Paula Bennett

lemongirl wrote: I still can't believe that people think it's ok that private information is released.

They key here is that it isn't "private" information, it is "public" information. If you receive money from the govt the public has a right to know about it. It is my money as a taxpayer, it isn't private income.

Ah Bizzy, I need not say more as you have clearly articulated exactly what I wanted to say..

lemongirl there is information that should be kept private, but if you collect a standard benifit on tax payers money (my money) then privacy is not an issue. It has nothing to do with health care, so no need to make it into something it is not.

You don't agree with it & it sounds like this hits close to home for you.

lemongirl wrote: Single parents have added expenses like childcare which single don't have. They will find it harder to keep a part-time job while studying due to childcare costs and responsiblities.

Actually I disagree...how are the childcare expenses different? They are better as the less you earn the bigger subsidy you get. Only subsidy we got was the 20 free hours! had to pay for the rest. Granted rates have improved, but most of the time we were a few dollars over the top bracket for our region. There are plenty of Mums out there with kids & a household to run that do fit the study in as well as jobs.

lemongirl wrote: Not just investing in them but also in their children. Kids whose parents and educated and working are actually far less likely to end up in prison and have better educational outcomes than those who stay on the benefit.

Totally agree with you & the need to break that cycle, but most Mum's that do step up, don't have the kids that need to be broken from that cycle IMO.

lemongirl wrote: Also remember that this is the same allowance that Paula Bennett used when she was coming off the DPB to get further qualifications and a better job for herself.

No it wasn't...things have changed hugely over the last 15 years & she would have also had to pay for her education & our student loan system sucked back then.

Lemongirl, I'm not picking on you by quoting what you said, you just put the most clearly the points I disagreed with.

I also found it relatively simple to work out what each Mum was getting from online forms.

I can't see why they can't get a student loan. I'm going to need to get one when I want to complete the rest of my study. We earn as much as they do. I will need to find childcare & organise school pickups etc & hope like hell classes don't coincide with that or simply I'll do it via extramural. Then study while bub is asleep or at night when both kids are in bed. Certainly not worth my while to go back to work for the few hours I can & pay childcare & receive diddly squat in my pay packet for me.

Also for the Invercargill Mum ...I thought that SIT was free?

Also...can I have a flash laptop like the other Mum had????

If you haven't guess..support what she's done, it they hadn't put it out there first then I wouldn't.

As a person on the DPB, I don't want people knowing how much I get each week. Granted it isn't much and I just have enough to survive each week, but it is quite a personal thing!

To the people that harp on about 'tax payers money' and you want to know where it's going, well, the benefit is taxed too and before I was on a benefit I paid tax. Just because you pay tax, doesn't make you a superior being. How does knowing how much a person gets on the DPB affect your personal life?   It doesn't. Unless you would like to come around and tell me how to spend my money, or take money off me and keep it for yourself because you think you're hard done by because you pay your taxes. Because sometimes I feel like some people would like to (generalisation, nobody in here).

Just because it's government money doesn't mean it becomes your personal business or entitle you to judge somebody.     Sure, you can probably find out the average amount a person on the benefit gets, just as you could probably find out on average how much a doctor/teacher/lawyer gets, but at the end of the day, when that money is put into my bank account I feel it is my PRIVATE business, not anybody elses.



Edited by neeandsam

I think it's absolutely horrific that their personal incomes were publicly released by a government minister of all people - she acted completely unprofessionally. I agree with NeeandSam, just because someone is on a benefit it doesn't remove their legal right to privacy.

Edited by Febgirl

Funny how it is okay to break the law when its to embarrass a couple of 'whining, freeloading beneficiaries'

She should have asked the women to table their budgets before saying anything else.

The women who was receiving $715 per week had 2 very sick kids so I bet alot of her DPB went on medical costs.

In saying that though, they are receiving quite abit of money, and should have to budget in study just like everyone else.

Edited by _kellie_

I haven't read all the replies but I think two things about it.

Firstly she should not have disclosed what they get, it's not fair on them, it's an invasion of their privacy and quite frankly is just down right wrong.

Secondly, I do actually think that single mums should have to get student loans to cover study and pay it back. I'm studying but I get nothing cos my husband is loaded (which quite frankly is news to me and him) so I've been forced to take out a loan cos we cant' pay for it up front, cos we aren't actually loaded!.
People who take time out of the workforce to raise children, whether male, female, single or married in most cases benefit from either training or upskilling to return to the workforce and I don't see why a single mum should get any more help than the rest of us, or we should all get that kind of assistance regardless or what our partners earn.

And one last thing, I don't blame the women for claiming what they claim, if I could get assistance and incentives I would and I expect so would mostly everyone else.

Erm I had the disability allowance for Spencer and it wasn't a fortune, it was $42 a week, I take him to two different private doctors and have to pay for specialised formula and other foods, it didn't even cover the cost of that and if he had something worse and needed asthma pumps or epi pens or insulin etc then it wouldn't even come close to covering the cost of it. In actual face the disability allowance is a joke for those parents with a child who is seriously disabled.

I think how much they get is beside the point.

Public money should equal public knowledge.

Edited to add: I think they are both doing quite well financially to be honest! They are given a lot more than some people I know earn, who work 40 hour weeks and not eligable to assistance for training or anything else for that matter.



Edited by Parki

Parki wrote: Public money should equal public knowledge.

I don't believe individual benefits received counts as 'public money' in this context. Money spent on state services, public infrastructure, elected officials salaries, yes. Put it this way, do you also agree that you should have a right to know exactly how much your child's teacher is earning, or your local police officer - that would also be 'public money' under this definition.