They don't want to know

Media Release
UNDER 1 IN 5 BENEFIT APPLICANTS NEW
Monday, November 13, 2006

Less than one in five people applying for a benefit is new to the system.

According to welfare commentator, Lindsay Mitchell, "In the year to June 2005 218,491 benefits were granted to working-age people. Of these 34 percent had previously been on a benefit within the past year, 15 percent had been on a benefit within 12 - 48 months previously. Only 23 percent had either never been dependent or the dependency was more than 4 years ago. The remaining 28 percent were transferring between benefits or regions."

"The significance of this 'repeat business' lies in the total time people are spending on benefits over their lifetimes. Currently the Ministry only tracks continuous time spent on benefit - not total time."

"While many politicians portray benefits as a stepping stone to a new life, the reality is they are a revolving door which most beneficiaries pass through many times. When the Australian government gave consultants access to beneficiary records their analysis revealed that the average time women spent on a benefit, commonly cited as 3 years, was actually closer to 12."

"The importance of understanding how long people are affected by benefit dependency was highlighted by the Ministry of Social Development Deputy Chief Executive Marcel Lauziere who said in the October issue of Research News, 'People on benefit were found to have lower living standards than working people with comparable incomes.' "

"Benefits, not low incomes, reduce living standards yet the Ministry appears to show no interest in understanding just how long people are dependent on benefits across their lives. They, and government politicians, prefer to talk about current durations of stay because this masks the horrendous level of benefit dependency they have allowed to develop."