Media Release
NEW MINISTER REJECTS CALL FOR WORK-TESTING
Monday, December 3, 2007
In an updated report, Babies and Bosses, the OECD has once again recommended New Zealand work-test sole parents on welfare. The new Minister for Social Development Ruth Dyson has continued in the tradition of past Labour Ministers and rejected this advice.
Welfare Commentator Lindsay Mitchell was surprised that Ms Dyson , a committed social-democrat, would dismiss what is the norm in Scandinavian countries. "This government is usually quick to praise countries like Sweden and Denmark when it comes to social policy yet refuses to consider their approach to single parents. Neither country has a DPB equivalent. Scandinavian countries treat sole parents the same way as any other parent. Once paid parental leave expires they are work-tested for any further benefit receipt. "
"In Sweden sole parents only qualify for temporary social assistance as a very last resort, which results in their average duration of stay on welfare being just 5.9 months. In Denmark there is also no lone parent benefit. Out-of-work single parents are only entitled to a sickness or unemployment benefit. Both of these countries have employment rates for sole parents of between 70 and 80 percent."
"Even the United Kingdom and Australia have recently moved to more stringent testing, with the UK testing after the youngest child turns 12 and Australia, after the youngest child turns 6, with no eligibility for a Parenting Payment for new applicants with children 6 or older. They will be treated the same as the unemployed."
"While work-testing alone isn't enough to be highly effective, it would be an improvement on the status quo. Meanwhile, Ms Dyson claims NOT work-testing has been an effective approach yet there are still over 100,000 single parents reliant on welfare."
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4 comments:
Having a work testing policy is one thing. Having it administered is quite different. It would be interesting to see how many work tests are cone weith thise that are supposed to be work tested ....
Not a surprise. Labour must at all costs do nothing to upset those who vote for them. Nothing else except re-election matters to them.
Johnboy stole my thunder: Most of the people potentially affected by these measures vote Labour.
A radical overhaul of the welfare system is need, but neither Labour nor National have the political will to carry it out. NZ will continue its slide on the OECD ranking.
I have been told today by an Australian source that there is suggestion the Coalition lost votes in those electorates with high numbers of single parents due to the recently introduced work-testing policy described in my release.
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