Turner Judy: Estimates Debate —  
Turner Judy: Estimates Debate —  
[Volume:610;Page:7181] 
JUDY TURNER (United Future) 
: 
 I want to spend a little bit of time speaking about the benefit system and about some of our observations to date. Last year United Future supported the passing of the Social Security (Personal Development and Employment) Amendment Bill and received much criticism from the Opposition for doing so. I have taken an interest in the implementation of that legislation at a community level and recently I visited some of the groups—non-governmental organisations that provide a range of services for beneficiary families with single parents and dependent children—that work with single parents. Those who are involved at the coalface with single-parent families have reported that they are not particularly happy with the implementation of this legislation. When I questioned them closely I was interested to note that they were very happy with the new abatement procedures and the ability to earn more money without losing money from their benefit—they all agreed that that was helpful—but what concerned them was that they are now being held far more accountable on a yearly basis which is the very reason that United Future supported the legislation. 
Under the old legislation work test or no work test there were only two definable moments when a person on the domestic purposes benefit was asked to consider his or her working future. Under the new legislation—and this is what has been causing some grief—there is now yearly accountability and questions being asked of recipients of the benefit as to what the future holds for them what plans they are making and what steps they are taking towards eventual sustainable employment. It is an extremely exciting development even if there is some resistance out there towards it. United Future is pleased to see that that is happening. It may mean that the $14 million from memory that was budgeted to train case managers needs to be increased I say to the Minister so that some additional training can be done. I have had concerns that case managers have had their roles severely redefined and some additional training to make sure that they are doing well by their clients may be essential. 
We have mentioned before some concerns we have about the increasing numbers of people who are going on to the sickness benefit. This is not because I want to bash sickness beneficiaries. In fact over the years I have worked in a voluntary capacity with a number of people on benefits and have always found them to be people who genuinely needed some sort of State assistance. Our concern is whether the form of the assistance is appropriate to the existing needs. My concern is illustrated by some of the current problems that we are having with the sickness benefit. 
The Government is in a very fortunate position of holding office at a time when unemployment is at a record low but it is also apparent that the numbers of those on the sickness benefit and other benefits are increasing at the same time. Yesterday’s  
Dominion Post 
 reported that unemployment is down in the Wellington region but at the same time the number of sickness beneficiaries is steadily increasing. Occurring as it does in one of New Zealand’s most employable regions I have discovered that I am not the only person concerned with that. During question time today I mentioned the Downtown Community Ministry director Kevin Hackwell who has mentioned his concern at the growing number of people claiming the sickness benefit. 
We understand that the Minister points to the aging population as the reason for that increase but we need to look a little more closely at the figures. On a national basis there has been a 17.3 percent increase in the number of sickness beneficiaries since the end of 1999 and a 7.4 percent increase in the past year alone. The ministry’s statement of intent acknowledges that the numbers of people on that benefit will continue to increase and we repeat that we understand that changing demographics as a result of an aging population will over time contribute to benefit trends. But the fear is that the relationship between the increase in sickness beneficiaries and the reduction in the number of registered job seekers is not a healthy one. We see an obvious bubble in the graph when we look at the breakdown of why people need to be on the sickness benefit. That huge bubble is called “stress”.