Health Budget fails to address key determinant of Health which is incomes – AAAP

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The Daily Blog
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Fairer Future anti-poverty coalition has graded the Budget

The Health and Climate Budget, being touted as Securing our Future fails to address a key determinant of health, which is low incomes.

“There was talk in lockdown about keeping (the governments) eye on the ball, and I kept thinking, are they aware their ball is flat?” says Coordinator for Auckland Action Against Poverty Brooke Stanley Pao.

While we welcome the pass on of child support payments to parents, which have currently been withheld, these payments still won’t address the shortfall of the cost of living in this country. Also they shouldn’t have been withheld in the first place.

Coming through on their 2020 election promise of increasing non recoverable dental support from $300 to $1000 doesn’t include hygiene and check ups and with no increase to benefits, it still won’t address structural issues of what keeps people away from visiting the dentist. Not having enough money for food choices will still see people requiring emergency dental care.

Extending the 1/2 price public transport and subsidies to petrol prices for 2 months is nice, but what’s going to happen after this? What security are the government providing for people and families and communities doing it the toughest in New Zealand?

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If income is one of the key determinants of health, and there aren’t any investments in increasing benefits to liveable levels, to providing Universal Services like free dental and public transport, no state intervention to provide free food for people, then can we really call it a health and well-being budget?

We’ve been clear about what we want to see, and this is again another missed opportunity from this Labour government to show up for the communities we love and serve at AAAP. They have the mandate to do so much more, and so they should. Our communities deserve to thrive.

19 COMMENTS

  1. We had a chance to incrementaly increase benefit rates from 1984 onwards and we blew it.

    I say that as literally the last person to have received the youth allowance. So Im coming from a place of experience. As someone whove argued for a 40% immediate boost to benefit rates I now say it’s not going to happen. Not even under a UBI.

    The assets have already been privatised and over inflated so any increase in benefit rates will go straight into rents and scum lords. Pity.

    Those already propertied are just going to have to care for there disadvantaged family members directly out of there own pockets and you lot shouldn’t even be mad.

  2. Robertson has delivered a continuation budget.. it largely placates, other than in regards to tax rates.

    ~~ The Placation:
    Maori Health Authority: $168m
    Health NZ: extra $1.8 billion
    Pharmac: extra $191 million (2 years)
    Targeted Dental Grants: extra $700
    Education: extra $2 billion
    Shcools [builderings?]: $855m
    Other: Warmer Kiwi Homes, Child Support Rejig, Fuel Excise [extended], Half-Price Public Transport [extended]

    On paper the above sounds reasonable. Though staffing and skill shortages is surely kneecapping. Concerning education; pumping more money into a largely failed system seems foolish.

    ~~ The Concerns:
    Toy Helicopter Money: $350 per catcher
    TVNZ & RNZ Merger: EXTRA $327 million (4 years)
    ‘Relaxation’ of FHB Grant Caps: $Unknown

    ~~The Good:
    Business Growth Fund: 100 million

    ~~Conclusion:
    Minister Robertson seems wedded to the belief of rising year-on-year house prices and diminishing inflation. There is LITTLE-TO-NO innovation in this budget.. a concern given the record tax and spend here. Throwing more money at a failing Health and Education System is the sad tip of the iceberg.

    Remember, a budget is just capital allocation.. ideally a government’s job is to give good governance.

    This budget speaks to a growing socialist, centralization, authoritarian and propagandist flavor from Labour.

    • Not sure this is accurate. There is quite a lot of financial innovation going on in this budget to do with ETS and SME business loans. Not to mention that rescue helicopters are not toys.

      And Whangarei and Nelson hospital upgrades to me signal future NZDF base movements. But I’ll have to sit on that.

    • $191 million ( $76 million this year) for Pharmac is bullshit when in 2021 alone they needed $417 million a year more to fund the 65 meds on their wish list with another 200 odd going through the application process. So don’t tell me it is good news on the meds funding front.It is a continuation of pathetic drip feed funding.

      • I can agree that Robertson is indeed drip feeding the increase of funding in a pathetic way.

        Where I would push back is The Leader of The Opposition, National Party Leader Christopher Luxon claims that Robertson is spending to much in is budget reply speech which is just a come on bro, is english even Luxons first language? It’s just basic accounting bro.

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