National leader Christopher Luxon has today defended his party's plan to introduce more sanctions for some Jobseeker beneficiaries, insisting there are "jobs available in every shop front window" in the country.
The sanctions for beneficiaries who "persistently" do not meet benefit obligations could include mandatory community work experience of up to three months, benefit suspensions or reductions, and Work and Income having a greater role in managing a beneficiary's money.
National also announced it would introduce a "traffic light" system to categorise Jobseeker beneficiaries by their obligation compliance.
"A life sitting on welfare isn't the way forward", Luxon said on Breakfast this morning. When asked, he didn't set a target for the number of people the policy would take off the benefit.
"We're very supportive of the welfare system, we always want to have a safety net in New Zealand," he said.
"But actually, it's taxpayer's money that they actually give to the government, and the obligation is that you actually are doing everything you can to get a job or to prepare yourself to get a job."
He stressed that the "vast majority" of job seekers uphold their end of "the deal".
Jobseekers will also have to reapply for the benefit every six months. (Source: 1News)
"We're talking about making it very clear to everybody that you have obligations in the spirit of rights and responsibilities," Luxon said.
"Right to receive a benefit, to get the help and support you need. Responsibility to hold your obligation up and do everything that you can.
"Be very clear, this is just about a Jobseeker benefit, those are people who have been assessed as actually able to work and can work."
The National leader pointed to low unemployment and worker shortages as justification for the policy.
"There are situation vacant, jobs available in every shop front window in this country," he said, criticising the Labour government.
"And there has been for a number of years. And yet, we have 60,000 more people on the unemployment benefit.
"That is unacceptable. The deal is to get off the benefit, into work. Work is the better pathway forward for everybody."
He was pressed on a comment made by National social development spokeswoman Louise Upston yesterday.
She said: "You'll not get a job if you turn up in your pyjamas and that's what I heard from an employer last week."
Luxon said he believed she was referring to a specific case, and said he hadn't checked the example with Upston.
Sanctions won't help people into work - advocate
The NZ Initiative's Oliver Hartwich and beneficiaries advocate Karen Pattie discussed the party's plan on Breakfast. (Source: Breakfast)
The New Zealand Initiative's Oliver Hartwich and Beneficiaries Advocacy and Information Services' Karen Pattie disagreed in their assessments of National's policy.
Pattie said it wouldn't help, adding children would be affected when parents were sanctioned.
"We can't choose our parents," she said, pointing to mental health issues as a possible reason someone may not meet the criteria.
"I've been doing this job 15 years, I've seen these policies come and go.
"It is very difficult to get across to a policymaker how difficult it is for someone with severe mental health issues to actually even get out of bed in the morning," Pattie added. "I'm really concerned about this policy."
She said many people needed encouragement to accept the benefit because of the stigma attached to it.
And just filling out the forms to claim Jobseeker is already difficult for many, she said.
But Hartwich said it's important for job seekers to rejoin the workforce "as soon as possible".
He praised the policy and said it would be effective.
"We know from experience, from research that once you're out of the labour market for a longer period of time, you really damage yourself, you damage your future employment prospects," he said.
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