Turei Metiria: Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Turei Metiria: Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:13162] 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 I would like to address a number of the provisions of the Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill in the remaining period of the Committee stage. One of those is clause 13 which set out the income tests. A couple of Government MPs and even the Minister for Social Development and Employment reiterated that this is apparently the realisation of an election promise but it is not. National made promises that it has not kept. I want to talk about one of those. The promises that National has not kept are those that would provide the greatest support for those who need it. In 2008 the National Party promised to increase the threshold at which benefits would be reduced when a beneficiary earns an income. The promise was to lift the abatement rate—the amount the person could earn—from $80 to $100. It was one of the very few National welfare policies that the Green Party agreed with. We did not think it went far enough but it was a good start. In fact if it had been CPI-indexed that abatement threshold should be at least $150 a week. Still it was a step in the right direction. 
This bill raises that abatement threshold for some beneficiaries but not all. The promise made at the election by National was for all beneficiaries to have that abatement lifted from $80 to at least $100. Unemployment and sickness beneficiaries who earn over $100 a week from the work test or from any work they do will now be $14 a week worse off because National broke its promise. National broke its promise to the poorest people in this country—the ones that it is now forcing to work for at least 15 hours a week. By forcing them into work for 15 hours a week and by not raising the abatement threshold the National Government is forcing people to work for actually nothing. Not only that but National has not met its promise; it is forcing them to work for a significant disadvantage. To be frank having been a beneficiary myself on unemployment benefit and on the domestic purposes benefit $14 a week to lose is a significant amount when one is on the very bare bones. 
Not only will the fact that National broke its promise impact negatively on the finances of beneficiaries but also it will act as a disincentive for them to undertake additional work. Why would anyone work for nothing in a job that is demeaning and one that the person has been forced into on threat of losing his or her income? I see that the chair of the Social Services Committee shakes her head. Maybe she does not quite realise what it is like to be on a benefit and to be forced to take demeaning and degrading work at very low pay then be under threat of losing the very meagre income that they have knowing that they are working for zero or even less than zero. In fact those people will not be making sufficient income even by working those 15 hours to be able to take care of themselves and their family. This policy impoverishes those people even more. It disenfranchises them even more. That is the “all stick and no carrot” approach to welfare in legislation and in the policy of the Government. 
National said it was very serious about getting beneficiaries into work. First of all it said it would have a plan for creating jobs which it does not. Second National said it would provide a financial incentive for people to go out and get work should it be available but there is none. There is no work for unemployment and sickness beneficiaries because the abatement rates are not going to be lifted for them. This Government has broken its promise to the poorest people in our country. It is obvious that there are no jobs so of course this whole bill will fail anyway. The Minister has never produced any evidence to show that the provisions in this legislation will encourage beneficiaries off the benefit and into work because there is none. In fact all of the evidence suggests quite the opposite. 
In the previous 12 months the Green Party has produced three separate economic packages designed to provide jobs in recessionary times that are both environmentally and socially useful. The Government has completely failed to deliver on any of its promises around job creation. It has refused to acknowledge any of the other good ideas around what could create jobs and could help to relieve the very severe poverty that thousands of New Zealanders and their children suffer every day. Instead the Government has produced this legislation that punishes beneficiaries for needing State support. In addition it has broken its promise by failing to make it viable for people to work.