Backdoor benefit cuts will hurt kids
green-party
Tue Feb 22 2011 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Backdoor benefit cuts will hurt kids
Tuesday, 22 February 2011, 2:22 pm
Press Release: Green Party
22 February 2011
Backdoor benefit cuts will hurt kids
The recommendations of the Welfare Working Group would spell disaster for many vulnerable children if adopted, the Green Party said today.
“Forcing sole parents to work when their youngest child is three and cutting off their benefit if they don’t comply will punish children and entrench the growing gap between those who have the most, and those who need the most,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said.
Mrs Turei was commenting on the release of the Welfare Working Group’s final report today.
“John Key’s Government is right to highlight child poverty as a major problem in New Zealand, but if these recommendations are adopted, the problem will get worse and the gaps will get wider,” Mrs Turei said.
“Children whose parents have their benefit cut off because they can’t comply with new work-test requirements will be plunged into dire circumstances. If this recommendation is adopted, those children will be cast onto the economic scrap-heap.
“There is ample evidence that having a full-time parent in the early years produces the best outcomes for child health and wellbeing.
“Forcing the children of sole parents into childcare at age three – or worse, three months – while the children of two-parent families continue to enjoy full-time parenting, would entrench existing disadvantage.
“What’s more, the Government’s Early Childhood Education cuts mean that childcare has become unaffordable for many. It makes no sense to force parents into minimum wage jobs, when it means they don’t see their kids and they’re no better off financially after paying for childcare,” Mrs Turei said.
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Mrs Turei said other recommendations were equally unacceptable, including work testing people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and moving to a single benefit set at the level of the unemployment benefit.
“Establishing a single benefit is not dissimilar to the Green Party’s policy of a universal base rate with add-ons for specific circumstances, but when it is set at the rate of the unemployment benefit, it will mean a benefit cut for many. Someone who currently qualifies for the Invalids’ Benefit may not qualify for the second tier support proposed by the Welfare Working Group, and will end up trying to make ends meet with significantly less income.
“There are many people with illnesses and impairments who would love to work if suitable, flexible work was available, but the reality is that there is not.
“Setting a numerical target of 100,000 people on welfare will encourage Work and Income staff to move people off benefits at all costs, instead of investing in individualised support to find them appropriate jobs.
“The Government’s unrelenting focus on work in its welfare changes is absurd in a climate of rising unemployment and returning recession.
“The Government has been looking for jobs for three years and failed. Without jobs for people to go to, these changes will plunge thousands into deeper poverty.
“We need real job creation and a minimum wage set at a liveable level, not the punitive welfare shake-up proposed in this report,” Mrs Turei said.
ENDS
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