The original intent of the welfare state was to take good care of the truly vulnerable who are unable to provide for themselves, and be a temporary safety net to help get those with no other means of support back on their feet. But today welfare blights the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders.
Consider these appalling facts:
• Total (working age) on welfare: 362,000
• Children in benefit dependent homes: 220,000
• % of Maori population on welfare: 31%
• Youth unemployment: 16.8% (Maori: 25.5%)
• Maori women as proportion of DPB: 41%
• Total spending on benefits: $6.5b
• Drug use among beneficiaries: 1 in 3
Our welfare system is broken. It is failing those who most need help especially people with mental health issues and serious disabilities, trapping people who need only temporary support. It must be reformed so it does what was originally intended.
In the last Parliamentary term, with ACT’s pressure and support, the Government:
• Extended the 90-day trial period to all firms to encourage employment
• Is opening up ACC to competition to improve services and help reduce benefit fraud
• Undertook a comprehensive review of welfare and is now preparing to adopt the recommendations of the Welfare Working Group
ACT will continue to push for major welfare reform. A Party Vote for ACT is a vote to:
• Ensure that there is strong, adequate support for the genuinely needy;
• Re-introduce a youth training rate or minimum wage;
• Introduce obligations for sole parent beneficiaries to ensure their children are properly cared for including taking budgeting instruction and meeting regular health checks;
• Introduce sanctions – such as suspension of the unemployment benefit and mandatory work-for-the-dole – in cases where reasonable offers of employment are declined;
• Require mandatory drug rehabilitation or loss of benefit for unemployed beneficiaries who fail work tests because of drug or substance addiction;
• Introduce income management and the requirement to live with a responsible adult for parents under the age of 18;
• Have independent, government-approved gatekeeping and assessment of applicants for the sickness and invalids benefit, and six monthly reassessment of sickness beneficiaries;
• Outsource all employment placement activities to private sector providers and foster a competitive market for sickness, invalid and employment insurance;
• Encourage practical Maori-focused solutions, including Whanau Ora, to lift Maori out of poverty and benefit dependency;
• Introduce a hotline (like Crimestoppers) to report benefit fraud;
• Cut welfare payments to middle and upper income earners through reform of Working for Families.