Rodney Hide Welcomes Whanau Ora Approach To Ending Welfare Dependency

ACT Leader Rodney Hide welcomed the release today of the Whanau Ora Taskforce Report, policy today, noting that “in many respects it is similar to ACT’s ‘families at risk’ policy, which was part of our 20 point plan at the 2008 election.

"The key points of that plan are found in the Whanau Ora report: recognition that the present system is widely fragmented, with health, education, police and social welfare funding all pouring money into the same families, with no coordination of the spending, and with services often duplicated. The role of a Whanau Ora provider – or in ACT’s policy, a mentor is to focus and coordinate these various streams of support to families at risk," Mr Hide said.

"More fundamentally, we must change the incentives faced by individuals and families. The ACT Party supports recent moves by the government to impose some obligations in parallel with the existing benefit entitlements. The incentive issues in welfare support, together with the appalling incentives that are created through high marginal tax rates from the Working for Families policy, are fundamental to changing the cycle of welfare dependency.

"While the intentions of this Whanau Ora programme are laudable, it is crucial that this programme is established with very strong accountability mechanisms. This programme requires high degrees of transparency through contracts between families and providers so that we can assess the success of this scheme.

"Ultimately we want to empower people to help themselves, and we support Tariana Turia in that aim," Mr Hide said.

ENDS

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