By Jeff Hampton
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says she is “a little incredulous” to hear a Christchurch beneficiary got a special needs benefit to fence a swimming pool on one of his properties.
That beneficiary is Darryl Harris – he is from a notorious Christchurch family, addicted to cannabis and has been receiving a benefit for 25 years.
Those on the trail of Mr Harris still end up at a house in South Christchurch, but the man himself is not there. It is under new ownership, although one of those on the property certainly did not have the Christmas spirit.
The new owner says she has got no links with the Harris family, has had the house three months, and is sick of dealing with debt collectors coming to her door.
They are not the only ones having trouble finding the elusive Mr Harris, who has gone to ground after being high-profile in the 1990s along with his brothers and hangers-on.
He and his wife Marcia draw $1000 a week in benefits and they literally exploded back on the scene two years ago when their headquarters caught fire.
Work and Income paid for the family to spend 10 nights at a smart Christchurch hotel.
On top of that, it has been revealed the pair have received $30,000 in special needs grants since 2000 – one was to buy tyres for their car; a 2007 silver Chrysler saloon.
Another was to fence a swimming pool at a family property.
“Look, it's bit hard to talk about specifics and there always are a lot of complexities around it, but it does seem a little incredulous to me,” said Social Development Minister Paul Bennett.
Mr Harris's Chrysler, which burns 17 litres of fuel every 100km, is registered to another South Christchurch address, but no-one was there when 3 News dropped by.
Work and Income now uses what they call a ‘remote monitoring unit’ to deal with the Harrises – that is because they are deemed too dangerous for face-to-face meetings with staff.
“We prefer face-to-face. We get further with people, it's easier to case manage but there are exceptional circumstances where we will deal with them differently,” says Ms Bennett.
The Harris duo are one of 300 couples nationally who get about $1000 a week in benefits. Mr Harris has been on one for 25 years and has a medical opinion to say he is addicted to cannabis.
Mrs Bennett says an audit of these cases has been under way since June, but no-one believes the case of Darryl Harris will be resolved in a hurry.
3 News