Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 16 June 2004. Volume:618;Page:13635. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
9.  
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: How will the abolition of the special benefit affect the income of beneficiaries without children in the future? 
Hon RICK BARKER (Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: The Working for Families package will invest over $1 billion per annum in low and middle income families and households. From 1 April 2006 hardship assistance for new applicants will be replaced by the temporary additional support programme. So hardship assistance will still be available for beneficiaries and low-income workers facing particular special costs. This includes people without children. The temporary additional support is designed to be simpler and fairer than the current benefit system. 
Sue Bradford 
: Does the Government accept that the loss of the special benefit is in effect a benefit cut for future beneficiaries especially given projected savings of up to $91 million a year as forecast in the estimates? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: No I do not. I do accept that some people will have needs that will be in excess of the 30 percent margin but for those who require extra assistance for health reasons there is no cap on it. I think the system will be very fair. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Why is the special benefit programme being replaced with the new temporary additional support programme as part of the Working for Families package? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: Temporary additional support is designed to be simpler and fairer than the complexity of the current special benefit system. The new programme will be based on clear rules and criteria ensuring that access is fair and equitable. As well as being fairer for clients the new programme will be simpler and quicker for staff to administer allowing more case manager time to be dedicated to case management activities such as employment or training that help clients improve their situation. 
Katherine Rich 
: Does he stand by his pledge that no beneficiary will be worse off financially as a result of changes announced in the Budget; if so why? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: Yes I do because there will be appropriate grandparenting clauses in the programme to ensure exactly that outcome. 
Judy Turner 
: Can the Minister confirm that the cost of special benefits has increased from $34 million in 2000 to $82 million this year and does he agree that the move towards a rules-based approach for temporary additional support will remove the high degree of discretion that case managers previously had over whether to approve a special benefit? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The member has hit the nail exactly on the head. Having a rules-based system will ensure the programme is fairer. It will also ensure that instead of having discretion which may vary from place to place and person to person the system will be much more accurate and we will not suffer the problems we had through the 1990s with the special benefit. 
Sue Bradford 
: Does the Minster agree with his own colleague Mark Burton who criticised National’s social welfare reform legislation in the House in 1995 saying that the removal of discretion from special benefits is “just a de facto extension of benefit cuts” and why has the Government seen fit to change its policy now it is in power? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: I do not disagree with many things that Mark Burton says and in particular I do not disagree with that comment. What we do have is a rules-based system. If the member who asked the question wants to think about it many of the beneficiary advocates have criticised the discretionary system and have argued for a rules-based system. This is exactly in line with what many of them want. 
Sue Bradford 
: What advice will the Government be giving to beneficiaries who in future will not be able to meet anything like their living costs under the new temporary additional support programme or is he planning to raise the base benefit levels so they can survive after all? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: Beneficiaries in the future will have many more options. For example currently a person receiving a single benefit with no children will face quite significant abatement rates if he or she goes on to work. What this Government is doing is reducing those abatement rates and making work pay. Many of these beneficiaries want to work but the system militates against that. This will be a much fairer system.