A Time of Transition – A New Year and A New Government (2023-2024)

What a roller coaster of a year 2023 was!

• Major weather events devastating many communities around Aotearoa; many homes were damaged beyond repair and roads were closed cutting off communities. Many families were also made homeless, impacting local and national economies.
• Cost-of-living pressures have been affecting many families. Foodbanks have been experiencing an increase in demand, as families have had nothing left over after other living costs were accounted for—not to forget rising interest rates.
• Low unemployment and the raising of the minimum wage and benefits partially mitigated the worst impacts of the hardship on our low-income whānau.   
• The visibility of ram raids and increased incidents involving shootings created an atmosphere of fear and anger. Calls were made for tough on crime measures as many look for simple solutions to these entrenched sets of problems with complex factors at play.

The year finished with an at-times polarising and negative election campaign and then a new three-party government. However, before the year was over, we saw significant reactions to the policies being enacted by the new government coalition’s partnership agreement. Māori, unions, environmental advocates and health advocates all railed against what they saw as regressive policies.

The Christmas season is now behind us—at the centre of which is a baby is born in a manger, a harbinger of hope for our world, good news to the poor.

There is so much to hope for Aotearoa 2024—here are just some of my hopes:

• That the positive signs around employment, including wage increases for the those on lower incomes, will continue, so that low-income whānau are able to make an adequate living.
• That the incremental signs of improvement in the number of social houses available will grow to make warm, dry and affordable housing available for all our whānau.
• That the signs of improvement in the various child poverty measures (still unacceptably high) will continue to improve—we owe it to our whānau to see that no child is left behind.
• That significant investment is made into proactive crime prevention and prisoner reintegration programmes, rather than after-the-fact, tough-on-crime responses. This includes further strengthening of regulations, such as alcohol policy to address the high levels of alcohol-related violence.
• That engagement and resourcing of Māori in kaupapa-Māori-run organisations, and involvement at every level of mainstream organisations (including at governance level) will increase—giving Māori rangatiratanga in addressing Māori wellbeing.

May we all truly have a good 2024 here in Aoteroa.

Lt. Colonel Ian Hutson
Director - Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit