Exploding beneficiary numbers and rising hunger – this is Old Zealand disintegrating
After crashing the economy by crushing the infrastructure pipeline in 2024 that Labour created causing enormous cascading job loses and 220 000 fleeing the country, beneficiary numbers are exploding…
Beneficiary numbers soar to 12-year high despite government’s reduction promise
Beneficiary numbers have soared to a 12-year high, under a government that promised a reduction.
They were the highest both by volume and percentage of the working-age population since at least the 2013 welfare reforms.
Social development minister Louise Upston said in 2024 – less than three months after taking office – that the government was taking action to “curb the surge in welfare dependency” that ocurred under the former Labour government.
But the most recent Ministry of Social Development data revealed that was yet to take hold.
As of December last year, 427,236 people – about the population of Christchurch – were receiving a main benefit.
RNZ
…this despite the cruelty of new draconian welfare sanctions…
Have benefit sanctions actually worked?
Benefit sanctions have not worked – probably largely because there are not enough jobs for beneficiaries to move into, one economist says.
Rob Heyes, principal consultant at Infometrics, has looked at the experience of benefit sanctions introduced in 2024.
The government introduced a traffic light system alongside financial and non-financial sanctions for beneficiaries who did not meet their obligations.
It affects people on JobSeeker Support or Sole Parent Support who have work obligations, like being prepared for work, and taking part in Work and Income assessments, or social obligations such as caring for children.
If beneficiaries do not meet their obligations without good reason, they are moved to “orange” in the system. If they do not then get back on track within five days, they are shifted to “red”, at which point their benefit can be stopped or reduced.
Non-financial sanctions include such things as going on a course, keeping a record of job searches, having some of their benefit put on a payment card or being sent on community work experience.
RNZ
…those Non-Financial sanctions are rarely ever used…
Just 21 of tens of thousands of benefit sanctions have been non-financial
Just 21 people have received non-financial benefit sanctions since the new traffic light scheme took effect.
That is despite the government at the time describing them as a “very fair and reasonable” way for people to receive their full benefits even when they had not been meeting their obligations.
RNZ
…and hunger is rising…
One in three households struggled for food in past year, Hunger Monitor report finds
The Hunger Monitor is the country’s first comprehensive tally of food insecurity and will serve as a benchmark for annual updates.
It surveyed 3000 people late last year.
From its warehouse in Manukau, South Auckland Christian Foodbank delivered 40,000 food parcels last year and chief executive Ian Foster said that number was climbing.
“I can remember in Covid we were doing 100 a day and we thought how the heck are we doing that, this year we’ve averaged 177 a day.”
He founded the foodbank 18 years ago.
He was surprised to learn one in three households had struggled to afford food in the past year – they did not all turn up at food banks.
The Hunger Monitor also found nearly one in five households, 18 percent, had experienced severe food insecurity in that time.
It was commissioned by the New Zealand Food Network, a collection of foodbanks and food rescue charities. Its chief executive Gavin Findlay said the numbers are startling.
Stuff
…the horror in a land of plenty like NZ is that over half a million Kiwis require food banks per month!
The corporate slop Seymour replaced our healthy school lunches with only further degrades food security in our communities.
This Government has implemented extreme ideological vandalism to the economy and now want to punish those they made unemployed in the exact same way they want to punish the homeless they made homeless!
This isn’t social policy, it’s a revenge fantasy against beneficiaries.
We have become a very cruel people who seem to delight in the suffering of others EVEN IF they themselves are being harmed by the Government’s policies.
This is political polarisation at its worst.
This is Old Zealand disintegrating while New Zealand is strangled.
Well to be fair it is Louise Upston and she is a horrible woman. So you wouldn’t expect pro beneficiary policies, punitive yes, pro most definitely not.
Their trump cards leading into the election will not be anything positive about their achievements, they have none.
They will attack in 3 ways. The Covid inquiry is timed to smear Labour and rekindle hatred of Adern. They will endlessly list the Greens ‘new’ taxes and policies as theft of our hard earned money. They will characterize TPM as dangerous radicals whose ideas on Sovereignty will destroy New Zealand.
This is going to be a dirty election.
Surely by now, no one with a brain, will believe anything this failed CoC has promised. They are so lost in the mess they have created that there is no escape except dark, suspect money! How can they keep saying they are doing a good job? It’s hilarious if anyone believes that. So sad our lovely NZ has to keep going down this atrocious road controlled by big business, money and massive corruption. The day of judgment is fast approaching – beware. No one is exempt from the powers that be!