Data released under the Official Information Act today
reveals almost 12,000 more children are dependent on welfare
benefits since December 2017.
"At 31 December 2019
there were 206,395 children aged 0-18 reliant on caregiver
on a main benefit (185,930), Young Parent Payment (1,531) or
Orphan/ Unsupported Child benefit (18,934). That's 6 percent
higher than at December 31, 2017."
Of the 59,637
births during 2019 10,882 babies were welfare-dependent by
year end. Nearly one in five. Over half - 57% - were added
to an existing benefit.
New Zealand's child poverty
problem cannot be solved when high numbers of children live
in non-working homes. Raising benefits and reducing the
income margin between work and welfare will only incentivise
more people to opt for welfare. This normalises benefit
dependency for their children and the habit becomes
inter-generational.
In 2008 Finance Minister Michael
Cullen said, "...it is desirable to create a margin
between being dependent on a benefit and being in
employment.... The Labour Party isn’t the party
that says living on a benefit is a preferred lifestyle. Its
position has always been that the benefit system is a safety
net for those who are unavoidably unable to participate in
employment. From its history, the Labour Party has always
been about people in employment."
The more the
current Labour government ignores this, the more intractable
the child poverty problem will
become.
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