Some Qantas NZ redundant staff may not be unemployed for long, as Air NZ says it has 522 vacancies. Helen Clark blames Ministers and bureaucrats for not anticipating the anomalies caused by the threshold changes to the Community Services Card. Sue Bradford reports she has been unable to convince the coalition government to raise the income thresholds for eligibility for Community Services Cards. The Human Rights Commission says the government's new Community Services Card thresholds create inequity but falls outside the complaints provisions in the Human Rights Act. Union officials say that counting support staff, the deal will eventually create about 600 jobs.
Job growth looks to be diminishing in Australia.
Most of these will be from businesses that have fewer than 20 workers. Sweden and NZ sign a reciprocal working holiday scheme. Young Swedes may now stay longer in NZ and take up incidental employment while here. NZ already has similar arrangements with Britain, Canada, Chili, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore and South Korea. The government announces that bulk funding for doctors may replace the Community Services Card system and that a dedicated health tax is mooted to fund it.