Jones wants sanctions

The Herald reports:

Regional Development Minister Shane Jones wants welfare payments to be cut if beneficiaries refuse to take part in his new Government work programme, which will look to plant trees and build up a railway network for tourists.

Jones will take four projects to Cabinet for his Working For Your Country scheme before Christmas, which will give beneficiaries a chance to work for at least the minimum wage in industries such as tree planting, riparian planting or regional railway development.

“In order to plant one billion trees, in order to deliver on riparian planting, in order to prepare a workforce for recapitalising the railways, the ne’er-do-well nephs will be required to take those jobs,” Jones told the Herald.

“If they are unwilling, then I will spend every thinking and waking moment ensuring they do not fall back on the dole and be permitted to do jack, while the rest of us are out there working.”

Sadly for Shane this is the exact opposite of what Labour and Greens want. They want fewer sanctions for beneficiaries that don’t seek or take up work.

Shane is good at the talk. But it will probably be just talk.