July 16, 2013
Welfare changes attack on families
Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says the welfare changes imposed yesterday are as severe as with Jenny Shipley's 1991 benefit cuts.
The range of benefits has been streamlined with an emphasis on requiring all beneficiaries to actively seek work, and benefits can be cut if people refuse job offers, fail drug test or don’t make sure their children are in school.
Ms Turei says Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has turned the welfare system found from supporting New Zealand families in their time of need to punishing them for being out of work.
"The meme is that beneficiaries can't take care of their kids and all take drugs. That's what Paula Bennett thinks and that's what she is effectively telling the whole country. She is absolutely wrong. At a time of very high unemployment, like we have, and a recession that is dragging on, it is grossly unfair for her to be putting out that story," she says.
Ms Turei says the changes mean the 250 people whose jobs disappeared in her home town of Dunedin last month won’t be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
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