28 June 1999
Media release
Labour insists on sticking to it's policy of being soft on benefit crime, despite massive public support for the
Government's campaign to reduce benefit fraud, said Roger Sowry, Minister of Social Services, Work and Income.
"Mr Maharey is mistaken when he says these figures include accidental overpayment. The $17 million of taxpayers money
this campaign found was all taken fraudulently - an average of $9000 per case for more than 1800 people."
"It seems Mr Maharey's objections to the benefit crime advertising campaign were completely baseless, as were the other
five complaints which were not upheld by the advertising standards organisation."
Mr Sowry said it was typical of the Labour/Alliance bloc to stick to this soft-on-crime policy when independent
research showed 92% of people feel benefit fraudsters should be punished, and 77% were concerned that benefit crime is a
serious problem for New Zealand.
ENDS