Bennett: No compulsory contraception for now

Paula Bennett says she's a fan of contraception for mothers on the benefit but that the Government won't make it compulsory. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is "a big fan" of long acting contraception for solo mums but says her Government is "not quite" at the stage of making it compulsory.

Answering questions about welfare policy on TVNZ's Q+A programme, Ms Bennett said: "If you're 16 and 17 years old and you have a baby, there's a 45 per cent chance that you're going to have another one while you're on the benefit."

She said she was "a big fan" of long-acting reversible contraception for such young mothers but National would not make it compulsory.

"I don't think we're quite at compulsory sort of stages."

Contraception was already available for free, and "I just think we can make it more accessible," Ms Bennett said, "particularly for those young women that want to have better choices with their lives".

The Greens and Sue Bradford claimed the Welfare Working Group was considering recommending making receipt of benefits conditional on young mothers taking long acting reversible contraception but it only recommended making them more readily available as part of a suit of measures to reduce teen pregnancies.

Prime Minister John Key last week said his Government was likely to pick up at least some of the group's recommendations and campaign on them at the next election.

Ms Bennett also indicated the Government was considering making young mothers on the domestic purposes benefit seek paid employment when their youngest child turned one.