A High Price to Pay

It is difficult to feel any sense of pride in a nation that embraces policies designed to take advantage of vulnerable people.  Under the pretense of being protective of our most vulnerable, in its first six years in office the present government took in excess of one billion dollars away from the elderly.  There can be no respect for a government incapable of recognizing that taking money away from old people is wrong.

Thousands of people came to this island nation in the promise of a better life only to realize nothing but bitterness and disillusionment at the betrayal of their expectations.  Many people deeply regret that they ever migrated to New Zealand.  Many New Zealanders, having come home after years of living abroad, wish they had never returned.

A recent article in the North Shore Times (“Price of Love Costly”, May 18, 2006) reaffirmed the high price many New Zealanders face in their so-called Golden Years.

Roger, a 76 year-old pensioner living on Auckland’s North Shore is recovering from a difficult and painful quadruple bypass.  His wife Helga recently gave up her employment to take better care of her husband.  Helga turned 65 in August 2006 and became eligible for NZ Super.

The couple had just learned that not only is Helga to be denied NZ Super, but also Roger’s fortnightly payments will be reduced by more than 25%.  The reason: the moment Helga turned 65 she became eligible to draw on a pension fund that she had paid into in her native Germany.  Whether she likes it or not, Helga is forced to apply for the German pension so that MSD/WINZ can not only refuse her any form of NZ Super, but also reduce the amount of her husband’s pension.

Senior officials within MSD/WINZ are to blame for slashing the income of this elderly and ailing pensioner.  However, whenever these same officials are accused of wrongdoing, of mistreating thousands of elderly citizens, their reaction is self-righteous indignation.  They actually believe that their treatment of people like Roger is fully justified.

New Zealand’s first Ombudsman, Sir Guy Powles, fought the Ministry of Social Development long and hard - and ultimately unsuccessfully - to end the direct deduction policy.  Then as now, the Ministry remained obdurate in the face of appeals for reason and fairness.

The February 2003 Review of NZ Superannuation Portability provides evidence of a few individuals within the Ministry who had the courage to inform Parliament that the nation’s retirement policies were wrong and in dire need of reform.  It is a great pity that the Ministers of the Crown to whom the review was addressed were so unreceptive.

On Elder Abuse Awareness Day in June 2006, a smattering of elderly persons gathered outside various WINZ offices asking passers-by to sign the petition form calling for an end to pension abuse.

(The same Work and Income Service Centres had just begun promoting a pamphlet It's YOUR Money and a factsheet Be Alert to Financial Abuse – ironic, given that the experience of at least one in eight elderly New Zealanders is that, as Roger and Helga had just discovered, elder abuse begins at WINZ.)

A few MSD/WINZ employees actually signed the petition, voicing their support.  There were others, however, who apologized for not being able to sign the petition - fearing that to do so would cost them their jobs.

To lose one’s job for supporting calls to end pension abuse would indeed be a high price to pay.

Last modified: February 21, 2007