Amnesty International Report 2013

270,000 children, yes 270,000, children are now living in poverty in New Zealand, a country infamous for its low wage culture.

New Zealand’s high level of child poverty, violence against women and a proposed law affecting asylum seekers came under fire in Amnesty International’s Annual Report on the state of the world’s human rights.

New Zealand faces most criticism within the country for its high levels of child poverty, according to Grant Bayldon, Executive Director of Amnesty International in New Zealand.

“The mention of up to 270,000 children living in poverty in this global report is a stain on New Zealand’s human rights record.

It further reinforces the need for New Zealand to protect and respect all human rights in New Zealand law.

“States have obligations to protect, respect and fulfill (sic) rights for all people, for those living in poverty, and also asylum seekers and refugees.

As an important voice for human rights protections on the international stage, the New Zealand Government needs to ensure that all actions taken look to respect all human rights, of all people.

“Human rights are not just about freedom from oppression, they’re also about access to education, healthcare, and adequate housing, and such widespread child poverty in New Zealand is a human rights issue.”

Mr Bayldon said New Zealand had signed up to international covenants on these rights but had not put them into law. Adding them to the Bill of Rights would provide a measuring stick for new laws and policies…

Also criticised was the Immigration Amendment (Mass Arrivals) Bill, which would allow for indefinite detention of asylum-seekers arriving by boat in groups of more than 10 people… ” read the full article about the report here http://www.amnesty.org.nz/news/annual-report-2013

New Zealand recently fell to 18th place in an international league table for best country to be a mother, perhaps a reflection of its high number of preventable child deaths. (3rd highest according to UNICEF)

In 2009 (OECD Report Citical of NZ Child Welfare Spending) we wrote about how New Zealand was sixth in that year’s best mum table, despite other data showing that children in this country were more disadvantaged than many other key countries in the developed world.

A UNICEF report published last month also criticised New Zealand’s record forchild wellbeing across a variety of measures, including ranking it 21st out of 35 developed countries for levels of child poverty.

New Zealand’s Childrens commissioner, Russel Wills, said

“We should reallocate resources and direct that resource to the most vulnerable and youngest children.”

New Zealand ranked above Italy and Canada but below Britain and Australia. It was almost bottom – 32nd of 34 – for young people not in any form of education, training or employment.”

New Zealand’s under investment in its young is now beginning to be reflected in the very surveys it used to be so proud of, including a poor showing in the Amnesty International’s International Report 2013 and the UNICEF report.

Considering emigrating to New Zealand because it’s such a great place for kids? you may like to think again.

 Related articles

• Launch of Amnesty International Report 2013: State of the Wo (pacific.scoop.co.nz)
• NZ ranked poorly on child welfare (radionz.co.nz)
• International Mother’s Day, New Zealand plunges in ‘Best Place to be a Mum’ rankings (e2nz.org)
• Child poverty among Budget targets (stuff.co.nz)
• ‘Hold ministers to account’ on child poverty (stuff.co.nz)
• UNICEF criticises NZ record on child wellbeing (radionz.co.nz)

youth gangs are a problem in New Zealand

A gang of 12 and 13 year old thugs are responsible for the worst burglary police in Hamilton have seen in a decade. The gang broke into the home of mother of two, Candy Atkinson, whilst she was out last week.

When Candy returned with her three young children she found her home had been burgled and the TV, Playstation and her other possessions were missing. She left to raise the alarm and came back a couple of hours later to find it had since been destroyed.

It was completely ransacked and vandalised.

You can see the shocking video here http://www.3news.co.nz/Burglars-target-home-twice-in-one-night/tabid/309/articleID/298081/Default.aspx. Whole rooms were turned over, food,  paint and other material  smeared over the floor & walls. Candy’s children’s toys chucked into the fireplace. Above the fireplace the words “Blood gang fck the law” were scrawled in pen on the wall.

In a press release issued today they said they had identified four boys aged 12-13 who they think may be responsible. In a press report that fastidiously avoided using the word “gang” they said

Offenders identified in Hamilton’s worst burglary in a decade

“A week on from what Hamilton Police described as the worst burglary they had seen in a decade, a young mother and her children still can’t sleep, despite Police identifying those responsible.

Hamilton City Tactical Coordinator, Senior Sergeant Freda Grace, said a week on from last Tuesday’s home invasion mother Candy Atkinson and her three young children were still cleaning up the mess.

“When Candy and her three children, aged seven, 11 and 12, arrived home that night a door left open was the first indicator something was amiss.

“Leaving the kids in the car she went in to investigate and found her home in a state that no one should have to witness. The interior was just horrible with food thrown all around and liquid poured everywhere, one of our experienced crime scene investigators described the scene as heartbreaking.”

Following media coverage of the damage to the family’s home Police began to build up a picture of what had happened and who was responsible.

 ”Four boys aged 12-13-years-old have been identified and are being dealt with through Youth Aid.

Related articles

• Bloods gang member pleads guilty in robbery-killing of Newark detective (nj.com)
• Bloods gang member told cops to shoot him a week after trying to burglarize home, Sparta police say (nj.com)

The public are being told that tonnes of frozen meat have been held up for the last month, supposedly because of the name change of a NZ government department. Strangely, other NZ dairy products, such as dairy, have not been affected by the “certification error”, just meat.

In March there was a change on the name of safety documentation that replaced the former Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry with the re-branded Ministry for Primary Industries. But, it has taken until now for the Chinese to refuse to take delivery of the produce. “Our government has known for days but has been keeping quiet” according to a news channel that broke the story Link

Protectionism
Despite the huge amount of spin coming out of New Zealand some sites are saying there may be another reason for the blockade

A top meat industry source said this was being used by Chinese authorities as an excuse to protect local pork and poultry industries.

The source noted that the industry merger was completed in April 2012 and that China had continued to allow imports of both dairy products and beef hides throughout the meat block…

Labour primary industries spokesman Damien O’Connor said the issue followed an ‘‘inadequate’’ response to the DCD scare by the Government.

‘‘National has sat on this issue for almost a month when it should have moved swiftly to rectify the problem, reassure the meat industry and satisfy the Chinese Customs Service.’’

China seized Kiwi meat
Last year China seized Kiwi meat on a crackdown on grey exports, which may explain why it has become a stickler for proper certification. She’ll be right attitudes,and good enough will do, will no longer be tolerated. It looks like the NZ government has been caught napping on the Job.

On June 12, Chinese authorities descended on an inbound ship, seizing more than 1800 metric tons of frozen goods. Five crew members were put in detention by Shenzhen Customs.

The 60-container cargo was described as including beef, chicken wings and pork from the United States, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

Beef and Lamb New Zealand’s general manager of market development Craig Finch said it was impossible to know how much NZ meat was involved or indeed how much finds its way into China each year through illicit channels. However, the overall trade is big… Source

DCD in milk scare
Also last year! New Zealand milk was the subject of a safety scare in China when milk powder with the melamine-related chemical Dicyandiamide, or DCD–a substance that in high doses is toxic to humans, was detected.

There was a significant delay before this information was released and a list of the affected products and batch numbers was never made public. For more about that read WSJ blows the lid on Fonterra tainted milk scandal NZ government knew months ago.

This latest problem with meat exports is going to do little to bolster confidence in New Zealand food products and the government needs to get it sorted out pronto, because the longer it goes on the more the NZ meat industry is going to lose market share.

“The face of New Zealand is constantly changing as new families arrive on our shores.

But what is the experience of arriving and setting up life in New Zealand really like?

We want to hear from immigrant families and individuals who have made New Zealand their home.

Why did you move here? Was it easy to adjust to the Kiwi way of life, or did the culture come as a bit of a shock?…” Read the rest of the assignments here

Predictably enough, the first published response was one telling New Zealanders how luck they are, and written by British immigrant Jonathan Bird.

If you want to contribute to the assignment visit the link above. We shall be keeping watch on the project and looking at what people are writing. If you want to make a submission send us a copy too, that way we can compare what is sent in and what is published.

We constantly hear from immigrant families, look at our comments section to see what they’re saying.

If you are thinking about emigrating to New Zealand you should take a look at our
Migrant Tales series – well over 100 personal stories of emigration to New Zealand, suggesting the country does not live up to expectations.

Join our subscribers if you want to keep up to date with them.

Today’s tale was first published on the only uncensored, not for profit immigration forum – expatexposed.com.

If you would like to tell your own migrant story please leave one, either on that site or in our comments section.

New Zealand Is A Dump!

Posted: Wed May 02.
I live in New Zealand, a country in the Antipodes, and here is my Top Ten list of things I hate about New Zealand, starting at number Ten and counting down.

10. The Weather – It constantly changes. If it rains it is extremely grey and gloomy. If it is sunny it burns.

9. The Hole In The Ozone Layer – Thanks to industrial countries like Germany and the United States, we have a great big hole hanging over our heads which exposes us to the harmful rays of the sun. I go outside for two minutes and I am severly sunburnt.

8. The Government – their policy is to keep kicking you until you are down.

7. New Zealand Law – You get fined for everything here!!!

6. The AllBlacks (NZ’s Rugby Team) – they symbolise everything I hate, beer belching idiots, idolising maniacal baboons undertaking homo-erotic acts.

5. The People – The people here are soooooooooooo dumb. A chimpanzee has more intelligence. They are all drunk and stoned, and therefore have no brains or ambition in life.

4. The Traffic – I live in Auckland, we only have a population of around 1 million, but the traffic here is horrendous. The Public Transport system sucks, you have to catch two different buses to get 5 minutes down the road, and don’t even talk about the trains …. India’s are more glamourous.

3. The Drivers – they all need thick glasses – they are blind,there are so many accidents here, and the bus drivers try and squash you with the bus. I’ve lost count with how many times I’ve almost been crushed by a bus.

2. The Lack of Opportunity – the population is too small, so no matter what you do, it is unsustainable.

My number one on the list of things I hate about New Zealand is ………….

THE FACT IT HAS NO MONEY SO I CAN’T GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today’s tale was first published on the forum at ExpatExposed.com, the only fully uncensored New Zealand immigration discussion site, completely free from commercial interests.

My partner and I wanted to move to Australia to work and live.

We tried for 2 years to get long term work in NZ to save for the move to Australia, got 1 job each but short lived as the employers now just kick you out when the “3 month trial” is up and we did everything to in our power to be the best workers possible so that we could keep our jobs as we needed them badly but the employers can say anything they like and dismiss you for no reason then just employ another as there is 40 or more going for every job they are never short of people and they get away with paying you at the lowest rate ($13.50 an hour) as they only have to pay you more IF they keep you on (pass the 3 month “trial”).

I did a welding course and got my tickets within only 14 weeks for the Christchurch “rebuild” got a temp job but didn’t last long then got a 2nd for a month then a 3rd for about a week then i was only getting work for like 1 – 2 days a week maybe if I was lucky, my partner had nothing! My welding tickets seemed to mean nothing in interviews anymore, After applying and door knocking, we were not getting enough to pay the $230 a week for the rent so I had to get to the doctor and say I was depressed because everything we did got us nothing (my only hope of keeping us off the street was a benefit) so I got a sickness benefit for 4 months and sold my car and moved to my partners mum and dads house and saved, we applied for jobs in Melbourne and the first 20 i applied for I got an email and he even offered me the job and I could start when we get there!!

4 months later I’m still working, my partner found work the 2nd week we got here and its awesome and we would never go back to NZ.

New Zealand is a rotten life of stress, worry and poverty, drunk teens, teen prostitutes, teens huffing butane and dieing, teens shooting their caregivers, parents putting their kids in the dryer and hanging them on the line, schools full of drugs and videos of kids bashing each other posted on YouTube, milk and cheese that costs twice its worth, no work, get paid less and taxed more every day, unemployment high but unemployment benefits getting cut and no jobs for the unemployed, food prices that go up every day, unsolved murders and rapes, police doing unthinkable crimes and getting away with it, a messed up government that act and fight like children, Asians and Indians that flood in every day and get treated like kings and we (new zealanders) get traded like trash and that’s less than 2% of the crap that goes on there! If we were still there we would still be FU%#ED and I reckon on the street with no house.

Sorry but its all true.

USA v. New Zealand women, and South African v. Australian men, World Cup 2011, UK

Polocrosse, a curious fusion of polo and lacrosse, may be played in New Zealand but it isn’t anything more than a middle class hobby.

There aren’t any professional NZ sportsmen or NZ sportswomen who make a living out of it, yet. It doesn’t put bread on the table, so to speak.

It must cost a lot to keep a horse, feed it, transport it to events, ship it overseas for competitions, shoe it, pay vets bills etc. Not something that poor or disadvantaged people do, one would need a great deal of money to be able to compete at  a high level in this pastime.

Team South Africa won the men’s Polocrosse world cup, which was held in the UK in 2011.  Team USA beat the NZ women to win their round.

No word yet as to the location of the next one, but it does appear to be quite a big sport in Australia, who takes the credit for inventing it.

“Australian Made, Internationally Played!

The Polocrosse Association of Australia boasts a membership over 4000 players nationwide spanned over 119 clubs within the 7 states and territories. We are the largest Polocrosse country in the World…”

The 2011 world cup was the first to be held outside of Australia.

The previous 2 World Cup events were held at Morgan Park in Warwick Queensland with “Australia taking out the World Champions trophy in both 2003 and 2007 from New Zealand and the United Kingdom respectively.”

It’s good to see New Zealand mustered up teams for these competitions, they must be very keen to take some silverware home next time.

But it must cost a small fortune to ship a horse over to Australia and compete with the world’s best. Of course finance is not the only obstacle, presumably one would need the correct visa and a clean criminal record to be allowed into to the country to compete.

Perhaps a sponsorship deal would be a good idea, any takers? Given the close association between alcohol and sport in New Zealand perhaps a drinks company may be interested.

Update

On the subject of alcohol and sport. A drink-driving “sportwoman” from Gisborne, who was recently let off after being caught drink driving, is due back in court shortly to have her case reviewed.

According to a report in the NZ Herald

“A drink-driving sportswoman will have her case re-heard after a High Court justice found there was no evidence to support her discharge without conviction and permanent name suppression.

The Gisborne sportswoman has been ordered back before the District Court to be sentenced for a second time, after High Court Justice Christopher Allan ruled her legal team provided no evidence that a conviction would jeopardise her ability to compete overseas.

Justice Allan, in his judgement released today, said the claim by the woman’s lawyers that there was a threat to her competing in the United Kingdom if she was convicted had not been backed up with any proof…” more here

In January the Maori woman pleaded guilty to having  more than double the legal limit of alchol in her blood whilst driving – 801 micrograms per litre of breath. For more about that story click on the links below. The “sportswoman” is said to be currently competing overseas.

“The woman is not well-known nationally and does not play a mainstream sport, police have confirmed.” source

Police appeal athlete’s drink drive ruling

Polocrosse in New Zealand is a Pastime, Isn’t it?

Kiwi Sportswoman Awarded Name Suppression and Discharge for DUI Charge, Free to Drink Drive Again – updated

Gisborne Sportswoman Case: Police were “let down by the system and a weak judge”

Gisborne Sportswoman DUI – Press Release from Conservative Party of New Zealand

Additional links for interest

NZ Polocrosse Facebook page

Polocrosse Four Nations 2013 Facebook page : The Polocrosse Four Nations 2013 is a four day tournament held at Turangi Park with representation from the Irish Cavaliers, Zambian Barbarians and Australia.

New Zealand, not such a great place to be a mum

Finland has taken top place in rankings of the best countries in which  to be a mother, with New Zealand toppling to 18th place.

Nine European countries and Australia take up the top 10 places, in what is going to be a blow to New Zealand’s fixation with its place in  international ‘Best of’ tables.

In 2009 (OECD Report Citical of NZ Child Welfare Spending) we wrote about how New Zealand was sixth in that year’s best mum table, despite other data showing that children in this country were more disadvantaged than many other key countries in the developed world. New Zealand’s under investment in its young is now beginning to be reflected in the very surveys it used to be so proud of.

“Doing Better for Children, was the first time the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had reported on child well-being within its 30 member countries.

It identified New Zealand’s biggest shortfall as its limited spending on young children (aged five and under), which was less than half the OECD average.

New Zealand was also struggling in terms of health, with the highest youth suicide rate in the OECD and an above-average child mortality rate. (see our ‘Stats’ page )”  …

…“Children lived in poor material conditions, average family incomes were low by OECD standards and child poverty rates were high.

While children had high rates of educational achievement, there were large gaps between top and bottom performers.

Immunisation rates for measles were the second-worst in the OECD, and for whooping cough, the fifth-worst.

The report said the government should spend considerably more on younger, disadvantaged children and make sure high rates of spending on older children met the needs of the disadvantaged.”  read the full article here OECD Report Citical of NZ Child Welfare Spending.

Related articles

• New Zealand mothers lose status (stuff.co.nz)
• New Zealand’s telecommunications ranks low in OECD (justinyee79.wordpress.com)
• NZ ranked poorly on child welfare (radionz.co.nz)
• Northern Europe leads the way for working conditions (advocacyactivismagency.wordpress.com)
• Australia among best places to be a mum (bigpondnews.com)
• Baby name ban list updated in NZ (bigpondnews.com)

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FIRST it was deadly poisonous sea slugs, toxic algae and shark attacks, now New Zealand is gaining notoriety for its sea monsters.

A video titled Strange Pukehina sea creature has gone viral and somehow it has been picked up by the British media. The vision of the dead animal was uploaded by someone calling herself Elizabeth Ann and she asked viewers to help her identify what it was.  The British Daily Telegraph reported,

According to Marine mammal expert Anton van Helden, the creature is probably a killer whale.

He told New Zealand’s Channel 3 that the fin structure of the creature is similar to that of a killer whale, which are common around the area in which the carcass was found.

Tests are being carried out on the carcass to confirm this theory.

But no-one appears to be asking the obvious question – how did the killer whale die?

Not a victim of poisonous sea slug or shark attack, we hope.

Related articles

• ‘Sea monster’ mystery spawned after bizarre-looking carcass washes ashore in New Zealand (grindtv.com)
• Mysterious ‘Sea Monster’ Carcass Washes Ashore on New Zealand Beach (scienceworldreport.com)
• sea monster found washed ashore on new zealand beach (thesun.co.uk)
• Mysterious rotting ‘sea monster’ carcass found on New Zealand beach that has jagged teeth and is 30 FEET long (dailymail.co.uk)
• History’s Great Mythical Sea Monsters (boaterexam.com)

Today’s tale was left as a comment on this blog and is reproduced here in full.

“Well, I look forward to the day I can leave. I have lived here for over 3 years and they have been 3 of the most boring, depressing and lonely years of my life. I lived in Fort Lauderdale, USA for 4 years and then I went back to the ‘motherland’ South Africa to see if I could make it work and try and ‘brush’ off the crime issue, but my wife and I decided to leave SA for ‘greener’ pastures and so I headed to the clean, green & adventurous NZ…more like propaganda! Anyway, I fell for it. I was in Wellington for a year and as soon as we got our residency I had to leave because my partner was also suffering from a mild dose of depression and boredom and the worst weather that I have ever encountered in my life. We booked our first tickets out of the place back to my country lifestyle in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It felt wonderful to be back home, to be close to family, and to soak up the great weather…We just felt alive again! Well, we couldn’t stay there forever, so we decided to come back to not lose our residency and also the crime situation and job prospects for a young white male in South Africa are few and far between. If it wasn’t for the crime and political situation in South Africa, I highly doubt we would have ever left the place to come to NZ.

Another major disappointment for me is the lack of wildlife in New Zealand. Going for hikes or doing anything outdoors, I noticed that the forest(bush) had minimal birds and wildlife. It felt like a place that is completely devoid of any wildlife. I know that most native species are threatened, endangered and extinct because of the NZ people and government waking up a little to late to try and conserve what they had left. Their poor conservation efforts has resulted in the demise of most native species in NZ. What a shame! All they have now is a forest that is overrun with with invasive species of both fauna and flora.

NZ small towns are soulless and dead, it’s not pleasant walking around any town, there was nothing much to see or do. When my wife and I did a few road trips around the North island, I didn’t see any nice towns or villages compared to the towns in Italy and Brazil that were full of life and culture! It was cold, damp (most of the time wet), dreary, boring and so called ‘clean & green’ That’s must be the joke of the century. Cost of living in NZ is a complete rip off. Renting a decent one bedroom apartment in Auckland will set you back R400 a week which is insane compared to what I used to pay in the USA and SA. Food prices are way too high! The beaches are not that great and the weather in Auckland is terrible.

Don’t get me wrong, NZ has some nice places, but it is way oversold. I typically advise people that NZ has simply perfected their marketing. I might sound very negative and full of it, but remember this is just my opinion. New Zealand does have it’s + compared to South Africa in that the crime rate is low especially violent crime, minimal corruption within the government compared to the ANC, less materialistic and also no poverty stricken areas when compared to SA.

My wife is studying and after 2 years we will be leaving. There is no way we could ever live here. It is just a stepping stone even though the last 3 and half years feel like a complete waste of time. I’m getting older and with every year that goes by I keep asking myself why on earth I ever went through with it…The best answer I could come up with was the political and crime situation in SA pushed me to pack up and head overseas. If I had it my way I would of stayed in the USA. I felt alive and well there!

Anyway, it is what is for now. I must just be grateful!

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now was once among the things you only hoped for.” Epicurus.”