Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 18/11/2024Yes, and makes the political system less likely to tackle poverty ... and so the cycle goes. Which is why it's important to break it (difficult though that is). 150
Reposted by Max RashbrookeAndrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 18/11/2024A good thread and article. I gave evidence on the Parliament Bill last week. The MPs on the committee seemed bemused when I said that the public should have been consulted during the four year long development of policy and legislation about *their* legislature. 1/12 23013
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 18/11/2024In practical terms, I think that more bottom-up government involves things like citizens’ assemblies and community control over parts of local infrastructure budgets; but I’m always open to other ideas. 1151
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 18/11/2024In other words, when people like me bang on about more collaborative, bottom-up government, it’s not just because we love procedural issues: these are things that actually matter and that can restore trust. 4171
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 18/11/2024What would fix this? Tackling poverty, obviously, and a more competent state. But OECD modelling shows the changes most effective in restoring trust would be those that ensure people’s voices are heard. 172
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 18/11/2024Similarly, just 35% of the poorest NZers feel they have “a say” in how government decisions are made, and 37% think their voices will be listened to in consultations. 170
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 18/11/2024While trust in political institutions is a problem overall, it’s especially severe for the poor: while 60% of financially secure NZers trust Parliament, only 40% of “financially insecure” people do. 3132
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 18/11/2024My column at the weekend argues that if you’re concerned about rising support for authoritarianism in NZ, you need to deal with one of the major drivers, which is low trust among poorer NZers. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3604...thepost.co.nzThe Post 37725
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 16/09/2024The govt claims it can slash costs without harming the scheme, but schools say this actually risks destroying the things that make the scheme so successful. Full details in The Spinoff column. 011
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 16/09/2024It's a crucial question because evidence is piling up that the free lunches have transformative effects. When fed, kids concentrate better and have fewer behavioural problems. NZ evidence is starting to match the global evidence that this leads to better attendance and results. 1151
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 16/09/2024The government claims to have “saved” the free school lunches scheme, but they may just (to borrow from the vernacular) be “enshittifying” them: degrading them to the point where they no longer work properly. thespinoff.co.nz/politics/16-...thespinoff.co.nzHas David Seymour ‘saved’ school lunches – or enshittified them?The new, cheaper scheme shifts costs from central government to schools – and risks damaging the very thing that makes the programme work. 2268
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 29/07/2024Of course the main issue is what has gone on, and goes on, inside ‘care’ institutions, and the redress owed to survivors of abuse. But we also need to close the pipeline of children entering such institutions, and tackling poverty is part of that. Full argument in column. 3/3 092
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 29/07/2024Equally, raising family incomes has a statistically significant effect in reducing neglect of children. One study estimates a $1 rise in the minimum wage (in the US) reduces reports of neglect by nearly 10%. 2/ 1134
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 29/07/2024This weekend’s column looks at the (strong) evidence that poverty heightens parental stress, makes child mistreatment more likely, and thus places more children at risk of the appalling abuse in ‘care’ revealed by the Royal Commission. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3503...thepost.co.nzThe Post 2145
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 15/07/2024This weekend’s column looks at John Key’s bipartisan moment in 2007, over the anti-smacking bill, and asks: does Chris Luxon have it in him to do the same? And if so, what should be the issue? Hint: agreeing a pipeline of infrastructure projects. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3503...thepost.co.nzThe Post 040
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 05/05/2024This week’s column: the intense focus on “17k extra public servants under Labour" is misguided b/c a) numbers have to be seen in context of wider workforce growth and b) most important q is not an abstract no. but what we need govt to do (and do better). www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3502...thepost.co.nzThe Post 1177
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 21/04/2024Does NZ really want a strongman leader who “breaks the rules”? This week’s column unpicks the latest surveys on whether populism is taking hold here. Also feat. Shane Jones, and the need for a politics of redistribution (and democratic renewal). www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3502... 1133
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 07/04/2024The Living Wage Movement has grown from covering 0 workers in 2012 to 50,000 today. Each gets $27.80, equivalent to $10k pa more than the minimum wage of $23.15. Local success story in an era of little recognition of the lowest paid workers. 22715
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 07/04/2024My latest column: a tribute to the success of the Living Wage, and why Luxon should guarantee that govt cleaners, caterers and security guards keep being moved onto it. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3502... 13013
Reposted by Max RashbrookeTerry Baucher @trabaq.bsky.social · 07/04/2024Excellent article here from Duncan Grieve at The Spinoff. I'm of the view that there has to be some form of levy on the Tech Giants. Google NZ earns close to a billion dollars in advertising most of which is paid offshore as "service fees" thespinoff.co.nz/business/08-...thespinoff.co.nzWhat happens when you ask 20 NZ media CEOs two very pointed questions?The collapse of Newshub and job losses at TVNZ are just the public face of an evolving polycrisis in New Zealand media. Is there a way out? 0177
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 10/03/2024My new column: National's crackdown on emergency housing could make things worse, unless we build more social housing. We need 43k more homes, just to restore 1990 levels of provision. And we could copy Vienna, where social homes make up 1/2 of housing, and are beautiful. twitter.com/MaxRashbrook... 0149
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 11/02/2024More generally, National called for all kinds of things when in opposition (a mandatory code of conduct for lobbyists, a register of who is lobbying whom, and cooling off periods before ministers can become lobbyists) and so far none of these seem in prospect. V disappointing. 1155
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 11/02/2024On the latter: the draft *voluntary* code of conduct for ppl lobbying govt has nice words, but no mechanisms that would ensure people breaking it faced consequences, not even ostracism or naming and shaming by their own profession. As it stands, will make no difference. 181
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 11/02/2024On the former: Gerry Brownlee (Speaker and National MP) has reinstated Parliamentary special swipe cards for a few lobbyists (not a huge deal, but still...) AND is keeping their names secret when previously they were published. 1102
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 11/02/2024In opposition, National called for much tougher transparency around lobbying. In govt, it and its MPs are so far making things *less* transparent. And its draft code of conduct for lobbyists, inherited from Labour, appears toothless. www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-dept... 12914
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 16/01/2024Can't recall exactly, but I think it covers most of the campaigning *in support of something* that you'd expect it to. From memory negative/attack ads might be something of a loophole. You'd need to check though. 120
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 16/01/2024Don't have to disclose anything about funding currently, just their spending during election campaigns. 110
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 15/01/2024I think the IER recc (which will probably be ignored) cd be gamed, eg an org takes $100k from donor for the election campaign but tells authorities the "campaign" itself was funded from other sources e.g. five wealthy people giving $20k each. But it'd be a start. 090
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 15/01/2024Interesting bc typically we think civil-society groups sd have privacy over their funding, and indeed they sd. But if they're basically being political actors, there's an argument they sd face some of the transparency requirements we place on political parties. 2130
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 15/01/2024*Very* interesting move by Independent Electoral Review to say that third-party groups – eg real unions, Taxpayers' Union, etc – sd have to disclose donations over $30k *if used for election campaigning*. electoralreview.govt.nz/assets/PDF/I... 33917
Reposted by Max RashbrookeMusical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 30/10/2023Lowest public sector share of total wages since 2001. We might set a new lowest ever record in the next few months. #nzpol 197
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 30/10/2023Got bogged down in tripartite discussions w/ CTU and Business NZ, as far as I can tell. Plus the usual Labour inertia, lack of prioritisation, caution, etc. 130
Max Rashbrooke @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social · 30/10/2023Big political change in New Zealand happens every 40-50 years. Maybe 2017 was just too early. But if the Labour Party is to reposition itself for that change, it'll need to return to core values. My Spinoff latest. thespinoff.co.nz/politics/30-... 3130