The new Welfare Dawn Raids
If you were wondering how the Government intended to fill all those private prisons with 40 hour per week work gangs, fret no more. Here come the latest bennie bashing dog whistles to happily fill SERCOs new private prisons, this time it's a year inside prison for being in a relationship with a beneficiary who has taken money 'fraudulently'.
What does that actually mean? There are a complex set of rules that claim if a boyfriend or girlfriend spends a certain amount of nights at the same house then those on welfare suddenly lose their status and get reclassified as a couple. That in turn cuts down what they can claim on welfare and the officials get to claim the 'couple' are defrauding them and they either cough up $5000 plus split repayments or it's a year in prison.
What these changes mean is that we will start seeing a new age of welfare dawn raids with officials wanting to see who is sleeping where so that they can be reclassified and of course get punished.
So the question of course is when will we be arresting rich housewives who know their banker husbands are tax avoiding? Why are we only arresting the partners of beneficiaries? Welfare fraud costs us what, $20million per year where as tax avoidance is a minimum of $140million per year.
When Bill English double dipped his housing allowance, we should be calling for his wife Mary English to be arrested?
Of course not. This isn't policy that cracks down on the problem, this is policy that mauls the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us while demonizing them so that the outright injustice of their treatment compared to the wealthy housewives of tax avoiders is utterly ignored.
What an ugly little country we are becoming.
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posted by Bomber @ 7:47 am
7 comments
7 Comments:
Or WINZ could just secretly install cameras in the bedrooms of beneficiaries they “suspect” using the draconian surveillance laws National passed. Some footage might satisfy their perverted desires as well with the whole bennie fetish thing going.
That Herald story claims this policy will affect about 1,000 beneficiaries. So it looks like they want to cut 1,000 more beneficiaries, probably through harassing them at home, sending some bureaucratic perverts from the MSD on dawn raids.
Then it looks like they’re hoping to cut or degrade a further 700 a year: “There were expected to be 700 cases of debt splitting a year once the legislation had been passed.”
This one is good as well: “The Ministry of Social Development would be given extended powers to seize partners' assets in order to recover costs.” – Way to make the poor poorer, all part of National’s brighter future, eh?
With this dark age of a future we’re heading into, make no mistake, the welfare system is dead. We’re just witnessing its death throes.
It’s already known that those who are convicted of tax evasion receive lighter sentences compared to those of benefit fraud – but what do you expect with the crook at the top coming under fire for his sleazy Sky City deal – just kick society’s poorest around to divert heat, must make them feel really big, eh?
What’s next National, extending Gareth Morgan’s policies on cats to beneficiaries?
But Bomber, just think of all the jobs will be "created" by this policy. Not only will there be numerous additional prison guard jobs (which are 100% pure productivity), but there will necessarily be a brand new vacancy from the job that was previously filled by dirty Bennie's partner!. Further, someone in prison doesn't count as unemployed, especially if you put them into forced labour camps! It seems like a win-win-win (3 wins!) plan to me - we all want more jobs, right? This Government is really showing that they can think outside the box!
Correct as usual, its easier to pick on the uneducated down trodden and legally ignorant than it is to actually make a policy that works.
They don't have trust accounts or spin doctors holding them up.
It sounds completely unworkable. I'm afraid it will only be a few not-very-bright people who will get caught up in this nasty legislation.
Why not expect partners of white collar criminals to do the same? They have better lawyers.
And another thing, a "couple" can be any two people: male, female, straight, LGBT. Where does "friend" stop and "couple" begin? Not necessarily in the bedroom, that's too simplistic.
How much of the normal human activity of sharing with a friend will a beneficiary enjoy before they get reclassified as a couple? The more you think about it, the more Orwellian it gets.
'SIR' , and I repeat , 'SIR' Michael Fay . Net worth around 720 MILLION ! I repeat around SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILLION NEW ZEALAND DOLLARS .
SIR Michael Fay owns an Island in Mercury Bay and rents out two flash cribs there for $20,000.00 a night each . He gets there by being flown in his very own helicopter .
[ Speaking generically ]
Do you know how SIR Micky made his money ? You don't ? Why not ?
Better trot along and find out then .
Fancy , mincing , little round-vowels Sir Micky also lived for a time in Switzerland . Why ? You don't know ? Better trot along and find out then had you not my son ?
When Animals of The State kick YOUR fucking door in and rip your lover out of your arms then put him or her in prison because he or she loves you despite the risk , where are you going to turn ?
Bomber . When are you going to go down that road ? The road to perdition to find those who destroyed our culture and sold our country and now conspire to turn us onto ourselves ?
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