Welfare Working Group Forum - Media Publicity
On the 9-10th June 2010 the Welfare Working Group Forum was held in Wellington.
Media Publicity:
Radio NZ - Checkpoint http://tinyurl.com/28j7yxf
TV One News http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/beneficiaries-could-face-time-limits-3582813
TV One News Video http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/beneficiaries-could-face-time-limits-3582813/video
TV3 Midday News http://www.3news.co.nz/Bennett-and-Working-Group-debating-welfare-system/tabid/419/articleID/159935/default.aspx
TV3 6pm News http://www.3news.co.nz/Govt-prepared-for-welfare-debate-to-get-ugly/tabid/419/articleID/160014/Default.aspx
Radio New Zealand: Morning Report
A Government welfare working group says a contributory social insurance scheme is used in every OECD country that provides income support, except Australia and New Zealand.
The group is meeting in Wellington to develop ideas for reforming the welfare system and says getting people to pay in advance to meet some of their welfare costs, should be considered.
It says one in eight people are on a benefit of some kind and it is important to get people back to work if possible. By Simon Collins - An international expert has upset the Government's welfare reform agenda by proposing a universal child allowance to tackle child poverty. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10650823
An ugly welfare debate would be a welcome distraction for Bennett http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10651270
Ex-mill staff win recognition of toxic past - By Simon Collins - To look at, Kereama Akuhata seems perfectly healthy. At 52 he is still built like the prop that he was when he captained the Horowhenua rugby team in its glory days at the top of the third division almost 20 years ago. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10650820
Schools and prisons are failing Maori, says Waipareira chief - By Simon Collins - Former Labour Cabinet Minister John Tamihere says state-owned schools and prisons are not working for Maori. He told a Welfare Working Group forum in Wellington yesterday that he supported the Government decisions to privatise management of two prisons and its national standards for schools. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10650818
Young Kiwi workers vital to fund pensions <http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/national/3793226/Young-Kiwi-workers-vital-to-fund-pensions>
The Dominion Post - Kiran Chug <http://news.google.co.nz/news/search?pz=1&cf=all&ned=nz&hl=en&q=author%3A%22Kiran+Chug%22&scoring=n>
Kiwis born from 1991 should be the country's top priority if baby
boomers are to receive pensions, an independent group
The head of social policy for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), Dr Monika Queisser, told a forum organised by
the Government's Welfare Working Group yesterday how New Zealand was
"out of step with other ...
Lindsay Mitchell - http://lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com/
Blog: Keeping a watch on the Welfare Working Group < Policy Progress
www.policyprogress.org.nz/2010/06/watch-on-welfare-working-group
By David Choat - The Welfare Working Group looks to be following a similar model of
operating to the Tax Working Group, which was actually pretty
transparent with public meetings and all the documents they deliberated
upon available on their website as ... It seems to me that his
presentation makes a strong case for 'refurbishment' - New Zealand's
welfare approach clearly has many virtues and we should be very cautious
about jettisoning them just because we don't conform to the standard ...
Policy Progress - http://www.policyprogress.org.nz/
Govt studies tough US policy for sole parents - By Simon Collins - Tough American-style programmes to get sole parents back to work are
being studied by a Government-appointed working group on New Zealand's
welfare system.
Act Party welfare researcher Lindsay Mitchell told a forum organised by
the group in Wellington yesterday that New Zealand should learn from
American states which set time limits on sole parent benefits to drive
parents back to work. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10651097
Former Green MP Sue Bradford is warning Maori they could be hit extra
hard by a review of the welfare system.
The one-time Unemployed Workers Union leader says the welfare working
group is looking like a classic exercise in pseudo-consultation. She
told Waatea News it is basically privatising welfare and the signs are
the Government already knows what it wants to do. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/06/11/124809c89663
Bradford blasts insurance welfare - By Simon Collins - A possible shift to an insurance-based welfare system came under fierce attack at a forum organised by the Government's Welfare Working Group
yesterday.
Former Green MP Sue Bradford, now doing a doctorate in public policy
with Professor Marilyn Waring at Auckland University of Technology, told
the forum the insurance model would be "the worst possible scenario for
any society that calls itself humane".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10651093
Weekend Herald
*NZ Herald: Any ugly welfare debate would be welcome distraction for
Bennett* http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10651270
The Nation' Stephen Parker With Professor Maloney - Sunday, 13 June 2010, 11:41 am
Speech: TV3 *
'The Nation'
Professor Tim Maloney
Interviewed By Stephen Parker
STEPHEN This week the government's Welfare Working Group met in
Wellington to hear ideas from a host of local and international experts.
The Welfare Working Group has been asked to find a fresh approach to
tackling welfare dependency. It's a problem that often involves entire
families, and parents who've passed down to their children a life of
state assistance, something my next guest has been looking at. Welcome
to the programme Professor Tim Maloney, Chair of Economics at the
Auckland University of Technology. Good morning Tim.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1006/S00136.htm
DomPost - Editorial
A society can be judged by how well it looks after its most
disadvantaged members. It is equally true that there is no such thing as
a free lunch. Both are good reasons why it is past time for the
Government-appointed Welfare Working Group's re-examination of welfare
in New Zealand.
Despite the $4.8 billion that New Zealand spends on welfare each year,
it is not caring well for its disadvantaged.