The Policy
Unemployment beneficiaries under the age of 18 & recipients of the domestic purposes benefit aged under 19 will have new controls placed on the way benefits are paid. Rent & electricity will be paid directly & other benefit money will be received in the form of a grocery payment card, the use of which is restricted. The card cannot be used to purchase alcohol or cigarettes.
The law
- The legal age to purchase alcohol in New Zealand is 18
- The legal age to purchase tobacco in New Zealand is 18
So, if it's already against the law for young beneficiaries to buy cigarettes & alcohol what's the need for the change?
The motivation
This is not the government trying to prevent young people from spending welfare money on booze & cigarettes. New Zealand has laws for that already. This is about removing spending options for beneficiaries. Which many people would say is a good thing. The state is paying welfare & the state should not have to pay for people to drink & smoke.
The benefit changes will apply to 1600 people at a cost of 25 million to implement.
Fiscally this policy makes no sense. Except of course, this is the National government gauging response pre-election. If the murmurings are not too unpleasant (reaction to "get tough" policies is invariably positive) then presumably this same scheme will be applied to all people receiving an unemployment or a domestic purposes benefit. And it's not just about public reaction. This is a test run on the real deal.
The impact
You're earning. You can sit back, drink & smoke, you earn your bacon. While you're sipping a beer, feeling self righteous about young drinking smokers cashing welfare cheques that your tax dollar paid for this is having a bigger impact than you know on you, your parents & your kids.
Where the government ought to be bridging the gaps it is widening them. Countries with the least inequality have the best outcomes for health, crime rates, education & longevity for both rich & poor. A wealthy person in a country with greater equality will enjoy better health, higher quality education, are less likely to be a victim of a crime & will live longer than an equally wealthy person in a country where there is greater inequality (1).
Your quality of life is going to be worse because the government is introducing a scheme that results in greater inequality. Figure that one out. They're spending money on a program that isn't going to result in better educated, better trained people, higher employment rates & higher wages. This isn't giving opportunities to people who need them & it isn't improving our communities & families. It's not improving our health or our income. It's going to harm education, crime & health outcomes. For whose welfare? Well it's probably good for a few votes in a general election...oh look, here comes one now...
1. http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2011/Wilkinson.pdf
