My mother is one of them.
Looking back on my experience with people on the benefit, she is one of many. Those few who have abused the benefit are a very marginal group who should not blind us to those who desperately need help. There are tens of thousands below the poverty line, including far too many children.
Metiria's underpinning message was and is about getting people out of poverty and fixing a broken system. In her 20s she was being a good mother. She espoused the struggle it was for her. The benefit is not meant to be easy to live on, but it should not create poverty. And that is what it is doing, right now.
At the same time this announcement was obviously about starting a national conversation about an urgent issue. This is crucial now because we have a choice to make very soon about what we expect of our government and how we shape New Zealand. Her story has inspired many to have a discussion about poverty in New Zealand.
Cuts and slashes since the 80s have created a husk of our once-famed welfare state. Since when did 15 hours of work a week count as employed?
As a candidate for the Greens in the conservative area I grew up in, I'm not surprised by the amount of negative reactions while door-knocking.
What Metiria did is bravely put her reputation on the line, to humanise our "mending the safety net" package that is the most significant overhaul of the social income system in a generation.
It's a powerful package that proposes a 20 per cent increase in core benefits, a universal child allowance and the removal of "punitive" measures.
At first I hesitated after hearing that the work requirements were up for reform. I understand streamlining a convoluted system, but taking away that requirement? It seemed too much.
But I quickly realised this is exactly what we need. The way our safety net is structured has numerous faults. After earning more than $80 in a job your benefit is removed by a crippling 70c on the dollar, and you're lumped with secondary tax on top of that. That's not an incentive to work. And it never will be.
As a student I purposely only worked a few hours (under the threshold) because working more was simply not worth it. Is that ripping off the system? Refusing to work longer when you can? In a way, yes. But it was by far the more sensible, logical and economic choice. That's the counter-productive mess that our welfare system is.
My mother, who has recently found a job after months of searching, is in the same position, except she has two young girls to raise as well.
This again brings out a basic question: How well do we really value parenting? Is it cost-effective to be hammered with the dual combo of benefit removal and secondary tax while sacrificing important time with young children? I don't think so. I doubt many parents would.
So I don't think our system is working. It's counter-productive. Removing restrictions and raising income has the benefit of beginning to mend a complex mess, makes the workforce look much more enticing and signals that the culture of WINZ has to change.
The top-down structure of WINZ is now too prone to displaying an increasing neglect of social circumstances, social mobility and, at times, human dignity. It picks and chooses who deserves what, with stringent measures which seem designed to give you less. It has become a bureaucratic exercise.
Metiria has given us an opportunity to debate and address these systemic issues. I defend her and feel frustrated that she has campaigned on reducing poverty for 15 years but it took this to finally stir the conversation. If it was not for her, I would not be talking to people in Napier about poverty in a personal manner and I would not be writing this.
It is a fair expectation that Metiria's speech will come to be recognised in years to come as a bold and brave stand to draw a line in the sand.
As she said: "A good government, a decent government, does not use the threat of poverty as a weapon against the poor. Not now, not ever."
Damon Rusden is the Green Party candidate for the Napier seat in this year's general election. Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz
