NZ Budget Implementation Now Needs to Directly Address People's Main Concerns: New Report Findings

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Mike Treen on The Daily Blog notes that in a new survey by the EY accounting and consultancy firm one of the most revealing  issues people was what people  felt about in relation to the economy

The survey found increased living costs, especially power increases, and the cost of basic services were the main concern and falling house prices the least.

EY’s David Snell commented there was little in the Budget addressing these issues. “Of course, people were also concerned about government funding for health and education, but it seemed low wage growth in the past few years was being felt strongly ...



"What this survey has underscored is that the big majority of working people are struggling to survive against the relentless pressure of rising housing, energy and other basic costs.

"Those at the bottom of the income pile who have had the real value of basic benefits squeezed for decades saw no relief other than the fact that future increases will be tied to average wage movements rather than the historically lower consumer price index. WINZ, the agency responsible for managing access to welfare has also ensured that around 100,000 people previously able to access benefits or other welfare support were pushed off benefits since around 2008.

"That is why there is now so much more absolute poverty and homelessness in working-class communities compared to a decade ago despite the modest economic recovery and fall in unemployment rates we have seen.

"The budget had nothing in it to address these issues. The current tax system that exempts the wealthiest from paying their fair share and that leaves little for the government to do that tweak spending here and there.

"The anger reflected in the EY survey that is bubbling below the surface can easily explode in perverse political directions, as we have seen in the US and Europe. Labour and the Greens need policies that don’t just tweak the current system but look forward to a total transformation of society to a new socially egalitarian system able to attack the grotesque levels income and wealth inequality and take the radical actions needed for an ecologically sustainable path of development which has now become incompatible with the capitalist systems relentless pursuit of profit and growth at all costs.

In  another article, reporting TNNZ1's Breakfast, economist Brad Olsen commented on a new Infrometrics report that found  "a stark divide between the outcomes for those who are living in urban parts of New Zealand and those who are living in more rural and regional parts of New Zealand."

On 7 of the 9 wellbeing domains looked "only two (was) provincial New Zealand is doing better than urban areas ... in ... housing area, and also in civic engagement and governance." The domains included “knowledge and skills; jobs and earnings; income and consumption; housing; health; environment and civic engagement and governance.” Rural areas had lower comparative incomes and job opportunities and poorer access to services. Where crime increased last year, it was all in rural or provincial NZ.

Olsen concluded, "We need to really focus on the fundamentals ... at a local community level. The biggest thing that this report outlines is there are massive issues across the country but they're different in each area. We can’t have a national-level solution for all of these. We need to go back to those local communities, ask them where they want to be, and what they're willing to do to change it."

Government policies clearly need to directly address the "main concerns" noted in the EY report, and the regional disparities noted  by Infrometrics if it is to meet most peoples's needs and remain on track to win the next election.

-- ACW 

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