Carmel
SEPULONI
Social Development Spokesperson
15 September 2015 MEDIA STATEMENT
Government doubles down on underfunding social services
The Government will continue its chronic underfunding of social services, with today’s Productivity Commission report
recommending more of the same failed strategy, says Social Development spokesperson Carmel Sepuloni.
“Yesterday, the Auditor General pledged to investigate whether the current model is providing enough support to our
NGOs. Today, the Government looks set to continue with that agenda regardless of its impact.
“The Productivity Commission recommended pushing ahead with the Community Investment Strategy which has led to
persistent underfunding of NGOs.
“With NGOs reporting they are struggling to stay afloat and major organisations like Relationships Aoteroa forced to
shut their doors, now is the time for new thinking.
“The Government’s so called social investment approach isn’t about better outcomes – it’s about forcing our social
services to do more with less. It’s not sustainable and it puts our most vulnerable at risk.
“We need new ideas to support our NGOs and social services. Continuing what we are doing isn’t the answer,” says Carmel
Sepuloni.