THERE WAS A TIME when New Zealand did not have food banks. We can all 'thank' Roger Douglas and his Labour colleagues for their introduction.
They first emerged as the neoliberal reforms of the fourth Labour Government began to have an impact and they were met with little resistance from the trade union top brass and Labour's complacent liberal supporters. It was a social change that, as researcher Max Rashbrooke noted in 2014, 'has not been reversed since'. Indeed there are now twenty nine registered food banks in Auckland alone, with other areas of the country also experiencing a growth in the number of food banks.
The coronavirus pandemic has only exposed the deep poverty and the widening fault lines within a welfare state now in danger of being sliced in two, with the Labour Government seemingly intent on introducing unemployment insurance - with the support of both Business New Zealand and the disgraceful Council of Trade Unions. Along with the country's growing inequality and vanishing incomes, such a move to split the 'deserving and undeserving poor' will ensure that food banks will remain central in efforts to combat 'food poverty'. Faced with rocketing rents and ever rising costs more and more folk are finding their weekly incomes don't extend quite so far as enough groceries for themselves and their families.
After Budget 2021 announced an increase in benefit levels and which some obliging commentators hailed as the Labour Government finally showing some intent to combat the growing levels of poverty and inequality, the Prime Minister's image consultants obviously thought it would be a good idea for Ardern to capitalise on the 'good vibrations' from the chattering class and demonstrate her 'empathy' and 'compassion' in a public space. They figured that people needed to be reminded - again - that Ardern 'does a lot of good work for charity but doesn't like to talk about it.'
So, accompanied by the Minister of Social Development Carmel Sepuloni and a media entourage, off went the Prime Minister to visit Wellington City Mission's 'Social Supermarket'. Supported by the New World supermarket chain, it allows folk to choose their own food and essentials from the shelves of the small store rather than receiving an already prepared food parcel.
The irony is, of course, food banks only exist because, for the past three decades, successive governments have pursued neoliberal economic policies that have only increased the country's level of inequality. And, despite the increase in core benefits (which will see some folk receiving reduced or no additional benefits) - the Labour Government's continued allegiance to 'the market' will only serve to remind us that food banks, once conceived as temporary arrangements, have become institutionalised. No matter how 'innovative' they might have become - Ardern's reported description of the 'Social Supermarket'- food banks are not a solution to the very serious problem of food poverty in New Zealand. For good reason : it is primary an income problem, not a food problem.
Ending food insecurity can only be the outcome of successful poverty reduction policies, fair income distribution and changes in the taxation system. This would be the beginning and not the end of much more fundamental changes to our economy, but even these reforms are beyond what 'the market' - and its political servants - are prepared to countenance.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated.