Social Development Minister Louise Upston has announced an increase in benefit sanctions starting June, focusing particularly on young jobseekers.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) will implement ‘work check-ins’ for those who have been on benefits for at least six months to ensure they are actively seeking employment and receiving appropriate assistance, according to a report in state media outlet RNZ.
Upston’s move comes as an ‘early action’ to reduce welfare dependency, citing a decrease in sanctions from 60,588 in 2017 to 25,329 in 2023, despite an increase of 70,000 people on jobseeker benefits, with 40,000 of these for over a year.
She criticised the previous Labour government’s approach for a ‘lighter touch’ on sanctions, saying it weakened their effectiveness as an incentive to meet work obligations.
Upston said she was aiming to change the welfare system to prevent long-term dependency, mentioning that work-ready job seekers are predicted to spend an average of 13 years on benefits, with teenagers at risk of 24 years on welfare.
Speaking to legacy media today, Upston said the implementation of work check-ins would lead to approximately 2,500 individuals monthly being subject to a “work-testable activity”. The measure would allow MSD to evaluate if those receiving unemployment benefits are actively seeking employment or taking steps to enhance their employability.
Measures would be taken against those beneficiaries who demonstrated a consistent failure to meet their obligations. The continuous reliance on State welfare was not justifiable or fair to taxpayers, she said.
Upston reiterated the government’s stance in a letter to MSD boss Debbie Power, stating that those capable of work should do so, and welfare settings should support this principle.
The moves on welfare are part of a government plan to introduce a ‘more comprehensive’ sanctions system, including mandatory reapplication for Jobseeker Support every six months, job coaching, needs assessments, a traffic light system, new non-financial sanctions, and actions against repeated non-compliance, such as not taking available work, missing interviews, or not completing pre-employment tasks.
Didn’t work against Russia, so why doe,s he think it will work against Kiwi’s.
Has it ever occurred to anyone that our education system which create two classes of people, those who can afford proper educational support at home and those whose parents are MIA (missing in action) encourages grift by the educated, (how to apply for grant money and become a popstar etc.) and beyond desperate behaviours in the neglected? Young car thieves need time cleaning wreckers yards and recycling metals as opposed to playing monopoly and living in virtual reality environments as fostered by the university educated social service workers.
We’ve lowered standards in the US. Education, criminal background are no longer roadblocks to employment.
Many former “unemployable” are now in the workforce.
The root of welfare dependency lies in the destruction of the core family which was aided and abetted under socialists governments or with socialists party pressure.
Dependency is a construct to govern people and to gain votes.
Welfare bashing, a classic tactic, turning people against each other, whilst slashing payments to the needy. National are no better than Liebour. Neither deserve to be in office in my view. Why people keep voting for either is a mystery to me.
Yep thats true.
Remember 62% of kiwi voters said “NO” to Luxoff and the NWO.
So WE THE 62% of WE THE PEOPLE WON THE ELECTION – THEY LOST.
Now if everyone acts accordingly like the winners we are right now then we can get our country back off the filthy globalists. Its as simple as saying “NO”.
Elections are fake. All the big political parties are owned and controlled by the same people, the politicians they trot out in front of the cameras are just employees.
That being said, they DO actually get things right from time to time (of only to keep up appearances). This announcement is one of those times.
It’s clearly not aimed at taking from the “needy”, it’s aimed at giving those who abuse the system a good kick in the ass. And there are PLENTY who abuse the system, it’s an axiom of any welfare setup. To think otherwise is just plain naive.
People who are elderly, or have been legitimately hurt or injured and simply CANNOT do anything to support themselves, need all the help we can possibly give them. What they DONT need is half a million lazy sh*ts who are perfectly fit and capable sponging off of everyone and weighing the entire system down. It doesn’t benefit anyone, and it isn’t even good for the spongers either. The rampant abuse of welfare only makes communities poorer and poorer in the long run, there are decades of studies showing this. The more welfare a community receives, the poorer they become long term. Socialism is economic cancer, always will be.
It’s better to work for yourself and earn your own money, to contribute something to the society you live in, instead of constantly take take taking from it. It’s better for everyone, ESPECIALLY those who legitimately need the welfare system.
Lazy people just need to be kicked off of the gravy train first.