Kerre Woodham: A tough but fair change to the benefit

On the face of it, it seems tough. Telling young people to get out there and get a job when the economy is tanked and unemployment is high, is you'd think, unrealistic.

From November of next year, young people wanting to get job seeker support or the equivalent emergency benefit will have to take a parental income test to see whether their parents can support them instead of the taxpayer. 

About 4,300 18 and 19-year-olds were estimated to become ineligible for support, with 4,700 remaining eligible in the 27-28 financial year. As I said, this kicks in from November of next year, so from 2026. As of June, there were just over 15,000 18 and 19-year-olds on job seeker support. 

It's a lot of young kids. There is no doubt it is difficult right now for young people to find work, to be taken on as apprentices. When the economy contracts, young people tend to be the first laid off, having fewer skills and less work experience. Last on, first off kind of thing. As well, they can be in casual or part-time employment, jobs that are more easily dispensed with. 

But of course, look beyond the headlines. They're not being told to go out and find a job in a really tight labour market. They have to find a job, they have to be studying, or they have to be training. They have three options. What they can't be, according to this government and the Prime Minister, is reliant on the taxpayer. 

The bigger issue here is we're trying to reset expectations with young people that you just can't partially attend school and then just drift on into unemployment benefit. And it is a bit of a reset for under 25s to say, I'm sorry, you're expected to get connected with work or employment or training or education.  

$65,000, where do you why how do you land on that? 

It's basically the income cut-out point for the supported living payment. And so it basically says if you're coming from very low-income families, we're exempting you. But we know it's quite low, but the reality is it puts the pressure back on parents to say get those young people into work or education. 

That was Chrisopher Luxon, Prime Minister, talking to Mike Hosking this morning on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. 
A youth worker who was spoken to in relation to the story, to the announcement, said, and I quote, "I've never met a young person that doesn't want to find work." Really? You need to get out more.

I think the vast majority of young people do want to work. They want to study, they want to train to be able to work so that they can become self-determining, to stand on their own two feet. Not all of them. We have had young people say as much on this show. Nature boy, anyone? 
  
And you'd have to wonder about Barbecue Man, whether his children are fine upstanding productive citizens, because generally welfare dependency leads to welfare dependency and further down the generations it goes. 
There are fantastic stories of young people who were struggling, who got the kick up the bum they needed and managed to achieve beyond their wildest expectations. 

One of the owners of a New World supermarket started life as a trolley boy in Whakatāne when his mum said, "If you're not going to go to school, you are getting a job. You are not staying under my roof and not contributing." "Oh, I can't find an apprenticeship." Well, get any job, she said. And he started life as a trolley boy. And one thing led to another. He discovered not only did he actually like work, he was actually productive and respected by his peers, he was really good at it, to the extent that he ended up owning his own supermarket. 

And I could not agree more with Rod Bell, Chief Operating Officer for Blue Light, who spoke to Mike too this morning. 

The big danger is if a young person starts down the track where a benefit becomes part of their life, as the stat shows, that they end up probably at least a minimum of 18 years of their life on the benefit. 

That's amazing.  

Yeah, we want to break that. You break that once and you've actually paid then probably for 20 people. So financially it makes a huge sense, but for anybody, they want to have worth and worth is doing something positive and proactive, whether it's work or training or education is what will make people feel better about themselves and make a difference to the young people. 

Absolutely. And it's that stat that's really really hard to read that if you are a kid that goes straight onto a benefit out of school that you might have been attending haphazardly, you've got no habit of getting up and being somewhere presentable, ready to go, because you haven't been attending school. It's been a very haphazard, spotty, patchy attendance record. 

The number of people I've spoken

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from news Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
He'd be on the face of it, it seems tough.
Telling young people to get out there and get a
job when the economy is tanked and unemployment is high,
is you'd think unrealistic. From November of next year, young
people wanting to get Job Seeker Support or the equivalent
emergency benefit will have to take a parental income test

(00:32):
to see whether their parents can support them instead of
the taxpayer. About four thy three hundred eighteen and nineteen
year olds were estimated to become ineligible for support, with
four thousand, seven hundred remaining eligible in the twenty seven
to twenty eight financial year. As I said, this kicks

(00:54):
in from November of next year, so from twenty twenty six.
As of June, there were just over fifteen thousand, eighteen
and nineteen year olds on Job Seeker Support, so a
lot of young kids. There is no doubt it is
difficult right now for young people to find work to

(01:16):
be taken on as apprentices. When the economy contracts, young
people tend to be the first laid off, having fewer
skills and less work experience. Last on, first off kind
of thing as well. They can be in casual or
part time employment jobs that are more easily dispensed with.

(01:36):
But of course look beyond the headlines. They're not being
told to go out and find a job and a
really tight labor market. They have to find a job,
they have to be studying, or they have to be training.
They have three options. What they can't be according to

(01:58):
this government, and the Prime Minister is reliant on the taxpayer.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
The bigger issue here is we're trying to reset expectations
with young people that you just can't partially attend school
and then just drift on into unemployment benefit. And it
is a bit of a reset from under twenty five
to say, I'm sorry, you're expected to get connected with
work or employment or training or education.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Sixty five thousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
How do you land on that? It's basically the income
cutout point for the supported living payment, and so it
basically says, if you're coming from very low income families,
we're exempting you. But we know it's quite low. But
the reality is it puts the pressure back on parents
to say get those young people into worker education.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
That was Chris Lockson, Prime Minister talking to make Costing
this morning on the Mike Costing Breakfast. A youth worker
who was spoken to in relation to the story to
the announcement said, and I quote, I've never met a
young person that doesn't want to find work. Really, you

(02:56):
need to get up more. I think the vast majority
of young people do want to work. They want to study,
they want to train to be able to work so
that they can become self determining, to stand on their
own two feet. Not all of them. We have had
young people say as much on this show Nature Boy Anyone,

(03:19):
and you'd have to wonder about barbecue Man whether his
children are fine, upstanding, productive citizens, because generally welfare dependency
leads to welfare dependency, and further down the generations it goes.
There are fantastic stories of young people who were struggling

(03:40):
who got the kick up the bum they needed and
managed to achieve beyond their wildest expectations. One of the
owners of a New World supermarket started life as a
trolley boy in Fakatane. When his mum said, if you're
not going to go to school, you are getting a job.
You are not staying under my roof and not contributing oh,

(04:01):
I can't find an apprenticeship, Well, get any job, she said,
And he started life as a trolleyboy, and one thing
led to another. He discovered not only did he actually
like work, was he actually productive and respected by his peers.
He was really good at it, to the extent that

(04:24):
he ended up owning his own supermarket. And I could
not agree more with Rod Bell, chief operating officer for
Blue Light, who spoke to Mike Too this morning.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
The big dangerous if a young person starts down the
track where a benefit becomes part of their life, as
a stat shows that they gained up probably at least
a minimum eighteen years of their life on the moment. Yeah,
we want to break that. You break that once and
you've actually paid them probably for twenty people. So financially
it makes a huge sense. But for anybody they want

(04:56):
to have worth, and worth is doing something positive and proactive,
whether it's work or training or education, is what will
make people feel better about themselves. Make a difference to
the young.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
People, absolutely, And it's that stat that's really really hard
to read. That if you are a kid that goes
straight onto a benefit out of school that you might
have been attending haphazardly. You've got no habit of getting
up and being somewhere presentable, ready to go, because you

(05:27):
haven't been attending school. It's been a very haphazard, spotty,
patchy attendance record. The number of people I've spoken to
in the Far North who want to give young people
jobs to the extent that they kit them out in
the clothing they'll need for the job. They'll drive to
their house, they will get them out of bed, shower them. Well,

(05:51):
they don't actually stand over them and scrub their back,
but they get them into the shower, get them into
the van, take them into work. Pay well above minimum wage,
and the kids don't last a week. I haven't heard
of one success story. This is only anecdotal, but not
one success story in the Far North. Didn't used to

(06:13):
be like this. If you come from a family where
work is what's expected of you, then you work. I
could no more have imagined going on the DPB than
flying to the moon when I found myself pregnant. I
didn't do it all by myself, but you know I

(06:34):
found myself pregnant. The idea that Huckery mole that was
on the in New Zealand flight that was prosecuted for
sucking face with her boyfriend and worse. On her Facebook page,
she it's yay, I'm pregas DPB here I come. That
was her announcement of her pregnancy. Like I could no

(06:58):
more imagine. I wasn't unable to work. I was just pregnant.
When I had the baby, I worked. You know, it's tough,
and it's it's tough for two parents, and it's tough
for one parent, and not everybody can. But I worked
because the idea of not working is completely alien to

(07:23):
who I am and where I've come from. But for
people who think that it's actually legitimately okay to leave
school or sort of drift away from school, I don't
think it's anything quite so dramatic as leaving school and
not do anything, not study, not train, not volunteer, not work.

(07:45):
That's come from somewhere, and you have to take a long,
hard look in the mirror if you've got kids that
think they can go onto a DPB or onto a
benefit and that's the level of their aspiration.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
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