Health cuts, attacks on beneficiaries and youth, pay inequity… it’s one vicious act after another from a government that cares more about protecting the rich and boosting the Ministry of Defence budget than about our most vulnerable. Melissa writes on  the ‘slow violence’ of NZ’s neo-liberal policymakers, and what we can do about it. 

  ‘Slow violence’  is a concept that environmentalist Rob Nixon used to refer to harm that is gradual, cumulative, and often invisible. This form of violence can include environmental degradation, the erosion of public services, or structurally induced inequities that sap community resilience over years or decades. Examples include long-term underinvestment in marginalized neighborhoods, or policies that slowly erode rights and access to essential services. Although its effects are as real as those of fast violence, slow violence tends to be overlooked by media and public discourse because its impacts emerge gradually, dissipating the shock value that would prompt immediate intervention.

 The policies enacted by the government are those of a high-level perpetrator. The coalition has been moving towards privatisation of core services such as healthcare, an erosion that amounts to slow violence. There are widespread staffing shortages affecting nurses, general practitioners, lab technicians  and other allied health workers. Staff are being required to work longer shifts and are under huge pressure. The pay equity amendment act is exacerbating this by devaluing work that has traditionally been done predominantly by women. 

Youth are another target of many of the government’s funding cuts, as we have seen recently with the school lunches fiasco and raising the age of eligibility for receiving benefits. Homelessness is increasing among young people due to government policies which make it more difficult to qualify for emergency housing. 

We do not have adequate provision of care for children with terminal illnesses. An estimated $8 million would be enough to establish a four-hub nationwide paediatric palliative care specialist service. It would  save the health system money in terms of reducing hospital admissions if the service was available. According to paediatrician Dr Amanda Evans “This could have been addressed now because we know there are children dying now in pain and distress because they’re not getting the specialist resource they require.”

In another example of punching down on the most vulnerable, parents of children who are not attending school may face fines of up to $300 for a first offence and $3000 for a second or subsequent offence. The government claims this will not include children with health issues and disabilities, but there are long waiting lists for those who need diagnoses and care. This includes invisible disabilities and assessments relating to neurodiversity and mental health issues, which are also becoming more expensive to attain. It’s yet another punitive measure which will have the worst impact on the poorest families. 

It’s time to join forces to resist this and fight back. We need to work together to have an impact. Show solidarity for upcoming strikes and protests against austerity measures which harm our communities.