https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:20:47 +0000 Mon, 11 May 2009 21:24:13 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.05 360 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=26442 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_images/web_wiz_forums.png https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/ https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683844&title=poverty-line#683844 Author: yummymummy
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 9:24pm

"huge majority of our children go to school with inadequate clothing and no food" - I woundn't go that far, there are probably quite a few cases but it would not be the huge majority. I def never saw this at school

"close to 70% of children leave school with little to no reading or grammatical skills" - not sure where this is from; here's a link to info of school leavers in 2007

"the fact that only 4% of NZers pay tax" - where do I start on this one LOL. For one, everyone in NZ pays GST so that's 12.5% tax right there. Then as someone pointed out, PAYE is payable even on the lowest income, even if that's from benefit/maternity leave/wages etc. Here's another link - on page 16 is the personal income table

"I also have more of a euro view than a nz view" - well I was born in Europe but still don't get your stats ]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 21:24:13 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683844&title=poverty-line#683844 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683421&title=poverty-line#683421 Author: Nutella
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 2:52pm

Honestly, I have to say that I think the 4% tax thing is a load of bollocks! I don't see how that can be true but I would sure be interested to see the information....hehe.
Also, since 40% of school leavers go on to Uni studies they must be able to read and I am sure that a lot of the people I went to school with but didn't go to uni also could read!
Ah the joy of stats, everything can mean something and nothing. All depends on the angle that the stats are trying to prove or not prove!]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 14:52:03 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683421&title=poverty-line#683421 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683368&title=poverty-line#683368 Author: Peanut
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 2:03pm

Hehe, you wouldn't get burned from me...as a teacher I like healthy debate

Umm, I was more referring to your literacy stat as really couldn't see how it fits with what is released by the MOE in regards to the NCEA results which is where most of the literacy figures etc for NZ come from.

I fully agree that alot of NZ children go to school not well fed or clothed - as my DH is a primary teacher in a low decile school.

Also agree with the housing comment although have no real evidence all I know is that NZ is in denial about how cold it gets here and really needs to follow UK, Switzerland etc in their home and heating options as their houses are 10 times warmer than ours in winter.

Education system ones, are the ones that I find debateable also the comment about NZ being 4 years behind - to me there are questions like - behind in what ICT, curriculum, English? I think saying 4 years behind is pretty broad statement with no areas etc.

Also the taxes thing has me baffled as I thought the same as busymum above that all peopl earning money legally have the PAYE deducted which means that technically majority of people are paying taxex to a degree.

Does that clarify things a wee bit more?

Must go and start marking or I will not be an awesome teacher ]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 14:03:04 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683368&title=poverty-line#683368 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683347&title=poverty-line#683347 Author: Babe
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 1:46pm

I posted according to the facts I had in front of me.

Edited by Babe]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 13:46:36 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683347&title=poverty-line#683347 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683333&title=poverty-line#683333 Author: busymum
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 1:36pm

Babe wrote: It wasn't a typo - only 4% of New Zealanders pay tax according to recent releases from the government.

I wonder if they are talking about "full" tax (ie 30%+) because even people on a benefit have PAYE deducted from it before they get it - and certainly more than 4% of NZers are on a benefit.]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 13:36:51 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683333&title=poverty-line#683333 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683321&title=poverty-line#683321 Author: Peanut
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 1:30pm

I suppose it does depend entirely on the region of NZ that you live in on what stats apply to you. I am sure in some areas the 70% fact is true but would depend on absences etc to get the figure and that school in particularly must have HUGE issues for 70% of the students to leave school in that state.

I don't believe that our education system is crap and I am sorry that you have obviously found that in your area. I guess we can only base our judgement on the stats etc that are available to us but must say that if all of what you are saying is true I am very surprised that it has not been released to the public.

I have done a quick search again on internet to find evidence of those stats and can't. Would be awesome if you could PM me the articles etc as think they would be most interesting.

Am also not trying to be controversial but am now very intrigued! ]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 13:30:26 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683321&title=poverty-line#683321 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683281&title=poverty-line#683281 Author: Babe
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 12:57pm

.

Edited by Babe]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 12:57:24 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683281&title=poverty-line#683281 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683243&title=poverty-line#683243 Author: noisybaby
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 12:22pm

Quote Emz
So basically if you're on a benefit, whether solo or 2-parent family, you're probably classed as living in poverty if you have a child or children.

Man i know of some people on benefits that earn almost as much if not more than some full time workers. The benefit is a have for some people. I can see why some choose to abuse the system and get paid heaps to do nothing. Its just wrong when most of us work our arses off to make a living for ourselves the honest way]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 12:22:12 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683243&title=poverty-line#683243 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683224&title=poverty-line#683224 Author: Peanut
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 11:58am

Because I am on a role - here is the literacy stats for NZ:

New Zealand children rank relatively highly on international literacy scales.

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment measures performance levels of students near the end of compulsory education in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy.

The data shows that New Zealand children rank seventh among OECD countries, with comparable data in terms of the average score across the three scales, behind Finland, Korea, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia. New Zealand rates above the OECD average on each of the scales – fifth in reading, ninth in mathematics and seventh in science.


]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 11:58:08 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683224&title=poverty-line#683224 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683221&title=poverty-line#683221 Author: Peanut
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 11:55am

To answer your original questions, busymum. This is off the Nz Statistics official website:

New Zealand does not have an official poverty line. There are severe difficulties hindering the construction of an official poverty line - in terms of setting the level, the choice of equivalence scale, how to take account of geographical variation in living costs (particularly housing), how to handle short-term periods of low income, and how to adjust the measure over time. These difficulties are not only those of judgements about household needs, but are also methodological and measurement difficulties.


]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 11:55:33 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683221&title=poverty-line#683221 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683188&title=poverty-line#683188 Author: freckle
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 11:09am

Peanut wrote: Babe, would be interested to know where you got the stats from. As a teacher, I would be very sceptical of the fact that 70% of school leavers have little to no grammatical or reading skills - NCEA figures don't support that, IMHO!

I agree ... I'm a speech language therapist - so in the education system too - I work with kids at risk of literacy delays and with poor language skills and that figure seems VERY high IMO... ]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 11:09:36 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683188&title=poverty-line#683188 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683180&title=poverty-line#683180 Author: Peanut
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 11:01am

Babe, would be interested to know where you got the stats from.

As a teacher, I would be very sceptical of the fact that 70% of school leavers have little to no grammatical or reading skills - NCEA figures don't support that, IMHO!]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 11:01:14 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683180&title=poverty-line#683180 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683145&title=poverty-line#683145 Author: Bobbie
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 10:32am

4% Is that a typo??
I would say in any case there would be a lot of very wealthy dodging the tax system as well as the poor on the dole.]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 10:32:15 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683145&title=poverty-line#683145 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683120&title=poverty-line#683120 Author: Babe
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 9:54am

.

Edited by Babe]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 09:54:11 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683120&title=poverty-line#683120 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683112&title=poverty-line#683112 Author: emz
Subject: 26442
Posted: 11 May 2009 at 9:48am

A couple of years ago the poverty line was defined as a child living in a household with a combined income of less than $20000. I don't know if that's a stagnant value or if it goes up depending on how many children you have.

So basically if you're on a benefit, whether solo or 2-parent family, you're probably classed as living in poverty if you have a child or children.

Don't quote me on that though. Like I said that was probably at least 2 years ago when I read an article on it.]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 09:48:00 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=683112&title=poverty-line#683112 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=682989&title=poverty-line#682989 Author: Glow
Subject: 26442
Posted: 10 May 2009 at 10:31pm

It would have to be your disposable income after housing cost were met. Or just your level of income. Surely
I dont think we have a "poverty line" in NZ or no set way to measure it anyway, like other countries but...

1 in 4 maybe a tad exagerated- but I do see alot of kids in poverty]]> Sun, 10 May 2009 22:31:29 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=682989&title=poverty-line#682989 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=682963&title=poverty-line#682963 Author: Bobbie
Subject: 26442
Posted: 10 May 2009 at 9:49pm

I think it's set in line with the NZ Consumer Goods index but I could be wrong.

Edited by Bobbie]]> Sun, 10 May 2009 21:49:13 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=682963&title=poverty-line#682963 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=682931&title=poverty-line#682931 Author: busymum
Subject: 26442
Posted: 10 May 2009 at 9:02pm

news article wrote: Save the Children New Zealand's acting executive director, Philip Abraham, said the links between good health and nutrition and healthy brain development had been well documented. "However, today in New Zealand nearly one quarter of our children live in poverty. Also, New Zealand's income inequality remains higher that the average OECD."

How is the poverty line defined, does anyone know? Because I find it bizarre to think that almost 1 in every 4 NZ kids is in poverty! Is the income set on US standards or is it actually brought into context with housing/food prices in NZ?

Edited by busymum]]> Sun, 10 May 2009 21:02:06 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26442&PID=682931&title=poverty-line#682931