Not Working For Families

Labour’s latest bold policy is to borrow $2.6b and spend most of it on paying people not to work.

Labour says it will effectively extend the in work tax credit to, well parents not in work. Ironically in Government they refused to do so, even in the face of legal challenges to the policy.

Labour had already pledged to give all beneficiaries an extra $10/week. This would give a DPB recepient an additional $60 a week on top of that. While National is working on incentives not to remain on the DPB, Labour is getting rid of one the few existing incentives to be in work.

In fact Labour’s policy is unfair to working low income parents. Because if you work, you have additional costs such as travel to work, work clothes etc.This policy makes it harder for someone to go from welfare into work.

Incientially this is not the first time Labour have pledged to end child poverty. They said in 2002 that if they got re-elected, “ending child poverty will be its top social policy“. Not as bad as their policy to have no one under 18 not in work, study or training – that particular policy they had announced five times previously.

So with this policy working families will have to pay the interest on Labour’s extra borrowing, while a sole parent on the DPB will get an extra $70/week in the hand.