Rich Katherine: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Rich Katherine: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:15019] 
6.  
KATHERINE RICH (National) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: How many sole parents receive a reduced benefit because they refuse to name the father of their children or refuse to fill out a child support application? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Currently 19443 sole parents receive a reduced benefit under section 70A of the Social Security Act because they refuse to identify the other parent they do not apply for child support or they fail or refuse to testify on the matter as required under section 122 of the Child Support Act. The penalty under section 70A of the Social Security Act reduces the benefit by $22 in respect of each dependent child. Section 70A penalties should not be applied in cases of incest or rape but this can occur only if victims of crimes are able to tell Work and Income about their circumstances. 
Katherine Rich 
: Can the Minister explain why on his watch the number of sole parent beneficiaries who will not officially name the father of their children has increased from over 13 percent in 2000 to 15 percent in 2002 and close to 18 percent as at July 2004 over a period when the total number of sole parents has remained largely static? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: By my calculations the number of section 70A penalties doubled under the National Government to reach 15000 by 1999. Since doubling under National the number of section 70A penalties has risen by about 1000 a year but I point out that 1500 of those were established during a sweep through penalties when we became the Government to clean up the administration left by the member’s Government. 
Moana Mackey 
: What has the Government done to encourage more sole parents on benefits to fulfil their obligation to apply for child support? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The Government has introduced a range of new activities to encourage sole parents who are on a benefit to apply for child support. For example we reviewed old sole parent cases where no liable parent contribution and no section 70A penalty applied. These were left to us by the previous Government and we found 1500 of them. We introduced one-on-one targeted interviews with sole parent beneficiaries subject to the penalty to ensure they were aware why the penalty applies and what their obligations are. We changed the forms so that the applicants had to state whether they had a private child-support agreement— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Changed the form! 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I will just repeat that for Mr Ryall. We changed the forms so applicants have to tell us whether they have a private child-support agreement. We will send letters to all section 70A clients. In the last Budget we introduced a range of measures including increasing the penalty under section 70A of the Social Security Act. I am looking forward to Mr Ryall’s support on that very matter. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: Would the Minister please reconcile his refusal to force mothers to name the father of their child when they claim the domestic purposes benefit with his support of the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill which is to be debated this afternoon that requires the naming and racial profiling of all sperm donors; where is the consistency? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: This Government will never force all mothers some of whom have been raped or have been part of incest to tell us the name of the father. We will do more than the National Party however to get people who should front up to their obligations to do so. That is what we will do on that matter of section 70A of the Social Security Act. 
Katherine Rich 
: Incest rape and domestic violence aside can the Minister explain why his Government accepts a situation where 21 percent of all sole-parent beneficiaries who receive a reduced benefit have the name of their children’s father stated clearly on the Work and Income file and still his Government will not allow the collection of child support from those dads? 
Hon Steve Maharey 
: We do not like it; that is why we are changing the law and I hope the member will support it. 
Heather Roy 
: When will he admit that this is just a rort so that fathers can dodge child support and why should taxpayers always have to pick up the bill? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: It is a rort and I have said time and time again in this Parliament that fathers must front up to their obligations and we will make sure they do as much as we can. 
Katherine Rich 
: Can the Minister explain why on his watch the proportion of Auckland’s sole-parent beneficiaries aged between 16 and 24 years who will not officially name the father of their children so that child support can be collected has risen from approximately one in five beneficiaries to one in three? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I cannot explain why the number doubled under the National Government. Under this Government we have cleaned up the records and that has brought more people into the pool. We have changed the rules—we are doing something about the problem; they did nothing.