Tawa Union Church

The chapter author, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, suggests that we are creating the future now in the values and attitudes of today’s children/tomorrow’s citizens.  Evidence and facts (in this case about inequality) are interpreted by those in power as they ‘can determine what is truth and what is nonsense’ and therefore what can be ignored.  We all believe what we want to.  This can only change with compelling stories, vision, courage and persistence.  Ultimately should we harness people’s ‘outage’ to effect change?  What form might effective ‘outrage’ take?

We noted that there are different kinds of poverty – not just money but also time, skills, influence, ability to make choices, education, literacy.  Addressing only one aspect will not address the others!  The author suggests that a common perception is ‘It is the fault of poor people that they are poor’, but when poverty exists across most elements of modern living, the odds are heavily stacked against them.  Often the circumstances are not of their own making, many kinds of poverty have been inherent aspects of their whole lives to date.

The author argues that education is a key factor in addressing poverty.  The group noted that this is only the case if there are jobs available which match the range of skills that the society can offer from semi-skilled upwards and that all jobs provide a level of net remuneration which allow a sufficient standard of living to participate in society ie a living wage.  The NZ economy has removed many low paid/skilled jobs as businesses close; in some cases such jobs have been replaced with higher skilled roles – effectively locking out the lower skilled.  Many roles eg looking after the young and the old and prisoners are not greatly valued by society, so are low paid and additionally have not been well served by the ‘business for profit’ motive. The great proportion of those employed in the tourist industry eg hospitality, are not skilled or well paid, but the Government is placing great emphasis on increasing tourism.  It was suggested therefore that tourism is not a route which will lead a great number out of poverty.

It is our impression that most Government agencies regard beneficiaries as trying to rip-off the system; there is a basic lack of trust which results in unnecessary hardship and high levels of bureaucracy re-applying for benefits and challenging decisions.  (Note these also put the ‘poor’ at a disadvantage.) Surveys suggest fraud is quite low; it would be more fiscally significant if more rigour was applied to simplifying tax law, closing loop holes and chasing down tax evaders.

This chapter gives a very sobering picture of inequality in terms of total income and net wealth and their trends over the last 60 or so years.  Basically half the NZ earning population earns less than $24,000 pa including any social welfare support and tax credits.  The top 10% earn more than $72,000 and the top 1% more than $172,000.  In terms of wealth, NZs 2.9M adults own $470Bn, with the top 1% owning 16%, the top 10% owning 50% of net wealth and the lower 50% owning 5% of the wealth or an average of just $6,000 each.  The country-wide average wealth per adult is just $70,000.  What’s more, those on the lowest incomes have seen very little increase in dollar terms since 1984.. This is not the case for the top 10%.  (So much for the trickle down theory!)  We effectively have a regressive tax system when GST is taken into account.  The chapter has many similar illustrations of the wide inequality gap – many from ‘official’ government sources.

We were surprised and concerned by the inequalities portrayed in the figures.  The ability to support an individual let alone family members on such low income levels and enjoy a reasonable standard of living is impossible.  One consequence is having to take multiple jobs (if available) to make the ends sort-of meet; this has a high negative impact on family life and social cohesion. Bill English is quoted as being comfortable with the level of income inequality and doubts governments could combat it as they ‘don’t have the levers’.  We strongly disagree and feel that our government should be making urgent steps to address inequality before society disintegration forces unplanned changes upon us.

Chapter 13 ‘The Rewards of Work’ notes that we have historically chosen the ‘low wage’ economic model and this has contributed to our fall in relative rankings in the OECD to 21^st (out of 34).  Our productivity is also poor.  As the saying goes, we can’t expect different outcomes if we keep doing the same things – and things need to change.

We started by watching a 10 mins video of the Q&A session which followed the ‘Forums for the Future between Rich and Poor’ seminar at Soundings Theatre.  (See this page entry for 16 Sept 2013.)  Points addressed: globalism and international connectedness have gone ‘too far’ for NZ to go alone by adopting strong socialist policies, general support by speakers  for universal child support and for access to other services, need to raise involvement of fathers in estranged relationships with their children, more bi-cultural emphasis – as this is the essence of ‘being a kiwi’.

Chapter 1 of the book ‘Inequality’ provides a general summary of the critical situation NZ is in.  This engendered considerable discussion including the following points: we need to value ‘service’ jobs more so that they are paid what the job is actually worth (to society as a whole); prices for services eg electricity have increased along with company profitability but this has not been reflected in wages; the trickle-down benefit touted in the 80s has proved to be a lie; when lower paid people earn more they tend to spend more – assisting local economic activity for others; the racial divide evident in the statistics is a major concern as a source of divisiveness in NZ society; those on minimal income are caught in a poverty trap not of their own making.

We could not accept that nothing can be done and while others eg Treasury, Reserve Bank, Unions, and large/international businesses all have a role to play, the Government can still exert considerably influence and pressure should it choose the do so.  In Australia, the Union movement is much stronger than in NZ which by keeping wages higher, has taken the country on a different path than our low labour cost alternative.

This is a hard hitting doco which starts with the searching question “What’s an economy for?”  We would do well to ponder this and challenge politicians for their view and actions they would take to bring it to reality.   The film is full of disturbing factoids – poor families unable to survive as their income, including Social Welfare payments, is barely sufficient to exist.  In NZ the gap between the top 10% and the bottom 10% is growing faster than in any other country.  Bryan laid the cause of this trend over the last nearly 30 years at the door of Neo-liberalism as promoted by Reagan and Thatcher. Their 3 fundamental economic planks of asset sales, privatisation and the tickle down theory (of wealth) have failed in not providing the general population with greater wealth or opportunities.  The result has been that the wealthy have grown even more wealthy.  Why are CEOs paid 100s of times more than the shop floor workers on who the business depends?  Of the detected fraud in NZ, it is estimated $23M arises from welfare payments with 800 prosecutions (60% sent to jail) and $1 – 5Bn in tax evasion with only 20% jailed.  Why not more focus on evasion – or at least, eliminating the legal loopholes? Is the purpose of our life to make money?

The programme prompted considerable discussion: we are actually more heavily dependent on each other (to design, manufacture and provide the technology that underlies everyday living) yet we are experiencing greater social/society dis-integration; every aspect of life and living is being monetarised; less direct Government involvement in favour of markets which favour those who can pay.  Could the ‘Living Wage’ campaign be part of the solution?

The forum provided an opportunity for 3 speakers to address their concerns for, and the impacts of widening inequality in NZ.  The speakers were preceded by Max Rashbrooke who previewed the book he is editing with others entitled “Inequality”, which has subsequently been released in mid 2013.  Inequality in NZ increased rapidly between mid 80s and mid 90s.  The average household in the top 10% now has nine times the income of one in the bottom 10%.  The top 1% of adults own 16% of NZ’s wealth; the bottom 50% together own ~5%. The seminar speakers were from Wellington’s Downtown Community Ministry, Otago University and an economist.  All noted that a high level of inequality will not result in a healthy vibrant, cohesive society and therefore needs to change.

A good discussion followed with challenges to expenditure on infrastructure versus health and education, tax rates on very high incomes, Government support for industries and specific companies, those in power who are out of touch with those with $40 per week available for food, clothing, etc, graduates who can’t get work in NZ.  An attitude change is required – for the vast majority of the poor it’s not their fault – the system has to change to provide better pay and more opportunities.

This book explores the author’s view that we are ‘programmed’ that when we believe something we become deaf & blind to any facts that do not support our viewpoint.  Scientific facts or data or subject matter experts make no impression and are easily dismissed.  We don’t challenge our firmly held passionate beliefs; we are very good at justifying our positions – at least to ourselves!  Intelligence is no barrier to believing wacky things.   We have always been credulous- its not a 20^th /21^st century’s phenomenon.  Interestingly this is not a simple anti-science positioning, but much deeper within the individual – they KNOW.

We reviewed the slides on the above presented to Wellington Presbytery on 30 August 2013 by Kevin Ward.  The first part provided graphic statistical information on church membership, attendance, age and ethnicity profiles over the last 100 years or so.  The membership and attendance and age profiles all indicated what we all experience, decreasing numbers and over-representation in the older age brackets.  The mix of ethnicities is rapidly changing.  These are a feature of all mainline churches and ECP branches.  An interesting observation was that the challenges for congregations are too great for them to overcome alone, hence the importance of the roles to be performed by Regional organisations – Presbytery and Synods.  The number of ‘moderates/liberal’ theological position is weakening (further!); fastest ‘growing’ are those congregations with a clear theological position and contemporary worship forms ie conservative.  Need a sense of transcendence, an encounter.  In the future there will be less significance on ‘place’

Part 2 was about change and the change process.  The learners are the winners as change is continuous which makes long range planning more difficult; any plan therefore needs to be adaptable to the changed circumstances.  The longer a congregation stay with the status quo, the harder and more drastic the changes become.  Change is difficult!

This short booklet, summaries how the NT came into existence and how modern scholarship has dispelled some historical misconceptions eg the apostles didn’t write the gospels, they were not written by eye witnesses, the order as they appear in the NT is not the order in which they were written.  The emphasis says the author is to present the data – rather than the theology – and let the reader come to their own conclusions.

The 3 chapters are short and present material that will be of little surprise to those with previous exposure to ‘Liberal’ Christian thought.  Each chapter is followed by some study questions.

Our group thought the book to be a useful reference and especially of interest for people willing to consider the Bible (perhaps afresh) in the light of contemporary knowledge and not as the immutable “Word of God”.

The book is available for download from this page (see link bottom right).

The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century.  It seeks to inspire in all people a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the whole human family, the greater community of life, and future generations.  It is a vision of hope and a call to action.

The Earth Charter is centrally concerned with the transition to sustainable ways of living and sustainable human development.  Ecological integrity is one major theme.  However, the Earth Charter recognizes that the goals of ecological protection, the eradication of poverty, equitable economic development, respect for human rights, democracy, and peace are interdependent and indivisible.  It provides, therefore, a new, inclusive, integrated ethical framework to guide the transition to a sustainable future.

Some of the points we discussed were as follows:

• The need to balance economic development with environmental protection and social justice
• The enlarged perception of home, and the recognition that we are a part of a large family of life, including not only other humans, but also other species.
• The awe and wonder arising from our increased understanding of the intricacy and complexity of life.

(Notes by John M)