title: Living standards, well-being, and public policy

authors: Weijers, Dan M.

abstract: It has been five years since the publication of the Treasury paper that first set out its Living Standards Framework (LSF) (Treasury 2011). Since then, the LSF has become an increasingly central part of Treasury’s strategic direction. Treasury is now explicit about its aspiration to be “working towards higher living standards for New Zealanders” (Treasury 2015a), and the LSF itself has been used across a wide range of Treasury’s policy advising work (Treasury 2015c).
But after five years of implementation and development, there remain questions about what exactly the LSF is and how it ought to, or could be, used by Treasury. The aim of this paper is to provide answers to these sorts of questions. It is intended as an update of Treasury’s 2011 paper, drawing on the rapid developments in the academic and policy literature on wellbeing in the last five years. We argue that the LSF can be understood as a wellbeing framework that articulates, justifies and helps enable the provision of comprehensive economic policy advice that improves wellbeing. The remainder of this introduction clarifies the main claims we will be advancing in this paper.

text: Living standards, well-being, and public policy It has been five years since the publication of the Treasury paper that first set out its Living Standards Framework (LSF) (Treasury 2011). Since then, the LSF has become an increasingly central part of Treasury’s strategic direction. Treasury is now explicit about its aspiration to be “working towards higher living standards for New Zealanders” (Treasury 2015a), and the LSF itself has been used across a wide range of Treasury’s policy advising work (Treasury 2015c).
But after five years of implementation and development, there remain questions about what exactly the LSF is and how it ought to, or could be, used by Treasury. The aim of this paper is to provide answers to these sorts of questions. It is intended as an update of Treasury’s 2011 paper, drawing on the rapid developments in the academic and policy literature on wellbeing in the last five years. We argue that the LSF can be understood as a wellbeing framework that articulates, justifies and helps enable the provision of comprehensive economic policy advice that improves wellbeing. The remainder of this introduction clarifies the main claims we will be advancing in this paper.

year: 2016

title: Welfare reform: its impact on women as mothers and workers

authors: Scott, Bronwyn

subjects: welfare reform

abstract: Introduced in 1973, the Domestic Purposes Benefit was designed to give single mothers the opportunity available to partnered mothers, to provide full time care to their dependent children. However, families headed by lone mothers soon became a major social policy problem, both internationally and in New Zealand. Mimicking changes seen internationally, New Zealand’s fifth National Government introduced dramatic welfare reforms in 2012 and 2013, with the stated aim of reducing long-term welfare dependency. Single mothers have been identified as a ‘priority group’, and have consequently been the focus of much of the reforms including stricter workfare policies, so called ‘social obligations’ and a punitive sanction regime. This thesis explores the impact recent welfare reforms have had on single mothers, as mothers and as workers, and the resulting conflict between these roles. The theoretical framework for this research is informed by feminist social constructionism. Using discourse analysis, Work and Income publications and Amendment Bill reading speeches, were collected and analysed. These were then compared to analysed transcripts from semi-structured interviews with nine single mothers and seven key informants. Findings reveal that despite the numerous barriers single mothers face to entering paid employment, within Work and Income publications and ministerial speeches they are constructed as androcentric ideal workers. Single mothers’ caregiving responsibilities are rendered invisible, and are addressed only as they serve to restrict their ability to be in paid work. Although single mothers echoed much of this discursive construction, they ultimately rejected it by concluding that their caregiving responsibilities were more important than paid work. Reforms have also attacked the character of women raising children on welfare, deploying discourses that construct single mothers as lazy non-contributors, who are happy to live a supposedly lavish lifestyle at the expense of the hardworking New Zealand taxpayer. Although single mothers believed that the stereotypical mother on welfare existed, they deployed a number of tactics to resist these, and show how their circumstances and characters differed. This study contributes to a growing body of research in the wake of recent reforms in New Zealand, offering women’s experiences as a legitimate source of knowledge.

text: Welfare reform: its impact on women as mothers and workers Introduced in 1973, the Domestic Purposes Benefit was designed to give single mothers the opportunity available to partnered mothers, to provide full time care to their dependent children. However, families headed by lone mothers soon became a major social policy problem, both internationally and in New Zealand. Mimicking changes seen internationally, New Zealand’s fifth National Government introduced dramatic welfare reforms in 2012 and 2013, with the stated aim of reducing long-term welfare dependency. Single mothers have been identified as a ‘priority group’, and have consequently been the focus of much of the reforms including stricter workfare policies, so called ‘social obligations’ and a punitive sanction regime. This thesis explores the impact recent welfare reforms have had on single mothers, as mothers and as workers, and the resulting conflict between these roles. The theoretical framework for this research is informed by feminist social constructionism. Using discourse analysis, Work and Income publications and Amendment Bill reading speeches, were collected and analysed. These were then compared to analysed transcripts from semi-structured interviews with nine single mothers and seven key informants. Findings reveal that despite the numerous barriers single mothers face to entering paid employment, within Work and Income publications and ministerial speeches they are constructed as androcentric ideal workers. Single mothers’ caregiving responsibilities are rendered invisible, and are addressed only as they serve to restrict their ability to be in paid work. Although single mothers echoed much of this discursive construction, they ultimately rejected it by concluding that their caregiving responsibilities were more important than paid work. Reforms have also attacked the character of women raising children on welfare, deploying discourses that construct single mothers as lazy non-contributors, who are happy to live a supposedly lavish lifestyle at the expense of the hardworking New Zealand taxpayer. Although single mothers believed that the stereotypical mother on welfare existed, they deployed a number of tactics to resist these, and show how their circumstances and characters differed. This study contributes to a growing body of research in the wake of recent reforms in New Zealand, offering women’s experiences as a legitimate source of knowledge.

year: 2014

title: Final arrangements following death: Maori indigenous decision making and tangi

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: Maori death rituals

abstract: Death is a universal event. It will happen to all of us, yet how we respond to death is particular and influenced by our cultural worlds. This study offers an investigation of the idiographic, of how one woman responded to, and made arrangements to, mourn and bury her mother. Specifically, we explore how she and her whanau (family) under pressure of time and grief and in the absence of clear final wishes, met to consider issues and make decisions about the situation they were confronted with. This case forms part of a much larger programme of research into Maori death rituals, change and adaption. Informing a scholarly audience unfamiliar with the Maori world requires a significant amount of contextual information. The case study is a powerful strategy to achieve this and one that draws readers into deep understanding (Willig, 2008). This case provides insight into the struggles of an indigenous fourth-world people living within the heterogeneity of Aotearoa/New Zealand society; it demonstrates how values change across generations as people live their lives increasingly away from their ancestral homelands; and how traditionally defined roles and responsibilities within the whanau (family) are challenged by members living away from each other.

text: Final arrangements following death: Maori indigenous decision making and tangi Death is a universal event. It will happen to all of us, yet how we respond to death is particular and influenced by our cultural worlds. This study offers an investigation of the idiographic, of how one woman responded to, and made arrangements to, mourn and bury her mother. Specifically, we explore how she and her whanau (family) under pressure of time and grief and in the absence of clear final wishes, met to consider issues and make decisions about the situation they were confronted with. This case forms part of a much larger programme of research into Maori death rituals, change and adaption. Informing a scholarly audience unfamiliar with the Maori world requires a significant amount of contextual information. The case study is a powerful strategy to achieve this and one that draws readers into deep understanding (Willig, 2008). This case provides insight into the struggles of an indigenous fourth-world people living within the heterogeneity of Aotearoa/New Zealand society; it demonstrates how values change across generations as people live their lives increasingly away from their ancestral homelands; and how traditionally defined roles and responsibilities within the whanau (family) are challenged by members living away from each other.

year: 2012-03