Headline Junkie 02' October
National’s Proposed Benefit Plan Would Result in “More Children Living In Poverty”
This past Tuesday, National announced their “traffic light system” policy to change the Job Seeker Support Benefit. National’s spokesperson for Social Development, Louise Upston, claimed that Labour removing "clear consequences for jobseekers" has meant 60,000 extra people are receiving the benefit since the last National Government. National’s consequences for those who don’t meet benefit obligations could include reductions or suspensions of benefit payments, up to three months of mandatory community work, and less power managing their money. Those on the benefit would also have to reapply every six months with evidence of job applications and interviews. The Prime Minister denounced National’s proposed sanctions stating, “Harsher sanctions don't work. National's plan today would simply result in more children living in poverty, because that's what happened last time.” Ricardo Menéndez-March, Green Party Social Development spokesperson, called the National policy “cruel”, “ill-thought-out”, and “dehumanising”.
“Woke Lesbo” Reams NZ First Transphobe
CW: Transphobic Comments.
“I’m not going to deny people’s existence,” stated Chlӧe Swarbrick on last Monday’s TVNZ and Re:News Young Voters Debate. Swarbrick went head to head with NZ First candidate Lee Donoghue while discussing two of his party’s policies: removing “gender ideology from the curriculum” and restricting transgender people’s access to public bathrooms, based on a binary idea of biological sex. Host Anna Harcourt presented evidence from LGBTQ Teen Data in 2019 that trans and nonbinary teens face a higher risk of sexual assault in schools that prevent them from using bathrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. Donoghue claimed he had evidence against the presented statistic, but “not in front of [him] right now”, and that trans people are “making a mockery of women’s spaces”. Swarbrick clapped back that because of “actual data [...], we know our gender minority whānau are disproportionately represented in mental ill health, addiction, and suicide statistics.” Donoghue began, “There are actually a lot of lesbians and gays against…”, but was interupted by Swarbrick stating she was speaking “on behalf of the woke lesbos” and denouncing the “rhetoric and fearmongering behind the likes of [NZ First].”
The Food Duopoly Strikes Again!
Advance to Cuba Street: if you pass Go, collect $200! The opening of a new Fresh Choice Metro on Cuba Street is saving a Salient News Editor’s chicken soup. “As someone who flats on Cuba, I will very much appreciate not having to walk all the way to New World Metro on Willis Street at 8 p.m. to buy a singular carrot because I started making chicken soup before realising I didn’t have any,” Ethan Manera announced to his X followers last Wednesday. The new supermarket is set to open in December. Fresh Choice is operated under a division of Woolworths New Zealand, who also own the Countdown and SuperValue supermarket franchises.
Hollywood Writers Reach A Deal
After five months, the Hollywood writers’ strike is ending. An agreement between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and an alliance of studios reached a deal on Sunday, 24 September, making the strike five days short of the longest of its kind in history. A summary of the deal will be public on Tuesday. The Hollywood actors continue their strike, but the success of the writers renews hope for their own negotiations.