Strong Public Services: worth voting for

Strong Public Services: worth voting for

The difference between Labour and National is most clear when it comes to public services.

National wants to privatise or cut them; Labour and their support parties want efficient public services that meet people’s needs.

Since 1999, Labour has rebuilt public services, following the disastrous experiment with cuts, privatisation and contracting out in the 1990s.

National’s current plans for public services sound remarkably similar to how they acted in the 1990s.

What people want
In a recent survey, 71 percent of respondents said they would rather keep taxes and user charges at their current levels, than have tax cuts and increased user charges.

Some 60 percent were opposed to large tax cuts if they required more debt or cuts to public services.

What the CTU wants
The CTU’s goal is for the public sector to provide valuable social services, protect our environment, support our democratic processes, and underpin a modern economy.

National’s plans
National is promising tax cuts and increased borrowing. Under National expect to see:
MORE
User charges
Private health and education providers
Attacks on beneficiaries
Pressure to privatise state assets
Funding for private schools
FEWER
Services — and a decline in service quality
Needs-based entitlements
Rights to social security
Social programmes - for example to address the causes of poverty.

With Labour-led governments
In 1999, Labour inherited a demoralised, fragmented and weakened pubic service. Since then, it’s consolidated and strengthened services and introduced, for example:
Working for families
Paid parental leave
KiwiSaver
Cheaper rentals for state houses
20 hours of free early childhood education
The Primary Health Care strategy, giving about 1 million people cheaper doctor’s visits and prescriptions
Interest-free student loans
More than 6,000 more teachers, 4,000 more nurses and 900 more doctors.

It’s committed $1.55 billion to upgrading or building new hospitals, compared to $0.5 billion in 1990-99.

The myths about growth in public spending
Since 1999, public spending has grown – at about the same rate as growth in the private sector.

Core government spending is at 31.8 percent of gross domestic product, the same as it was in 1997 and slightly less than the 32.4 percent in 1999.

Currently, about 0.98 percent of the population work for the government. In Australia, the figure is 0.99 percent.

For the OECD (the wealthy western countries), general government outlays in 2006 were on average 40.6 percent of total spending – in New Zealand the figure is 40 percent.

Wage cuts
If public services are cut, this is the equivalent to a pay cut because people have to pay more for services or pay for services that are now freely available: primary health, early childhood education and social services. Low or no cost access to education, health and social services increases personal incomes.

How will tax cuts be funded?
National says it will cut backroom “bureaucrats” to pay for tax cuts but these people include IT support workers, payroll staff, call centre workers, airport emergency crews, conservation staff such as park rangers, scientists, court officers, passport officers, meat insectors, people who work on campaigns to stop smoking, stop domestic violence, fight didymo, etc.

These workers provide important services that citizens and communities value.

ACC under threat from National
About one-third of total spending for public health comes from ACC, New Zealand’s internationally-praised accident compensation scheme.

But the National Party intends to privatise workers’ ACC scheme.

Recently, the investment bank Merrill Lynch (a former employer of National leader John Key), said National would privatise ACC if it comes to power. This would give Australian insurance companies $2.1 billion in new premium income and a $200 million boost to after-tax profits.

Hundreds of millions of dollars would be lost to the New Zealand health system — bad news for an aging population which needs more health spending.  And bad news for workers needing health care services.

Primary Health Care Changes Since 2001
$2.2 billion into primary health care subsidies since 2001.
The cost of subsidised prescriptions has dropped from $15 to $3 per item.
Doctors’ fees for adults aged 25 to 44 have almost halved – the average fee for a standard 10- to 15-minute consultation has dropped from $57.43 to $30.67.
70% of children under six going to GP practices are charged nothing.
Lower fees are encouraging people to go to the doctor sooner and more often than in the past.