(^12) • VOCABLE Du 11 juillet au 4 septembre 2019 facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C
Société I^ Santé^ I^ NOUVELLE-ZÉLANDE^ I^ ^ B2-C
NEW ZEALANDERS
WELCOME WELLBEING
BUDGET
New Zealand's economic plan to bring happiness to the
poor (wellbeing mental and physical comfort)
On May 30, the government of New Zealand, led by Jacinda Ardern, unveiled its “wellbeing
budget”, providing for, among other things, an increase in public spending for mental health. This
is the first time that a western country has based its national budget on the wellbeing of its
citizens. How have new Zealanders reacted to this announcement?
P
ensioner Garry Harvey lived in Aus-
tralia for decades before returning home
to a tidy council flat in South Dunedin earlier this
year. The socio-economically deprived suburb at
the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island is in
the crosshairs of the nation’s fi rst-ever “wellbeing
budget”, a radical economic plan for the country
devised by Jacinda Ardern to improve the lives of
the poorest citizens. - For the first time the annual budget puts social
wellbeing indicators ahead of GDP when it comes
to spending decisions. From now on, the health
of New Zealand will not be measured by growth
alone, but instead by the overall wellbeing and
prosperity of its nearly 5 million people. It is a tall
order. New Zealand has the highest youth suicide
rate in the OECD, the fourth highest rate of fam-
ily violence and diseases of poverty seen no-where
else in the developed world. - Harvey, 67, a gruff but loquacious former sea-
man, hopes the wellbeing budget will transform
THE GUA R DI A N ELEANOR AINGE ROY
his suburb, where many locals battle mental
health issues and crime is prevalent. He returned
to New Zealand from Australia because of rising
racism, and says his native country is now more
“equitable” than its neighbour across the Tasman
Sea. “It was a good start, because you can’t get all
your Christmas crackers in one day,” he says. “I
felt hopeful. There is so much more money for
mental health, which is good as gold. And there
is a big new hospital.” PRIORITIES
- When finance minister Grant Robertson an-
nounced the budget in May he said it would make
New Zealand “both a great place to make a living,
and a great place to make a life.” Vicky Freeman,
40, who appeared on the front of the budget
document with her daughter Ruby-Jean, says the
priorities of the budget are “solid”; a record
NZ$1.9bn for mental health, NZ$1bn for child
wellness, and a record NZ$320m to combat do-
mestic and family violence.
CRITICS
- But the praise has not been universal. At Child
Poverty Action Group, which campaigns on
behalf of more than a quarter of New Zealand
children who live in income poverty, there was
disappointment. Spokeswoman Jeni Cart-
wright described the budget’s mental health
focus as “an ambulance at the bottom of the
cliff”; that instead of tackling entrenched pov-
erty issues in New Zealand, it was throwing
money at the end result of long-term, inter-
generational deprivation. - While Harvey remains “hopeful” about the
government’s commitment to helping the
country’s most vulnerable people, he remains
concerned that structural change – such as the
introduction of a capital gains tax – have been
ruled out by Ardern. “I agree with putting
money into a wellbeing budget but they are
periphery things,” says Harvey. “This country
is run by the rich to exploit the poor and let’s
face it, and say it, and plan for it.” - Robertson admits inter-generational trans-
formation will take decades, but the building
blocks of changing New Zealanders lives from
the bottom up have now been put in place. l - pensioner person who no longer works because of old
age and receives a pension / decade period of ten years /
council flat apartment owned by social housing /
deprived underprivileged, poor / suburb residential area
outside the centre of a city / in the crosshairs of target,
centre of interest (of) / to devise to create. - ahead of before / GDP = gross domestic product /
spending budget, expenditure / from now on in the future
(from this moment) / growth economic development /
overall general, global / tall order enormous task which is
difficult to accomplish / rate percentage, proportion / OECD
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development / disease illness. - gruff abrupt, rough / former ex- / seaman sailor /
issue problem / prevalent common, widespread / rising
increasing / Christmas cracker decorated paper tube
with a joke, a hat and a small present inside which is pulled
by two people at the beginning of a Christmas dinner
which creates a small bang / hopeful full of hope,
optimistic / to be good as gold to be excellent.- to make, made, made a living to earn money to live /
bn = billion (one thousand million) / wellness
well-being. - praise expression of approval / to campaign to fight
for a cause /
on behalf of for / income poverty economic poverty
(income revenue) / disappointment regret,
dissatisfaction / spokeswoman representative / focus
centre of interest, here, priority / cliff high precipice / to
tackle to deal with, to address / entrenched deeply-
rooted / deprivation pover t y.- to remain to continue (to be) / commitment promise
/ concerned worried, preoccupied / capital gains tax
levy taken on profit made from an investment / to rule
out to exclude from consideration / to run, ran, run to
govern. - building block foundation.
New Zealand Prime Minister,
Jacinda Ardern. (Mark Coote/The New
Yo r k T i m e s)NIVEAU BASIQUE DU SUPPLÉMENT SONORE
Author and illustrator Nikki Slade Robinson shares her take on
the New Zealand health care system. Things are looking up on
the other side of the globe. You'll hear it all on the Basic recording!
CD audio ou téléchargement MP3 (sur abonnement)AA 12-806-Isa.indd 12 27/06/2019 17: