By: Larry Williams | Friday, May 11, 2012 6:28 PM

Across The Week

The free birth control for beneficiaries policy got the predictable reaction from the usual suspects. It was an irrational hysterical political response.

The policy is clearly targeted at youth and teen parents who are most at risk of having more children while on a benefit and trapping them long term welfare dependency.

There is nothing immoral about attempting to get these people out of inter generational welfare.

The policy is not compulsory. If a WINZ social worker advises a woman contraception is an option - so what?

The opponents, Labour and the Greens misread the public on this issue. The polls indicated around 80 percent think it’s a good idea.

When you get the likes of Sue Bradford whining about it, that’s always a good indication the policy is about right.

 

Adventure Tourism

Two reports on two crashes in two days and both of them find the presence of cannabis.

Both the Fox Glacier plane crash and the Carterton balloon crash - 20 deaths in total.

Now there is no indication that cannabis contributed to the accidents, but it’s not a good look.

This will hurt the adventure tourism industry.

The failures are being exposed overseas. It’s gone viral. The social media will deal a serious blow. It’s all about perception and there is no question people will be thinking twice about taking that parachute jump or ballooning or rafting.

Mandatory alcohol and drug testing is the very least that should be applied on the back of these incidents.

 

Europe

France has a new big spending president and Greece is still a cot case.

Austerity has been rejected and the plan appears to be more of the same spending that got them into the hole in the first place.

Austerity v stimulus is a tricky thing. France might get out of their debt mountain but Greece will ultimately fail I think because they basically have a crooked government, the majority of their citizens don't pay tax, and they are conditioned to entitlements.

Down here in this part of the world we just have to hope there is no contagion effect.

 

Pike River

Families of the dead Pike River miners say they will blockade the West Coast mine if mining is resumed before their bodies are recovered.

New owner Solid Energy has committed to recovering the bodies if it is "safe, technically feasible and financially credible to do so''.

But the dead miners’ families say the SOE has told them there is only a five to 10 percent likelihood of a successful recovery and any operation could be years away.

APNZ reports that families’ spokesman Bernie Monk is furious a recovery hinges on cash considerations.

He feels the Government has lied to families by guaranteeing it would do anything in its power to retrieve bodies from the mine.

I can understand the families’ reaction. They are now told there is virtually no chance of recovery.

But let’s be clear, the PM could never guarantee recover. What he did was give an assurance that "everything that could be done, would be done" to recover the bodies. 

That commitment is still there as far as I can see.