Changes To Benefit System Bad Move
February 22, 2005
The government's plan to introduce one single benefit is par for the course - if you can't solve a problem, bury it.
"I have myself suggested one single benefit for all fit, working-age people. It should be called the dole and it should
be temporary. But this is a far cry from one open-ended single benefit for all, regardless of the reason why the
recipient can't or won't work," Lindsay Mitchell, petitioner for a Parliamentary review of the DPB said today.
"This move will reduce transparency. It will be far more difficult to identify trends and problems. Under the present
system we are able to quickly and easily identify that while unemployment has dropped, more individuals, including
single parents, are now on other benefits."
"We are told this move is an administrative simplification. It will save the taxpayer money and free up case managers to
work more intensively getting beneficiaries into work."
"However, the first (or second, third, fourth etc) benefit application still has to be processed. Many people think the
beneficiary pool is fairly static. In fact, it is dynamic. For example, WINZ processes around 40,000 applications each
year for the DPB. "
"The main existing add-ons remain - family support, accommodation supplement, child-care and OSCAR subsidies. Then there
are new allowances replacing the existing ones. The In-Work payment replaces the Child Tax Credit and the new Temporary
Additional Support replaces the Special Benefit. The maze of entitlements still has to be worked through."
"The claim to simplification is very shaky indeed."
"At the moment we have 320,000 working-age people on various benefits. That is reprehensible with such a strong labour
market. BUT at least we can identify where the problems remain; which groups have longer durations dependent on welfare;
which groups have dependent children; which groups present the biggest challenge."
"What the government is billing as the biggest change to the social security system for seventy years is nothing of the
sort. It is no more than an ill-advised but potentially dangerous move."
"The biggest change we could make would be to return welfare for healthy, working-age people to being temporary
assistance only. Anything else is wasteful window-dressing."
Lindsay Mitchell petitioner for a Parliamentary review of the DPB forms available from www.liberalvalues.org.nz contact
dandl.mitchell@clear.net.nz
ENDS