Editorial, Tuesday May 26, 2015

Peter Jackson, editor, The Northland Age

Is anybody happy?

FOR all the evidence to the contrary, it is tempting to draw the conclusion that no one was much impressed with last week's government budget. Applause from some quarters was almost drowned out by criticism from others, the latter including a noisy protest in Auckland on Friday by some who continue to believe that budgets should be about giving to the needy, not in the form of opportunities and encouragement but cash.

There remains in this country a recalcitrant element that firmly believes in every individual's right to be carried by others, and that the government's fundamental role is to ensure that we all enjoy the maximum of health, wealth and happiness regardless of a lack of effort on our part.

As usual the critics didn't always rely too heavily on logic. Bill English was roundly criticised by some for not delivering his promised surplus, and, often by the same people, for not giving enough of our money to those who apparently need it more than do those who earn it.

Part of the problem is that the right (in this country National) never seems to unpick what has been done by the left (Labour and, God preserve us if they ever get the chance, the Greens). So we still have Working for Families (which of itself is not a bad idea but would be better delivered with a return to the pre-computer age system of graduated tax brackets than as a thinly veiled welfare benefit with its attendant, not so subtle suggestion that the government will continue to manifest its generosity as long we keep voting for it) and interest-free student loans. Pity we don't have interest-free trades apprentice loans.

Both should go but won't, given that putting an end to those particular forms of largesse, both introduced by a Labour government wishing to be installed for another three years, would be electoral suicide. Mr English did, however, knock a smaller extravagance on the head, ending the $1000 'kick start' to KiwiSaver. That made sense on a number of levels.

For a start that has saved him (us) $175 million in the coming year, not a lot perhaps in the greater scheme of things but a reasonable dollop of cash when one considers that it represents almost the entire projected surplus at the end of the year. And when it comes to the government living within its (our) means, it should be looking at trimming lots of smaller areas of expenditure to achieve a significant total result. KiwiSaver wasn't a bad place to start.

The annual tax credit of $520 for those who have enrolled in KiwiSaver remains, so there is still a cash incentive to join the scheme, but surely we should be reaching the point now where people understand that the benefits of saving some of their income for old age do not arise entirely from some third party giving them a reward. Saving should be a reward in itself, but we are a long way yet from that philosophy taking root in the national psyche.

Too many of us still believe that we should be praised for taking responsibility for our own lives. That attitude is costing us dearly. It is behind the conviction that we are entitled to procreate, sure in the knowledge that someone else will meet the cost of raising our children, that someone else will pay our grocery bill if we can't be bothered earning a living or acquiring the skills that will enable us to earn one, that someone else will meet the cost of the health services we might one day need if we injure ourselves. Social welfare in all its manifestations, from the DPB to ACC, has taught us to believe that the government, with all its imagined riches, will always be there in our time of need.

KiwiSaver is a good scheme and will hopefully make a significant difference, one day, to the cost of superannuation, although we still have some way to go yet before we will truly accept that. Imagine the outcry if we are told, as we surely will be one day, that superannuation is no longer to be universal thanks to all those people who have built up tidy little nest eggs of their own. That will be regarded as deeply unfair on those who have taken responsibility for the own retirement, and are now to be punished for that.

Winston Peters wrote in this newspaper recently that some entrenched attitudes had to change. Northland's new MP has not been slow to point out how the current government in particular has failed and continues to fail us. He has plenty of ammunition, from a lack of regional development and woeful social statistics to specific policies such as the Ministry of Social Development's bulk-buying of whiteware for beneficiaries, which has made life even tougher for hard-working, taxpaying, employment-creating Northlanders. But it's not all about sitting back and waiting for the government to start treating us with more consideration and generosity.

Mr Peters said his electorate's problems were never going to be solved by Wellington. It was time for the region to make a commitment to educating its young people to a level that would lead to training for skilled work, which in turn demanded a commitment from parents to send their children to school and to involve themselves in their children's future. It was time to accept that the days of growing cannabis as a career option were over.

While we might reasonably expect more from the government than we were getting, we too needed to contribute to a better future. People and government should be working together, as opposed to the former sitting back and waiting for the latter to deliver.

Perhaps that process could begin by accepting that a $1000 handout for joining up to KiwiSaver is not necessary. We are not children who expect to be bribed to make their own school lunches, and should stop behaving as though we are.

Thanks to ... The Northland Age did rather well at the 2015 Canon Media Awards in Auckland on Friday night, but unfortunately the brief opportunity to thank some who were most deserving of gratitude was lost in all the excitement.

Change on a previously unimaginable scale began taking place in this newspaper in 2009, when, after 105 years of independence, it became part of what was then APN and is now NZME. The manner in which the paper is produced now bears little resemblance to pre-2009, but while the finished product has also changed, generally for the better, its bones have not. And for that, those who work here, those who read the paper, those who advertise in it and those who value its role it this community should be grateful.

The names won't mean much to anyone outside the company but Rick Neville, Sarah Stewart, Laura Franklin, Chris Jagusch, Greg Alexander and others allowed this newspaper to keep doing what it had always done. Not only is it still a broadsheet (hurrah!) but it is still the Northland Age.

Thank you to all those who have played a part in that, and thank you to all those who have supported and continue to support us, despite our foibles. It is nice to be recognised on a larger stage, and New Zealand stages don't get larger than the Canons, but at the end of the day it is a privilege to do what we do. We will never forget that.