Chronology for 1938-1971
Assimilating into universal welfare
Labour’s policies were underpinned by a principle of universality and a vision of the nation as a classless community. Rich, middle-class and poor were linked by the same national system of state support and social services; superannuation, however small, was to be available to every aged person who was not already on another benefit and was an important symbol of citizenship. The ‘system as a whole was removed from ‘the taint of charity’ and became a source of national pride’.[i] go to footnote
This was a period of great demographic change for iwi Māori with the mass migration of its rural population to the cities of New Zealand. The need for workers in essential industries and the post-war labour boom provided rangatahi and whānau Māori with ample employment, 'incomes that were almost equal to those of Pākehā, and access to family welfare benefits that boosted the incomes of large families by around 50 percent.'[ii] go to footnote However, the financial rewards were offset by one or both parents working long hours to cover the costs of city living and it exposed Māori to discrimination. The Department of Māori Affairs played a welfare role in the lives of whānau Māori during this period, with a policy of integrating Māori into the social fabric of ‘mainstream’ New Zealand society. Through housing allocation policies attempts were made to pepper pot Māori in Pākehā suburban streets.[iii] go to footnote Young Māori women who moved to the cities for essential industry work or single rangatahi simply moving to the city for work opportunities were directed into hostels.
Before the 1950s, child welfare agencies endeavoured to keep Māori children with their families or in their own tribal area.[iv] go to footnote In the 1950s, Māori became a disproportionate minority in all areas of child welfare work with a steady growth in Māori juvenile delinquency with recorded Māori offending at three or four times the rate of Pākehā, particularly in the 15–20 age.[v] go to footnote
Chronology events
Displaying 131 - 140 of 270 events.
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Introduction of integrated schools
The separate Māori school system administered by the Department of Education was abolished. Management of the 105 Māori primary schools and remaining Māori district high schools was transferred to Education Board control. Māori high schools had been closin…
Date: 1969 Period: 1938-1971 -
Juvenile Crime Prevention Section renamed
The section was now known as the Youth Aid Section.[i]
Date: 1969 Period: 1938-1971 -
Status of Children Act
This Act eroded ex-nuptial v nuptial distinctions, dispensed with the term illegitimacy, and suggested a focus on the child as a child rather than a member of a larger unit.[i]
Date: 1969 Period: 1938-1971 -
Child Welfare Division national survey results released
Results of an extensive national survey initiated in 1967 were released. Results showed that Pasifika children and young people had started to be a disproportionate minority in child welfare services. Two or three in every 10,000 children under the age of …
Date: 1970 Period: 1938-1971 -
The Māori Purposes Act
Amended section 25 of the 1962 Act and altered the NZMC’s funding arrangements by replacing the pound-for-pound subsidy system on money raised by Māori Associations with the payment of a Minister-approved annual grant. The NZMC had raised the issue of its …
Date: 1970 Period: 1938-1971 -
Joint ‘J’ Teams
Set up to support young Māori in cities. Included Police, Child Welfare, Māori Affairs and voluntary groups (disbanded in 1980).[i]
Date: 1971 Period: 1938-1971 -
Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Housing
‘The Commission of Inquiry into Housing released its report and recommendations. This was a wide-ranging inquiry and the Commission made 114 recommendations. These included that: Polynesians should be housed in very small, dispersed groups and that large …
Date: 1971 Period: 1938-1971 -
Department of Social Welfare established
Child Welfare Division joined with the Social Security Department in a ‘forced marriage’ to become the Department of Social Welfare.[i] A 1972 report, New Zealand’s first comprehensive inquiry into child abuse, indicated there was relatively little child …
Date: 1972 Period: 1972-1989 -
Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit opened
The Unit operated for six years but children and young people may have been treated in Lake Alice prior to the unit being opened.[i]
Date: 1972 Period: 1972-1989 -
National Housing Commission
The Commission undertook its last major survey of serious housing need in 1988. This survey comprised half of New Zealand’s population representing the areas considered to have the most housing need. In these areas, it was estimated that 17,500 households …
Date: 1972 Period: 1972-1989
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content Tim Garlick, Social Developments: An organizational history of the Ministry of Social Development and its predecessors, 1860-2011, Steele Roberts Aotearoa, Wellington, 2012, p.70.
- [ii] go to main content Melissa Matutina Williams, Panguru and the City, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2010, p. 195.
- [iii] go to main content Urbanisation – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- [iv] go to main content Bronwyn Dalley, Family Matters, Wellington, 1998, p. 6.
- [v] go to main content Dalley, 1998, p. 192.