Presentation to the Wellington WEA, 25 July 2005.

Keywords: Social Policy;

There is one outstanding fact about New Zealand poverty. Choose any reasonable poverty line, and you will find that over 80 percent of the poor are children and their parents. The figure would be even higher if one included other adults living in households with children. The economic problem of poverty is overwhelming children and the families they live in.

Paper for the AGM of the Auckland Child Poverty Action Group, 19 July, 2004

Keywords: Social Policy;

The government has at last attempted to address child poverty. And not a year too soon, for 2004 is also the 30th anniversary of the major research paper, Poverty in New Zealand which pointed out that poverty was mainly in households with children. That one main fact about poverty in New Zealand, often gets lost behind a myriad of minor facts. The consequence is that attempts to reduce poverty are at best inefficient, and at worst ineffective. That primary fact is that a substantial majority of the poor are children and their parents and we need to target on their needs.

The ACC reforms for treatment injury should replace a culture of blame with a culture of safety.

Listener: 17 April, 2004.

Keywords: Social Policy;

A friend recovering from a serious operation was on two occasions offered medicine that was not prescribed and, once, a scan that was unnecessary. Suppose she had been unconscious, or lacked the character to know what was going on and say “no”. Whether the mistakes could have led to medical injury, I cannot tell. But they would have consumed scarce resources.

Issues and Lessons from Medical Misadventure
Paper to The Future of Accident Compensation: New Directions and Visions, Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, 5-6 December, 2003.

Keywords: Social Policy;

Introduction: The Woodhouse Vision

There seems to be common agreement that the treatment of medical misadventure should conform to the Woodhouse Principles and therefore there should be no notion of fault in its coverage. I shall not to labour this point, but it is worthwhile to remind ourselves of the Principles and how the 1966 Commission rejected fault as relevant. Their primary principles were

Keywords: Social Policy;

Executive Summary

1. That the ‘Woodhouse Principles’ be applied to assessing the options on the treatment of medical misadventure. (Section 1)

2. The fault principle which underpins medical error conflicts with the Woodhouse Principles, the Ottawa Charter and the Ministry of Health’s guidelines to reportable events, particularly in regard to prevention. (Section 2)

3. On the available information Option 3 (Unintended injury in the treatment process) is the choice which most closely fulfils these principles. (Section 3)

4. However, the consultation document does not pay sufficient attention to the prevention possibilities of the scheme, nor to the administration costs issues. Some suggestions for improvement are discussed. (Section 4)

5. The ACC should be charged with a vigorous program to reduce medical misadventure. (Section 5)

6. While the medical misadventure is currently funded as a part of the non-earners scheme, it is suggested that an ‘insurance’ levy on health professionals as a part of their ACC levy would be more appropriate. The introduction of such a levy, plus the gains from a vigorous prevention program and a reduction in compliance costs would mean that the application of option three would not add a burden to the public purse. (Section 6)

Presentation to a post-Budget breakfast organised by the Child Poverty Action Group and the Public Health Association, 16 May, 2003.

Keywords: social policy;

I am not going to say much about how disappointing the 2003 budget was to the Child Poverty Lobby insofar as it did little to relieve the financial pressures on family. One could go through each expenditure item and examine how much of it was directed towards children, including praising the small improvements to family assistance – I am sure someone from the government will. The spokesperson will also recall the government promise that ‘improvements in family income assistance … will be a major theme of the 2004 Budget’. The Lobby will remind us of the caveat that these improvements are promised providing ‘present fiscal indicators prove accurate’ – they wont of course – and ask why it has taken five years

Press release for 4th November 2002 from Wellington branch of CPAG Inc

Keywords: Social Policy;

What has long been known to those who work with families, researchers, and social commentators, is now accepted by the Ministry of Social Development. Children and their parents are the largest group of the poor. The exact numbers may remain in dispute, but the orders of magnitude are not. A high proportion of New Zealand’s children and their parents are below any reasonable poverty line.

Review of The Ends and Means of Welfare: Coping with Economic and Social Change in Australia by Peter Saunders (Cambridge University Press, 2002).

Listener 12 October, 2002.

Keywords: Social Policy;

The dispute over the economic reforms of the late 1980s and early 1990s involved two distinct questions. The first was whether they would work. As it happened our reforms were so incompetently managed that their economics failed miserably. But second, had they succeeded, would New Zealanders have liked their outcomes? Similar reforms in Australia, implemented with less ideological fervour and more common sense, resulted in their economy growing slightly faster than the OECD. Had the New Zealand economy succeeded from 1987 like Australian one, it would have grown 1.3 percent a year faster, and it would be in the top 10 of OECD economies.

There has been much discussion on the proposed Commission for the Family. On 14 September 2002, I emailed note, which was widely circulated. Here it is – a little tidied up.

Keywords: Social Policy;

I am a little nervous about a common view which expresses a lack of enthusiasm towards the proposed Commission for the Family. The fact is it is a fait accompli, as certain as anything is in politics. Thus the approach, I would advise, is how to make the Family Commission as effective as possible.