Benefit cheat continues long-distance taunting

Peter Freedom posted this image of himself in the Netherlands earlier this month. Photo / Supplied

A welfare fraudster who travelled the world for two years courtesy of the taxpayer has continued his online taunting of Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.

Peter Freedom has posted another YouTube video which attacks Ms Bennett, Prime Minister John Key, Work and Income New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand.

Earlier this month Freedom posted his first video, which he said was timed to cause maximum embarrassment for Ms Bennett in the lead-in to Saturday's election.

Ms Bennett was mocked as incompetent in the clip, which also featured holiday footage from Freedom's travels, including at the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower and the Pyramids of Giza.

Freedom left for Australia in April 2009, but his benefit payments were not stopped until last January, allowing him to visit Europe, the Balkans, Britain, Africa and Asia.

He received nearly $28,000 in benefit payments over two years.

When news of the fraud broke in June an arrest warrant was issued for Freedom - also known as Petrus van Druten - after he failed to appear in court.

In his latest video, Freedom interspersed his own comments on welfare with those Ms Bennett and Mr Key made at a press conference earlier this month.

Freedom - who now lives in the Netherlands - criticises Work and Income for allegedly not informing beneficiaries the entitlements and help they are eligible for.

He claims he was forced to sell his car and other possessions to survive after his initial efforts to sign up for the dole were rejected.

Work and Income later refused to pay him the $20 needed for transport and instead told him to walk two hours each way to a potential job, he said.

"The cultural assumption that people don't want to work and are bludgers is the primary problem."

Freedom also attacks Immigration New Zealand in The Peter Freedom Immigration (Part 2 of 5) video.

He emigrated to New Zealand with his family as a baby, but said he and his brothers were later forced to reapply as new migrants after leaving the country following his parents' divorce.

"I changed my name to Freedom as a promise to myself, that if any authority or institution ever trespassed on my rights again...I would do whatever it takes to reveal them for what they really are".

Ms Bennett has dismissed Freedom - who has called for her resignation - as having a "grandiose view of defrauding and ripping off hard-working taxpayers".

She said it was the National Government's Future Focus reforms - which required all who had been on the dole for a year to reapply - which cut Freedom's payments.

"I suggest he gets a job and works for a living and I would welcome him back to New Zealand so he can pay off his debt."

Janet Grossman, head of Work and Income, said New Zealanders were unlikely to listen to Freedom given his "dishonest and deceitful attitude".

"They're likely to see this post as another stunt by a desperate man to gain attention, notoriety and publicity."