URGENT | official complaint | Fwd: client 355846427 | jason brown

. . .
 
URGENT
official complaint
work and income new zealand
te hiranga tangata
 
kia ora, kia orana, ia orana,
 
I write to make an official complaint against nonpayment of benefit over the last two weeks.
 
I write also to make complaint against lack of response from your offices to a written letter, and, yesterday, a follow up email. There has been no acknowledgement to either the letter or the email. In the latter case, it may be that the case officer is absent, but there is no auto-responder to indicate if that is indeed the case, or what my options are.
 
I note also that WINZ continues to lack a dedicated complaints email, directing complaints towards an "information" email inside MSD, or, for that matter, a dedicated complaints section, despite years of nministry and external reviews recommending such measures. I have previously indicated my willingness to lay a complaint against WINZ, including, in part or in full based on historical events, in the event of further disruption to my payments, as approved my doctor, in the face of continued insensitivity to my status as a recovering mental health patient.
 
I note an insistence on the part of WINZ in responding as little as possible to earlier queries in writing, leaving vague messages with friends or on voice mail but never following up with an entirely standard mode of communication in the third millennium, email via the internet, access to which is available on every single desk of many thousands inside MSD. For evidence of this attitude, please note the evasive response, more than a year ago, from your media section in response to entirely valid questions, posted below the forward of my email yesterday. For this reason, I will not respond to any other attempt at communication other than via this email address, but will expose those attempts.
 
Your offices have been previously and diplomatically warned by myself against unilaterally cutting off my benefits but, once again, for about the tenth time, you have plunged what little control I have of my affairs and even fewer resources into turmoil.
 
This is, utterly, intolerable.
 
Wake up.
Grow up.
Build up.
 
I have not had the mental strength or energy to address this issue previously, on behalf of myself, or thousands of other beneficiaries, but that no longer remains the case.
 
Seeds that I have been planting on a voluntary basis over the last few years are beginning to bud nicely, and I will not continue to risk these strategic efforts towards media centrality and capacity by being continually distracted by a typically Kiwi, penny-pinching and parochial attitude towards the people WINZ alleges to represent.
 
In line with my volunteer agency's evolving guidelines on transparency and accountability, this email publishes automatically to the world wide web, as will any responses, with all comments, including these ones, publicly available.
 
My earlier emails, also CC'd to my doctor, follow.
 
kia toa,
 
jason
 
...........................................................

jason brown
editor
avaiki news agency
http://avaiki.nius.googlepages.com

+649 9167058 office direct
+649 9167552 facsimile
+64 2102484560 mobile

Project JPK
http://jpkupdate.blogspot.com
100 victoria street west
tangata pasifika
TVNZ
auckland
aotearoa | new zealand

...........................................................



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: avaiki - jason brown <avaiki.nius@gmail.com>
Date: 30 Sep 2008 11:08
Subject: client 355846427 | jason brown
To: hyemin.yoon001@msd.govt.nz

 
Ms. Hyemin Yoon
Case Manager
WINZ
 
kia orana hyemin . . .
 
. . . many thanks for your assistance a couple of weeks ago.
 
I am currently in Australia and have obviously slipped off the radar somehow, despite sending in a letter updating my circumstances, so will make another attempt, here, via email.
 
. . .[details cut to protect third party privacy, WINZ refer original email] . .
 
Long story short, I moved out of that address and, at mutual suggestion, terminated the relationship. This has nothing to do with my status as a WINZ client or how our relationship impacted on my payments because in fact with the mortgage and other payments that you talked about, she fell well below the threshold. No, just plain old human nature at work, and our split was amicable and with utmost respect on both sides.
 
I had said as much in my letter to your office prior to my departure and also explained that I was travelling to Australia courtesy of airpoints from an old classmate from Rarotonga, to attend the wedding of the first family we met on Rarotonga, in Cairns, and I am now in Melbourne, on the same airpoints, seeing my half brothers for the first time since our father died here in 1997, and, bless, two new nephews.
 
However as my payments have been cut off I find myself, yet again, in dire financial straits. My current status is that I have returned to 350 Kohimarama Road to again stay with family friends there, but did not have time before I left to get written confirmation from them of costs, rent, etc.
 
Could you please advise what payments if any can be made on an interim basis? I return to Aotearoa on Monday and would be very happy to bring in whatever paper work needs doing but for now I would very much appreciate being able to access some funds so that I do not have to keep begging friends and family, or be embarassed about not contributing.
 
Please let me know urgently if there is any more information you require.
 
meitaki ma'ata, many thanks,
 
jason
 
ps: I cannot access Kiwibank at the moment due to an internal server error, but you can see my balance at the link below, as I operate my account under TTT, total transparency tools, so that details of my finances are available, immediately, for public review. This is as per policy of my voluntary media advocacy agency, details below.
 
Thursday, September 18, 2008


...........................................................

jason brown
editor
avaiki news agency
http://avaiki.nius.googlepages.com

+649 9167058 office direct
+649 9167552 facsimile
+64 2102484560 mobile

Project JPK
http://jpkupdate.blogspot.com
100 victoria street west
tangata pasifika
TVNZ
auckland
aotearoa | new zealand

...........................................................


Jane Mortlock <Jane.Mortlock002@msd.govt.nz> 
to me
show details
 23/03/2007 
Hi Jason,

can I ask why you would like this please?

Many thanks

Jane

Kia orana, greetings,

Could you please email me a link or copy of your complaints procedure, including any staff manuals or similar.

Meitaki maata, many thanks,

jason


.........................................................

jason brown
editor
avaiki news agency
www.avaiki.nius.googlepages.com <http://www.avaiki.nius.googlepages.com>

+(649) 8460648
.........................................................

..

--
Jane Mortlock
Media Advisor
Ministry of Social Development
04 9163496
029 2316197
. . .
 

Kiwibank under balance alert

Kiwibank - 100% New Zealand ownedSuffix: 00
Type: NOW
Name: J BROWN

The balance in your account has dropped to $0.30.

You can check your latest transactions on internet, phone or mobile banking.
Phone: 0800 11 33 55

Kiwibank deposit alert

Kiwibank - 100% New Zealand ownedSuffix: 00
Type: NOW
Name: J BROWN

You've received deposits totalling $281.62 into your account.

You can check your latest transactions on internet, phone or mobile banking.
Phone: 0800 11 33 55

news release | 25 days to total transparency 2

. . . 

news release . . .

. . . all Pacific news desks, industry forums:

twenty five days to total transparency, two

by jason brown, editor, avaiki nius agency


Last year, this agency declared this email contact as coming under TTT, total transparency tools.

General alarm greeted news that all responses would be published automatically to the internet, via the world wide web.

Quietly, responding to community concern, this agency turned off the auto-publishing. Oops.

TTT 2

This time, this agency will attempt a countdown to TTT day, alerting as many networks as possible, that all correspondence future to 10th October 2008 will, again, publish automatically to the internet.

This second attempt at transforming this email address into TTT, a total transparency tool, coincides with the annual general meeting of the Pacific Islands Media Association, 10th October 2008. 

No coincidence, approval in principle coming from PIMA executives for further scoping out of partnership process, with homeland and regional media interests. 

THE PIMA CONNECTION

General alarm generally greets attempts to create unity between media groups based in the homelands, and those based in Aotearoa, Australia, or, anywhere, really.

That's why a theme of the convention is pac2thefuture - a back-to-basics approach, starting with web2 approaches to adapting web1 and other now traditional media to the future.

PIMA holds it's annual general meetings in Auckland, so far, providing the country's only internationally recognised media forum for Aotearoa-based tata Pasifika, media people from, of, for and by Pacific Islanders. 

LINKS| 30 seconds

... more to come, but meantime:

try selecting a word, 
or a phrase: 
in windows, right click on highlighted word or phrase,  
in Mac, or ctrl+click on highlighted word or phrase, 
... click "search in google"

FURTHER INFO

jason brown
editor
avaiki news agency
http://avaiki.nius.googlepages.com

+649 9167058 office direct
+649 9167552 facsimile
+64 2102484560 mobile

Project JPK
http://jpkupdate.blogspot.com
100 victoria street west
tangata pasifika
TVNZ
auckland
aotearoa | new zealand


. . .

news release | draft profile page | editorial board | pacific freedom forum

hot pacific greetings!

... to all Pacific news desks.

Please find below the link for the draft policy pages for the editorial board of Pacific Freedom Forum.

avaiki nius agency will roll out associated links over coming hours and days.

Members of the public, and of course industry colleagues, friends and family are welcome to leave comments, corrections, criticisms and crack jokes as events unfold. 

let's have fun with this, folks 

jason

...........................................................

LINKS


CONTACTS

jason brown
editorial board

editor
avaiki news agency
http://avaiki.nius.googlepages.com

+649 9167058 office direct
+649 9167552 facsimile
+64 2102484560 mobile

Project JPK
http://jpkupdate.blogspot.com
100 victoria street west
tangata pasifika
TVNZ
auckland
aotearoa | new zealand

...........................................................

draft profiles for pacific freedom forum

. . .

EDITORIAL NOTE

Layout on this page is ugly-as.

Draft profiles are presented anyhow for quick industry and public overview.

Ugrading to proper links on niusonline - with updates and corrections - enables better feedback from people interested in media centrality and capacity.

. . .


membership
pacific freedom forum
wednesday 20 august 2008

32 members + public list Forum transparency Forum membership update
Emerging transparency
Background ..
more bookmarks, links, etc to come

country count

1 aotearoa
1 american samoa
1 kiribati
1 hawaii
1 samoa
1 vanuatu
2 fiji
2 solomon islands
4 australia
5 cook islands
13 papua new guinea
32 members +

1 group email
1 cc email (2 email, 1 person)
public list

  1. monica miller, chair

  2. susuve laumaea, chair

  3. lisa williams-lahari, founder

  4. alfred sasako, manager

  5. jason brown, manager

  6. john anderson, member

  7. linda uan, member

  8. malio sio, member

  9. mark hayes, dr, manager

  10. ulamila wragg, manager

  11. titi gabi, manager

  12. yehiura hriehwazi, manager
. . .

Forum transparency
membership, public vs. private

12 public members 20 private members
member transparency = 37 %
management, public vs. private
9 public managers 5 private managers
manager transparency = 64 %
. . .

Forum membership update

The Pacific Freedom Forum now has 32 members, 15 of them signing within the first 24 hours.

Well, only 14, really, because in the rush PFF forgot to add Susuve Laumaea to the Forum email list.

A bit puzzling for Lauaea, considering the forum had asked him to co-chair the forum and act as a spokesperson with Monica Miller. It only took a few days for a PFF manager to get suspicious as to why the co-chair was so quiet.
. . .

Emerging transparency

From an industry that calls continually for transparency, members of the media are a shy bunch - just 35 % - one out of three - opting to publicly declare their support for the Pacific Freedom Forum.

An encouraging sign to emerge is a strong commitment towards transparency from founding forum managers, nine of 14 managers opting to go public - about two thirds.

At first glance - or thin slice as the jargon has it - the public face of freedoms seems a fair cross-section of islands media. There is a student, senior manager, news director, random freelancers, media volunteers, company directors, an academic and an aspiring politician, one with extensive experience on both sides of  hourly deadlines.

Background

In one short sentence, the Pacific Freedom Forum is an advocacy space for urgent issues facing freedoms of speech.

PFF is the latest acronym to leap into the alphabet stew of regional institutions, a fresh, young pea, bobbing around bravely among big, meaty NGOs, CSOs, NSAs, dodging a PING, a PANG, and a PIANGO of jargon-laden social justice.

Actually, one acronym is completely made up, presenting a golden opportunity for more vowel mash-ups.
. . .

Formal motion

After a few days internal debate over chicken-or-egg priorities, PFF noticed a media query asking for more details about members. This prompted a speedy motion, formally mooted, that:

"That all members of the Pacific Freedom Forum agree that all current membership details i.e. name, current positions, and country of residence be publicly and permanently disclosed, with agreement to this transparency being a pre-condition of any future membership application."

One private manager suggested that members could put their names to each motion as they saw fit – building precedence on a case-by-case basis.
. . .

Membership transparency

An original 13 members of the Pacific Freedom Forum, joining within 24 hours, have all been given manager status by the forum founder.

Of those 14, nine have chosen to join a public list following formal motion to require public disclosure of membership.

Of the remaining five, private, managers, one points out that some PFF members have valid cause for wanting to stay anonymous. Issues like job loss, or even harassment by military thugs sounds like valid cause for private membership.
. . .

Generally accepted practice

Private sources can give valuable insight and feedback. This idea is so fundamental to journalism that even junior journos would go, “yeah – duh.” Given that it is generally accepted practice on the frontlines of journalism, it could be argued that similar synergies apply back among the support troops. In short, there is journalistic precedence for the approach apparently supported by most PFF members and managers.
. . .

Public member list

name: monica miller
public profile: google
positions: editor, co-chair
organisations: radio, pacific freedom forum
country: Samoas
contributor:
member: pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum
. . .
name: susuve laumaea
public profile: google
positions: chair
organisations: pacific freedom forum,
country: papua new guinea
contributor:
member: pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum,
. . .
name: lisa williams-lahari
public profile: google
positions: founder
organisations: pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum
country: cook islands,
contributor: islands business international
member: pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum,
. . .
name: titi gabi
public profile: google
positions:
organisations: papua new guinea media council ??,
country: papua new guinea
contributor:
member: pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum manager
. . .
name: ulamila wragg
public profile: google
positions: chief reporter
organisations: cook islands news
contributor: islands business international
member: interim cook islands journalists association, pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum manager
. . .
name: alfred sasako
public profile: google
positions:
organisations:
status: ngos, government
country: solomon islands
contributor:
member: media association solomon islands MASI, pacific islands journalism online PIJO, pacific freedom forum, PFF.
. . .
name: jason brown
public profile: google
positions: editor, acting secretary, interim secretary
organisations: avaiki news agency, pacific islands media association, cook islands journalists association, interim.
status: ngos
country: avaiki, cook islands
contributor: islands business international, pacific media watch, jpk update
member: pacific islands news association PINA (pending response), pacific islands media association, pacific islands journalism online PIJO, pacific freedom forum PFF manager.
. . .
name: linda uan
public profile: google
positions: producer, manager
organisations: nei tabera ni kai video
status: ngo
country: kiribati
contributor:
member: pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum
. . .
name: john anderson
public profile: google
positions: director, trainer
organisations: nei tabera ni kai video
status: ngo
country: kiribati
contributor:
member: pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum
. . .
positions: journalism lecturer
organisations: university of queensland
status: academic
country: australia
contributor:
member: pacific islands journalism online, pacific freedom forum, manager
. . .

INFORMAL | COMMENTS
Response to the formal motion was affirmative from 12 out of 32 members, well under half, not enough to carry the motion if simple majority were called.
However, a majority of managers, 10 out of 14, voted for public disclosure of their background details, in the interests of transparency, accountability and credibility.
As suggested by a private manager, the forum appears to have informally adopted the idea of putting their name to motions on a case-by-case basis, usually accompanied by the usual cautions, commentary and crack-ups, as follows.
. . .
“I am OK if it is just names, job title and country. No to phone numbers, email, spouse, children, age etc, etc!!!!!”
. . .
Name, job title,country will suffice thanks. With our slow internet we're a tad confused as to the consensus about revealing who we are.
Events have probably shot past us at a great rate, but in case it hasn't, we support Name, Who we are, Where we are, What we do & title. No to email & telephone - enough unwelcome stuff comes from those sources.
Loved the stuff - would you please let us Luddites know what to do.
. . .
“I posted the news release and forum statement on my blog yesterday. Hopefully my former colleagues in Samoa will read and take note of..or have already on other news sites.. also for the PI student journalists still in training here in NZ who frequent our blog spots. The news release and statement is just the sort of collective voice from the more senior/ experienced journalists in the region who worked on it that inspires newcomers in the field. “
. . .
“Name, country, organization … all good.”
. . .
“I agree with … the suggestions put forward.”
. . .
“Motion seconded by me and I consent to the letter, intent and spirit of the motion.
“All those in favor say "Aye" !
. . .
“You can't eat your cake and keep it too. You're either in or you're not. It's an exercise in freedom. No one is holding a big stick over your head to join or be active. If looking after your little quiet comfort zone quietly is more important to your quiet self than a collective advocacy to right the wrongs for the larger collective benefit, then just remain a passive spectator.”
. . .
“I’m voting with both hands and feet...Full transparency.”
. . .
“Great passion from the co-chair!!”
. . .
“Hmmmmmm..very transparent”
. . .
“Just make sure you're not using all four at the same time. You'll have no legs to stand on otherwise.”
. . .
“Hey can you write shorter than this, I mean I wanna read but by the time I finish reading and absorbing everything in this email I would have again missed my deadlines, my babies screaming for their next feed and the pigs from my uncle next door have dug into all my flower beds!!!!
. . .