Thanks for another superb article Dr Bex. I really appreciate the comprehensive research you do to support arguments made. Growing up in the 60's and 70's myself, it's humbling to appreciate the extent of much-needed state policy and social support. The need is even greater today but unfortunately the will is not there in this coalition government (to put it mildly). We need people like you Dr Bex to speak truth to the many throw-away comments made by careless people in power.
In the 70s I had a friend whose husband was a secondary teacher. He spent most of his income on manly pursuits such as drinking beer and betting on horses. She ran the household and cared for 3 small children on the family benefit...
It hasn't changed - the govt is now like that husband whilst it leaves citizens and support services to fend for themselves. Why are our leaders so disinclined to be concerned about others?
Some friends and I were just sharing our experiences of "night school" - amongst us we learned cooking, upholstery, permaculture, home accounts, touch typing, landscaping, car maintenance, making roman blinds and curtains, as well as getting a second chance at school cert or university entrance papers. They were good times, they made use of school buildings after hours so there was less vandalism and they didn't cost much either.
I had a community role encouraging school communities to open up their school facilities as widely as possible. Brilliant times. People making time and space for others.
Fantastic piece of writing, ngā mihi. I was lucky enough to benefit from that caring state while growing up, but quite happy to acknowledge that (on many social issues) the state didn’t give a damn. The very best quality of Aotearoa is the idea of fairness: every child deserves a ‘fair go’. So, if we can blend the economic justice of the past with the social justice of later times we might find heaven on earth - no room for Seymour or Jones in that particular piece of paradise
Growing up in the 1970s, I wholeheartedly agree. I would love to go back. I can still feel the wind in my hair - yep, had some - as I zoomed to school on my Malvern Star dragster, complete with fox tail aerial and T-bar shifter. I had three whole gears to choose from. Of course, at that time, we also had the 1970s oil shock, which provided the catalytic moment for a new idea. One that supported the thinking of economists Hayek and Friedman. One that embraced the concept of Neo-liberalism. Interest had surged because politicians were concerned about the increasing burden on the state. This lead to many believing Neoliberalism might be able to supplant the more welfare state philosophy of Keynesian economics.
The focus of economic policy quickly moved away from government-driven demand management and toward free-market capitalism, deregulation, privatization, and lower taxes. And today in 2026,New Zealand remains imprisoned in the Neoliberalism status quo. Every single decision regarding health, housing, education, infrastructure, law and order, foreign policy, defence, treaty, environment, research and development and everything else, is viewed through one lens. If that lens is distorted - it is - then so is every decision. And the distortion in this case is caused by neoliberal policies which favour the movement of wealth away from the masses and towards the wealthy.
Understanding that issue isn’t rocket science. Doing something about is also embarrassingly simple. It just requires different choices to drive different decisions. As Martin Luther King famously said, “The problem is not so much that we do not know what to do, but that we do not have the will to do it."
Nelson Mandela said something similar, “Given the political will, an environment of democracy, peace and stability, and the active participation of all, we can achieve everything we set our minds to do."
And perhaps in irony, Kofi Annan added,”Political will is not a commodity that you find in the market; it is something that is generated by political leaders."
Compare those sentiments with Christopher Luxon’s, “If you are unhappy with it, for God's sake, go make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag just like you and I had." Or his, “Let me be clear: I'm wealthy, I'm ‒ you know, sorted."
Re "people tend to skate over the racism, sexism, ableism and bigotry that was embedded into NZ social policy and practice in the 1970s. Let’s not bring any of that back hey?" Yes! I remember that in real life. We never had to worry about being homeless, or jobless but NZ started to 'transition to present day in the 1970s. The rise of overseas production meant many NZ manufacturers who employed NZers started to shift their production to South Asia. Women were particularly affected. Its not that single income households were 'universal' - hec we even made our own TVs, radios, and home appliances but that women were often workers on these electronic production lines. And lets not forget the clothing factories- Bendon, Prestige Holeproof, Bata Shoes, Clarks Shoes Ltd. Para Rubber gumboots, Murphy TVs etc. these workplaces also had in house childcare. In reality, NZ women raising small children were not 'locked out' of paid employment despite the prevailing social narratives about the single income family. Its just that the old 19th century narratives refused to 'die'....it was convenient- the powers that be could justify paying women less.....which meant they could earn but struggled to support themselves independently; and there was a wall of shame around built around disability, divorce and racial mixing...nost of which while being fought over, still rears it ugly head in some instances today. DPB was not brought in because wives didn't participate in the paid workforce, or earn real wages it was because NZ manufacturers shut up shop on us and left the country.
What on earth do these idiots see in NZF that is remotely like the Labour of the 1970s? And why do they think we should turn the clock back 50 years? The world is not the same; we are not the same. We should not snatch away the social and scientific advances that have been made in favour of disinformation and nostalgia for a past that never was.
🥰 Great article as usual ... Of course, being the ACT party they will cherry pick the bits of "the '70s" that suit their prejudices and pretend the things that made it seem better than now (the housing, financial supports etc) either weren't there or weren't of any significance 🙇 Sad that parts of that time are lost in the pursuit of greed & power, but also glad the attitudes to race, disability, sexuality etc have made so much progress (even though it doesn't always feel like it 🤷) But if we vote them OUT, can we consign THEM to the dustbin of history forever ⁉️🤞🤞 I won't mind their followers being nostalgic if they are gone for good 🥳
I think the nostalgia bit is that we were all in State houses, we had parents who all worked and it was before all the shut downs of our public services such as the Ministry of Works, all replaced with private corporates making profits over infrastructure the Govt should own and maintain. I miss the openness of our neighbourhoods, I miss a lot of that time but that is a child’s memory. I also remember the racism, the distain for those who didn’t conform. An excellent article my friend and thanks yes sometimes when we get nostalgic, we conveniently forget the bad parts and focus on the feel good parts. However, for some, it’s a reminder of the poverty, the hardships, it was just more palatable when we were all more equal than we are today. It was before the huge gap between us poor and the super rich, we also had politicians who got perks because the pay wasn’t high. Now we have career politicians who are in it for the money and not the country
Discrimination( fear of difference or "otherness" )still continues in NZ.
In the trenches of NZ the State policies and legislation are not being followed by State.
When figures of authority discriminate, do horrible and unfair things to disabled people, then " normal" people accept this pathological behavior as a normal .
While people still see " otherness" , consume the junk mind food media turning to media for their beliefs( which is all "culture" is) the fear and ignorance will continue.
Back to the MSD's desired unlawful legislation forcing disabled people to see (State contracted) MSD drs for a medical assessment( med cert) is classified as medical treatment and everyone has the right to refuse medical treatment in NZ so it is a breach of NZBORA.
On a personal note on this as an ACC lifetime seriously injured claimant where ACC refused me needs, injury care and urgent treatments etc I was forced to apply under SSA. I refused State MSD dangerous medical advise( another MED cert - GP assessment) when I was fighting the State for denied legal entitlements of public services of needed extended ICU and inpatient urgent specialist care, urgent treatment to stabilized misaligned ortho fractures
The State(MSD) stopped my only income knowing i had no income "permanent " disability and work incapacity, no acute injury care for my multiple clinically unstable complex severe injuries , was in financial hardship, they did that for for over a decade( had to borrow money for nutrition State made us destitute briefly ).I have never been able to pay my attendant carers for full time work done since accident and the State illegal transfer of ICU care to ACC for " active rehab"in 2006 ( which the State govt legislation says because I cant pay them for work done I am the criminal).
As soon as people become more aware and shift from the fearmindedness and wrong views to love then we will see the inner changes reflected outside.
My mother - a qualified teacher - needed that family benefit because she was a SAHM while my stepfather spent his salary on booze. I remember carless days and how bad it was for her to try and get my half-brothers to school. (For reasons I won’t go into my stepfather didn’t drive).
Racism - my maternal family had once been fluent in te reo Māori. By my mother’s generation that was gone due to social pressure.
Help really wasn’t around for me with chronic illnesses as a child and teen with a very bad family home life. People knew about the violence from both parents.
But I could also find after school work to pay for my food and school books and clothes. I left school, went flatting, worked full time and did seventh form through correspondence school. I wouldn’t want to be a young family or younger person right now. It’s bloody awful.
Mind you with severe disability I have no faith in this current health system. I have a great GP but he’s frustrated by having so much of his time filling in applications over and over trying to get people in to see specialists and being refused. It’s a numbers game with overworked medical staff. I’m grateful that my GP trusts me to know my own body and health and what I need.
I learnt survival from the seventies, eighties and nineties. It’s stood me in good stead for this clusterfuck of a govt.
Thank you to the sharp eyed reader who spotted my typo and let me know ASAP - I referred to Paul Holmes where I meant Paul Henry. Ooops! Fixed now :)
Thanks for another superb article Dr Bex. I really appreciate the comprehensive research you do to support arguments made. Growing up in the 60's and 70's myself, it's humbling to appreciate the extent of much-needed state policy and social support. The need is even greater today but unfortunately the will is not there in this coalition government (to put it mildly). We need people like you Dr Bex to speak truth to the many throw-away comments made by careless people in power.
Yes Louise, political will is absent in the same way that Luxon cannot be fully present, and this coalition government refuses to govern for all.
What a superb article you have written. I must send it off to some politicians. Alas, don’t expect any action.
Thanks Gloria! Our social policy thinking has shifted so much over the last 50 decades, and not for the betterment for all of society unfortunately.
In the 70s I had a friend whose husband was a secondary teacher. He spent most of his income on manly pursuits such as drinking beer and betting on horses. She ran the household and cared for 3 small children on the family benefit...
It hasn't changed - the govt is now like that husband whilst it leaves citizens and support services to fend for themselves. Why are our leaders so disinclined to be concerned about others?
My mum used her Family Benefit, which was purposely paid directly to the mothers, for our clothing.
Some friends and I were just sharing our experiences of "night school" - amongst us we learned cooking, upholstery, permaculture, home accounts, touch typing, landscaping, car maintenance, making roman blinds and curtains, as well as getting a second chance at school cert or university entrance papers. They were good times, they made use of school buildings after hours so there was less vandalism and they didn't cost much either.
Yes Liz. Community 🙏
I had a community role encouraging school communities to open up their school facilities as widely as possible. Brilliant times. People making time and space for others.
Fantastic piece of writing, ngā mihi. I was lucky enough to benefit from that caring state while growing up, but quite happy to acknowledge that (on many social issues) the state didn’t give a damn. The very best quality of Aotearoa is the idea of fairness: every child deserves a ‘fair go’. So, if we can blend the economic justice of the past with the social justice of later times we might find heaven on earth - no room for Seymour or Jones in that particular piece of paradise
Great piece Dr Bex.
Growing up in the 1970s, I wholeheartedly agree. I would love to go back. I can still feel the wind in my hair - yep, had some - as I zoomed to school on my Malvern Star dragster, complete with fox tail aerial and T-bar shifter. I had three whole gears to choose from. Of course, at that time, we also had the 1970s oil shock, which provided the catalytic moment for a new idea. One that supported the thinking of economists Hayek and Friedman. One that embraced the concept of Neo-liberalism. Interest had surged because politicians were concerned about the increasing burden on the state. This lead to many believing Neoliberalism might be able to supplant the more welfare state philosophy of Keynesian economics.
The focus of economic policy quickly moved away from government-driven demand management and toward free-market capitalism, deregulation, privatization, and lower taxes. And today in 2026,New Zealand remains imprisoned in the Neoliberalism status quo. Every single decision regarding health, housing, education, infrastructure, law and order, foreign policy, defence, treaty, environment, research and development and everything else, is viewed through one lens. If that lens is distorted - it is - then so is every decision. And the distortion in this case is caused by neoliberal policies which favour the movement of wealth away from the masses and towards the wealthy.
Understanding that issue isn’t rocket science. Doing something about is also embarrassingly simple. It just requires different choices to drive different decisions. As Martin Luther King famously said, “The problem is not so much that we do not know what to do, but that we do not have the will to do it."
Nelson Mandela said something similar, “Given the political will, an environment of democracy, peace and stability, and the active participation of all, we can achieve everything we set our minds to do."
And perhaps in irony, Kofi Annan added,”Political will is not a commodity that you find in the market; it is something that is generated by political leaders."
Compare those sentiments with Christopher Luxon’s, “If you are unhappy with it, for God's sake, go make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag just like you and I had." Or his, “Let me be clear: I'm wealthy, I'm ‒ you know, sorted."
Please…take me back to the 1970s.
As Bryan Bruce often says, we have become a me society rather than a we society.
Time to bring back democratic socialism which fostered all of the common good policies you remind us of.
Re "people tend to skate over the racism, sexism, ableism and bigotry that was embedded into NZ social policy and practice in the 1970s. Let’s not bring any of that back hey?" Yes! I remember that in real life. We never had to worry about being homeless, or jobless but NZ started to 'transition to present day in the 1970s. The rise of overseas production meant many NZ manufacturers who employed NZers started to shift their production to South Asia. Women were particularly affected. Its not that single income households were 'universal' - hec we even made our own TVs, radios, and home appliances but that women were often workers on these electronic production lines. And lets not forget the clothing factories- Bendon, Prestige Holeproof, Bata Shoes, Clarks Shoes Ltd. Para Rubber gumboots, Murphy TVs etc. these workplaces also had in house childcare. In reality, NZ women raising small children were not 'locked out' of paid employment despite the prevailing social narratives about the single income family. Its just that the old 19th century narratives refused to 'die'....it was convenient- the powers that be could justify paying women less.....which meant they could earn but struggled to support themselves independently; and there was a wall of shame around built around disability, divorce and racial mixing...nost of which while being fought over, still rears it ugly head in some instances today. DPB was not brought in because wives didn't participate in the paid workforce, or earn real wages it was because NZ manufacturers shut up shop on us and left the country.
What on earth do these idiots see in NZF that is remotely like the Labour of the 1970s? And why do they think we should turn the clock back 50 years? The world is not the same; we are not the same. We should not snatch away the social and scientific advances that have been made in favour of disinformation and nostalgia for a past that never was.
🥰 Great article as usual ... Of course, being the ACT party they will cherry pick the bits of "the '70s" that suit their prejudices and pretend the things that made it seem better than now (the housing, financial supports etc) either weren't there or weren't of any significance 🙇 Sad that parts of that time are lost in the pursuit of greed & power, but also glad the attitudes to race, disability, sexuality etc have made so much progress (even though it doesn't always feel like it 🤷) But if we vote them OUT, can we consign THEM to the dustbin of history forever ⁉️🤞🤞 I won't mind their followers being nostalgic if they are gone for good 🥳
I think the nostalgia bit is that we were all in State houses, we had parents who all worked and it was before all the shut downs of our public services such as the Ministry of Works, all replaced with private corporates making profits over infrastructure the Govt should own and maintain. I miss the openness of our neighbourhoods, I miss a lot of that time but that is a child’s memory. I also remember the racism, the distain for those who didn’t conform. An excellent article my friend and thanks yes sometimes when we get nostalgic, we conveniently forget the bad parts and focus on the feel good parts. However, for some, it’s a reminder of the poverty, the hardships, it was just more palatable when we were all more equal than we are today. It was before the huge gap between us poor and the super rich, we also had politicians who got perks because the pay wasn’t high. Now we have career politicians who are in it for the money and not the country
Discrimination( fear of difference or "otherness" )still continues in NZ.
In the trenches of NZ the State policies and legislation are not being followed by State.
When figures of authority discriminate, do horrible and unfair things to disabled people, then " normal" people accept this pathological behavior as a normal .
While people still see " otherness" , consume the junk mind food media turning to media for their beliefs( which is all "culture" is) the fear and ignorance will continue.
Back to the MSD's desired unlawful legislation forcing disabled people to see (State contracted) MSD drs for a medical assessment( med cert) is classified as medical treatment and everyone has the right to refuse medical treatment in NZ so it is a breach of NZBORA.
On a personal note on this as an ACC lifetime seriously injured claimant where ACC refused me needs, injury care and urgent treatments etc I was forced to apply under SSA. I refused State MSD dangerous medical advise( another MED cert - GP assessment) when I was fighting the State for denied legal entitlements of public services of needed extended ICU and inpatient urgent specialist care, urgent treatment to stabilized misaligned ortho fractures
The State(MSD) stopped my only income knowing i had no income "permanent " disability and work incapacity, no acute injury care for my multiple clinically unstable complex severe injuries , was in financial hardship, they did that for for over a decade( had to borrow money for nutrition State made us destitute briefly ).I have never been able to pay my attendant carers for full time work done since accident and the State illegal transfer of ICU care to ACC for " active rehab"in 2006 ( which the State govt legislation says because I cant pay them for work done I am the criminal).
As soon as people become more aware and shift from the fearmindedness and wrong views to love then we will see the inner changes reflected outside.
...https://bdbinc.substack.com/p/badgers-buddhist-bullet-in
Absolutely brilliant!
My mother - a qualified teacher - needed that family benefit because she was a SAHM while my stepfather spent his salary on booze. I remember carless days and how bad it was for her to try and get my half-brothers to school. (For reasons I won’t go into my stepfather didn’t drive).
Racism - my maternal family had once been fluent in te reo Māori. By my mother’s generation that was gone due to social pressure.
Help really wasn’t around for me with chronic illnesses as a child and teen with a very bad family home life. People knew about the violence from both parents.
But I could also find after school work to pay for my food and school books and clothes. I left school, went flatting, worked full time and did seventh form through correspondence school. I wouldn’t want to be a young family or younger person right now. It’s bloody awful.
Mind you with severe disability I have no faith in this current health system. I have a great GP but he’s frustrated by having so much of his time filling in applications over and over trying to get people in to see specialists and being refused. It’s a numbers game with overworked medical staff. I’m grateful that my GP trusts me to know my own body and health and what I need.
I learnt survival from the seventies, eighties and nineties. It’s stood me in good stead for this clusterfuck of a govt.