In the weeks between now and the general election, we’ll be looking at the issues dominating the debate. These primers will be updated as policies are announced.
Photo: Hadley Donaldson
It’s one of the defining issues of the 2014 political campaign, but like so many others, no one can even agree what it means. Labour and the Greens say inequality is worse; National says it's improved.
A study by Victoria University released last month found that the inequality gap between Maori and Pasifika and Pakeha has widened on a number of measures, including obesity and unemployment.
The study looked at 21 indicators, including health, employment, knowledge and skills, and found inequality has increased over the past 10 years. Researchers said the growing gap clearly warrants greater Government attention.
LISTEN: Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report asked voters if inequality would influence their vote, and opinion was divide.
This week, the New Zealand Herald ran an interactive visualisation, looking at the change of household incomes over the past decade. It was commissioned by the New Zealand Council of Christian Social services, which says that the dramatic increase in inequality has had far-reaching effects for our society. “It has worsened the health, housing, education and opportunities of many New Zealanders and affects everyone, including the wealthy.”
This week, an emergency housing provider in Auckland said demand from homeless families is becoming overwhelming, while the Child Poverty Action Group argues that the country is at a “critical tipping point” (PDF link).
“Current benefit policy is entirely focused on moving people from a benefit into paid work without any consideration of income adequacy, or the short- and long- term health and well-being of children. It is acknowledged that paid work is part of a poverty reduction and elimination strategy, but it is only a part,” the group says.
However, the Ministry of Social Development says that using a measure called the Gini measure, there is no evidence of any general rise or fall in income inequality since the mid 1990s. The trend-line is almost flat.
Read Max Rashbrooke's examination of inequality in New Zealand.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, told Ask Away that there is no evidence of growing inequality in New Zealand. However, she says, the National Party is working hard to support children and families. “Especially our most vulnerable, with measures like breakfast in schools, free GP visits for under-13s, community finance and welfare reform, seeing over 1600 people off benefit and into work each week.”
Radio New Zealand’s political editor, Brent Edwards, writes that whether poverty is better or worse is marginal: “whatever the statistics - and remember New Zealand has no official measure of poverty - economic hardship is a fact of life for many New Zealanders.”
Since taking office National has attempted to deal directly with some of the consequences of poverty. It has, for instance, introduced a programme of insulating State houses, as well as providing incentives for the insulation of private rental accommodation. It has also funded a campaign to eradicate rheumatic fever.
Critics argue, though, that the diseases of poverty can be properly addressed only by eradicating poverty. They say overcrowding, poor nutrition and damp, cold homes all contribute to ongoing health problems for poor families.
The Labour Party has pledged to lift the minimum wage to $15 by April 2015, and introduce a capital gains tax. New Zealand First wants to take GST off food bills, and an increase in the minimum wage, and the Maori and Green parties also want big increases in the minimum wage.
Raising wages may help – though raising the minimum wage has flow on effects in other areas of the economy. New Zealand is a relatively low-waged economy. But more goes into poverty and inequality that just wages, it is also about social welfare, housing, education and health.
If you’d like to see some of the parties’ policies, you can find them here: National Party; Labour Party; New Zealand First; Mana; Maori Party; Green Party; United Future; ACT Party; Conservative Party and the Internet Party. You can read The Wireless full election coverage here.
