Address to Wellington People's Centre

Associate Social Services and Development Minister Ruth Dyson
Address to Wellington People’s Centre
2 Lukes Lane, Wellington,
7.30pm, Monday, 9 February 2004

Rau rangatira maa,
tenei te mihi ki a koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te ra.
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

[Distinguished guests, greetings to you gathered here for this purpose today. Greetings once, twice, three times to you all.]

Introduction
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. I bring greetings from my friend and colleague Steve Maharey, and welcome Sue Bradford, your other speaker this evening.

Just as poverty and hardship affect many aspects of a family’s life, addressing poverty and hardship requires a response across traditional government portfolios.

So I will briefly cover a few different areas of government action, in particular, employment, social security, housing and health.

Employment Assistance
One of the best ways to assist people is by helping them get what they want most – a secure job. While this isn’t the current situation for everyone on a benefit (such as those with caring responsibilities or recovering from illness – which is why we removed the blunt work test from the DPB and Sickness Benefits and replaced it with improved case management.), most people on a benefit want a good job – and we have helped thousands achieve just that.

·Unemployment at 4.4 per cent is at a 16-year low.

·Over 176,000 more New Zealanders are in work than was the case in 1999.

·And record numbers of people have found sustainable work through Work and Income.

We want to make absolutely sure that people currently on a benefit are given every opportunity to take advantage of our healthy labour market. That’s why we have improved our assistance for people seeking employment.

A recent initiative that holds particular promise is entering into partnerships with industries, such as the road transport, retail and hospitality trades, to ensure we are providing people with the right skills to get jobs.

This sort of programme is in stark contrast to the ‘work for the dole’ approach pursued by the previous government (and still espoused by the National Party).

That programme, which has been evaluated both here and in Australia, proved to be a waste of time and money. Rather than helping people into work, it actually slowed movement from benefit to work – trapping people on a benefit longer. Both New Zealand and Australian research point to this as a ‘locking in’ effect.

So - rather than waste the time of case workers and clients – we have focused on getting people into real paying jobs, and the results prove that this is a wise investment.

More people are being placed in work, their income is being lifted, and fewer people are relying on benefits as their main source of income.

·In the 2002 budget we introduced the Pathways payment, a lump sum for people who were cancelling the benefit and returning to work.

·We have extended the new Employment Transition Grant. This grant helps people who have dependent children and need to take unpaid leave during the first six months after they come off a benefit, due to their own sickness or that of their partner or child, or because of a break down in childcare arrangements.

·We have increased assistance with costs for starting work or seeking it through the Work Start grant.

·Once you are in work, we have increased the minimum wage. We have ensured that the lowest paid workers receive wage increases comparable to the rest of the work force. The adult minimum wage has been increased from $7 per hour to $8.50, and the youth minimum wage increased from $4.20 to $6.80 per hour.

Full and correct entitlement from Work and Income
Alongside the strong focus on job opportunities, we are also dedicated to ensuring that people get their correct entitlements while they are on benefits.

We have introduced a number of enhancements over the last two years to make it easier for people to get the benefits they should be getting.

Overall, we have made the system much more active.
We have put more money into reducing case loads, and making sure that case managers can spend more time, more frequently, helping clients get their full benefit entitlement and find work.

In June 2002 a new brochure was released, “How can we help you?”. It’s designed to help people chart their way through the benefit system, and be able to assess themselves whether they are receiving what they should be.

We are much more pro-active in providing information and applications for extra help. This has meant that we pay out a significant amount more in programmes like Special Benefit, which help people in hardship.

Budget 2004
All this is certainly not the end of the road in improving assistance to families.

While you will appreciate that there is a limit to how much I can say about what will be in the upcoming Budget, I can repeat what Dr Cullen has already said….

·The centrepiece of the 2004 Budget will be significant improvements to our system of Family Income Assistance.

·This will significantly address child and family poverty and hardship, while also ensuring that movement into employment is rewarded.

·The package will also allow us to begin the process of simplifying the very complex benefit system.

Beyond that, I think we will all have to wait in anticipation for Steve Maharey’s and Dr Cullen’s Budget announcements.

Work and Income/Housing interface
There are obvious links between people needing social assistance with income, and people needing help with their housing needs.

A new initiative is putting Housing New Zealand staff in service centres next to Work and Income people. The impact of this has been significant for clients. Instead of being having to deal with a number of agencies, people can now have a greater portion of their total needs looked after in one place, by staff who can talk to each other, and who can come up with better ways of doing things.

Housing
Our government has been very keen to ensure there is adequate housing available to people and families on low incomes.
Almost 10,000 families, representing nearly 30,000 people, moved into a state house last year. We expect to house more people this year.
Our focus is to:

·Increase the number of state houses available to rent: We will add over 3,000 homes in the next four years. They will be located where there is most housing need so the majority will be in Auckland.

·Ensure that state housing is affordable for those most in need: Almost all (90 per cent) of Housing New Zealand tenants pay an income-related rent.

·Allocate existing homes and additional homes on the basis of need, that is, the ability to access or sustain suitable, adequate, affordable housing. This Social Allocation System ensures that those in the greatest need are given priority.

·Address overcrowding and associated health issues in Housing New Zealand homes through Healthy Housing initiatives in partnership with District Health Boards.

·Make home ownership more attainable for low to moderate income earners through such initiatives as a pilot Mortgage Insurance Scheme in partnership with Kiwibank.
·Modernise existing housing stock to meet modern living requirements: Where needed, old kitchens, bathrooms, laundries, and rooms are added or extended. Extra funding of $60m was provided in Budget 2003 to accelerate this programme, in addition to the $30.5m already allocated by Housing New Zealand.

·Raise the quality standard for building and design of affordable housing through, for example, providing a design guide to builders and developers.

·Encourage local government and third sector organisations to be social housing providers: Extra funding of $63m was announced in Budget 2003 to encourage both third sector groups and local government to retain and extend the stock of social housing that is available to those on low incomes or with special needs.

·Form close working relationships with local government to address issues of infrastructure, density, urban design and sustainable development.

Housing New Zealand also works closely with other government agencies, such as Work and Income, to ensure that, where needed, people have the support they need to stay in their existing homes.

Its Community Renewal Programme operates in areas with high levels of disadvantage - Eastern Porirua is a good local example.
The programme involves residents and local authorities in projects to promote safe, healthy and confident communities.

Housing New Zealand is leading the development of the New Zealand Housing Strategy. This will provide the framework for the government’s housing policy over the next five to ten years. The strategy’s vision is that ‘All New Zealanders will have access to affordable, sustainable, good quality housing that is appropriate to their needs.’

This work is currently before the government and, subject to Cabinet consent, is expected to be available for public consultation later in the year.

Health – Primary Health Care Strategy
Health status and poverty are also clearly related. Where you have poor income, poor housing, and often poor education, you are likely to see poor health status as well.

The primary health care strategy is seeking to ensure there are as few barriers as possible for people accessing healthcare.

That includes the barrier of cost.
In last year’s budget, as part of a $165 million package, we announced our plan to reduce the cost of healthcare for people under the age of 18. That resulted in lower fees from 1 October.

We have also brought forward plans to lower the cost of primary health care for older New Zealanders. From 1 July this year, all New Zealanders aged 65 and over enrolled in Primary Health Organisations will have access to cheaper doctors’ visits. And from 1 April, the maximum prescription fee for this group will be capped at $3.

I know that the People’s Centre belongs to the South East and City PHO, so your members will benefit from these changes.

We have exceeded the target we set ourselves of 300,000 New Zealanders having access to lower cost health care by the end of 2003. The government now hopes that 1.6 million New Zealanders, 40 percent of the population, will be receiving low cost primary health care by the end of 2003/04.

Health prevention/promotion
Some of our worst health problems are linked with poverty. Obesity, diabetes and heart disease are all becoming real issues here and overseas.
The effect of obesity alone could be profound – there are fears of a generation of children who are so unhealthy that they could be outlived by their parents. The effect of this is skewed towards the poor.

The traditional approach to healthcare – going to see a doctor when you are sick – is not the best way to deal with these issues.

We are seeking a renewed emphasis on health prevention and promotion, to change peoples’ living habits so that they stay healthy.
That is one of the key changes we expect to see from the primary health care strategy, which asks primary care organisations to take responsibility for the health of their populations.

That means better access, affordability, and local health services that have a focus on keeping people well and encouraging healthy living. Doing this with the traditionally hard-to-reach populations, who are often suffering from greater deprivation, is a task that we believe local primary healthcare organisations will be well suited to.

Conclusion
Thank you for this opportunity to outline some of the actions the government is taking to address child and family poverty and hardship.

I believe that we have come a long way from the dark days of the 1990s. More jobs, better and fairer administration of benefits, more affordable state housing, better access to health care, more assistance with childcare and early childhood education.

But I also acknowledge that we still have a way to go.

I greatly look forward to this years Budget, because the package of family income assistance reform that Steve Maharey and Michael Cullen have been working on will represent another major stride forward.

Thank you.