By Tess Bartlett - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

The Labour Party’s response to the share market crash was to announce furtherreforms (New Zealand Parliament, 1987). For instance, those individuals who foundthemselves in a position whereby they needed to deregister from the Goods andServices Act (as they may have initially joined to receive tax benefits) were requiredto pay Inland Revenue one­eleventh of all assets that were brought into the taxscheme (New Zealand Parliament, 1987). Such changes contributed to the publicfeeling deserted and distrustful of the government and existing political processes.New Zealand’s economic stability began to deteriorate further as net public debt rosefrom $21,879 million in 1984 to $39,721 million in 1989 (Kelsey, 1997). The answerto growing debt was to ‘improve the quality and efficiency of government spending’(Douglas, 1987: 13). This move consequently resulted in a reduction in socialwelfare spending when the National Party won the 1990 election. This newgovernment delivered cuts across most welfare benefits (including sickness,widow’s, unemployment, and domestic purpose benefit) as well as changing theeligibility criteria for all benefits and altering the stand­down period beforeunemployed persons were eligible for payments (which in some cases was sixmonths) (Richardson, 1990). There were also charges imposed, and in someinstances increased, on various social services including prescriptions for health careand fees for tertiary study (Boston, 1993). These changes to social welfaresignificantly impacted on the lives of citizens who relied on the government forsecurity. Those who suffered most were Māori, young people, low income earners,women, the sick, and those individuals who were unemployed as these groups wereoverrepresented in social welfare dependency and could no longer rely on thegovernment for assistance when required (Department of Social Welfare, 1975). Theshift from direct to indirect taxes, as well as the reduction in expenditure onuniversal social welfare programmes, resulted in a significant increase in inequality(Weeks, 2005). The Labour government had initially attempted to create an efficientand equal society; yet, inequalities widened and those commodities associated withpost­war life deteriorated, creating instability and insecurity for many groups.The changing nature of employmentThe effects of the restructuring in the late 1980s could also be seen in changingemployment patterns. The changing nature of the state sector meant long­term31