Escapees From the Welfare Trap

Progress and Accomplishment

The New Zealand government is engaged in a programmed campaign to get people off public welfare and back to work.  Opposition parties play the guilt-and-pity card constantly in the Parliament these days.  By their lights, untold suffering has fallen upon legions of victims as a result of these benighted policies.

For our part, as grass roots level, we are seeing lots of positive fruit.  Even something as simple as an official expectation of returning to work and getting off welfare is paying dividends. "You have to get a job" is a revolutionary, and liberating message at the local welfare office. Stuff carries a case study to illustrate the quiet revolution that has begun and continues to gather momentum.  In this particular case it was self-motivation that made the difference.  But the wider social and government expectations would no doubt have strengthened the resolve.

Daughter's words motivate mum to get off benefits

HARRY PEARL

Last updated 05:00 26/10/2013

A 9-year-old's comment about how "cool" it was to be on a benefit has changed a Huntly woman's life.  Until six months ago, Judy Wilson was one of about 80,000 sole parents in New Zealand receiving a benefit.  She was devoted to raising her six children but, in her own words, she was also drinking, smoking, and not doing "anything".  And she had been for close to 20 years. 

Six children being paid for by the taxpayer.  Solo-parenthood as a lifestyle choice.  These not-untypical-cases have been consigned to the very back of the closet by the welfarists.
  Such things do not exist, they claim.  They are urban legends.  To highlight such cases is not only misdirection and deceitful, it also represents the destructive, debilitating stereotyping called "Beneficiary Bashing".   But for Wilson, out of the mouth of her child came the truth.

"It was my nine-year-old that said, ‘It's cool being on the benefit because you've been on it for so long, eh, mum. I'm going to go on the benefit too'."  Wilson, 43, said she was "shocked" to think her circumstances would have such influence on her daughter, and the comments jolted her into action.  She started a six-week course at WINZ in order to pick up new skills and followed it up with another, more specific course, in caregiver training for about eight weeks. Since July, she's been working at Kimihia Home and Hospital in Huntly. 

This case is helpful because it underscores the lifestyle attitudes and changes resulting from moving off the benefit into work.  Factors such as self-respect and self-discipline, coupled with the meaning to one's life that comes from working have all been part of the mix.

It's a significant shift from the routines that dominated her life since 21, the age she first applied for the domestic purpose benefit (DPB).  "I'm more active, because you're committed to work and you've got to work for money. This job puts food on the table. I'm not laying back and waiting for the next benefit [payment]."

As of September, there were 7050 people seeking sole parent support in the Waikato Region. The vast majority have been receiving assistance for more than one year and many of them will do so long term.   According to a June 12 valuation from the Ministry of Social Development, sole parents spend an average of 15.8 years on the benefit over their lifetime, at a cost of $234,000.  People who get on a benefit as youths spend an average 18.9 years, costing $239,000.

At a glance, it's been a similar story for Wilson. She had her first child at 20 and moved from Auckland back to her hometown Huntly, alone. Her partner and father of her children stayed in Auckland, where Wilson had spent most of her teenage years. She moved in with her nan, who needed care, and over the next 20 years gave birth to Tia Huia, Raiatea and Rangi Taiki, Marama and Wati o te aroha.  The children visited their father for holidays and he paid child support, but raising the children - who are now aged between 2 and 23 - fell overwhelmingly to Wilson. 

Without the investment in one's own labour, and finding that money would come flooding in without cost or effort, had destructive side-effects--alcohol being one.  
Although there were intermittent periods of work, each time she was pregnant she returned to the DPB.

"I was a family woman and I wanted to be with my children," she said. "I wanted to be involved in their education. That's why I wanted to be freed up."  But being free also encouraged bad habits. "I found myself drinking so much on the benefit. Since I've been working, I haven't been drinking because you don't have time. My whole way of thinking and speaking has changed."

Wilson's commitment to her children, even whilst on the benefit, has been laudable.  But to this has been added a vital ingredient.  Her commitment is now deeper and more tangible.  No longer does she rely upon the government's commitment to her children.  She is both providing for them on her own account, and being a better mum as a result.  Good on her. 

However, Wilson is adamant it was her own desire to do something with her life that motivated her - not a push from WINZ. She said she had "no goals" when she grew up and knew only that she wanted to be a mum. Now, she's realised she can balance both.  "I always thought my place was at home, looking after the children, making sure they're fed and clean. But you can do all that as well as work." 

And there will be another aspect which the article does  not mention: we have no doubt her mana amongst her community, neighbours, and extended family will have risen tangibly.