REDESIGNING THE WELFARE STATE IN NEW ZEALAND: PROBLEMS, POLICIES, AND PROSPECTS.

• Author: Preston, David
• Position: Review

by Jonathan Boston, Paul Dalziel and Susan St John Oxford University Press

So far there has been no comprehensive independent assessment of the impact of the major changes in social policies implemented since the mid-1980s which sought to restructure the New Zealand Welfare State. The reasons for this gap are various. They include the small number of New Zealand academics who study social policy in any depth, the limitations of published information sources, and the fact that most of the people who have any detailed knowledge of the policy developments are employees in the public sector working under conditions of confidentiality.

Jonathan Boston, Paul Dalziel, and Susan St John have made a first attempt to fill this assessment gap. Their 1999 publication "Redesigning the Welfare State in New Zealand: Problems, Policies, and Prospects" looks at the changes, with a primary focus on the new initiatives implemented since the National and Coalition Governments came to power after 1990. The Editors provide topic articles plus an overall synthesis and assessment, with nine other individual contributors also providing articles on particular topic areas.

I would like to be able to say that, finally, we have the assessment that has been missing. However, the individual contributions to the collection are of varying quality. Further, the authors are almost uniformly opposed to the direction of the changes, and this tends to condition what is highlighted in a number of the assessments. Also, not all of the authors clearly distinguish problems that occurred because of the nature of the social reforms themselves, from problems that were a consequence of economic restructuring or of general economic and demographic trends.

The sections that follow group key points from each of the contributors into broad topic areas.

GENERAL PERSPECTIVES

Jonathan Boston summarises theories of the Welfare State and their application in a New Zealand welfare state in transition. Boston details the background to the New Zealand policy changes and the neo-liberal focus of policy direction. He indicates preference for an alternative social citizenship model with high taxes and universal entitlements. As many of the reforms focused on a more stringent targeting approach and lower taxes, he does not support the direction of these changes.

Manuka Henare describes traditional Maori views of social well-being which involve integration in the social, physical and spiritual environment. He comments that the free market is not a culture-free concept, and discusses tribalism in an urban context.

Paul Dalziel focuses on the loss of output per head during the second burst of restructuring during the early 1990s. He notes a...