National is looking to further privatize social services. This is very dangerous territory imo and should be done slowly and piece meal to see if it actually has merit. However with National's track record, no doubt they will charge in like the proverbial bull in a china shop. The restructure they did to DOC some 18 months ago a prime example and now realizing their 'partnerships' model is not working and splitting DOC in two was a mistake and much of the restructure is being reversed. At what cost?
Their social bond experiment with mental health is fraught with risk to some of the most vulnerable in society. Perhaps this is a good model? However I have my doubts and its experimental at least. So why not use it to try and tackle a looming problem for NZers like diabetes? Give these companies targets to reverse the very serious increase in diabetes in NZ, something that is going to be a massive cost in the years to come if not addressed. Instead National choose a group of people that don't have a strong voice to speak out and defend themselves. Its very similar to what the government is doing in the disability sector. Another group of vulnerable people that National have chosen to change funding models and its now particularly difficult for adults with disabilities or those coming out of 'child' status to 'adult' with a lot of uncertainty for people who in a lot of cases are extremely dependent and vulnerable.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/n...ectid=11468828