Paula Bennett Archive

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  More questions than answers over ACC cost shifting - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  A couple of months ago, following ACC Minister Nick Smith’s u-turn on counselling for ACC sexual abuse claimants, I called for an independent review of the wide-ranging cutbacks to ACC imposed by the Government. I have now asked some questions about people being moved from ACC to welfare benefits. What really disturbed me about the replies is the huge increase in the number of people being shifted from weekly compensation onto welfare benefits since March 2009. read more
  October 6, 2010 4:39 pm - 8 Comments
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  More jobseekers + no more jobs = lower wages - by frog

  
  
  
  New Zealand’s labour force grew by around 43,000 yesterday. That is the approximate number of single parents receiving domestic purposes benefit whose youngest child is aged six or over.  As of yesterday, they all became part of the labour force; not necessarily because they all want to obtain paid employment but because Work and Income [...] read more
  September 28, 2010 1:31 pm - 76 Comments
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  National’s Plan B: Strip-mine the poor - by frog

  
  
  
  A printed copy of an email from Paula Bennett turned up at my lilypad very early this morning. Or was it just a nightmare? National’s Plan B – having failed in their objective to strip-mine the land: Strip-mine the poor. Bad for forcing down wage rates; bad for low-income employment churn, especially given the Fire at Will extension; bad for productivity; so ultimately bad for business too. Just plain dumb! read more
  August 10, 2010 7:42 pm - 32 Comments
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  Beneficiary-bashing Bill back in Parliament, and worse than ever - by Metiria Turei

  
  
  
  Paula Bennett’s draconian Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill has been reported back to Parliament by the Social Services Select Committee.  Despite overwhelming opposition to the Bill by submitters, the National Party used its majority on the Select Committee to report it back largely unchanged. They even decided to recommend a harsher reduction of benefit regime for [...] read more
  July 31, 2010 5:11 pm - 85 Comments
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  A good news beneficiary story - by frog

  
  
  
  I was delighted to read a rare media story this morning depicting a beneficiary in a positive light! Well done, New Plymouth Mayor Peter Tennent, and well done, Taranaki Daily News. read more
  June 18, 2010 1:35 pm - 4 Comments
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  More from inside the WWG welfare forum - by frog

  
  
  
  Paula Bennett: “This debate could get uncomfortable…it could get emotional…we may even see an ugly side of New Zealand…” And who created that ugly side, Paula? read more
  June 14, 2010 11:54 am - 73 Comments
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  Inside the welfare forum we were un-invited to - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Today and tomorrow, the Welfare Working Group is hosting a forum on welfare issues to look at the big picture. It was advertised as open to the first 250 people who enrolled, and billed as bringing together “a diversity of opinions and experience”. Metiria and I immediately registered, along with one of our researchers, because [...] read more
  June 9, 2010 5:02 pm - 174 Comments
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  Inequality in Aotearoa: inequality and social mobility - by Metiria Turei

  
  
  
  You can’t move from rags to riches when there’s a yawning gap between rich and poor. Much of the post-Budget debate has been focused on whether John Key and Bill English’s prescription for the country’s finances will increase or decrease the gap between rich and poor. Despite assuring us that he cares about inequality, Mr [...] read more
  June 2, 2010 5:09 pm - 91 Comments
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  Due process for multinationals, not for beneficiaries - by frog

  
  
  
  There is a sharp contrast between the Prime Ministerial responses to last week’s respective indiscretions by two of his more accident-prone Ministers. read more
  June 1, 2010 2:56 pm - 3 Comments
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  Bennett’s unhelpful benefit cliches - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  The Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett made a speech recently at the National Party Regional Conference in Oamaru, in which she talked about how terrible it is for children to see their parents on a long-term benefit. I must experience a more complex universe than the Minister. The worst experience for a child is [...] read more
  May 31, 2010 3:42 pm - 19 Comments
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  An ACC model for welfare? No thanks - by frog

  
  
  
  Over the weekend, Social Development Minister raised the prospect of an ACC model for sickness and invalid’s benefits. My bet is that Bennett is talking about moving sickness and invalid’s benefits to the insurance model that ACC is increasingly becoming based on, rather than to a model based on the Woodhouse principle of complete rehabilitation that it was founded on. read more
  May 31, 2010 10:35 am - 5 Comments
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  Fuller v Bennett - by frog

  
  
  
  While both I and Green MPs have slammed Paula Bennett’s beneficiary bashing policies, I haven’t climbed into the information privacy dispute between Bennett and DPB beneficiary Natasha Fuller – until now! Bennett is going too far, and seems to want to escalate the dispute for her own political ends. read more
  May 27, 2010 6:47 pm - 23 Comments
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  A privatisation lesson from an unlikely source - by frog

  
  
  
  Cameron (Whaleoil) Slater has been having a bleat about how he has been treated by the private insurer Fidelity Life, which has cut off his income protection insurance. Funny how those on the political right don’t seem to get it – until it affects them personally, that is. read more
  May 25, 2010 11:34 am - 37 Comments
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  Human Rights Commission slams Future Focus - by frog

  
  
  
  Remember the bad old days when Jenny Shipley was Minister of Social Welfare and there were beneficiary bashing measures in every Budget (including the benefit cuts in the 1991 Mother of All Budgets that have never been restored)? Surprised there is nothing similar in this year’s Budget? read more
  May 21, 2010 1:51 pm - 15 Comments
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  Job creation and welfare policies are failing - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Most people spend less than a year on a benefit and use that time to rebuild their lives and education. The few who abuse the system pale into insignificance against losses from failed investment companies, tax evaders and corporate fraudsters. read more
  May 7, 2010 12:13 pm - 27 Comments
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  Paula, Peter and Peter: a perplexing predicament - by frog

  
  
  
  Today in the House, Catherine Delahunty posed a perplexing problem to Paula Bennett. Which Peter was she talking about? Last week, Catherine hit Paula up about the Welfare Working Group and the obvious bias of the people she had appointed. When asked about Peter Saunders’ statement that there is a link between “low average intelligence [...] read more
  May 5, 2010 5:56 pm - 34 Comments
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  Send ’em all down pit, Paula - by frog

  
  
  
  Let’s hope Gerry Brownlee and Paula Bennett don’t pick up on this policy initiative from Australian Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. read more
  April 22, 2010 9:27 am - 8 Comments
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  Welfare Working Group off to inauspicious start - by frog

  
  
  
  Presumably under pressure from ACT, the Government seems to be unable to resist finding places for wingnuts on the various advisory groups it is setting up. Yesterday it continued this trend by appointing Business Roundtable communications consultant and former ACT Party President Catherine Isaac (formerly Judd) to its Welfare Working Group. read more
  April 15, 2010 1:22 pm - 20 Comments
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  Submit on the Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill - by frog

  
  
  
  The Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill has been referred to Parliament’s Social Services Select Committee for submissions. Metiria Turei and Catherine Delahunty have produced a submission guide to assist people wanting to make submissions opposing this Bill. The deadline for submissions is Friday 14 May 2010. read more
  April 13, 2010 2:27 pm - 6 Comments
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  Freda Frog meets Future Focus - by frog

  
  
  
  I have a cousin named Freda Frog. Freda is single, lives on her own, and suffers from a chronic illness, for which she gets a sickness benefit. Here’s a possible scenario she faces following Paula Bennett’s Future Focus welfare reforms: read more
  March 29, 2010 1:28 pm - 21 Comments