The more things change....October 13, 2014

It's par for the course to hear left MPs complaining about policies or reforms to discourage people from defrauding the welfare system. Most recently, when the government introduced measures to prosecute partners of individuals caught committing benefit fraud (as the partner is often complicit) Stuff reported:

The new measures did not receive a warm reception from the opposition, with both Labour and the Greens criticising the announcement, and Government partners the Maori Party saying the emphasis was "all wrong".
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said it was clear the Government was pursuing its aggressive policy towards beneficiaries.

"It harks back to the old National Party dob-in-a-bludger day when they were asking people to sneak around and look in people's windows and check what people were doing and report them."

I have concluded that the left is actually quite happy for people to illegitimately receive benefits because it's additional flow of money from the loathed 'rich' to the exalted 'poor'. Typically they label attempts to prevent fraud as "beneficiary bashing".

Had the phrase been in use 80 years ago no doubt it would have been employed on this occasion:

Source: Evening Post, October 13, 1934

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