Recently a homeless man with an untreated mental illness was found dead on the steps of an Auckland church. He was one of about 4000 homeless people in New Zealand. Working people and children are currently living in cars and overcrowded homes and garages in what is an unprecedented housing shortage in New Zealand (Rotorua is not exempt).
New Zealand has the highest incidence of youth suicide in the developed world. Our mental health service is broken.
More than 90,000 young people are not in work, education or training, creating a potential for crime, and ruined lives. Ordinary people, unable to afford health insurance, are being shunted off DHB waiting lists. In fact it's almost impossible to get on a waiting list unless you are almost dead!
At least 2000 school students have fallen through the gaps of the education system, and a record number are being expelled or suspended from school.
This is Sir John Key's legacy. Yet the complacent and the well heeled will, no doubt, return his government once more, in September.
