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ELECTION 2011 - YOUR CHOICE
Make income inequality an election issue by asking questions of parties and candidates about their policies to reduce inequality.
Ask them about their personal choice as political candidates - will they support policies that reduce or increase inequality?
| Fairness Test: Ask how policies will increase or decrease fairness? Whether they will lead to an increase or decrease in inequality of incomes, assets or access to services. |
We will be writing to all political candidates asking them to sign up to the Choice.
Go to the Politician's Choice page to see the candidates wo have signed up.
We have asked Political Party Leaders to ask their Party and candidates to support policies to reduce inequality - read their responses on our Blog.
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The purpose of this Election Issues Guide is to provide a resource covering the main issues that affect the people our social services work with. Every day hundreds of agencies are working with thousands of children and families and older people, and with those needing support through counselling, housing, foodbanks, budget advice and the other challenges of living in poverty.
Our analysis looks at election policies through the lens of that work with the most disadvantaged – their experience of inequality – unfair access to resources and support and the poverty that this brings.
Church leaders are calling on political parties to look to our responsibility to each other and the common good in ensuring a just share of society’s wealth and resources, especially the most vulnerable [Read the Church Leaders' Statement]. This is a call we can all share in.
The Cost of Doing Nothing - Tax, Budget Deficits and What We Can Afford
Older People - solidarity between generations. How will we share responsibility for care & support?
Poverty & Exclusion - end the blame game. What kind of welfare system do we want to see?
Social Services and the Community Sector - who is doing the supporting and caring?
Go to our Election Issues page for more links and information on Election 2011 issues
NZCCSS is using the Fairness Test to assess policies and asking how policies will increase or decrease fairness: whether they will lead to an increase or decrease in inequality of incomes, assets or access to services.
The Cost of Doing Nothing –Tax, Budget Deficits & What Can We Afford
| Cost of eliminating poverty (including child poverty) | $800 million |
| Cost of NOT eliminating child poverty | $8,000 million |
Leaving children in poverty in order to try and balance the Government budget in reality costs us more than it saves. It has been estimated that the costs of leaving children to grow up in poverty is at least $6-8 billion which compares to the $800 million Total Poverty Gap, which is the cost of raising the incomes of all the households below the poverty line and thus eliminating poverty (as calculated by the Ministry of Social Development).
The Treasury Pre-Election Budget & Fiscal Update was released on 25th October and is designed to give a fuller picture of the state of the Government’s books heading into the Election. Political parties had been holding off some policy announcements until after then to allow them to do their sums on policies. In the meantime the prevailing analysis is one of continuing high unemployment, wage & salary incomes rises that are below inflation and Government spending restraint in health, social welfare, education and housing. Current Government policy is control Government debt through reducing expenditure and not through increasing taxation. As a consequence, the only way that employment can increase, incomes rise and room for more Government expenditure can arise is through economic growth. But growth prospects are modest to say the least and unemployment is not expected to decrease significantly for at least another year and reducing government expenditure will not help to stimulate economic growth. [Back to top]
Children and Families –Child-centred Policy & Our Vulnerable Children
The Government has issued a Green Paper www.childrensactionplan.govt.nz has placed children at the centre of debate leading into this election and that is a good thing. New Zealand has not being doing well for our children in recent years and we must take action. Our children rely on others to care, support and advocate for them. They are our future and almost half of them will be Māori and Pasifika in 15 years’ time, yet many of those kids are growing up in poverty, poor health and with an education system that fails to meet their needs.
Targeting the most vulnerable or universal provision: The election debate should be around the question whether to focus mostly on the relatively few children that are described as the “most vulnerable” or have policies that seek to look after every child well with the aim that no child ends up among the “most vulnerable”.
Applying the Fairness Test would suggest that policies need to ensure every child has sufficient support while ensuring that the most disadvantaged children receive well targeted assistance to help them get ahead.
Many things affect our children’s wellbeing therefore no one policy will be the answer. We do know from research and experience what works for kids. So ask the question of policies:
- Will they deliver sufficient income to allow families to look after themselves?
- Will they deliver good, affordable housing for those kids families?
- Will they be able to get primary health care quickly at no or very low cost?
- Will they offer education that helps them achieve their potential and understands their needs?
- Will they provide an environment where they live that is clean and healthy?
- Will they reduce violence and provide safer communities where those kids live?
- Will they ensure access to parenting skills training for those who need it? [Back to top]
Older People – solidarity between generations. Sharing our responsibility for care & support
The wellbeing of older people is closely tied up with the wellbeing of our children and young people. The active care and support provided by thousands of older people to grandchildren and families and as volunteer workers in the community shows the contribution older people make that cannot be fully measured through traditional economic models.
NZ Superannuation that is paid to all people over 65 and set at a rate indexed to the average wage means a security for all older people from the worst of poverty. The success of this approach to income support should be the example and benchmark for other forms of social support such as welfare benefits. If we were to offer income support to our children at a similar level to that of NZ Superannuation, we would be able to eliminate the worst of child poverty in this country.
How will we pay for superannuation? Our society must have a constructive debate about how to meet the rising cost of NZ Superannuation as more and more people reach the age of entitlement. Let us make this debate a constructive and compassionate one, where no child or older person gets left behind and all of us share fairly in the ample resources of our country.
What services will the Government fund? Government should fund services for older people that allow all older people easy access to support services – at home, in supporting housing or residential care. Applying the Fairness Test would suggest that the most vulnerable and those on lower incomes receive the most funding and those with higher income and asset wealth are expected to contribute more to the costs of services. We have some choices to make – fund the full costs of a smaller volume of services targeted at those with lower incomes (and expect those with higher incomes and asset wealth to purchase their own services) or pay the full cost of universal services and recover the costs elsewhere (e.g. through taxation, social insurance).
How can we deliver quality services with well trained staff? Increasing the training and skills of the workforce is a great investment for our whole community. But current government funding models in home support and residential care still assume low rates of pay for caregiving staff. Over the past decade much work has been done to develop national qualifications and support caregivers through to complete training and our funding system needs to recognise this. [Back to top]
Poverty & Exclusion – End the Blame Game
There has been considerable change to the social welfare system over the past three years culminating in the Future Focus welfare legislation and the Welfare Working Group Report recommendations. The Government has made it clear that it intends to implement the recommendations and will be announcing how they plan to do this in the lead up to the election.
What kind of welfare system will do we want to see? The Fairness Test asks what kind of policies will reduce inequality and bring us closer together? The Welfare Working Group recommendations are extensive and this excellent summary of the welfare choices we face is based on the Caritas "Guide to the Welfare Debate".
A key point to remember is that there is no “affordability crisis” for our main benefits at present. The actual debate is about our attitudes to those in hardship.
Welfare Working Group recommendations revolve around increased work testing, reduced hardship assistance and more sanctions & penalties. The Alternative Welfare Working Group puts the wellbeing of beneficiaries at the centre, a balance of rights and responsibilities between government and beneficiaries and value all forms of work, including the unpaid caring and voluntary work of those on benefits.
Housing – the unaffordable dream
Housing policy in New Zealand is suffering from an extraordinary neglect. The housing market is failing those on lower incomes badly. In previous generations many Kiwis have gained their security in retirement through owning a debt-free house. This prospect is already out of reach for one third of New Zealanders and the proportion is growing. The building and construction sector has lost 22,000 jobs since the recession began in 2008 and we are not building enough of and the right type of houses for our future needs.
The private rental market, especially in the larger, is characterised by poor quality, unhealthy rental properties that are often over-priced. The supply of affordable rental properties is insufficient, with Housing NZ barely increasing its stock of housing, local authorities trying to sell off their social housing and the community housing sector still years away from being able to provide significant numbers of affordable housing units. Meanwhile houses are overcrowded as more than one family shares houses, garages and sheds. Homelessness is a growing problem, with many people hovering on the edges of temporary & insecure accommodation and boarding houses.
How can we build enough housing units to meet our needs? We must look to Government to invest on our behalf in providing the kind of housing that the private sector seems incapable of providing on its own. Doing this could create thousands of jobs as well as good houses.
How can we build affordable housing that is near to employment, public transport and education? Continuing to allow the sprawl of low density housing on the edges of our towns and cities will not do this.
Christchurch earthquake
The massive physical and psychological devastation caused by the Canterbury earthquakes will powerfully influence the whole of the New Zealand economy and wider society over the coming years.
- Resources have been mobilised but will those resources be applied fairly and equitably in a timely fashion?
- Will resources be challenged to the most vulnerable communities and individuals?
- Will we take the opportunity that disaster brings to rebuild in a way that is resilient and flexible for a 21st century full of social, environmental and economic unknowns? [Back to top]
Social Services – who is doing the supporting and caring?
Church based social services are part of the wider community and voluntary sector. New Zealand’s tradition is that the work of this sector is complimentary to the primary role of Government in ensuring the wellbeing of all News Zealanders.
The Community Sector has issued a pre-election briefing that has five themes:
- Establishing a measurable goal for reducing inequality in New Zealand.
- Engagement and capacity building of sector organisations to strengthen communities.
- Funding sustainability and innovation: by implementing the code of funding practice and researching incentives for social enterprise.
- Recognition of need for long-term social change beyond three year term including the place of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the constitutional debate.
- The need for updated information about the scale and scope of the community sector. [Back to top]