The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.43           November 30, 1998 
 
 
New Zealand Pension Cuts Draws Protests  
AUCKLAND - Some 1,300 elderly people rallied October 31 in the Auckland Town Hall to condemn cuts to the government- provided old-age pension, announced at the end of September. The meeting was organized by Grey Power. Jeering and turning their backs, they refused to let David Carter, the National Party Minister for Senior Citizens, finish his remarks. Other speakers, from Grey Power, the Labour Party, the Alliance Party, and the Returned Service Association, received a friendlier response.

The meeting was one expression of widespread outrage as the government pushed through a measure to reduce the pension from 65 to 60 percent of the average wage over the next decade. Speakers at the meeting prompted derisive laughter when they noted that Prime Minister Jennifer Shipley calls this not a "cut," but an "adjustment."

Days after the pension cuts were announced, the government said that, contrary to promises, it would maintain the policy that forces most seriously ill old people to spend much of their savings on hospital care. Participants in the Auckland meeting stood to observe a moment of silence for Harry Findlay, who had taken a stand against this "asset and income testing" as it is known. Findlay, who died in October aged 83, paid NZ$21,000 (NZ$1=US$0.54) for the long-term care of his terminally-ill wife before refusing to pay more.

With nationwide support from working people Harry Findlay won a legal challenge against the final bill of NZ$58,000. His wife died in 1997.

Applause greeted Alliance leader James Anderton when he condemned the institution this year of a new booking system for operations in public hospitals. Doctors now award points to patients based on their condition, and a certain score is required to qualify for an operation. Only about a quarter of those currently waiting for surgery are expected to "qualify" as being in poor enough health to get it. Laughter and jeers greeted the report by Donald Robertson, the President of the Grey Power Federation of New Zealand, which stated that doctors have been told they have a duty to assist those who don't qualify to "deal with their disappointment."

Labour Party leader Helen Clark said a Labour-led government would restore the pension to its previous level.

In this noisy meeting, people also made loud and clear their contempt for the "Code of Social Responsibility" whenever speakers mentioned it. This code had originally been proposed by the rightist New Zealand First leader Winston Peters when he was treasurer in the coalition government. It aimed to "force beneficiaries into a social contract in return for getting state benefits" as reports summarized it.

During February 1.4 million booklets were mailed out to households, attempting to gain support for the code. They included a survey with loaded questions such as, "Should beneficiaries have their benefits docked if their children play truant?"

This exercise ended in ignominy in late October, as the government announced that only 6.7 percent of the surveys were filled in and returned.

 
 
 
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