benefits

In our land of plenty

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:21 pm, February 21st, 2011 - 55 comments

Look past the tattered remains of Brand Key and the Nats have not changed in the past 20 years. They still don’t have a clue how to create a wealthier New Zealand but they know how to hurt people. As in the 1990s, they are falling back on bashing people who are jobless through no fault of their own. This clip from ‘In a Land of Plenty’ deserves to be watched again.

The Nats’ useful bludger myth

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:30 pm, February 16th, 2011 - 14 comments

Under Labour, when there was effectively full employment, there were still 1,700 people who had been continuously on the dole for over 4 years. I was prepared to accept most of these were ‘bludgers’. Turns out I was too cynical. Paula Bennett found only 658 were ineligible. Werewolf has an excellent article busting more benefit myths.

Key’s long-term unemployment record

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 3:32 pm, February 9th, 2011 - 38 comments

John Key has taken a swing at Kiwi workers who have lost their jobs thanks to the bankers’ recession and his economic mis-management. Key claims people are choosing to be long-term beneficiaries “even though work is available to them”. But the jobs aren’t there and that has caused long-term unemployment to explode under his watch.

Ministerial review: poverty

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:22 am, January 6th, 2011 - 26 comments

When was the last time that John Key mentioned the ‘underclass’? In his Statement to Parliament at the start of last year – after Eddie called him out on never talking about the underclass – but he didn’t actually read that part of the statement. So, what has Key actually done for the underclass that he purported to care for so much? Nothing. He’s let poverty worsen.

National Attacks Vulnerable Children

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 7:25 am, December 14th, 2010 - 22 comments

National are consistently attacking the vulnerable in society – those who cannot fight back and complain. This is where a lot of their cuts are aimed at – those who need it most. Be it in health, education or welfare.

And in several recent health and education National cuts have hurt the most vulnerable – our children.  Not just the massive ECE cuts of Tolley, but cuts hurting those at the bottom even more.

If you remember the 60s you weren’t there

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:42 am, December 12th, 2010 - 92 comments

Deborah Coddington, trying to justify leaving solo mums and their kids with no state support, says: “I’m nearly 60 and my generation were at it like rabbits when we were teenagers but there weren’t masses of teenage pregnancies because there was no DPB. You couldn’t raise a child on your own, therefore few women got pregnant.” A quick fact check.

The new economy: tax & redistribution

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:13 am, December 7th, 2010 - 135 comments

The other week we talked about what a new economic order should look like, following the neoliberal experiment’s resoundingly failure. Sustainability and fairness need to be at the heart of the system. Government acts on the economy through law, taxation and income redistribution, and as market player. Let’s start with tax and redistribution.

Welfare working group follows the formula

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:17 pm, November 25th, 2010 - 40 comments

I’m not going to waste a lot of time on the Welfare Working Group’s report. It follows the Brash-esque formula of mis-representing the issue as some massive problem and then presenting ‘solutions’ that have failed overseas. Like the Brash reports, it will be used by the Nats for bait and switch, making their actual cuts seem moderate by comparison.

Tax Cuts or High Wages?

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 9:00 am, October 27th, 2010 - 17 comments

At the last election we chose tax cuts and unemployment instead of stimulus and stability – which was the more ambitious, high wage way to go?

National are not fulfilling their government’s core reason for existence: closing the wage gap with Australia.  No, we’re fast going backwards on that score, and it’s predictable: high unemployment causes low wages.

Solo parent bashing

Written By: r0b - Date published: 8:34 am, September 28th, 2010 - 101 comments

Life isn’t hard enough already for solo parents, according to the Nats.  So they’re going to make it harder.

NZ’s biggest welfare beneficiary revealed in shock horror Herald exclusive expose’

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:45 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 22 comments

To find out who it is, click here.
Will this individual’s personal file be read out in Parliament by Paula Bennett?
Will this beneficiary’s sex life be investigated by WINZ as grounds for disqualification?

Failure by the numbers

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:19 pm, August 24th, 2010 - 2 comments

Average number of people on the dole in the 21 months before Paula Bennett came to office – 22600
Average number of people on the dole in the 21 months since Paula Bennett came to office – 52200
Fiscal cost of extra people on the dole (welfare payments and lost tax) – approximately $1 billion
Money in this year’s budget for jobs initiatives – $31 million

The cycleway & the coming benefit cuts

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:24 am, August 12th, 2010 - 42 comments

Attacking beneficiaries won’t solve the real problems. There aren’t enough jobs, the recession is not really over. Rather than dealing with that, this government is carving off an ever large slice of our shrinking national wealth for their rich buddies. The poor and the jobless are turned into figures of public spite by a government of the rich which will cut to their meagre benefits will be pay for tax cuts for the rich.

Tory welfare bashing

Written By: r0b - Date published: 7:30 am, August 10th, 2010 - 100 comments

If the political world can be split into Left and Right, is there any issue which is better at dividing us than welfare? Inevitably, the Tory attack on welfare has begun. The Rebstock report “dutifully deliver[s] the findings the government wants to hear”.

Welfare debate already ugly

Written By: r0b - Date published: 6:15 am, June 10th, 2010 - 74 comments

According to Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, the welfare debate could get nasty: “we may even see an ugly side of New Zealand”. Well here’s a newsflash – the welfare debate is already ugly. The Nats have worked long and hard to make it ugly. Paula Bennett the ugly side of New Zealand is you.