Posts Tagged ‘new zealand’

The Haves and Have Nots

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

Consultants © imperator fish

* Average taken from figures from 2008-2009 to 2010-2011 financial years. Source 

** Child Poverty Action Group’s estimate of annual cost to provide breakfasts for the poorest 30% of primary and intermediate schools ($18.9 million)  Source 

Wandering through my Twitter feed, I came across Scott Yorke’s tweet about his latest post at Imperator Fish which contains the chart above.

While I know, like and respect some of the consultants with whom I have worked in my time in New Zealand, these figures only increase my concern about the real costs of the culture of consultation that exists today and raises more questions about who benefits from the same.

Acknowledging that one infographic can never tell the full story and recognising the private sector can spend money however shareholders will allow, I would guess that the true cost/benefit of, and the tangible return on, public sector consultation would be almost impossible to calculate without employing yet more consultants.

On the other hand, the cost of poverty – whether first hand for those in its grasp or the consequential impacts elsewhere in the economy has been diligently recorded in the quarterly Vulnerability Report from The New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS) since it was first published three years ago. It makes for sobering and occasionally harrowing reading.

As a former public sector social responsibility manager, I know that there are no easy answers to child poverty and the associated health implications or to addressing the cyclic issues that keep families in poverty and debt. As a citizen who immigrated seven years ago to give his own four kids a better start in life, it troubles me that many in this country are unable to do the same and seem to have little hope of ever doing so.

That the government seem to diminish, marginalise, or worse blithely ignore the issue is unconscionable.

The Feds are in town!

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

A day of variety.  Awoke to learn that we seem to have some naughty neighbours.  After a quick tea, hooked up and checked over our trailer before taking it to the vehicle inspection station for its periodic WOF.

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Took a bunch of stuff to read as the queue is always a long one on Saturdays.  Upon arriving, I was surprised to see that there was no queue – until I remembered that this is the weekend of the annual local hot rod show.  While the roads were choked with cars as always, clearly no-one was getting theirs tested, judging by the large number failing checks at the police check point down the road.

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Back home in record time and after fruit salad and coffee, I set to and tackled the ‘honey, do!’ list of tasks requested by SWMBO.  For the record this included:

  • Resurrecting the non-functioning turbine head on our Dyson vacuum cleaner.  Having fiddled with, disassembled, reassembled, tested, disassembled again, disassembled some more, cleaned, dried & re-lubricated the brush & drive components and reassembled again, I fixed the thing. I take my hat off to James Dyson and his design engineers – not only is the vacuum the best we’ve ever had, it is user serviceable and therefore flies in the face of the ‘cheaper to buy a new one’ mentality so prevalent these days.
  • Repairing the grip of the expensive salon-grade hairdryer.
  • Glueing a Dr Scholl’s heel file back together.

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After providing a quick lesson in how to use sandpaper to a crafty daughter making a wooden wall hanging, I jumped on the Brompton to run last night’s DVDs – The Tree of Life and Oranges and Sunshine – back to the store before heading to the library to scoop up a requested book for SWMBO and Brad Meltzer’s The Book of Lies for me.

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Following lunch, I took the smallest and a friend to see The Adventures of Tintin. Great fun and technically brilliant but always felt like it was tailored to favour the 3D version with heaps of in-your-face action and, with its linear plot and set pieces, maximise the spin-off game potential.

Later, after a brief read, a longer nap and a fish supper, we decamped to the home of Canasta-playing friends on a whim when SWMBO decided she wanted to learn to play the game.  Whether it was because I’m tired, was sober due to being the designated driver or simply not the most motivated of card players when it comes to longer games, I struggled from the first hand.  Even with the patient coaching of my mate Paul, I found it hard to match the enthusiasm and growing skill of SWMBO who was under the tutelage of Paul’s wife Tracey.  That said, we somehow won.

Back home and with a glass of red wine consumed, I’m off to bed and to delve into the darkness of Adam.

Occupy Aotea: sit-in sell-out?

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Pizza

Hmm.

Earlier today, I saw a pizza delivery guy delivering to a tent amid those of the ongoing protest in Auckland’s Aotea Square.  Call me old fashioned but doesn’t secret snacking on a garlic-infused stuffed crust 12″ meat-lovers kind of undermine the integrity of one’s staunch commitment to the anti-greed/consumerism/globalisation/everything cause?

Just saying.

The Night Shift

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Abhaka

In an hour and a half, these blokes will clock on for the most important 80 minutes of their playing career.  4.5 million people will hold their breath, hoping to see the All Blacks win the William Web Ellis Trophy on home ground and cement themselves into the history books and the country’s collective consciousness for ever. Excited to be a Kiwi tonight.

#occupy

Monday, October 17th, 2011

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The 99 per cent have taken up residence in Aotea Square, much to the befuddlement of the locals and international rugby fans enjoying the spring sun this afternoon.  The NZ Herald reports that collating statistics from NZ survey data and the Luxembourg Wealth Study shows New Zealand is the 3rd most unequal country in terms of how much of the nation’s wealth is held by the ‘top’ 1% of the population.  At 16%, where just behind 2nd place Sweden at 18% but way short of the 33% of the U.S.A.

When I was working in the corporate social responsibility field just a couple of years back, one in seven families in New Zealand were living below the generally acknowledged poverty line.  Now, according to Dr. Claire Dale, co-editor of the CPAG‘s September 2011 report, Left Further Behind: how policies fail the poorest children in New Zealand, “at least one in five New Zealand children experiences significant deprivation that compromises their health, their education and their future”.

While I offer no insight or opinion regarding these global protests, their validity or their efficacy, I do wonder about the values we model as citizens – to our kids, our communities and the world at large.

Edit 18-10-11:  This morning, the NZ Herald reported that John Key has admitted that the “growing underclass’ he committed to help during the period I mentioned above has, in all likelihood, grown further in the intervening period. Whether the Government has done its best to insulate people from the recession, as he claims, is something I’ll leave you to decide for yourself.

 

The last piece of paper

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Five years, four months and 25 days ago, I wrote a post entitled Two pieces of paper, in which I celebrated our family being granted returning residency in New Zealand.

Citizenship

Today, we each received a letter (above) requesting we attend a ceremony next month at Auckland Town Hall.  There, with just a twist of irony, we will swear allegiance to the Queen of the country we left six years ago and, by doing so, become citizens of New Zealand.

We are ‘encouraged to wear the national dress of [our] country of origin’ and I am currently favouring a curry and beer-stained England football shirt over a three piece suit and bowler hat.


Rooney Citygent


Needless to say, we are chuffed to bits and look forward to the day when, 38 months after arriving in New Zealand ‘fresh off the boat’ as they say here, we can, with hand on heart call ourselves Kiwis.

Feathered friends

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

I have had a day of positive avian influence.

This morning, I woke to the alarm and, having switched it off, lay back to listen to the tuis out-sqwauking the other early birds in the trees along our little road.  They seemed to be a happy bunch and very much enjoying life and this made me smile.

Later, I was in a lunchtime Quaker meeting for worship with my eyes closed, enjoying the silence and the sun streaming through the window.  I gradually became aware of the birdcall outside the window, competing with but somehow less distracting than the traffic noise and sirens.  Again, I smiled at their busy noisiness and returned to my prayer.

Still later, in the middle of a meeting with my boss this afternoon, we were distracted by a colourful pair of Rainbow Lorikeets (thanks for the identification, Ray) in the tree outside my office window.  We laughed and jointly decided to suspend the meeting for a few minutes so we could enjoy their antics and I could take a few pictures before reconvening.

Just a few more lovely reasons why it’s nice to live and work in NZ!

John Key meets local leader

Friday, January 29th, 2010

John Key presenting trophy

At her recent junior school graduation, our daughter Robyn was awarded her school’s Leadership Cup for outstanding leadership throughout the school year.  Earlier today, she was presented with cup by its sponsor, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, at his electorate office near our home.  Cheerful and modest, Robyn lives her life to a high standard and is the model of a servant leader, never asking more than she herself is prepared to give.  I am humbled by her selflessness and I count myself as fortunate to be her Dad.

Chelsea's Thoughts

Friday, November 13th, 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcbeth/

What is friendship? When we are in kindergarten, our friends are those who have the cool crayons that they are willing to share. Friends are easily made and there is no conflict, no fights and no racism. Love beats all things when you are young […] Tiffs are inevitable, but the saddest thing is when a friendship falls to pieces over the smallest wee thing. In kindergarten, fights would be resolved with a hug and a kiss, and then we would all play on the playground for hours like nothing had happened.

The lovely little passage above resonates with me – the simplicity of our early friendships, the fiery fury of the playground breakups and unconditional love of the before home-time makeups.  It brought to mind the following passage from Robert Fulghum’s lovely book ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten‘.

Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.  Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday school. These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder.

Isn’t it great then that the first passage was written by Chelsea, a young aspiring writer here in New Zealand, in the second post to her new blog, Chelsea’s Thoughts.  I must confess a smidgen of bias here, for Chelsea is a close friend of my daughter – and, bless her, cites my blog as an inspiration to write!  Never the less, I think the world needs more enthusiastic young writers like Chelsea – writers that have a great spark and a lovely turn of phrase, so add her to your blogroll, read her posts and comment with encouraging words.