KEY POINTS:
National has barged into traditional Labour territory with a support plan for people who lose their jobs which uses Labour's mechanisms and is targeted away from high-income earners.
Leader John Key yesterday revealed a package to help those made redundant that builds on existing Working For Families and accommodation supplement assistance.
It comes a day after Labour issued its own plan, giving people from two-income homes the equivalent of the dole for up to 16 weeks, regardless of their partner's income.
National's move raises the stakes just a week out from the election because it brazenly appeals to people who might usually support Labour.
The plans to support redundant workers are fundamentally different.
National's offer zeroes in on people who are eligible - or will become eligible when they lose their job - for Working For Families or accommodation support.
Labour's is targeted across the board at homes with two incomes - including higher income earners or people who have a spouse who is still earning a good wage.
Mr Key yesterday said National was targeting people in real need, and he could not understand why Labour had not done so.
"I don't think, for example, that it's a good idea for the Government to make generous payments to a person who has a partner earning more than $100,000, who has no children, and who is already wealthy compared to most New Zealanders," he said.
Prime Minister Helen Clark responded by saying Mr Key's package would leave families who relied on two incomes out in the cold by targeting those who would already get help under other social welfare packages. She said Mr Key had not taken account of assistance already on offer.
Labour's package was designed at helping double-income families who got no such assistance but would suddenly have to adjust to paying for mortgages, hire-purchases and children out of one income. She disagreed that Mr Key was trying to be a "compassionate conservative".
"There's no such thing as compassionate conservatism. We've got no history of it in New Zealand."
Mr Key brushed off suggestions that he was a money-market man who had become a socialist.
"No. It's the money-market man with a heart," he said.
"We're simply acknowledging that if the world is right, and the economic crisis that we're seeing unfold is the worst since 1930, that I think calls for extraordinary measures - and these are those."
The Green Party and unions have praised National's plan and called for the plans to be combined.
National Distribution Union national secretary Laila Harre said under Labour's plan, many families would lose the $60 a week Working For Families gave in in-work tax credits - a large chunk of the $153 weekly 'allowance' the redundancy plan provides for.
While National's policy left the in-work benefit intact for up to 16 weeks, it gave nothing to those who could not get a benefit because of their partner's income.
Mr Key also highlighted the problem in Labour's scheme, saying its own addressed the 'double whammy' of people losing their job as well as the in-work tax credit under Working For Families.
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said while some would lose the in-work credit, in most cases overall Working For Families help would increase as a family's income shrunk.
They would become eligible for more money under other parts of the policy such as the family support tax credit, which did not depend on parents being in work.
What the parties offer:
Each party's redundancy package is on top of current unemployment benefit, Working For Families and other social welfare help people may be eligible for.
National:
* Those eligible for Working For Families get the equivalent of the in-work tax credit (up to $60 a week for those with up to three children, plus $15 for each additional child).
* $100 increase to the maximum accommodation supplement available for lower income earners.
* Available for up to 16 weeks for those who have worked for same employer for at least six months.
* Initially in place for two years and then reviewed.
* Estimated cost of $42 million, depending on extent of job losses (based on 5 per cent unemployment prediction).
Labour:
* 'Job search allowance' for those whose partner's income is too high for them to qualify for the dole.
* Allowance is equivalent to the unemployment benefit and available for up to 13 weeks for those who have been in workforce for at least five years.
* Not income tested against spouse's income, but will abate if the redundant person gets income of more than $80 per week from another source (such as rental property or interest).
* No extra help in new package for solo parents or single people, who are likely to qualify for the unemployment benefit. \
* Policy will become permanent feature.
* Estimated cost is $50 million, depending on extent of job losses.
