Bennett backtracks on benefit card

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Wed, 17 Aug 2011 6:05p.m.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett (NZPA file)

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett (NZPA file)

By Rebecca Wright

It has emerged the Government's much publicised payment card plan for youth beneficiaries was utterly rubbished before it became policy, and by the very minister who is now in charge of it.

That minister was Paula Bennett, who wrote a letter criticising such a payment card scheme just months before her boss John Key was publicly championing it.

Next year, 16 and 17-year-old beneficiaries will not be able to buy cigarettes or alcohol with money from the Government - instead they will be given a payment card.

It was National's big idea at its weekend conference. They all talked it up and they talked tough.

“If it all sounds a bit hands on to you I make no apologies,” says Mr Key.

But the same cannot be said for Ms Bennett who has been caught out criticising the same card just a few months ago.

In a letter to a voter in March she “rejected” the idea of extending payment cards to “all” beneficiaries saying:

“[It] would require the Crown to make moral judgments about the appropriateness of each decision.”

“Such oversight by the Crown would be highly intrusive and rob individuals of their freedom of choice.”

So how does she reconcile her private statements with her public policy?

We tried to ask her earlier today.

“[Can we ask you about the letter brought up by Annette King in the House?] Sorry, I haven't seen the letter so until I have… [I've got the letter here]…well, I’m not going to read it over your shoulder.”

Ms Bennett was not willing to answer questions on the letter.

And when asked if she would like a copy of the letter she revealed that she had one up in her office.

Earlier in the House, Ms Bennett was not able to walk away so easily.

“I have said before I do think it’s intrusive, that I do actually think it’s intrusive. I do think that the administration that comes with that is worth it and I am backing these young people into a better life,” she says.

The opposition says it is hypocritical.

“I think they've been conned by the Minister, the Prime Minister and by Mr Joyce who have been saying that this was a new approach - radical approach - that was going to make a difference. They rejected such an approach just a few months ago,” says Labour’s deputy leader Annette King.

So Ms Bennett has spent the day explaining her conflicting views on the payment card. Her critics say that is embarrassing.

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Comments

21 Aug 2011 11:13a.m.

Unsolicited wrote:

@ Clarke or David or whatever name you call yourself: only a vile person, sick & twisted person with no sense of a moral compass would try & infer my comments are synonymous with abuse or worse still, attempt to bring in my potential or current children into this discussion. Children are a privilege not a right. But ALL children have the right to be clothed, fed, housed and kept safe - something that many of these youth on the benefits don't do. We have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world and many of these youth are ending up in our courts for torturing children. Further, restricting how young people or anyone on the dole, DPB use other people's money is not abuse, in fact, failure to restrict them IS abuse. It is abuse of the money that other people - which I suspect excludes you as you seem to spend an awful amount of time on here so unlikely to be in the top 13% of taxpayers (which I am) - work very hard to earn. Further no one is taking anyone's freedoms away - no one is forcing these people onto benefits, they CHOOSE to go onto them whether deliberately or accidentally through a series of bad choices. Therefore they choose to accept the restrictions that go with them. If they don't like it, they should make better choices they are not in the position of needing assistance. People like you seem determine to enable this sense of entitlement so many people, especially our youth, have. A self-managing adult does not blame the world for their misfortunes, They accept what is done is done. There has to be a point in your life as you grow up that you realise you may not be able to change the past but you are most certainly in control of your own life. This is a conscious choice. They take responsibility for their own life, their own choices and do not expect to be able to do whatever they like whenever they like and that others will be there to pick up the tab. Yes it may mean you can't have everything you want when you want it, but that's life.

18 Aug 2011 11:11a.m.

jj wrote:

What is she trying too say cheese through her teeth.Wonder how many love bites she has on her neck,made by a jersey bull

18 Aug 2011 10:56a.m.

Dodger wrote:

What's wrong with Bennett making a backtrack for all the right reasons? If it is right, just do it! If Annette King is targetting Bennett for backtracking instead of attacking the card, then she lose the plot. The media is also guilty of playing up the backtracking instead of the card.

18 Aug 2011 04:42a.m.

Clarke wrote:

@unsolicited descrimination legally has to be applied to the entire "abused" group. I have seen you froth at the mouth over this topic before.. and I really do have serious fears for any children that you have. If you are so willing to abuse these people, what would you do to your own kids. And yes this policy fits under state sponsored abuse, taking away individual rights and freedoms is abuse. Why do you love to be an abuser unsolicited?, and yes having children is a priveledge.... however its not something an abuser like you should have the right too.

17 Aug 2011 11:54p.m.

Shayne wrote:

So Lisa, yes they should get a job - but where do you suppose the jobs are? Sure there are jobs out there - but it's no guarantee you will get one. For people in their 20's,30's,40s who are now unemployed not from choice - who will most likely have bills such as power, water, phone and maybe a loan - how would they beable to pay for those with a silly little card? This is the problem with some people especially you - they hear "benifit" and automatically say "get a job". Here's an idea for you Lisa, you find a school leaver and try and find them a job - heck find one for a 20+ - you will see how hard it is now to get a job out there.

17 Aug 2011 10:08p.m.

Unsolicited wrote:

Clarke perhaps you need to re-read Lisa's post - she said it should be extended to the dole & DPB. No mention of the DA or Sickness benefit. People on the dole, DPB & youth benefits have choices. Sure there might be a few who perhaps have been hit hard by circumstances completely beyond their control, but for most I doubt this would stick. Children are a choice and they are a privilege, not a right. As is home ownership re all those turkeys out there who buy a house at their maximum borrowing capacity or borrow at maximum capacity then claim poverty when one income earner loses their job (boohoo recession when you can no longer afford the mortgage on your $500k house) or interests rates go up. Its all about choices and bad choices in this current welfare model are being paid for by others - others who have made good choices. Who buy houses they can afford, who stay in school, go to uni, polytech or get apprenticeships, who don't have children until they know they can afford to have them etc. Government assistance of any kind (excluding DA & sickness benefit - unless of course you are addicted to alcohol or drugs) is meant to be a safety net not a way of life. It - including WFF - is a social contract and should be treated as such. No one receiving such assistance should be able to go on expensive holidays, give their kids ballet or judo lessons, gamble, get sky let alone buy ciggys or alcohol. This money is a privilege - NOT a right - a privilege earned by other NZers....13% of whom pay 76% of all taxes collected & benefits paid out. If the youth don't like these restrictions then they could always CHOOSE to make better choices - such as stay in school and not get pregnant or pregnate others! And the same goes for the dole & DPB - I hope to God this card gets extended to them. Nothing worse than seeing a DPB walking around smoking while her toddler has no shoes. And this happens. A LOT.

17 Aug 2011 09:52p.m.

Davo wrote:

Dole and DPB recipients should definitely get this card, I wholeheartedly agree. The sick and disabled should be the ones exempt from this scheme. If people can work, but they are not, then they should be looking for it, which is completely fair. This scheme is very reasonable, in my opinion.

17 Aug 2011 08:57p.m.

Clarke wrote:

Lets take away all of Lisa's rights and treat her like she is a prisoner instead of a human being. What about those people that will never get off a benefit lisa? the sick and dieing? why should they be treated like mutts.. just so that they match your personality?. Cancer patients, aids patients, parkinsons disease... these people dont need that much intrusion from idiots like you. They have the right to be treated like human beings, but idiots like you think you have the right to completely dictate peoples lives for them. Clearly Paula Bennett is a huge hypocrite.

17 Aug 2011 08:28p.m.

bpatel wrote:

goverment don't need to issue card they should ask them to get a job, this country need to update their system we work hard they get luxury life why?

17 Aug 2011 07:21p.m.

ernie wrote:

I have never seen such a hard minister ,she has been caught out here and still doesn't get it. she should stand down as the 200 million dollars she claims she spent on unemployed youth courses that saw youth unemployment rise, who ran the $200 million courses. what a lot of money lost,but who got that cache of money. a very very bad mismanagement of taxpayer millions.