Auckland Action Against Poverty

AUCKLAND ACTION AGAINST POVERTY
Media release Tuesday 9 April 2013
Beneficiaries receive biggest boot in the guts since ’91 cuts

Beneficiaries are to receive the biggest boot in the guts since the infamous ’91 cuts says Auckland Action Against Poverty spokesperson Sarah Thompson.

“The Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill will see ordinary New Zealanders become collateral damage in Bennett’s race to move 100,000 people off welfare, no matter the cost.

“This Bill is not about supporting people into work as National’s mantra would have us believe.

“Instead, it aims through sanctions, obligations, work tests, drug tests and work ability assessments to drastically increase the number of people forced to compete for low wage, insecure work.

“This is all within the current climate of 284,000 jobless.

“AAAP calls for decent job creation at decent wages, and a total restructuring of our welfare system, including moving towards a Universal Basic Income.

“We’d also like to see every party opposing this bill give assurances that they will repeal all National’s abusive welfare changes should they be part of government following the 2014 election.”

ENDS

Destroying lives to win votes: National’s anti-beneficiary rampage continues

By: Sue Bradford 

“This is not about helping people into better, more fulfilling lives. Instead, it is all about helping keep the wages and conditions of employed workers as low as possible by enforcing a race to the bottom for insecure, low paid work.”

Full blog post available on The Daily Blog here:

http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/03/27/destroying-lives-to-win-votes-nationals-anti-beneficiary-rampage-continues/

AUCKLAND ACTION AGAINST POVERTY

Media release Thursday 21 March 2013

Welfare reforms will hurt not help

Paula Bennett seems set on enacting reforms to the welfare system despite clear evidence from specialists that they will hurt vulnerable members of society, says Auckland Action Against Poverty spokesperson Sarah Thompson.

 “Expert evidence from the Ministry of Health, the NZ Drug Foundation, the Children’s Commissioner and the disability sector highlights that the latest wave of welfare reforms will significantly harm both families and children who rely on government assistance.

 “The repeated message from National MPs during the second reading of the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill was that these reforms will ‘support people into work’, yet no single clause in the Bill provides the support that the above groups or other submitters argue will lead to this end point.

 “The solutions demanded include decent job creation; financial support for, and access to, education; the removal of barriers to work such as the cost and provision of childcare; and increased access to drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

 “The Ministry of Health have previously given a strong and persistent warning to the Minister of Social Development that the sanctions relating to Wellchild checks would have serious, negative impacts on families and vulnerable children including risks of increased child maltreatment and neglect.

 “While it was (incorrectly) reported on Tuesday that NZ First was going to support the bill, we are pleased that in fact they have stuck to their principles as outlined in their Select Committee minority report.

 “Auckland Action Against Poverty calls on all parties to follow suit and reject this Bill at its third and final reading. People who receive benefits will return to employment when work is available and their health and family circumstances allow – not as a result of draconian welfare legislation.

 ENDS

AUCKLAND ACTION AGAINST POVERTY  Media release Tuesday 19 March 2013 

New Zealand First has jumped on the beneficiary-bashing bandwagon with

its support for the latest welfare reform legislation.

 “We find it extremely odd that that they will now vote for the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill when their own minority report on the bill criticises the legislation in no uncertain terms,” says Auckland Action Against Poverty spokesperson Sarah Thompson.

 “In NZ First’s Select Committee report, they claim that the drastic sanctions and dramatic reforms will not lead to more beneficiaries in paid employment, nor do they believe they will decrease so-called welfare dependency.

 “Instead, they call the Government’s reforms a ‘dog-whistle approach’ that ‘will feed the increasing poverty gap and develop a double standard New Zealand’.

 “New Zealand First are clearly voting against their better judgment.

 “The well-being of vulnerable people is being sacrificed in what we suspect is a bid to shore up their vote among the ignorant and prejudiced who don’t realise or don’t care about the disastrous consequences of the current legislation.

This latest bill, due back in Parliament tomorrow, will see thousands of the most vulnerable people in New Zealand subject to even greater hardship, stress, poverty and homelessness than they currently face.

“Auckland Action Against Poverty call on all parties – including NZ First which should and does know better – to oppose these harmful reforms.”

ENDS

NZ First minority review report available here: http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/BA3A8C04-EA05-454D-8875-EA715B021E0B/266329/DBSCH_SCR_5776_SocialSecurityBenefitCategoriesandW.pdf

AUCKLAND ACTION AGAINST POVERTY

Media release Wednesday 13 February 2013

Today’s Salvation Army report is yet another wake up call that National’s response to poverty, homelessness and unemployment is pitifully inadequate, says Auckland Action Against Poverty spokesperson Sarah Thompson.

 “We note that the Salvation Army have picked up a dangerous trend that we’ve observed for some time – the growing gap between the numbers of people out of work and those actually getting an unemployment benefit.

 As report author Alan Johnson says “We can’t understand how the benefit takeup has declined at the same time as joblessness has risen”.

 “One answer to this discrepancy, as experienced first hand by our advocates, is that some longstanding employees are pushed out of jobs, then made to wait 13 weeks or more before getting a benefit, when in fact they should be receiving it within 1-2 weeks.

 “Another factor is the whole drive by Work and Income to do everything possible to make life so unpleasant for people registering unemployed, that many simply give up early on in the process, if they apply at all.

 “These policies are driven by Paula Bennett’s determination to get 100,000 people out of the welfare system within 10 years, and will only contribute to deeper poverty, homelessness and despair.

 “We agree with Salvation Army spokesperson Major Campbell Roberts that an immediate and vigorous plan of action is needed, one that includes: ensuring all those who are eligible for a benefit are receiving their full entitlements; a programme of decent job creation; and a living wage for all.”

 ENDS

AUCKLAND ACTION AGAINST POVERTY

Media release Thursday 31 January 2013

MSD role in contraception must go

Low MSD uptake figures confirm that the contraception programme instigated as part of National’s welfare reforms is all about stigmatising woman on benefits, rather than any genuine kind of support, says Auckland Action Against Poverty spokesperson Sarah Thompson.

 “This policy is simply another weapon in the war against women on benefits, implemented as a way of garnering the beneficiary bashing vote in time for the next election.

 “It’s a deep irony that the outright misogyny of recent welfare reforms, including this one, has been lead by two women- Paula Bennett and Paula Rebstock.

 “This blaming and shaming tactic can be seen in other proposed policies which attempt to paint beneficiaries as drug users and criminals who don’t care for their children.

 “Involvement by MSD in the provision of long term contraception should be scrapped immediately on both ethical and financial grounds.

 “The state should have no role in using its coercive influence to harass women in regards to their reproductive options.

 “The Family Planning Association already provide free contraceptive services to women up to 22, and charge $5 for Community Service Card holders over that age.

 “One useful thing Bennett could do would be to subsidise the FPA so that their health checks are free to all those holding CSC cards, and as cheap as possible for everyone else”.

 ENDS