February 15, 2024
Benefit cuts entrenching poverty
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says the National-led Government’s benefit cuts will drive intergenerational Māori poverty.
Yesterday, the House had the first reading of the Social Security (Benefits Adjustment) and Income Tax (Minimum Family Tax Credit) Amendment Bill, which links benefits to the consumer price index rather than net average wage growth.
It also cuts the minimum family tax credit.
Ms Davidson says the Government is stigmatising beneficiaries, of whom 36 percent are Māori.
“What this debate does is it puts the focus on people struggling the most and it removed the focus from the 1 percent who by doing absolutely noting have had their wealth tripled for example through the period of Covid lockdowns,” she says.