Kerre Woodham: Caring for the needy

If the subject matter of Don Brash's speech at Orewa was predictable, so too was the reaction. New Zealand's welfare bill of $5 billion is a whopping amount and it would be great to reduce it.

At the same time, welfare recipients already feel lower than a snake's underpants for living on government handouts and sweeping statements from Dr Brash about how those on welfare don't know the meaning of hard work and self-sacrifice will only serve to increase public resentment.

I'm sure we've all heard stories of people who have gained a Bachelor of Welfare Dependency - beginning with the dole, moving through to the DPB, then graduating with an invalid's benefit.

But do you actually know any of them? I don't.

Like anyone, I resent being taken for a ride. My blood boils when I hear of slappers producing a brood of five different kids to five different dads while camping on the benefit. And fit and healthy young men who would rather sit on the dole than work as labourers, infuriate me too.

But they're not the only ones ripping off the system.

Tax avoidance at the highest level is a form of ripping off your average hardworking battler as well. But white collar bludgers have a way lower profile than their counterparts on welfare.

Dr Brash asked why Kiwi families battling to get ahead should support those who were not making a similar effort. Well, because that's what the welfare system is there to do. Our welfare system, according to the 1972 Royal Commission on Social Security, is supposed to ensure that, within limitations which may be imposed by physical or other disabilities, everyone is able to enjoy a standard of living much like that of the rest of the community, and thus is able to feel a sense of participation in and belonging to the community.

People who feel they have a stake in the community are unlikely to commit anti-social crimes and are more likely to strive to return to the fold where possible. It was also a time when many government departments served as quasi-work for the dole schemes. People who had minimal skills were still able to get up in the morning and go to work, earn a wage and be part of a wider community of employees. Once the reforms took place, government departments became lean, mean privatised production machines and there was no place for the lowest level of worker. They were unproductive so they had to go. And go they went - on to a benefit.

Of course there are individuals who have fried their brains on P and will now be on sickness benefits for the rest of their miserable lives. And there are those who would rather go surfing, smoke dope and draw the dole than clean toilets for $9 an hour. Where benefit fraudsters are uncovered, by all means punish them harshly.

But Dr Brash is wrong to blame the increase in beneficiaries on a decline in morals and standards. While the lazy have always been among us, so too have the needy. There has never been a perfect way of looking after the flotsam and jetsam of humanity - we just have to do the best we can.