John MacDonald: Is it beneficiary bashing or just accountability?

Guess what I was accused of the other day? I was accused of elder abuse.  

Now, this wasn’t for real. It was from someone who got a bit overexcited about what I was saying about people over-65 getting the NZ Super pension when they still earn more than $100K a year. 

A bit extreme, I thought. But there you go. 

But I bet the same person who was accusing me of elder abuse won’t be accusing the Government today of beneficiary abuse with its crackdown on people slacking around on a benefit when they could be out working. 

That’s because some people have the view that all beneficiaries are guilty of being slackers until proven innocent, don’t they? 

Which is a view opposition parties and beneficiary groups are accusing the government of having by writing to MSD and telling it to make sure that people on the unemployment benefit aren’t living it up on the taxpayer when they could be getting a job. 

And if they are being slack, then the party’s over. Not that I would describe being on a benefit as a party.  

I’ve never actually been on a benefit. Which I reckon is good luck, as much as anything. 

Yes, I know there’s no shortage of people who bang-on about working 60 hours-a-week and how that’s their choice and anyone else could make the same choice. 

But, while these people will tell you it’s because they choose to do it, that’s not the whole story. Just like me never needing to go on a benefit anytime in my life - until now - the 60-hour-a-week champions are just the same and, like anyone, could find themselves needing to go on a benefit in the blink of an eye. 

The difference, though, is choice. And it’s the ones who actively choose a benefit over working that the Government has its sights on. 

Which I believe, has to happen. I’m all for accountability and the people who genuinely need support actually getting it. 

And if this approach the Government is taking sees the tap being turned-off for gang members, for example, who are claiming a benefit but also earning money from illegal activity such as drug dealing, then brilliant. 

The opposition parties who have been quick to accuse the Government of beneficiary bashing seem to have conveniently forgotten about these turkeys - or, at the very least, they’re not talking about them. 

But, overall, I think we have no option but to make sure that people on benefits do have a genuine need. 

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