Susan St John

Two Legs are Better than Three: New Zealand as a Model for Old Age Pensions

Abstract In contrast to conventional social insurance, the New Zealand retirement income system comprises a basic individual taxable flat-rate public pension supplemented by purely voluntary saving. The New Zealand system has proved remarkably durable, acceptable, and fiscally responsible. It does not conform to the World Banks ideal of three pillars, but offers developing and mature countries a model that is worthy of careful examination. Its primary success lies in ensuring a stable and adequate retirement income for all citizens, moderating income inequality in retirement and protecting all older citizens from uncertainty in times of rapid economic and social change.

Social policy responses to globalisation in Australia and New Zealand, 1980–2005

This paper examines the changing nature of social policy and social inequality in Australia and New Zealand from the 1980s to the mid-2000s. In response to pressures of globalisation both countries pursued neo-liberal economic policies as they opened up their markets during terms of both conservative and Labor governments. However, poverty and inequality increased more in New Zealand than in Australia. The use of market-oriented policies and the pace of their introduction in New Zealand were more aggressive than in Australia, as was the way in which social policy was used to reinforce rather than ameliorate increased inequality and poverty. By the mid-2000s there were signs that Australia was catching up on both fronts, but in the meantime New Zealands hardline position had softened. This may suggest that pressures from globalisation are difficult to resist in the long run, but there may be lessons to be learned from the New Zealand experience if more negative outcomes are to be avoided.

New Zealand's Financial Assistance for Poor Children: Are Work Incentives the Answer?

European countries have been concerned with reforming the labour market and promoting ‘employability’ and are now being asked to set out plans to eliminate child poverty and social exclusion. The experience of New Zealand might well provide an interesting case study. Labour market flexibility was promoted in the early 1990s, assisted by welfare benefit cuts. Family assistance was allowed to fall in real terms, while becoming more tightly targeted and more selective. New Zealands child poverty rate rose to unprecedented levels in the mid 1990s from which it abated only slowly as the economy improved. Under the Labour government from 1999, child poverty was at last acknowledged with promises to eliminate it, but spending on families was not increased significantly until 2005. Even then, work incentives were prioritised as the best way to address child poverty. Rather than treating all low income children the same, a significant part of child-related assistance depends on the work status of the parents, and none of the assistance is universal. Thus while the new spending will eventually significantly reduce the incidence of child poverty in working families, those children whose parents fail the qualifying criteria can be expected to slip further below the relative poverty line and experience increasing rather than decreasing social exclusion. Work-related child payments may prove difficult to administer and have low take-up rates, but in a conservative political climate they appear to be the preferred way to augment family incomes.European countries have been concerned with reforming the labour market and promoting ‘employability’ and are now being asked to set out plans to eliminate child poverty and social exclusion. The e...

Putting Children at the Centre: Making policy as if children mattered

Abstract What do we mean when we say we want to put children at the centre of policy? What are the moral justifications for this approach? Has it become harder for us to understand this concept, when in practice paid work has been at the centre? In part confusion arises because the unpaid work of caring for children is invisible until it is marketized. In turn, the underlying problem is that we have forgotten our traditions of egalitarianism and adopted a powerful mindset that is proving to be paralyzing. Exploring New Zealand family policies such as paid parental leave (PPL), early childhood education, child tax credits (CTC) suggests that there is much room for improvement if the needs of children are to come first. But first and foremost we must have a very different, child-centric, colour-blind, non-judgmental change of heart.AbstractWhat do we mean when we say we want to put children at the centre of policy? What are the moral justifications for this approach? Has it become harder for us to understand this concept, when in practice paid work has been at the centre? In part confusion arises because the unpaid work of caring for children is invisible until it is marketized. In turn, the underlying problem is that we have forgotten our traditions of egalitarianism and adopted a powerful mindset that is proving to be paralyzing. Exploring New Zealand family policies such as paid parental leave (PPL), early childhood education, child tax credits (CTC) suggests that there is much room for improvement if the needs of children are to come first. But first and foremost we must have a very different, child-centric, colour-blind, non-judgmental change of heart.