Punishing benefit claimants harms children, advocates warn
Hundreds of beneficiaries with children – especially women – are being punished financially for infringements, new data shows, despite scant evidence the sanctions get people into work.
Benefit sanctions, whereby claimants’ benefits are docked or stopped altogether, reduced significantly during the pandemic but data obtained by Green Party MP Ricardo Menedez-March shows it picked up pace from late 2021 to March this year.
Sole parents and couples with dependent children can lose up to half of their benefit. The rise in punishments comes as many families struggle with rising food prices.
Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said sanctions have been tracking down when compared to previous years. More than 1500 people with children were sanctioned in April 2017, compared to only 375 this April. Most of these were for missing an appointment or failing to ‘prepare for work’, which could include refusing an interview.
The cruelty of sanctions that cut welfare to children because a parent misses a job interview is to sate the envy the working poor eye up welfare with.
30 years of a deunionised workforce has left a low wage economy where welfare is seen with jealousy.
Compare beating the poorest amongst us for mere non compliance of draconian work demands to Key’s Selfish Greed Vacant Optimism…
Ask Me Anything: Sir John Key talks to Paula Bennett about politics, ambition and raising kids
He said that drive is one of the things that also helped him get to the ninth floor of the Beehive, and believes that anyone can achieve the same if they have that motivation regardless of that background.
It’s one reason why Key is not a fan of the recent IRD report, which showed that while wealthier New Zealanders pay more tax overall, they pay lower tax rates than other earners.
Key said the analysis was “so pathetic” that he doesn’t see why it was published, and lambasted the idea that all of New Zealand’s problems can be blamed on the rich.
…I have zero interest in the vacant optimism of a rich prick.
There is an unspoken promise between the neoliberal State and the untaxed capital gains private landlord class that the neoliberal State never builds enough State Houses to alleviate housing desperation so that the untaxed capital gains private landlord class can exploit that housing desperation ON TOP OF getting a $1.5Billion annual subsidy in the form of the Accommodation Allowance EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
So the neoliberal State work hand in glove with the interests of the untaxed capital gains private landlord class to constantly keep desperation in the Housing market by never building enough State Houses WHILE handing taxpayer funded subsidies to the untaxed capital gains private landlord class!
This rigged casino where Landlords can constantly use their own debt to buy more property and out leverage first time home buyers just adds insult to injury.
On top of this, ACT and National want to give that same untaxed capital gains private landlord class the power to evict you at will so they can kick out the smelly domestic renters and exploit the new 100000 migrant workers coming into the country, remove all the healthy home and environmental regulations and put back in place the tax loopholes that benefit the untaxed capital gains private landlord class.
On top of this, the Real Estate pimps are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Right and are dangling the promise of house prices jumping 20% if National and ACT win.
The Housing Crisis is a political decision and you as renters should be incandescent with motherfucking rage at how this has been allowed to continue!
We have a class war this election but none of the political vocabulary on the Left to fight it because Identity Politics has replaced Class.
Pure Temple alienation over Broadchurch solidarity.
The minefield of cancel culture Social Justice over the collective power of Economic Justice!
Since 2013, there have been over 405 workplace deaths in NZ.
There are only 550 Worksafe Staff for a working population of 448 000.
There are only 37 inspectors of rental properties for 300 000 terrible rentals.
There are only 82 labour inspectorates who are supposed to police hundreds of thousands of migrant worker exploitations!
I’m not looking for Socialism from Labour, just basic regulated capitalism!
Nationals 3 biggest donors (Hart, Mowbray and Bolton) have a combined net worth of 15 billion!
The Bottom 50% of NZ has 23 billion.
The top 5% of NZers own roughly 50% of NZs wealth, while the bottom 50% of NZers own a miserable 5%!
IRD proved NZ Capitalism is rigged for the rich and Bernard Hickey calculates that if we had a basic capital gains tax in place over the last decade, we would have earned $200billion in tax revenue.
$200billion would have ensured our public infrastructure wouldn’t be in such an underfunded ruin right now!
There are 14 Billionaires in NZ + 3118 ultra-high net worth individuals with over $50million each, why not start start with them, then move onto the Banks, then the Property Speculators, the Climate Change polluters and big industry to pay their fair share before making workers pay more tax!
Bread and Butter cost of living pressures are what the electorate want answers to, and that’s where the Left need to step up and push universal policy that lifts that cost from the people.
The Commerce Commission is clear that the Supermarket Duopoly should be broken up and the State should step in and provide that competition.
We need year long maternity leave.
We need a nationalised Early Education Sector that provides free childcare for children under 5.
We need free public transport.
We need free breakfast and lunches in schools.
We need free dental.
We need 50 000 new State Houses.
We need more hospitals, more schools and a Teachers aid in every class room.
We need climate change adaptation and a resilient rebuilt infrastructure.
We need all these things and we need to fund them by taxing the rich who the IRD clearly showed were rigging the system.
That requires political courage and there is none!
No one is willing to fight for tomorrow, they merely want to pacify the present!
As a nation we will face some of the toughest choices and decision making outside of war time and that means you must press those bloody MPs to respond to real policy solutions and make those buggers promise to change things and you can’t do that if you hand your vote over before the bloody election!
Keep demanding concessions and promises for your vote right up until midnight before election day AND THEN cast your vote!
We only get 1 chance every 3 years to hold these politicians feet to the fire and they only care before the election, so force real concessions out of them before you elect them.
This election is going to be too important to just let politicians waltz into Parliament without being blistered by our scrutiny.
Demand real concessions from them and THEN vote on Election Day.
2023 Election will be a vote for the least worst outcome
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Greed is the problem, pure and simple.
It’s funny how act and national fall all over themselves to protect the greedy. And those who been pricked by the same bug, rush to support them.
Please don’t assume that the ones coming up from bellow won’t be as greedy as the ones already on top. I mean if you actually knew how money works you be smashing down on the untaxed capital gains to. But that’s not the point. The point is that no matter what the system will always promote growth unless you’re like those Standard Muppets who believe in degrowth back to hunter gather ways is the solution to organising 9 billion people.
Perfect
Sigh I really detest coving old ground but anyway here’s what I think. I think that the Greens, Maori and Labour Party are not aggressive enough in there socialism and I also think that The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is being way to aggressive in its socialism by socialising the loses and spreading all those capital gains to far few hands. You see Matua Reserve Bank governor is “forcing socialism on what is supposed to be a capitalistic environment and society. But no-one can discuss that because they’ve been heavily brainwashed especially in this community.
Look The Reserve Bank with its rapid asset and bond purchases are socialist. They’re trying to make the community share the loses. But! When things are going well and markets shoot up nobody is socialising these massive capital gains! Those gains belong to a very small portion Martyn wrote a list. Which is cool but if you’re going to take your gains on your own then they ought to take there losses on there own as well. So the Left has been far to fucken weak on socialising the gains, in my opinion.
Now once it comes to rate increases they’re not agressive enough y’know? We should have done that atleast 6 months earlier than The U.S fed when they first signalled rate hikes. Not raising them higher just earlier.
By dropping rates and bailing out profligate and insolvent entities they’re creating bubbles. To mitigate these bubbles they’re now trying to raise rates and absorb money and debt. Okay so they’re creating big boom busy crashes. Or they could stop all these big boom busy cycles simply by not messing with it.
The corporations and banks that are struggling are not struggling because rates are going up there failing because they’ve got trash bonds on there balance sheets.
Okay. Now I’m a full grown man I should be able to take care of my family when rates go up. I should be able to do well when rates are down but when rates go up I should be able to feed my family and not ask for help like fucken scum lords and the same for entities. We all have hard times,.me especially but if it’s happening all the time like how farmers and scum lords are so reliant on the system and socialising the losses that’s profligate behaviour. Profligate means you’re spending haphazardly and irresponsible. How many times you great and wonderful brain washed community are going to let the great depression happen over and over into the dotcom crash, financial crash what ever 2023 is and safe guard the family home, let the banks crash and be really mean to corporations before you take the hint?
So let banks go bust. Ring fence the deposits of the middle class and all the profligates that took the risk need to take the losses that come up with it. Not only is the government taking money from the poor and middle class, the government is teaching risk takers how to be scum. Every time scum lords get in trouble the poor are saving them. You all should know how to vet banks and if you don’t then let’s talk. Bailing out elites simply makes New Zealand weaker because now you don’t have to be good. What good is picking stocks if the government is simply supporting all the prices.
It’s my opinion but most of my opinions are grounded in empirical fact because I’m always right lol. Okay you guys no I’m not always right. Hopefully I’m right more often than I’m wrong. Hehe
The abolition of the Full Employment Policy, in order to deliberately reintroduce unemployment (‘labour market flexibility’), in order to lower wages (‘deregulating inefficient, sticky labour markets’), had to be covered up somehow.
This dovetailed with the long-term plan to abolish social security (which was itself defined as a ‘problem’), and siphon the money into private insurance policies and mutual fund accounts from Wall Street.
It required massive union busting, and a huge propaganda campaign to split the working class. It could only work if the working people were simultaneously demoralised and uninformed (‘infotainment’), and would hence ‘blame themselves’.
The mandate was given in the last election overwhelmingly and the time before that, nothing has been achieved, everything is tracking worse. So do you believe the same parties with new voting temptations to be acted upon a third time? Maybe someone else just needs a go.
There are some things in the Green Party Tax that have sense but their mathematics does not work especially if we make Business Income Tax higher than Australia who are viewed high already. We will lose business competition and who ever has the highest cash flow will remain with no competition left and then hike prices.
We are seeing this now.
When John meets Paula expect nothing to benefit anyone other than gutter grubbers like themselves.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record taxes like CGT need to be in place to balance the tax system not punish the “rich”. It doesn’t matter if you are Graeme Hart or Muriel from Morrinsville with an investment property.
There have been so many apartments built in Auckland that are about to come online, immigrants are required to fill them, otherwise they would be have to be rented to the motel occupants and the motel industry would be down the tubes. Where did the original motel customers go zoom sales rep meetings and high airline prices for tourists.
I reckon the accommodation supplement should be killed off. Then if the landlords can’t make enough money from landlording they can either sell out to their tennant’s or go cap in hand down to Winz and ask for a means tested landlords benefit
WINZ: Please take a seat madam. Now, we have received information from your neighbor, that you have been regularly seeing someone, on an ongoing basis, and even though this neighbor has never discussed it with you, they felt it was their solemn duty to convey to us, your new relationship status. And since you’re in receipt of a sole parent benefit, we must take all these factors into account. Do you understand this?
CLIENT: yes.
WINZ: We will immediately reduce your benefit by an amount, depending on the income of the person, that we have now deemed you to be in a relationship with, and of course, we will give you a breach, for not immediately telling us, about your new relationship status. So given all these factors, it’s almost certain that we will no longer be paying you any benefit, and just so you know, your ability to appeal our decision about your relationship status, based solely on a tip off from a disgruntled neighbor, is minimal. Do I may myself clear?
CLIENT: yes.
WINZ: You may have heard that at the Family Court, you have to be with someone for 3 years, before you come under the family property laws, but at Winz, we consider you to be in a committed relationship, from as soon as we find out about it.
Now, I will just bring up the completed forms on my system, that we required you to return to us, regarding your new relationship status, so I can update your file.
Sorry to be a pain, but having read your forms, I do see a few issues here, in need of clarification.
Firstly, in regard to the person that we have proven beyond doubt, and you have admitted to being in a relationship with, can you confirm what you’ve written, is true and accurate, in terms of their total gross income, from all sources?
CLIENT: yes.
WINZ: But you have stated that their income is zero! This is a little suspicious to say the least, so I made the decision to hand your file over to our, Fraud Undercover Crime Killing Enforcement Raptor Squad (f.u.c.k.e.r.s), to investigate all your suspiciousness, using IRD data matching and credit checks and Facebook/Insta/Twitter feeds and kindergarten records analysis, and private investigator queries.
We don’t muck around here. They reported back, that the person that we deemed you to be in a relationship with, actually has no job or income, is not on a benefit and lives in a car? Is this really true?
CLIENT: yes.
WINZ: Dear me, dear oh dear, that means that once we take your partners income into account, in regard to our regulations, we have decided that we cannot reduce your sole parent benefit after all, as your partner has no income to support you with. This has all been a terrible bureaucratic shambles. Do you understand all this?
CLIENT: yes.
WINZ: Furthermore, I take it that, since you are alleging to us, that you are now in an apparent relationship, and your so called partner has no income at all, you will have the temerity to expect, that your benefit will be increased from the sole parent rate, to the full couples rate.
Well, not so fast sunshine. Just because you think you’re in a relationship, and you have confirmed to us you’re in a relationship, and we initially accepted that you’re in a relationship, doesn’t mean that you’re officially in a relationship, as far as we are concerned, until you can prove to our satisfaction, that you’re in a relationship.
We don’t just take the word of any Tom Dick or Harry, when it comes to relationship status. Is that really how you thought we run things in this day and age, that we act like complete morons or something?
CLIENT: yes.
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