Media Release
NATIONAL GETS THE WOBBLES - AGAIN
June 27, 2005

DPB petitioner, Lindsay Mitchell, is disappointed but unsurprised at National's plans for the DPB.

According to Mitchell platitudes dominated National's welfare spokesperson Judith Collin's weekend speech, Welfare That Works. Yet when the Clevedon MP entered Parliament she said;

' I do not stand for young women leaving school to go on the DPB because they think that’s any easy option. It’s not. It’s a trap. I stand for a safety net not a welfare trap.'

"So what exactly will she do to stop the DPB from being an 'easy option'?"

"The answer is, beyond a return to the late nineties policy of worktesting the recipient when their youngest child goes to school, nothing. Moreover, without a time limit on how much welfare a person can receive it is conceivable that this worktesting policy will worsen the situation by incentivising women to add to their families to avoid work."

"Ms Collins is claiming that National will reduce welfare numbers by 100,000 over ten years, citing the US experience in support. But it won't happen because they are missing the key policy - time-limiting benefits."

"The fact is motivated people don't need to be worktested and the rest will avoid it by whatever means they can - changing to a different benefit or adding to their family."

"Despite acknowledging New Zealand's deep welfare dependency problem National's approach is increasingly looking like Labour's."

ENDS

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