A chance to create a better future for thousands

Right now, our country has an important opportunity for change. An opportunity where everyone gains something and no one loses. We have the chance to really make life better for thousands of people by lifting their incomes through welfare transfers.

I have recently joined the Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit at The Salvation Army—Te Ope Whakaora. I am really enjoying getting to know lots of people who are doing the most amazing work every day. They do this with a warmth and commitment that is humbling. They share the vision to care for people, transform lives and reform society. They are right in the midst of the challenges of poverty and inequality in this country.

The Salvation Army worked with tens of thousands of people over the past year. Most of them (75 percent) were receiving a welfare benefit, but about 7 percent told us they had no income at all. Many find that there is just not enough money coming in to pay the rent, to buy decent food, to go to the doctor, or to pick up their prescriptions.

Lack of income is not a new problem, but what is different now is that there is a clear vision to improve wellbeing for children and whānau in this country and expert guidance about what to do about it. The Government asked a group of experts to work out how to fix our welfare system to help reduce poverty and hardship. Those experts talked to many people around the country and after a year’s work, reported back in May 2019. Their report Whakamana Tāngata – Restoring Dignity to Social Security recommended several actions for the government to take to improve the system.

Not much has happened with those recommendations so far. Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced some small but significant changes in May https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/supporting-peoplework-and-income-sec... and has said that her team are working on responding further to the recommendations later this year.

The best Christmas present this year for low income whānau and communities would be a quick and effective implementation of key recommendations of Whakamana Tāngata. If we are really going to make a difference, then the key changes will need to include raising core benefit rates substantially, increasing the abatement thresholds substantially, and removing the many harmful and punitive sanctions in the system. A fairer test of when a couple is in a relationship is also needed, as well as allowing people to keep more of their savings for future security and emergencies. All this needs to be accompanied by a change to the fundamental principles that underpin our welfare system so they are based on compassion and caring.

Thousands of people have signed a petition asking the government to take action to put children and whānau wellbeing at the heart of welfare, organised by the Child Poverty Action Group and Action Station. In this country, we are the kind of people who value fairness and compassion. No one wants children and their whānau to go without the things they need to do well.

It is time to do the right thing. Lifting incomes for low-income families makes those families better off and takes nothing from anyone else. Indeed, everyone benefits when those around us are doing better. That is the beauty of a good welfare system. Wellbeing is not a ‘zero-sum game’ – there do not have to be ‘winners and losers’ when it comes to the things that help us to live well.

By Paul Barber, Senior Social Policy Analyst, SPPU