Young Labour: Bullying and Beneficiary Bashing
young-labour
Thu Jul 30 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Young Labour: Bullying and Beneficiary Bashing
Thursday, 30 July 2009, 5:03 pm
Press Release: Young Labour
Young Labour: Bullying and Beneficiary Bashing
Young Labour strongly condemns the government’s shameful intimidation of its critics.
“When a Minister breaks the law, side steps her departmental officials and decides to bring the weight of her ministry down on the heads of two women who, by the Minister’s own admission, have done nothing wrong – something rotten this way comes.” Young Labour Vice President, Caitlin Merriman said this morning.
“But when we consider that this incident is just the latest in a long line of bullying tactics and abuses of power, suggesting a clear strategy for silencing dissent, the government has a lot to answer for.”
“Whether it’s Garrett’s shameful threats to correction staff, Bennett’s beneficiary bashing, Power’s lashing out at the Chief Justice or Hide’s ramming through of Auckland governance legislation without due consultation – the trend is clear.”
“Bennett has spun the line that all she wanted was a proper debate but her actions can only be construed two ways: malicious or incompetent. If Bennett believes that personal data is a fair card to play where does she draw the line?”
“Will students critical of education policy have their grades and loan repayment records released to the media? Will patients who argue against hospital cuts have their medical histories and hospital bills made available for all to see? Or will businesses that criticise tax policy or R&D cuts have their accounts thrown open by IRD?” Merriman asked.
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“Bennett has betrayed those she is charged with defending and brought her department into total disrepute – she has proven time and again that she is not fit to hold such a vitally important office and should fall on her sword rather than using it to stab innocent mums who dare to disagree.”
“But if she puts ego before ethics, Young Labour joins a rapidly growing chorus asking John Key to uphold his “very high standards” and sack her.” Merriman concluded.
ENDS
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