Who pays
February 14th, 2012 at 1:07 pm by David FarrarAndrea Vance at Stuff reports:
Speaker Lockwood Smith has told deaf MP Mojo Mathers she must pay for the $30,000 technology to speak in Parliament out of her own budget.
Green MP Mathers made history when she became New Zealand’s first profoundly deaf MP in November.
She will give her maiden speech in the House tomorrow, which will be translated by sign-language interpreters.
But Smith has told the Green Party that Parliamentary Services will not pay for the electronic note-taking equipment which Mathers needs to take part in debates.
This has already caused outrage on Twitter. My stance is that I think Parliamentary Service should fund the note-taking equipment if it is essential to allow Mathers to participate in the House.
However I note that so far only one side of the issue has been reported. We do not know what the reasoning is behind this decision – just what the Greens have said is the reason. It would be helpful for the Parliamentary Service to explain the decision.
Finally i would also point out that there is no question of Mathers personally paying for the note-taking equipment. In fact the taxpayers, through Parliamentary Service, will be paying either way. The Greens receive a total of $5.64m funding over this parliamentary term to support their MPs, so this represents around 0.5% of their funding over the next three years.
However if the equipment is funded from the Greens allocation, then they can’t spend that money on other things such as staff, research, advertising. And they have a quite legitimate view that having an MP with a disability shouldn’t cost them a portion of their budget.
UPDATE: The Herald reports further info:
However, the Speaker’s office said Dr Smith and Parliamentary Services did not have the authority to approve the extra funding.
“He would have to go to the Parliamentary Service Commission, he’d have to go to the Government and ask for additional funding to do what she wants because its not part of the appropriation,” a spokeswoman said.
Dr Smith would raise the issue at next month’s Parliamentary Service Commission meeting.
The Speaker is holding a press conference at 3.30 pm also on this issue.
Tags: Mojo Mathers
February 14th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
The NZ Herald reports that
“the Speaker’s office said Dr Smith and Parliamentary Services did not have the authority to approve the extra funding.
“He would have to go to the Parliamentary Service Commission, he’d have to go to the Government and ask for additional funding to do what she wants because its not part of the appropriation,” a spokeswoman said.
Dr Smith would raise the issue at next month’s Parliamentary Service Commission meeting.”
So it would seem that while the Greens are all a-twitter, there is indeed another side to the story – the Speaker is unable to spend what he is not authorised to spend and is seeking additional funding from the PSC…
… another beat-up storm in a teacup
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
FFS
Blatant hypocrisy Maori translator anyone
Sign is an official language for a reason.The deaf are alienated as it is.
An elected public representative in parliament is told to pay for the opportunity of communicating in Parliament
To hinder her participation is a travesty
More to come ?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Do the Greens need an advertising budget, when the media will publish anything they say without checking it for factual accuracy?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Aaah yes, the old “bottomless pocket” ruse. The Green Party put up a person on their list and just expected the “bottomless pocket” to fund extra facilities for her. FFS, this one example demonstrates just how incompetent this bunch of tossers is if they can’t sort out what will be required in the 3 or 4 months they had before Parliament sat.
It shows that they have a disregard for OPM that is truly mind-boggling and also that they really don’t give a stuff about Mojo Mathers or it would have been all sorted much much earlier.
Reason Number 16,571 why the Greens should be not let within shouting distance of any decision -making. They should be a laughing stock.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
I agree with the greens on this one. Sign language is an official language in New Zealand, and even though nobody up till now has been a deaf MP, parliament should have had facility to handle them. What happens if/when we get a second deaf MP – the technology was already in place, paid for out of someone else’s budget. There would be no point in paying for a second machine, they’d be better off sharing and having 2 copies printed or whatever. If that MP wasn’t a Green MP then the Greens might feel rightly aggrieved that they had to pay, and the second one didn’t.
Vote:If somebody wants to communicate in an official language they should be able to. If they want to communicate in some other language then they should pay.
If the parliamentary service doesn’t want to pay for this service then they should ask for a legislation change to make sign language not an official language.
February 14th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Why can’t we get a dude to stand next to her and translate, wouldn’t that be cheaper and also create employment?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Can you imagine how the media (John Hartevelt, for one) would go after Smith if he acted outside Parliamentary Service’s rules which he administers to make a payment which he is prevented from doing? The press would have a field day. Smith has done the right thing IMHO.
http://keepingstock.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/rabid-reaction.html
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
@joe bloggs 1:19 pm
Mojo made it known to the Parliamentary Service what her requirements for participation in House debate were almost from the day she was elected.
If it is the case that it require Parliamentary Service Commission approval, it is shameful that the Parliamentary Service and the Speaker have sat on their hands all this time and only now notified her that it would require specific approval from the PSC.
After all, the PSC is actually just a collection of MPs appointed by the various parties, and could have been urgently convened to address this long before now, given that they are all at Parliament anyway.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Back in 2006 when NZ Sign Language was given official status, MPs from almost all parties were backslapping themselves falling over the deaf community (only ACT voted against the bill).
Now that the chickens have come home to roost to avoid looking like a total pack of hypocrites Parliament must approve this funding.
maybe she just has small hands…….
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:46 pm
Presumably once the system is installed, it will have a useful life of something like 15-20 years and may be of use to other MPs in the future?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
I may be wrong, and I may be jumping to a factless conclusion, but somehow this feels like a PR stunt.
If it wasn’t a deliberate setup for media attention then it may at least be an opportunistic feast on attention.
Of course Greens may have been making a big issue of making no progress on this before it got to this stage, and were ignored by the media until now.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
David you’re obviously not a deaf person. If a person needs a pen to write with, who funds it? If a person needs a chair to sit on, who funds it? If the Prime Minister needs a limousine, who funds it? If he needs a microphone to speak with, who pays for it? If he needs to spend $300,000 for travel, who funds it? And yet you quibble on a 1 off cost of $30,000 for equipment for a person to be able to communicate.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
What mindless crap from you there David. Mojo has been elected (through the list, yes, which is still a democratic mandate
) representing, as I see it, two constituencies; Green voters, and the deaf community of New Zealand. She has a right and a responsibility to perform the job as well as any other member of parliament. Now lets look at the mission statement from the Parliamentary Services website.
“provide effective, efficient and timely policy advice, administrative, and support services to meet the needs of members, parliamentary political offices, and the institution of Parliament.”
I would say that support services is exactly what this equipment comes under. So there is a pretty clear statement that it is entirely up to Parliamentary Services to see that she is able to carry out her job to the standards that any other MP would be expected to.
Now I am not calling for the head of Smith because it appears that he was hamstrung about the rules, but I would also hope that he could bring about a solution to this issue long before, as he proposed, bringing it up at a Parliamentary Service Commission meeting next month.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
The chair of the PSC is Lockwood Smith. You`d think if Lockwood did not have the authority to approve this on his own as the speaker, he would have discussed it with his fellow committee members before talking to media. In fact if they have monthly meetings this should have been sorted out some time ago as Mojo Mathjers made her needs known last year.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
GJ Kiwi – my beef is with the process rather than Lockwood Smith’s decision (which he appears to have been justified in taking on the facts). It is a shameless stunt by the greens and was from day one. Mojo Mathers is being used here – no doubts. But my opinion still stands and no-one has disputed it successfull, that the Greens are showing a degree of organisational incompetence of significant proportions.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Looks like the PR hit squad has arrived. Did you read what DPF posted?
willb: What mindless crap from you there David.
GJKiwi: And yet you quibble on a 1 off cost of $30,000 for equipment for a person to be able to communicate.
dave: In fact if they have monthly meetings this should have been sorted out some time ago as Mojo Mathjers made her needs know last year.
So why didn’t the Green Party ensure this was dealt with by now? They knew better than anyone what Mojo required.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Look at it this way. Of course Mojo should get all the equipment necessary to do her job properly.
However …
How much did Wellington based MP Gareth Hughes spend on travel last term? Answer, heaps.
How many rental properties do the Greens own paid for by the taxpayer as part of their super scheme? Perhaps they could raise a loan against it. Then there are party funds.
MPs are supposed to be problem solvers, it is alarming that as a party they cannot find a way of raising $30000 for the equipment within their existing financial position. For starters you could finance the equipment over 3 years. Now you are only needing to find 10000 per year. If each of their MPs offices chipped in some $ this expense would barely register.
They have known about this issue since they put her on their list. Why are they not better organised?
Thats right they instead like to use the issue to jump up and down about how the govt (read taxypayers) are not generous enough.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Life Imitating Art?
Vote:
February 14th, 2012 at 2:32 pm
The fact that Sign Language is an official language has nothing to do with what Mojo needs. She doesn’t need a translator. What she wants is a transcriber, something which takes down what is said and prints it off in English.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:34 pm
$30,000! Jesus. How much for an ear trumpet?
But seriously, if I were her I would just keep leaning forward, look perplexed and put my hand to my ear and shout “SPEAK UP” whenever someone is talking. I think they’d soon find the money.
If that doesn’t work she could keep pretending to mis-hear stuff: “John Key is in favour of purple monkey dishwasher?” There’s a lot of comic potential here.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Mr speaker and Parliamentary services shold not let it to have come to that. Did anyone have an informal chat with Bill English about an appropriation. Bill surely is a quite reasonable chap and would have agreed assuming there was no slack in the Parliamentary Services budget (finding $20k should not be that difficult).
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
So the government wastes billions on welfare that just perpetuates unemployment, teenage pregnancies, drug use, petty crime, child abuse, criminal gangs etc. as well as more untold billions on unaffordable, unsustainable handouts like interest-free student loans and Working For Families, but this $30k is where it’s gonna draw the line in the sand?! Talk about tone deaf.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
I would have thought it would come out of this appropriation:
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
This subject was discussed here soon after the election. If the authorities have not sorted it out is not a good look. That deaf sign language as an official language is a reflection society’s view that a group of us need to communicate in the aural world as well as their own. Sign is a totally different communication system and the translation of supple differences often meets a barrier. To fully take part in the process she is only asking for the ability to directly understand wot is said
And as to understanding she lip reads and is more receptive to those little tells
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
How misleading can Stuff possible be? Their opinion poll has the question:
“Should Deaf MP Mojo Mathers pay for her own help to participate in Parliamentary debates?”
Amazingly 29.5% of votes (when I looked) say yes she should, but I’ll charitably assume they’re not just asshats and answered as if the question was based on whether they thought it should come out of her budget, rather than her paying out of her own pocket.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
Who cares ? It’s OPM so the melons certainly don’t. Nek minnit we will be paying for Winston’s zimmer frame and Hone’s brain transplant.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:12 pm
toad>After all, the PSC is actually just a collection of MPs appointed by the various parties, and could have been urgently convened to address this long before now, given that they are all at Parliament anyway.
Do the Greens have a representative on the PSC? Did the Green rep bring the matter to the attention of the PSC, or were they relying on Smith looking after the needs of one of their MPs? I’m hoping that the Greens didn’t forget about their own MP, then tried to blame someone else for their negligence.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
I agree with Pete George on this one. Publicity stunt by the Greens – ’nuff said.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
@john.bt
Vote:Lets hope we don’t have to pay for Parekura Horomias lunch. Wait a minute …
February 14th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
RightNow>Amazingly 29.5% of votes (when I looked) say yes
Practically, this could have been paid for out of savings from Darren Hughes travel budget and Russell Norman’s flag buying budget.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Don’t you just love the way the Greens are so free and easy with our money?
If this moonbat wants to take part in the debates then she should bloody well fund it herself.
If she had stood in a constituency seat and been voted into the house then that would be a different issue entirely, the fact is that this stupid bint is an unelected scum list MP and she knew the working conditions before she applied for the job.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
It’s called Hansard and it’s free. If Mojo wants the details of what was said by someone in the debating chamber within seconds of what was said, she can pay for it herself.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:33 pm
In these times of fiscal deficit, the lighting in the house should be switched off.
Those Members who do not want to buy their own night-vision goggles should just read Hansard instead (it’s free!) if they want to know who’s speaking.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
I don’t understand what she wants to do. Dragon NaturallySpeaking converts speech to computer text, and is a few hundred dollars, so what exactly is needed?. I believe that Parliamentary Services should have sorted this out at the start – when she arrived. She should not have to approach them, it’s part of their function.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Perhaps we could run the entire HoR via web conferencing.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
1. The headlines are misleading as it suggests that the deaf woman has to pay herself which is wrong
Vote:2. The Green’s beat up is a complete misrepresentation
3. Sign is an official language, it is the House of Representatives, I hate to say it but I think this is one that the taxpayer has to fund.
February 14th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Surprise surprise:
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Pete George – I was referring to the poster “david” in my post, not DPF. Probably should’ve made that clearer, my apologies.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
Will PS have to pay for the glasses and hearing aids of MPs as well? What about elocution lessons?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Well, she is a Green party member… Hands up who thinks she will add anything intelligent to the debate anyway?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:08 pm
if a deaf private individual started a business that required them to have this sort of software would everyone demand that the taxpayer fund it?
no, in fact the greens would be the first to declare them an evil capitalist, treading over the poor or some other shit.
the greens have 5.6 million of taxpayers dollars to promote their views and talk about how they want to take money from those who work. they can pay for additional support themself, how about Gareth go on a couple less junkets a year to help pay for it.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:16 pm
Still seems to be some confusion over whether the need is technological or a low tech human transcription service. RRM mentions that equipment would last 15-20 years. Hope you are not designing buildings using 15-20 year old computers and software Mr engineering man. Indeed if it is soft (as in human) technology, then it has no useful life and this is supported by the comment that it would cost $30,000 per year.
I re-iterate, the Green Party selected a candidate who needed unique support yet have completely botched the provision of that support, haven’t thought it through or negotiated its provision.
They are using this person as a political cudgel to try and bruise the Government. Talk about “useful idiots”
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
I doubt that any transcruiption service would provide fast enough feedback for her to “participate” in debates in any event. Do we expect to have each speaker pause while their last statement is transcribed and Ms Mather thus dictating the pace of progress in the House?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:21 pm
According to stuff she doesn’t want a machine, she wants a personal staffer to sit there 1000 hours a year writing things out for her, presumably on a machine.
It is silly to pretend that this spending will make her fully participate in Parliament. The reality is she never will be able to fully participate, because she won’t be able to hear the interjections and asides,a nd won’t be able to quickly make points of order. But that doesn’t mean she can’t do lots of other things as well or better than any other MP.
PS The election was in November, Parliament opened last week. Why is this happening now?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
But that doesn’t mean she can’t do lots of other things as well or better than any other MP.
She could probably be more productive away from the house anyway. There’s often a lot of empty seats. People with a disability tend to excel in other ways.
When Gareth Hughes (Musterer) was mentioned as being involved, alongside a concerted social media campaign for Green sympathy, a lot was explained.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Looks like the Greens have TVNZ carry water for them as part of this setup – see the bullshit headline at
Vote:http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/deaf-mp-must-pay-her-own-way-4721631?ref=newsletterafternoon
February 14th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Dumb move by Smith politically. He’s fallen straight into the Green’s trap.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
SC – I don’t see what Lockwood has done wrong. More like a media honey trap, but only if they let the Greens get away with it.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
@Toad 1:45pm
there are various well-established funding support programmes for hearing impaired people in New Zealand. These require applicants to go to great lengths and overcome a vast amount of bureacracy in order to receive funding support.
1. why the Greens did not make immediate efforts to secure funding support the day Mathers was elected is their problem not the issue of the tax-payer
2. it would benefit Mathers to go through exactly the same application process that all others go through – perhaps that way she will appreciate the bureaucratic tangle of red tape that must be navigated.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Curious comment “david”.
If you have been following my posting closely enough to know my profession, then obviously you will be aware that I am not one to take an ad-hom lying down. So since you asked…
As a matter of fact some of the best structural design tools are well over 15 years old… of course version 8.5.2.10.3(vIII) only dates back to November 2011, but the basic engines are often much older.
(Since some parts of the mechanics we are modelling are as old as time itself, it should come as no surprise that some of the analysis and design knowledge is quite old already?)
And back on topic: That’s not what a “useful idiot” is.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
How is Hansard compiled? Is it transcribed in real time? Could the raw feed not be made available to Mathers on an LCD monitor? Or any other parliamentarian that may be hard of hearing, or afflicted with a poorly positioned seat in the house?
One post after announcing that there will be improvements to the speed at which Hansard is available online, there is this fiasco. Good to see the Kiwi can’t-do attitude is alive and well.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
This has got out-of-hand.
Vote:For all his powers as speaker, Lockwood Smith cannot change budget approvals and parliamentary appropriations. He is merely saying that the Parliamentary Services budget is not authorised to pay for such expenses, and that as it stands Mojo has to use her own, or the Green Party’s, parlimentary support budget, which is still tax payer funded.
Mojo does not have to personally pay for anything.
February 14th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
This is simply another publicity stunt courtesy of the Melons.
Turei has just been on NewstalkZB telling Leighton Smith that the Speaker had refused to pay etc (even though Turei wasn’t at the meeting) – OTOH, the Speaker (and others present at the meeting) are firm that Smith had told Mathers that he didn’t have the authority to approve extra funding and as such it had to go to PS for approval. Apparently, all parties left the meeting OK – until the Gweens went running off to the lapdog media.
I can understand why the Gweens don’t stand in electorate seats – they wouldn’t stand a chance.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 5:46 pm
I wonder how many expressing opinions here would change their minds if it were an MP of their own political persuasion or if it were a case of an MP becoming deaf during the term.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 5:49 pm
Gareth “Gen Y” Hughes was the “musterer”?
One wonders if he organised this from a Koru lounge….
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
If sign language is an officially recognised language, in NZ, then why does she not simply use that?
Some posters seem a bit confused on this one and try to argue it both ways. Is it a valid language, or not. If it is, then why does she need 30 grand…
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Elaycee this is exactly what Lockwood has been saying on Checkpoint. “Astonishing” he says.
Gweens are entitled, because they’re victims. Evewyone’s a victim. If you don’t agwee, you’re a nasty evil mean person.
This is their thinking, this is their tactics.
To clarify some confusion above, the 30k p.a. is for a person, to take notes, during debates. Presumably Hansard isn’t instant enough. Lockwood IS funding the equipment, just not the person, UNTIL he talks to Parliamentary Services: i.e. HE HASN’T GIVEN HIS ANSWER YET.
So to all those like mm who are
a little bittremendously confused about this terribly complicated and difficult situation, why don’t you just read the thread again, since you clearly haven’t understood it the first time, and let’s just wait and see what happens.BTW, to those in support above such as mm, if we got a Gween MP with the same disease as Stephen Hawking has, except s/he didn’t have one of those talk boxes he uses, would the taxpayer have to pay for that, as well? Is it, whatever it takes, no matter what, cos it’s about human wights, or are there any limits at all, to the largesse you advocate on behalf of fulfilling your ideal?
BTW, to the one who said above she’s got a deaf constituency as well as a Gween one, have you asked any deaf conservatives whether they think she represents them in Parliament, or did you just assume they would think that? Which makes you a bit of a deafist what with all that stereotyping, doesn’t it?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
@Kea 5:58 pm
Um, probably because hardly any of the other MPs would understand what she was signing. Nor would the vast majority of the public. Same issue with Te Reo, actually.
And she has to know what other MPs are saying, not just they know what she is, to do her job as an MP properly.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
If sign language is an officially recognised language, in NZ, then why does she not simply use that?
Probably cause trying to convert the usual Parliamentary discussions into sign would require a minimum of four translators and would result in something similar to a Bruce Lee v Chuck Norris sparing match.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:07 pm
“Um, probably because hardly any of the other MPs would understand what she was signing. Nor would the vast majority of the public”
90% of the public have never understood what any Green MP has said so why make allowances for this moonbat?
She knew the working conditions before she applied for the job Toad, she can fund it herself or get another job.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Not much of an “official language” then is it.
Virtually no one understands sign language. So we have an MP who is unable to communicate with the other MPs. How very PC and how very stupid. You can not claim, on one hand, she can speak an official language, and on the other hand, claim she needs 30 grand to communicate her crazy socialist ideas to others.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Gaweth just said on Checkpoint that 750,000 hearing-impaired NZer’s can’t access Parliamentary debates.
No, that’s not a hyperbole, at all, is it. Listen to it online when they post it.
I’ve always thought Gaweth was an arse. He’s proving it more and more everytime he opens his mouth.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
What about the Blind?
Vote:The subject was ‘Who pays’
Well the Private sector ain’t going to, so I guess it means the TAXPAYER pays yet again
February 14th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Just watching the news it seems that Lockwood Smith is being quite fair, reasonable and open minded about this- Nothing more than a typical pathetic media beat-up from the Greens.
Vote:I suspect this ridiculous ‘Mojo’ character is going to cry “Discrimination” at the drop of a hat any chance she gets to try to discredit the Government…
February 14th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Agree Bruv
I want to be an All Black- the fact that I’m nearly 52 and never had any footballing ability be damned, I wanna. There are some jobs some people just can’t do and limitations preclude full participation for others , lifes tough , guys in wheel chairs can’t be tight rope walkers.
THis situation was always going to arise and everyone has fallen for it. She gets a translator and if the Greens rate her highly they will pay for this gear.
Are there any New Zealand born MP’s in the Greens anyway?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:44 pm
And what sort of sicko parents name a profoundly deaf child after a song, ?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Another lunatic Luddite costing us a mint.
Vote:The deranged watermelon co-leader had the cheek to say that because of the reduced funding, Mojo would be unable to spend time on her “constituency” . Which one? She and the other nutters go t there on the list.
February 14th, 2012 at 6:51 pm
PEB>And what sort of sicko parents name a profoundly deaf child after a song, ?
I thought she was named after a chain of cafes. And that she was lucky her parents were vegetarians since she could have ended up as Burger King Mathers.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 7:19 pm
So Lockwood’s on Walrus right now, pointing out all MP are funded for 80 support hours in the House, not all of which every MP needs and which is commonly shared around (donated to others who need it – Lockwood donates almost of his) and he asks the entirely reasonable question as to why, starting with the Gweens, they can’t donate those support hours to their poor victim Mojo, BEFORE Parliamentary Services approaches the taxpayer and asks for more?
Surely that’s reasonable.
Surely it’s entirely unreasonable not to fully explore that option first.
How come the Gweens haven’t mentioned that factor AT ALL, in their victimhood propaganda campaign today?
Of course Walrus fails to pick up on significance of said point and desperately tries to spin nothing but the Gween line on this. Why the fuck does he still have a job?
I wonder if any repeater will bother to ask all the MPs which hours they don’t need which they have donated to help poor Mojo exit her victimhood and publish that list. Lockwood said Winston has given some of his. Good on him. (I just wish I could believe he did it out of altruism but at least he did it.) What about Mojo’s own party? Where precisely do THEY stand, in this?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 7:41 pm
When the greens were going through the selection process, did they not think that if Mojo got anywhere near parliament they would need to address her disability? No they would not be that smart. I say that the greens should cover the costs. But there again what the fuck are any of them doing there anyway?
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
reid
good comment, if say 8 green Mp’s turned over 50 of their hours at I would imagine a conservative $65 per hour the jobs done nearly, that comes to $20800.
Any way why buy shit like this, lease it, she might get the arse in 3 years and this stuff will be redundant.
Or better still some wealthy green supporter will buy it for her, ha fucking ha.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
a while ago a new neighbour of mine invited me over for a meet and greet. A the end of our meal she presented me with a desert to take home, it was a tub of homemade ice cream which she told me quite proudly was made from her breast milk.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Good comment from Kea at 5:58 pm
“Some posters seem a bit confused on this one and try to argue it both ways. Is it a valid language, or not. If it is, then why does she need 30 grand…”
I was on the side of Mojo but insider at 3:58 pm made me switch sides.
“Will PS have to pay for the glasses and hearing aids of MPs as well?”
I am deaf in one ear which is a bit of a problem in my job. I have seen specialists and are now wearing a hearing aid. I have paid for this myself and wouldn’t think of asking my employer to pay for it.
Vote:For me it is a matter of priciples.
Why does Mojo think we (The tax payer) should pay?
Why does she think she is entitled to my money?
February 14th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Just watch and hear (if you can do either) the bigots crawl out from under their rocks here.
Why should people with impairments have less ability to participate in our democratic process than anyone else?
In Mojo’s case, Lockwood’s decision means she would have no money left from her Parliamentary Service expenses allocation to pay for any communications or travel she needs to do to competently perform in her role as an elected representative.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
Heard a rumour that an Chinese guy applied for the job as Mojo’s signer, but Lockwood turned him down because his hands were too small
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Communications and travel are separately funded. Whether Mojo uses her member support allowance for this or not would not affect in any way the amount of funding remaining to assist under the communication or travel allowances. Please try again.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Would be interesting if we had elected an MP with Tourettes Syndrome. (Not counting Andrew Williams.)
I wonder how long it would be before Parliamentary Services hired a person to sit next to the MP with a very loud bleep box!
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Terrible attempt at political point-scoring by Gareth Hughes and the Greens. Let’s look at some simple facts (which I believe have not been disputed):
1. Toad – “Mojo made it known to the Parliamentary Service what her requirements for participation in House debate were almost from the day she was elected.”
2. So Gareth has had since late November to ensure that the support was being put in place for Mojo
3. Not a peep from anyone on this until now.
So what have Gareth and the rest of the Greens been doing about ensuring that Mojo has the proper support in place from early Dec until now? Judging by their absolute silence on this, one can only deduce ‘absolutely nothing.’ Where were the reports from them checking up with Parliamentary Services and finding that appropriate measures were not taking place (and why)? Where are the reports of them raising this with the Speaker and/or PSC before now?
Do they think it could somehow reflect positively on them if they sat back just expecting things to happen and not checking up on them? Is that the sort of oversight the public might expect from a coalition party on the treasury benches?
Why today? Why not weeks ago? Are they actually portraying that Mojo’s support wasn’t important enough to follow up on?
Someone ought to turn Hughes parliamentary question back on him. Does he think that the death of another dolphin is more important than Mojo having the proper support to perform her role? After all, it would seem he spent a great deal more time on that last week than he did on ensuring that the proper support was being put in place for her…
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
@toad
“Just watch and hear (if you can do either) the bigots crawl out from under their rocks here.”
The old tactic. Pay up or I cal you a racist, bigot etc.
“Why should people with impairments have less ability to participate in our democratic process than anyone else?”
Srawman. She can, but at her own cost. She wants the job, the Greens put her on the list.
In my job, I pay for for my own transport to and from work, I pay for my own meals and if I need glasses or a hearing aid (as I do) I PAY FOR IT MYSELF! MP’s get an outrageous salary with free meals and free transport thrown in. Why does she (And ‘Greens’) expect me to pay for all this and, on top of that, all the extras she is demanding?
“In Mojo’s case, Lockwood’s decision means she would have no money left from her Parliamentary Service expenses allocation to pay for any communications or travel she needs to do to competently perform in her role as an elected representative.”
And whose fault is that? The Green Party put her on the ticket. It looks like a setup by the ‘Greens’ using MM to score points.
Vote:You want her, you pay for the extra cost!
February 14th, 2012 at 8:41 pm
toad, if you don’t answer the question in my 7:19 as to why all the Gweens can’t donate their support hours to help their victim, you’re personally a bludger scum advocating for other bludger scum who both of you collectively wants to keep the poorest people in NZ in poverty by making them pay taxes just because the Gweens are too selfish to donate their own support hours to help one of their own.
Tell us, if you can, the logical diff betw what I just said and what you said in your 8:02. Notwithstanding your long-standing refusal to respond to anything I say because for some reason you didn’t like something I said ages ago, your silence will be taken as absolute and irrefutable proof that there is no diff and you concede the point that all the Gween MP’s as well as yourself, are bludger scum who just want to hurt the poor and downtwodden.
You want her, you pay for the extra cost!
Andy I don’t think bludger scum have any sense of personal responsibility at all so I’m pretty sure toad won’t be responding to that, either. He doesn’t seem to like any questions at all. Perhaps bludger scum think their position on anything, is self-evident in its justification.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 8:59 pm
toad (3,233) Says:
February 14th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
………………………do to competently perform in her role as an elected representative.
Mojo Mathers is not an elected representative. She is there because we have this amazingly stupid elective system that rewards failure , she got the gig because she was a member of the green party, that is all, anybody can be put in as an MP under this system. You only have to look at all parties to see that Parliament is a talent free ocean.
Seriously, The Pin ball Wizard can be placed on the lists .
I wonder at what stage Ms Mathers will realize she is novelity value, if she was black and gay that would be better but she will do for now.
MMP rewards party fuckwits and time servers, all parties are guilty of this.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Ms Mathers would be doing a much better service for those that are deaf et al if she just put her head down and did some work ,got a bit of credibilty before starting the “poor poor me bullshit.”
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 9:17 pm
No, but I understand what when the Debating Chamber was refurbished an induction loop was installed – and it’s not paid for by the parties of MPs with hearing aids.
In the end, The Speaker may have had a legitimate point (“I can’t actually pull $30K out of my arse”) but this should have been resolved a long time ago. Lockwood’s patrician head-patting of “inexperienced Members” wasn’t particularly helpful either.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I was at University of Auckland recently for a seminar on Mathematics in Education and Ms Mathers was one of the 3 speakers. To be honest, even with the Micro-phone at the podium, I could hardly hear her from the middle of the lecture theater when she was talking. She said that the Greens head-hunted her to stand for Parliament. A brilliant mathematician but I think she’s misguided in her political philosophy.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Would Winston be so generous if his offer was his own money.
Vote:Rather does not his egoness to be part of this issue demonstrate his Party is paid $ 6000 more taxpayer funds than New Zealand First actually need?
February 14th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Lockwood’s patrician head-patting of “inexperienced Members” wasn’t particularly helpful either.
He only said that Craig, because the Gweens had behaved so outrageously by going straight to the media after the meeting when they didn’t get everything their own way. And he said it, rather kindly, to give them an out, not to be patronising. But the Gweens – big surprise – are so fucking mental and arrogant, they didn’t take up his kind offer to quietly resolve it behind the scenes as it should always have been but instead needlessly pressed their case, causing Lockwood to have to go public to defend his position.
I repeat, the real question is, which Gween MPs have donated their support hours to their own “victim.” Why should society (we taxpayers) be expected to help those who refuse to help themselves?
The whole story is dominated by the collective media and lefty weeping and wailing engendered by the twagic nature of the “victim’s” plight bought about by – as they see it – harsh and bully-boy tactics. I almost guarantee this is how it will play out in tomorrow mornings TV, Radio and press coverage. I wish there was an i-predict stock on it.
But I’ve had a fucking gutsful of this victim-centric advocacy. Name me any civilisation or even social group including communes in history, that ever prospered by adopting what the Gweens advocate we should all become. What the fuck has happened to kick arse, take names and just get the fucking job done. That’s the attitude which build great nations but bizarrely, thanks to the metrosexualisation of this entire fucking country, it’s not “can do” anymore, it’s “where do you rate on the victim scale so we can ask other people to donate their earnings to you and you don’t have to do a fucking thing, by definition, because you’re a victim.”
I think she’s misguided in her political philosophy.
No kidding Falafulu. I bet even you couldn’t give us the modelling equations necessary to work out what’s going on inside your average Gween mind. Working through the massive bullshit required to penetrate the victimhood mentality that’s going on inside every single one of those fuckwits would, I imagine, simply be too much even for Fujitsu’s 10.51 petaflop K supercomputer.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
metcalph (753) Says:
February 14th, 2012 at 2:32 pm
The fact that Sign Language is an official language has nothing to do with what Mojo needs. She doesn’t need a translator. What she wants is a transcriber, something which takes down what is said and prints it off in English.
Winston needs one
Vote:
February 14th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
“Just watch and hear (if you can do either) the bigots crawl out from under their rocks here.”
There is it guys…game, set and match to us.
Toad knows that we are right so he reverts to name calling.
As for the rest of his post…”In Mojo’s case, Lockwood’s decision means she would have no money left from her Parliamentary Service expenses allocation to pay for any communications or travel she needs to do to competently perform in her role as an elected representative.”
Toad, she does not represent anybody, she (like the rest of your moonbat party) are scum list MP’s. There is NO reason for any of them to travel on my dime.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 10:19 pm
The issue of funding for the note taking is that, as I understand, it is not a personal support for Mojo, but an accommodation required because the Parliamentary debates are not accessible to her. Is a parallel that MPs have speakers to let them hear MPs talking in their microphones, as without that equipment people may not be able to hear what’s been said. As others have commented, because a hearing loop is already installed any person with a hearing aid could use it. The different then seems to be that Mojo is the first person to require a transcriber and it involves a human.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 10:20 pm
He only said that Craig, because the Gweens had behaved so outrageously by going straight to the media after the meeting when they didn’t get everything their own way.
In which case, Reid, a Parliamentarian of over three decades standing can say so without being a patronising dick. I was under the impression the Speaker of The House is supposed to be someone of sound judgement, maturity and an even temperament. I’d certainly say Lockwood Smith usually exceeds expectations on all those fronts.
Why should society (we taxpayers) be expected to help those who refuse to help themselves?
FFS, Reid, perhaps we should expect duly elected Members of Parliament to be able to do their jobs? I know the Greens don’t have many fans around here, but whether you happen to like it or not Miss Mathers is a lawful and legitimately elected Member of the House of Representatives.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 10:22 pm
“Would Winston be so generous if his offer was his own money.”
Yup – hypocrisy knows no bounds.
The venal prick should first stump up with the $158,000 he still owes the NZ taxpayer before he starts grandstanding about funding for a Gween List MP.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Given that the Greens are so concerned about Moonbat Mathers being able to do here job I wonder how many of them have taken the time to learn NZ sign language?
Years ago the company I worked for at the time hired two deaf employees, I got on really well with one of them and over the course of the following two years learnt how (at my own expense, something Toad will not understand) to sign.
Having said that, NZ sign is a lot like Maori, totally fucking useless outside of NZ and pretty much a waste of time in general as I have not used it in nearly five years.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Pity the glove puppet Hughes spent a fair amount of the greens money on travel. Mojo should have realized that she would require assistance when she crawled onto the list. Let the greens sort this out. Another publicity stunt.
Vote:February 14th, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Agree. Why can’t Mojo’s transcriber be paid for by Hansard? Two birds with one stone, as it were.
Vote:February 15th, 2012 at 1:08 am
Two completely separate things, which some people are conflating.
1. Should a transcriber be provided. In my opinion, yes. Sign is a language we recognise, and it is good to have diversity in our parliament. I have employees with hearing impairments, and when (for example) one of them recently conducted a training course, I paid for the transcriber, which made him far more effective in delivering that content. If I’m going to employ a deaf employee, then I’m hardly going to skimp on providing the tools for me to get value for money from them (and irrespective of what others here may think, she is an employee of all us taxpayers, and we should be making sure we get value for money).
2. Have the Greens gone about this the right way. No. It’s not the Speaker’s job to magically know what they might want and go and get it. The Greens need to come ask for it in the appropriate forum, and follow it through to make sure it turns up. If the process is that someone else has the delegation to approve that, well, that’s business in a bureaucracy. No news there, shouldn’t be in parliament if you didn’t know that. I haven’t seen anyone (other than a few ferals here) say that it isn’t going to be paid for, just that the Speaker cannot approve it, and there’s another committee to go visit. So what’s new?
Vote:February 15th, 2012 at 7:37 am
I think that’s an impoirtant question.
It makes a big difference if the service being asked for Mathers is personal for her, or available for everyone.
I presume Hansard likes to prrof read and check what it records, but as long is it’s clear it’s a draft copy there shouldn’t be a problem.
Vote:February 15th, 2012 at 8:33 am
Deaf people expecting to have the same level of access and participation in the political system as the rest of us normal people – it’s outrageous. When will these minorities get the message!
We already seem to be wasting a lot of money providing two separate sets of toilets throughout the beehive just to satisfy a minority of women MP’s. If parties want to stand women for parliament they should pay for their own facilities from their own party budgets.
Not to mention the MP’s transport costs – Why should the taxpayer have to stump up extra costs just because parties choose to put people who don’t live in Wellington on their lists – they should pay that out of their own budget – it’s not like they didn’t know they were South Islanders when they stood them for parliament.
Its all political correctness gone mad I tell you!
Vote:February 15th, 2012 at 8:41 am
The call has gone out for Green candidates to put on the List at the next election.
Required are:
1. A blind person
2. A deaf and blind person
3. A Downs syndrome person
4 An elderly person suffering from incontinence
5. a paraplegic.
Will accept a blind, deaf, Downs, incontinent paraplegic who can represent their constituency and cause maximum confusion in the House.
The party will demand that house proceedings pause for Braille transcriptions of debates to be produced and “read” in order that the Party member can fully participate in debates and bring the concerns of their constituency into the House. Pauses will also be required for Nappy changes and unannounced naps.
Vote:February 15th, 2012 at 8:54 am
Lockwood has simply got this wrong. If she needed wheel chair access it would be provided by parliamentary services without any question as it is throughout parliament now. I have no problem as a taxpayer to have PS pay for this. It’s called democracy and it is her right to participate without discrimination based on her disability. Christ almighty if Lockwood listened to her he might even learn something.
Vote:February 15th, 2012 at 8:58 am
Pete,
Surely that could only have been deliberate…
Vote: