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It's one of New Zealand's great myths.
No, not the moa roaming the remote New Zealand bush yarn. And, no, not even the unmitigated nonsense that suggests the Moeraki boulders are ancient Chinese cannonballs. I'm not even talking about the persistent but repeatedly disproven belief that the Moriori were a separate people who were driven from New Zealand by arriving, all-conquering Maori.
The great myth I'm referring to is the idea promoted on radio talkback, in the letters sections of many papers and around too many pub tables, that New Zealand is over-run by benefit bludgers living off hard-working Kiwis.
This government likes to talk about benefits as a "lifeline not a lifestyle", as if $190 a week is living high on the hog. Social Development Minister Paula Bennett spoke in the House last week about "the rising tide of welfare dependency [that] threatens to mortgage our children's and grandchildren's future", suggesting a flood of bludgers.
It's classic "us and them" politics and it's just not true.
The number of people on the unemployment benefit has risen again since the credit crunch of 2007, but it has fallen and stayed at record lows during the good, early years of this century, providing evidence that most people want to work, given the chance.
You ever wondered how many people have been on the dole for a year or more? That's a good starting place if we're trying to figure out how many bludgers are out there, right? Well, it's just over 11,000. That's one third of 1% of the working age population, and some of them will be decent battlers who have just had no luck finding a job, such as this guy.
One third of 1% hardly represents a rising tide of lay-abouts, ready to swamp our ship of state. But hang on, haven't we heard that many on the dole simply migrated across to the sickness or invalid's benefit in recent years? There's some truth in that, but the rise has been pretty steady since 1990 - through the lifetime of several governments - peaking whenever the economy headed south.
And there's no reason to assume that those who have moved across are scamming the system. Of the 28,701 people who have been on the sickness benefit for a year or more, 40% of them have psychological or psychiatric conditions. Given that we have to run ad campaigns to reassure New Zealanders that even people with depression, let alone more serious mental health issues, can be good workers, does that number seem outlandishly large to you?
Adding in the fact that we have a growing and ageing population, I'd hardly characterise the numbers as a flood. In total, we're still only talking about a few percent of the New Zealand population, and it seems reasonable to me to think that there will always be a few percent of folk who can't find work, or are unable to work, for whatever reason.
What I find harder to swallow is a Minister who on the back end of a recession goes on television and says that she believes "there's a job for everyone". As Paul Henry puts it, that's cloud cuckoo land.
Am I saying that no-one in New Zealand is exploiting the welfare state? Of course not. There are those at the bottom of our society willing to rip-off their fellow citizens, just as there are those at the top willing to do the same.
But it's surely worth putting up with a few bludgers for the sake of all the decent folk - and their children - who avoid poverty as a result of such state support. Just ask our Prime Minister.
Tim Watkin is a producer for TVNZ's Q+A programme. Q+A screens live from 9.00am on Sundays on TV ONE.
Read more of Tim Watkin's blogs .
Add a Comment:
Post new commentRiskyBusiness said on 2011-05-31 @ 20:03 NZDT: Report abusive post
Government cuts already has the welfare of beneficiaries in dire straits.As somebody dealing with deep depression and long term PTSD in regard to sensitive issues.Over the last 4 years i have been twice denied help with dental work,been forced to live with mouth ulcers and extreme pain,while waiting on my teeth to slowly fall out.And yet this is still only the tip of the ice burg of the sort of nasty inhuman treatment i have been forced to experience.Now they want to kick us even more?.
sagekiwi said on 2010-04-01 @ 17:40 NZDT: Report abusive post
Well done and thankyou Tim.
KiwiGirl47 said on 2010-04-01 @ 08:52 NZDT: Report abusive post
It is pleasing to see a well-written opinion piece based on fact rather than emotion. Well done.
panthernz said on 2010-04-01 @ 08:45 NZDT: Report abusive post
its funnie how they think some one with a mentail illness will geta job to begain with i tryed getting work in the past but as soon as they know you have mental or othere health issuess they dont want to know you but untell you have been thire your self you dont know what its really like so stop juding otheres if you have no clue to what they go though
adrianc said on 2010-03-31 @ 19:31 NZDT: Report abusive post
although there may not be the jobs available it could be an oppurtunity for community works, council, library,town tidy up jobs, river side clean ups, its endless this could be unpaid work schemes which could credit people to still recieve benefits. Good work ethics and better time management would be the result and then paid work would be more realistic to many....