“The dream is over”- Paula Bennett

If tax cuts that favour the wealthy, an increase in GST, employment law changes, education reform, possible moves on public housing weren't enough for you, the National/ACT coalition has set its sights on fundamental changes to the welfare system.

This process has started with the creation of the Welfare Working Group, in its own words designed to;

• "The Welfare Working Group was established to undertake an expansive and fundamental review of New Zealand’s welfare system. The Group’s primary task is to identify how to reduce long-term welfare dependency."

It has been widely speculated that the purpose of the working group is to make recommendations in line with National/Act desires for welfare reform. Evidence of this can be seen in the members chosen for the working group, hand picked by Paula Bennet incidentally.

Alternative Welfare Working Group  |  Jobless, Homeless, Clueless 

From the Standard;

• “The Welfare Working Group was handpicked by Paula Bennett and is stuffed with rightwing ideologies – most importantly Chair Paula Rebstock and former ACT President Catherine Isaac. They were always going to present a paper that attempts to create an air of crisis around welfare and undermines its legitimacy by claiming that beneficiaries are all bludgers (the same approach National is using on state housing and ACC). And that’s exactly what this report does.”

The findings of the report are predictable;

“Most people on a benefit have little or no focus on paid work, with a growing number “locked into” the system for years. ” And, according to Ms Rebstock, “we have concluded the current benefit system ignores the importance of paid work to the well-being of New Zealanders,”(1)

In response to the government working group, the Alternative Welfare Working Group was set up in July and has been holding a series of public meetings around the country to hear what people and groups most affected by the proposed reforms have to say on these issues. Upcoming meetings can be seen here.

Proposed welfare reform comes at a time when people need social safety nets the most. It amounts to a collective kick in the teeth to the poor. The climate of beneficiary bashing essentially blames people on benefits for ongoing financial difficulties, a crisis caused by the wealthy who not long ago were received their own generous bailouts from the public. There are over quarter of a million jobless in this country(the unemployed plus those who have given up actively looking for a job) and another 100,000 who want more hours than they can get.(2) It does not make sense to subject people on the Invalids and DPB to 'work-testing' programs in this competitive work environment.

The National/Act government is engaging in deliberate and calculated class war. Attacks on workers rights and the unemployed are a major part of this and should be fought against collectively. Like labour reform and mining on conservation land, the government seems to be testing the waters on this issue and it is up to us to make enough noise to stop it.