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After the recent review of Child, Youth and Family (CYF), the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) has come to the conclusion that the system is failing children on far too many fronts. In fact, the Children’s Commissioner goes as far as to doubt that children are better off in state care at all. Read more
Wellington (25 August 2015): Improving compensation for live organ donors is a rare opportunity to save both lives and healthcare dollars, according to a report released today by The New Zealand Initiative. Author Elizabeth Prasad found that every transplant provides recipients with longer and better lives, while being much cheaper than dialysis – saving the government money over the longer term. Read more
Wellington (26 June 2015): The country needs to change its tune on inequality, according to The New Zealand Initiative, with a recently published report by Treasury showing that the gap between rich and poor has been stable or falling over the past 20 years. The Treasury working paper by Christopher Ball and John Creedy analysed annual income and expenditure since 1984. Read more
Labour has launched an open letter imploring the cabinet to stop the implementation of social bonds. It argues “social bonds are an untried and unproven experiment that have failed overseas.” Let’s reflect on this a bit. Read more
Judging by the excitement the Government’s announcement on social bonds has created, a revolution in social services must be just around the corner. According to critics like Labour’s Annette King, social bonds amount to a covert “privatisation”of the sector. Read more
It is too early to judge social bonds, writes Jenesa Jeram. For a concept few people had heard of before, social bonds have attracted a fair bit of criticism very quickly. Read more
It is a mighty feat of politics that a government budget delivered well can keep commentators occupied for weeks. The Budget sets the terms of debate, pulling into sharp focus areas that receive additional funding, have had funding cut, or remain fiscally neglected by government. Read more
Wellington (1 June 2015): The Government should be commended for the introduction of a social bond in the mental health sector, as announced today by Finance Minister Bill English and Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman. It is the first of four social bonds the government aims to introduce. Read more
Begging the reader’s indulgence, please bear with me while we conduct a brief thought exercise: Imagine for a second you received a letter telling you that the Transport Authority had conducted a review of your driver’s license. The letter says that having examined your stated reason for driving, insurance claims and record on the road against the department’s official definition of a driving purpose, you have been judged unfit to drive, and your licence has been cancelled. Read more
Wellington (18 May 2015): Government needs to set clearer rules, provide greater transparency and remove the tax advantage enjoyed by for-profit arms of charity groups if it wants to promote the work of the charitable sector, according to The New Zealand Initiative. The public policy think tank’s latest report, Giving Charities a Helping Hand, analysed over a decade of regulatory change in the sector, and found that the current rules are stacked against smaller operators while allowing commercial arms of large charities to claim income tax exemptions with little oversight. Read more