The 'dehumanising' flow-on effect of government cuts
By: Hanna McCallum
The Post: Friday, May 24, 2024
When Emily Phillips-McCready talks about her dreams, they are nothing short of the ordinary “fairly simple things” in life.
They included having consistent access to nutritious food, healthcare, adequate heating, a safe and secure place to call home and the mobility to connect with others.
Phillips-McCready is a solo mother and like many in her position, she is resilient and does everything to “make things work” for her two young children – one of whom had additional needs.
But speaking at an online conference organised by Fairer Future, a coalition of anti-poverty groups, she said it was hard to stay upbeat with “the avalanche of cuts” introduced by the Government in recent months.
The conference provided an opportunity for people accessing income support, disabled whānau, young people, and low-income workers to share the impacts of Government’s cuts and spending decisions on their lives.
Cuts in the public sector had seen impacts on services such as budgeting, disability support, beneficiary support, mental health and youth.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Social Development announced further proposed cuts, now set to total more than 700 jobs – or 7.5% of its workforce.
Solo mum Emily Phillips-McCready says she is having to make difficult decisions to access basic needs such as power for heating and food.
VERONICA-JEAN PHOTOGRAPHY / SUPPLIED
“It’s really salt in the wound to have continued budget cuts that take away from recognising people’s humanity,” Phillips-McCready said.
The difficult choices she had to make were often small but cumulative – turning on heating or choosing what food she could afford for her children – “[they] really beat you down, day by day and make it really hard to hold hope”.
“Not only are we receiving support but being participants in society, we are contributing in a huge way as well – having that recognised and supported is a vision.”
Mojo Mathers, chief executive of advocacy group Disabled Persons Assembly, said the Government’s introduction of restrictions to disability support funding in March amounted to “very drastic cuts to disability support and access to essential equipment”.
Without any prior consultation or warning it caused ”immediate distress and anxiety for our community as we were scrambling for information”, she said.
“Overnight … we felt like we lost the progress of decades.”
Mojo Mathers, chief executive of advocacy group Disabled Persons Assembly, is calling on the Government to reverse restrictions for disability support funds announced in March. (File photo)
DOUG FIELD/STUFF / TIMARU HERALD
Some people were having daily panic attacks. The cuts meant a loss of independence, stability, wellbeing, and the ability to purchase, repair and replace essential equipment like walking frames and wheelchairs, Mathers said.
“These are things that government should be providing for disabled people, without question – there should not be any restrictions in accessing essential equipment that enables independence and flexibility.”
A recent poll by ActionStaion showed strong public support across different voters to reinstate funding for Whaikaha, the Ministry of Disabled People.
An open letter by the Disabled Persons Assembly called on ministers to fully reverse the restrictions, fund disability support services after decades of underinvestment, and to recognise people with disabilities were the experts on the barriers they faced.
Fairer Future spokesperson Nick Stoneman, who was also a recipient of the supportive living payment, said people on income support were “really, really struggling”.
“It’s such a scary experience, being on the benefit and turning on the power and watching the power bills roll on.”
Individualised support was important and would make a big difference within the system, Stoneman said.
Brooke Pao Stanley of Auckland Action Against Poverty says people in need are facing harsher scrutiny to access support, which was often a dehumanising process. (File photo)
ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY / STUFF
Brooke Pao Stanley of Auckland Action Against Poverty said the process to access living support was dehumanising.
“Constantly needing proof that you don’t have money is actually really tiring … and speaks to the lack of respect and inherent dignity all of us have as people.”
Successive governments had contributed to the issue of treating people with a lack of respect, Stanley said.
But she had witnessed agencies “coming down a lot more harshly on people on job seeker and requiring a lot more evidence to support what people were going through.
“It’s a lot harder to access really simple things like food grants, the dehumanisation is still there but it’s all ramped up with this Government.”
Te Kahukoka Rose Harawira Yelash, 20, spoke about the challenges finding work as a rangatahi Māori.
She was on the benefit and on a “healing journey”, recently reconnecting with whānau.
Yelash was involved with Kick Back, a youth homeless organisation, and was currently taking a Māori course to find pathways into work.
“It’s awesome, just to be surrounded by people who are eager to get out there in the workforce,” she said.
She did not agree with the Government’s plans to reintroduce youth boot camps.
“[They] will not help our people ... We work with our rangatahi one-on-one and we get them out there in nature, we get them out there to heal because that’s what it comes down to, is healing.
“Healing is so important especially if you’ve gone through so much and chucking rangatahi into boot camps isn’t going to help.”
Last Updated 28/04/2024
RESOURCES