No, not that one. "Austerity".
Following the last election, we all expected, and many of us voted for, a tightening of the government’s belt, but the promise from this government was that this would not affect front-line services.
First we had a hiring freeze in the health sector, which means doctors and nurses unable to get work are heading overseas at the very time the health system is straining under staff shortages.
Now we see large cuts to social services supporting some of our most vulnerable families.
It is not uncommon for right-wing governments to cut funding to see if services can still be provided and then, if they can, cut again until it hurts.
But the societal group that gets the hurt is never the top 20%.
Trying to save money by cutting the not-for-profit sector makes little sense — it is a false economy, because many of the services they are cutting are also preventive, the absence of which creates greater costs further down the line.
A few years ago I did some research interviewing workers for non-government organisations (NGOs) and compared their approach with that of those in government services.
We found NGOs often target hard-to-reach populations, improving those groups’ access to services and so improving health and welfare outcomes.
These community-based groups can do things cheaper because their workers are paid less and they have fewer managerial staff and less administration costs.
While government workers are usually highly professional, their mandated roles can be both a help and a hindrance when working with vulnerable families.
The negative impacts of past practices by Oranga Tamariki through its various iterations have been highlighted in numerous reports, including the recent Abuse in Care report.
This can bring about resistance to engagement because of the pain and lack of trust caused by those past practices.
Community-based NGOs are often better placed to overcome this resistance and that is one of the reasons why Oranga Tamariki and other government agencies fund and purchase services from these groups.
A further benefit of the not-for-profit sector is the speed and flexibility with which NGOs can respond to the challenges they find their clientele are facing.
It is these NGOs that often respond immediately to emerging issues such as teenage suicide, housing crises and drug and domestic abuse.
We saw during Covid how NGOs responded quickly and efficiently to needs as they arose.
Community-led services where the workers are from that community have wider and deeper networks and, when working in partnership with the state, can come up with creative interventions, and so the announced cuts to the not-for-profit sector were shocking.
Some services are having to lose a third of their workers, who are qualified and experienced social workers and counsellors.
These are the groups that work with vulnerable families, both in prevention and intervention.
Do people really think that Oranga Tamariki is the "one-stop shop" that does all the work required with vulnerable young people and their families? Of course they do not.
They refer children, young people and their families to organisations with specific skills such as counselling, family support, budget advice and therapy, often run by these not-for-profit organisations from which the government is cutting funding.
I toyed with using the word "austerity" at the start of this article because there is a deterioration of government health and social services by deliberate underfunding that is affecting the most vulnerable in our society.
Maybe the issue is the fact that they are not-for-profits which pour any excess money back into the community.
If they were making profit for their shareholders, then maybe this government would take more notice of them instead of giving tax breaks to landlords.
These cuts will make for less effective services, and result in the loss of qualified staff, and a grimmer outlook.
I fear the government’s answer to the increased social problems we may face will cost us more through expensive prisons and probably private prisons run for profit.
— Dr Anaru Eketone is an associate professor in the University of Otago’s social and community work programme.
