Judy Kirk Speech: Welfare That Works

Address to National Party Annual Conference, Duxton Hotel, Wellington

Good afternoon, delegates, ladies and gentlemen.

2005 started with a bang. That bang was Orewa II, and yet again Don Brash used his annual address to the Orewa Rotary Club to say a few things that needed to be said.

Make no mistake, New Zealand does have a problem with welfare dependency.

Labour is in denial. They are pretending there is no issue - and in the process, they are consigning nearly quarter of a million kids to being brought up in households where the main form of income is a benefit cheque.

National thinks our children deserve far better.

National thinks no child should be left behind. We must not accept, as inevitable, failure in education, and we cannot accept the way the current government makes value judgments on the basis of race.

National won’t do that. National wants all our kids, regardless of their socio- economic background, to have a fair go. That’s why we’re freeing up choice in education, and that’s why we’ll support children who fall behind with vouchers for reading and maths.

It has been far too easy for Labour to claim credit for falling unemployment rates at a time when the economy was growing. Now, as Labour’s economic chickens start coming home to roost – it’s time for real change.

What’s clear is that Labour has no will to make that happen – National does.

The tough questions on Sickness and Invalids Benefits and the Domestic Purposes Benefit have gone unanswered.

The easiest thing that any government can do with welfare is "do nothing".

The hardest thing they can do is to take our role seriously and set about making positive differences for those New Zealanders caught in the welfare driftnet.

This is not just about spending. The biggest pay-off will be in the lives of the people that we turn around for good.

I don’t want to make this a speech about the ideal family situation. It is wise to remember that even the "Brady Bunch" was a blended family.

This is, however, a speech about Welfare that Works: the need for responsibility - yours, mine, ours - personal responsibility, family responsibility and, when none of those are present, the state's responsibility.

We have been participants in a 30-year experiment - an experiment in rights as opposed to responsibility, an experiment in entitlements rather than obligations, and an experiment in welfare dependency.

National knows that some people will need taxpayer help all their lives.

National knows that some people will need taxpayer assistance for part of their lives.

What we can’t accept is Helen Clark's view that it is better for people to take taxpayers' money rather than to fill the jobs that are going.

This is what Ruth Dyson, the present Associate Minister for Social Development, said about "entry level jobs" - she called them "low paid jobs that go nowhere", and then she called them "low-end, dead jobs".[1]

That's what Labour thinks of the work that factory workers do and that’s what Labour thinks of those incredibly hard working women and men who clean our office buildings and Parliament every night. That's what Labour thinks of their work, and that's what the Labour Party thinks of people who work with their hands - people who do the work and who pay their taxes.

Isn’t that wonderful?

Ruth Dyson is saying don’t do this work, go on the dole instead. That’s the difference in philosophy. National would take the view that a paid job is one step on the ladder of improvement. Labour says don’t bother, take the dole cheque!

Thirty years after the start of the great social experiment we still have child poverty; there are more crimes against children, more child deaths, more domestic violence, less literacy and more people on welfare.

Accepting failure as inevitable, as Labour does, was described by Bill Clinton as fostering ‘a culture of low expectations’. It promotes mediocrity and it destroys aspiration.

In a culture of low expectations, people live in fear. They live in a fear of achievement; a fear of failure; a fear of reaching too high; a fear of losing a benefit; a fear of losing a job; even a fear of getting a job.

Labour’s welfare driftnet is a fear factory

Why else have people been shifting off the work-tested benefits and onto the Sickness and Invalids Benefits, if not for fear of losing their welfare cheque?

And what’s Labour’s solution – a bulging bureaucracy?

Administration costs at the Ministry of Social Development have climbed by 23% in the past five years – at a time when unemployment has been on a global decline.

In the Budget, they announced additional funding for a $127 million programme that Treasury says will have almost no effect on the rising number of people moving on to Sickness and Invalids Benefits.

And last year, Treasury said Working For Families would help less than 2% of sole parents move from welfare and into work.

That’s Labour’s commitment to the difficult area of welfare and it’s not working.

It’s like Michael Cullen’s – or as we like to call him - the wastemaster – it’s like his tax fiddle. No change – despite the rhetoric.

Labour is failing these New Zealanders.

Since 1975, thirty years ago, the number of people receiving the Sickness Benefit has risen by 465%. The number of people receiving the Invalids Benefit has risen by 686%.

Since 1990, fifteen years ago, the New Zealand population has risen by 19 per cent. In the same 15 years, those on the Sickness Benefit have risen by a staggering 127%. Those on the Invalids Benefit have risen by an even more staggering 166%.

There is no epidemic of stress; there is no epidemic of injury. National simply does not accept that all those on the Sickness and Invalids Benefits are unable to contribute anything to their own incomes.

At the end of April 2005 there were just under 53,000 people on the Unemployment Benefit - a time when almost every employer is crying out for staff. At the same time there were nearly 120,000 working age New Zealanders who are on the Sickness and Invalids Benefits.

You’d think this would send alarm bells ringing. But that is not happening. Labour have put their ear muffs on and are looking the other way.

Right now we have around 300,000 adults of working age on the four main benefits: Unemployment, Sickness, Invalids and the Domestic Purposes Benefit.

Of the 97,000 sole parents on the DPB, around 15,000 say they can't name the father of their child or even their children. More than 23,000 women gave birth to more children while receiving the Domestic Purposes Benefit, and 1,700 of those had 3 or more additional children while on the DPB.

These 4 main benefits alone cost taxpayers $14 million per day! $14 million per day! - that represents $2,500 per year out of every working New Zealander's pocket.

We've now got 15% of our workforce out of paid, sustainable work. In 1975, we only had 3% of the workforce on benefits.

National knows there is a problem. Helen Clark – the prime moneywaster - doesn’t think there is.

So instead of fixing their driftnet, Labour thinks that rolling all the benefits into a single scheme with "add-ons” will solve the problem.

The only thing that will solve is Labour’s PR problem, because it disguises the real size of welfare dependency in this country. Helen Clark did that with hospital waiting lists – and Labour is doing it again with welfare.

The single benefit idea was first promoted in 1989 by the Wastemaster, Michael Cullen. Then it was reborn under Steve Maharey in 2001. Those who have looked at it overseas say it won’t work. It’s an idea trotted out every now and again when Labour runs out of ideas – as they have now. It’s a blatant case of Labour trying to give the impression they are doing something when they are not.

National has a plan. We want welfare that works - that helps people when they really need it. We want welfare that is fair - that is humane and is a safety net rather than a driftnet.

National believes those receiving the Unemployment Benefit should take part in approved community work or retraining after a period for job search.

At first, National will focus on those with the most to gain - the under 25-year-olds and the long-term unemployed.

We are also prepared to accept figures that show many of those on welfare need help with literacy and numeracy.

National is committed to making sure the difficult questions are asked. We’ll help arrange assistance where it is required and we won’t let political correctness get in the way of helping people help themselves.

And for those who’ve been out of work for a long time, or those who’ve had trouble with the law, we plan to introduce a 90-day no-obligation trial period for employers who might otherwise not be prepared to take a chance on a staff member perceived as ‘risky’.

Everyone with an ounce of common sense knows that a foot in the door is the first step to independence.

National will also ensure that people who need a Sickness or Invalids Benefit will continue to have access to taxpayer-funded assistance, and we will co-ordinate a more thorough medical evaluation process to determine eligibility.

We’ve all heard the stories about family doctors being put under pressure to sign off on a Sickness Benefit – and we’ve all heard the stories about beneficiaries shopping around for a ‘soft touch’ doctor.

That must change, and National will work with the medical profession to find a fair balance, and a sustainable solution.

Labour isn’t even trying. It has been told its schemes are doomed to fail, but it is still spending millions of taxpayer dollars on programmes that won’t have any great success.

Putting on the ear muffs and looking the other way, and relaxing the rules around the DPB are also costing the taxpayer dearly.

The DPB last year cost this country $1.7 billion. Of that, only 10% was paid by liable parent support from the non-custodial parent. National will want to see that collection rate improved. We will actively seek to recover some of the $1 bllion of unpaid child support that is owed to Kiwi taxpayers.

National will also make it clear that the DPB is not a viable long-term career choice.

National will expect DPB beneficiaries to undertake part-time employment, retraining or community service when their youngest child reaches school age. And we will expect them to make themselves available for full-time employment, retraining or community service from the time their youngest child reaches 14.

National’s policies put children first.

We will require DPB recipients to present their children for all appropriate vaccinations (unless there is a conscientious objection), as well as health and dental checks.

We will also make it clear that we expect those in receipt of the DPB to make sure their school age children turn up to class.

National backs good parents who take responsibility for themselves and their children.

But we must take some steps to break the cycle.

The range of policies that National is promoting will do that.

In welfare, in education, in taxation, in law and order, and in race relations we are focussed on promoting a culture where those who can, do stand on their own two feet

Where some of these plans have been tried overseas, for instance in the United States, they’ve paid a substantial and genuine dividend.

In the US between 1996 and 2002, total welfare rolls dropped 58%.

By comparison, National is setting a modest target. We will work towards a one-third reduction in welfare recipients over a 10-year period. That’s a 100,000 decrease at a time when Labour is forecasting rising unemployment over the next three years.

The most important thing that we as politicians can do is to send the message that welfare dependency is not supposed to be a way of life.

We must face the fact that, at the moment, we have a significant number of working-age New Zealanders who are not fulfilling their potential, and who Helen Clark's government would rather leave dependent than free them to help themselves.

We know that work provides dignity and self-respect. Work is honourable, and all the training courses in the world will simply never make up for the public and private good of earning our own income and looking after our own families.

These are National’s values. We will deliver Welfare that Works.

Ends

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