Big changes are coming to New Zealand’s welfare system.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says an overhaul of the system is “imminent”.
Labour’s confidence and supply agreement with the Greens promises to “overhaul the welfare system, ensure access to entitlements, remove excessive sanctions and review Working for Families”.
“I have seen too many stories as an MP in my local area which demonstrate that decisions have been made that haven’t taken into account the human side of some of the cases at play,” Ms Ardern said at her post-Cabinet news conference on Monday.
“By and large many case managers do an exceptional job but there are situations where you’re just left wondering why there just wasn’t the respect shown that should have been.”
Scrapping sanctions is “one of the things that has been raised”.
“We’re coming in after nine years of there being an expectation that there’ll be a singular focus on reducing benefit numbers, and of course we want people in work, we want people who are seeking work to be able to find work, but I think it’s tipped over into a space where it’s actually denying people who need help the help they need,” Ms Ardern said.
The overhaul could be one of the announcements to come out of the Budget in three weeks’ time.
Increasing welfare and scrapping most sanctions was a major policy platform for the Greens. It was at the launch of the policy that former co-leader Metiria Turei revealed she had misled Work and Income (WINZ) as a solo…
