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Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger has suggested a novel way to get "dysfunctional" families to look after their children - pay them up to $5000 a year if their children do well.
The former National Party leader, who was prime minister for seven years in the 1990s, told a social policy conference in Wellington this week that New Zealand should look at a scheme New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched last week.
It pays beneficiaries US$25 ($35) if their children have perfect school attendance, US$50 ($69) if they keep a doctor's appointment, $300 ($415) if their children score highly in state tests and more cash if the adults get fulltime work or training. Families can earn up to US$5000 ($6900) a year.
The mayor's office will select 2500 families in poor neighbourhoods for a two-year trial of the scheme, while 2500 similar families will be monitored as controls.
Mr Bolger said a similar scheme had been running successfully in Mexico City for a decade. He offered it as a possibility for New Zealand, with the alternative of penalising parents who did not meet certain requirements.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said the Government's plan for 20 free hours a week of preschool education for 3- and 4-year-olds was "one of the most significant extensions to the education system since the introduction of free secondary education in the 1930s".
But Mr Bolger said that, just as the Great Depression required a rethink of social policy in the 1930s, so "an equally radical rethink is needed if we are to meet the problems that today's world faces".
