McJobs Government Sentences Kiwi Kids To A Dead End Future.

This week the Prime Minister John Key (also Minister for Tourism) confirmed that the government is to pour $1 million into the '100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games'. It was also announced that Tourism New Zealand had obtained the naming rights sponsorship deal on the event.

Further cutbacks on Tertiary Education
In the last few days it's been announced that $1 million in redundancy payments to Otago Polytechnic staff pushed the institution to its worst financial result in 5 years. Meanwhile, three Government-funded tertiary student scholarships (Step Up, Bonded Merit and Top Achiever doctoral schemes) have been axed to save $98 million.

I think we're beginning to see where the future of New Zealand's youth will be headed: the low paid service sector industry, tourism and prison management.

Now the Maritime Union has spoken out in a press release against the NZ government's plan to facilitate McDonalds' expansion of its trading base by 'helping' the company to recruit 7,000 people over the next 5 years:

"The Maritime Union says the National Government's plan to act as a compulsory recruitment agency for McDonalds fast food chain is a travesty.

One time truck stop waitress and Minister for Social Developlment Paula Bennett has described an agreement between WINZ and McDonalds that will provide up to 7000 unemployed workers for the fast-food chain's growth plans over the next five years.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the scheme has two beneficiaries - a Government with a failing jobs policy, and a global corporation that will suck profits out of New Zealand.

He says the scheme is condemning working class young people to a dead end future.

Low wage, casualized trap
"The fact is that for most people, working in these jobs is not a career path, it is a low-wage, casualized trap." He says he is interested how many children of National Party MP's are being sent off to develop their careers as burger makers.

Mr Hanson says that claims that such "McJobs" will provide a career path are similar to the burgers. "They always look good in the ads but when you eat them they never live up to the promises."

Mr Hanson says that thousands of skilled jobs in manufacturing are being demolished, and freezes in funding for polytech places will keep young people out of training. He says young New Zealanders should have the opportunity to work in areas like the maritime industry or the fishing industry for decent wages.

"Yet what we see is underpaid and often exploited overseas crews working in New Zealand waters while local people are shovelled towards the dole or the chip fryer."

Social divison, inequality and erosion of family life
Mr Hanson says the current scenario is that New Zealand is going to have a massive low-wage sector that would breed enormous social divisions and problems. He says secure, wellpaid jobs have long been under attack in New Zealand, as profits ballooned but workers saw their incomes shrink.

"Under the current Government we are only seeing two areas of employment growth, prison staff and fast food, if this is a success I'd like to see what a failure looks like."

Mr Hanson says the toll of casual jobs, multiple jobs, irregular hours and shift work in a "24 hour society" was causing massive social inequality and disruption to family and community life, leading to stress, health issues, crime and family breakdown."

McHospitals
In October of last year health chiefs called for southern health boards to cut ties with fast food companies such as McDonalds to fight a dramatic rise in obesity. Otago DHB public health group manager Pip Stewart criticised " the health sector's willingness to form links with fast food outlets when it should walk away, as it does with tobacco and alcohol companies.

Sponsorship from the likes of McDonald's would contradict promoting good nutrition and physical activity, needed to reverse the rise in obesity." See McHospitals

230,000 kids live in unacceptable poverty
22% Kiwi kids live in unacceptable poverty - that's 230, 000 youngsters according to a report prepared for Barnados and Cindy Kiro the Children's Commissioner. Cutting back on training and investment and condemning 7,000 young people to low paid futures in the prison service and fast food joints makes for a pretty dismal future. What a pity the 'New Zealand Lifeback Promise' only extends to tourists.

Wouldn't it be better to use some of the massive profits that companies like McDonalds make and put it toward building a better future for all of New Zealand's young people - use it to fund education, training courses and apprenticeships. Why condemn another generation to a minimum wage subsistence where the only bright thing will be the golden arches on every high street.


For today's posts see: latest posts

British Tourists Made To Pay $42 For Showers

Three British tourists who snuck into Punakaiki Beach Camp for a shower on Thursday morning and then left without paying were charged $42 by the owners to get back the few possessions they'd accidentally left behind.

In a TVNZ report the owners, Lynda and Ross Eddy described getting $42 out of the three women as "sweet revenge" Ross said " the outcome was one of the best he'd had in 32 years in the tourism industry."

Revenge is a shower best served cold.

Perhaps coin/token operated hot showers are a more satisfactory idea?

Read more here: Sweet Revenge

For today's posts see: latest posts

UPDATE: More on the Death of James Patrick Smith - The British Tourist Killed in Queenstown, Inquest Opens.

The Otago Daily Times has published some more on the mysterious death of British man James Patrick Smith in Queenstown, New Zealand who was found at the rear of the Base backpacker hotel in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The comments of the manager of Base (who originally "declined to comment") are rather interesting and seem to be at odds with initial police reports that Mr Smith fell from a height.

No access to the roof
"Base Discovery Lodge manager Matthew Hirst told the Otago Daily Times yesterday he was unsure if Mr Smith had fallen from the roof. He said there was no access to the roof of the four-storeyed building, even from the stairs at the back.

"You can't even get on to the roof from the ladder - mind you, he could have climbed up."

Mr Hirst confirmed the dead man was not a guest at the backpackers.It is understood Mr Smith had been staying at a youth hostel on Lake Esplanade with a friend from the United Kingdom, with whom he was travelling.

Det Miller said while the 25-year-old had no occupation listed, he was understood to be a ski instructor and had arrived in Queenstown at the start of the week looking for work.He had been at a youth hostel until about 9pm or 10pm on Thursday and then gone into town, possibly with other people from the hostel."

Read the full article, see the alleyway here: Police believe dead man fell from roof

Meanwhile, relatives and friends should wait for the results of a coroner's report to know for certain how Mr Smith died.

UPDATE 21 August:

Inquests opens and is adjourned. Report in the ODT here: Dead tourist had high alcohol

Similar death in 2008

View Larger Map

Allegations surrounding the incident bear remarkable similarities to the death of Shaun Bernard Hogan, 24 from Invercargill. He fell to his death from the three storey roof of Queenstown's The Glebe apartment building on 8 March last year whilst highly intoxicated.

During the inquest coroner David Crerar said that his death should be an indictment on the evils of alcohol and not the individual. Report link: alcohol to blame

Queenstown most violent place in New Zealand

Queenstown was recently named as 'the most violent place in the country' according to police statistics published last year by the Southland Times, with alcohol being a significant factor.

"You are almost twice as likely to be violently assaulted in Queenstown than anywhere else in New Zealand, according to new police statistics.The assault will almost certainly take place in the central business district and there is a 17 percent chance it will be on licensed premises.

The statistics suggest it will very likely happen between 1am and 2am and probably at New Year, Easter or during the peak winter period.

There's a 64 percent chance the attacker will be a New Zealander, an 87 percent chance he will be male and an almost 50 percent chance he will work in the construction industry or as a chef.

These figures are included in a report compiled by Queenstown police intelligence analyst Constable Sean Drader in response to the growing number of violent crimes in the resort.....

Mr Drader said the problem was particularly serious for Queenstown given its reliance on the tourism industry and the attendant publicity of serious attacks of even a homicide.

"That kind of publicity carries a risk of a downturn in the town's major industry. It's a serious problem and a very real problem to the community." It was up to the community in general and bar owners in particular to take ownership of the problem and begin taking steps, alongside police and the Queenstown Lakes District Council to resolve it, he said."Read more of the article here: Queenstown most violent place in country

See also: "Streets of fear - Cops are hunting two offenders after late-night violence flared near Queenstown night clubs."

Tourists Injured in Bus Crash

A coach full of tourists has been involved in a serious road accident on the Haast Pass Highway (SH 6) 6 km north of Makarora.

The coach, which was passing through forested area at the time, collided with a Mercedes that overtook it on a straight section of road. Black ice was thought to have been a contributing factor in the crash which sent both the car and the bus spinning out of control into nearby trees.

The ODT reported that 4 people were seriously injured and were taken to hospital, the Southland times said that the bus was operated by Kiwi Experience and that 44 tourists were on board.

The coach party comprised mostly of backpackers who were said to be severely shaken by the accident and taken to the Makarora Wilderness Resort cafe to recover and wait for replacement transport.

No details have been released of the nationalities of the people involved. More on the story here Tourist bus, car crash into forest

2007 a bus, also carrying 44 mainly British tourists plunnged down SH6 near Franz Josef Glacier in Westland. That bus was operated by Kiwi Experience.

A NewstalkZB report at the time stated: "A local near the scene says the passengers have been told by the tour company, Kiwi Experience, not to speak to the media. The local says most of them appear to be in good spirits."

2008 another British tourist was killed when a coach operated by Stray Travel (who market themselves under the slogan "Get further off the beaten track with unique stops and activities" ) tumbled 10 metres down a bank 30 km south of Westport on the west coast. At the time The Press reported:

"One woman, a 62-year-old British national who lived in Spain, was thrown from the bus and killed instantly, police said.
The crash is the latest in a series of accidents involving tour buses and has generated negative publicity for New Zealand's tourism industry in some of its core markets, including in Britain.
National Party transport spokes man Maurice Williamson said he would be asking questions in Parliament about the safety of tourist bus operations.
A Dutch passenger, who declined to be named, said the bus `just drove off the road' ''
See also Times Newspaper report: Briton dies in NZ bus crash, for more details, including other tourism bus accidents in NZ's west coast region.

It will be interesting to see if this latest tourist bus crash will again raise in parliament the issue of tour bus safety and whether or not the injured people will be able to claim for compensation under the "New Zealand Life Back Promise".

THAT'S COLD - Exploding the Myth About Sub Tropical New Zealand

There is a lovely piece of writing by Linley Boniface in the Dom Post.

It's her account about what it's like to suffer the winter cold in a "flimsy wooden shack" (aka house) in Wellington, New Zealand.

If you're tempted to emigrate to New Zealand and been seduced by stories about its sub-tropical climate read on. If you already live in New Zealand you'll know what she's talking about and will perhaps manage a laugh through your chattering teeth:

"Which settler spread the myth that New Zealand was so balmy and sub-tropical that flimsy wooden shacks would suffice?"

"Without wanting this to sound like a suggested script for recruits to the sex chatline industry, I feel an urgent need to tell you what I am wearing.

There is a coat, a scarf, a pair of fingerless gloves and a hat of such hideousness that my small son almost fell down the stairs in fright when he first saw it. There are several tops, two sets of leggings and a pair of the kind of quilted sheepskin slippers rarely seen on anyone who still possesses all their own teeth.

It is, in short, an outfit offering the level of thermal protection an Antarctic scientist might require in order to spend an afternoon dissecting a Weddell seal on an exposed ice shelf. And yet, I am wearing this not on an ice shelf, but in my home office in Wellington. Although I can't tell you exactly how cold it is in here, my gin and tonic is only a couple of degrees away from freezing over.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, especially in my house. Having once believed I would throw myself on a landmine to protect my children from injury, I now refuse to move away from the fireplace to allow them to defrost when they return home from school. This southern hemisphere Siberia has turned me into a warmth hog.

Walking into my unbelievably chilly house after nightfall last week, I was unable to respond to my dog's friendly greeting because I was transfixed by a mental image of an illustration I'd once seen of a caveman taking refuge from the cold by sheltering among the still-warm entrails of a freshly killed buck deer.

My dog seemed to sense my train of thought and quickly slunk away. Luckily for her, she is a small dog and her chest cavity would be of use only as a footwarmer: if she'd been a great dane, it would have been a different story.

Ask any migrants to New Zealand what bewilders them most about this country and they will immediately mention our cold homes - as well as our insane driving, our inability to laugh at ourselves and our inexplicable fondness for cheap pies containing mince presumably garnered from recycled camel genitalia.

The cold homes, though, are most baffling, because most people consider hypothermia a symptom of being cold, rather than an expression of national identity."

It could be worse, she could live in Dunedin.

Read the rest here Which idiot spread the myth?

The forecast for Wellington to 9am Monday 1 June : Min Temp 2, Max 8

Adventure Tourism Industry Safety

The death of 6 high schools students and their teacher on an outward bound course resulted in the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoors Centre being ordered to pay a $40,000 fine and $440,000 in reparations.

The tragic deaths stunned the nation when the school party drowned in a rapidly flooding gorge after warnings of heavy rain weren't acted upon.

Following the court case the Department of Labour urged the adventure tourism industry to look critically at its health and safety systems in light of the Mangatepopo canyon trekking tragedy. A lot should've been learned, but has it?

A lot has already been written about the tragedy on the net so I won't go over it again, I'll just point interested readers towards an excellent thread by Steve Howe on Backpacker blogs, from which the following snippet was taken

"We Americans and our media tend to point fingers hard and fast after adventure fatalities, but Kiwis apparently follow the opposite philosophy to an almost surreal extreme. The prevailing New Zealand attitude seems to be that adventure requires risk, adventurers shouldn’t be coddled, the OPC is very professional, and no one could have predicted what happened. And I’d like to believe that, but it just doesn’t wash.

We’re not talking about adventure or adventurers here, we’re talking about high school students contracted to a commercial guide service for adventure training. When you combine risky pursuits, young guides, novice clients, and business volume, the standards have to be higher than ‘everyone knew the risk’ simply because everyone doesn’t. And that’s particularly true of canyoneering, which combines fun but risky activities like rappels, pool jumps, and whitewater swimming with sexy scenery and aerobic ease – the perfect combination for marketable adventure.

But canyons are also very committing. IMHO, slick pouroffs, whitewater currents, undercut boulders, logjams, rockfalls, flash floods, and difficulty of retreat make them generally unsuited to volume guiding or team-building exercises. And the New Zealand version of ‘canyoning’ differs greatly from American-style ‘canyoneering.’ Canyoning often involves precision pool leaps from high cliffs, or necky whitewater swims above the brink of waterfalls, risks that American outfitters would never incorporate into their operating plan.

I’m a firm believer that sudden accidents rarely happen suddenly. With a little forethought and a few case histories under your belt, you can often see accident situations setting up hours, days, even weeks in advance. I’m not interested in doing a long distance Bill Frist/Terry Schiavo diagnosis here. Lessons will indeed be learned from the investigations now underway. But I suspect those lessons were already in plentiful supply. And as evidence, I offer the following recent canyoneering incidents, each with a brief outline, news links, and perhaps a few details that never made it into the media. The similarities are obvious. The gist? Hike safe mate"
Read on http://www.backpacker.com/blogs/126

If all else fails I guess there's always the 'New Zealand Life Back Promise’ to fall back on?

Peace Corps Twins Robbed in Christchurch

American Twins Adam and Alex Rahmlow, 21 have lost most of their possessions to a down and out hitchhiker they picked up in the Christchurch suburb of Amberley.

The Rahmlows had befriended the man, who said he was from Auckland, and had supported him over a three day period whilst they stayed at a campsite.

The hitchhiker, known as "Rusty" aka "James" stole the brother's car, passports, credit cards and other belongings including irreplaceable networking information the two had gathered travelling on a 6 month trip through Asia, which included a three month stint with the US Peace Corps in Vanuatu.

Adam and Alex are from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Are they eligible for a refund under the "New Zealand Life Back Promise" currently being advertised in the states?

The US Department Of State currently has the following statement about New Zealand on its International Travel page:
Crime
"Crime rates in New Zealand are low but have increased in recent years. The most prevalent crime is theft or attempted theft from cars, camper vans and hostels. To help protect against theft, do not leave passports or other valuable items in unattended vehicles. Violent crime against tourists is unusual; however, visitors who are traveling alone should be especially vigilant, and avoid isolated areas that are not frequented by the public. "

See also: "Tourism"

Glenfield Stabbing Murder Tenth This Year in Auckland

The stabbing death of Paul Chong outside a workshop in View Road, Glenfield yesterday brings the number of murders in the Auckland region to at least 10 so far this year.

South African worried by the violence
Riann Twine who works on View Road told the Herald newspaper "Coming from South Africa I'm used to the violence. But I moved here to get away from this.

"I have been in this street for about five years. We have never had this sort of drama. But this is the second incident in a short space of time. A shop owner across the road was recently beaten up, and had to have facial reconstruction. It is a bit of a worry."

On average there are two murders a month in Auckland, these included:
12 January - Shooting in Redvale of Gene Patrick Atkins, concrete layer aged 28 years
20 January - 49 year old woman died in her Pukekohe home after 2 teenagers set fire to it
27 February - Sanele Sanato died in Middlemore Hospital following a serious assault
1 March -A prisoner at Paremoremo prison
28 March - 37 year old father of 4 Olo Fiti, 37 year-old stabbed in a vicious attack in Otara
8 April - 78 year old Indian immigrant Grandfather died following a road rage attack
15 April - Axe attack in Glen Innes killed a 55 year old man
6 May - 64 year old man stabbed in Henderson
12 May - A woman's decomposed body found in Western Springs

Update
Police have confirmed on 15 May that a homicide investigation is underway following the post mortem examination of a woman's body found in a flat in Warick Street, Western Springs. The woman, whose family is overseas, is thought to have lain undiscovered for up to a month. A 47 year old man has appeared in court charged with assaulting the woman and was later charged with murder.

The woman was later revealed to be Nuttider Vaikaen, the man - a 47 year old computer programmer - has been granted name suppression

Last year there were 21 known murders in the Auckland region and 58 nationally.