Guest Post: Life on a benefit
March 25th, 2012 at 7:00 am by David FarrarA guest post by Peter Freedman:
Life on a benefit, or pension is tough.
People of the rightwing persuasion think they know all about living on a low, fixed income. It is easy to sit in your Eastborne home, dabbling in painting, and thinking you know everything that should be done to the poor, isn’t it Lindsay Mitchell?
Or to sit on your wobble butt in Parliament, pocketing a six-figure ministerial salary, swanning around in your gas guzzler and declaring that because you “made it” everyone else should make it, too, even though you’ve taken away most of the stuff which helped you to get along. Isn’t it, Paula Bennett?
Or to regale the masses with stories of about how your mother lived in a state house, but you rose to be a millionaire Prime Minister. Isn’t it Mr Key?
The people who know about living on a benefit are the beneficiaries themselves. I’m one and have been for a couple of years. I worked all my life. That I am on welfare is not my fault and I don’t like being there.
I don’t like not being able to live like other people just because I am sick. I don’t like not being able to take my wife for a night out or enjoy a movie or a drink. I don’t like being stuck at home because I have no money for petrol. I don’t like eating baked beans because I have no cash for food.
I can hear the righties now: Stop whining, get off your bum, be grateful that WE look after you……if that is your only response, don’t bother, I’ve already heard it before.
Not only have I been a beneficiary, but I have also worked with beneficiaries as a budget adviser and food bank co-ordinator. So I think I know what I am talking about.
My experience is that beneficiaries are often the best budgeters of all. They have to be.
Every dollar, every cent, is stretched to breaking point. So are your nerves and your patience when you heard words like ”bludger” from people who should know better, but don’t.
Keeping the dole low might have some justification if you KNOW people on the dole don’t want to work.
PS: If you want to tell me about the dole bludger down the road who spends his life surfing on the taxpayer, or the solo Mum who keeps having kids to stay on the DPB, I’ve heard it all before and I’m not interested. I want solutions, please, not third hand stories about your uncle’s cousin’s mother-in-law’s next door neighbour’s grandson. I don’t care, Okay?
But there is no justification in treating invalids as if they have no value. And that’s what governments in both NZ and Australia do, Labor, Labour, Liberal or National. They are all the same. It is not good enough and it has to stop.
A benefit gives you just enough to survive on. I use that word deliberately. Starving is not living.
As NZers living on the benefit in Australia we receive income from Centrelink every fortnight and from WINZ once a month. The WINZ payment has to be converted to $AUS. Sometimes this benefits us with a few dollars extra.
When that happens, Centrelink reduces our income to compensate. But do they do the opposite thing if the conversion rate works against us? Oh, dear me no.
For luxuries we have Austar, the cheapest possible package. Beats staring at the walls when you can’t go anywhere because the gas tank is empty.
I know a few pensioners in Australia and they admit what they do to make ends meet. They shoplift from supermarkets.
Oh, dear, I can hear the righteous right clacking their dentures already.
I don’t condone theft, but I do understand it. One of my mates has a wife who was recently told she was deficient in Vitamin D. Her doctor did not advise sitting in the sun, the strongest on earth, and recommended using Vitamin tablets.
Yeah, right, at 50c each! So my mate sneaks along the supermarket aisle, waits till no-one is looking, grabs a packet and sticks it in his pocket.
He isn’t proud of what he does, but is not ashamed, either. He does it to survive.
So if you want to know what it is like on a pension or a benefit ask the people who know. Tell Lindsay Mitchell, Paula Bennett and John Key to go stuff themselves.
Personally I see little difference between condoning something and saying you understand it in a sympathetic tone. It’s like the person saying “I don’t condone domestic violence, but boy does that sheila get naggy, and it is the only way to make her listen”.
Related posts:
- $86,000 a year for 15 years on the benefit
- Another case of benefit fraud
- How to gain a bigger benefit
- Life on the Benefit
March 25th, 2012 at 7:25 am
All I can hear is a mass amount of whining and finger pointing at others. What did Lindsay, Paula or John do to you?
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 7:31 am
Little wonder that WO has taken over as New Zealand’s leading blog. Is this intended to bring the punters back DPF?
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 7:46 am
I was on a benefit for many months last year. It is rather straightforward, I played a lot of golf and computer games. Because I could. Then after a few months I applied for a job and got the first one I went for, cleaning offices and toilets at night for 150% of minimum wage. I was working within days of applying because of the lack of quality applicants.
Peter, you are ignorant and greedy.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 7:55 am
Is there no end to the largesse of the taxpayers of New Zealand? Here’s a situation where one of our home grown bludgers decides to shift his idle arse to sunnier climes & send back socialist bile abusing those not enamoured of his skills as a union stirrer & third grade journalist.
Through our grace & the benevolence of our socialist government, WINZ follows this no hoper to the ends of the earth pressing OUR money into his ungrateful hand.
Workers & businessmen of NZ……bend over & keep paying.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 8:31 am
Lindsay Mitchell has worked with people in need for years…she walks her talk. What have you ever done Peter you bleeding hearted ponce?
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 8:32 am
“Little wonder that WO has taken over as New Zealand’s leading blog. Is this intended to bring the punters back DPF?”
Yep, who needs this kind of tripe from this unethical piece of leftist crap?
Kiwiblog sold out to the National Party and a long list of left wing causes a long time ago.
David Farrar has betrayed his supporters who made Kiwiblog the success it once was.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 8:34 am
There is a need for a welfare state in New Zealand – there are few who would disagree. The idea that children should be starved or left homeless doesn’t appeal to me (although I suspect there are some Libz out there who would argue that this wouldn’t happen without a Government Welfare system.)
However, those who are receiving welfare need to take as many steps as possible to remove themselves from it – and while the majority do, there are still too many who just accept the payout as it’s easier than going to all the effort of getting employed.
I do find the judgement of Lindsay Mitchell a little ironic – while it is true she sits in her Eastbourne home dabbling in painting that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t understand how easy (or difficult) it is to get a person out of welfare dependency less than someone on a benefit.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 8:44 am
There is no need for a welfare system run by the state and never has been. People would and have always looked after those in need without needing a gun stuck in their back to do so….what they won’t do without coercion is continue to pro up the lazy and self entitled.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:02 am
Those above that have posted should go back and read again. Comprhension is defintely not amoung you talents judging by your comments.
Peter was talking about people who are not ina postion to help them selves. Invalids, not lazy bastards.
The hallmark of a decent society is how it helps people who are unable to help themselves.
That doesn’t preclude people who may have worked in occupations that have low pay levels or indeed none.
Your turn will come without doubt.Then you will need all the money you have and more to survive until it ruuns out and then what? go top yourselves or beg on the street.
Vote:Not the Kiwi way IMHO.
March 25th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Vikibg…who here has bagged those who CAN”T help themselves?
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:16 am
Viking2..who here has bagged those who CAN”T help themselves?
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:16 am
I’ve heard it all before too. The fact is that life on a benefit isn’t meant to be comfortable.
John Key and Paula Bennett spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money on welfare. Does Mr Freedman say thank you for their “generosity”? No. He whines that he isn’t getting enough! Has anyone ever heard a beneficiary activist say thank you for all the taxpayer support they already get? I haven’t.
That is an attitude I cannot stand. You need to take a good hard look at yourself Peter.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:20 am
Oh dear Peter, why don’t you save your vile to those who buck the system. I’m sure you are aware of those that surf and play computer games every day, are young and fit and stuck on the state tit. Perhaps you should look at those who make the dole the lifestyle of choice. If welfare was paid to only those in genuie need I theink you would find there would probably more for those in real need. Life isn’t always fair, blaming the rightous right ( FFS) is a crock of shit.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:21 am
Surely DPF is taking the piss with these guest posts?!? Freedman appears to blend the whinging entitlement of philu, with the eloquence of Delahunty. What’s next – guest posts by Minto? Or Toad? I hear Chávez is handy with the keyboard.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:25 am
I been on a benefit and it’s hard, it should be hard, it should make you want to go out and get a job.
I dd everything from labouring, working night shifts, etc at near mimium wage rather than be on a benefit.
Stop whinning and look at what can you do, i.e. growing your own vegtables, looking after children during the work day, etc to add to your income ot reduce or spend at the supermarket.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:33 am
If we are to believe his wafflings Mr Freedman is on a benefit because he suffers from ‘panic attacks’. He has opined before that they have been brought on by the incredible stress involved in union work.
Perhaps a low stress position as a toilet cleaner could improve his financial position & reduce the time available to abuse the incredible meanness of the NZ taxpayers.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:44 am
I would also ask what Peter has done to piss off his family and friends?
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:51 am
Do you understand Peter Freedman, that every dollar you get comes out of money that the rest of us work for?
Your friend’s wife is a loser. She doesn’t need vitamin D tablets – she should never have been tested for vitamin D levels – her doctor’s already wasted taxpayer money with an incredibly expensive test*. You take a vitamin D tablet once per month if you’re deficient anyway, this’ll be $3 for a 3monthly prescription. She wouldn’t be deficient if she didn’t sit indoors watching SkyTV all day like a morbid sack of shit.
* http://www.bpac.org.nz/magazine/2011/june/vitamin-d.asp
“Vitamin D testing is expensive and there is no consensus on the optimal vitamin D serum level. Monitoring vitamin D levels is also considered unnecessary. The best way to increase vitamin D levels for the general population is short (non-burning) bouts of sunlight exposure to 20% of the body (i.e. arms and legs)”
You’re stuck at home because you have no petrol? Have you heard of a method of locomotion known as ambulation, more conventionally known as WALKING?!
Where’s your cash (that someone else is using their time to earn for you) going? According to what you’ve written you’re eating baked beans and not taking your wife out for a drink. Well you should have tons left over. How about selling your car? What the hell do you need it for? It’s just an expense – I’d have got rid of it if I was in your shoes. And why should the person working 60 hours/week in a factory give a percentage of their earnings to you, just so you and your wife can get drunk?
How about printing your income and expenses here so someone can actually help you? You already seem to think that “beneficiaries are the best budgeters” – that’s blatantly untrue. But prove me wrong. My opinion would completely change if you had some factual data, instead of this self-pitying, self-entitled crap you have written. Maybe your problem is that you can never admit your wrong, and no-one wants to employ someone who thinks he knows best all the time.
My guess is that you waste plenty of money, use drugs, and get into unnecessary debt. My guess is that you’re unpleasant to work with. My guess is that you are incredibly envious of others, so think stealing from supermarkets is a reasonable thing to do. You are probably a narcissist, and nothing anyone says will change you. I hope you remain unhappy.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:51 am
Hey Peter Freedman – do you have kids? Is your partner looking for work too? Would you work at a job at near the minimum wage fora short time at odd hours using your computer? If so I have a job for you.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 9:54 am
Anyone actually interested in solutions wouldn’t start with a lame diatribe against Key and Bennett who are the people best placed to offer solutions over the next three years. Also I suspect if they weren’t beneficiary success stories they would be “rich tories who have no idea what it’s like to be on a benefit.”
Besides, being on the benefit qualifies you to be an expert on living on the benefit. It does not make you an expert on the whole freaking system.
I’m sorry to hear you are sick. So long as you are not one of those people who are too proud to take “lesser work” then I doubt anyone begrudges you the benefit.
Again, as a person who has “worked all their life” you are not the target of right wing ire. However, why are people who never or rarely work not a legitimate concern? In a time of reducing budgets surely the money spent on people like them could be spent better on people like you? Annecdotely, statistically, however you want it relayed to you, these people exist.
And there is no excuse for theft. Your mate really couldn’t save up for or apply for a grant to buy pack of medically prescibed vitamins? If you are going to break the law because you *need* $20 at least do it in a semi respectable way like a cash job.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 10:05 am
It’s simply not fair that the PM of NZ has more income than a beneficiary living in Australia…..
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 10:06 am
Keeping Stock
7.31
You seem to object to the way DPF runs his blog. I would have thought it was his business and his responsibility. I’ve noted several comments in response to blogs by Freedman which barely hide some disdain that Freedman guest blogs while some detractors don’t have the opportunity. I don’t mean you of course but you may have noticed it yourself.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 10:08 am
More poorly written drivel from this bludging dropkick- Can’t work because of ‘Panic Attacks?” I have a close friend who was severly brain damaged in a road accident…after a few years rehabilitation he manages to hold down a full time job despite ongoing health issues. It can be done if you swallow your pride and get off your arse.
Vote:Worth noting that this Mr Freedman is the same person who went into a blind rage when his wife got detained for drunk driving (after an afternoon session- seems there is money in the kitty for that eh?) and screamed insults and abuse towards the Australian police…
So not only is he demanding us ‘evil right wingers’ pay him more dole to get sloshed during the day but he also seems to believe he is above Australain law??
I have nothing but disgust for people like this.
March 25th, 2012 at 10:09 am
Dave…….I’d be interested in that job…..odd hours are me and Im on the PC a fair bit….do tell.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 10:54 am
One of the luxuries Peter Freedman could easily give up is his computer and internet connection. The only thing he uses it for is attacking people he doesn’t like: Andrew Bolt, David Garrett, Kiwiblog commenters; Lindsay Mitchell, Paula Bennett, and John Key. I suspect Australian taxpayers could use their taxes for better purposes. With the time saved Freedman could go out and get himself a drivers license. And with the money saved Freedman could pay off all his driving fines.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 10:54 am
I’ve been on the dole ‘in between jobs’ three times and on a student allowance twice. Being in receipt of state/taxpayer funded support is a big help and a privilege that I didn’t take for granted. I certainly didn’t blame anyone else for being on a benefit. I was out of a job and needed to support myself while looking for another and when I found another one I cancelled my benefit.
I do agree that living on a benefit is hard and that’s for a single person. However the thing was that while in that situation I modified my spending habits and did without a lot of things to ensure that I lived within my means. The fact is that you can’t expect to live a lifestyle as if you are working when you are receiving a benefit, but particularly the unemployment benefit.
If you have dependants, or have a genuine illness/condition that prevents you from working then it’s right that you have more available to help pay for extras like medication and doctor’s visits and child-related costs.
The point this guy seems to be missing is that he is looking to others for solutions, when in my experience the best person to come up with solutions for your situation is you. As individuals we know ourselves and our circumstances intimately and well enough to make sensible choices about what you can do to improve your situation whether you are out of work, studying, bringing up kids on your own or have an illness. It’s lazy thinking to simply blame others for your situation.
What do I mean by making do and doing without, living within my means?
Use public transport, cycle or walk. No shopping at retail outlets for clothes, shop at the Op-shop etc. Have a simple prepay mobile phone that people can use to call me, don’t make calls on it and just use for text messaging, if at all. Use public library and internet cafes for email and internet access. No movies, no takeaways.
In the case of being on a student allowance I did the same as above but had the CPIT or UC IT suites available for internet access, emails and doing my assignments.
Now I am working, I still use public transport to get to and from work and I use online shopping for my groceries. One thing being on a benefit taught me was that having a car is a black hole for money!! In the meantime, my choices have helped me to make voluntary repayments on top of my existing repayments of my student loan, so that a year after graduating, I am over halfway through paying off my student loan. By year’s end it should be paid off in full.
That is all an extension of my approach to coping with those times in life when I have been on a benefit/state allowance. It can work for other able-bodied folk who have a level head and can be disciplined with money.
The fact that I did have to be mindful of how I spent my money and ‘go without’ while supported by the state helped to motivate me to find another job or study hard, get good grades and come out of the end of my studies with qualifications that helped me be more successful in finding a job after graduating.
Take responsibility for yourself, take responsibility for the choices you make about what to spend your income on and also look in the mirror and make some choices about what you can do to improve your situation. If you are of of work, studying, or bringing up kids this can work for you. Depending on your illness it may be more challenging, but not impossible to bring about improvement to your situation.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 10:54 am
Lol bigger loser than I thought.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 11:02 am
If we keep rewarding people for making poor decision, they’ll keep making them. For f*cks sake, we PAY people to have children they cannot afford, then add more to the payment when they have some more children. And we wonder why they get ‘trapped’ in poverty!
Everyone out there is living the life they are living due the choices they have made. Their personal relationships, their financial situation and, most often, their health are a sum total of those choices. Until people accept that level of responsibility, they will never make the changes they say they want.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 11:04 am
Don’t be too hard on Mr Freedman he is probably suffering a panic attack brought on by the collapse of the Labor vote in Queensland and is worried that it will spread to the national level. His Utopian dream of ‘being able to take my wife for a night out or enjoy a movie or a drink’ at the taxpayers’ expense is rapidly fading. The voters have spoken and he doesn’t like it.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 11:12 am
If life on a benefit is so “tough”, then why do we see orchardists having to bring people in from Fiji to pick fruit?
Vote:If life on a benefit is so “tough”, then why are there tales of people on benefits being given a job, but then deliberately getting themselves fired so they can go back on the dole?
If life on a benefit is so “tough”, then why are there countless stories of beneficiaries deliberately flunking job interviews so they can stay on a benefit?
March 25th, 2012 at 11:18 am
Please tell me this is a spoof.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 11:37 am
After reading that I was so upset I had to get my servant to bring me another cigar and brandy to settle my nerves (that is how I deal with panic attacks). Then I thrashed them for being poor. Fuck off Peter Freedman. Grow some veges you dork and supplement your diet of bakes beans. I work 50-60 hours a week in a job and have to find time to look after my animals and vege gardens. I regret every cent I pay in tax when I read stories like yours.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 11:45 am
DPF _ i thought this winner was supposed to be writing about Australia?? if so, why does it start with abusing kiwi politicians?
This dude really is off putting.
“Or to sit on your wobble butt in Parliament, pocketing a six-figure ministerial salary, swanning around in your gas guzzler and declaring that because you “made it” everyone else should make it, too, even though you’ve taken away most of the stuff which helped you to get along. Isn’t it, Paula Bennett?”
Why the personal attack about what she looks like? Thats not very tolerant from a lefty.
As for “most of the stuff”. that is nothing but a lie. you sir are a LIAR.
“Or to regale the masses with stories of about how your mother lived in a state house, but you rose to be a millionaire Prime Minister. Isn’t it Mr Key?”
how dare he! lol
” I don’t like being stuck at home because I have no money for petrol. I don’t like eating baked beans because I have no cash for food.”
You must have SOME! Remember that time those nice policemen pulled you over for careening down the highway? remember that time the restaurant kicked you out for not wearing shoes?
“be grateful that WE look after you……if that is your only response, don’t bother, I’ve already heard it before.”
a normal person would be grateful.
“Not only have I been a beneficiary, but I have also worked with beneficiaries as a budget adviser and food bank co-ordinator. So I think I know what I am talking about”
really? cause you sound shit at it.
“A benefit gives you just enough to survive on. I use that word deliberately. Starving is not living.”
at least you have pay tv to distract you from your hunger.
“As NZers living on the benefit in Australia we receive income from Centrelink every fortnight and from WINZ once a month. The WINZ payment has to be converted to $AUS. Sometimes this benefits us with a few dollars extra.
When that happens, Centrelink reduces our income to compensate. But do they do the opposite thing if the conversion rate works against us? Oh, dear me no.”
The goddam cheek of it!!! so let me get this straight. The aussies let you move over, even though you are a burden on society (and a shit head). AND THEN!!! the have the nerve to ping you on your foreign exchange scam??? bastards!!!
“For luxuries we have Austar, the cheapest possible package. Beats staring at the walls when you can’t go anywhere because the gas tank is empty.”
unfortunately, you still have the internet too. that is a luxury.
“I know a few pensioners in Australia and they admit what they do to make ends meet. They shoplift from supermarkets.”
i love how you use the word pensioners on a kiwi blog. makes us think of our grandparents nicking stuff. but pensioners are anyone on a benefit in aussie. so you know some shit heads of working age who steal. *not surprised*
“I don’t condone theft, but I do understand it. One of my mates has a wife who was recently told she was deficient in Vitamin D.”
one can just picture the tip top shape she is in.
“Yeah, right, at 50c each! So my mate sneaks along the supermarket aisle, waits till no-one is looking, grabs a packet and sticks it in his pocket.
He isn’t proud of what he does, but is not ashamed, either. He does it to survive.”
He should be ashamed. He is nothing but a piece of shit.
“So if you want to know what it is like on a pension or a benefit ask the people who know. Tell Lindsay Mitchell, Paula Bennett and John Key to go stuff themselves.”
Really constructive ending. Really makes one think HAHAHAHA
One thing I enjoy about your writing is you dont have that victim mentality. Its refreshing.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 11:53 am
I agree with Linda Reid and Brian Smaller – well said, both of you!
The government MUST stop paying beneficiaries to have children. It is f**king ridiculous to throw money at people to have children when said people are the least able to support them.
As I have shown, life on a benefit is FAR from “tough”. I’ve been on the sickness benefit myself (way back in 1982-83, when I had a breakdown while at uni). I managed to get into a halfway house, got myself together and went back to uni and finished my degree. I’ve been in fulltime work (as a programmer) since 1987.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
His thieving mate and dumb doctor could have done what I just did to find out about vitamin D.Google.But that would be too hard and wouldn’t fit the narrative ie the welfare state is so underfunded that you must steal to survive. Bollocks.
Milk is cheap in Ozzie and sardines are a great source of vitamin D. So are eggs.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
DPF: Why??
I suspect you have banned him from commenting since his only response is – or was – personal abuse…but is this drivel really adding to the excellent forum that is Kiwiblog?
Puzzled of Kaukapakapa
[DPF: He is not banned from commenting. I understand he has had technical issues logging in. I like having the occasional diversity of opinion, so a guest post every couple of days occurs]
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
On guest posts:
DPF’s blog, DPF’s rules. And I suspect that if other people wrote coherent posts that might be interesting and/or draw traffic, that DPF would publish them. If you don’t like these posts, don’t read them.
On why invalids pensions are lower than some might like. The previous government permitted a lot of people with half assed illness to move to the invalids pension. If it were a true insurance scheme for those who have been injured and unable to work, then it would probably be more closely tied to people’s previous income. In fact, ACC is exactly this (and also abused for all sorts of inappropriate “illnesses”.) I know we keep saying that mental illness is a real illness and we should be considerate of those unfortunates with such illnesses, but the fact remains that it’s also the easiest area to fake, and as a country we can’t afford to pay people on a benefit a level that Peter might like – both because of the raw money involved, and because of the likely impact on numbers of people on a benefit (i.e. more people on a benefit).
On finding work. I’m a little unclear on the whole panic attacks thing works – do they happen twice a day, or twice a month? Do they stop any work, or only work in a formal workplace? As a journalist, is there no work you can do from home? I had a friend who ran a proof reading business once, surely you could do something like that over the internet? Maybe for people from other countries producing documents in Australia?
On being ungrateful for what you’re given. 100 years ago someone who was sick had no automatic right to anything. They were given money or the necessities of life by generous individuals. If you were demonstrably ungrateful about that you probably wouldn’t get any more money or necessities of life. And yes, a lot of those people died. We don’t do that anymore, we make provision at a government level. But that doesn’t change the fundamentals of the relationship – out of the goodness of their hearts other people are giving to Peter money that they worked for. And he’s ungrateful. What result is that likely to have?
On budgeting. Easy to say “I can’t make ends meet.” But in that diatribe I saw “we have the cheapest Austar package”. So that we avoid climbing the walls apparently. Well, you have a computer and internet, and you have free to air TV. Honestly, telling me you’re poor when you have a TV at all just doesn’t ring true, it’s not exactly a necessity of life. Looks to be $45 per month. $10 per week. What’s the internet costing? Another $10 per week? That’s quite a significant chunk of your income. Sure, there are hard choices to be made, but honestly, you go on a benefit, choose to live in Australia, have cable TV and the internet, and you’re complaining that the people of NZ aren’t paying enough. My read of the internet tells me that you get $420 per week for a married couple, after tax. $22,000 per annum after tax. That’s pretty generous I would have thought. Sure, living in Aus and the exchange rate isn’t going to help, and I don’t know why you live in Aus, but that’s a choice. If you’re flying back occassionally to see family and that’s coming out of the benefit, then amazed you’d be making that choice. Also…does your wife work? Or are you both on the invalids benefit?
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
“It is easy to sit in your Eastborne home, dabbling in painting, and thinking you know everything that should be done to the poor, isn’t it Lindsay Mitchell?”
Thanks for the plug. Had to close my gallery due to tough economic times so back working from home.
http://mitchelllindsayartist.blogspot.co.nz/
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
dime>remember that time the restaurant kicked you out for not wearing shoes?
Are you mocking poor Peter for not being able to afford shoes? If Paula Bennett, John Key, and Lindsay Mitchell don’t increase benefits immediately then restaurants will be FULL of shoeless beneficiaries.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
He could give up Austar for a month and be able to afford a new pair of shoes for him and his wife.
Vote:I work and I can’t justify Austar as an expense, when most sport is free to air, there’s a free to air sport channel, ABC have good docos on during the day, and the internet is a source of lots of free video also.
March 25th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
And an internet connection, presumably. Which to be fair is not an inconsiderable source of entertainment. I earn slightly less than the median wage and am still paying off a large amount of debt from my full time (mature) student days, and the net consumes pretty much all of my entertainment budget. I go to restaurants VERY rarely these days, and don’t smoke or drink.
Vote:But then I don’t begrudge genuine invalid/sickness beneficiaries either.
March 25th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Brian Smaller 11:37. Great comment.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
I’m lost. Is this the same “Peter Freedman” who in a previous guest post about Queensland cops “…had a leisurely meal, with a cocktail to start and shared a bottle of wine.”? Guess I’m not in on the joke.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
@ Nostalgia-NZ (10.16am) – it was just a friendly comment to DPF. Frankly, I think that Peter Freedman’s contributions add nothing to Kiwiblog, except to provide troll fodder and attaract vitriolic comments. But given that DPF is as cunning as a rat, perhaps that’s the intention
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
The prick was a commie, bludger when he lived in Wainui and nothing has changed since he jumped the ditch.
Fucked if I can understand why Julia lets shit like him into the “Lucky Country”!
Good riddance though, at least we aren’t stumping up his dole check every week.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
@Sonny Blount….haha, that’s pretty similar to my two six month stints on the dole, ’95 & ’09, just without the golf (horrible game). Went through Rome TW several times which is saying something. Never got work on the first attempt, it’s much easier for those with contacts with some sway, but you get there through sheer perseverance & not a little luck these days.
Can relate to Peter Freedman though, it’s not a pretty situation to be in….that, I suspect, is on purpose.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
“PS: If you want to tell me about the dole bludger down the road who spends his life surfing on the taxpayer, or the solo Mum who keeps having kids to stay on the DPB, I’ve heard it all before and I’m not interested.”
Not interested in facts? Why change the habit of a lifetime.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 3:48 pm
So he knows Magpie then PIA!
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Bring back Tara Te Heke.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
@CK – Tara Te Heke? Who or what is Tara Te Heke?
Vote:Jake Heke’s sister, maybe……?
March 25th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Nah she did a guest post here a while ago thor42.
It was shit, but assuaged DPF’s liberal tendencies!
Here we go.
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2009/08/the_dpb_party_-_great_ideas_by_tara_te_heke.html
Like I said shit!
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 5:48 pm
This guy is a doosh. I know a family with 7 kids, the oldest being 14, who live comfortably and with dignity off a student allowance and working for families. The husband lost his landscaping/gardening job, and had no qualifications. They are the most amazing family I know. The kids are all talented and wonderful. The parents have an incredible marriage and are happy. The husband is training to be a teacher. So Peter, stop whining. You don’t have any kids. Try living off off a few hundred dollars a week as a man with 8 dependents. The mum is a stay at home mum. Not saying it’s easy mate. Panic attacks? you prick. I know scores of people with things like bipolar, severe epilepsy, huge depression, and they hold down full time jobs as things like accountants, lawyers, teachers. I know a teacher who teaches from a wheel chair. Hell I’ve got a few things that make everything monumental efforts for me but I get on with it. Panic attacks sound pretty flakey to me. what do you have mate? one of my mates lost his leg and a hand in a building accident. He trained himself as a personal trainer living off of the sickness benefit. Now he has the most clients at a les Mills and gets in the paper. I was unemployed over the whole of this summer. 4 months. I hate the benefit. I didn’t get it. I lived off of savings. Paid my rent, fasted every second day. That’s right, I ate 3 days a week you prick. Now I’m ripped and fit as hell. Working as a security guard. Long hours. Good money. You prick. Glad you’re in Australia, stay there mate.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Wasting your time upandacomer, Freedman made it clear he didn’t want to hear any inconvenient facts.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
@UpandComer, your mate sounds like me again! With the numerous kids, wife & doing a degree on the student allowance (worked part time during it) after health related issues meant retraining. Had a spell at the end of 2009 through to early March 2010 on the dole. Got my present job, which isn’t ideal but who has the perfect job for all their lives.
Like you, I know a guy who lost his foot when a tank fell to pieces & crushed it while he was cleaning it (the tank, not his foot). Hard working bloke with a family, is working part time now in a retail position, I believe. Gotta admire those sorts of people.
Peter Freedman’s chucked it in…now he’s moaning. Even though I can relate to some of what he’s talking about, he’s a bit of a sad excuse.
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Nice dig at Lindsay, Peter.
You ungrateful, useless, whining loser.
Vote:March 27th, 2012 at 8:28 am
@ DF – “Personally I see little difference between condoning something and saying you understand it in a sympathetic tone. It’s like the person saying “I don’t condone domestic violence, but boy does that sheila get naggy, and it is the only way to make her listen”.”
Right, just like you saying you don’t condone what Nick Smith has done, but you understand it….. Pillock.
Vote:March 27th, 2012 at 8:33 am
@ UpandComer – you seem to have a real fascination with “pricks” which would indicate unresolved issues about your homosexuality or bitterness about your teeny weeny widdle manhood. Ya prick..
Vote:March 27th, 2012 at 2:03 pm
I love it when I go on the right wing blog and see people who have not very much, abusing others who have slightly less and giving them arseholes about it.
Reminds me what the quality of the political right is really like…
Vote:March 28th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
@RRM – if you think this is bad, try and go to The Standard – it is an absolute shocker – and reinforces what whinging, greedy, miserable twats those on the left are!
The webmaster is absolutely unbelievable, and gives a new meaning to the term one-eyed.
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