Cartoon by Emmerson
Most of us take it for granted that when we go to sleep at night it will be in a bed, but for a number of our children – not just one or two but several thousand- a mattress on the floor, sleeping on the couch or sharing a bed is the norm. I see, for example, there is a Beds for Christmas campaign running in Whangarei to get some beds for kids who don’t have one.
I first heard about this problem a couple of years ago from a school principal in Nelson who had looked into why a child at their school was so tired at school.
Back then, my documentary about Child Poverty in our country was still being criticised by people who believed it was simply the parents fault that a child did not have enough to eat or a bed of their own, but as time has gone on those snarling condescending voices have become fewer and fewer.
Why? Because with each passing year more of us are feeling the bite of neoliberalism to the point where many working people are now finding it hard to make ends meet.
It’s a situation that, thus far, has gone unchecked by the current Labour led coalition who are still practising an economic austerity policy that benefits the few at the expense of the many and the interim Tax Review report tells us its something they don’t plan to change anytime soon.
The latest Stats NZ Household wealth survey is shameful . It shows that in the last 3 years the richest 20% of New Zealander have reached the point where they now own 70% of the wealth of our country while the bottom 40% have had no increase in wealth at all.
But, for me, a more down home measure of the government’s failing economic policy is to be found in the growing numbers of New Zealanders having to rely on food banks to get by ( eg up 45% in Christchurch since last year according to City Missioner Matthew Mark) and good folk having to run a campaign to get beds for kids in Whanagrei.
(PS If you live in Northland and would like too help the Beds for Christmas campaign being run by Habitat for Humanity and Manawa Ora Healthy Home Initiative bedding Items can be delivered to ReStart, 50B Kioreroa Rd, Whangarei, or pick-ups can be arranged in the Whangarei area by calling (09) 438 2250 )
Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.
very sad indeed and it upsets me when I see this happening in our country
Me too Michelle – what really gets me are the number of my “friends” who so openly spout that they are National supporters – people who I previously thought were good people – now I think – Bloody Selfish Idiots.
Oooooh…? ‘Beds’ for Christmas. I thought you wrote ‘heads’ for Christmas.
As in the severed heads of our crafty, cunning, all bought and paid for politicians.
Stats’ anyone?
Here they are.
NZ/AO= 20K sq Km BIGGER than UK. ( NZ= 268,021 km²) ( UK 242,495 km² )
( OK. 25,526 sq km bigger to be exact. That’s about half the size of Holland bigger. Canterbury? The size of Holland. Population of Holland? 17.08 million (2017) Population of Canterbury NZ? 612,000 ! Rich as. Gorgeous weather. Super duper amenities. Great Port and main city. And we have no money to support our people! ? “What the fuck! ? “ hardly cuts the mustard. )
NZ/AO=Super rich in fucking everything vital and important.
NZ/AO= only 4.7 mil people. ( No? Wait…? 4.700,001. Jordan and Tracy just popped out another one. Bless. )
NZ/AO=fucked. One hungry, homeless, bedless child here should be a shameful abomination much less the thousands of hungry kids we can be proud of, not to mention the anxious parents, bloated loan sharks and rich banksters.
NZ/AO’s fucked because we’re fucked. We should be rioting.
We’re not rioting because we’ve been used and abused for more than 30 years by narcissistic bullies who’ve rendered us psychologically immobile so as they can take our money off us.
Now, tell me? Please? Is that fucked? Or not? It’s fucked right?
We Kiwis have been psychologically rendered down to become the very embodiment of those unwitting participants of a Prof Stanley Milgram experiment.
Look? Riot. It’s ok. Riot. Be a good boy/girl/gender fluid person.
AND……..?
RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! FUCKING RIOT!
Where are those fuckers, who did this to us? Where are they? Jonky? The hair tugging pervert and ANZ board member proud to report an ANZ profit of 2 billion. Well, thanks jonky. That money’s go off shore then. Roger douglas? Where’s that prick? Jenny fucking shipley? Where’s it? Ruth richardson? You can’t miss the eyebrows. In any other country? They’d be hiding like rats in the woodpile. ( No disrespect to actual rats. ) But here? We cower and whine and go at each other like mad, hungry dogs while they impoverish us as we think we must watch our kids go hungry.
That. Is fucked.
Trouble is people like you and me are fighting two sets of fuckedupness, politicians and idiot’s who are blinded by money or just down right dumb as you’ve said. So instead of rioting I would like to see a town by town decision to pay a fair rate for rental properties and let’s see how the system copes with that one. Anarchy can come in all sorts of forms don’t you think
That is a damned good idea Jo, let us see all the reactions from the landlords who are getting renters to pay off the mortgages on these rental properties.
We need a Fair Rent Movement throughout this country.
Substandard houses – substandard rental payments.
Overpriced rental – underpriced rental payments.
This action should get these houses back on the market for NZ families, and a massive downturn in house prices.
@ JO. You write; “Anarchy can come in all sorts of forms don’t you think”
Yes. I do agree with that.
However, I’m no anarchist. I’m entirely happy with our democracy and I’m even comfortable with our monarchy. ( Weirdly?? Given what I’ve learned re the rothschild empire. )
What we have though, is something entirely different from a run of the mill affront to our democracy and our sovereignty. We have a new thing and that new thing requires a new approach. A kind of democratic anarchy perhaps where we get to vote on who gets hung first? douglas? Or, say, prebble? Or perhaps one of their little snuggle bunny private sector scum bags? Gibb? Or chandler? Or fay? Or richwhite? Etc…
I guess we could also expect our cops to take charge and go look-see at who it is exactly that’s swindled us virtually unfettered? For fucking years?
Did you read my above stats re country/population/earning capability ratios ? They glaringly show blinding anomalies? We must be loaded! So? Where’s our fucking money???
It’s clear as the best crystal to me that we’ve been ripped off. No! Seriously! We’ve been swindled. Or? Is there a mandate within our politic that allows for swindling? An act of parliament? Say? ‘ Section 6, paragraph three, volume 2? Swindling.’
“When the public shall be trained to look the other way; perhaps by force or inducement or circumstances that encourage the looking to [sic] the other way? Swindlings are able to commence.”
Is there something like that in there somewhere?
I fucking doubt it. So? Cops? Hello? I mean? Why must I be here writing this? It’s not my fucking job. I pay taxes towards the day to day running of my/our country and yet swindlers are swindling right under the noses of the very people who should nip that shit in the bud. Where are they? What the fuck are they up to? Fiddling with their diddles? Arresting people for smoking a joint? At the bottom of Swindlers Cliff spooning the post-swindle human carnage into a waste bin?
The GCSB? The SIS, the cops generally… they need to pull their fingers out and do their fucking jobs. They can start with where the fuck our money is! I’m serious!
I’m fucking entirely over worrying about the cops peeking in my window to see what mushroom I eat or what sad little plant I dry out and smoke for a giggle and to make my horrendously expensive ice cream taste even better than the sugary shit does. I drive my fucking car without a registration and the cops are all over me like I’m a fucking table cloth wearing anti-christ baby bomber yet they never give some scum bag like micky fay the slightest 1000 yard stare because that fuck flies about in his own helicopter after fucking us over on that bnz deal back in the day. And he’s just one of many of the bastards! We have kids in dire straights, we have adults suiciding. We have vitally important people like teachers and nurses forced to strike for a proper wage, we have our farmers cowering against the tirades of hate emanating out of the cities where the city people spit their food out in outrage at our water being polluted and yet are oblivious to the bitter irony of that while the elite buy helicopters and there’s nothing to see there by cops? Jesus! We need Jason Borne. We need to stop being passive and we need to start being aggressive.
Re rentals/property values? Burn the banksters. Never mind cringing in the shadows! Come out with your sleaves rolled up!
( I think I just contradicted myself. )
Whangarei?
Well here’s why kids have no beds in that city – parents who spend all their money on booze, cigarettes, SKY TV, the TAB, cars and weed.
I know – I’ve lived there so I’ve seen how these ‘poverty’ families live. I’ve been in their houses and seen what they do with their income.
It’s the same reasons why kids don’t have shoes, don’t have schoolbooks, don’t have raincoats, don’t have breakfast, don’t have lunches…
Hell, the list just goes on and on.
I realise there are exceptions – good parents who try their best but still come up short each week after paying the essentials. These people do need help, but there’s a large percentage who don’t have their priorities straight.
Every child in this country should have a bed to sleep on.
It may not be new off the showroom floor, but there are dozens of beds out there that can be had for next to nothing and they are quite usable.
I’m not suggesting by any means that a kid should have to sleep on an old worn out bed, but visit any recycle centre and you will find fairly good ones and the price is generally less than $20. Even those struggling on a benefit should be able to save a dollar a week for 5 months to buy a bed for their kid.
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