Challenges and opportunities identified for final report

The New Zealand Productivity Commission Te Kōmihana Whai Hua o Aotearoa has released its summary of submissions received on its interim report for the A fair chance for all: Breaking the cycle of persistent disadvantage inquiry. The inquiry looks into economic inclusion and social mobility and the shifts needed to address it to help those experiencing persistent disadvantage 

The summary of submissions highlights key themes from the submissions on our interim report and identifies challenges and recommendations we’ll need to consider for our final report.  

Submissions were received from  a range of stakeholders, including social service providers, professional industry organisations, academics and government agencies.  

We also commissioned Haemata Limited to run a series of wānanga engaging with Māori communities on the issues covered by the interim report, and the Ministry for Pacific Peoples hosted a talanoa session involving the Commission and Pacific community leaders. The summaries of these sessions are published separately below. 

The key findings or themes we heard from submitters include: 

• Communities who experience persistent disadvantage are often overlooked by the system. 
• The proposed public management system barriers (power-imbalances, discrimination, siloed government, and short-termism) were generally endorsed, with some challenges. 
• We need a system that prioritises wellbeing, is based on a person’s strengths, addresses advantage, as well as disadvantage, and is grounded in human rights. 
• The system needs to improve its accountability to people, whānau and communities 
• There was agreement that the current accountability system needs reviewing and that it needs stronger stewardship. 

• Communities could be better at addressing persistent disadvantage if properly supported. 
• The system needs to be better at learning to improve services and to better understand the people it serves. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who provided a submission and contributed research and feedback on our inquiry. We expect to publish our final report to Government by 31 May 2023. 

• Read the Summary of Submissions 
• Read individual submissions
• Read the summary of Haemata Ltd’s feedback from Māori communities 
• Read the summary of feedback from Pacific community leaders.  

Go to the main page for: Inquiry into A fair chance for all – Breaking the cycle of persistent disadvantage in New Zealand