By Dan Satherley
The Sensible Sentencing Trust says the Government's proposed social welfare reforms will reduce crime and over time, inspire people to get back into work.
Trust spokesman Garth McVicar says the current welfare system allows would-be criminals to spend their days scoping out people's houses, instead of working.
“Many beneficiaries see their welfare payment as ‘pay-day’ and something they had earned and were fully entitled to as of right," says Mr McVicar.
“Allowing beneficiaries to stay home and simply wait for the next ‘pay-day’ is creating a cesspool environment that has caused most of the social failings facing New Zealand today.”
Mr McVicar told 3 News beneficiaries need to be made to work, otherwise they find other things to do with their time.
"A lot of the offenders don't like the fact they were on a benefit when they committed the crime, but also once again, a large number of reports we get from victims…are able to say the offender in [their] case was able to case out [their] house or able to loiter around the streets because [they were on a benefit]."
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Former Green MP Sue Bradford says the changes are the "most serious and harmful welfare reform our country has seen since the foundations of the welfare state were laid in the 1930s".
She says the crackdown will actually increase crime, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health problems and suicides.
Mr McVicar rejects her assessment, saying it's "not rocket science".
“The welfare system has encouraged and funded failure. It has destroyed hope and created criminals and many thousands of victims.
"Some people will call it tough, we call it a common sense, back to basics approach."
3 News asked Mr McVicar if he had any evidence the welfare system itself was responsible, given that there are plenty of people on benefits that don't commit crimes.
He acknowledged that in the line of his work with the SST, he generally only meets beneficiaries that have committed crimes.
"We can only talk of the snapshot of people and the victims we deal with, which brings us into contact with quite a large number of offenders of course," says Mr McVicar, "so we are only talking a snapshot of that."
"Whether that's a fair reflection on society as a whole, I think it would be."
When asked why other countries with less generous welfare schemes often have higher crime rates, Mr McVicar said welfare was only part of the problem, saying the loosening of parole restrictions was another factor.
He says beneficiaries should have to work, or at least prove they're making an effort to find employment.
“If the state is paying the ‘wages’ then the beneficiary must agree to the same terms and conditions as employees in any other industry are required to do," he says. "That may be compulsory drug testing or reporting to ‘work’ at a required time and place.”
3 News asked Mr McVicar how people were supposed to find work if they were already working for the Government. He said it didn't have to be full-time.
"Whether it's one day's work a week, or two days' work a week, at least do something so that their mentality comes back to thinking there are no free lunches.
"It's basically trying to overcome that mentality that you can stay at home and get paid to stay at home."
He acknowledged paying a fair wage instead of a benefit would cost the Government more in the short term, but the long-term benefits would see more people in work, which would lead to less crime.
It costs much less to pay someone a benefit than keep them in prison. 3 News asked Mr McVicar if he believed taking away someone's benefit could potentially see them turn to crime in order to pay their way.
"No. I haven't seen any evidence of that. I'd certainly accept that if there was evidence of that."
The SST has long argued for personal responsibility, so why blame the system? Mr McVicar says it is because the system is destroying people's belief in personal responsibility.
"There is an element that, once they become dependant on the state, they lose the will and the drive to become self-dependant.
“The state can never replace personal responsibility and the attempt to do so has destroyed the dreams of thousands of people who want financial independence, to own their own home and raise a proud, patriotic and prosperous family.”
The Government has appointed eight current Cabinet ministers to consider recommendations made by the Welfare Working Group.
They include cutting payments to people who fail to look for work or attend counselling sessions, sending new parents back to work soon after their child is born and providing reversible, long-term contraception.
The ministers on the panel are Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett, Finance Minister Bill English, Justice Minister Simon Power, Health and State Services Minister Tony Ryall, Education Minister Anne Tolley, Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce and Women's Affairs Minister Hekia Parata.
3 News