In spite of the Coalition’s best efforts to create jobs and boost economic growth, State dependency continues to grow with the latest June 2025 statistics showing over 12 percent of the working age population receive welfare.
According to the Ministry of Social Development, of the 406,000 New Zealanders on a benefit, some 216,000 are receiving Jobseeker Support, 80,000 are on Sole Parent Support, 106,000 receive Supported Living Payments, 1,400 collect Young Parent Payments, with the balance receiving emergency benefits.
The main ethnic breakdown shows around 47 percent of all beneficiaries are European, 36 percent are Maori, 10 percent Pacific Islanders, and 3 percent Asian.
While this indicates Maori are seriously over-represented in the overall benefit data, when it comes to Sole Parent Support, the discrepancy escalates: Maori now make up the majority of single mothers at 42 percent, followed by Europeans on 37 percent, Pacifica on 13 percent, and Asian on 3 percent.
The burning question is what’s going wrong for a small country like New Zealand to have so many people dependent on the State?
To answer that, we need to look back at the major changes made to welfare.
For the first thirty years, the system worked well. Introduced by Michael Joseph Savage in 1938, State welfare supplemented the community-based charitable efforts that had traditionally assisted the needy.
Right up until the sixties fewer than 15,000 people received a benefit, with less than a thousand unemployed. While the temporary assistance was not overly generous, it was sufficient to support someone until they found a job. The incentive to seek employment was strong, with someone in work appreciably better off than on welfare.
For single mothers, social assistance was time limited from when she was 8 months pregnant until her baby was either three months old if bottle-fed, or six months if breastfed. Additional support was also available for those whose relationships had broken down, while they regained their independence.
The system not only reflected the importance of work but it reinforced a well-established social contract between taxpayers and the government – that only people ‘of good moral character and sober habits’ were entitled to welfare. Those who were indolent or otherwise ‘undeserving’, were assisted instead by charitable organisations. No-one starved and there was no welfare dependency.
In the late sixties, however, amid growing concerns that the benefit system was losing relativity with rising living standards, the Holyoake Government established a Royal Commission of Inquiry. Their report, Social Security in New Zealand, was published in March 1972.
New Zealand’s welfare problems began when Norman Kirk’s Labour Government, which was elected in November of that year, began introducing the Commission’s recommendations.
Three changes, in particular, proved disastrous.
Firstly, the ‘good character’ requirement for State support was replaced with a ‘universal benefit’ entitlement that forced taxpayers to fund destructive, criminal and anti-social behaviours – a situation that continues to this day, with most criminal gang members receiving welfare.
In fact, MSD research from 2016 not only found that over 90 percent of all known gang members had been on a benefit, but that 60 percent of their children had suffered abuse or neglect, with nearly a quarter having had youth justice involvement by the time they were 10.
A second major change – to enable a beneficiary to “enjoy a standard of living close enough to the general community standard for him to feel a sense of participating in the community and belonging to it” – increased benefit levels closer to a working wage. By eliminating the urgency to find a job, welfare became a “lifestyle choice”.
The third change, driven by the feminist movement, was the introduction of a stand-alone benefit to enable single mothers to raise children on their own without the need for fathers.
This proved to be disastrous. By subsidising family breakdown and sole parenthood, the single parent benefit not only marginalised fathers, leaving mothers struggling to raise children on their own, but it entrenched a culture of dependency that put children at serious risk of abuse and neglect.
As the former Governor General Sir Michael Hardie Boys explained in 1998: “Fatherless families are more likely to give rise… to the risks of being abused, of being emotionally, even physically scarred, of dropping out of school, of becoming pregnant, of living on the streets, of being hooked on alcohol or drugs, of being caught up in gangs, in crime, of being unemployable, of having no ambition, no vision, no hope, at risk of handing down hopelessness to the next generation, at risk of suicide.”
In 2003, the former Principal Youth Court Judge, Andrew Becroft, was forthright in describing the dire consequences of boys being raised without fathers: “Many have no adult male role model – 14, 15, and 16 year old boys seek out role models like ‘heat seeking missiles’. It’s either the leader of the Mongrel Mob or it’s a sports coach or its dad. But an overwhelming majority of boys who I see in the Youth Court have lost contact with their father…”
With clear evidence that children from single parent households are more likely to be poor, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems – with boys more likely to become involved in crime and girls more likely to become pregnant – it is shameful that a disastrous policy that rips apart families and leaves children vulnerable to serious harm, is still in place.
The OECD has been highly critical of the way sole parents are treated in New Zealand. With assistance for mothers with children in most other countries, temporary and work-related, they attribute the weak work requirements and generous payments associated with our stand-alone sole parent benefit as being responsible for encouraging women with children to stay on welfare for far too long. This, they say is why New Zealand has one of the highest rates of child poverty and deprivation in the OECD.
John Key’s National Government entered office in 2008, promising to turn the situation around. Their Welfare Working Group, established in 2010, was tasked with identifying ways of reducing long-term benefit dependency.
The Working Group found only a third of able-bodied beneficiaries were work-tested, and they recommended major reform: “Most working age people are able to participate in paid work, either immediately or after some preparation and transition support. We propose that all people seeking welfare support would apply for Jobseeker Support. This common support would start with the assumption that people can work and would send strong signals about the value of paid work.”
Their plan was to enrol all beneficiaries on Jobseeker Support from where they would be directed into three different pathways: the jobseeker stream for those who could move into paid work with minimal support; the transition to work stream for those who needed more intensive training and support; and the long-term support stream for those with permanent and severe impairments, where work contributions would be encouraged but not required.
Their plan for sole parents was to transition them into work: “The Working Group is of the view that participation in paid work, particularly full-time work, is the best means for sole parents to provide long-term financial security and avoid poverty for themselves and their children…”
They proposed 20 hours a week of part-time work once a child was three, increasing to 30 hours a week, once a youngest child was 6 – similar to OECD recommendations.
However, instead of introducing a single work-focussed benefit, National’s response left the welfare system essentially intact with the dole renamed as Jobseeker Support, the Domestic Purposes Benefit as Sole Parent Support, and the Sickness and Invalid Benefits as Supported Living Payments.
As a result of retaining the separate benefit for single parents, while more intensive case management saw the numbers decline to 58,600 in June 2018 – from well over 100,000 in the early 2000s – they have now risen back up to levels not seen since 2013.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator is Dr Michael Bassett, a former Labour Government Minister who was first elected to Parliament in 1972 and has closely followed the corruption of welfare into a system that “farms” the vulnerable, trapping them into a dangerous cycle of intergenerational dependency:
“We are now in a situation where as many as three generations of kids have never experienced the real family lives that as late as the 1960s underpinned New Zealand society. Too many kids either truant from school, disrupt classes, or drift off into petty crime, or worse. Maori are the biggest ethnicity in this cohort. Eighty percent of Maori children are born to mothers who aren’t married. The prison statistic where 51 percent of prisoners are Maori tells its own story.
“Growing up alongside this festering mess is an expanding industry of social workers, charities, bleeding hearts, and aspiring left-wing journalists and politicians who see advantage for themselves in the continuing social collapse.
“Today, large numbers of jobs depend on social mayhem and the agonies that ensue from it. This industry prevents politicians, who have been at the heart of misplaced policies since the 1970s, from coming to grips with the real causes of the social mess before our eyes.
“Paying able-bodied people to stay at home and not earn their living is probably the biggest social miscalculation of the last sixty years. Unwinding it won’t be easy. There will be howls of outrage led by those who farm poverty.”
As Dr Bassett indicates, vast armies of people now make a living from dependency. And the more disadvantage there is, the bigger the budget allocations to the agencies delivering support.
For tribal leaders, the vested interests and financial rewards are even greater. By claiming the disadvantage suffered by “their people” is caused by racial discrimination, they have locked in government funding worth hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for their separatist “by Maori, for Maori” agenda.
While it is illegal in this country to discriminate on the basis of race, under Section 73 of the Human Rights Act 1993 and Section 19(2) of our Bill of Rights, actions taken “in good faith” to advance those who have been disadvantaged by discrimination are not considered unlawful.
This is why tribal leaders continually declare government services are racist. Seldom challenged, their allegations open the door to great riches from separatism.
The root cause of intergenerational dependency in New Zealand is the sole parent benefit. For generations of children growing up in fatherless families without role models of parents who work for a living, repeating the cycle of dependency has become the norm – especially for Maori.
Back in 2004, the Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia, a former Labour Government Minister, created a scandal by effectively encouraging young Maori to ‘go forth and multiply’.
The Labour Government, struggling to contain an escalation in sole parent benefit dependency at the time, was highly critical of her comments condoning Maori teenage pregnancy: “For anyone to argue that it’s a good thing for thirteen-year old girls to have babies is utterly irresponsible. Ms Turia has previously espoused a view that she thinks it is important to increase the Maori population and that early fertility and a shortening of the generation cycle is an appropriate way of doing this. We must do all we can to educate our kids to avoid early pregnancy. It is grossly irresponsible to argue otherwise.”
Judging by the fact that Maori now dominate sole parent benefit statistics, it appears the underlying signal that having children on taxpayer-funded benefits helps “our people” is still intact.
If New Zealand is to break the cycle of intergenerational welfare dependency and reduce the incalculable social harm it creates, support for sole parents must be merged into a benefit focussed on work – as recommended by the Welfare Working Group and the OECD.
Furthermore, all Government social service contracts for the able-bodied should not only be tied to measurable outcomes that reduce State dependency, but lucrative race-based funding streams must be eliminated as well.
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Should all race-based social service contracts be disestablished?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Very unhealthy the amount of Welfare given to Sole Parent Support by C Sepuloni by cutting out the finances from the fathers – typical dependence from Labour. | Monica |
| Maybe time to look at Singapores approach to dole and social benefit payments | Mike |
| Yes immediately along with ALL other race based initiatives, ALL scrapped immediately | Flip |
| Stop the gravy train, stop the false narrative of victimhood and make every single person on a benefit do something for it. Picking up litter, helping maintain parks, removing graffiti….anything that gets them out of their house and into the community, serving the community | Cath |
| Too many are locked in to welfare dependency. Treat all equally. | Judith |
| Its already too late – NZ is driven now by UN policy that Key and others sanctioned | Bert |
| They should never have been established, so of course they should be disestablished. Welfare as it operates is a national disaster for this country. | Peter |
| I am concerned that we will have civil unrest before someone pushes the rule for all button. Why are so many people unaware of the ridiculous situation we are in. Chris Luxon has really let the side down. | Joan |
| A no brainer. | Ian |
| What was one of the pledges of the coalition? Do away with all race-based legislation! Yeah right!!! | Helen |
| Yes. anything “race based” or favouring one ethnicity over all others is the ROT that is eating at New Zealand. | neil |
| ASAP | Brenda |
| Why would you not vote YES unless you are unemployed with your nose in the trough or on the benefit. And they wonder why so many people are leaving NZ. If Australia was onto it they would do a deal with the YES voters. Shift to Australia and leave NZ to the remainder who will soon work out that no one is available to keep the lights on in NZ. Like uncared for paddocks the country would reverse to the way it was ???? | Jeff |
| we can no longer afford to carry those capable of supporting them selve little own those who think we should because of race | Noel |
| One people | Phil |
| YES! !!!! AND REMIND THEM AT THE SAME TIME …. IF YOU CAN’T FEED THEM NO NOT BREED THEM !!!! | Bruce |
| Absolutely. Long overdue to eliminate ALL race-based politics!! | Tony |
| Race based is bad. It promotes racism. Benefits are benefits. They should assist a return to society not provide a way of life. | Peter K |
| skin colour or race should not make someone different. It causes resentment and racial tension. this needs to be stopped altogether. | Marie |
| This issue, is well past its’ used by date, and has become a complete joke…..thanks to useless LUXO, AND HIS HOPELESS NATIONAL PARTY, GUTLESS WONDERS…. THEY DESPISE KIWI VOTERS, AND WILL BE TOAST BEFORE THE ELECTION, HOPELESS PROCRASTINATOR APPEASERS!!! | David |
| If someone has 1% Maori ancestry, does that put them in an entirely different category than someone who doesn’t have that 1% Maori ancestry? | Alex |
| The present system is a mess | Anthony |
| No racial preference in any of Government Services is acceptable | Nev |
| It is absolutely vital that all of them are scrapped. IMMEDIATELY. | Bruce |
| Need mot greed | John |
| Absolutely. Race based everything should be disestablished. The PM needs to live up to his pre-election promises and rid New Zealand of rampant Maorification. When all said and done the Treaty was between the Crown and the natives of New Zealand. Maori only became a “people” after 1840. | Bruce |
| There is much money wasted on corrupt race-based service contracts that do not have measurable results. | Kent |
| No good comes if havbing ones hand out throughout live will create a forward society or a chance to grow | MALCOLM |
| The short NZ History of Labour Government aand Femminist involvement has proved that. The economic demise of NZ is emminent for Sure !!0 | Pierre |
| Absolutely yes | Graham |
| All should have equal access | Sandi |
| Yes, it needs to be based on need, not race. | Kate |
| Winston says we are ONE NEW ZEALAND. | Denis |
| We are a Multipeople country and RACE should not be relevany | Carl |
| You have made the case for it’s disestablishment. | Ronnie |
| It should be so, but how can it be done? With all the thousands of millions of our tax dollars that have been squandered in appeasement since the mid 19th century and still continuing to this day, with no end in sight. The public are just as likely to vote for the stupid three parties next year. I would say that much that has been put in place by this current coalition will be simply replaced with the same nonsense that the country had to endure during the recent Ardern/Hipkins era. The current ruling coalition is too aloof and haughty and thus does not connect with the public when it comes to making New Zealand a better democratic nation. We citizens are just not mature and strong enough to push the right buttons to remind this coalition of the main reason why we voted them into an administration role in the first place. We are miles apart still, while they pretend to be doing what the public voted them in, to do. | Garry. |
| Everyone in this country should be treated equally, regardless of their ancestry – to do otherwise is simply an abomination. | Trevor |
| it’s time to end all bi-cultural practices in NZ. | Mark |
| End racism now | DAVID |
| All race based contracts and policies need to end. | Mark |
| it’s sending the country broke. | Mark |
| In addition, I propose that all non-working solo Mothers who require state benefit should be offered and expected to reside in communal buildings with other solo Mothers in similar circumstances. The communal group will nominate which Mother(s) is to look after the children whilst the other Mothers get employment to contribute toward the communal expenses. I know this a radical move but I am certain it will make females think very carefully before choosing a path of solo Motherhood. | Martin |
| Without exception. Only then can you rebuild what is actually necessary, if at all | Colin |
| Solo mothers benefits need to end & the dole capped at 3months & then no further dole. | Derek |
| Definitely its a disgusting concept !!! In this country of ours there are over 20,000 registered charities who back in 2018 received over 3.8 Billion dollars from good old Kiwis and Kiwi businesses . We also live in a welfare state . Any group out there that cant make it in this country with out EXTRA help on top of the huge amount that is all readily available are just a pack of mongrel bludgers, come on, some things just aren’t right put theses policies to death. We are heading for the fight of our lives and it will be on the streets and it needs to happen and happen soon . Conflict culls the greedy the lazy and the corrupt and will eventually restore peace and prosperity , polish your boots and be ready its fight or flight. ONE LAW FOR ALL. | GlynJ |
| There are more races in NZ than Maori and European descendants…… should be a level playing field… all treated equally before the law…… colour blind. | Erin |
| They should never have been in the first place | Neville |
| They serve no useful purpose other than to consolidate racism | David |
| Of course they should, immediately! | John |
| Get rid of them all completely. | Wayne |
| Need, not race. | Wendy |
| Sooner the better. | Judy |
| The solution is very simple…1.STOP VOTING FOR THE SAME CIRCUS CLOWNS, OF NATIONAL/LABOUR, THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED, BOTH OF THESE ONLY SERVE THEIR GLOBAL MASTERS, NOT KIWI VOTERS 2.ALL RACE BASED, LAWS AND SERVICES, HAVE TO BE SHUT DOWN.3.THE T.O.W./W.T HAS TO BE ENDED.4. A NEW BILL OF RIGHTS, AND NEW CONSTITUTION, RACIAL LAWS WILL BE REMOVED,5.M.M.P AS WELL AS THE MAORI SEATS DISOLVED, VOTING SYTEM SHOULD BE S.T.V NO CHANGE TO THE TERM FOR M.Ps SERVING IN GOVT.6. A PROPER INVESTIGATION, INTO THE COVID/SARS2 SCAMDEMIC, WITH THE RELEASE OF BLACK LISTED EVIDENCE, THAT HAS BEEN COVERD UP! LOTS MORE TO BE DONE BECAUSE N.Z IS IN ONE HELL OF A MESS. THE LYING, M.S.M HAVE TO GO, AS WELL! | David |
| far past time | Ian |
| It is shameful the way that workers endure such a high tax rate. Not only does this discourage peoples work ethic, but to further rub salt into the situation millions of these tax dollars support the Maori gravy train. Where is the politician with a real backbone to whether the abuse which will come his way, but DO something to halt this mess. | Peter |
| Most things that are Race Based are problematic and nurtures separatism us / them. When services are offered to a particular skin colour or ancestry Then that festers away at those who miss out which in turn promotes racism. Social services should be just that, available to the society it serves. | Nigel |
| I see no reason to comment. It is a “no brainer” | mike |
| of course! | Giles |
| Absolutely if they are government funded. If they want racially segregated social services they should be privately funded by the service involved. Government funding should not be racially discriminating. | terrence |
| All this racist apartheid nonsense must go. It is dragging New Zealand down to Third World status and economic ruin. This welfare and state dependency has been and is back door ruinous communism. | John |
| We have an apartheid system in New Zealand that is getting worse every year, including under the current government. | Peter |
| We need a Government with Guts | Geoffrey |
| The race-based gravy chain must stop. | Jim |
| If we don’t reign in the activists crying wolf that maori are disadvantaged then we will slip towards anarchy and third world status | John |
| Raced focused policies are not helping the country to be as one | Ian |
| We are one people, the Treaty is currently being abused to a massive degree and the tikanga is a religion. Social services must be based on need not race!!!! | ARTHUR |
| nothing should be race based | adrian |
| without a doubt there should be no race based services. | dianne |
| There should be nothing given out based on race. We are supposed to be one people – New Zealanders. | Helen |
| it is apartheid politics. | Pattie & Paul |
| I am of Maori descent and declare my disgust at NZ race based political decisions. | William |
| Needs urgent attention. Been going on for years and looks like it will go on for the rest of my life. Need a Govt that has guts. E3veryone sucks off the Govt in this country | Barbara |
| yes,allocation should be on the basis of certified need not race. | gale |
| totally needed | Maxwell |
| the sooner the better | Maxwell |
| It’s a contradiction of our one New Zealand. | Rob |
| Race based equals Racist. | Brian |
| Yes. They are just promoting division. Each case should be dealt with on its own merits of need. | Sheila |
| It’s my taxes that are being used and I should have some say on how it’s spent. I believe in fairness irrespective of ethnicity and that race shouldn’t play any part in social justice | Mike |
| No race based laws, all NZrs, one culture, one vote. We are all kiwis. Stop the rot | Sue |
| now | Wiremu |
| Nothing should be race based. | Steve |
| Race baased Yes,social services no! | DICK |
| Absolutely look at the costs and the dim looking future with no real pressure to get work. | RUSS |
| There is no moral or rational reason for race-based policy. Ever. | Mark |
| The only way forward is colour blind. Welfare is particularly bad for Maoris | Brian |
| It is a vicious circle and promoted by maori. I constantly wonder why the various tribal entities, with their enormous funds, do not assist their ‘own people’. | ALASTAIR |
| same deal for everyone is fair. | Chris |
| Enough nonsense with Race Based contracts. Get rid of them. | William Clive |
| absolutely and the sooner the better | David |
| Anything that is race based should be disestablished. Racial privilege simply encourages resentment from the other group and. damages all of society. Luxon won’t fix it he is incapable, no backbone. | Carole |
| One rule for all New Zealanders | Elaine |
| Why shouldn’t they? | Denis |
| ANYTHING that is race-based should be disestablished. | Elizabeth |
| It’s a total joke and drain on New Zealand for those who don’t wish to work and breed like rabbits! put an end to it NOW! | Laurie |
| all should only be based on need | john |
| I have had enough of pandering to anything Maori they as a race have become a drain on our economy and to make matters worse all those that have had treaty settlements completed have such a wealth that they should be supporting their own IWI but instead the taxpayer fits the bill. Now if that isn’t racist you tell me Mr Luxon and your Coalition partners. | Ken |
| It creates a them and us society and adds to the Maorification that is going on in NZ at present – appalling | Chris |
| Nobody ever has a choice on their race. We should be treated as equals and expect everyone to do their share. | Gary |
| All and any government funded social services should apply to any ethnic culture equally. | Nicole |
| One nation .. one set of rules | kabe |
| We must not be governed by what is our perceived parentage history. We MUST be all able to be equals in New Zealand | Peter |
| YES of Course !!! ALL Citizens of New Zealand “SHOUD BE CLASSED EQUAL” | Bill |
| Get some BALLS LUXON & look at other countries welfare systems they are NOT over generous with people being able to claim everything like NZ ITS US taxpayers who are FORCED to pay for SILLY GOVERMENT POLICIES LIKE THIS.EVERYONE EMAIL ALL GOVT> IN POWER & ASK THEM WHAT THE HELL THEYRE DOING ABOUT THIS,AND MAKE SURE THEY KNOW THE NEXT ELECTION ALL OF US WILL REMEMBER IF THEY DONT ACT & THE,LL BE GONE FOR GOOD IF THEY DONT ACT NOW | Cindy |
| Poverty in New Zealand is a choice for anyone who can work. This also appears to be the choice of single mothers having a new baby when their benefit is about to expire | Kevin |
| 100% all social benefits should be given on an equal footing for everyone irrespective of race | Gareth |
| Yes! WE live in the animal world – WE are meant to be intelligent ‘animals’ capable of ALL living together. IF we fighe amongst ourselves many of us will likely !not survive! This government seems determined to have us racially divided – and ‘staunch’ racists seem to be pushing this devision – which seems to be more like racial dominance through almost any means !!!! The present state of affairs is NOT what the electors voted for – so why is this government betraying their voters? This government is NOT representing true and faithful New Zealenders! | Stuart |
| Should be disestablished immediately. No question asked | Allan |
| But to find any law makers strong enough to poke their above the parapet would be the problem for absolute discrimination. | Barry |
| 100% | Ian |
| But they wont be. | Sharen |
| When benefit-living becomes a lifestyle choice something needs to be done to rein it in. | Sandra |
| You do ask some silly questions, of course they should be.Previous governments introduced these stupid rules/laws,all it needs is for any government to get rid of them.While doing this,it is time to reintroduce blood quantum,where someone saying they are a Maori must prove by DNA that they have a majority of Maori blood in their veins.The idea that there is 1 million maoris in this country is ridiculous. | Peter |
| Tinkering with the rules has already shown to be a disaster. | Ian |
| Make parents responsible for young mothers having babies. Not tax payers. And if the father not named zero benefit Put all benefits up to 21 years of age or older. This intergenerational benefit fraud must stop. All people of this country must take responsibility for THEIR OWN ACTIONS Definitely not the tax payer or state. | Kevin |
| Of course it should. It should be solely based on needs not on race!!!! | Glenda |
| Absolutely! There is no room for racism of any kind in our society and none for the grifters (especially those calling themselves Maori), the entitled, the corrupt, the bullies and the woke. | Richard |
| Yes and ASAP. It is now very apparent that the current system is unsustainable | Lawrie |
| also reintroduce that Fathers MUST pay maintenance for their children of Solo mothers without exception | Linda |
| They should definitely by canned. Make people like John Tamihere actually do something productive, rather than get rich of the tax payer. | Brent |
| It is unfair and makes unemployment desirable. | Rosemary |
| National have over the years proved to be as bad as Labour. The current coalition has not so far shown much interest in changing things. | Hugh |
| There should NEVER be any race-based social contracts! Ever! | Lee |
| All race based special treatment & privileges need to stop immediately! | Greg |
| My thoughts on the matter are unprintable! | John |
| Absolutely Yes, this corrosive to all Kiwi’s & must be stopped. Luxon’s election campaign promised to remove this racist treatment of Kiwi’s, however it appears his words do not match his actions or inaction, also Luxon stopped David Seymour’s Treaty Principle Bill & the referendum for Kiwi’s to vote on what they wanted, so Luxon is no better than Jacinda, says one thing to get into power & then does the opposite. National must be held accountable for this egregious act. So vote ACT or NZ First & kick Luxon out of power. | John |
| Do it now! | Arthur |
| Some yes, all no. If the Q was reframed to something like: ‘Should race-based social service contracts be reviewed for their quality and outcomes, and only those performing well and benefiting New Zealand be continued?’ my answer would be YES. | Tony |
| Yes .. and right now. They should never have been allowed to exist … ever. Only sick minded people would support such stupidity. | Des |
| Absolutely ! | Craig |
| something has to change | Gerhard |
| The myth of equal opportunities does not lead to equal outcomes. Never has, but – recognise sovereign people not Social classes. Vote catching has a sad outcome for NZ and getting worse. | Maurice |
| This mess was created by misguided politicians, and now NOT ONE of them has the honesty and integrity to fix their stuff up . | Noel |
| We should all be treated as New Zealanders before the law | Glenn |
| Most Definitely Teenage Pregnancy has become a Career Choice… | OLWYN |
| Tragically it’s too late Politicians are gutless They are only in it for their personal glory and not the state of the country and it citizens | Christina |
| Surely equality is best and fairer | Laurel |
| Discrimination of any sort should be abolished. | martin |
| YES. We cannot continue claiming to be a democracy while we practice apartheid principles. Carry on as we are……then the end is nigh. | Grahame |
| All no fixed abode benefits cut until they are off the streets | Jennifer |
| It hasn’t worked for decades and therefore needs to stop | Kevin |
| Oh Boy, can you just imagine the ranting and wailing of the lefties and maoridom and the woke greenies etc. Labour would be there leading the charge of course. I couldn’t see National having the courage to do anything that would help remedy the problem incase they lost votes. Act and NZ1st are the only ones likely to try and improve the lives of the beneficial. The statistics show that something dirastic has to change ,the sooner the better. | Peter |
| Reasonable arguments can be raised for continuing a few raced-based social service contracts – but on principle we must insist that they must not be allowed in New Zealand. | AndyE |
| It is time to stop all race related policies, including Maori seats, Maori awards. Also why are people who never exist when the British arrived in NZ are providing compensation to people who were not born at that time. Also it is time to stop reinventing NZ history. Maori were not natives. They were settlers. Maori businesses are not actual charities and should pay tax like any other business. Let’s implement the human rights act. | luciane |
| If you don’t work, you cannot eat | Garth |
| This administration promised to end racially-based policies. So far, Act excepted, it has failed miserably. The by-moari, for-moari policies need to go too, unless moari pay for the policies themselves. National needs to read the room. | Gavin |
| Definitely | Rose |
| One Country – One People – One System for all | Deirdre |
| Yes – this has gone on for far too long! | Scott |
| To me it all boils back down to the weakness of so many of our politicians. They are afraid of being called racist , they area afraid of upsetting the Maori applecart, many are afraid of there own shadows as I see it. By the way I read on a website (and I can’t remember which one) that Labour and Greens supporters are mainly woman. I don’t know how true this is but just saying anyway. | Paul |
| NZ citizens are all equal – no preferential treatment for race | Tony |
| Our ruling Elites must act with haste or society in New Zealand will see the shape of our End Times approaching with great speed. | Chris |
| We are all on people | Richard |
| It’s possibly too late. | Liz |
| MOST definitely that is a HUGE YES. We must stop all RACE BASED reverse racism in our wonderful NEW ZEALAND. It is absolutely stuffing (I chose a polite word) our NEW ZEALAND. | Brian |
| Add Super Ann to Welfare and a serious amount of money needs to be creamed off workers to keep funding. Our assets will be targeted next to keep the growing dependents in their lifestyle | Glenn |
| Gravy train! | Patrick |
| absolutely yes | john |
| RIGHT NOW | william |
| Will the Government ever show some nous and make these changes. Is it too much about keeping them in Government and not doing what is right for the people who voted them there.Too much of the OLD BOYS CLUB | Rob |
| don’t stall this change as it is destroying our society. | Margaret |
| These race based social services only succeed in breeding more and more failure and discontent… | Murray |
| they are thieving off the hard working taxpayer & most of the time these programmes do nothing for anyone except fill some Maori”s fat nest with money | Jill |
| ASAP, along with all other race based handouts !! | Geoffrey |
| Yes – one system, one rule, one system, one policy, one entitlement, one handout for all if state/taxpayer funded, regardless of racial heritage. In fact go further – no voting entitlement for anyone on a non-age benefit longer than12 months! | Mike |
| My oath they shpould be. | Peter |
| And get back to naming the fathers | Owen |
| Heartily endorse this. | JUDITH |
| Promptly. That is what I voted for. | pdm |
| In addition, further changes are required to get all those who can work into jobs. Do not provide benefits to mothers who still children – make their parents provide the support. | Gary |
| I wish this yes vote counted for something in the real world | Bill |
| There must be NO race based anything available in New Zealand To have it is to accept that NZ has apartheid and how repugnant is that! And by the way, that unofficial other name for NEW ZEALAND has no place on any official documents including and especially our Passport – PERIOD | Carolyn |
| Put it simply, there should not be any race based policies. They are divisive and largely unproductive. Time for the coalition to step up and amend laws to reflect what the electorate has been asking for the last couple of years. | chris |
| Appeasement means feeding the Crocodile hoping he will ear you lastt | Gee es |
| Absolutely. All social services and health services should be on the basis of need not race. otherwise Maori are just making tax slaves of everyone else. | bruce |
| Anything that separates us based on race must go. | Alastair |
| It’s taking the government far to long to sort out this problem that is easily fixed no work no pay just like the rest of us hard working people | Peter |
| I need support!!!!! | RICHard |
| Raced based anything should be disestablished. There needs to be incentives to work and for fathers to be responsible for their offspring. | David |
| Absolutely !!!! This is just another push for Maori co Governance or whatever. Just stop all this bloody nonsense before we have a revolution. From what people tell me it’s not far away if we keep heading in this direction. Unfortunately we have a gutless Prime Minister not prepared or able to stand up top these treacherous proposals being continually being put forward by Maori. Just tell them to get stuffed and you will find you have the HUGE majority of New Zealanders behind you. Do it now before it’s too late and you have a revolt on your hands — same as the UK. | Alan |
| Immediately absolutely racism | Greg |
| All the main party politicians have lacked the spine to sort this out. John Key is now making utterances as a kind of self-appointed consultant. Hubris knows no bounds. | Hugh |
| That is racist favoritism and should be banned , if people are given contracts etc they are never going to learn and are going to rely on handout all their lives | Colin |
| expanding industry of social workers, charities, bleeding hearts, and aspiring left-wing journalists and politicians who see advantage for themselves in the continuing social collapse. | Mike |
| There should be no race consideration involved in anything | Alec |
| Such social service contracts are being used to create a power base outside but equal to tribal bases and this is a very bad thing as we can already see. It must be stopped. | Roger |
| End racism against Europeans | Alister |
| Most definitely | Mick |
| If you are not sick or disabled it is immoral to expect the taxpayer to fund your lifestyle. | Wietske |
| Absolutely | Laura |
| The system has to be changed. Culture of dependancy must be changed | Bill |
| Of course! It’s government funded racism! People need to read the Treaty, Maori got British Citizenship! Not special rights, nor Billion Dollar handouts! Just Citizenship like the rest of us ordinary Folk! | peter |
| Firstly, end race-based financial assistance. The Maori tribal corporations are reaping huge benefits (tax-free of course) from crying wolf for their people. | Laurence |
| We are one people!! | Pauline |
| ASAP | Chris |
| sAME FOR ALL | Lindsay |
| We don’t need any more discrimation we should all be treated the same | Barbara |
| How long before the world realises NZ is practicing APARTHEID and starts to boycott us? | Geoffrey |
| there should not be any form of race based ideology. Every New Zealander must be treated the same. | David |
| Absolutely!! But know this: If this would be done , the Government responsible for this action would unleash a sleeping monster ( literally). Several generations of utterly unemployable, totally entitled, on top of everything racially charged and agressive people would act accordingly. The Maori party Labour and the Greens would also exploit this volatile situation for their own questionable ends and politicize this mess. Civil unrest and violence are to be expected with all that this implies. NZ as we know it would come to a violent end. And this is exactly what this radical TMP is banking on. All what they want is to destroy us. | Michael |
| It is still apartheid and no longer New Zealand. We are all immigrants, there are no indigenous peoples here! | Diana |
| Self evident | Tony |
| Lets get back to the good old days | Warren |
| We are meant to be a democratic country, not one controlled by apartheid principle’s. | Malcolm |
| yes, yes and yes……………… a bit of hunger for a time could be salutary. An incentive to off backsides. | Gill |
| About time. | COLIN |
| What a waste. | John |
| Absolutely – any race based programme should go and the relevance of race should be minimised. | Gerry |
| Yess we are ment to be one people with one law for all and everyone with the same opertunitys.. Read the Treaty!!!. | Don |
| Though I see both National and ACT not actioning their election statements. Stop dragging the heels and get on with it for the betterment of all people in NZ | Trevor |
| Absolutely | Brian |
| Governor Hobson said, We are now one people” Racial division was never envisaged by the Treaty; the new industry that has been born in the last few decades would appall him. The intent of “one people” has been hijacked. | Lucy |
| One people, one nation one flag – New Zealand! No place for an apartheid state. | David |
| Including race based medical priority | Trevor |
| Democracy and racism cannot mix!!!!! | Andy |
| Right now and to hell with the lefty hand wringers who are exploiting the system to facilitate their own egos. | Neville |
| And all benefits should be investigated to establish that they are being validly claimed because they are far to easily rorted. | Alan |
| Time to stop gang leaders to be receiving the cholereceving the dole for lack of trying harder to find work!! | Dominique Greenslade |
| ENOUGH | mike |
| Aren’t we supposed to be ONE !!! | Ranald |
| Yes yes yes. You article is alarming but very true as history shows……as well as current times! | Joe |
| Need should be the only criterion | Andy |
| Stop the obvious Apatheid. Even the Treaty of Waitangi States ‘We are now One People’. Stop this Racism or is it deliberate !! | Geoff |
| It is a pity however that no one within any government takes any notice of these polls! | Anon |
| y out. | John |
| Of Course they should. Its almost unbelievable that New Zealand has come to this. Taxpayers should not pay for any race-based ideals – we are supposedly all equal aren’t we? The only thing that is causing the problem is incredibly weak political leadership. | Andrew |
| The sooner the Better!! | Ron |
| All benefits should include to all the people who need them, there is no room for bias in any form, only need should be the qualification. | Gaye |
| No brainer | anthony |
| Nothing should be based on race | Gail |
| Govt must act and get Labor Party to join together and stop this Nonsense Now | leo |
| Of course all race-based legislation must be abolished. The current Government was elected to do that very thing, BUT THEY HAVE FAILED. As an aside i was made redundant some years ago and to meet my commitments I decided to go on the dole. When I was interviewed by DSW staff they enquired as to my financial status. At the time I owned my own home debt free and had over 10k in the bank. I was told that I had too much money and would have to accept a much reduced support. MY response was so If I had peed it up the wall all my life, had nothing, you would support me. But because I got off my ass and looked after myself you won’t. F*** Off. Ps I had a job within about 10 days that I continued in till I retired many years later. | COOKIE |
| Government must act and get the Labor Paty to work together to put a stop to this Stupid Policy | leo |
| Absolutely, all race-based services should never have existed in our society. Its racist and dragging this country down. These contracts need to be disestablished for the sake of us all. | Audrey |
| Yes!and also… can we please have an English language news and weather channel! | Bruce |
| Definitely, as soon as possible, no excuses from mr Luxon by putting this problem on the back self | Heather |
| Yes, if not what about a proportion of income being earmarked for Chinese, Indians (as well as Maoris) and yes, even Europeans who pay their taxes….. | Peter |
| Sooner the Better | Peter |
| Should be the same for everyone | Gavin |
| We are meant to be one people, but there those amongst us who want to be “different” and to be treated “different”. That is not how a democracy functions or a good society thrives. But there must be some form of social conscience to care for those who cannot do that for themselves. | William |
| Of course | Evans |
| We are one people with the same basic needs all of which are not influenced by race! | Garry |
| Clearly the system is not working, in fact its counter -productive as borne out by the statistics | Peter |
| absolutely,there will be no improvement in society until it is disestablished. | Ann |
| This is simply part of what National promised, welfare would be based on need, not race. So come on National, do what you promised to get elected, your performance in this area is woeful. | Rod |
| It is racist to not do so in a normal environment but we live in a different environment where logic, fairness and honesty have left these shores. | Leonard |
| Yes Yes Yes | Liz |
| Why should one race get superior benefits and huge payouts on the tax payer. This is racist. Imagine the uproar and protests if the boot was on the other foot? The howling and whining would be definning. Hikios a plenty. | Allan |
| I once worked at Social Welfare (as it was then) and was one of the few who spoke out about (or should I say tried to speak out) this benefit being abused back in the 70s! | Bev |
| Race Based social services is very wrong! | Murray |
| Yes . The Treaty of Waitangi clearly mandates equality of citizenship before the law – and that is what the Maori Chiefs signed up to . NOT equal outcomes. That simple .FULL STOP . Hugh Perrett | Hugh |
| we all should be treated the same | ray |
| Yes. Need, not ethnicity, should be the driver. | Peter |
| Everything race based should be eliminated. | Koreen |
| That was one of Luxon’s pre election promises to eradicate all Maori based discrimination. If anything it has got worse in all facets of NZ Government Dept’s. and local politics. | Wayne |
| All social services should be provided on the basis of need and not the colour of a person’s skin, period! | Peter |
| Well overdue | Collin |
| Why should someone whose family arrived in 1300s have more government assistant today than someone whose family arrived in the 1840s with the same needs today. The latter cannot go and live in their family’s country of origin. | Catherine |
| Most definitely YES. There must be absolutely NO race-based anything what’s so ever in New Zealand. End the apartheid urgently. | Colin |
| YES | Leon |
| Yes, immediately. Are politicians being threatened to NOT remove race based laws and legislation or do they no longer believe in the rule of law, equality before the law, or democracy and the colour blind state? why are politicians destroying the democratic process they benefit from? Is it Willful blindness or arrogance or simply lack of courage? either way our civilization is in decline it seems | Sam |
| The system of ‘INGRAINED DEPENDANCY’ in N.Z has been rammed home, to KIWIS, allways stoked by LABOUR, who are keen supporters, of the N.W.O. STATE DEPENDANCY, is what the N.W.O want, to bring in, their WORLD GOVERNMENT, this has been at the top of AGENDA 21/50, a big part of the U.N/W.E.F who also push the dependency agenda. The STATE of course, will destroy this system, at a convenient time that, suits their plan, so please KIWIS, become ‘self su fficient, and free yourselves from the PLANTATION, THAT KEEPS YOU IN CHAINS! | David |
| Yes … but too late? | mary |
| The same laws should apply to all | Perce |
| The sooner the better. NZ society has been going steadily downhill for years. | Lenice |
| If it is illegal in this country to discriminate on the basis of race, under Section 73 of the Human Rights Act 1993 and Section 19(2) of our Bill of Rights, why then are the apartheid Maori seats, the apartheid 1975 TOW Act, the apartheid Waitangi Tribunal and all other Acts and statutes that give explicit recognition to the apartheid English language treaty that does not agree with the original Maori language text, still in force? | neil |
| Meanwhile, the small business owner is busy paying staff a competitive wage (or living wage so as not thought to be Scrooge), complying with employment law (ie trying to avoid upsetting someone so they don’t get taken to ERA) and can’t make enough money to pay themselves minimum wage. | Andrew |
| Name the father and make them pay for their progeny – in which case they won’t procreate or will just bugger off. Make the mothers accountable for shacking up with losers who kill their babies. | BrianDamage |
| The Coalition Government promised to get rid of all race-based policies. By-Maori, for-Maori contracting is just racist. It should be eliminated as well. | Donald |
| The sooner the better. This government is running out of time to stop the racial juggernaut. They are proving to be too cowardly to do what must be done. Where are the politicians with the courage to say NO to everything race-based??? | Margaret |
| Absolutely race-based social services should be axed. The whole “the government is racist” argument is BS. Iwi leaders are making it up to press ahead with their divisive agenda, funded by taxpayers. The whole thing is sickening. | Paul |
| I’m so sick of this racist and divisive agenda being pushed by separatists who have now infiltrated all levels of society. Everywhere you look Maori stuff dominates. When the heck is someone going to put a stop to it? | Harry |
| Welfare is out of control. So many people are on benefits who could and should be working. And the problem is, as the articles clearly says, a benefit, plus extra support including an Accommodation Supplement, plus the extra $$$ you can legally earn, means that someone is as well off on welfare as they are slogging their guts out for 40 hours a week. Why would you bother getting a job? | Andrew |