Wish List: Flag-waver for health, schools

By Deborah Diaz

Lisa Howard-Smith would like to see a Budget that makes the basics of life more affordable.

Mortgage payments and an average wage do not leave the Te Atatu North solo mother of one with a financial comfort zone.

Priorities in the Budget would be more money for health and schools.

"My father is one of these people who exists in extreme pain while on the waiting list for a hip operation," Lisa Howard-Smith said. "I would like to know that healthcare is accessible when we need it.

"There is also the myth that education is free in this country. The reality is that schools have to call on parents all the time for 'donations,' which you do of course have to pay."

A coordinator of Birthright, a social support agency for single parents, Lisa Howard-Smith believes that more money must be spent helping families at the bottom of the economic heap.

"Families' needs are very similar. They need a roof over their head, three meals a day. I think it is getting harder and harder for people to cover those basics. Yet we have a Government which likes to blame the victim by saying they brought their circumstances on themselves."