Weak Labour

Look at the weakness of this exchange in parliament yesterday. It was a patsy set up so National could crow about sole parents leaving welfare. Fair enough.

Beneficiaries—Statistics 7. ALFRED NGARO (National) to the Minister for Social Development: What reports has she received regarding the number of New Zealanders who are benefit-dependent, in particular those relating to sole parents?

Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): Under this Government, the number of people on welfare for this quarter is the lowest it has been since 2008. The latest benefit figures released last week show that there are now over 10,000 fewer people on welfare compared with September last year, and more than 70 percent of them are sole parents. We know that sole parents who go on benefit, particularly in their teens, do have the highest lifetime cost of any group on welfare and are more likely to stay on welfare. The reduction in the number of sole parents on benefit extends across all ages, and this is indeed a positive trend.
Alfred Ngaro: What are the Government’s priorities for ensuring we move New Zealanders who are on benefits into work over the next 3 years?
Hon ANNE TOLLEY: We believe that the best way out of poverty is through work, and that is why we have set ambitious targets to reduce long-term welfare dependency. As part of this programme we will progress legislation extending the Youth Service approach to under-20s. This will see these young people working with a dedicated provider to deliver intensive support and guidance as well as budgeting support and help paying their bills. This Government believes that the welfare system should provide a safety net for those in genuine need and that people are better (uncorrected transcript—subject to correction and further editing) off in work. This is particularly the case for our youngest New Zealanders, who deserve to be backed rather than left to sit on welfare.
Sue Moroney: How many sole parents have simply been transferred from sole parent support on to a different category of benefit over the same period?
Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I do not have any figures on that, but I do not believe that this Government is in the habit of the previous Labour Government of merely shifting people around when it comes to benefit numbers. We are working to make sure that people get off benefit and into work, and, what is more, we are succeeding.
Sue Moroney: I seek leave to table a document showing that the number of sole parents who have been transferred on to job seeker support was about 20,000 over that period.
Mr SPEAKER: I need the source of the document.
Sue Moroney: The source of the document is theNew Zealand Herald.
Mr SPEAKER: No, I will not be putting the leave. 

Tolley should have clarified that sole parents whose youngest child is 14 or over were moved onto the Jobseeker benefit as they have full-time work requirements. However the number of sole parents on any benefit is still lower now than in 2008. That's the point.

And Moroney's question based on a newspaper article was actually irrelevant and a waste of a supplementary. Fewer sole parents are on welfare - period. That'll be why the Greens left it alone.

But good on Tolley for re-stating what used to be the Clark/Cullen position:

We believe that the best way out of poverty is through work

Dispirited Delahunty

Green MP Catherine Delahunty sounds defeated in her post at Daily blog. Well she might. How long have the Greens been in opposition now? And I think in terms of the electorate NZ may have reached peak Green.

Parliament opened this week and I still find it a very odd place. Most of the people are reasonably courteous and friendly, but the rituals are archaic and the rules around issues like the swearing in oath are oppressive and undermine MPs’ commitment to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Parliamentary opening also celebrates violence, as it involves soldiers and medals, guns, and war planes in the sky. It includes Supreme Court Judges in horsehair wigs. A black rod and a golden mace preside.

It is hard to find the sense of being a Pacific country but when Te Atiawa kuia start the karanga and the whānau perform waiata, then everything comes alive.

The Maiden Speeches are also happening and what a mixed bag they are. Some MPs who look young enough to be my grand babies are making sad enthusiastic speeches about Margaret Thatcher as the role model for their political careers. I have heard new MPs from National and ACT espouse the absolute primacy of the individual with no recognition of how we are social animals who are utterly interdependent. They don’t seem to realise they are the product of many lives and processes, not to mention the taxes of everyone who built the roads, schools, hospitals and institutions where they have gained educational qualifications and privilege.

You would expect these young people to have some modern heroes, but so often its Margaret Thatcher and Roger Douglas who get celebrated. It’s was chilling to see the line-up of older, male Pākehā  former members at the front of Parliament, including Roger Douglas and Don Brash, the architects of the current trickle down disaster. They were sitting watching their young prodigies get up and espouse their individual and property rights obsessions as our world becomes increasingly unequal.

I am thoroughly encouraged that young people are espousing  "individual and property rights."

Delahunty doesn't go very deep. She doesn't understand that the combination of the collective and state compulsion is a dangerous and destructive thing. The combination of the collective - the expression of our interdependence - and voluntarism however is a very good and healthy thing. She can't comprehend that, for instance, the state has weakened the voluntary social interdependence between two parents by financially supplanting the father. She doesn't grasp that the wholesale weakening of individual rights carries with it a devestating weakening of individual responsibility.

The piece finishes,

Thanks to 10 percent of New Zealanders, the Green Party stands here unbeaten, united, and in good voice. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/10/24/guest-blog-catherine-delahunty-back-in-that-house/#sthash.DwrTbFZW.dpuf

Parliament opened this week and I still find it a very odd place. Most of the people are reasonably courteous and friendly, but the rituals are archaic and the rules around issues like the swearing in oath are oppressive and undermine MPs’ commitment to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Parliamentary opening also celebrates violence, as it involves soldiers and medals, guns, and war planes in the sky. It includes Supreme Court Judges in horsehair wigs. A black rod and a golden mace preside.
It is hard to find the sense of being a Pacific country but when Te Atiawa kuia start the karanga and the whānau perform waiata, then everything comes alive.
The Maiden Speeches are also happening and what a mixed bag they are. Some MPs who look young enough to be my grand babies are making sad enthusiastic speeches about Margaret Thatcher as the role model for their political careers. I have heard new MPs from National and ACT espouse the absolute primacy of the individual with no recognition of how we are social animals who are utterly interdependent. They don’t seem to realise they are the product of many lives and processes, not to mention the taxes of everyone who built the roads, schools, hospitals and institutions where they have gained educational qualifications and privilege.
You would expect these young people to have some modern heroes, but so often its Margaret Thatcher and Roger Douglas who get celebrated. It’s was chilling to see the line-up of older, male Pākehā  former members at the front of Parliament, including Roger Douglas and Don Brash, the architects of the current trickle down disaster. They were sitting watching their young prodigies get up and espouse their individual and property rights obsessions as our world becomes increasingly unequal.
- See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/10/24/guest-blog-catherine-delahunty-back-in-that-house/#sthash.DwrTbFZW.dpuf

Thanks to 10 percent of New Zealanders, the Green Party stands here unbeaten, united, and in good voice.

Except she is clearly not in good voice. 

Trial to assess sole parent benefit fraud

From the MSD Annual Report released yesterday, this is news to me. It appears in the section on Fraud:

 

This is justified. There is clear evidence from more than one source that a significant portion of sole parent benefits are going into families where the recipient has a partner.

I've done a number of searches looking for further information eg what region is the trial being conducted in, to little avail.

However a search of  '1,616 sole parents'  at the MSD website found that at December 2013, there were 1,616 sole parent beneficiaries in the Gisborne Regional Council area. Could be mere coincidence. Though it'd certainly be a good target area. A previous MSD voluntary trial amongst sole parents aimed at getting them into work or training - COMPASS - was conducted in 4 areas. One was Gisborne.

If the trial was being conducted in Gisborne it might provoke a drop in sole parent beneficiaries but the difference between December 2013 and September 2014 (-6.8%) is almost exactly the same as the nationwide drop.

The trial has probably been disrupted by the incident at Ashburton following which (as I recall) home visits were suspended. But let's hope the evaluation will be made public.

I'll ask some OIA questions anyway.