Government aids export of job seekers to Oz

Revelations today that taxpayers are picking up the tab for unemployed Kiwis to fly to Australia to take up job offers is further proof that the Government has no interest in creating work opportunities here, Labour’s Social Development spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says.

“John Key campaigned on stopping the flood of Kiwis moving to Australia. Not only has he failed that test - we now have record numbers of New Zealanders heading across the ditch  -  his Minister of Social Development is facilitating it, with the ‘transition to work’ grant  being used to pay for beneficiaries’ passports and flights.

“Paula Bennett couldn’t confirm in the House today just how many job seekers Work and Income staff might have bought one-way tickets across the ditch for.  However, she ‘hoped’ it wasn’t common practice.

“Hoping isn’t going to change that fact that roughly 6000 people move off the benefit each year to move overseas, some of whom have apparently done so with help from Ms Bennett.

“That makes a lie of the promise to reduce the number of people shifting across the Tasman.

“The ‘wave goodbye to your taxes, not your loved ones’ slogan rings pretty hollow when we have a Government that believes unemployed Kiwis are better off leaving New Zealand because it has given up on finding work for them.

“Put bluntly we now have a Government that is supporting the export of Kiwis to Australia.”