Monday, November 30, 2009

2025 productivity report makes crucial recommendations

Media Release

2025 PRODUCTIVITY REPORT MAKES CRUCIAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Monday, November 30, 2009

Crucial recommendations about the reform of working age welfare contained in the 2025 Taskforce Report must not be ignored, according to welfare commentator, Lindsay Mitchell.

"The report says that far too many fit and able New Zealanders are receiving their income from the state, " said Mrs Mitchell. "This reduces New Zealand's productivity through loss of participation and contribution."

"The authors have specifically recommended that the domestic purposes benefit have a 'absolute cut-off period' of 5 years. It observes that in many households parents work when their children are quite young, even when they may not want to. It finds no reason why those supported by the taxpayer should be treated more generously."

"It goes on to detail the disproportionate growth in invalid and sickness beneficiaries and urges serious efforts to get people off these benefits and into jobs wherever this can be realistically and compassionately achieved. Interestingly the report does not mention reform of the unemployment benefit. That may be because the authors recognise that sickness and invalid benefits have become, to some extent, de facto dole payments."

"The report's welfare recommendations are not out of line with what National campaigned on but have yet to deliver. The recommendations are not particularly radical and should be welcomed by all New Zealanders as the very minimum required to lift productivity and living standards to Australian levels by 2025."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The recommendations are not particularly radical

The most important comments on the report are in teh last page: New Zealand is a "serious and sustained failure as a country,"

We have the second-most heavily traded currency per capita (after Iceland) and are the second most indebted (again after Iceland).

The choice is clear: does NZ want to retain "second world" status or not?


It is clear that every single one of these proposals are implemented immediate, and that the next election should be postponed until 2025 to enable a consensus government
to tackle NZ's economic emergency.

Anonymous said...

Well Key and Blenglish have both said that most of the recommendations are no go despite at least some of them being in their policy for the election.
More broken promises like the tax cuts.

brian_smaller said...

If the stupid people of this country cannot see that sometimes you have to take your medicine, then they deserve the weak cowardly 'leadership' we have had for decades.

Anonymous said...


If the stupid people of this country cannot see that sometimes you have to take your medicine, then they deserve the weak cowardly 'leadership' we have had for decades.


Nope - they deserve to be thrown to the gutter where they belong. They certainly don't deserve to live on my fucking taxes like they do today!


Labout's brilliant gerrymander has ensured that over half the voters pay no tax whatsoever. And that - more than anything - explains why we're in this mess and what has to be done to get us out of it.