Mainlining austerity

There was a time when it was just an attitude, but now mention austerity and economic policy springs to mind

Dithering. That is how this editorial starts. One part of my mind is fixated on the news story about long-term recreational use of ketamine causing bladder problems, while another part is mulling austerity.

I’m no economist, so I flick back to ketamine bladder.

I think about the pitfalls of illicit drug taking – broken relationships, bad health, despair and poor decision-making – but can’t get past the ignominy of peeing your pants, which makes me feel shallow.

Still, I Google to find out what makes horse tranquilisers a drug of choice for some, and I come across another horse tranquiliser, the sedative xylazine, which is not so much a drug of choice given it is most often used to cut fentanyl or heroin, so addicts are unaware they are using it. That is until they end up with horrific, ulcerating sores burrowing down to the bone, sometimes resulting in amputation.

I’m left thinking peeing your pants is the least of your worries.

When I search for xylazine in New Zealand, the results revolve around rabbits and red deer. For now, I’m quietly grateful for the festival drug-checking regime available in New Zealand and hope it will not become a victim in the current cost-cutting environment.

Oops, I have found my way back to austerity. There was a time when it was just an attitude, but now mention austerity and economic policy springs to mind. One definition goes: “In economic policy, austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both.”

That’s a little puzzling as the current government is going for spending cuts and tax cuts. So, I head to a local source for more details.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Treasury website serves up an invitation to a guest lecture in 2016 by David Stuckler, an Oxford University professor of political economy and sociology and author of The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills.

Professor Stuckler finds that, when faced with similar crises, the health of some societies – like Iceland – improves, while that of others, such as Greece, deteriorates. Depending on how your country rolls, austerity can be seriously bad for your health, he argues.

The preview reads: “We can prevent financial crises from becoming epidemics, but to do so, we must acknowledge what the hard data tells us: that, throughout history, there is a causal link between the strength of a community’s health and its social protection systems.”

As each day brings more news of job cuts in the public services and financial crisis in the private sector, there is a sense of “cuts at any cost” and that maybe, the Coalition Government is not paying sufficient attention to social protection systems or the mental health of its people, already under pressure after three years of COVID-19. The handling of the cuts has been an exercise in poor HR for a leadership that considers itself boardroom material.

Funding cuts to disability services were rudely announced on social media; repeal of the smokefree legislation played to a narrative of corporates over people, health and safety laws are in the firing line and fair-pay agreements were gone by sundown.

Then there is the psychic attack on Māori through the demotion of te reo, denigration of co-governance and, in the health sector, the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora.

At least two ministers – disability minister Penny Simmonds and broadcasting minister Melissa Lee – have displayed a rude lack of empathy as cuts have affected folk covered by their portfolios.

Staying in Wellington recently for the National Rural Health Conference, the usual joyous nature of the meeting was replaced by an air of uncertainty – not just due to the precariousness of rural practices and communities, but also its location, ground zero for the public service cuts.

Austerity is a policy, an economic model with no guaranteed outcomes. I’m no expert, but I know it is a choice, and as Professor Stuckler has discovered, it does not have to be a killer. Austerity can be delivered in a way that does not drive despair. At the moment, it feels as though it has been cut with indifference.