For families where parents are without work and need welfare to survive, National’s election promises will deliver nothing, writes Susan St John.
Susan St John
Dr Susan St John is associate professor in economics at the University of Auckland Business School and spokesperson for Child Poverty Action group
If we want a fair system, GST must change
An overhaul of our low-rate broad-base tax system would go a long way to addressing our huge wealth gap, writes Susan St John.
Poverty is not a partisan issue
Bipartisan support for substantial policy reforms – not one-off payments – is
needed urgently to share the inevitable pain of reduced living standards, writes Susan
St John.
The only trade-off that matters
Does society care enough about the poorest children to pay the around $500 million
per annum required to significantly reduce child poverty?
Children shouldn't pay for our broken system
"Children’s needs don’t suddenly reduce because their parents become so poor that they qualify for an adult benefit," writes Susan St John.
NZ still a long way from gender equality
Anyone who thinks NZ has achieved gender equality might want to take a closer look at the income gap. Susan St John examines the 1950s family model we're still basing our unfair policies on.Â
Some questions about income insurance
Susan St John responds to the newly-announced income insurance scheme with some suggestions on how to tweak and improve what we already have.
A housing solution – is the Government brave enough?
Our housing crisis is creating intergenerational havoc and drastically widening the wealth gap. Susan St John has some ideas to ensure we go into next year with a plan.
The bureaucratic blocks to welfare reform
Susan St John points to the behaviour of MSD bureaucrats in the spousal deduction saga to illustrate how major handbrakes work.
Don’t drop the ball on this one Jacinda
Anomalies in the policy for superannuitants with overseas pensions are an indictment on the justice process in NZ, write Susan St John and Dr Claire Dale.
Why this Budget matters for intergenerational fairness
What we do and don't need from the Budget to help share the pain of economic crisis between the generations.
Not too late to change abhorrently wasteful policy
Adjustments to the Winter Energy Payment could save the Government $450m. Surely that's money low-income workers could use as NZ comes out of lockdown, writes Susan St John.