Adams Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Adams Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:620;Page:16094] 
9.  
PAUL ADAMS (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Does he agree that people who receive a benefit have a reciprocal responsibility to minimise their reliance on the State; if not why not? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Yes. For example people have a clear responsibility to take up job opportunities that are offered to them. Work and Income has experienced significant success in this regard with record numbers of employment placements and a 50 percent drop in the number of people needing an unemployment benefit since this Government was elected. New initiatives and strong employment opportunities have seen the total number of working-age beneficiaries reduce by over 57000 since 1999 and I look forward to continued success in this regard. 
Paul Adams 
: Can the Minister confirm that over the past 5 years 44793 recipients of the domestic purposes unemployment sickness and invalids benefits had additional children while on the benefit and notwithstanding the odd accident is he satisfied that these people have taken their reciprocal responsibilities seriously? 
Hon Annette King 
: Abstinence! 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: That may be a way forward and maybe that is something people ought to consider. When we look at the list of figures of people who are on the domestic purposes benefit we see that most have a very small number and they move off that benefit very quickly—about 3.5 years is the average time after which they come off the benefit. The kind of person who is on that benefit is usually a person in his or her early 30s who has come out of a relationship and moves on from that benefit. We will continue to ensure that people who are on all of these benefits live up to their obligations move off the benefit when they are able to and move into a job and support themselves as we are very successfully doing. 
Tim Barnett 
: What initiatives are in place to ensure that people receiving a benefit have opportunities to move into employment? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: A wide range of initiatives are in place to help people into work. For example the domestic purposes benefit and widows benefit reforms are already seeing an increased number of people exit to work. Jobs Jolt initiatives such as industry partnerships are opening up new opportunities. The sickness and invalids benefit strategy is showing encouraging results in assisting people to recover and return to employment. Active approaches like our seasonal work strategy are helping people to take up opportunities that are available. We have an obligation to offer people employment opportunities and they have a responsibility to take them. 
Katherine Rich 
: How many clients if any since the implementation of the Jobs Jolt initiative have had their benefits reduced as a result of moving to remote areas with little prospect of paid work or of failing an employment drug test? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I would have to get the figures for the member. However in relation to the low employment alert list that she is referring to with regard to people moving to a remote area that is a list that was asked for by front-line staff because for example if people work in Nelson and want to shift to somewhere where they are unfamiliar staff simply use the list to say to them: “This is an area where you are unlikely to get a job.” and usually they therefore do not go. 
Paul Adams 
: Does the Minister accept that by not taking their reciprocal responsibility seriously beneficiaries who purposely have additional children would receive at least $20 per week more meaning an extra cost to the taxpayer of almost $1 million a week over the last 5 years particularly when other forms of family assistance are included; if not why not? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: If there are people whom the member knows about who do not take their reciprocal responsibilities seriously and are having babies so they can earn another $20 a week I would love him to bring those to my attention and we will follow them up. 
Paul Adams 
: Why are sickness and invalid beneficiaries not required to undergo treatment as part of their reciprocal responsibility to the State? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: If people are on a sickness benefit as was recently said by the national commissioner they are sick and we therefore focus on getting them well so they can return to work. For example they have to return to a doctor within a 13-week period after their first assessment and they have to keep on going back to ensure that they are indeed moving towards being well. If the member is perhaps referring to people on an invalids benefit such as tetraplegics for example having to be constantly proving their health status I imagine that the member would accept that they are tetraplegics.