Harry Hunt
There’s nothing more infuriating than being reminded every day how much the Labour government has let us down. The one letdown that had the most lasting impact on me has been the uncalled-for increases in benefits, which is a pure waste of taxpayer money.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate benefits for the disabled, solo parents and those who really need them. What upsets me is that this government seems to have set itself the task of creating more unemployed people than employed people. This has never been truer than in the past 4 years. This year, the labour government produced the worst amendment I have ever seen:
On 1 July 2021
- All main benefits will increase by $20 per adult per week. This will happen automatically – you don’t need to do anything.
On 1 April 2022
- All main benefits will further increase to levels recommended by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group in 2019.
- Families with children get an additional top-up of $15 per adult a week.
Gone are the days where people were encouraged to work.
Labour are trying to secure votes by creating more beneficiaries. Why should the working class pay to make unemployment attractive?
If we were to ask voters whether they agree with raising benefits you’ll most likely see two things from the results. The working class, the ones who actually pay for everything, will vote no to increasing benefits and those who are already on the benefit, will vote yes.
The government should be providing motivation for people to work. Labour painted this year’s budget as a “Budget for all kiwis” whereas the truth is it’s a budget for beneficiaries.
All that is happening is that we are closing the gap between the educated, the uneducated and the can’t be bothered. The budget really was an insult to every single hard-working New Zealander, undefined by income, but unified by paying their taxes.
Benefits should always be a temporary hand up, they should never be an incentive to take advantage of the system. The sad part about this is the fact that children who are growing up in this environment are only ever going to learn from what’s in front of them. When it is their turn they will only ever expect to have the same non-working lifestyle.
It kills the dream of what New Zealanders want to be. We are a country with a backbone of hard-working farmers. We are not going to create a better economy by disincentivising people by injecting money into their back pockets.
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