Last year, the coalition launched a series of cuts that were devastating to the disabled community. These cuts are part of a class war – and it’s time to organize and retaliate, writes Elliot Crossan.
March 18 is an infamous date within the disabled community. A year ago, yesterday, Whaikaha – the ministry of people with disabilities – suddenly announced comprehensive changes for flexible financing without consultation. The minister of the formulator of disabilities, Penny Simmonds caused indignation when she tried to justify her actions claiming in Parliament that parents and caregivers of children with disabilities were using financing badly.
More devastating changes have been announced since then. The financing for equipment and housing modifications to wheelchair users has been cut. A program designed to complete the salary of 900 workers with disabilities to the minimum wage was discarded. In August, the government removed Whaikaha’s responsibility for front line services.
The government is waging war to the disabled community. The results were devastating – a totally predictable result, as financing and services being cut are essential for people with disabilities to live good lives. Income, support networks and mobility were impacted negatively. Many in the community are struggling with mental health problems as a result.
As a father of a child with disabilities, he put it in the community research of Awhi Ngā Mātua, released yesterday:
“These changes made more than just financing;
To add insult to the injury, the government is now conducting a community consultation that D*List’s Henrietta Bollinger describes as “the obvious intention of limiting both who can access flexible financing and how it can be used.” Bollinger writes: “The options offered and the narrow scope in which we are consulted seem to be invitable to advise the government about which of us is asking a lot of life.”
The community is not satisfied. An open letter was published by Awhi Ngā Mātua, signed by dozens of community groups, asking the government:
- Apologize to people with disabilities and their Whanau;
- Ensure access to adequate mental health services;
- Develop support services that work alongside people with disabilities, parents and caregivers.
This war against the disabled community is part of a class war. It is not an accident; It is not ignorance; It is not incompetence. It is the deliberate policy of a government that is promoting the interests of the 1% higher than the costs of 99%.
The coalition is seeking what economists call “fiscal austerity.” In simpler terms – Finance Minister Nicola Willis is trying to balance the government’s budget by cutting spending. According to the Treasury numbers, if adjusted for population growth, Willis is implementing the wilder spending cuts in the country’s history.
However, there is no government debt crisis that is causing the finance minister to reduce spending. Yes, debt has increased during Covid – but we still have low government debt as a portion of our economy compared to similar countries. Nothing is forcing Willis to cut expenses for communities with disabilities.
Even if there was a debt crisis, there would be an easy solution. The government could tax the rich to pay the debt. An Inland Revenue investigation found that the 31st richest families in Aoteroa collectively had $ 85 billion in net wealth, but paid less than half of the average Kiwi family tax rate.
If the rich paid the same tax rate as all others, the government could afford to expand funding to disabled communities. There would be no need for cuts. A wealth tax could ensure that Whaikaha was totally funded and allowing the implementation of the approach of good lives that allows a life recommended by disability specialists.
However, this government is doing exactly the opposite – cutting disability services to finance tax cuts for owners and property promoters. If Willis’s cuts were really about reducing debt, would there really be any spare money for her to distribute tax cuts to the rich?
These cuts are part of a war against working class people in Aotearoa. The austerity approach of the coalition is not limited to the financing of disability. Other affected areas include:
The list can continue. Higher rates of poverty, lack of housing and inequality will be the lasting legacy of this class war.
The disabled community is at the front line of each of these struggles. Poor access to health people, housing and benefits reach people with disabilities disproportionately. But make no mistake: it is the whole working class that is under attack of this coalition.
It is no coincidence that the government is prioritizing the interests of the rich above all. National, ACT and NZ first benefited from high donations records of major money interests in the last elections.
The same schedule of prioritizing profit on people is being disputed in all areas. The rapid account and revocation of the prohibition of new Offshore oil perforation allows fossil fuel companies to expand production in the midst of a climate crisis. The government is threatening to partially privatize the health system, which means that communities will be forced to pay even more for basic health services. Again, the disabled community will be more affected, further restricting access to health care.
The account of the principles of the treaty, besides being a racist attempt to rewrite the waitangi, is another part of this agenda. Rupert O’Brien’s article in Spinoff last year explains how the bill is an attempt on the Act part of removing barriers to privatization and deregulation that the treaty presents.
It is very easy to feel depressed and powerless now. We have a government that is prioritizing the richness of the main 1% of basic human dignity for most society.
But we are not powerless.
There is a reason why the government is launching attacks on all fronts simultaneously. The goal is to confuse and distract the opposition. If every community is purely focusing on its own struggle, with Maori mobilizing to you, climate activists who fight rapid legislation, unions that try to prevent the reversal of workers’ rights, beneficiaries and homeless lawyers who sound with poverty, and the disabled community that can be reduced to cuts of cuts for vitally awarded services.
This is what the coalition wants. Luxon, Willis, Seymour and Co. They want us isolated, waging each battle on their own, writing petitions and shipments they will ignore.
But we know that Aotearoa’s richest people have more wealth than they could ever need. We know that money can be used to reverse the cuts. So what would happen if we met the communities to come together, like 99% against the main 1%, to demand that everyone in society receive health, housing, education, income and support services each one deserves?
It is time to build a mass movement on the streets, the places of work, and in our communities to oppose the government’s austerity agenda. A mass movement to put people and planet before profit, honor you and say that we all have the right to live good lives. Existing movements need to be together – because we have power when we are in solidarity with each other and refuse to be divided.
If we will build a better society that works for everyone, we have to resume the wealth that is being accumulated by the few rich. We need mass protests, mass attacks and mass resistance to interrupt this greed coalition.
This is a class war – and it’s time for the working class to start retaliation.
Elliot Crossan is a socialist writer and activist of Tāmaki Makauau Auckland. He is the president of the Aotearoa system change. Subscribe to your Substack page to read more.
