Labour listening, dont bag it as "Helen turning around&

Its about a responsive government that listens when critiqued, it is also why we *have* an opposition party.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2832315a10,00.html

I think at the moment its just a tactic of talking and suggesting things they might look at as a way to take the wind out of nationals sails.

When something happens ill be convinced labour is reactive.

stopping the school closures isn't "something happening"?

but yeah. labour (helen?) has been extremely pig-headed and stubborn about certain unpopular things up until now...

Ie heard various teachers say that those schools should be closed, theres alot of dead wood about apprently.

i dont know too much on the issue myself but it would seem pretty reactive to stop the closures just to take some pressure off themselves now they have found the treaty issue is biting them in the butt.

I dont get how people can talk about closing schools as a bad thing!!!!??

ITS EXPENSIVE TO KEEP SCHOOLS OPEN THAT WERE THERE BECAUSE THE LOCAL COMMUNITY USED TO BE 10x BIGGER AND TRAVEL BY HORSE!!

If a school's roll drops below a certain level then it should be closed. The children can then attend the nearest school that's still open.

I agree, as I said in another thread. Unfortunately closing schools is incredibly unpopular and only a party well in control politically can afford to do it, hence why labour have called a halt to the process. National were always to gutless and owned by the farming sector to do what needed to be done. With primary school rolls dropping it has become even more crucial.

But they are closing schools in sparsely populated areas. Surely that can't cost them many votes?

Hahaha, of course it costs votes, the opposition and media make a huuuuuuge thing out of it

Stupid public go along with it too... they've just finished feeding their 5yo, they sit down for the news and "OH MY GOD, CLOSING SCHOOLS!? THATS TERRIBLE!!"

silly public.

never mind that they're in some suburb like howick with a school that has been opened in their area with an initial roll of 1000 to cope with need

It just shows the stupidity of the general public and shows what a bunch of wankers the media are.

Exactly chad - they relate it to how they would feel if their own kids school closed. Also schools are the heart of these communities and the party closing the school will be thought of that way for many elections, some will never vote for them again. A school of 10 kids will come from a community of a few hundred. Multiply that by 50 schools over a number of elections - 250 x 50 x 5 = 62,500. It starts to add up.

Yeah but if you live in a major area your childs school is not going to be closed certainly not in greater Auckland or any of the other metropolitan areas that make up the majority of our population.

Its not the *facts* that matter, its the perception and the fear the media puts in...

Exactly, and since when have the facts overriden emotion when it comes to parents (particularly mothers) and their children. Thats not a criticism btw, I would be worried if emotion towards their children didn't cloud peoples logic at times.