Welfare State in crisis, says Minister

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 28

Welfare State in crisis, says Minister

PA Wellington The lack of equality of opportunity in New Zealand indicates a Welfare State in crisis, according to the Minister of Customs, Mrs Shields. The other signs of that crisis were a system of taxation and benefits riddled with injustices and the existence of poverty, she told the Australasian Institute of Fundraising in Wellington. “None of this has happened because we have been spending less and less on the social services. We have been spending more and more.” But there were inconsistencies, such as people could not work receiving different benefits according to the reasons why they could not work. A task force of departmental officials was examining the taxation and benefit system and many questions were being asked. “Why are some benefits subject to an assets test and some are not? Why is the

income test for accommodation benefit stricter than the income test for any other benefit?” Mrs Shields said that the upper end of the income scale the avoidance of tax had become an art form. Lack of equal opportunity was reflected in access to private medical treatment and education. “Thousands of dollars are spent on the education of university students and a pitiful few on training young schoolleavers who are unskilled and unemployed,” said Mrs Shields. There was also discrepancy between social services for Maoris and pakehas. Mrs Shields said the most common cause of poverty was not old age or unemployment but having children. “A society is strangling itself when it lets that happen.” She said the Government was examining the way the State intervened, the mechanisms it used, the services it provided, and the way

they were paia tor. “It would be good if we could look on the welfare system more as a social insurance scheme. There when needed — but you don’t ask for your money back if you are lucky enough not to have a fire.” The Royal Commission on Social Security being set up later this year would have the task of going back to basics. “The Government has set about changing the social programme that reflects the values of a New Zealand that is no longer with us,” Mrs Shields said.