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Labour’s social development spokesperson says sanctions against solo parents who won’t reveal the name of the other parent are disproportionately hitting Maori and women.
Carmel Sepuloni has lodged a supplementary order paper to the Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill to remove the requirement.
She says while the intent was to encourage fathers to pay child support, 97 percent of those sanctioned are women, and 52 percent are Maori.
The result is 17,000 children a week are missing out because their sole parent is sanctioned by Work and Income, losing on average between $22 and $28 from their benefit.
Ms Sepuloni says women may have reasons for withholding identity of the father, such as when there may be fear of violence, or if the child is a product of incest or rape.
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