Submission to Welfare Working Group.
Presented by : Graham Foster.
17 Tuakura Way, Manurewa 2105.
Ph: [09] 268-9166.
Date: 11 September 2010.
Closing date: 17th September 2010.
Presented by : Graham Foster.
17 Tuakura Way, Manurewa 2105.
Ph: [09] 268-9166.
Date: 11 September 2010.
Closing date: 17th September 2010.
Submission to Welfare Working Group
“What do you call a bus load of beneficiaries at the bottom of the Waikato river? Answer: A good start”-Graffitti on a public toilet in Hamilton.
“ Being on a benefit does not entitle one to enjoy the same standard of living as a person gainfully employed...if they don’t understand this then there is little chance of them getting off a benefit as there are not many well paying jobs for the dim”—Nicky 59 Trade Me message board.
“ Single women should be subject to an Act of Parliament that criminalises pregnancy out of wedlock and compels abortions on all pregnant single women unless they sign a declaration that waives any right to a benefit” Anonymous blog on right wing web site 2010.
“ If he Mr.... wants to get a new pair of shoes he can go the op shop and pick a second hand pair for $5.00.” [ As opposed to receiving a grant from WINZ] Muriel Newman former ACT party MP and millionaire deer farmer.
“What do you call a bus load of beneficiaries at the bottom of the Waikato river? Answer: A good start”-Graffitti on a public toilet in Hamilton.
“ Being on a benefit does not entitle one to enjoy the same standard of living as a person gainfully employed...if they don’t understand this then there is little chance of them getting off a benefit as there are not many well paying jobs for the dim”—Nicky 59 Trade Me message board.
“ Single women should be subject to an Act of Parliament that criminalises pregnancy out of wedlock and compels abortions on all pregnant single women unless they sign a declaration that waives any right to a benefit” Anonymous blog on right wing web site 2010.
“ If he Mr.... wants to get a new pair of shoes he can go the op shop and pick a second hand pair for $5.00.” [ As opposed to receiving a grant from WINZ] Muriel Newman former ACT party MP and millionaire deer farmer.
1. This is a submission from an Invalids Beneficiary. It has a critical perspective of
the current welfare regime, that is, most assuredly, in need of overhaul. It is also
critical of the way in which the issues and analyses around welfare have been
presented in the summary paper of the Welfare Working Group [WWG]. The
contention is that the current welfare model and current expression of reform are
far too often grounded in ideology and not on the facts or realities. It is suggested,
with evidence provided, that the way welfare is at present informed, structured
and delivered is chaotic, dysfunctional thus creating aspects of disadvantage to
those on benefits. It argues that the dimensions of disadvantage experienced by
beneficiaries have repercussions for all and that these are never given air. It calls
for fresh thinking on welfare issues, free of the constraints created by structural
functionalism and conservative, political, neo-liberal agendas in particular. It
argues for a greater equality of incomes and provides confirmation that societies
with more equal incomes have less social turmoil, disruption and disadvantage.
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To ensure the submission is properly understood the writer assumes the
WWG has a thorough understanding of the 1972 McCarthy Report on social justice. It is also recommended that the WWG absorb the contents of a 2009 paper prepared by the economists Susan St.John and Keith Rankin “The Welfare Mess” and the 2009 edition of “The Spirit Level”by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. .................................................................................................
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At a medical conference in Auckland earlier this year organised by the Royal
Australasian College of Physicians [ Faculty of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine ] Dr David Bratt, the senior medical advisor to the Ministry of Social
Development stated quite categorically that New Zealand is a “class based
Society” and that one of the indicators of this could be seen in the way income
was distributed between those in the audience and beneficiaries. He contended,
with some accuracy, that those at this conference spent more on “coffee
and parking” than beneficiaries received by way of transfers. This, from a senior bureaucrat was as unusual as it was refreshing for it substantiated what beneficiaires have felt for years. Being on a benefit is no joy and Bratts comments gave substance to the implications of living below the poverty line. To give this more meaning, in June 2008 14% were living under the 60% threshold for disposable household income [ St John and Rankin ] and the majority would
inevitably be welfare beneficiaries. For most beneficiaries, despite the claims of
politics, culture and the WWG, there is simply no option to being on a benefit the
reasons for which follow later.
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Beneficiaries see it as quite ironic that they are often held responsible for risky
capitalist ventures and economic recessions particularly in terms of holding back
a recovery. The beneficiary will tend to suffer the opprobrium from a financial
blowout by being held accountable for any difficulty in restoring economic and
financial equilibrium on the basis that their received transfers have negative
impacts. By either the alleged indolence of an assumed ennui or a lack of
gumption, the beneficiary is perceived as devil like and thus becomes a
convenient whipping boy, the butt of demeaning jokes [ see above], stereotyping
and derogatory labelling. There are many mistaken beliefs in these views central
to which is the somewhat curious conclusion, common in middle NZ, that anyone
on a benefit either refuses to work, dislikes any form of labour and is loathe to , in
the Ministers own words.. “get off the couch.” There is never any point where any
consideration is given to the fact that many cannot work or get suitable work This
is a reality and it is a reality for a variety of reasons unassociated,as strange as it
may seem, from an innate desire to be profligate.
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These misplaced social assumptions are then translated into political actions.
Given the nature of the quotations at the head of this submission it isn’t difficult
to see the ingrained prejudice evident in New Zealand and the narrow
conceptualisations of what constitutes work as an apparent panacea for all our
social and economic ills. It is suggested, again with evidence, that the constituent
elements of work are determined within narrow parameters. Possibly derived
from some sort of settler mentality bolstered by neo-liberal or Weberian
protestant ethic, work, of any sort, is seen as being fundamental to economic well
being as much as not working is seen as creating constraints to economic
sustainabilty. However, that belief clouds two equally essential elements typical
of more healthy societies than NZ. One is the many social and financial benefits
to be gained from equality of incomes derived from work, the other, the
consequential beneficial outcomes that come from income equality in terms of a
greater social harmony and community well being.
5. Work in NZ tends to be heirarchially organised and tightly controlled. Together with the influences of neo- liberalism and free market ideology [ such as individualism ] it has a tendency, in many instances, to limit or deny the strong human values central to a healthy society. Community solutions and a collective well being become fractured in favour of what’s best for an individual in an artifically constructed competitive environment. Workers in NZ become trapped in and alienated by, the frequently mundane, repetitive and unrewarding work that is most on offer in this land of limited opportunities. And this circumstance becomes blurred by such fatuous expressions as “ work is good for us all” another neo- liberal one size-fits- all false construct. This notion of work fails to take into account the social context in which work occurs. Trouble is that the concept, with its accompanying racist overtones, has become accepted very much as a given despite evidence to the contrary. Thus, being in receipt of a benefit is construed not as an inability to work through genuine illness, disability or circumstance [temporary or otherwise ] but as a consciously pre- determined unwillingness. Attempts at redress, being based on the pejorative veiw of beneficiaries and a perceived need to satisfy social disapproval, is to introduce oppressive policies based on a more stick than carrot approach, little commonsense and devoid of human values. What’s happened in NZ is that distinctive patterns of social groupings have emerged. These patterns consist of groupings of inclusion [ based around working ] and exclusion [ based around welfare ]. These assumptions though are unsound and ignore true causal factors that, in truth, lie outside the beneficiary experience. So strong is the prejudice, so compelling, insidious and pervasive are the notions toward beneficiary condemnation that it has given rise to a political paralysis to consider any new approaches better based on human values and that hold a real potential to reduce the costs of social dysfunction and disharmony.
5. Work in NZ tends to be heirarchially organised and tightly controlled. Together with the influences of neo- liberalism and free market ideology [ such as individualism ] it has a tendency, in many instances, to limit or deny the strong human values central to a healthy society. Community solutions and a collective well being become fractured in favour of what’s best for an individual in an artifically constructed competitive environment. Workers in NZ become trapped in and alienated by, the frequently mundane, repetitive and unrewarding work that is most on offer in this land of limited opportunities. And this circumstance becomes blurred by such fatuous expressions as “ work is good for us all” another neo- liberal one size-fits- all false construct. This notion of work fails to take into account the social context in which work occurs. Trouble is that the concept, with its accompanying racist overtones, has become accepted very much as a given despite evidence to the contrary. Thus, being in receipt of a benefit is construed not as an inability to work through genuine illness, disability or circumstance [temporary or otherwise ] but as a consciously pre- determined unwillingness. Attempts at redress, being based on the pejorative veiw of beneficiaries and a perceived need to satisfy social disapproval, is to introduce oppressive policies based on a more stick than carrot approach, little commonsense and devoid of human values. What’s happened in NZ is that distinctive patterns of social groupings have emerged. These patterns consist of groupings of inclusion [ based around working ] and exclusion [ based around welfare ]. These assumptions though are unsound and ignore true causal factors that, in truth, lie outside the beneficiary experience. So strong is the prejudice, so compelling, insidious and pervasive are the notions toward beneficiary condemnation that it has given rise to a political paralysis to consider any new approaches better based on human values and that hold a real potential to reduce the costs of social dysfunction and disharmony.
6 Current and discordant thinking based on the influence if ill informed ideology
has given rise to inappropriate remedies.
For beneficiaries one of the most impacting is that of “ work capacity,” an inanely silly method of determining benefit entitlement and one derived from an orchestrated reworking of previous policies. The concept has had wide application in Accident Compensation Insurance assessments and is now prevalent in Work and Income [ WINZ ] re-evaluations of benefit entitlements. It is a counter spin to the previous ‘incapacity for work’ assessment and has been given substance by the [poor, suspect research] of Carol Black author of the eponymous ‘ Black Report’. Work capacity as opposed to work incapacity is a sort of smoke and mirrors routine, predicated on a one size fits all approach, to which the unwitting beneficiary falls victim. Applied by medical people and bureaucrats acting as welfare police, it is a deviant rubric albeit one that has a consistency with NZs puntive culture [ see the paragraphs on imprisonment below ]. On the one hand it is based on a corrupt premise that sees death as the only true disability ie: where there is breath there is an ability to work or, as one arrogant GP recently expressed to a single parent.. “if you can have a baby, if you can hold a baby, if you can feed a baby, then you can work.” Very much a positivist position it aims to construct a general law that expresses a relationship between phenomena. The approach, being positivist, suggests that if a phenomena can’t be measured it is not worth a grain of salt and work ‘incapacity’ has always been hard to measure. This proved to be the case in the 1990s when attempts to measure it were discarded as it gave rise to an inability to reach any consensus on the constituent elements of an incapacity and therefore a percentage of what that incapacity was. This became particularly pronounced when a disablement percentage, or degree of illness, was attempted as it required alignment against employment possibilities based on a consideration of many different variables that could exacerbate the condition. It was eventually ditched. A ‘capacity’ to work though, proves not to be so difficult as the bottom line is lowered to that of, to use an insurance term, ‘functionality’. This can and does absent all those other variables. It allows for the
For beneficiaries one of the most impacting is that of “ work capacity,” an inanely silly method of determining benefit entitlement and one derived from an orchestrated reworking of previous policies. The concept has had wide application in Accident Compensation Insurance assessments and is now prevalent in Work and Income [ WINZ ] re-evaluations of benefit entitlements. It is a counter spin to the previous ‘incapacity for work’ assessment and has been given substance by the [poor, suspect research] of Carol Black author of the eponymous ‘ Black Report’. Work capacity as opposed to work incapacity is a sort of smoke and mirrors routine, predicated on a one size fits all approach, to which the unwitting beneficiary falls victim. Applied by medical people and bureaucrats acting as welfare police, it is a deviant rubric albeit one that has a consistency with NZs puntive culture [ see the paragraphs on imprisonment below ]. On the one hand it is based on a corrupt premise that sees death as the only true disability ie: where there is breath there is an ability to work or, as one arrogant GP recently expressed to a single parent.. “if you can have a baby, if you can hold a baby, if you can feed a baby, then you can work.” Very much a positivist position it aims to construct a general law that expresses a relationship between phenomena. The approach, being positivist, suggests that if a phenomena can’t be measured it is not worth a grain of salt and work ‘incapacity’ has always been hard to measure. This proved to be the case in the 1990s when attempts to measure it were discarded as it gave rise to an inability to reach any consensus on the constituent elements of an incapacity and therefore a percentage of what that incapacity was. This became particularly pronounced when a disablement percentage, or degree of illness, was attempted as it required alignment against employment possibilities based on a consideration of many different variables that could exacerbate the condition. It was eventually ditched. A ‘capacity’ to work though, proves not to be so difficult as the bottom line is lowered to that of, to use an insurance term, ‘functionality’. This can and does absent all those other variables. It allows for the
8.
7
arbitrary and the subjective and for doctors to play both God and policeman but
still leave the last rites to the priest.
Work is most often considered only as a job. In the context of a captialist economy in which only the benefits of work are stated, work is promoted as enabling and, in the Black Report, as healthy and empowering. In NZs low waged economy this must be seriously doubted. In any modern developed nation [ and NZ is defined as such ] work has to be more than a job. It must hold values---- quality endeavours, quality pay and positive potentials. It is not as Carol Black would have us believe, ‘ good for us all’. It isn’t if the conditions of labour are grim and prospects limited. It follows therefore, that if people, and beneficiaries in particular, are dragooned into work from an already dislocated and disadvantageous position then the consequences of any extra burden and stress will inevitably be expressed somewhere else and a backwash of anger and outrage to follow. Socially retrograde consequences will result and the costs of that escalate. To blather on endlessly about ‘work being good for us all’ is a nonsense that can only fail if the social context in which work occurs is not taken into account and this is where the Black Report falls over.
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Anecdote 1:
A hydrocephalic, spina bifida, wheelchair dependent Invalids beneficiary with a brain shunt and colostomy was reassessed under a work capacity requirement for Invalids Benefit entitlement. This assessment was conducted by a WINZ ‘designated doctor’ with an apparent bias.This doctor concluded that as the patient had the ability to communicate and to breathe unassisted he could be re- assessed for work as he had ‘ a capacity’ of some sort. This effected two things. First, it removed any entitlement to an IB and was replaced by an Unemploymeny Benefit paid a signifcsntly lower rate until employment was found.Placed in a mall kiosk as a sales assistant by WINZ he was ill suited to the task for a variety
Work is most often considered only as a job. In the context of a captialist economy in which only the benefits of work are stated, work is promoted as enabling and, in the Black Report, as healthy and empowering. In NZs low waged economy this must be seriously doubted. In any modern developed nation [ and NZ is defined as such ] work has to be more than a job. It must hold values---- quality endeavours, quality pay and positive potentials. It is not as Carol Black would have us believe, ‘ good for us all’. It isn’t if the conditions of labour are grim and prospects limited. It follows therefore, that if people, and beneficiaries in particular, are dragooned into work from an already dislocated and disadvantageous position then the consequences of any extra burden and stress will inevitably be expressed somewhere else and a backwash of anger and outrage to follow. Socially retrograde consequences will result and the costs of that escalate. To blather on endlessly about ‘work being good for us all’ is a nonsense that can only fail if the social context in which work occurs is not taken into account and this is where the Black Report falls over.
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Anecdote 1:
A hydrocephalic, spina bifida, wheelchair dependent Invalids beneficiary with a brain shunt and colostomy was reassessed under a work capacity requirement for Invalids Benefit entitlement. This assessment was conducted by a WINZ ‘designated doctor’ with an apparent bias.This doctor concluded that as the patient had the ability to communicate and to breathe unassisted he could be re- assessed for work as he had ‘ a capacity’ of some sort. This effected two things. First, it removed any entitlement to an IB and was replaced by an Unemploymeny Benefit paid a signifcsntly lower rate until employment was found.Placed in a mall kiosk as a sales assistant by WINZ he was ill suited to the task for a variety
of reasons not least of which was the problems of toileting and the problems
ocassioned by the blockages of his shunt and subsequent fitting episodes. His IB
was eventually reinstated, and the doctor, thankfully run out of town under a
barrage of community protest and ill feeling. How much money is invested in
being so inhuman and cruel?
9. Anecdote 2:
A Sickness Beneficiary applied for an IB in 2007. His GP agreed to the transition on medical grounds although the State required another assessment by a designated doctor. Applying the really credible dualities of assumption and ideology! The designated doctor proclaimed without examination of the determining conditions, that no IB would be approved on the basis he could clearly see the applicant could walk, talk and read. The applicants medical issues did, of course,require a greater examination. A complaint was lodged with the Health and Disability Commissioner who found against the medical practitioner referring him to the Medical Council. The incident is indicative of the all too prevalent precipitate, petulant, pretentious and presumptuous pronouncements by those who have assumed an over deluded sense of self importance and are divorced from the ethical aspects of their profession. Doctors as prosecutor, judge and jury.
10. Anecdote 3:
Quite recently an Invalids Beneficiary, was directed by a WINZ case
Manager to be more pro- active in finding a job.To this end she was ordered to obtain a driving licence. The only difficulty was she was totally blind! Obviously new processes around unassigned case managers that apparently makes for a more effcient service [ yeah right! ] meant that the allocated manager had no background knowledge of circumstances. The real issue though is that the present obssession with work has become so schiozid, the drive to acheive‘efficiency’set in a structural functional dynamic has clouded the wood from the trees. WINZ staff are inefficient enough in daily routines as it is without any need to compound
9. Anecdote 2:
A Sickness Beneficiary applied for an IB in 2007. His GP agreed to the transition on medical grounds although the State required another assessment by a designated doctor. Applying the really credible dualities of assumption and ideology! The designated doctor proclaimed without examination of the determining conditions, that no IB would be approved on the basis he could clearly see the applicant could walk, talk and read. The applicants medical issues did, of course,require a greater examination. A complaint was lodged with the Health and Disability Commissioner who found against the medical practitioner referring him to the Medical Council. The incident is indicative of the all too prevalent precipitate, petulant, pretentious and presumptuous pronouncements by those who have assumed an over deluded sense of self importance and are divorced from the ethical aspects of their profession. Doctors as prosecutor, judge and jury.
10. Anecdote 3:
Quite recently an Invalids Beneficiary, was directed by a WINZ case
Manager to be more pro- active in finding a job.To this end she was ordered to obtain a driving licence. The only difficulty was she was totally blind! Obviously new processes around unassigned case managers that apparently makes for a more effcient service [ yeah right! ] meant that the allocated manager had no background knowledge of circumstances. The real issue though is that the present obssession with work has become so schiozid, the drive to acheive‘efficiency’set in a structural functional dynamic has clouded the wood from the trees. WINZ staff are inefficient enough in daily routines as it is without any need to compound
that incompetence by a ‘rearraning the deck chairs on the Titanic’ approach.And
this is the efficiencies that Paula Rebstock recommended???
11. Anecdote 4:
A 26 year old single woman on DPB with three children aged 9, 8 and 6. Resides in Otahuhu, South Auckland.Her 6 year old has a small degree of autisim, the 9 year old already evidencing anti- social behaviour problems for which counselling is required. WINZ, under current policy, believe she now has a capacity to work as her youngest is 6 and “ work will be good for her”. She is unskilled and poorly educated. She was denied a right to any re- training as there was a job available for her in Henderson that did not require a skill base and would accommodate her need to work only limited hours. She could not drive and the work hours were 9am – 3pm.There was a train service between Otahuhu and Henderson that further rationalised the WINZ decision but no account was taken of the need for child care before and after school and in school holidays. Travel time to and from work was not thought to be an issue. Effectively at the very least her working day would have been 6.30am to 4.30pm!! When challenged the case manager, assigned under the Rebstock efficiency model and who was unaware of her circumstances in a more intimate detail , advised that WINZ had no responsibility other than to find her a job and she should appreciate that working would “be good for her”.It would be good for her as it would give her more money [ wrong—the costs of travel and child care saw to that ] independence [ wrong as it created a different set of dependencies ] and more self worth [ wrong again. the job was pressing clothes on a steam press 8 hours a day standing up on a concrete floor and the going home exhausted to engage in her work as a mother]. So much for efficiency.
The Social Consequences of Poverty and Unequal Incomes:
12. Taking into account that New Zealand is listed as a developed, rich nation it comes as something of a surprise to note that we are one of the most unequal
11. Anecdote 4:
A 26 year old single woman on DPB with three children aged 9, 8 and 6. Resides in Otahuhu, South Auckland.Her 6 year old has a small degree of autisim, the 9 year old already evidencing anti- social behaviour problems for which counselling is required. WINZ, under current policy, believe she now has a capacity to work as her youngest is 6 and “ work will be good for her”. She is unskilled and poorly educated. She was denied a right to any re- training as there was a job available for her in Henderson that did not require a skill base and would accommodate her need to work only limited hours. She could not drive and the work hours were 9am – 3pm.There was a train service between Otahuhu and Henderson that further rationalised the WINZ decision but no account was taken of the need for child care before and after school and in school holidays. Travel time to and from work was not thought to be an issue. Effectively at the very least her working day would have been 6.30am to 4.30pm!! When challenged the case manager, assigned under the Rebstock efficiency model and who was unaware of her circumstances in a more intimate detail , advised that WINZ had no responsibility other than to find her a job and she should appreciate that working would “be good for her”.It would be good for her as it would give her more money [ wrong—the costs of travel and child care saw to that ] independence [ wrong as it created a different set of dependencies ] and more self worth [ wrong again. the job was pressing clothes on a steam press 8 hours a day standing up on a concrete floor and the going home exhausted to engage in her work as a mother]. So much for efficiency.
The Social Consequences of Poverty and Unequal Incomes:
12. Taking into account that New Zealand is listed as a developed, rich nation it comes as something of a surprise to note that we are one of the most unequal
nations in the developed world. The 7th most unequal, in income terms, from 30
others. This is from United Nations statistics. Informing this sad and shameful
status is that we do not figure well on a list of many of the social dysfunctions.
New Zealand is a very punitive culture. As New Zealanders we love to punish, we
are into discipline and bondage in a big way. Look at NZs imprisonment
statistics-- the 4th highest in the developed world, behind the USA, Israel and
Singapore. We put 150 people from every 100,000 of population in prison. The
costs of this are enormous. The new Wiri prison will, according to Judith Collins
the Minister for Corrections, cost $40 million a year to run. Bill English was
quoted on TV3 news, 2nd July 2010, that the Corrections department will soon be
the biggest in NZ. “ It is our fastest growing portfolio, bigger than the Ministry of
Social Development or the Inland Revenue Department” said Mr English. It
seems that Mr English and the WWG have difficulty in connecting the two
circumstances of high imprisonment rates/crime and low income delivery. People
on the margins do tend to commit offences, if you impoverish people or force
them to work into poor quality jobs then the consequences of ensuing
disadvanatge will follow. And it is not always nice, nor is it cheap. But, were they
paid better and the income gap reduced then the cost of imprisoning people, and
creating criminals would reduce.Consider Japan as a point of comparison. It has
one of the highest levels of income equality but only imprisons 40 per 100,000. If
the costs of welfare are deemed to be high then so too is the price of building and
running a prison.
13. The costs of health can also be attributed to the high level of income inequality in this country. By looking at just one health issue we can get a good picture of the costs of inequality. Our high incidence of obesity [ 5th highest from 21 others ] is revealing. Obesity, and its costs, can be attributed, in the final analysis, to a disparity in incomes. It is well documented in the research data that in nations with a greater equality of incomes there is a corresponding reduction in obesity. Ergo, less expenditure on health. The Otago Medical School Health and Nutrition Research Unit [ Dr Winsome Parnell ] has advised the writer that the health
13. The costs of health can also be attributed to the high level of income inequality in this country. By looking at just one health issue we can get a good picture of the costs of inequality. Our high incidence of obesity [ 5th highest from 21 others ] is revealing. Obesity, and its costs, can be attributed, in the final analysis, to a disparity in incomes. It is well documented in the research data that in nations with a greater equality of incomes there is a corresponding reduction in obesity. Ergo, less expenditure on health. The Otago Medical School Health and Nutrition Research Unit [ Dr Winsome Parnell ] has advised the writer that the health
benefits derived from better quality food stuffs is significant. Obesity increases
hypertension, late onset diabetes, cardiovacular disease, gall bladder disease and
many cancers. The trends in childhood obesity are likely to lead to shorter life
expectancies for todays children and will be more prevalent in the children of the
poor. Wilkinson and Pickett found that obesity among men and women, as well as
calorie intake and death from diabetes, are related to income inequality in rich
countries such as NZ. Those nations well ahead of NZ in both income equality
and lower obesity rates include Japan, Sweden, Netherlands, Italy, Spain,
Norway, Canada, Belgium, France, Denmark and Austria to cite but a few. The
costs of just this one health issue, obesity, impacts significantly on the social costs
of treating the condition. It takes no intellectual giant to see that if incomes were
better equalised a corresponding reduction in health costs would eventuate. This is
just one aspect of good health.
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The use of illict drugs is equally troublesome. People in more unequal societies
are more likely to use illegal drugs[ Wilkinson & Pickett ]. Enormous damage is
done by widespread drug addiction both to its victims and in funding organised
crime. The World Drug Report 2007 compiled by the UN Office on Drugs and
Crime, contains the results of sample surveys on the prevalence of the use of
opiates, cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamines. Wilkinson and Pickett
combined these into one index, giving them equal weights, and found a strong
tendency for drug abuse to be more common in more unequal countries eg: NZ.
The evidence shows, on the index of drug use and income inequality, that NZ is
the second highest.
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Homicide rates are lower and children experience less violence in more equal
societies. NZ has a high incidence of violence. Figures for domestic violence tend
to reflect that of violence elsewhere in society. A 2004 study [ Fanslow and
Robinson ] showed that between 33% and 39% of women have been forced to
have sex by a partner at least once during their lifetime and 18% of men had been
assaulted by their partner. Emergency Department studies on the prevalence of
partner abuse for women showed 21% of women experiencing current abuse, with
a lifetime prevalence of 44 % [ Koziol-Mclain et al 2004 ]. Significant long term
negative health effects result from victimisation, including emotional, physical
and mental health effects but, in societies where there is a more marked degree of
income inequality these outcomes are far less evident. “ The link between
inequality and homicide rates has been shown in as many as 40 studies and the
differences are large...there are five fold differences in murder rates between
different countries related to income inequality. The most important reason why
it is more common in unequal societies [ NZ ] is that it is often triggered by
people feeling looked down and disrespected.” [Wilkinson & Pickett—The
Spirit Level ]. New Zealand beneficiaries being one of the most disrespected of
social groupings, seen in aspects of exclusion and condemnation [ see quotes
above] it is not too difficult to create a link between the costs of social
dysfunction, violence and the pathetically low level of income support. Many of
those women who have been emotionally and physically abused end up being on
a DPB. It could be argued that were it not for the violent nature of NZ society,
were we a more healthy and equitable nation, in which the social costs associated
with maintaing the victims of violence would be significantly reduced.
16. Recently the WHO established world mental health surveys that provide the necessary data on mental health issues. These show that different societies have different levels of mental illness and that mental ill health is more prevalent in rich countries with high levels of income inequalities [ NZ ]. This country has a poor record of mental illness and comes in at 4th place.
17. There are now over 170 studies of income inequality in relation to various aspects of health. Life expectancy, infant mortality, low birth rate and self rated health have been repeatedly shown to be worse in unequal income societies. These studies, should the WWG be interested, feature in the journal Science and Medicine. The most consistent interpretation of this evidence is that inequality makes life more stressful. Chronic stress is known to affect the cardiovascular and
16. Recently the WHO established world mental health surveys that provide the necessary data on mental health issues. These show that different societies have different levels of mental illness and that mental ill health is more prevalent in rich countries with high levels of income inequalities [ NZ ]. This country has a poor record of mental illness and comes in at 4th place.
17. There are now over 170 studies of income inequality in relation to various aspects of health. Life expectancy, infant mortality, low birth rate and self rated health have been repeatedly shown to be worse in unequal income societies. These studies, should the WWG be interested, feature in the journal Science and Medicine. The most consistent interpretation of this evidence is that inequality makes life more stressful. Chronic stress is known to affect the cardiovascular and
immune systems and to lead to more rapid aging. Inequality makes social
relations more stressful by increasing status differences and status competition.
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The high rate of infant deaths in NZ [ second equal in the developed world ]
evidences the above with 6 infant deaths per 1000, second only to the USA.
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Societies with significant income inequalities have significant social problems.
Decisions not based on issues of equality and human values will always have a
marginalising tendency. Thus some of the alleged remedial options put forward
by the WWG are complacent, ill thought and foolish. The Canadian “ insurance
model” is fraught with potentials to fail [ and negatively affect beneficiaires in the
process ] given the ‘profit at all costs’ mentality of insurance companies and the
claw backs they impose to sustain and increase profit. The “ work is good for us
all” model based on the Black Report is a limited, weak and woefully inadequate
research exercise that concludes on a one- size- will- fits- all basis. It is fatuous
and it is sophistory and it recommnedations sets up doctors as state paid welfare
cops. Taken overall, the options for welfare cut backs thus far suggested or
inferred by the WWG fail to address the most elementary problem that underlies
the issue. That is, income inequality and the discordant consequences of that for
all members of a society.
The interests of beneficaries and the options for change.
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New Zealanders need to shed their prejudices. They need to be better informed
and the state needs to get its facts right. If the WWG is to be “ free thinking” as
John Key has claimed then it best utilise that opportunity to achieve the best
outcome for all. This “free thinking” agenda set by the Prime Minister-- in a
statement to John Armstrong of the NZ Herald [10 August 2010 ]-- would permit
the WWG to interrogate the adequacy of benefit payments that are elsewhere said
to fall outside its remit. The WWG can ‘free think’ and comment on the issue. It
also provides an opportunity to set things straight for, at the very least, the WWG
is mischievious in making statements that suggest the welfare budget will blow
out to $50 billion when there is no evidential basis provided for such a claim. It is
therefore highly contentious, scaremongering designed to further inflame the
prejudices of middle NZ. Further, the $28 billion increase in core Crown
expenditure between 1999-2009 reveals that 24% of that increase went to Social
Security and Welfare. At the time of publication there was an out pouring of angst
and much wringing of hands that benefits were largely responsible but it was
more likely to have been a combination of an ageing population increasing the
cost of superannuation and the working for families tax credits. Beneficiaries get
more than a little narked in these situations not least because the establishment, in
promoting these false outcomes, lay the blame squarely at the beneficiaries door.
21. There is a difference between what beneficiaries need and want. What we need most is respect and equality. To achieves this we need, and urgently I suggest, a substantial increase in benefits [with a corresponding increase in lower paid earnings ]. It is not sufficient for the WWG to deny this as an option simply because Bennett has excluded it from the brief. No consideration of welfare reform that makes any sense and that would make our society more equal, healthy and prosperous, can exclude benefit increases as a fundamental necessity. Raising the incomes of those at the bottom, with a corresponding decrease in incomes for those at the top can result in social benefits for all.
22. What beneficiaries also need is for WINZ, as the administrative arm of the state, to cease the over zealous use of targeting. We also need a cessation of the practice that joint income tests for couples.
23. We need a re –evaluation of the allowable working hours criteria.
24. We need a cessation of ‘modelling’ specifically medical models and an end to the use of the designated doctor system.
21. There is a difference between what beneficiaries need and want. What we need most is respect and equality. To achieves this we need, and urgently I suggest, a substantial increase in benefits [with a corresponding increase in lower paid earnings ]. It is not sufficient for the WWG to deny this as an option simply because Bennett has excluded it from the brief. No consideration of welfare reform that makes any sense and that would make our society more equal, healthy and prosperous, can exclude benefit increases as a fundamental necessity. Raising the incomes of those at the bottom, with a corresponding decrease in incomes for those at the top can result in social benefits for all.
22. What beneficiaries also need is for WINZ, as the administrative arm of the state, to cease the over zealous use of targeting. We also need a cessation of the practice that joint income tests for couples.
23. We need a re –evaluation of the allowable working hours criteria.
24. We need a cessation of ‘modelling’ specifically medical models and an end to the use of the designated doctor system.
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We need a re-introduction of the designated case manager practice so that
relationships can be forged and an option to change managers when there is need.
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What beneficiaries need is for equality to be created across the social spectrum.
The cessation of stigma borne from conservative ill informed prejudice.The ever
widening gap between rich and poor in NZ is working against its credibility as a
decent, healthy, modern nation state. It is distressing for a beneficiary to hear, for
example, that $1.8 billion dollars is owed by absent fathers under their obligations
to their children, former partners and the state and that nothing is done about this.
The writer, as advocate, has dealings with a DPB recipient who is being pressured
into work by WINZ but her ex husband, who owes nearly $100,000 to the state in
unpaid child support and now lives in the UK, is not being pursued for this debt
despite his periodic return to NZ to visit his family in Aucklands elite suburb of St
Heliers. Inland Revenue take no action against him despite the data matching
technology available. This is serious stuff and it is somehow ironic that the
woman on DPB is seen, in a social context, as the problem when it is the ex
partner that owes over $100k???
and phoney financial products, then were bailed out and paid themselves bonuses-
greed barely does it justice....If your looking for the living embodiment of grasping
swinishness, how about the high earning Working for Families’ scammers who
arrange their affairs so as to meet the income thresholds for state assistance? Such
gluttony would surely be applauded by the like minded oinkers who hide their real
assets and wealth inside trusts and companies in order to avoid paying child
support...Morally bankrupt but fiscally prudent...What hope is there for a society
where the same kind of people preaching ‘welfare reform’ and tax cuts for business
are simultaneously fiddling the books to take advantage of the state’s unwarranted
largesse? Where “ high net worth individuals” still want to minimise their tax
liabilities, even when paying up will make no difference at all to their quality of
life?” And what about the National MP Roger McLay, who swindled a charity by
double cliaming expenses paid from the parliamentary purse? What about this from
the IRDs website-- investigations into fraud in the ‘hidden economy’ resulted in
$155.4 million in unpaid taxes being sought.Who is the devil incarnate here-- the
beneficiary? But it all comes down to prejudice and work doesn’t it? The group of
included individuals who work are permitted the aforementioned rorts because they
are ‘included’ and therefore legitimised in the eyes of the uncaring or uninformed.
The beneficiary who can’t work or cannot get work is ‘excluded’ and is therefore
illegitimate and a wicked taker from the hard working tax payer!!
24 We beneficiaries want meaningful action to amend this whole sick and sorry state of affairs. Where to start? Well, let’s try the public sector first. The civil service is easy pickings being paid by the state but the salaries of the CEO of the MSD, [ well over half a million a year ]TVNZ [ $3 million ]and Telecom [ even more ] need, amongst others, to be addressed. It is ludicrous for the MSD CEO to be on a salary of more than $560,000 a year. It is outrageous that this is more than that received by the Chief Justice and the Prime Minister. Similarly with TVNZ/Telecom where both individuals are paid excessively from the state purse. Senior staff in all those organisations need to experience salary reductions. At the same time workers on their shop floors perhaps need pay increases. Reducing public service expenditure comes
24 We beneficiaries want meaningful action to amend this whole sick and sorry state of affairs. Where to start? Well, let’s try the public sector first. The civil service is easy pickings being paid by the state but the salaries of the CEO of the MSD, [ well over half a million a year ]TVNZ [ $3 million ]and Telecom [ even more ] need, amongst others, to be addressed. It is ludicrous for the MSD CEO to be on a salary of more than $560,000 a year. It is outrageous that this is more than that received by the Chief Justice and the Prime Minister. Similarly with TVNZ/Telecom where both individuals are paid excessively from the state purse. Senior staff in all those organisations need to experience salary reductions. At the same time workers on their shop floors perhaps need pay increases. Reducing public service expenditure comes
in other forms. It would instantly impact if WINZ ceased the use of private security
guards in every WINZ office and reduced the number of CCTV cameras. Benefit
increases would make for a more happy populace and thus minimise the costs of
security. Small steps maybe, but a conservative estimate of the cost of internal
security systems would save, according to one expert in the field, over $1 million
dollars annually.
24.1 Beneficiaries are sick to the back teeth on hearing, pretty much on a daily basis, that the gap between rich and poor is widening and that any rewards, both health and financial, of economic growth have disproportionately gone to those at the top. We fear that this entrenched inequality is set to continue. Those with the broadest shoulders are not bearing the broadest burden of reducing any deficit or any social costs. Inequality, as per the free market mantra, is not good for us all. Likewise. competiton is not good for us all particularly when there are those who, for whatever reason, are unable [ note: not unwilling ] to compete because the playing field isn’t level. It was interesting to see that those with those broad shoulders had, post Budget, the broadest smiles whereas the impact of benefit changes instituted thus far, the rise in GST [ always a regressive tax] and rising unemployment will be felt much more keenly by those at the bottom of the social class ladder
25. Those nations with less of a disparity in incomes between top and bottom have far less social problems and thus less welfare and other costs. There are two ways of achieving this same equality and I will draw the WWGs attention, again, to the work of Wilkinson and Pickett of the Equality Trust to demonstrate this. First, smaller differences in pay before tax [ Japan] and second, redistribution through taxes and benefits [ Sweden] with the two approaches capable of being combined. Differences in Japanese earnings are smaller even before taxes and benefits. While Sweden has a large state and well developed public services, in Japan public expenditure makes up an unusually small part [ compared to other OECD countries ] of its gross national income.
24.1 Beneficiaries are sick to the back teeth on hearing, pretty much on a daily basis, that the gap between rich and poor is widening and that any rewards, both health and financial, of economic growth have disproportionately gone to those at the top. We fear that this entrenched inequality is set to continue. Those with the broadest shoulders are not bearing the broadest burden of reducing any deficit or any social costs. Inequality, as per the free market mantra, is not good for us all. Likewise. competiton is not good for us all particularly when there are those who, for whatever reason, are unable [ note: not unwilling ] to compete because the playing field isn’t level. It was interesting to see that those with those broad shoulders had, post Budget, the broadest smiles whereas the impact of benefit changes instituted thus far, the rise in GST [ always a regressive tax] and rising unemployment will be felt much more keenly by those at the bottom of the social class ladder
25. Those nations with less of a disparity in incomes between top and bottom have far less social problems and thus less welfare and other costs. There are two ways of achieving this same equality and I will draw the WWGs attention, again, to the work of Wilkinson and Pickett of the Equality Trust to demonstrate this. First, smaller differences in pay before tax [ Japan] and second, redistribution through taxes and benefits [ Sweden] with the two approaches capable of being combined. Differences in Japanese earnings are smaller even before taxes and benefits. While Sweden has a large state and well developed public services, in Japan public expenditure makes up an unusually small part [ compared to other OECD countries ] of its gross national income.
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What this means is that how societies become more equal is less important than that
they do. The NZ government, at any one time, has plenty of policy options to make
society more equal. There are hundreds of different ways of doing so: indeed, with
government expenditure, both central and local, averaging close to 40% of GDP in
developed countries [ NZ ], it is impossible for governments not to affect income
distribution. Preventing excessively high incomes and concentrations of wealth
at the top is as important as pulling up the incomes at the bottom, and the first
clearly provides the means for the second.
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As well as more progressive income and property taxes and more generous benefits,
we also need policies to reduce the differences in incomes before taxes and benefits.
That means higher minimum wages, more generous retirement and other pensions,
running the national economy with low levels of unemployment, better education
and retraining policies and increasing the bargaining power of trades union. Good
labour law, protection of union rights and a minimum living wage are amongst the
factors contributing to greater equality of incomes in the US state of New
Hampshire for example. One of the factors that makes a difference in Japan is how
companies are owned and run . Differences in incomes of directors and employees
in Japanese companies used to be smaller partly because almost all directors were
people who had been promoted from the shop floor. Other differences in corporate
governance made unions influential stakeholders and union leaders were sometimes
given seats on the board. Patterns such as these led to different ethical standards.
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Political will expressed by the public and politicans alike, is always a precondition
to attaining equality. That will only eventuate when NZers recognise how important
greater equality is to the quality of social relations and thus to the real quality of
life. The evidence is overwhelming that greater income equality improves health
and life expectancy, and dramatically reduces the frequency of a wide range of
social problems—violence, drug addiciton, mental ill health, obesity, physical
illnesses and rates of imprisonment.
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The converse also holds true. If beneficiaries are held responsible for much longer,
if they are pressured anymore, or given no relief from current oppression then no
matter how any alternative expression is dressed up by the patronising spin of such
unmitigated idiocy as the “ work is good for us all” dictum when work is not
socially contextualised, when the true enemies of the “ high cost of welfare” are
those at the top not the bottom, then there will be an escalation of social costs
elsewhere. These in that case, will be the true costs of welfare—more jails, more
criminal behaviour, more violence, more suicides and more ill health. The current
welfare system cannot be reformed by undermining the living standards of
beneficiaries and the poor or by further stigmatising and alienating us. NZ society
will do this at its own risk.
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In conclusion, the WWG needs to remind itself and its political masters to reinforce
the notion to middle NZ, that it is not possible to talk of a ‘ bludging beneficiary’
when there is no equality. ‘ Bludging can only occur in a circumstance of total
social and financial equality. Current thinking of the beneficiary as a sponger and a
problem is thus misplaced.
