Rejecting the Social Security Ammendment Bill

A bill to punch down on those least able to defend themselves!

Social Security Amendment Bill

The proposed amendments are all punitive and re-victimise those individuals who for whatever reasons seek assistance from the state. There is an inference in these amendments that it is the job of ‘good’ government to make any assistance difficult to access and onerous to recieve.

This is an extremely pejorative and cruel position to adopt particularly when most people seeking assistance do so through no fault of their own. There are for example at least 2000 public service workers who via the political will of this coalition government find themselves unemployed. I will wager that before the end of the second year in this parliamentary term, there will be a lot more!
A much more constructive and positive approach would be for the government to explore and implement systems that do not add to those requiring assistance but rather remove or lessen the barriers to gainful work.

The introduction of a Universal Basic income, along with a fairer taxation system in the form of a Capital Gains tax would be an excellent start followed by recognition that members of our society suffering from physical and/or mental disabilities deserve support and encouragement not punitive barriers that make their transition back into employment more difficult.

The description of a fair society must surely be that the strong support the weak, the rich the poor.

No one should be allowed to shirk their responsibility either to find gainful employment or to pay tax on all sources of wealth. Yet successive governments have placed great punitive focus on those who are unable to find work whilst doing little to alter the circumstances that have reduced employment opportunities. At the same time doing little to focus on tax evasion whilst placing a lot of emphasis in seeking out instances of benefit fraud. Yet these crimes are conceptually the same.

In any given year there are 600 - 900 prosecutions for welfare fraud compared with 60 - 80 for tax evasion. When it comes to sentencing 67% of welfare fraudsters recieve prison terms for an average offending of $76,000 whereas only 18% of tax evasion fraudsters go to prison for an average offending of $229,000! What’s that all about? (Taken from Lisa Marriott associate professor at Victoria Business School ‘Why is tax evasion treated more gently than benefit fraud- published 14/Aug/2017)

It is clear that the commission of crime is viewed substantially differently when it comes to welfare fraud and tax evasion and that the courts operate a double standard when holding offenders to account. Article 7 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. Since New Zealand is a signatory to this charter it represents a damning indictment that our government is not honouring this.

To survive on welfare is an impossible demand with the payments offered and as such places recipients in a no win situation as they seek ways to survive from day to day. UDHR Article 25 .1 states: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Why is our government making it so hard for people who require assistance, to access it?

To what extent are the social security amendment proposals designed to embrace or expedite these resolutions?

A government that focuses on those least able to fend for themselves and victimises them as a culpable, feckless section of society, unfairly ‘squandering’ government tax dollars has in my submission surrendered the moral high ground.

This is a mean-minded, vindictive and punitive bill and has no place in any fair society.