Auckland Feminist Action News release - 18 May 2011

DPB mothers should not be unfairly penalised in the budget

“The National Government's budget must not make the poor, poorer,” says Leonie Morris of Feminist Action, Auckland, about proposed changes to the DPB. “Most women on the DPB and their families live in hardship; the Government should provide more assistance to single mothers, not make their situation worse.”

The Government's Welfare Working Group proposed that single mothers with no children under three would be forced to look for at least 20 hours of paid work each week or have their benefit cut. “It's children who will suffer,” says Feminist Action.

“The changes will only transfer the burden and expense to social services and reinforce the ever- widening gap between those who have the most and those who need the most,” Morris says.

“The Government's rationale that benefits to single-mother families must be cut because of the record deficit is a smoke screen. The reason we have a record budget deficit is because of the Government's tax cuts for the wealthy. Out of the $300 million they are borrowing a week, $130 million goes to pay for those cuts.

“The Government makes choices on how they spend our money,” Feminist Action says. “Those choices should not make the day-to-day life of single mothers, who are already struggling to nurture the next generation of Kiwis taxpayers and caregivers, any more difficult.”

ends