An open letter to the

Prime Minister, 
Ministers of the Crown,
Members of Parliament

Call for a Basic Income

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi, tena koutou katoa i runga i te korero rangatiratanga mo tatou katoa i runga i nga tikanga o tena, o tena, o tena. Ko te tuatahi te wehi ki to tatou Matua nui i te rangi mo ana manaakitanga ki runga i a tatou i nga wa katoa. Ki nga mate o te tau kua hinga atu, hinga mai, haere atu koutou ki te tini ki te mano. No reira moe mai ra. Ki a tatou nga mahuetanga o ratou ma, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

The destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle continues to impact on many people, some with their financial and mental resources already exhausted by other natural disasters and a persistent cost-of-living-crisis.

We urge the Government to urgently put in place a Basic Income. A Basic Income is a weekly payment, received by everyone living in Aotearoa New Zealand, independent of employment, and personal circumstances. We argue that a Basic Income is necessary.

In reaction to Cyclone Gabrielle, the Government was quick to provide money to repair damaged infrastructure, help business and house owners. Yes, roads need repair and business need help, but support announced for people initially only included easier access to loans, and help with insurance claims [1]. This support was insufficient for many trapped in debt, with food and shelter their foremost priority.

We urge the Government to stop supporting “trickle-down” economics, based on the now well and truly discredited idea that helping business will eventually help people. The Government, through its Covid 19 “Wage Subsidy Scheme”, assumed that money channelled through businesses would reach people in need. This approach left some people without paid work unsupported and allowed some businesses to profiteer from the scheme [2]. While businesses deserve help, it is people who need direct help.

There are funds available for people when a government calls an emergency, such as Civil Defence payments. However, payments received from Civil Defence are administered by Work and Income with their bureaucratic and restrictive approach to helping people and people receiving support from other government co-funded relief funds are not eligible for Civil Defence payments.

While the Government made it clear that donating money to relief funds, and not items, is the best way to help people, the ability to make financial decisions is often taken away. People on a benefit or receiving Civil Defence payments may not receive cash money to purchase essentials but are given a Work and Income payment card (green card) while money for housing is channelled directly to accommodation providers. This system is too complex and inflexible to provide immediate help. In an emergency the payment cards are often not useful, as the limited number of stores that accept them, may be closed. In an emergency, a telephone card or a bus ticket may be necessary, but cannot be bought with a payment card. Where you can evacuate to and pay a new accommodation provider requires application to and approval from a system that was at its limits before the additional stress of an emergency.

Adrian, who needed a one-off payment to feed his family described his experience [3].

“It’s inefficient, its impractical, it’s degrading it’s hostile and you’ve got to fight for what is within the legislation”

Despite many attempts to file an application online, Adrian was instructed to contact Work and Income by phone. However, the phone line appears so busy that he is cut off, without the option of talking to someone or even leaving a message. In Adrian’s words:

“There’s no avenue to apply for anything”

The current system involves much up-front bureaucracy, testing personal circumstances and follow-up bureaucracy to validate ongoing payments. Even if help is offered, the system is patronising and paternalistic. It assumes that people are not competent to spend money. The complexity and patronising nature of financial assistance is not limited to emergencies, but is the hallmark of the benefit system.

The benefit system offers a bewildering number of benefit options that may or may not be combined with one another. While this complexity is sometimes warranted because some people need additional support due to special circumstances, many people will just not have enough money to cover the basic costs of life. After much form filling and intrusive investigation into family circumstances and relationships, income and assets, the obvious conclusion is reached that a person needs financial support. Sadly, this never-ending assessment of eligibility and follow up of over payment or under payment of benefits and the repayment of loans appears to be the bulk of Work and Income’s workload.

Several policies to assess benefit eligibility and benefit level are counter-productive and damaging. For example, earning small amounts of money incurs a substantial amount of paper work and may disqualify a person for weeks from receiving benefits when the work ends. The focus on relationship status hinders people from entering stable relationships as this will make them ineligible to receive a benefit and comes with financial obligations to the new partner.

Emma, feels trapped by the benefit system to a life without companionship [4].

“I just feel so trapped and I feel like while all this is going on I can’t even think about moving on. I am going to be 47 in May, how long do I need to be by myself.”

“It is just embarrassing to say to a potential partner, ‘Oh, we can’t live together or you’d have to support me’. And any man I would meet, he’s probably going to have children of his own. I’m going to be impacting his family. I feel like I am pulling everyone down with me.”

Emma, who has two sons from a previous marriage wants to work to get off the benefit.

“I just don’t want to go through another winter on a benefit. It was pretty rough I dragged the mattress into the lounge, and the boys and I spent most of the winter sleeping in there together just to stay warm. I don’t want to do that again.”

We are in a cost-of-living crisis, where more than 20% of our children live in poverty [5]. Five years of “Well-being” budgets have not changed the persistent poverty that permeates Aotearoa New Zealand. In an “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff” approach the Government rolled out a onetime “Cost of Living Payment” that did not reach many people in the country but was received by some people living overseas [6]. It is now clear that tweaking a broken system will not fix the problem, that stopgap bandages do not bring change – we need a new approach.

We challenge this Government: Be bold, be courageous – Create a legacy for Aotearoa New Zealand.

How can a Basic Income replace much of the benefit system? With Basic Income payments in place, everyone will find themselves in a position to live a life without having to constantly apply for benefits. Basic income payments replace all benefits of equivalent and lesser value and partially replace larger benefits with additional financial support provided for people with additional needs.

How does a Basic Income help create a better society? Having a Basic Income that is permanent and not abated by other earnings will give people the ability to escape poverty and to make long-term plans for improving their lives. Young people will have certainty that they will be supported during their education years. A reliable Basic Income will give people the opportunity to care for their children and family members without the fear of dire financial consequences. A Basic Income will give people the flexibility to work as much as their family circumstances and health conditions allow. Senior citizens will have the certainty that they can live their remaining years in dignity. Everyone in Aotearoa will know that there is a basic financial support during unexpected personal tragedies, as well as after natural disasters.

How does a Basic Income help in emergencies? With Basic Income in place, the government is able to deposit money directly into people’s bank accounts. After an emergency, such as a cyclone or earthquake, people will continue to receive Basic Income payments and will not lose all their income. It will be possible to give people in an affected region an extra weekly payment that can be used to buy exactly what is needed, be it food and clothes, a phone card to contact family members, or a bus ticket to reach relatives.

Critics of Basic Income will ask: How can we afford Basic Income payments? The same question was asked regarding free public schools, public hospitals, and New Zealand Superannuation. We must afford a system that lifts people out of poverty and prevents hardships caused by personal tragedies and natural disasters. Basic income payments, introduced in the wake of the Covid pandemic worked. A growing number of politicians and economists support Basic Income [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12].

Best regards,

Te Utu Tika Hei Oranga i Aotearoa – Basic Income New Zealand

You can sign a Basic Income Petition:

https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/introduce-a-basic-income-in-aotearoa-new-zealand

References:

[1] https://www.beehive.govt.nz/releases

[2] https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/129384549/bumper-revenues-but-only-4-of-wage-subsidy-returned

[3] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/03/growing-anger-from-people-unable-to-contact-ministry-of-social-development-for-help.html

[4] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/02/single-mother-on-benefit-says-penalties-for-getting-into-relationships-are-dehumanising-and-embarrassing.html

[5] https://www.cpag.org.nz/statistics/latest-child-poverty-figures

[6] https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/300652199/cost-of-living-payment-made-to-780000-fewer-people-than-expected

[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/10/24/universal-basic-income/

[8] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-28/for-more-than-20-guaranteed-income-projects-the-data-is-in

[9] https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/03/02/might-the-pandemic-pave-the-way-for-a-universal-basic-income

[10] https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/10/04/how-fund-universal-basic-income-without-increasing-taxes-or-inflation

[11] https://basicincome.org/news/2017/11/ellen-brown-fund-universal-basic-income-without-increasing-taxes-inflation/

[12] https://basicincometoday.com/eleven-nobel-laureates-who-have-endorsed-universal-basic-income/

© Scoop Media