Fairer Future

17/12/2024

The Government introduced the Social Security Amendment Bill to Parliament last week Friday where it passed its first reading. Public submissions are now open until 10 January 2025.

The introduction to this bill right before Christmas – a time where many people who are most impacted by it are struggling and organisations that support people are overstretched – is deliberate.

There are four key components to the Bill, and some other regulatory changes:
- Introduces non-financial sanctions (money management and community work experience) at the red level of the traffic light system
- Extends the period that an obligation failure counts against a person to 24 months rather than 12 months
- Requires Jobseeker applicants and their partners to complete a Jobseeker profile before accessing the benefit
- Makes people reapply for the benefit every 26 weeks (6 months) instead of 52 weeks (once a year)

For more information on the bill, check out this basic guide to support your submission: https://tinyurl.com/2tj7r84f

29/05/2024

Check out our new report launched today.

Read the report here: https://actionstation.org.nz/publications

A Thousand Cuts: An Assessment of the Cumulative Impact of Recent Government Decisions on Disabled People and Other Communities

Every cut this coalition Government is making hurts – but the cumulative impact of these cuts will drive our communities further into poverty.
➡️Indexing benefits to CPI (the consumer price index), or inflation, rather than the higher of wage growth and CPI
➡️Lower-than-recommended minimum wage adjustment.
➡️Cuts to Ka Ora Ka Ako – school meals programme
➡️The proposal to re-introduce prescription charges.
➡️Cuts to public transport subsidies
➡️Removal of flexible funding for disabled people and their carers

A carer not in paid work (due to caring) whose children use public transport to get to school incurs higher costs of $63.23 per school week, and $2463.90 a year, due to this Government’s decisions.

A person whose disability is not recognised at present by existing disability settings, who needs prescription medicine and relies on public transport to get to work, incurs higher costs of $49.92 a week, and $2602.72 a year, due to this Government.

A sole parent on minimum wage who has a child with a disability and uses public transport faces higher costs in Auckland of $128.15 a week, and $5,742.88 a year.

A disabled person who can only work part-time with flexible support, faces higher costs of $2.09 or $3.38 a week (depending on their age), and $109.17 or $176.43 a year (depending on their age), due to this Government.

A disabled person, who is not eligible for disability support and is on Jobseeker for those aged 20-24, faces higher costs of $3.38 or $15.32 a week (depending on whether they receive a disability concession card for public transport), and $176.43 or $703.89 a year (depending on whether they receive a disability concession card for public transport), due to this Government.

A university student from a large family faces higher costs of $115.22 a week and $4990.25 a year due to the decisions of this Government.

24/05/2024

With flexible funding and liveable incomes, disabled people and their whānau could be thriving.

We recently commissioned a poll which showed that two-thirds of people in Aotearoa support fully reinstating flexible funding for disabled people and their carers.

More than 50 organisations signed the open letter calling on Nicola Willis MP and Louise Upston MP to reverse the recent Disability Support and Services restrictions and to equitably resource support for disabled people across Government.

24/05/2024

We hosted a People's Press Conference and invited journalists to hear from people who are experiencing the sharpest end of the Government's “the avalanche of cuts”.

Check out this write up in The Post:

It is hard to stay upbeat with the ‘avalanche of cuts’ by the Government, says one solo mum who’s making hard choices between buying food and paying the bills.

30/04/2024

95% of 3500 children aged between 5-17-years surveyed are in support of "keeping" or "expanding" the Ka Ora Ka Ako school lunches programme!

Not too late to sign the petition here: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/save-healthy-free-school-lunches