves and protects us, may it flow out, bringing others into its embrace.

The article partly attributes our ranking to our government. I pray for wisdom for our leaders, that they may continue to keep us a fair, just and united country that seeks social justice and the common good.

¹ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AH0HA20091118

² http://catholic.org.nz/statements/9704_consistent.php

The Institute for Economics and Peace list was created after the start of the global recession, finding the financial meltdown was dragging the world toward political instability and conflict.It laid out its key findings ahead of the publication of its annual Global Peace Index, a report prepared with the Economist Intelligence Unit.The report, which surveyed 144 countries, says New Zealand’s rise to first is partly explained by the election of a National-Act coalition last year.

“The centre-right National Party has a strong popular mandate and a robust parliamentary majority by New Zealand’s standards, putting the new Prime Minister, John Key, in a good position to push through his agenda.”It also says New Zealand received the best  possible scores for the likelihood of violent demonstrations, the homicide rate and the level of respect for human rights

The rise to first position is also related to the fall of Iceland from the top spot last year, which reflected the increase in violence following the banking collapse that engulfed its economy in September.Professor Kevin Clements from the University of Otago, who was on the panel of experts for the index, told the Herald: “The index is a pretty good reflection of countries people want to live in, because on bicultural issues and a variety of factors we are scoring well. “If you look at the top 20, they are all small nations based on strong welfare principles, all with good and relatively uncorrupt governance.”

Professor Clements, who is director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, said the National Government faced a challenge in preserving New Zealand’s top ranking.”The question is whether the current Government will be as committed as the last … a role for New Zealand as a conflict-resolving nation. I will be interested to see if we rank as high, but I can’t imagine we’ll slip far.” He said the greatest threat to New Zealand’s peacefulness would be a more severe economic downturn or an increased sense of grievance toward Treaty of Waitangi issues.

The whole article

The Global Peace Index criteria with well-functioning government and sound business environment at the top gives some insight into the hallmarks of ‘peacefulness’. Respectful of human rights and tolerance and good relations with the neighbours are third and fourth. The criteria also include high levels of freedom of information and the acceptance of others.

From an international perspective, New Zealand does have relatively stable and well-functioning government and its business environment is largely sound. The country has good relations with its neighbours which are also Pacific islands (so the borders are all water) and tolerance of difference may well relate to New Zealand’s relative emptiness – its citizens are not forced usually to live cheek-by-jowl with their neighbours.

But in terms of social justice, a closer look at the country’s chance of maintaining its ‘peacefulness’ is required. This means taking into account the reversed promise to return land to Tuhoi, or the wrangle over the foreshore and seabed. There is no account of the inequity in the government’s latest budget which many commentators say will boost the gap between rich and poor. Disproportionate representation by Maori in the health and justice systems continues to boost inequality and life expectancy is still lower for Maori.

All of this is manifest in high levels of domestic violence which could well blow New Zealand’s peacefulness out of the water.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/business/3613852/Sam-Morgan-defends-tax-comments

Trade Me founder Sam Morgan says he does not want to be portrayed as a tax evader and plans to give most of his money away in his lifetime.
He also reveals in a blog today that he paid about $25 million of taxable income last year into his charitable foundation, resulting in him having “almost no income to tax”. Earlier this week NZPA reported that Mr Morgan, 32, had said in an interview on the SciBlogs website that he paid “basically no tax… And that’s not right, but what am I supposed to do?”

Finance Minister Bill English told reporters that Mr Morgan could “just write out a cheque to IRD” if he was feeling uneasy about the tax laws.
Mr Morgan is estimated to have made at least $227m from his $700m sale of Trade Me to publisher Fairfax Media in 2006.

On his blog samfromwellington.posterous.com, Mr Morgan said today: “I did not intend to be commenting publicly about my tax situation or tax policy, but I’ve decided to in a blog post rather than be painted as a ‘rich ******’ or tax evader.”

He wrote that he had built a company that paid of millions in corporate taxes every year. Now Fairfax Media owned Trade Me it paid those millions from Trade Me profits.
While Trade Me was paying dividends, all shareholders paid tax on those. “Where New Zealand is out of line with most other countries is in the absence of taxes on capital gains. If I had sold Trade Me in Australia, the US, UK, Canada or most other places, I would have paid taxes on the capital proceeds,” Mr Morgan said.

While some may say it is all very well for Sam Morgan to be generous, he has plenty of money to generous with, I still applaud him because it seems to me that there is a natural human tendency to hold on to everything we can get our hands on even when we have much more than we need and others have nothing. It takes strength of character to resist this instinct.

I recognise in myself a tendency to hold on to my own little pile of possessions unimpressive as they are.  Like so many others, in pursuing my self-interest I am content to know I am keeping the law.  I am discomfited by Jesus response to the young man who said we wanted to be a follower, “There is still one thing you lack. Sell everything you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

I pray for a generous heart and freedom from avarice.

There are signs of a dangerous and insidious dehumanisation becoming increasingly apparent.

They’re now trying to “vigorously” and “rigorously” draw neat lines classifying invalid and sick Kiwis, some with long-term mental illness, many of whom have been ill for years. All this to bash those on the fringes of our society further down from $243 to $194 per week?

Why put all this energy into trying to make black and white areas of mental illness and sickness, when any mistake will end up costing so much more in terms of hardship, longer recovery, and damage to Human Dignity?

Wouldn’t efforts be better directed, (from the point of view of both social justice and cost-effectiveness) in improving systems to detect, prosecute and recover the tax-avoiding efforts of companies and individuals at the other end of the spectrum?

Wouldn’t this be a truer pursuit of the Common Good that Catholic Social Teaching implores us to seek as a basic tenet of our lives?

On Christmas Eve 2009, New Zealand’s big four banks and the Inland Revenue Department announced a settlement of their disputes over structured finance deals that involved the banks paying the government a gross $2.2 billion. And this was just 80% of the total tax owed plus interest. This ‘settlement’ left them still holding on to $550 million of ours, the taxpayers, money.

How many more of these sophisticated, complex transactions pass untaxed through the loopholes of our tax system? To say nothing of the vagaries of Trust Law and other tax mitigation measures which have legions of dedicated experts giving advice?

Do we accept this without batting an eyelid, then suddenly become morally outraged when it comes to $49 per week to a person either an invalid or ill?

Simply stating an increase in the number of invalids beneficiaries is a smoke screen.

• How is this affected by an ageing population?
• How many are genuine cases who for one reason or another were unfairly left out previously?
• And how many are those who simply did not know they could access this benefit before in the first place?

Many people are not told they are entitled to benefits, and miss out. In the case of Temporary Additional Support, for example, 4 out of every 10 beneficiaries entitled to this were missing out as at Dec 2009.

Also alarming is the way in which the current government is going about making these and other important and potentially life altering changes without any sort of consultation with those affected.

The Social Teaching of the Catholic Church clearly calls us to raise our voices against this modus operandi. The Principle of Subsidiarity emphasizes that people or groups most directly affected by a decision or policy should have a key decision making role. The total lack of consultation with beneficiaries and beneficiary groups is openly acknowledged in Ministry of Social Development papers analysing these welfare changes.

Faith calls us to be active in seeking justice for all, here and now, to stand up and raise our voices in solidarity for the Common Good, against the evidence of unjust structures.