This post is an exercise in cheering myself up and finding something good to say about National. It's partly fiction. But it needn't be.
John Key will hand the welfare portfolio back to Katherine Rich who always presented a softer persona but actually did some real work in welfare when she produced her 2003 paper,
Saving the next generation from welfare dependence. In it she laid out a plan which included working for the dole and work-testing, reciprocal obligations, time limits and reform of the child support system.
Rich will then front welfare reform policies using the Key approach of
we will not turn our back on you but we have expectations - get off your bottom, be 'aspirational', grasp the opportunities for the sake of your children.
Key has already signalled this by insisting on adopting
policies that work. There is all the evidence he needs they work in the United States.
Still, I had similar hopes for the Maori party and welfare but they were misplaced.....