I’m not sure if we have a lot to be thankful for this Christmas

Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency chairwoman Merepeka Raukawa-Tait. Photo / NZME

OPINION:

It was all so predictable. We would reap what we sow. Years of self-serving governments fixated with power and doing everything to keep it. Prepared to think short term, develop policy accordingly, knowing nothing long lasting and beneficial would result.

Prepared to neglect and defer regular reviews of the social welfare system in particular. To ensure it does not end up the preferred choice of income for thousands of New Zealanders. Rather than encouraging working and earning a living so recipients can move to be in control of their own lives.

So many examples of government departments that remain reactionary. Money spent after the event.

The ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. The examples are numerous and not just in the social welfare spend. But it is here, over time, where positive outcomes can be achieved and measured. We know where the current spend does not bring lasting change.

A justice system that knew for decades where the pipeline and supply for their institutions starts yet inadequate prevention planning and funding resulted in little real change.

Successful local pilot programmes soon scrapped, replaced by the best perceived imported ones that were then New Zealanderised to suit our conditions.

No lasting positive results with the revolving prison doors continuing on their merry way today, unabated.

A programme of selling off old state houses and replacing them with modern “fit for purpose” ones never eventuated. That is, the selling off was enthusiastically embraced but the replacement homes never happened.

Thousands of New Zealand families lost their homes. Low incomes families were left to fend for themselves to find suitable rental houses in a free market driven economy. Two incomes were needed to meet housing and living costs.

The families who couldn’t manage grew. Over recent years they make up a large percentage of homeless numbers. Most towns and cities in New Zealand are now struggling to house these families who are often now viewed as second class and demonised.

A health system that until recently never saw the need to make sure all citizens had equitable access to health services. Where the acceptance of Maori men dying 8 years earlier than the rest of the population was normalised.

Immigrants flooding into the country, working for low wages, ensured New Zealand remained a low wage economy.

Government policy over the last 50 years has a lot to answer for.

The last people we should be asking to help set a new vision and course for the future direction of our beautiful country is from those who got us into this mess in the first place. Economists, business and iwi leaders.

They had their chance. Politicians, no thank you. In my opinion, 120 people of varying intelligence sitting in Wellington will never be able to turn New Zealand around. To do that you have to know the citizens of this country.

You have to know what is important to them, what their aspirations are. You have to be able to convincingly articulate a shared vision and be prepared to marshal the necessary resources to make large scale change. That won’t be easy and it won’t be popular.

Research shows when people become disillusioned with leadership, and this can be in all areas of society they often start to turn on themselves and each other. I believe this is what we are seeing now. Little regard for the feelings of others. When a tragedy occurs of course we turn up and do what we can to ease the pain and suffering of the family.

There are feel good moments when we contribute to annual appeals or volunteer at specific events but we pick and choose those that are worthy of our support. We are suspicious of people who do not look like us, speak like us or have as much as we do.

We believe they have created their own miserable existence. And the last thing we want is for these families to be living anywhere near us. We are not second class for goodness sake.

And as if things couldn’t get any worse we now have stress and major anxiety running rampant throughout many communities. A high profile mental health advocate told me recently New Zealand’s mental health services are in crisis. I didn’t tell him I heard this 8 years ago.

If we want New Zealanders to be resilient, to be able to face the challenges of the future we must look to produce social and economic policies that work, that will make that happen.

We must stop seeing transformational change as unnecessary expenditure. Of course it will cost but I prefer to think of it in terms of an investment. The returns and benefits will, over time, outweigh the costs.

I believe New Zealand has reached a tipping point.

We must not just survive we must strive to reach our potential. Every New Zealander needs to believe and understand how important they are to the ongoing development of our nation. They need to hear that message.

We can and must do better and we can’t just leave that to politicians, whether local or central government. We all have a vested interest in seeing New Zealand thrive and blossom, surely. I think we deserve better than “near enough is good enough”.

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is the chair of the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency and a former Rotorua District Councillor.