Days like these

The government has recently released an important report: New Zealand Living Standards 2004. Katherine Ryan did an excellent job this morning, not letting up on the minister for social welfare on the fact beneficiaries were getting poorer (and he really didn't want to talk about it), I recommend you listen to it (Sue Bradford gets minus points for mentioning an individual family who have already been used by far too many politicians). National's welfare spokesperson blamed the welfare system for hardship among beneficiaries. Taking away money from people is a well known way to lessen hardship.

The jist of the report was that more people are living in extreme hardship and that there is more hardship among Maori, Pacific Islanders, solo parents and those on income tested benefits. I'm not surprised by this, but I am angry.

I struggle with things to say that won't be banal - poverty sucks. I've thought about writing about some of the people they know, and how the grinding poverty of low-income families wore them down, but those are not my stories to tell.

But 1 in 25 New Zealanders don't have warm bedding. Forget insulated houses, forget heated rooms, forget a draft free house, forget curtains, there are people who can't afford enough blankets to keep them warm at night. There are far more people who can't afford a warm jacket, or shoes that keep out the rain. It's cold, wet and windy, and people are dying. This is supposed to be as good as it gets for the poor, a third-term labour government, there's no way the parliamentary system is going to deliver much more than this - increasing hardship and gaps betweeen the rich and the poor. Wearing badges is not enough - we need to organise and fight back.