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Labour leader Phil Goff - Source: ONE News -
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Labour leader Phil Goff says raising the minimum wage would be a better way of getting people into work than the Government's controversial plans to reform the welfare system.
Prime Minister John Key has announced a team of ministers will look into which policies the Government should adopt from the Welfare Working Group's report released in February.
The report recommends ways for the Government to cut the number of people on benefits and get people into work, but it has drawn criticism for some of its suggestions.
Speaking to TV ONE's Breakfast, Goff said the number of people on benefits has gone up by 200,000 in the last two years, and the $13 an hour minimum wage is not an incentive for people to go back to work.
"People generally want to work but the jobs aren't there," he said.
"The first thing the Government needs to plan for is to create jobs, create skills and why not put the minimum wage up so it actually pays people to work?
"A lot of people I speak to say they want to get in the workforce again but by the time they pay for their petrol and their work costs they're scarcely better off than when they were on benefit."
The Government says it is most concerned about the 145,000 people on invalids and sickness benefits and the 113,000 on the Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB).
"The current system is broken and it's not working," Key said.
"When you have an increase from 2% of the working age population in 1970 to 13% today, I think that tells us there are too many New Zealanders of working age on the benefit."
But Rotorua People's Union spokesman Paul Blair said he is outraged by the Government's plans.
He said 99.9% of people receiving benefits are entitled to them and the report is a total disaster.
Key indicated only one of the 43 suggestions included in the report will be dropped, ruling out making mothers go back to work when their child turns 14 weeks.
But, Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said ruling out one recommendation makes no difference to the overall impact of the report, which she said blames women for the circumstances they find themselves in.
She said the Government should just throw the entire Welfare Working Group report out the window.
The team looking into changes of the welfare system is made up of seven ministers and they are due to report back in the next few months.
Key proposals from the Welfare Working Group:
- Doctors should issue 'fit' notes explaining what they are capable of
- An assumption people who are sick or disabled may actually be able to work
- Making sole parents look for work when their child reaches three years old, rather than six
- Having 16 and 17-year-old solo-parents undertake parenting and budgeting programmes
- Creating a comprehensive database of at-risk young people
- Incentives to encourage employers to provide on-the-job-training
- Investing in early intervention programmes for at-risk families.
What do you think of the welfare changes? Have your say on the messageboard below.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentAronWatson said on 2011-05-31 @ 17:15 NZDT: Report abusive post
Jee...let's pick on the poor people. What next, bully some kids. Keys got in on the backs of beneficiaries, and damn sure they'll kick him out too. Remember all his pre-election dribble....I'll give you beneficiaries more money....and...and my parents where bene's too, and let's help out the poor little Maori girl. I'm ashamed to be a Kiwi. And If you want the country out of debt.....reverse the tax cuts, it's not brain science. Even a pre-schooler could figure that out.
NZGnome said on 2011-05-31 @ 16:07 NZDT: Report abusive post
Yes there may have been 2% unemployment in the 1970s but bear in mind the financial climate then was different - NZ families could afford to live off one wage, and buy a home in their 20s. And there were plenty of jobs, my mother in fact said you could leave school and "walk into" a job the next day. Also the population was smaller then not even 3 million. Today we have a larger population, larger debts, larger costs yet less jobs - yet we need to punish those who fall into the benefit trap.
Draco TB said on 2011-05-31 @ 12:18 NZDT: Report abusive post
The WWG report was essentially psychopathic and should be seen as that. There's no way we should even be thinking about implementing most of its policies. It blames the victims of the exploitative capitalist system for the situation that the capitalist system has placed them in. If John Key and National want to actually implement any of the recommendations then they need to be seen for what they are as well - psychopaths.
ITPro said on 2011-05-31 @ 10:11 NZDT: Report abusive post
Geoff is just grand standing. The benefit is relative to wages, raising the minimum wage would not make work more attractive as benefits would also have to rise. The Greens and labours concept that raising the minimum wage is the answer to all woes is a joke. Raising the min wage would generally push other wages up, costs up and therefore prices up. We would earn more but also pay more, no one would be better off. Those currently earning just over the new min wage would be worse off!