Dropping of jobs scheme ‘will cause animosity’

Press, 14 January 1987, Page 1

Dropping of jobs scheme ‘will cause animosity’

JEFF HAMPTON

“A lot of animosity” will follow the dropping of the Government subsidised employment scheme for disadvantaged groups, according to the president of the Christchurch Black Power gang, Mr Ardie Beazley.

The Contract Work Scheme, designed to help the "severely disadvantaged” among the unemployed, has been dropped because of funding abuse. The Minister of Employment, Mr Burke, said earlier this week that cost estimates on projects under the scheme had been inflated and money had been paid out for work not actually done. The scheme would be replaced by another for disadvantaged groups.

However, some Christchurch people involved with the scheme say the decision to drop it will lead to a rise in crime. "When the Government founded all these schemes it was to get the groups motivated,” said Mr Beazley. “It was given as an incentive to do something for something. Now it has been chopped off in the middle.” The decision to drop the scheme would cause a

lot of animosity. “I’m pretty pissed off about it,” he said. The acting superintendent of the Labour Department in Christchurch, Mr G. D. Postlethwaite, said it ■ would probably take several months for existing contracts to finish in Canterbury. “It has never been a big scheme in terms of numbers employed,” he said. At its peak, about 100 persons were employed on the scheme. The Government budgeted $5 million for the scheme this financial year. However, a Christchurch man who has referred groups to thescheme says that the decision to drop it could prove costly. “It’s likely to lead to a rise in the crime rate and an increase in the frustration and alienation of the unemployed,” said the Rev. Rod Falconer, the co-ordinator of the Employment Resource Centre in Christchurch. He said that an. increased crime rate would lead to higher social costs, such as paying for more law enforcement, legal representation, and the cost of imprisonment All the abuses of the scheme had been highlighted, but none of the good work had been acknowledged. An example of good work was the recent "Beautiful New Zealand”. Mr Falconer said that much of the criticism had concentrated on'gangs using the scheme, but many other groups had benefited. The senior co-ordinator

of the Christchurch City Council’s employment promotion division, Mr Gordon Bradley, said that the Contract Work Scheme had helped the persons for which it was intended. “The Government said that it was targeted at the alienated and hostile section of the community,” he said. “It has had a positive effect on these people. “It isn’t going to improve their chances at all by having the scheme dropped.” Mr Bradley said that the council had one scheme project now running, the clearing of noxious weeds. The work undertaken by those on the scheme was generally labouring, Waimairi, Paparua and Heathcote councils said yesterday they had not used the scheme. Mr Beazley said that his group had been given two contracts clearing bush near Leithfield. The only persons who had complained were “the hierarchy,” who did not realise that the work was labour-intensive. Twenty-six workers had cleared 30 acres of bush by hand. Mr Burke’s announcement ‘ has come almost two weeks after a Christchurch police report on the scheme was sent to Wellington. The report, made by Detective Senior Sergeant Mike White, concentrated on the link between the scheme and gangs. “The Press” has asked for a copy of the report under the Official Information Act, but it has not yet been received.