Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:656;Page:5668] 
6.  
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Can she guarantee that access to benefits and allowances will not be reduced in this term of Government? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Yes our commitment is to preserve core benefits. However access to allowances does change as the member knows. We made changes to the training incentive allowance in the last Budget. 
Sue Bradford 
: Which allowances then is the Minister planning to cut and when? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: There are no plans at this stage to cut any of the allowances but as I say they change all the time. We added the ReStart package in December last year and we made changes to training incentive allowances in the Budget. It is all quite open and upfront. 
Sue Bradford 
: Does the Minister agree with the Prime Minister in his remarks of a couple of weeks ago that restricting the independent youth benefit is an option despite the fact that this already is a benefit of last resort to help a very small number of 16 and 17-year-olds who need to survive without family support and the only alternatives for them are things like begging crime and prostitution? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: With the independent youth benefit we are looking at making sure there are the restrictions that recipients are in education in work or are upskilling so those changes to the independent youth benefit are around those restrictions. A percentage of recipients are already in employment and education so we are not cutting the benefit from them. We know that it is a benefit they need. The changes are more about insisting that they be in some sort of education employment or upskilling. 
Katrina Shanks 
: What reports has the Minister seen that suggest changes to welfare? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: I have seen reports that suggest that the Government ought to provide welfare for pretty much everyone including those who are wealthy and millionaires. The big idea from Labour in the report I saw is to put thousands of middle-class people on benefits which is quite frankly impractical unaffordable and unfair. In yet another case of “Visa-nomics” we saw Opposition member Annette King contemplate extending the in-work tax credit to beneficiaries at a cost of around $450 million. Quite frankly the Opposition wants people on welfare; we want them in jobs. 
Hon Annette King 
: Why should New Zealanders trust the Minister to uphold promises to leave benefit entitlements alone when she has already broken a number of election promises putting them in the too-hard basket including increasing the abatement level from $80 to $100 which would encourage more beneficiaries into part-time work and not passing a law to adjust benefits by the CPI each year as promised in National’s policy? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: We absolutely stand by our promises. We have said we will do it before the next election and that it what we will do. It is called being honest. 
Sue Bradford 
: What is the goal of the Minister’s audit of emergency special-needs grants and is she planning to limit or restrict access to special-needs grants? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: In all fairness there is no audit of special-needs grants going on. That is what the paper said but that is not what we have said. We have never said that there was an audit of special-needs grants going on. We are constantly reviewing them as the member is aware. We have more people on the special-needs grants than ever before because of the doubling last year of the access to them. There are no plans to cut that access—particularly for food which we know is vitally important to those people who need it. 
Sue Bradford 
: Will the Minister be ensuring that the Limited Service Volunteers programme for young people remains voluntary or will Work and Income attempt to force young people on to it as has happened in the past? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: It will not be compulsory but we will be suggesting that young people who are on the unemployment benefit look at options that are available to them. Currently there are work testing requirements for them. The Limited Service Volunteers has grown to be just one other element of the options for young people on the benefit. 
Hon Annette King 
: Can the Minister tell the House whether there is an audit of 50 beneficiaries taking place as the Prime Minister said on television this week or whether she is correct in saying there is not an audit; which one is it? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: The member might have liked to listen to my previous answer. It was an audit around special-needs grants that the member Sue Bradford and I were just talking about. We were talking about special-needs grants. The member is now asking whether an audit is going to be happening on the 50 top beneficiaries. I tell the member that we are looking at the top beneficiaries who get the most amount of money and we have been for some months.