Welfare Board Should Not Be Run As A Business

There is a collection of National Advocacy Groups in NZ including Beneficiary Advisory Service (BAS) in Christchurch. We used to consult for the Ministry on Policy matters. When we did this, we were not paid for this work because the Ministry knew we would do it for free! We did this because we believed we could genuinely help make things better for our clients, beneficiaries.

We are rather disappointed (to say the least) that the Minister has chosen to set up a board with members from the business/ finance/ insurance community. Also, including Paula Rebstock who helped make some of the worst recommendations I have ever heard, cannot be a good thing for our client group. The board is there, we understand, to make sure the investment the Ministry is making in beneficiaries comes to something (getting people into work). They are not doing this with the good intentions and ideals we had. This is not a board based on actual welfare & wellbeing but on trying to look at welfare like a business model and reduce costs. They don’t seem to understand how Welfare works. It is not about how much it costs, it is about ensuring all citizens of New Zealand have enough money to survive. Otherwise, what kind of people are we?

We agree with AAAP’s speaker, Sue Bradford when she said this is a bad time for the Government to be launching a model “based on ignorance and prejudice rather than well researched and objective policies based on facts and compassion.

What I would rather see is investment in the future – like helping ensure all children have enough to eat. If a board was to be set up, why not a board overseeing whether the welfare system helps reduce / eliminate child poverty! If groups like (BAS and other) beneficiary advocate groups, CPAG, missions and/or other groups who work with the poor formed a board, I could see really positive changes being made. Groups like ours are more likely to know what the real problems in the system are and even how to fix them.

Pity the Minister chose business over experience of working in the welfare sector and people who actually care what happens to the poor.

Rebecca Occleston, Speaker: Beneficiary Advisory Service

Beneficiary Advisory Service is a Christchurch based Community Group who help people on benefits and low incomes with their problems with Work and Income. We are specialists in Welfare Law and provide advice, information, support and advocacy to hundreds of people every year.
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