Labour do right AND SMART thing on $63m MSD/ACC clawback

Labour requests amendments to bill that could leave vulnerable people in debt

The Labour Party has requested amendments to the Social Security Amendment Bill, a proposed law change that could leave vulnerable people $63 million worse off, while supporting it to the next stage of the law-making process.

Stuff first covered the bill – which seeks to legalise a long-standing Ministry of Social Development policy of clawing back supplementary payments received by beneficiaries while they are waiting to be assessed for ACC payments – when it was introduced under urgency nearly two weeks ago.

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Thank Jesus that Chippy isn’t a mug.

When National offered Labour to vote for their Social Security Amendment Bill, it was sold as responsible Government closing a loop hole that allows beneficiaries to ‘double dip’, but the sheer scale of people caught up in this means tens of thousands of Kiws who had no idea they would be hit with a debt letter and about to be hit with a debt letter.

National were sneakily hoping Labour were stupid and would agree with this so that when the debt letters start hitting tens of thousands of unsuspecting beneficiaries National could immediately spin around and say, ‘But Labour voted for it’.

Just imagine.

A month before the election, tens of thousands of unsuspecting Kiwis suddenly get aggressive letters from MSD screaming that they are now in debt and pay up immediately or the debt collectors get released on you.

Day after day after day there would be a new example after new example after new example of the poorest Kiwis in the media being told that the welfare that was given to them while they waited for their ACC claims was all now debt.

Solo parents who were waiting for ACC would now be hit by debt claims.

Sick people, injured people, people who had been horribly damaged by crime – they would all now be told they were in debt to MSD as they clawed $63million back ALL BECAUSE ACC can’t get their shit together and process claims fast enough.

Imagine being sick, victimised by Crime or being hurt and waiting a stand down while ACC process your claim and during that time you are being given welfare because you can’t work.

Now imagine you are told you have to pay all that welfare back after your ACC claim is successful, for many they simply don’t have that money.

What Labour have done by demanding an Amendment that allows for MSD to write the debt off if the person can’t pay is provide an immediate response once those debt letters start rolling.

Instead of National being able to scream, ‘but Labour voted for it as well’, Labour can now reply, ‘No, we demanded MSD have the discretion to write debt off if it is unfair and being used against people who have sensitive claims with ACC.

Labour can even argue that if they win the election, they will ensure that discretion is available.

National KNEW the timeline of how the Social Security Amendment Bill would play out.

They KNEW that those debt letters would be hitting letterboxes of shocked ACC claimants just before the election and National HOPED Labour were stupid enough to fall into their trap.

Thank Jesus that Chippy isn’t a mug.