Actively employed woman Brooke van Velden bravely stops pay equity for women.

Brooke van Velden ushers in yet another roadblock for struggling workers across the country.

---

Behind the Panels

This cartoon is a homage to the famous World War II Poster that was created to boost female worker morale, and was later re-appropriated to promote feminism, especially women's rights in the workforce. I decided it was fitting to put Brooke van Velden in a dark dystopian version of this iconic poster, after she reversed New Zealand’s pay equity movement in one fell swoop.

After throwing trans women under the bus in the name of “supporting women”, the Coalation Government that apparently cares so much about the wellbeing of women that it’s willing to waste millions of dollars on a pointless bill to “define” what one is, this week has declared it’s not willing to waste any more money working to achieve pay equity and settle pay equity claims.

The government announced yesterday that it had, under urgency, undertaken a massive overhaul of New Zealand’s pay equity regime, making it more difficult for people (mainly women) to take pay equity claims.

And when I say “under urgency,” I mean all within 24 hours, without any consultation from the voting public or any other agency, as Sarah Pallet bleakly summarised:

This isn’t just showing blatant disregard for women, but also continues a trend from this government that shows a general disdain for workers, especially those on lower wages. This is just the latest in a series of roll backs and cuts that directly hurt the woking class, which thus far has included cutting living wage protections, cutting sick leave for part-time workers, and raising the minimum wage by an insulting 35 cents - all during a cost of living crisis it swore it would solve.

And a lot of this has been ushered in by ACT Deputy Leader, and Ironic portfolio holder, Brooke van Velden, Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety. You’d think she’d have an ethical line drawn deep down inside her that she wouldn’t cross, standing up for women, allowing them to make progress for FAIR AND EQUITABLE PAY. But she proudly ushered it in, and not she, nor any National, NZ First, or ACT woman MPs made a peep.

I hope we all can remember this moment, and also take time to think about workers such as Kristine Bartlett, whose pay equity case created the (now reversed) regime, and all those workers whose cases will now have to be scrapped and started again: “Nobody is given a chance to stand up and say anything - it’s just done. It’s getting quite frightening if that’s what they can do.”

Next year, during the run-up to the election, I hope Brooke and ACT can be a little clearer with their political beliefs and goals, and just come out rocking a Paris Hilton classic:

---

If you liked this comic, the write-ups, and mahi, and want to support, consider becoming a paid subscriber to this Substack! I offer weekly political comics as well as original non-political comics exclusively for paid subscribers, You can hear the full pitch here.

Or check out my store, which features prints of some of my classic comics and my latest book, Slices of Heaven: Uniquely Kiwi Comics about Aotearoa! It’s a print collection of warm and witty comics about the DNA of Aotearoa, celebrating our quirks, institutions, identity, and shared experiences.