How many more months must pass before we urgently address the pressing financial and health struggles that are currently gripping our society? The longer we delay, the more families will suffer, and the harder it will be to recover. The time for action is now.
Thousands of families, including those with children and disabled children, are losing their jobs. This crisis has even affected large businesses such as Oji’s paper recycling mill, Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ), Timberlands West Coast Ltd, and other companies and Government agencies this year. The scale of this crisis is truly unprecedented, and its impact is felt across all sectors of our society, underlining the gravity of the situation and the families who are bearing the brunt of it.https://youtu.be/uCn6CK-Hg7s?si=mHHiJBuX4nhvsrpl
New Zealand suffered a massive blow when its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell into recession in 1991. This wasn’t just a number on a chart, it was a crisis that affected every Kiwi. Our economy faces bleak years to come. Every business and household must watch their spending, struggle to pay bills and mortgages and face rising costs such as supermarket inflation, petrol, power, and even broadband. Our Government’s financial book is shocking, and they started cutting back funding, causing the loss of jobs, expecting taxpayers to pay more taxes, and many other issues. Our Government must take immediate and effective action to address these issues and support those in need.https://youtu.be/uCn6CK-Hg7s?si=mHHiJBuX4nhvsrpl
Our Government started to realise that New Zealand’s finances and economy were not improving and had gone backward to 1991. The unemployment rate is rising while debt servicing costs remain high, leading some households to default on their loans. Interest rates have started to fall, but the main risk is further economic weakening. This GDP result is a dire warning from the Reserve Bank NZ, a clear sign that we need immediate action to prevent further economic decline. The need for action is urgent, and the consequences of inaction are severe.
Millions of low-income families with children/disabled children are facing a financial burden of unprecedented scale, and it isn’t just about numbers; it’s about people who are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. An ever-increasing number of people are forced to live on the street, under bridges, in the doorway of businesses, in the garages, or in the derelict home/garage. The MSD (Ministry of Social Development) turned down 220 Food Grant applicants a day across New Zealand toward the end of this year. “In the nine months to the end of September, 60,579 people have declined these grants (2024), compared to 36,945 in the same period last year – a jump from 3.5 per cent declined to six per cent of total applications.
The value of food grants was $32.6 million in the September quarter, down 10.8 per cent (2024) from the September 2023 quarter.
More families with children on low income will be lining up at the door of the Social Services-Food Banks each day. However, not many Social Service-Food Banks will be there starting next year due to the Government’s cut in funding.
What about the Disablitiy Orgainsations, the Food Bank Orgainsations, or the Charities Orgainsations? These organisations are non-profit fundings, and we seek funding through the Lottery Grants, individual donors or foundations, sponsorship from corporations and Donations. The small Disability organisations and several Food Banks across New Zealand closed down due to insufficient funding, paying high bills such as electricity, broadband, petrol/diesel costs for travelling and minimum wages. The rural area where many Disability organisations were the most brutally hit and forced to close down.
What about the senior disabled people (permanent disabilities from birth) like us and senior people with impaired disabilities in society and in the Resthomes? Several Resthomes shut down in rural areas due to a lack of funding under the Health Sector of our Government. Yes, it is a horror for them. For example – “For people on low incomes, completely reliant on NZ Super, the change in economic situation over the past two years has meant more than just tightening the belt, moving instead into day-to-day survival.”
We are in senior age with disabilities where I have more than three disabilities than my partner, with a mortgage, loans and bills to pay such as power (low energy), broadband-landline (fax) for a couple of Deaf seniors under my work role-mobiles, two rates through District Councils, medical prescriptions a year and many other companies. We are not living on an average-high income. I know several seniors with impaired mobility have been living on average income since they sold their homes. We do not know what our future will look like in five years as I have new medical symptoms and am waiting for double surgery in 2025. I work and advocate for many disabled people, D/deaf people and D/deaf with disabilities people in New Zealand and overseas; I know their lives are worse off than mine. Several of these people have committed suicide due to other organisations cutting back/closing down and through social media such as Meta-Facebook, where there is no human help desk and non-accessible systems and guideline rules. As for myself, I would not consider making a new Facebook-Meta community page (business) site because they are no help to resolve the issues and expect anyone to pay money to them without an invoice for the recovery cost (costly, strained or empty anyone’s bank account) until Meta-cypher companies resolve the hacked community page and reimburse anyone’s payments in full or partial payments), just a tiny amount in return or their tax revenue/exchanged dollar rates between the USA and NZ. I read plenty of businesses/charities and self-employed people who went through this nightmare, received no help resolving it, and ended up paying thousands of dollars without an invoice. I did have one community page under the business for donations, and one person decided to hack back in February -March 2024. I found the company, and Meta was not helpful for a deaf with disabilities. Let alone the end of it and moving forward by knowing they have not done an excellent service for anyone with disabilities living on a low income. Just be careful and be mindful that Meta-Facebook’s largest businesses/companies are making a lot of profits from people’s pockets and low-income people with disabilities’s pockets. You may not get full or partial reimbursement due to exchange dollar rates.
What would the future look like for everyone in New Zealand when the New Zealand economy is in a dire state, and NZ finances look bleak for all businesses, Health Sectors, Government Agencies, Trades, Banks, and many other companies you can think of? We know there will be more jobs cut, high electricity bills, high broadband rates, infrastructural housing and materials from overseas, and many medical technology and IT technology. This future is a cause for concern and requires long-term planning and action.
It is the Christmas season, and the coming of Jesus’s birth is in a couple of days. Everyone should be blissful to have families together, share the good news, visit the homeless people at the community meal lunch/dinner at the churches, and give something small like a basket of food, clothes, or second-hand toys. If you have spare time, visit the sick children and adults at the hospital or see someone living alone on Christmas Day. There are many ways to think about it. Large businesses should consider something to give back or reimburse abundance to the people who left their jobs, the loss of financial difficulty, or a gift of generosity.
Life in Eureka 
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