Tim Dower: National's beneficiary sanctions are unlikely to work

I guess it had to come at some point in the campaign... National's traditional swipe at the beneficiaries. 

I really don't know why they do this, sanctions of one kind or another have been tried and tried again, but the fact is they really don't work. 

This time the formula includes mandatory community work experience, and of course benefit cuts or suspensions. 

None of its new. We've seen variations of this kind of thing for decades and little ever seems to change. 

Fact of the matter is we are carrying a cohort of people who are satisfied enough with a life on the bludge. 

They could work, but that's a mug's game to them when your beer money comes automatically every fortnight on the benefit. 

You and I know it's their loss. Standing on your own two feet is good for the soul, work is good for the mind and body. 

But when you lash at them you also hurt a lot of genuine cases, kicking people when they're down basically, and I'm not up for that. 

Bashing beneficiaries is lowest common denominator stuff. It plays to a certain crowd. It pleases those of us who resent feeding people who could legitimately feed themselves. 

This time National wants jobseekers to reapply for the benefit every six months, and provide proof they've been out looking for work, to keep getting a benefit. 

There's no arguing with the numbers: benefit dependency has surged, there's 60 thousand more people on Jobseeker than when Labour took office. 

And in the latest figures from MSD, everything's gone through the roof. Not just base benefits but things like accommodation supplement, special needs grants, 650 thousand hardship payments in the March quarter alone. 

Now for sure, the numbers move around a bit, but the fact is we will never change the mindset of those people who just don't want to work. 

And that element will always be there, they won't change until there's some kind of epiphany, or they just grow out of it. 

So what do we do? Do we bang about tough new regimes and clampdowns that achieve next to nothing, or do we get on with stuff we can actually change? 

I say go for the stuff we can change: the economy, law and order, the health system, productivity. 

And oh, fix the bloody roads will you? 

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