Equality
Translators and Interpreters
10/07/10 11:59 Filed in: Speeches
Annual conference of Translators and Interpreters – Opening speech by Jim Anderton MP
Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. A warm welcome to Christchurch to those of you who have come to our city – particularly if it is your first visit.
I’d like to thank your President Sibylle Ferner, Vice-President Patrick King, and Peter Tuffley for the invitation.
Some of you have travelled from Auckland and Wellington to be in Christchurch today. Welcome to the global capital of the South Island. You’ll be pleased to know we speak the same language as you.
You may or may not be aware that there’s an election coming up in our city and I’m standing to be the next Mayor of Christchurch. If successful, I’m serious about turning this city into a Global Centre - for IT, for food processing, for tourism.
I’d like to think that people like you will be in hot demand in this city - and that your professional services will become a growth industry in the international city of Christchurch. You might even think of moving here.
A quality service
As I was preparing for this speech today, it struck me that most New Zealanders are ignorant of the service you provide. Yet we are an increasingly a multicultural nation. The number of languages we speak is growing.
We need people like you to help us understand each other, and to help us trade with other countries.
But we don’t just need people who speak different languages, we need professional interpreters and translators.
It takes years to become a professional at what you do. Being bilingual is not enough. I don’t think many people grasp the importance in the understanding of other people and nationalities.
Your Society deserves praise and thanks for creating an organisation that recognises qualifications and encourages some form of accreditation. For 25 years it has worked hard to promote an awareness of what you do in New Zealand, and I am happy to be here today to support that. There’s a stark contrast between New Zealand and Australia in this respect.
In Australia, the importance of having translation and interpreting done by qualified professionals is actively recognized by having a national accreditation agency. That is lacking in New Zealand.
Trial aborted after bad translation
And yet not taking a professional approach can have terrible outcomes. We saw this recently when an inaccurate translation in a major methamphetamine trial meant that the trial was abandoned.
The Judge complained that "significantly inaccurate" mistakes had been made in translating evidence into Cantonese.
The defendant was facing a life sentence. A lot was at stake. He got off free because the translation wasn’t good enough. Words had been omitted, added and wrongly translated and the wrong choice had been made between words similar in sound.
The Judge said it was fundamentally important that translations in criminal trials were of an appropriately high standard. Clearly - quality is worth paying for.
When we don’t pay for it, bad things happen and people’s rights are ignored. Things can go badly wrong in the commercial sector too.
When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, ‘Pepsi Brings You Back to Life’ pretty literally.
The slogan in Chinese meant, ‘Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave’.
Translating from another language into English is equally risky when done by amateurs. I heard of an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist the other day that read: ‘Teeth extracted by latest Methodists’.
Or a Copenhagen airline ticket office which had translated an advert into English: ‘We take your bags and send them in all directions.’
One of my favorites, as a good Catholic boy, is an American T-shirt maker in Miami who printed shirts for the Spanish market to promote the Pope's visit to the US. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I saw the potato" (la papa).
When times are hard, businesses that rely on good translations should resist the temptation to save money by employing people who are simply bilingual - but are not necessarily professionals.
The challenge of the internet
I know that one of your challenges in a globalised world dominated by the internet, is on-line translation services. They are free and easy to use. But they are not always accurate.
Try translating ‘New Zealand Society for Translators and Interpreters’.
Translated into German and then back into English, it comes out as: ‘Company of the sea and land news of the translators and interpreters.
And from Spanish back into English:
‘Society of the warning of the sea-track of the translators and the interpreter’
With this sort of nonsense all over the internet, it really can feel like we live in the Tower of Babel.
Once again, the moral is clear; quality is worth paying for. The internet may be free, but it isn’t always accurate.
Having said that, new technology in any industry is also an opportunity. Part of the challenge you face is to embrace that technology and make it work for you in a globalised market.
I’m sure the internet has opened up markets for you. Many of you I know, work on contract and run your own businesses.
These days you can translate material and send it back to clients across the world within a few hours via the internet. Your shop is open 24 hours a day, and that’s good for business.
Not so good for weekends and work/life balance, I know – only too well!
Don’t forget, there are other industries which are also facing the challenge of new technology. An obvious one is NZ Post. People don’t write letters as often these days, so what future does NZ Post have?
Rather than get in the bunker, and blame new technology, NZ Post has adapted its business model.
It has looked at the huge success of Trade Me for example, and decided that while people might not be getting letters these days, they are getting things picked up and delivered after buying and selling items on Trade Me.
NZ Post’s courier arm is therefore growing. It may be that courier deliveries become its key business in the future. Apart, of course, from KiwiBank – which also is the result of NZ Post adapting to the electronic communication era and falling use of letter deliveries and stamp sales.
Competition from poor countries
The challenge for you is to also adapt your business to new technology and make it work for you.
The truth is, the world will always need the services of people like you, whether it’s via the internet or face-to-face.
I know that cheap labour prices from poorer countries in the developing world can undercut your rates and take work away from you. The same has been true in other industries too - like telecommunications for example.
Call centres in New Zealand are closing at alarming rates and companies like Telstra Clear are moving their call centres from Christchurch to countries like the Philippines where wages are cheaper.
I don’t like it, and I’ll fight to keep those jobs in New Zealand and in Christchurch – on issues such as quality, customer service and local knowledge.
But if the long term trend is to move call centres offshore, then we have to find new and satisfying jobs to keep people employed. That means investing in knowledge and research and development so that New Zealand stays ahead of the global market. We all have to adapt.
(Interpreting is more than just translating)
I know that some of you here today are professional translators dealing with the written word, and some are interpreters, dealing with the spoken word.
All of you do more than just translate or interpret words from one language to another.
You serve people in our community.
This is certainly true for our ethnic communities, whether Samoan, Japanese, Somali or Iraqi. You know better than anyone, language is not only a vehicle for day-to-day communication. It is also a repository of our own identity and culture.
Many of you go into these communities, and you do it with sensitivity and empathy. You help people deal with the bureaucracy in hospitals, schools or government departments.
I know there is a growing number of people in New Zealand who either do not speak English or whose level of English is not yet good enough to deal with doctors or health providers.
The Health and Disability Commission’s Code of Patient’s Rights includes the right to a competent interpreter. But this right is often effectively denied when trained interpreters are overlooked in favour of cheap, non-professional interpreters.
The pitfalls of that are obvious when you get a misdiagnosis from a doctor or in a hospital, for example. Some people can’t even read medical instructions on a medicine bottle.
Interpreting for people is a serious business and you don’t want to get it wrong. Although, on a lighter note there may be times when you’re sorely tempted.
I’m reminded of the story of a Mexican bandit who made a specialty of crossing the Rio Grande and robbing banks in Texas. Finally, a reward was offered for his capture, and an enterprising Texas Ranger decided to track him down.
After a lengthy search, he found the bandit, snuck up behind him, put his trusty six-shooter to the bandit's head, and said:
"You're under arrest. Tell me where you hid the loot or I'll shoot you."
But the bandit didn't speak English, and the Ranger didn't speak Spanish.
As luck would have it, a professional and accredited interpreter from New Zealand was in the saloon and translated the Ranger’s message.
The terrified bandit blurted out, in Spanish, that the loot was buried under the oak tree behind the Saloon.
"What did he say?" asked the Ranger.
The interpreter answered, "He said, 'Get lost, Gringo. You wouldn't dare shoot me.'"
Languages need protecting
Language is a powerful tool. I’m sure you have to use all the powers of your intellect to get the meaning of a text or a conversation right. It must challenge your sense of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ translations, when you sometimes catch yourself translating the same paragraph differently on different days!
I find it amazing that in 2005, a language expert was hired by James Cameron to develop an entirely new language for the very successful film ‘Avatar.’ He needed a language for the Na’vi, the indigenous race of humanoids on the moon called Pandora.
Imagine creating new sounds, new rules for grammar and a whole new vocabulary? It’s amazing that new languages can still emerge - even in the make-belief world of film-making.
Of course the reality is that the world is losing languages.
The Director of Samoan Studies at Victoria University in Wellington has said that the most recent census indicates an alarming decrease in the number of people who speak Samoan in the home, for example. It’s been said that it takes just one generation to lose a language, and three generations to build it up again.
Local Christchurch issues
Before I end, I would like to pay tribute to the Canterbury branch of your Society. In March your members met at the Refugee and Migrant Centre for the last time. This has been the venue for your meetings for many years.
Sadly, the Centre closed down this year because of lack of funding, some of it withdrawn by the Christchurch City Council, and it now no longer exists. This is a real loss to those refugee and migrant communities in Christchurch and also to your Society which had built up a long standing relationship with the people at the Centre.
I want you to know that you will have my support for your on-going work in Christchurch if I am the next Mayor.
Conclusion
Finally, I want to wish you all the best for your conference. I have nothing but praise for the work that you do in our communities. And on the theme of the conference - the opportunities and challenges that globalisation presents after the recession - I would encourage you to embrace new technology.
Don’t be afraid to adapt your business models to suit changing global markets. I’m sure that many of you are already doing this and I hope business will boom for you in the coming years.
There will never be a time when we don’t need your services, not least because we are a multicultural nation vitally dependent on world trade.
Don’t resist change and suffer the consequences - like one of the two translators overheard talking on a ship recently:
"Can you swim?" asks one.
"No" says the other, "but I can shout for help in nine languages."
Good luck for the future and thank you again for inviting me to be with you today.
Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. A warm welcome to Christchurch to those of you who have come to our city – particularly if it is your first visit.
I’d like to thank your President Sibylle Ferner, Vice-President Patrick King, and Peter Tuffley for the invitation.
Some of you have travelled from Auckland and Wellington to be in Christchurch today. Welcome to the global capital of the South Island. You’ll be pleased to know we speak the same language as you.
You may or may not be aware that there’s an election coming up in our city and I’m standing to be the next Mayor of Christchurch. If successful, I’m serious about turning this city into a Global Centre - for IT, for food processing, for tourism.
I’d like to think that people like you will be in hot demand in this city - and that your professional services will become a growth industry in the international city of Christchurch. You might even think of moving here.
A quality service
As I was preparing for this speech today, it struck me that most New Zealanders are ignorant of the service you provide. Yet we are an increasingly a multicultural nation. The number of languages we speak is growing.
We need people like you to help us understand each other, and to help us trade with other countries.
But we don’t just need people who speak different languages, we need professional interpreters and translators.
It takes years to become a professional at what you do. Being bilingual is not enough. I don’t think many people grasp the importance in the understanding of other people and nationalities.
Your Society deserves praise and thanks for creating an organisation that recognises qualifications and encourages some form of accreditation. For 25 years it has worked hard to promote an awareness of what you do in New Zealand, and I am happy to be here today to support that. There’s a stark contrast between New Zealand and Australia in this respect.
In Australia, the importance of having translation and interpreting done by qualified professionals is actively recognized by having a national accreditation agency. That is lacking in New Zealand.
Trial aborted after bad translation
And yet not taking a professional approach can have terrible outcomes. We saw this recently when an inaccurate translation in a major methamphetamine trial meant that the trial was abandoned.
The Judge complained that "significantly inaccurate" mistakes had been made in translating evidence into Cantonese.
The defendant was facing a life sentence. A lot was at stake. He got off free because the translation wasn’t good enough. Words had been omitted, added and wrongly translated and the wrong choice had been made between words similar in sound.
The Judge said it was fundamentally important that translations in criminal trials were of an appropriately high standard. Clearly - quality is worth paying for.
When we don’t pay for it, bad things happen and people’s rights are ignored. Things can go badly wrong in the commercial sector too.
When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, ‘Pepsi Brings You Back to Life’ pretty literally.
The slogan in Chinese meant, ‘Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave’.
Translating from another language into English is equally risky when done by amateurs. I heard of an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist the other day that read: ‘Teeth extracted by latest Methodists’.
Or a Copenhagen airline ticket office which had translated an advert into English: ‘We take your bags and send them in all directions.’
One of my favorites, as a good Catholic boy, is an American T-shirt maker in Miami who printed shirts for the Spanish market to promote the Pope's visit to the US. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I saw the potato" (la papa).
When times are hard, businesses that rely on good translations should resist the temptation to save money by employing people who are simply bilingual - but are not necessarily professionals.
The challenge of the internet
I know that one of your challenges in a globalised world dominated by the internet, is on-line translation services. They are free and easy to use. But they are not always accurate.
Try translating ‘New Zealand Society for Translators and Interpreters’.
Translated into German and then back into English, it comes out as: ‘Company of the sea and land news of the translators and interpreters.
And from Spanish back into English:
‘Society of the warning of the sea-track of the translators and the interpreter’
With this sort of nonsense all over the internet, it really can feel like we live in the Tower of Babel.
Once again, the moral is clear; quality is worth paying for. The internet may be free, but it isn’t always accurate.
Having said that, new technology in any industry is also an opportunity. Part of the challenge you face is to embrace that technology and make it work for you in a globalised market.
I’m sure the internet has opened up markets for you. Many of you I know, work on contract and run your own businesses.
These days you can translate material and send it back to clients across the world within a few hours via the internet. Your shop is open 24 hours a day, and that’s good for business.
Not so good for weekends and work/life balance, I know – only too well!
Don’t forget, there are other industries which are also facing the challenge of new technology. An obvious one is NZ Post. People don’t write letters as often these days, so what future does NZ Post have?
Rather than get in the bunker, and blame new technology, NZ Post has adapted its business model.
It has looked at the huge success of Trade Me for example, and decided that while people might not be getting letters these days, they are getting things picked up and delivered after buying and selling items on Trade Me.
NZ Post’s courier arm is therefore growing. It may be that courier deliveries become its key business in the future. Apart, of course, from KiwiBank – which also is the result of NZ Post adapting to the electronic communication era and falling use of letter deliveries and stamp sales.
Competition from poor countries
The challenge for you is to also adapt your business to new technology and make it work for you.
The truth is, the world will always need the services of people like you, whether it’s via the internet or face-to-face.
I know that cheap labour prices from poorer countries in the developing world can undercut your rates and take work away from you. The same has been true in other industries too - like telecommunications for example.
Call centres in New Zealand are closing at alarming rates and companies like Telstra Clear are moving their call centres from Christchurch to countries like the Philippines where wages are cheaper.
I don’t like it, and I’ll fight to keep those jobs in New Zealand and in Christchurch – on issues such as quality, customer service and local knowledge.
But if the long term trend is to move call centres offshore, then we have to find new and satisfying jobs to keep people employed. That means investing in knowledge and research and development so that New Zealand stays ahead of the global market. We all have to adapt.
(Interpreting is more than just translating)
I know that some of you here today are professional translators dealing with the written word, and some are interpreters, dealing with the spoken word.
All of you do more than just translate or interpret words from one language to another.
You serve people in our community.
This is certainly true for our ethnic communities, whether Samoan, Japanese, Somali or Iraqi. You know better than anyone, language is not only a vehicle for day-to-day communication. It is also a repository of our own identity and culture.
Many of you go into these communities, and you do it with sensitivity and empathy. You help people deal with the bureaucracy in hospitals, schools or government departments.
I know there is a growing number of people in New Zealand who either do not speak English or whose level of English is not yet good enough to deal with doctors or health providers.
The Health and Disability Commission’s Code of Patient’s Rights includes the right to a competent interpreter. But this right is often effectively denied when trained interpreters are overlooked in favour of cheap, non-professional interpreters.
The pitfalls of that are obvious when you get a misdiagnosis from a doctor or in a hospital, for example. Some people can’t even read medical instructions on a medicine bottle.
Interpreting for people is a serious business and you don’t want to get it wrong. Although, on a lighter note there may be times when you’re sorely tempted.
I’m reminded of the story of a Mexican bandit who made a specialty of crossing the Rio Grande and robbing banks in Texas. Finally, a reward was offered for his capture, and an enterprising Texas Ranger decided to track him down.
After a lengthy search, he found the bandit, snuck up behind him, put his trusty six-shooter to the bandit's head, and said:
"You're under arrest. Tell me where you hid the loot or I'll shoot you."
But the bandit didn't speak English, and the Ranger didn't speak Spanish.
As luck would have it, a professional and accredited interpreter from New Zealand was in the saloon and translated the Ranger’s message.
The terrified bandit blurted out, in Spanish, that the loot was buried under the oak tree behind the Saloon.
"What did he say?" asked the Ranger.
The interpreter answered, "He said, 'Get lost, Gringo. You wouldn't dare shoot me.'"
Languages need protecting
Language is a powerful tool. I’m sure you have to use all the powers of your intellect to get the meaning of a text or a conversation right. It must challenge your sense of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ translations, when you sometimes catch yourself translating the same paragraph differently on different days!
I find it amazing that in 2005, a language expert was hired by James Cameron to develop an entirely new language for the very successful film ‘Avatar.’ He needed a language for the Na’vi, the indigenous race of humanoids on the moon called Pandora.
Imagine creating new sounds, new rules for grammar and a whole new vocabulary? It’s amazing that new languages can still emerge - even in the make-belief world of film-making.
Of course the reality is that the world is losing languages.
The Director of Samoan Studies at Victoria University in Wellington has said that the most recent census indicates an alarming decrease in the number of people who speak Samoan in the home, for example. It’s been said that it takes just one generation to lose a language, and three generations to build it up again.
Local Christchurch issues
Before I end, I would like to pay tribute to the Canterbury branch of your Society. In March your members met at the Refugee and Migrant Centre for the last time. This has been the venue for your meetings for many years.
Sadly, the Centre closed down this year because of lack of funding, some of it withdrawn by the Christchurch City Council, and it now no longer exists. This is a real loss to those refugee and migrant communities in Christchurch and also to your Society which had built up a long standing relationship with the people at the Centre.
I want you to know that you will have my support for your on-going work in Christchurch if I am the next Mayor.
Conclusion
Finally, I want to wish you all the best for your conference. I have nothing but praise for the work that you do in our communities. And on the theme of the conference - the opportunities and challenges that globalisation presents after the recession - I would encourage you to embrace new technology.
Don’t be afraid to adapt your business models to suit changing global markets. I’m sure that many of you are already doing this and I hope business will boom for you in the coming years.
There will never be a time when we don’t need your services, not least because we are a multicultural nation vitally dependent on world trade.
Don’t resist change and suffer the consequences - like one of the two translators overheard talking on a ship recently:
"Can you swim?" asks one.
"No" says the other, "but I can shout for help in nine languages."
Good luck for the future and thank you again for inviting me to be with you today.
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Jim Anderton's Budget 2010 speech
20/05/10 16:49 Filed in: Speeches
What is this government saying to families on low incomes in today’s budget?
Let them eat cake!
It says ‘don’t worry about an increase in GST and rising food prices, because the rich eat more than the poor, so they’ll pay more in GST.’
Is that meant to make low income families feel better?
You might not be able to afford to buy much food - but just think of the GST you’re saving when you don’t eat?
The rich have a choice if they want to spend more money and pay more GST. They can choose whether to upgrade the Mercedes or buy another boat. Those on lower incomes can’t choose whether or not to eat.
What is John Key saying to New Zealand families struggling to pay the bills and make ends meet on low incomes? Stop being envious.
Well they won’t be envious Mr Key, they’ll be angry - like I am.
Are New Zealand families more or less equal after this budget?
They are less equal - and shame on the Prime Minister. After today’s budget the most wealthy New Zealanders will take home thousands of extra dollars per week compared to those on average incomes.
People like Telecom’s CEO who earned $7 million last year will get a tax cut of $6,608 per week. State sector CEO’s who earn more than $600,000 in some cases, will get a tax cut of nearly $500 per week.
If you’re earning $50,000 after you pay more in GST at the supermarket, you’ll only take home $5 per week. And the chances are - that will be wiped out by inflation anyway!
Is a CEO who got a thousand dollar a week pay rise last year, really the highest priority for a seven hundred dollar a week tax cut this year?
New Zealand is now on a par with the UK which has one of the most entrenched income gaps between rich and poor.
Our ancestors came to this country to get away from that inequality! John Key is determined to bring it back with him from his years speculating overseas.
Others might be taken in by the Prime Minister’s ‘rags to riches’ story. Not me.
I remember he helped people make a pot of money speculating against the New Zealand dollar in the 1980s, at a cost to New Zealand of $700 million. Guess what? At the same time, New Zealand’s increasing rate of income inequality became one of the worst in the OECD.
Over the same period, Australia closed the gap between rich and poor. Income inequality widened again under National governments in the 1990s. And it started to get better during the period of a Labour-led government in 1999-2008.
Mr Key mis-led the House yesterday when he said - and I quote - “income gaps between rich and poor...became worse under the previous Labour Government".
No Mr Key! It became better, and is set to become worse again under this National government. (And today I’ll table the facts to prove it.)
Here they are. Under a Labour-Progressive government between 2001 and 2008 everyone became richer - even people like, Mr Key.
But those on low-middle incomes increased their wealth the most, thanks to the Working for Families tax break. We closed the gap - National is widening it.
The Prime Minister also said yesterday that it was a terrible injustice that 10% of the wealthiest New Zealanders pay 44% of the tax. What does the Prime Minister think they do in Australia? 10% pay 46% of all tax!
Turns out that’s what most countries do. Those who earn more, pay more tax, because they earn a higher share of the income. It’s a fair tax system.
But John Key is no Robin Hood. More like the Sheriff of Nottingham, looking after his own.
Will the average New Zealander be better off after the Sheriff’s budget? No.
Because they’re not getting the lion’s share of the tax cut. Guess who got the lion’s share from the last round of tax cuts? The same top earners. Has the penny dropped yet? If people are not on a high income, this government is not going to help.
Some might have voted for them in 2008 - but they can make them a one-term government in 2011. The first since 1975 - and good riddance. If they’re on an average income but had aspirations to do better - forget it.
This is a budget that puts reinforced glass into the glass ceiling.
This government is showing its true colours today. It doesn’t want all our people to prosper. It wants them to know their place.
Will there be more children lifted out of poverty after today’s budget? No.
A recent UNICEF survey of the well-being of children puts New Zealand almost last - 24th out of 25 countries. It measured immunisation levels, infant death and early death from injury and illness.
Greece’s economy is collapsing and the streets are on fire as people protest - but they’re way ahead of New Zealand when it comes to looking after children!
Here’s what a respected Professor of Epidemiology in New Zealand said recently “In New Zealand, social injustice is killing and maiming our children on a grand scale” We top the scales for OECD rates of whooping cough, rheumatic fever, pneumonia and other diseases in children.
We spend less than the OECD average on child health, and the only thing that will change as a result of this budget is that this appalling situation will get worse.
28% of our children still live in poverty.
That rate started to decline under the last Labour Progressive government for the first time in decades. Working for Families lifted about 100,000 children out of poverty.
Senior people in the medical profession know what the problem is - and they know what the answer is. The politics of inequality.
Why do we have such high rates of child illness and death? Poverty. And how do you get rid of poverty? You increase people’s incomes, give them decent wages and jobs.
Will there be more jobs after today? No.
There is nothing in this budget to create new jobs. Our unemployment rates have ballooned since this government came to power - to over 7%.
The National government can’t blame the recession. Because at the same time, Australia’s unemployment has dropped to just over 5%.
How many jobs has John Key’s cycle way created so far? None!
What about the nine day fortnight? It was meant to save thousands of jobs - but didn’t.
New Zealand doesn’t have a tax problem - it has a wage problem.
National has no plan to increase wages. If John Key thinks that cutting the top tax rate will stop young doctors or entrepreneurs going overseas, he’s dreaming. Australia’s top tax rate is 45 cents in the dollar - much higher than New Zealand’s.
New Zealand’s tax system compared to the rest of the world has been one of the most progressive for average income earners, according to a recent OECD report.
John Key should ask himself why he left the country to go into the world of international speculation. Did he leave to avoid our high taxes? I doubt it.
I’m sure he left because he could earn more overseas. Tax cuts for the wealthy won’t increase the wage packet of ordinary New Zealanders.
Will the economy grow as a result of the Sheriff’s budget today? No.
There is nothing in this budget to increase our exports.
Nothing to encourage us to save.
Nothing to grow the economy.
No new ideas.
The wealthy few who get a hefty tax cut today will most likely invest the extra cash overseas.
Where’s the money for science and research & development?
John Key has scrapped the $2 billion worth of spending on R&D that we had set aside under a Labour-Progressive government. And what’s he replaced it with? A science advisor and a few ‘vouchers’.
The whole package, including the new vouchers in the budget amount to less than 26% of what business and science would have got under a Labour-Progressive government.
Does this anti-science government think that new technologies will just appear out of thin air?
In the meantime, will most New Zealanders pay more? Yes.
The larger the tax cut National gives to the top income earners, the smaller the amount left over for people on the average wage. Someone has to pay.
More GST at the shops.
Increased property tax will increase rents.
More at the petrol pump.
More for power bills
More for ACC.
More for student loans.
More for early childhood education.
This is not a budget for hardworking New
Zealanders and Kiwi families.
Some voted for this government because they thought the Prime Minister’s ‘rags to riches’ story might rub off on our country.
But it turns out Robin Hood is really the Sheriff of Nottingham with a false smile - and the message is clear.
‘Let them eat cake!’
This budget is a disgrace and this parliament should be both ashamed and angry to receive it.
Let them eat cake!
It says ‘don’t worry about an increase in GST and rising food prices, because the rich eat more than the poor, so they’ll pay more in GST.’
Is that meant to make low income families feel better?
You might not be able to afford to buy much food - but just think of the GST you’re saving when you don’t eat?
The rich have a choice if they want to spend more money and pay more GST. They can choose whether to upgrade the Mercedes or buy another boat. Those on lower incomes can’t choose whether or not to eat.
What is John Key saying to New Zealand families struggling to pay the bills and make ends meet on low incomes? Stop being envious.
Well they won’t be envious Mr Key, they’ll be angry - like I am.
Are New Zealand families more or less equal after this budget?
They are less equal - and shame on the Prime Minister. After today’s budget the most wealthy New Zealanders will take home thousands of extra dollars per week compared to those on average incomes.
People like Telecom’s CEO who earned $7 million last year will get a tax cut of $6,608 per week. State sector CEO’s who earn more than $600,000 in some cases, will get a tax cut of nearly $500 per week.
If you’re earning $50,000 after you pay more in GST at the supermarket, you’ll only take home $5 per week. And the chances are - that will be wiped out by inflation anyway!
Is a CEO who got a thousand dollar a week pay rise last year, really the highest priority for a seven hundred dollar a week tax cut this year?
New Zealand is now on a par with the UK which has one of the most entrenched income gaps between rich and poor.
Our ancestors came to this country to get away from that inequality! John Key is determined to bring it back with him from his years speculating overseas.
Others might be taken in by the Prime Minister’s ‘rags to riches’ story. Not me.
I remember he helped people make a pot of money speculating against the New Zealand dollar in the 1980s, at a cost to New Zealand of $700 million. Guess what? At the same time, New Zealand’s increasing rate of income inequality became one of the worst in the OECD.
Over the same period, Australia closed the gap between rich and poor. Income inequality widened again under National governments in the 1990s. And it started to get better during the period of a Labour-led government in 1999-2008.
Mr Key mis-led the House yesterday when he said - and I quote - “income gaps between rich and poor...became worse under the previous Labour Government".
No Mr Key! It became better, and is set to become worse again under this National government. (And today I’ll table the facts to prove it.)
Here they are. Under a Labour-Progressive government between 2001 and 2008 everyone became richer - even people like, Mr Key.
But those on low-middle incomes increased their wealth the most, thanks to the Working for Families tax break. We closed the gap - National is widening it.
The Prime Minister also said yesterday that it was a terrible injustice that 10% of the wealthiest New Zealanders pay 44% of the tax. What does the Prime Minister think they do in Australia? 10% pay 46% of all tax!
Turns out that’s what most countries do. Those who earn more, pay more tax, because they earn a higher share of the income. It’s a fair tax system.
But John Key is no Robin Hood. More like the Sheriff of Nottingham, looking after his own.
Will the average New Zealander be better off after the Sheriff’s budget? No.
Because they’re not getting the lion’s share of the tax cut. Guess who got the lion’s share from the last round of tax cuts? The same top earners. Has the penny dropped yet? If people are not on a high income, this government is not going to help.
Some might have voted for them in 2008 - but they can make them a one-term government in 2011. The first since 1975 - and good riddance. If they’re on an average income but had aspirations to do better - forget it.
This is a budget that puts reinforced glass into the glass ceiling.
This government is showing its true colours today. It doesn’t want all our people to prosper. It wants them to know their place.
Will there be more children lifted out of poverty after today’s budget? No.
A recent UNICEF survey of the well-being of children puts New Zealand almost last - 24th out of 25 countries. It measured immunisation levels, infant death and early death from injury and illness.
Greece’s economy is collapsing and the streets are on fire as people protest - but they’re way ahead of New Zealand when it comes to looking after children!
Here’s what a respected Professor of Epidemiology in New Zealand said recently “In New Zealand, social injustice is killing and maiming our children on a grand scale” We top the scales for OECD rates of whooping cough, rheumatic fever, pneumonia and other diseases in children.
We spend less than the OECD average on child health, and the only thing that will change as a result of this budget is that this appalling situation will get worse.
28% of our children still live in poverty.
That rate started to decline under the last Labour Progressive government for the first time in decades. Working for Families lifted about 100,000 children out of poverty.
Senior people in the medical profession know what the problem is - and they know what the answer is. The politics of inequality.
Why do we have such high rates of child illness and death? Poverty. And how do you get rid of poverty? You increase people’s incomes, give them decent wages and jobs.
Will there be more jobs after today? No.
There is nothing in this budget to create new jobs. Our unemployment rates have ballooned since this government came to power - to over 7%.
The National government can’t blame the recession. Because at the same time, Australia’s unemployment has dropped to just over 5%.
How many jobs has John Key’s cycle way created so far? None!
What about the nine day fortnight? It was meant to save thousands of jobs - but didn’t.
New Zealand doesn’t have a tax problem - it has a wage problem.
National has no plan to increase wages. If John Key thinks that cutting the top tax rate will stop young doctors or entrepreneurs going overseas, he’s dreaming. Australia’s top tax rate is 45 cents in the dollar - much higher than New Zealand’s.
New Zealand’s tax system compared to the rest of the world has been one of the most progressive for average income earners, according to a recent OECD report.
John Key should ask himself why he left the country to go into the world of international speculation. Did he leave to avoid our high taxes? I doubt it.
I’m sure he left because he could earn more overseas. Tax cuts for the wealthy won’t increase the wage packet of ordinary New Zealanders.
Will the economy grow as a result of the Sheriff’s budget today? No.
There is nothing in this budget to increase our exports.
Nothing to encourage us to save.
Nothing to grow the economy.
No new ideas.
The wealthy few who get a hefty tax cut today will most likely invest the extra cash overseas.
Where’s the money for science and research & development?
John Key has scrapped the $2 billion worth of spending on R&D that we had set aside under a Labour-Progressive government. And what’s he replaced it with? A science advisor and a few ‘vouchers’.
The whole package, including the new vouchers in the budget amount to less than 26% of what business and science would have got under a Labour-Progressive government.
Does this anti-science government think that new technologies will just appear out of thin air?
In the meantime, will most New Zealanders pay more? Yes.
The larger the tax cut National gives to the top income earners, the smaller the amount left over for people on the average wage. Someone has to pay.
More GST at the shops.
Increased property tax will increase rents.
More at the petrol pump.
More for power bills
More for ACC.
More for student loans.
More for early childhood education.
This is not a budget for hardworking New
Zealanders and Kiwi families.
Some voted for this government because they thought the Prime Minister’s ‘rags to riches’ story might rub off on our country.
But it turns out Robin Hood is really the Sheriff of Nottingham with a false smile - and the message is clear.
‘Let them eat cake!’
This budget is a disgrace and this parliament should be both ashamed and angry to receive it.
Equal pay
18/02/10 13:05 Filed in: Speeches
Rally of the NZ Federation of Business and Professional Women for Equal Pay
Jim Anderton with other Opposition MPs and rally organisers at the rally at Parliament on Thursday, 18 February 2010.
The New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women should be proud of itself today.
You continue to keep equal pay for women in the spotlight year after year, and one day I am sure your efforts will be rewarded.
The world is changing all the time.
I see that in 1988, you marked Equal Pay Day with a Red Purse.
Now you’ve progressed to a Red Bag, which is bigger than a purse.
I’d like to think that symbolically, this marks the fact that some progress has been made in closing the pay gap between men and women.
Or perhaps it just means we have a lot more data on inequality and now we need a bag to carry it all around.
But I know that there is more to be done.
I have just done a quick check on Public Service chief executive salaries. The facts bear out that you have a good reason to be here today.
While there are 29 chief executives that are men, there is only six that are women. The male CEOs get an average salary package of between $454,166 to $463,332 – while women CEOs are paid almost to the dollar, $100,000 lower per year.
Equal pay - equity and equality in the workplace - is unfortunately still an issue. So too are conditions and attitudes to women in the workplace.
Paid parental leave has helped. But we can do a lot more to make sure that women don’t get the short straw when it comes to pay.
The Obama administration should be applauded for introducing ground-breaking equal pay legislation in the first few days of taking power.
We have to look at why women end up in lower paid situations, and look at changing not just the pay they get, but also the conditions and the flexibility in the work place.
The recommendations of the Pay and Employment Equity Taskforce should be implemented.
But what did the new Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson do as soon as National came to power?
She closed the Pay and Employment Equity Unit because, she said “it had completed its work”.
Clearly pay equity is not a priority for this government.
Eliminating the 12% gender pay gap has been put on the back burner.
But you have proved you’re in for the long haul, and we will keep fighting alongside you for equal pay.
Good wishes for the battle.
Jim Anderton with other Opposition MPs and rally organisers at the rally at Parliament on Thursday, 18 February 2010.
The New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women should be proud of itself today.
You continue to keep equal pay for women in the spotlight year after year, and one day I am sure your efforts will be rewarded.
The world is changing all the time.
I see that in 1988, you marked Equal Pay Day with a Red Purse.
Now you’ve progressed to a Red Bag, which is bigger than a purse.
I’d like to think that symbolically, this marks the fact that some progress has been made in closing the pay gap between men and women.
Or perhaps it just means we have a lot more data on inequality and now we need a bag to carry it all around.
- I’m proud that in government we introduced paid parental leave, and four weeks paid annual leave,
- Raised the minimum wage by over 70% or $200 per week, and
- Introduced subsidies for pre-school care so that mothers could re-enter the work force.
But I know that there is more to be done.
I have just done a quick check on Public Service chief executive salaries. The facts bear out that you have a good reason to be here today.
While there are 29 chief executives that are men, there is only six that are women. The male CEOs get an average salary package of between $454,166 to $463,332 – while women CEOs are paid almost to the dollar, $100,000 lower per year.
Equal pay - equity and equality in the workplace - is unfortunately still an issue. So too are conditions and attitudes to women in the workplace.
Paid parental leave has helped. But we can do a lot more to make sure that women don’t get the short straw when it comes to pay.
The Obama administration should be applauded for introducing ground-breaking equal pay legislation in the first few days of taking power.
We have to look at why women end up in lower paid situations, and look at changing not just the pay they get, but also the conditions and the flexibility in the work place.
The recommendations of the Pay and Employment Equity Taskforce should be implemented.
But what did the new Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson do as soon as National came to power?
She closed the Pay and Employment Equity Unit because, she said “it had completed its work”.
Clearly pay equity is not a priority for this government.
Eliminating the 12% gender pay gap has been put on the back burner.
But you have proved you’re in for the long haul, and we will keep fighting alongside you for equal pay.
Good wishes for the battle.