Speech: Rahui Katene - Budget Policy Statement
te-pati-maori
Wed Mar 25 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Speech: Rahui Katene - Budget Policy Statement
Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 4:30 pm
Press Release: The Maori Party
Budget Policy Statement:
Wednesday 25 March 2009; 4pm
Rahui Katene; MP for Te Tai Tonga
I spent yesterday in Christchurch at a national conference on homelessness, learning about the challenges facing our night shelters and soup kitchens; the demand on emergency accommodation; the situation for families experiencing financial crisis.
It was in many ways, a most appropriate context in which to consider the 2009 Budget Policy Statement.
As a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee I have been part of a discussion which has focused on the projected decline in the fiscal position.
The committee has contrasted the fiscal stimulus with other OECD countries; debated the inflation indexing of benefits; pondered on the challenge of maintaining stability and liquidity in the banking system.
But it was not until I sat listening to the call for a statutory safety net for all homeless people that the true impacts of the projected deteriorating fiscal position really hit home, excuse the pun.
All the talk about export prices, declining asset values and rising unemployment will have its inevitable effects in the numbers of New Zealanders who lack access to affordable housing.
It will be seen in the faces of those who have to make income-related decisions about whether they can attend to the health needs of their children.
It will be experienced by those whose quality of life is affected every day by the meagre scraps that constitute their income.
It will be felt most deeply by those whose education fortunes become defined by cashflow rather than talent or skill.
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In the submissions we received as a select committee; a particularly strong call was made by the Public Health Association, to highlight the close inter-relationship between good health and New Zealand’s economic performance.
The PHA urged the Government to minimise the negative impact of the economic downturn on Maori, pointing out that tangata whenua tend to suffer more than the rest of the population in recession years.
It is not as if, of course, that Maori started off in an equitable position before the downfall of the New Zealand economy.
We all know that while the average unemployment rate is sitting at 4.1%, it’s twice that for Maori with an unemployment rate of 8%.
And Te Puni Kokiri suggests that a likely scenario is that Maori unemployment will rise to 12-15 percent by the middle of next year.
Initial signs of an economic slowdown in construction, tourism and primary industries have particular concern for Māori who are strongly represented in each of these sectors.
And so it is with great anticipation that we are looking to the Government’s Jobs and Growth plan, with a few to how tangata whenua will be protected against the sharpest edges of recession.
But of course, the jobs queue will not solve all of the issues that we expect to arise as the recession deepens.
We are particularly conscious of the position for non-working families with children; many of which will include Maori parents. The Human Rights Tribunal found clear discrimination in the working for families package with significant adverse effect on the living standards of around 200,000 children. Two hundred thousand children must not, can not, be ignored; our collective neglect of them justified as a savings.
It remains an absolute anachronism that the very poorest families miss out on at least sixty dollars weekly tax-free for their children while this same sixty dollars is available to 'working' families, even those earning over $100,000 with several children.
Sixty dollars may not seem much to some of us – but in real terms, it equates to six packets of nappies; fifteen loaves or bread or litres of milk – and that could make all the difference between survival or distress.
And it is here that I want to add another issue into the budget policy agenda.
For while we may all hold our breath and hope that the focus on longer term productivity and getting the economy ready for recovery is going to make life better for the great mass of New Zealanders, it might be timely to explore the very wisdom of a notion of exponential growth as just part of the status quo.
All of the international evidence points to the fact that the global financial system is on the cusp of ultimate failure.
A ‘business as usual’ budget which focuses on GDP growth stimulants will only ever come up short when it comes to confronting the risks of emergency pressures.
I mean how many times do we attempt to budget for something only to find that it all turns to custard down the track due to unforeseen circumstances.
I know from painful personal experience, that my own budgets never seem to add up, no matter how robust the theories I have about them!
We’re not talking about the day to day finances that we earmark for systems maintenance.
What I’m talking about is exponential GDP growth as opposed to risk management strategies for the future as we know it.
The enormity of this issue must not be trivialised.
Given that the entire global financial system is predicated on growth, it can appear overwhelming.
This is the time when the value of the Genuine Progress Index comes into its own.
For the GPI takes into account not just the bottom line on consumption, but a broader view including the implications of climate change and its consequences; the effects of the ongoing demand on our natural resources such as water and air and the impact on our ecosystems; and the overall challenge of how to create sustainable progress on a finite planet.
Simply printing more money only serves to exacerbate the problem that starts and ends with the thinking that the race is on to consume resources until they are all used up.
Talking and projecting GDP growth stimulants is like taking the medication to aid and abet our collective addiction.
And so while the Minister of Finance did take the time in the committee to describe three different risks – that of banking stability, export prices and the combination of housing prices and rising unemployment – we in the Maori Party are also very concerned about the bigger picture – including the complex consequences that fall out of our high oil dependency.
There are many issues that we must take seriously if we are to plan responsibly for our future.
The predictions are that poor health and poverty looks set to increase as the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen and population increases puts strain on health resources.
We know that life expectancy will increase, and the increasedly aged population will have significant implications for cost and balance of health and social services.
We are advised that those with solely Maori ethnicity are more likely to have poorer health, income and education outcomes.
Skill shortages will increase in some sectors. Low future growth in unskilled jobs will mean an increase in the number of working poor – and Maori and Pasifika workers will be over-represented in these.
We know that shortages of fresh water and water quality will become increasingly significant in the quest for economic growth.
None of these issues are isolated incidents – they are all worthy of further exploration.
None of us can continue on with the insanity of business as usual when basic common sense tells us that we must look to all solutions to ensure the system is sustainable, and that the future we forecast is one we can all look forward to.
ENDS
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