Head of welfare group makes basic factual errors

The head of Labour's 'expert' group set up to review the welfare system needs to get up to speed quickly, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

Talking to Newstalk ZB's Chris Lynch on Monday morning, Professor Cindy Kiro made a number of basic factual errors.

“Kiro claimed that ‘sole parents constitute…less than 2 per cent of benefit dependants’ when they actually make up 22 per cent of benefit dependants.

“She went on to say that ‘New Zealand was the first country in the world to have the Social Security Act.’ In fact, the United States passed their own Social Security Act in 1935 - three years earlier than New Zealand.

“When asked what had happened to poverty since 2003 - when she was first appointed Children's Commissioner - the professor said that ‘overall the situation is worse.’

“The official source for poverty statistics shows otherwise. The Household Incomes Report states that there is ‘no evidence of any increasing depth of relative income poverty over the last two decades.’

“Ms Kiro wants a welfare system that supports ‘without too many of the judgements’. The fewer obligations, the better.

“The kind of welfare system that Ms Kiro proposes will be popular with those who use it, but not with those who fund it”, says Mr Seymour.

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