Beneficiary Advisory Service
BAS
6-275 Hereford St, PO Box 130090, Armagh
Christchurch 8141; Phone: (03) 379 8787
Email: [email protected] Website: bas.org.nz
Facebook: Beneficiary Advisory Service (BAS)
Opening Hours: 9:30am – 3:30pm Mon – Thu
& 9:30am – 2:00pm Friday.
Election Issue – August/September 2014
This Quarter our newsletter is about election and policy issues in the hope of
helping you decide who to vote for. Please ensure you are enrolled to vote and that
you vote on Saturday September 20th this year. There should be a local voting
station near you, it is often the primary school; we advise you to find out
beforehand. If you don’t like the current government, then get out and vote against
them as every vote counts. Encourage all your friends to vote too  Kia kaha. We
will try to summarise for each of these major parties, what they are about and
where their policies are aimed in issues such as social welfare / beneficiaries and
with child poverty etc. Look at their websites or things like “vote compass” on tvnz
for more information. Beware of parties offering tax cuts, as most of the time this
helps the rich more than the poor and can mean less Government income for
important things like welfare, health, education etc. Remember, most people on
benefits would rather work and history shows this clearly – when jobs are there,
numbers on benefits drop! Most people are not long-term on benefits.
Parties are listed in order of seats in parliament currently
National
Leader:
John Key
Blurb:
A centre-right, socially conservative party
Welfare:
Aim to reduce long-term welfare dependency
Child poverty:
Aim to better protect vulnerable children
Their plan is focused on 4 key areas (none of which mention welfare issues): NZ’s
Future; Jobs & Growth; NZ Families; & Local Communities. The main good
policies we could find were: free doctor’s visits for children under 13 and extending
paid parental leave to 18 weeks (by Apr 2016).
Labour
Leader:
David Cunliffe
Blurb:
A centre-left socially progressive party
Labour’s positive vision for New Zealand is to regain our sense of community;
getting better jobs and higher wages from shifting to a high-value economy;
building a fair and just society where everyone can thrive; protecting our beautiful
environment, and strengthening our culture for generations to come.
Welfare & Work: Ensuring there are jobs; increasing minimum wage (by $2 to
$16.25/hour); champion the living wage; reduce unemployment to 4%; scrap the
‘Fire at Will’ law so workers approach a new job with confidence; offer incentives to
employers for apprenticeships for 18/19 year olds; every person under 20 in work,
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education, or training; create more high quality, well-paying jobs, especially in the
regions.
Children & Families: free antenatal classes and more Well Child visits, to help new
parents do what is best for baby; increase Paid Parental Leave (PPL) to 26 weeks so
babies and their parents have more time to bond; a Best Start payment to help
families meet the cost of bringing up a young child with $60/week for first year (at
birth or when PPL finishes); 25 hours free ECE, because kids who learn early are
kids who do well. There are also more policies on schools, homes and other issues.
Health: Increased funding so doctor visits cost less AND make doctor visits and
prescriptions free for children under 13, pregnant women and people aged 65 and
over; also a 10-year plan to make dental care affordable for everyone, starting with
free care for pregnant women.
Canterbury: a special earthquake court to cut the four year backlog of insurance
claims at no cost to claimants; fair 100% payouts on red-zone land, because the
earthquake was not anyone’s fault; 10,000 new homes in Canterbury, including
3,000 new, affordable rentals; upgrade Canterbury health facilities, including two
new health hubs and more mental health support.
Green
Leaders:
Metiria Turei and Russel Norman
Blurb:
Left-wing, environmentalist party promoting social justice.
Welfare Issues: The Green Party supports a full and wide-ranging public debate on
the nature of UBI (Universal Basic Income), the details the system, and studies of
the impacts. The Green Party will investigate the implementation of a UBI for every
New Zealander. Protect welfare benefit levels by indexing rates to a basket of food,
energy and housing price indices and legislating for a benefit level floor to ensure
main benefits cannot fall below a fixed percentage of the average wage. Reform the
work test for work-tested beneficiaries to take into account the valuable
contribution to society made by people doing voluntary work and parenting.
Support the abolition of discriminatory tax credit regimes such as the In Work Tax
Credit component of Working for Families, so this can be received by beneficiaries
as well! Oppose the introduction of any provision that financially or materially
penalises single parents who give birth while in receipt of benefit.
Reducing child poverty: a new Children’s Credit that will give an extra $60 a week
to families currently missing out; a non-discriminatory Parental Tax Credit of $220
a week in the first weeks of life for the poorest children; a $500 million per year
investment in children’s health and education to reduce the harm caused by
poverty.
Disability issues: Building access and inclusion for all.
Christchurch: For a greener, fairer, smarter and more democratic Canterbury
rebuild, the Green Party will: prioritise smarter transport by establishing
Canterbury Transport - a single body responsible for transport strategy, planning
and delivery, also accelerating investment in safe cycling and improving public
transport; restore local democracy, remove CERA’s emergency powers and return
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power to the City Council; plus a commitment to green spaces and climate change
resilience.
Also: free off-peak travel for students, free healthcare to age 18, 20 free ECE hours
for 2 year olds as well; healthy homes: warrant of fitness for rented properties and
more homes insulated; build a smarter greener innovative economy that benefits
every New Zealander; safe walking and cycling for kids and School Hubs, ensuring
education is a route out of poverty. Independent fiscal costing also shows larger
surpluses and pay down debt sooner than National.
NZ First
Leader:
Winston Peters
Blurb:
A centrist, populist, and nationalist party
Whilst their policies on welfare seem to not be directly available on their website, in
their “fifteen principles” they state: ‘The Welfare State must be an umbrella to meet
genuine and deserving need. Government has a duty to properly determine those
needs and respond to them. That said, social welfare must no longer neglect
assisting recipients to become independent of the State.’ and ‘The employment of
New Zealanders is our first planning priority. High unemployment is not
acceptable. We regard such human and economic waste as a blight on this
country’s productivity.’
In their section on Family, they state, New Zealand First will: promote initiatives
and schemes that up-skill and train New Zealanders for greater independence from
the State; ensure greater scrutiny of the benefit system for those moving from the
unemployment system on to the sickness benefit. This will include random crosschecking of doctors' recommendations and greater monitoring of Work and Income
staff who may recommend such a shift; ensure that benefits (and abatement levels)
are inflation adjusted; legislate to require greater parental responsibility from those
receiving benefits and to ensure that social agencies provide the services that help
achieve this.; combine all parent-caregiver support programmes under the
umbrella of a single agency; ensure the needs of retired New Zealanders are met
through a sustainable superannuation scheme. In giving people certainty (and thus
security) such a scheme also gives New Zealand a desperately needed expanded
savings base; increase funding to Women's Refuge; improve and lift living
standards for vulnerable families and at-risk children by implementing policies that
emphasis equality; maximize employment prospects so that fewer New Zealanders
travel abroad in search of work; provide real opportunities for young people to gain
quality education and skills that will enable greater involvement in the economy;
remove barriers that prevent New Zealanders from accessing social service
providers and ensure that these providers are effective; remove secondary tax and
protect New Zealanders having to work more than one job to make ends meet.
Māori
Leaders:
Blurb:
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Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples
A party to promote what it sees as "the rights and interests of Māori".
Welfare: Promote collaborative arrangements between WINZ, iwi and education
providers for training opportunities; Work and Income will be required to publish
all benefit registers each and every month. The benefit registers will be available by
age, ethnicity, gender and location with targets negotiated with the Responsible
Minister. Wherever possible WINZ will contract with iwi and whānau to assist with
reducing unemployment; and to provide opportunities to devolve functions for
whānau cooperatives to tender for contracts.
Employment: Whānau aspire to be self-reliant so creating a range of job
opportunities and critical steps in realising this aspiration include implementing a
living wage of $18.80 per hour and establishing a working party to calculate tax
credits for people who make regular contributions to our economy through
volunteering, unpaid or community work.
Also: Tertiary education should be accessible to all; The Crown has an ongoing
responsibility to protect and promote te reo Māori; The Māori party are committed
to climate change solutions including the health and well-being of our water.
Mana/Internet
Leaders:
Hone Harawira / Laila Harré
Blurbs:
A left-wing party supporting social policies and NZ’s indigenous Māori
minority. A party advocating for less surveillance, copyright reform and cheap
internet
Welfare: Overhaul the welfare system to provide an effective, compassionate service
by: work towards implementing a Universal Tax Credit/Universal Basic Income
where everyone in Aotearoa aged 18 and over would receive a minimum, liveable,
tax free income after which progressive tax would kick in; lift benefits to at least pre
1991 equivalent levels (as the 1991 cuts have never been restored); index benefits
to a fixed, adequate percentage of the average wage, as currently happens with
superannuation; extend the payment of NZ superannuation to those aged 60 years
and over; extend the In Work tax credit to the children of beneficiary parents (this
would immediately lift incomes for beneficiary families); reinstate the Training
Incentive Allowance for people on the DPB (Domestic Purposes Benefit) so they can
access all levels of tertiary education; implement a social marketing campaign to
begin to undo the negative stereotyping of beneficiaries and radically change the
culture of WINZ so that people are treated with respect.
This would include
establishing an independent body to review benefit decisions and complaints
against staff who mistreat people; provide stable, ongoing funding for community
based beneficiary and ACC advocacy groups throughout the country.
Ensure all children have the best possible start in life by: take all possible steps to
end child poverty, including setting a comprehensive plan for its elimination and
monitoring progress towards it; recognise that the work of raising children is as
important as paid work by extending paid parental leave to 12 months, and
supporting quality pre-school and out of school education; increase funding and
other support for children with disabilities and their families and whanau; ensure
that the needs and rights of tamariki and rangatahi are reflected in all policies that
may affect them, and where possible, involve them in planning and decision
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making; ensure quality mental health services for children and young people are
adequately funded and available in all parts of the country.
Also policies to: address family and sexual violence; improve the functioning of
CYFS; abolish pokie machines and address the harms from problem gambling;
reduce access to alcohol and address problem drinking and drug use; support
development of the tangata whenua, community & voluntary sector; raise the
incomes of low-income earners; reduce the cost of living; reduce loan debt;
overhaul the tax system to make it fair; ensure equal rights and access to justice
for disabled people; promote full participation of disabled people in creating an
inclusive Aotearoa; improve the standard of living for disabled people and their
whanau; and many more.
Act
Leader:
Dr Jamie Whyte
Blurb: A classically liberal party that promotes free market economics.
Welfare and Family Policies: ACT believes that the welfare system New Zealand
developed from the 1970s onward has been a social and economic disaster. While
the intention of reducing hardship was noble, the incentive effects of the system
have overwhelmed the resource provision effects.
The policies have led to
dependency and indignity for hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders, with an
intergenerational dimension.
ACT supports the current government’s initiatives to shift welfare from a paradigm
of open-ended provision and resulting dependence to one of mutual obligation; ACT
would reduce effective marginal tax rates for those shifting from welfare to work;
ACT would outsource rehabilitation functions to private providers, put lifetime
limits on all welfare eligibility including Sole Parent Support, crack down on benefit
fraud, and scrap the minimum wage.
UnitedFuture
Leader:
Peter Dunne
Blurb:
A moderately centrist party with a strong Christian background
UnitedFuture believes that work is good, both for society and for individuals.
Having a job boosts self-esteem and a sense of personal dignity, and provides a role
model for children in the family.
UnitedFuture Social Services and Employment policies: encourage all young people
under 25 who are not at school to either be 'earning or learning' (i.e. in some form
of education/training or work); ensure that sickness and invalids beneficiaries seek
treatment for their incapacity where this is appropriate as a condition of their
benefit, and make funding available to provide treatment where it is likely to hasten
their return to work; closely monitor the effectiveness of current initiatives for
moving domestic purposes recipients into appropriate employment as their children
get older; establish regional employment initiatives that arrive at local solutions to
the specific causes of unemployment in communities, with a clear focus on getting
people into jobs; ensure that jobseekers have access to vacancies in other regions,
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and increase relocation grants for those who have to move to take up employment;
increase funding for adult literacy programmes, and ensure that every community
education centre runs such programmes; fund training programmes that are
specifically targeted at up-skilling older New Zealanders who find themselves out of
work; support a campaign aimed at employers to break-down any negative
perceptions of older workers, migrants and those with disabilities; prioritise
funding for those vocational courses that develop skills and provide qualifications
in fields facing shortages; establish a specific employment placement service for
refugees; apply intensive case management to those beneficiaries who struggle to
budget and pay for the basics, to ensure that their basic needs are being met,
especially for households with children; ensure that people receive their
appropriate entitlements, by funding the Citizens Advice Bureau and other similar
legal and community assistance services to give independent advice and advocacy
on such issues.
Child Poverty: every child not only deserves the best start in life, but also deserves
the love and attention of both parents, wherever possible.
Conservative
This party is not currently in Government is polling well for a minor party, so we
thought we should let you know where they stand too.
Leader:
Colin Craig
Blurb:
A socially conservative party advocating stricter law policies
There were no visible policies on things like Welfare or child poverty at all.
However, in talking about policies giving women on benefits the options of free
long-term contraceptive, Colin says (and the link is on their website) that he thinks
NZ women are promiscuous. That “while we have to protect the vulnerable,
personal responsibility has to come first” – that is if you have sex, you are
responsible for the consequences, like children.
In their information, they state: ‘The only other reason we need to pay so much tax
is to fund the Government’s vote buying programme; which clearly is proving to be
more expensive than first thought. This is where they try and turn as many
hardworking kiwi families as possible into beneficiaries. It doesn't get any more
cynical.’ I’m not sure what this is based on. They plan to have “no tax up to an
income of $20000 and one rate for all after that” it sounds nice at first to many, but
this simple system would not work without a maximum wage or some other form of
Government income to pay for the expenditure.
In Summary
The only parties talking about increasing benefit levels / ensuring they are inflation
adjusted are the Greens, NZ first, & Mana parties. Also, only the left of centre bloc are
talking seriously at all about dealing with child poverty (whether benefit-related or not:
a high proportion of children in poverty are of course in wage-earning families). Recall
what Plato (and many others) have said about politics: “The penalty the good pay for
indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” Make your vote count!
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