Media Release

Govt Decision to Back Down on DPB Changes
- Stupid

Friday, March 27, 2009

Reacting to news the government has decided to put the re-introduction of DPB work-testing on hold, welfare commentator Lindsay Mitchell simply said, "Stupid."

"National campaigned on re-introducing DPB work-testing for parents whose youngest child has turned six. Although I criticised the policy as toothless because there is no cap on how many children a recipient can have while on welfare, it nevertheless sends a message that being on the DPB shouldn't be considered a permanent state of affairs. Now that message has gone on hold, apparently because of the recession."

"At a time when unemployment is rising sharply the government needs to be doing all it can to discourage dependence on other benefits. Right now the number of teenagers going on to the DPB is high and growing. That's because the DPB is viewed as a de facto job-for-life. It is imperative that the government reinforces, at all times, that the DPB is a safety net of last resort."

"This move also implies that any jobs available are for the unemployed, more often men. But in a house with growing children, having at least one working parent is enormously important. Having a working parent is probably the most effective way of teaching a work ethic to the next generation."

"And as employers adapt to the recession more part-time jobs, those frequently taken up by mothers with school-age children, are being created. In the last year the part-time workforce grew by nearly 4 percent whereas as the full-time workforce was static."

"National has made a big mistake here. What they should be doing is tightening the rules surrounding eligibility for the DPB - not loosening them."