City Voice: Standing up for sole parents

A MIRAMAR real estate agent who spent eight years on the domestic purposes benefit, Linda Dring, has agreed to stand for Future NZ in Rongotai.

Dring has brought up her children, now aged 20 and 18, alone for 18 years. Her first thought when she started thinking about politics during the 1996 election was the need for a support group for single parents.

She now believes that Future NZ would have the same effect, with policies such as a family care giver’s allowance and educating children about parenthood.

Her personal view is that the phase-out rates at which benefits are reduced if you get a job also need to be changed. “It has to be worth (going to work),” she says.

She says that although Future NZ has evolved from Graeme Lee’s Christian Democrats, it is “moving away from fundamentalist Christian things”.

It would not change the present laws on abortion or homosexuality.

Instead, it would adopt the Labour and Alliance policy of reducing state house rents to 25% of tenants’ incomes. It would allow tax deductions for private health insurance premiums, and would increase deductibility for donations to charities.

• Contact Linda Dring, 934 3175.

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