"The Child Poverty Action Group are beating their drum again, " says Lindsay Mitchell, petitioner for a Parliamentary review of the DPB. "When Susan St John addressed the Green Party conference at the weekend, she expressed the predictable and the monotonous sentiment, ' government must give more money to the poor.' "

"My contention is that the only compassionate thing for the government to do is to stop giving money to the poor and instead ensure that they can find paid work. Yesterday, in the United States, a report from the Bush Administration to Congress said that since mandating work for welfare recipients in 1996, poverty has declined to it's lowest rate in 23 years. The number of families on welfare has dropped 2.4 million, or an astonishing 54 percent, most of which consist of single mothers with children."

(for text http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020603/4159209s.htm)

"Jobs, not benefits, are the answer to child poverty," claims Mitchell. "Until The CPAG acknowledges this, they will be unable to help children in need."

Lindsay Mitchell Petitioner for a Parliamentary review of the DPB
e-mail dandl.mitchell@clear.net.nz

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