Brash pledges tougher rules for beneficiaries

Don Brash

Last year it was race relations and it proved a big hit -- this year it is beneficiaries.


National leader Don Brash returned to the Orewa Rotary Club north of Auckland -- the scene of last year's triumphant "one law for all" speech -- with welfare firmly in his sights.


He pledged to make the unemployed work for their benefit, mums with school-aged children on the Domestic Purpose Benefit (DPB) go to work, and to tighten up on sickness/invalids benefits.


Dr Brash said low-income working New Zealanders often found themselves no better off than beneficiary neighbours.


"Why should Kiwi families battling to get ahead in life, working hard and coping with the pressures of raising a family and paying off the mortgage, all at their own expense, have to support numerous people who are not making a similar effort, or who have substantially contributed to the unenviable situation they find themselves in?" he asked.


"What has happened to personal responsibility?"


Dr Brash said National would:


* Work to reduce the number of beneficiaries from over 300,000 to 200,000 in a decade;


* introduce a three-month trial period for jobs when either the worker or boss can opt out to better provide opportunities for beneficiaries perceived as "risky";


* conduct numeracy and literacy assessments of those seeking the dole and arrange education for those who need it;


* implement better medical evaluations for sickness and invalid benefit applicants;


* after a period allowed for job search, require unemployment beneficiaries to do community work or retrain. This policy would focus initially on those under 25 and on long-term unemployed;


* require that under all but exceptional circumstances DPB recipients name the father of their child or face a significantly higher financial penalty that at present;


* require those on the DPB to do part-time work, retraining or community service as soon as their youngest child starts school. When the youngest turns 14 the commitment becomes full-time;,


* make health and dental checks and vaccinations for preschool children mandatory (unless sincere objections are held) to get a benefit. It would also be a condition that they ensure school-age children attend school.


Dr Brash said changes were not about saving money but noted more than $5 billion a year, or $2500 for every worker, went on the four main benefits and supplements.


"The real benefits that will flow from defeating dependency will be the increased self-esteem and self confidence among beneficiaries and most especially among their children."


Quoting Work and Income figures he said of the 300,000 working-aged adults on benefits, about 109,000 were on the DPB, 79,000 on the unemployment benefit and 119,000 on invalids' and sickness benefits.


"Add in the children of these adults and we are talking about more than the equivalent of Christchurch and Dunedin combined."


The welfare system was no longer a short term help in bad times, he said.


"Clearly, over the last 30 years an entrenched welfare culture has been allowed to emerge in this country, all too often accompanied by crime and family violence."


He blamed the system rather than the people, saying many beneficiaries were great parents. However some people saw benefits as a "free lunch".


Comparing himself to the first Labour prime minister Michael Joseph Savage, who he called a fiscal and moral conservative, Dr Brash said they both saw welfare as a temporary measure.


He also referred to past Maori leader, Sir Apirana Ngata's fears about the effect of welfare on Maori.


Maori were singled out, with Dr Brash noting they represented almost 40 per cent of women on the DPB. Nearly a third of all Maori children were benefit dependent and almost three quarters of Maori births were to unmarried mothers.


"It is idle to pretend this is anything but a disastrous trend," he said.


Strengthening families, education and making non-custodial parents pay their share, while providing better access were ways of reducing DPB reliance. But there needed to be less tolerance for benefit abuse, especially when working parents had less children than they wanted for financial reasons.


"Not having a job in today's buoyant economy is not an excuse; having many more children than you can afford is not bad luck."


Dr Brash said exceptional circumstances would have to be demonstrated before women who continued to have children on the DPB got the money.


The increase of sickness and invalids beneficiaries was concerning -- up 40 per cent since 1999 -- and National would require better medical evaluations. In comparison, however, the unemployment figure at the end of last year was 62,510 compared to 158,619 in 1999.


Social Development and Employment Minister Steve Maharey today announced a programme to provide second opinions for doctors accessing patients for sickness or invalid benefits -- but denied it was a reaction to Dr Brash's speech .


However, Dr Brash said the Government had "tinkered" and the whole system needed changing.


"A healthy society is one where people take responsibility for their own, and their children's lives as well as showing care and compassion for their neighbours. That will always be the best way forward for New Zealand as a nation," Dr Brash concluded.


- NZPA