My grandmother, Wairemana knew very few words in English, three I recall were Michael Joseph Savavage. Someone asked me recenty,Why? I remember those thee words as well. Why?
For a start she and Rimaha received the new government's unversal old age pension. There then,only Pakeha were the recipients of the benefits. For me, Labour under Peter Fraser as Education Minister, universalised secondary schooling by putting buses on remote rural roads that took me, and thousands of others to high schools some thirty ot forty milrd away.
In 1938 they were uplifted by a government that cared. The passing of the Social Security Act on September 14, 1938, was a great moment in New Zealand's history. The Act made free healthcare and a decent standard of living for everyone the symbols of a civilised society, and rekindled New Zealand's reputation as a social laboratory. Labour gave rise to hope and opportunity to a people who had fallen on bad times. The public welcomed the legislation with excitement.
The impetus for the Social Security Act 1938 derived from Labour Party principles and the public visibility of poverty in the wake of the harsh Depression years. The first Labour Government's slogan, "From each according to his means, for each according to his needs", made sense when the chanciness of life was clear, and the scale of the Depression took the personal blame away from poverty.
The large number of people who had to resort to charity proved that this recourse was insufficient and above all else demeaning. Only the state could provide a solution that was centralised, efficient and comprehensive. The Social Security Act guaranteed in law that certain needs would be matched by regular payments and provide dignity for recipients.
Michael Joseph Savage provided an open face for reform that involved a fairer redistribution of the nation's wealth. When he spoke of a better deal for "the Bottom Dog" or called social security "applied Christianity", people envisaged security rather than revolution, and lost their fears of what a Labour Government might do.
Social security extended the earlier pension system to embrace a wide range of financial hazards: sickness, invalids', deserted wives' benefits; it increased assistance for families, the aged and the unemployed. The new legislation provided equal benefits for Maori (although this took time to work out in practice), and included Lebanese, Chinese and Indian citizens who had been excluded before.
Labour's brilliant move was to include universal benefits along with means-tested benefits, thus gaining the approval of the whole community. It meant superannuation for all (though it was meagre at first) and a more generous universal family benefit from 1946. The Government could boast that social security was enjoyed in every household.
