Latest sanctions show failure on jobs

A staggering increase in the use of sanctions in the last four years shows Paula Bennett’s welfare reforms are nothing more than a dog whistle to hide her failure to move people into jobs, Labour’s Social Development spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says.

John Key claimed in 2008 he would have ‘an unrelenting focus on getting beneficiaries into employment’. He hasn’t done that. Instead it has been Paula Bennett’s use of sanctions that has seen people moved off benefits while the unemployment rate increases.

"Kiwis in the jobs queue are being let down.

“The Government’s own figures show that sanctions are being used at ever-increasing levels, with the number of people having payments withheld or cancelled last year almost double since 2008, up from 29,689 to 57,168.

“What that proves is not, as Ms Bennett would have us believe, a Government looking to get people into jobs, but one focused on keeping official benefit numbers down.

“They are wielding the sanctions stick but there simply aren’t jobs for them to move into. The Government needs to focus on increasing jobs, that’s how you get people off benefits.

“Ms Bennett has been unable to provide any real evidence that her policies are doing anything to improve the lot of the most vulnerable, and moving them into sustainable employment.

“In fact under Labour, unemployment benefit numbers sat at roughly 18,000, in contrast to the current 58,000. Kiwis’ attitudes to work have not changed, the Governments approach to helping them into work most certainly has.

“We need to return to a fair system, with accountability not only from those who use and need social security, but from the Government as well.

“It's Ms Bennett’s job to make sure there are jobs for people to move into, and it's time she focused on exactly that rather than fixing the numbers in other ways.

“Doing what she thinks sounds appealing is quite different to doing what works,” said Jacinda Ardern.