It's important to remember benefit fraud is not just a Wanganui issue, or even just a national issue. It happens worldwide.
In terms of this country, it's easy to see how it comes about - right now, jobs are tough to come by, and many of the jobs which are available hardly pay enough to make a meaningful difference for a family trying to scrape by.
If someone happens to have a friend on a benefit who is foolish enough not only to break the law but to then brag about it, taking the same gamble might seem an attractive risk.
But also worth considering are the words of Judge Russell Callander at Kiddie's sentencing.
The judge noted that, at the start of his long career on the bench, there were no benefits or legal aid, and people who stole off the state went to prison. He noted that "people didn't cheat or steal, like they do today".
Benefit fraud is a huge problem but shouldn't be viewed in isolation.
In reality, it's an unwanted outcome from another larger set of problems, largely the economic and social conditions that allow deprivation to flourish and act as an incentive for fraud like the one committed by Kiddie.
Perhaps also, the increased monetary support identified by Judge Callander has contributed to a change in culture, whereby some people are now more inclined to break the rules, in the process disregarding the moral code adhered to by generations before them.
Nevertheless, none of that absolves people like Kiddie from the personal responsibility inherent on all of us to not break the laws we live by, and to not rip off the rest of the country.
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