One of the Social Justice Committee’s tasks is to think about social issues and try to find ways in which to advocate for positive social change, working with other groups and organisations across and beyond the Diocese.

Last month, the Dunedin/Otēpoti branch of the Child Poverty Action Group gathered to hear New Zealand writer and academic Max Rashbrooke’s analysis of the 2021 budget and Government efforts to tackle child poverty. 

Taking his presentation title from Desmond Tutu’s saying “there is only one way to eat an elephant, one bite at a time”, Max spoke about needing to understand poverty within the wider context of societal inequality. 

Considering poverty in isolation, he said, was like looking at one half of a seesaw: to answer the question of why so many New Zealand children/whānau live in poverty requires considering why some families are so rich. Political decisions in the 1980s and 1990s, he said, restructured the economy, delivering a disproportionate share of wealth to those already doing well. 

Max summarised that, to tackle child poverty, the Government needed to lift the income of the people at the bottom more quickly than those in a middle which could be unpopular with voters.

The full talk is available at https://www.cpag.org.nz/resources/past-events/2021-max-rashbrooke-eating-the-elephant-a/

While Max’s analysis was at the national level, the constant message this year to the Social Justice Committee from across our own Diocese has been the enormous pressures created by the housing crisis – skyrocketing rents, housing instability, homelessness - and the inadequacy of social housing to meet the current need. 

As families accumulate debt to cover living expenses they are finding themselves excluded from the private rental market due to poor credit and increasingly with nowhere to go. 

There are some inspiring social housing projects underway within our own Diocese. Is there potential for other such projects within the Diocese?