Upston must answer for benefit payment chaos – Labour
Louise Upston needs to explain how many New Zealanders have had their benefit payments wrongly cut as fresh concerns emerge about jobseekers and sole parents.
“Every day, we learn more about the damage National’s rushed benefit changes are causing during a cost of living crisis,” Labour’s social development and employment spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said.
“It’s been a disaster and Louise Upston is responsible. She needs to come clean now on the true scale of her bungled benefit payments.
“First more than 16,000 pensioners and veterans had their Winter Energy Payment wrongly cut. Then we found out 14,500 people had other support payments cut.
“Both failures were caused by National’s rushed ‘confirming your circumstances’ law change.
“Now, we’re hearing jobseekers and sole parents’ payments could be next, with National’s 26-week reapplications putting even more pressure on an already strained system.
“National has overloaded the system with its rushed changes while cutting up to 700 jobs at the Ministry. The consequences were entirely predictable, and vulnerable New Zealanders are paying the price.
“Kiwis are struggling to make ends meet. They need a Government that gets support payments right, not one that keeps making mistakes and dodging accountability.
“This chaos has gone on long enough. Kiwis can’t afford another three years of botch-ups and a Minister that constantly ducks for cover,” Willow-Jean Prime said
How Upston is still there is unbelievable. She has to be the worst of ‘Luxon’s lot’! While there are requests for her to answer for the benefit payment chaos, I doubt she would even know, and probably doesn’t want to know! Come on Upston, grow a spine and tell us the whole truth! This National party has more than their share of inept and dishonest MP’s. They also got it horribly wrong by getting rid of the their smartest MP, Penk! They appear to be on a hiding to nothing!