Welfare Working Group report very light on detail
new-zealand-labour-party
Wed Nov 24 2010 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Welfare Working Group report very light on detail
Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 2:19 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Annette King
Social Development Spokesperson
24 November 2010 Media Statement
Welfare Working Group report very light on detail
The New Zealand public will have to wait for yet another report from the Paula Bennett-commissioned Welfare Working Group before getting a steer on National, Act and the Māori Party’s plans for the welfare system, Labour’s Social Development spokesperson Annette King said today.
The 125-page report issued today restates what the WWG has already floated numerous times before but contains no recommendations, Annette King said.
“The report simply provides options from the status quo to the extreme, alongside a series of motherhood and apple pie statements on how work is good for you and how intergenerational welfare is damaging for families.
“While it does not tell us anything new, or provide any detailed analysis or costings, the report does acknowledge as ‘key components of a strong benefit system’ many of the things that this government has scrapped since it came to power,” Annette King said.
“For example, the report identifies the importance of providing incentives and assistance into work – such as training incentives, good childcare, childcare allowances and support – and early intervention though things like intensive case management.
“National has cut the Training Incentive Allowance, making study more difficult for student mums; made it harder to access childcare subsidies, made huge cuts to ECE and slashed intensive case management roles in Work and Income offices.
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“The report also says there should be clear expectations that beneficiaries look for work in return for their benefits – again nothing new – but also identifies that job vacancies must first exist for beneficiaries to go to.
“But where are these jobs? In the past two years National has done nothing to create jobs and unemployment is forecast to remain high. We’ve seen from long queues of job applicants that most unemployed people are desperate to find work.
“Paula Bennett must come clean on what exactly she and the WWG mean by ‘long term welfare dependency’. Does that include mums who care for young children, people with long-term mental health issues and people with severe disabilities? If not, who is in and who is out?
“The group is due to report to the Government following a short consultation period over the Christmas break. We will have to wait till then for the answers to these and other questions,” Annette King said.
ENDS
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