labour promises increase for children!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10700342

sounds good to me! National are crap for anyone who earns under $90k

Edited by Raspberryjam

It's still no where near enough, and is totally crap compared to what you get in Europe.

Mucky_Tiger wrote: I do think that the 'baby bonus' definately needs to be increased in NZ, $1200 is crap considering you cant get it till after birth and you need it before then if you arent working during pregnancy how are you supposed to afford the pram/cot/carseat etc

You afford them through paying for them with your own money which you have budgeted for prior to getting pregnant! It bugs me that people think they are entitled to hand outs just because they have a baby.

If you can't afford them, don't have them!

I will deffinetly be voting Labour they are more about families

Little Red - I thought your comment was a bit harsh, not everyone plans babies!!

Mucky_Tiger wrote: if they change the NZ rules it would be awesome. I do think that the 'baby bonus' definately needs to be increased in NZ, $1200 is crap considering you cant get it till after birth and you need it before then if you arent working during pregnancy how are you supposed to afford the pram/cot/carseat etc

AND only if your partner is working, if on ACC you don't get it!

Marisa what do you get in Europe?

In England it has gone up to 9 months and you don't just get the government bit, most if not all companies offer entitlements over and above, normally tied into you having to return to work after your leave. Companies operate this way in general in England, not like here where most only give you the stat gov requirements and nothing above. Things like better sick pay, holiday leave, maternity pay etc are all built into your employment package. Where I use to work my contract allowed for six months sick leave at full pay and then another 6 after that at 80% pay and they offered 12 months maternity leave, paid, I think 4 months at full pay and then going down after that.
England was always one of the worse in Europe, of course since moving here I realise they are all just bitching about nothing...lol

The min wage really gets me, I earn more than the max entitlement and I only work three days, it's grossly unfair to those of us who are in highly skilled jobs because it almost forces you to return to work earlier. I'm lucky that we can afford to live on one wage, but I remember with S worrying how we would survive and saving money to top up the PPL payment because it didn't even come close to replacing my wage.

bowie wrote: hereis the wiki run down - Denmark pays 100% of wages for a year, two weeks must be taken by the father which is pretty ace i reckon!

Denmark is really good for paying for almost everything but have you seen the tax rate there? People seem to forget that the money has to come from somewhere and everyone always complains when they raise taxes!

ETA: I also think increasing the time allowed off would be detrimental to women...how much discrimination would happen if you had to keep a job open for two years for a employee to be coming back....

Not that I am against staying at home since I am a SAHM! I just think you have to balance the needs to everyone NOT just mothers.

Edited by Nutella

Yeah, I agree, I think it is great that things like healthcare are free..at least people who need to see a Dr can afford it....but imagine the outrage in NZ if tax increased to the same levels lol!

I wouldn't mind paying more tax if it meant that sick kids got seen and people who take their sick old selfs to work would stay home and keep their bugs to themselves haha!

But we are sure luckier than some countries where you don't get any leave, might even be lucky to come back to a job.....

Bowie I think you might have misunderstood it's not enforced in England that companies have to pay you the extra, it's part of the packages they offer to make their employment offer more competitive, like offering more leave days, or a pension scheme etc. and you can negotiate these things as part of your contract, so if they won't budge on the money aspect you can negotiate for more paid leave, or better contributions to your pension, or for them to pay for a training course etc. That, from my employment experience anyway, doesn't seem to be the norm here which I think is a shame, it seems common place for the majority of companies to begrudgidly give you the stat requirements and all negiotiation when at an existing job or new one is centred around $$ not other benefits as well.

conversely though only have such a small amount of maternity leave could be seen as detrimental to families. It's about balance and at the moment I don't think we have it quite right. Some of us are lucky and can afford to choose to stay home, some don't have that choice and for them 14 weeks is all they get which I think is sad.