Critics say scrapping dole would send NZ back to 1930s

The call by National finance spokesman Don Brash to scrap the dole would increase poverty and send New Zealand spiralling back to Depression-era servitude, his political opponents said today.

The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and New Zealand's largest union, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), also said Dr Brash was advocating failed policies of the past.

However, the ACT party and National's social services spokeswoman Katherine Rich said Dr Brash was right to call for welfare reform.

In a speech yesterday to Orewa Rotary Club, Dr Brash said 300,000 of the 400,000 working age adults on a benefit were able to work but did not do so for one reason or another despite the desperate shortage of workers in many parts of the country.

He recalled talking to a Maori leader in south Auckland in the early 1990s when unemployment was higher than at present.

"She told me that, in her opinion, the only way to solve Maori unemployment was to abolish the unemployment benefit completely.

"I don't believe that could be done in isolation but it might well be done in conjunction with other measures, such as having local governments become employers of last resort -- offering a job to anyone who turned up at, say, the local post office at 8am with payment for that day's work at the end of the day, in cash.

"Too many people see benefits as an absolute and indefinite entitlement, carrying no reciprocal obligation to actively seek employment," Dr Brash said.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said Dr Brash seemed to have forgotten that it was him "and his ilk" who closed post offices years ago.

Dr Brash's latest economic recipe was a "giant leap backwards" to the social and economic disasters of the Labour and National governments of the 1980s and early 1990s, Mr Peters said.

Progressive Coalition deputy leader Matt Robson said getting rid of the unemployment benefit would see poverty increase.

A commitment to training and employment would help those without jobs "not Depression-type filling in hole programmes supported by Brash".

Green MP Sue Bradford said Dr Brash was proposing to take the country "back to the 1930s".

"He's calling for a fresh look at social welfare but he's 70 years out of date."

CTU president Ross Wilson said Dr Brash was advocating failed policies of the past which created large gaps between rich and poor.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said New Zealand had a shortage of skilled workers because of the policies championed by Dr Brash.

National social services spokeswoman Katherine Rich said there was no suggestion in Dr Brash's speech of the "complete dismantling of the welfare system".

"Dr Brash's speech suggests looking at the role of the unemployment benefit, but clearly states that the removal of any such support couldn't be done in isolation."

She endorsed his call for welfare reform, although she has said the unemployment benefit had a legitimate role and was there for people who were between jobs or needed a bit of assistance while searching for work.

ACT welfare spokesman Muriel Newman said while New Zealand had "a very real problem with entrenched welfare dependency, abolishing the unemployment benefit is not the right way to go".

Welfare reform were needed, she said.

Beneficiaries needed organised days to help them develop skills and habits for the workforce, assistance with childcare, transport and relocation to overcome barriers to work, and "we should also be introducing time limits on benefits to create a sense of urgency."

- NZPA