LilMtnCbn
08-19-2004, 06:06 AM
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3585191&thesection=news
&thesubsection=dialogue
Muriel Newman: Welfare not in the interests of our children
19.08.2004
COMMENT
In his Tuesday column headlined "Welfare policy needs to give children belief
in the future", Colin James did the political centre-right a gross disservice.
He stated that parties promoting welfare reform "don't like spending,
especially on beneficiaries" - a view consistent with how the political left,
and the welfare establishment, like to promote those advocating reform. As far
as Act is concerned, that statement could not be further from the truth.
Investing in able-bodied beneficiaries to help them to overcome the barriers
they face to employment is a core principle underlying effective welfare
reform. Whether it's childcare, transport or relocation help, mentoring or
financial-planning advice, many long-term beneficiaries need to be supported to
organise what can be quite chaotic personal lives if they are ever going to be
successful in taking on and holding a job.
It is an investment that generates a multitude of benefits - to the individual
and the family - as their lives are enriched through freedom from state
control, and to the nation as they join the workforce and become net
contributors.
If we reflect on the state of welfare, there are clearly two key components:
first, the need to provide long-term security for those who, through
incapacity, genuinely cannot fend for themselves; and secondly to provide
temporary support for the able-bodied while they move back into the workforce.
Though few people have ever questioned welfare help for the truly needy -
regarding it as a core role of our welfare system - there is growing disquiet
over able-bodied beneficiaries. Of prime concern are those who are quite
capable of working but remain long-term recipients of the dole or the domestic
purposes benefit.
In fact, it is worth reflecting on the Government's conflict of ideology with
regard to motherhood and work - one that puts us out of step with most other
Western countries.
On the one hand, it encourages working mums to place their children in
childcare and return to work through paid parental leave provisions once their
babies are three months old. But, on the other, it does not require beneficiary
mums to go back to work until their youngest child is 18.
In light of Government claims that our unemployment levels are at a historical
low, the growing welfare dependency problem can be identified through benefit
statistics. When unemployment peaked in 1991 as a result of the sharemarket
crash, there were 298,000 working-age people on the main benefits - the dole,
the domestic purposes benefit, and sickness and invalid benefits.
Today, there are 299,000 people on these four main benefits, with the Treasury
projecting welfare rolls to swell by more than 24,000 over the next three
years. At a time when the country is in the grip of a critical shortage of
skilled and unskilled workers, the growing number of beneficiaries is a clear
sign that the Government's policies are encouraging too many people to stay on
welfare.
That is bad enough. But, as James recognises in his column, the real test of
welfare is what it does to children. And here, the story turns ugly. Long-term
welfare is a major factor in our excessively high rates of child abuse and
crime. The Government's own social policy research team found that long-term
benefit dependency and sole parenthood were significant risk factors for
children.
To be funding from the public purse a system that inflicts damage on children
daily is immoral. For the Government to turn a blind eye to the damage that its
welfare system is causing to children borders on criminal.
This is the main reason that effective welfare reform is so urgent. Every day,
as a result of our welfare system, children will be born to fail. In days gone
by, these children would have been adopted by families who would provide them
with the love and care that their parents were incapable of giving.
In today's politically correct world, however, adoption has almost disappeared
and such children are overwhelmingly condemned to a life of welfare abuse.
The situation is particularly critical for Maori. Half of all Maori children
are growing up in families dependent on welfare, and most Maori babies are born
into families in which there are no fathers.
In his new book, Australia's Welfare Habit, Professor Peter Saunders, of the
Centre for Independent Studies, describes how long-term welfare recipients can
harm their children's prospects. Those raised in welfare-dependent households
are three times more likely to be homeless, four times more likely to be
teenage parents and five times more likely to end up on benefits than children
raised in families independent of the state.
This is not the sort of future any of us would want for New Zealand children.
Yet, as things stand, that and worse is what we are delivering to many of them.
Effective welfare reform is the only answer. If the Government does not have
the courage to take the steps that are needed, it's time there was a change.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
&thesubsection=dialogue
Muriel Newman: Welfare not in the interests of our children
19.08.2004
COMMENT
In his Tuesday column headlined "Welfare policy needs to give children belief
in the future", Colin James did the political centre-right a gross disservice.
He stated that parties promoting welfare reform "don't like spending,
especially on beneficiaries" - a view consistent with how the political left,
and the welfare establishment, like to promote those advocating reform. As far
as Act is concerned, that statement could not be further from the truth.
Investing in able-bodied beneficiaries to help them to overcome the barriers
they face to employment is a core principle underlying effective welfare
reform. Whether it's childcare, transport or relocation help, mentoring or
financial-planning advice, many long-term beneficiaries need to be supported to
organise what can be quite chaotic personal lives if they are ever going to be
successful in taking on and holding a job.
It is an investment that generates a multitude of benefits - to the individual
and the family - as their lives are enriched through freedom from state
control, and to the nation as they join the workforce and become net
contributors.
If we reflect on the state of welfare, there are clearly two key components:
first, the need to provide long-term security for those who, through
incapacity, genuinely cannot fend for themselves; and secondly to provide
temporary support for the able-bodied while they move back into the workforce.
Though few people have ever questioned welfare help for the truly needy -
regarding it as a core role of our welfare system - there is growing disquiet
over able-bodied beneficiaries. Of prime concern are those who are quite
capable of working but remain long-term recipients of the dole or the domestic
purposes benefit.
In fact, it is worth reflecting on the Government's conflict of ideology with
regard to motherhood and work - one that puts us out of step with most other
Western countries.
On the one hand, it encourages working mums to place their children in
childcare and return to work through paid parental leave provisions once their
babies are three months old. But, on the other, it does not require beneficiary
mums to go back to work until their youngest child is 18.
In light of Government claims that our unemployment levels are at a historical
low, the growing welfare dependency problem can be identified through benefit
statistics. When unemployment peaked in 1991 as a result of the sharemarket
crash, there were 298,000 working-age people on the main benefits - the dole,
the domestic purposes benefit, and sickness and invalid benefits.
Today, there are 299,000 people on these four main benefits, with the Treasury
projecting welfare rolls to swell by more than 24,000 over the next three
years. At a time when the country is in the grip of a critical shortage of
skilled and unskilled workers, the growing number of beneficiaries is a clear
sign that the Government's policies are encouraging too many people to stay on
welfare.
That is bad enough. But, as James recognises in his column, the real test of
welfare is what it does to children. And here, the story turns ugly. Long-term
welfare is a major factor in our excessively high rates of child abuse and
crime. The Government's own social policy research team found that long-term
benefit dependency and sole parenthood were significant risk factors for
children.
To be funding from the public purse a system that inflicts damage on children
daily is immoral. For the Government to turn a blind eye to the damage that its
welfare system is causing to children borders on criminal.
This is the main reason that effective welfare reform is so urgent. Every day,
as a result of our welfare system, children will be born to fail. In days gone
by, these children would have been adopted by families who would provide them
with the love and care that their parents were incapable of giving.
In today's politically correct world, however, adoption has almost disappeared
and such children are overwhelmingly condemned to a life of welfare abuse.
The situation is particularly critical for Maori. Half of all Maori children
are growing up in families dependent on welfare, and most Maori babies are born
into families in which there are no fathers.
In his new book, Australia's Welfare Habit, Professor Peter Saunders, of the
Centre for Independent Studies, describes how long-term welfare recipients can
harm their children's prospects. Those raised in welfare-dependent households
are three times more likely to be homeless, four times more likely to be
teenage parents and five times more likely to end up on benefits than children
raised in families independent of the state.
This is not the sort of future any of us would want for New Zealand children.
Yet, as things stand, that and worse is what we are delivering to many of them.
Effective welfare reform is the only answer. If the Government does not have
the courage to take the steps that are needed, it's time there was a change.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
