Thursday, February 21, 2013

Ministry of Men's Affairs

A press release about the topic of the day, prosecuting beneficiary partners, has appeared from the MINISTRY OF MEN’S AFFAIRS, MINITATANGA MO NGA TANE

 This proposed legislation reaches a new low in the financial exploitation of men and also represents a giant backward step for women to a past patriarchal era in which men were held legally responsible for their spouses’ behaviour.
 A Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB) fraudster commits an offence by signing a legal document affirming (s)he is not in a marriage-type relationship. The partner committed no offence but Chester Burrows wants to make the partner pay for the beneficiary’s offending even if that partner in no way encouraged it. Burrows’ law will only apply to the partners of DPB and ‘Sole Parent Support’ fraudsters not to other types of benefit fraud, and his public statements have made it clear this distinction is based on the gender of the beneficiaries concerned. The intention of the law is to make men pay for female offending.
 
Anyone know who's behind this group?

10 comments:

Richard said...

Never heard of them before, but it seems that they do have a good point, contra "National's new law that will see partner's of beneficiaries prosecuted is a good step forward."

JC said...

Who cares who they are. If they know their partner is thieving then they are accomplices with some level of guilt.

I might add that a law like this (and there may already be one on the books) merely reflects reality in society.. if you see an unsafe work act and don't report it or stop it you are deemed to have a share in any accident. Same if you know a fellow worker is ripping off his employer.

JC

Anonymous said...

I agree that the partner is complicit in the offending.my story is different.There was no law breaking.
I was in a sitation many years ago where I was on the DPB.I formed a 'serious'relationship (Thats what i believed it to be)with a man and after 18 months he moved in.He had no intention of helping to support my family.However i was not at all aware of this.At the time I worked part time and recieved a benefit.I went to WINZ to cancell my benefit and that was a disaster as my expenses were the same but my income somewhat less plus his income was through self employment and this affected my family supportwhich I had previously been recieving fortnightly.Two years later and with a maxed out Credit Card I tossed the 'relationship' in.Yes I know I was really stupid to have allowed him to move in at all.He did really well out of it all.He had been renting out his house for $500 a week while living in mine.It took me two years to pay off my Credit Card.
Sometimes Solo Mothers are targeted by unscrupulous men.Sometimes Solo Mums are lonely on their own with a lot of worry and responsibility.Sometimes its not their fault also.

Richard said...

So it's just fine and dandy to "deem" people responsible for sins they didn't commit?

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Richard, The government advisory states, "The Government will create
a new offence that will hold partners to account if it’s found they were aware their partner was fraudulently claiming a benefit."

http://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/20_Feb_Welfare_Fraud_Full_Initiatives.pdf

SBeast said...

Again we see the government giving the appearance of getting tough.

How exactly is this law going to be enforced? To obtain a criminal standard of proof will surely only be possible in a handful of cases.

CorrectGuy said...

I have some sympathy for the MoM affairs folks - especially with the analogy of male offending and female partners aware and benefiting from the proceeds of that offending.

@Lindsay - so to follow this logic, shouldn't the government then create a new offence whereby a person can be charged if they are aware that their partner is/has committing a crime?

Lindsay Mitchell said...

If they are aware of and knowingly benefiting from the proceeds of a crime, I'm fairly sure they already can be held liable. Also Borrows cited a couple of examples under Kathryn Ryan's interrogation whereby partners will be charged as accessories mainly due to the practicalities of living under the same roof.

Heisenbug said...

Have you seen the entire release, Lindsay? The top of it (as shown on http://menz.org.nz) lists a couple of contact names: one Hans Laven with a Tauranga-area phone number, and one Kerry Bevin with an Auckland-area phone number. I've never heard of either of them, but that's not saying much. There's also a gmail address, but no website listed.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Thanks Heisenbug, Had only seen the release as it appeared on Scoop.