6. SUE BRADFORD (Green) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
Can she guarantee that access to benefits and allowances will not be reduced in this term of Government?
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this
Yes, our commitment is to preserve core benefits. However, access to allowances does change, as the member knows. We made changes to the training incentive allowance in the last Budget.
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
There are no plans at this stage to cut any of the allowances, but, as I say, they change all the time. We added the ReStart package in December last year and we made changes to training incentive allowances in the Budget. It is all quite open and upfront.
Does the Minister agree with the Prime Minister in his remarks of a couple of weeks ago that restricting the independent youth benefit is an option, despite the fact that this already is a benefit of last resort to help a very small number of 16 and 17-year-olds who need to survive without family support, and the only alternatives for them are things like begging, crime, and prostitution?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
With the independent youth benefit we are looking at making sure there are the restrictions that recipients are in education, in work, or are upskilling, so those changes to the independent youth benefit are around those restrictions. A percentage of recipients are already in employment and education, so we are not cutting the benefit from them. We know that it is a benefit they need. The changes are more about insisting that they be in some sort of education, employment, or upskilling.
Katrina ShanksHon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
I have seen reports that suggest that the Government ought to provide welfare for pretty much everyone, including those who are wealthy and millionaires. The big idea from Labour in the report I saw is to put thousands of middle-class people on benefits, which is, quite frankly, impractical, unaffordable, and unfair. In yet another case of “Visa-nomics”, we saw Opposition member Annette King contemplate extending the in-work tax credit to beneficiaries at a cost of around $450 million. Quite frankly, the Opposition wants people on welfare; we want them in jobs.
Hon Annette KingWhy should New Zealanders trust the Minister to uphold promises to leave benefit entitlements alone, when she has already broken a number of election promises, putting them in the too-hard basket, including increasing the abatement level from $80 to $100, which would encourage more beneficiaries into part-time work, and not passing a law to adjust benefits by the CPI each year, as promised in National’s policy?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
We absolutely stand by our promises. We have said we will do it before the next election, and that it what we will do. It is called being honest.
What is the goal of the Minister’s audit of emergency special-needs grants, and is she planning to limit or restrict access to special-needs grants?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
In all fairness, there is no audit of special-needs grants going on. That is what the paper said but that is not what we have said. We have never said that there was an audit of special-needs grants going on. We are constantly reviewing them, as the member is aware. We have more people on the special-needs grants than ever before because of the doubling last year of the access to them. There are no plans to cut that access—particularly for food, which we know is vitally important to those people who need it.
Will the Minister be ensuring that the Limited Service Volunteers programme for young people remains voluntary, or will Work and Income attempt to force young people on to it, as has happened in the past?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
It will not be compulsory, but we will be suggesting that young people who are on the unemployment benefit look at options that are available to them. Currently there are work testing requirements for them. The Limited Service Volunteers has grown to be just one other element of the options for young people on the benefit.
Can the Minister tell the House whether there is an audit of 50 beneficiaries taking place, as the Prime Minister said on television this week, or whether she is correct in saying there is not an audit; which one is it?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
The member might have liked to listen to my previous answer. It was an audit around special-needs grants that the member Sue Bradford and I were just talking about. We were talking about special-needs grants. The member is now asking whether an audit is going to be happening on the 50 top beneficiaries. I tell the member that we are looking at the top beneficiaries who get the most amount of money, and we have been for some months.