We want a system that truly cares for all.

Not a system that gives more to those who have more.

We want a system designed in true partnership under Te Tiriti, as a bridge towards tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake.

Not a monocultural system devised primarily by high-income Pākehā for Pākehā, as shown in Covid’s ‘two-tier welfare’.

We want a system where we all look out for each other.

Not a system that discourages high earners to have solidarity with those of us in low incomes.

We want a system that acknowledges caregiving, and allows sole parents and their families to thrive.

Not a system which ignores the “wage scarring” of leaving toxic relationships and keeping children safe and well.

We want a system that enables disabled people to live in dignity, and to fall in love while keeping their independence.

Not a system that increases their disability by keeping them below the poverty line and makes them choose between financial vulnerability or loneliness.

We want a system where everybody who has a life-limiting illness is free of the need to work, and has loved ones around them.

Not a system which will let only a few high income earners have this privilege.

We want a system where all work – paid and unpaid – is valued, where paid work is secure with good conditions, and where employers acknowledge the psychological as well as financial effect of being laid-off, and therefore avoid redundancies wherever possible, and offer universal redundancy payments, where lay-offs are unavoidable.

Not a system where employers are encouraged to see employees as expendable.

We want a system where all people are enabled to retrain and supported to find ways to participate in their communities without being coerced into paid work.

Not a system where only some potential paid workers are offered such opportunities, and everybody is required to jump through hoops in a low-trust model with punitive sanctions.

We want a transformative welfare system co-created with whānau, hapū and iwi, and alongside a thriving union movement and beneficiary advocacy groups.

Not a system of further oppression designed behind closed doors.

We need Liveable Incomes – to ensure that everybody can live in dignity, whether or not it is appropriate or possible for them to participate in paid work.

The main issue with our current broken system that NZII is attempting to address is that if you have a partner who is in fulltime paid work, you are almost always ineligible to receive a main benefit yourself. This means that many people who lose their jobs miss out, and people receiving benefits because they are disabled and/or because they are looking after children or loved ones are effectively barred from forming supportive partnerships. Ensuring partners can access benefits is a fairer way to fix this than NZII.

We need Universal Services – to ensure that everybody, regardless of income, has access to good services, including childcare, training, public transport, electricity, housing and food.