It took two weeks for my letter to the Southland Times to get published (after a number of reminders) and it finally appeared today as well as a letter signed by three local doctors expressing a warning regarding the potential health dangers of climate change. They headed my letter Cleaner, Fairer, Smarter and good to have this message prominent in the last week: Dear Sir Eighty years ago New Zealand had suffered a substantial economic recession and a disastrous earthquake. Families at that time were struggling on low wages, our housing was in a shocking state and child poverty was common. Michael Joseph Savage became Prime Minister and he led a progressive government that implemented policies and programmes that dramatically improved the lives of ordinary New Zealanders. Savage’s Government: · Built thousands of houses. · Raised the minimum wage and strengthened the rights of workers and their ability to collectively bargain. · Together with the director of education, Clarence Beeby, they abolished the problematic proficiency testing and focused on creating a system that met children’s diverse needs. Savage was subjected to huge criticisms and nasty attacks regarding the economic danger of lifting wages and people were fearful of dropping standards in education. Scholars of history will know what actually resulted, families became healthier and child poverty was dramatically reduced. The economy went from strength to strength because people had more money to spend on local goods and services and our education system became the best in the world. Our current issues are not dissimilar from the 1930s except we have the added crises of environmental degradation and health issues such as obesity and diabetes. Again we need a progressive Government to make the changes necessary for our our economy to work for everyone again, not just an elite few. For a fairer society, a smarter economy and a cleaner environment (and cleaner politics), party vote Green.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 21:43:03 +0000
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