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Dr Sea's avatar

MBIE spent years and millions of $ to develop an “energy wellbeing” framework and reporting metrics. After only 1 year of reporting on ever-increasing energy hardship, both the terms and the reporting have been sh*tcanned by this govt. If you don’t measure poverty, it doesn’t exist or something?! The sweet irony is that several other countries have since taken up our measurements and terminology.

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Andrew Riddell's avatar

7 July is the final day for submissions to the Finance Select Committee on proposed changes to the Public Finance Act which include removing the need for wellbeing to be considered as part of fiscal responsibility and a 4 yearly state of wellbeing report to be provided by Treasury. Evidently Treasury find this too hard to do.

To me though, deleting wellbeing considerations from the Public Finance Act begs the question - what is the point of public finance (and the economy generally) if it is not wellbeing?

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Catherine Knight's avatar

Thank you for making us aware of these changes to the Public Finance Act to remove considerations of wellbeing, Andrew - I wasn't aware. It is so hard to keep up with the assaults on so many fronts.

Yes completely agree, as Strong Town's Chuck Marohn said on his recent visit here (in the context of infrastructure provision), the economy is not there for its own sake. It is there to serve the needs of people (at least theoretically - in practice as we know it is very different).

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Cindy's avatar

🤔 Thanks (I think?) for highlighting yet ANOTHER chance to flex our submission muscles - I guess I should bookmark the relevant web page so these things don't slip by ⁉️

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Cindy's avatar

🤬 FFS - how can "well being" be "woke" or controversial ⁉️ How long ago was COVID lockdown when our walks & parks & public spaces (children's playgrounds, public libraries etc) were either an escape or a wistful closed off cherished place we were mourning (& raging on the right) being kept away from 🤷 How can anyone be AGAINST well-being 🤬 An encapsulation of the absurdity and danger of this 3-headed-Taniwha, because almost EVERYTHING local & central govt does is surely about "well-being" of one kind or another ⁉️

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Alistair McKee's avatar

For years we had a "Community Mental Health Service" in every major DHB satellite town. Imagine being in a serious mental state and the difference between Te Whare Aroha or Te Whare Korowai and now, Holy Crap!... in Levin, it's "Mental Health & Addiction Horowhenua Locality Services". It was only a year ago I noticed budiness cards changed, removing "Communuty" and adding "Addiction".

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Gord Stewart's avatar

Spot on, Catherine! I think even some of our right-wing local councils might find this a bit hard to live with.

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Jo Wrigley's avatar

In terms of both central and local government representatives and staff advisers, the practice of collating data has perhaps removed decision makers from the practice of asset mapping the 'soft' infrastructure that supports community resilience.

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