Luxon’s Government has intentionally increased homelessness.
I’m not sure what else you are supposed to call it when the Government is warned by their own officials, experts and service providers that their intended decisions will increase homelessness, they go ahead with it anyway, and we then see the clearly predicted consequences of their decisions with an increase in homelessness.
These are political decisions, and different decisions can be made. As a result of public pressure, including through the organising we’ve been doing on the ground in Auckland Central and a thousands-strong Green petition (which you can sign via our website), in Parliament this past month the Prime Minister responded to my questions by noting the Government may backtrack. We’re asking not only that they change their callous emergency housing changes, but increase wrap-around support (which, notably, they had also cut many Government contracts for..) to ensure we end the revolving door of pain that deteriorates wellbeing and safety – for those experiencing homelessness, and society as a whole.
Not only is this the most compassionate thing to do; not only is it just the evidence-based way to actually solve the problem (the problem being homelessness). It’s also, perhaps ironically given the Government’s common rhetoric, the most cost-effective, social-investment type of approach you could possibly take – to intervene early, curtail escalation into the criminal justice system (where we spend ~$200,000 per prisoner per year for worse and worse outcomes) and broader social harm - and mitigate intergenerational patterns.
The benefit is clear when we make these kinds of investments to ensure everyone gets their basic needs met. This past month, we celebrated the opening of Auckland City Mission’s free dental service thanks to the years of work from many, many hands. Clinical lead Dr Hugh Trengrove was straight up when he said that this service will save lives. Not only can untreated dental issues cause pain and escalate to turning up in the Emergency Department (costing far more financially and in unnecessary human suffering), they can hurt employment and self-esteem in a nasty feedback loop.
This is why I’m proud to co-lead a party which has unapologetically put free dental care on the agenda. With around half of all New Zealanders reporting that they do not go to the dentist because of the insurmountable cost barrier, the level of need in our communities is startlingly obvious. We can either choose to ignore this and let it get worse or decide as a country that we want to work together to tackle the problem through our collective resources. It would cost less than Christopher Luxon’s decisions to hand out $2.9billion in tax cuts to landlords to provide free dental to everyone in this country. As always, this is about political priorities.
In closing, it would be remiss of me not to express gratitude to the many from our electorate (and beyond) who reached out off the back of the bizarre decision from the Speaker of the House to eject me following a debate on Palestinian statehood in August. The words that he seemed to take offence to were, “If we find six of 68 government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history.” I was talking about our Unlawful Occupation of Palestine Sanctions Bill, which needs the support of just 6 of 68 Government Members to get onto the floor of the House, which would enable sanctions the equivalent to our Parliament’s sanctions of Russia for its unlawful invasion into and occupation of Ukraine.
I had not intended to be offensive and have heard far worse language used in the House with far less severe consequences. That said, I think we should all be far more offended by our Government’s refusal to act under the Genocide convention – to stop a genocide with every power we have (such as sanctions). We don’t get to pick and choose when we uphold international law – we can and must be consistent, principled, and act in line with our long-held values as a country. (Chlöe Swarbrick)
Chlöe Swarbrick, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick
Chlöe Swarbrick: Co-leader of the Green Party and MP for Auckland Central
