> download the November 2012 edition of the Public Sphere newsletter (PDF, 189KB)
In response to a question from the Greens co-leader Metiria Turei in Parliament, the Prime Minister labelled the proposal for a universal child payment ‘a dopey idea’.
The basis of the argument against such payment was because it ‘would give the rich even more for their kids’. The child payment is one of many suggestions in the August 2012 report from the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group on Solutions for Child Poverty, and would be for children under six years of age.
The comments being made against universal payments for children stands in sharp contrast to New Zealand’s taxpayer funded superannuation scheme, a universal payment that’s given regardless of income. NZ Super costs taxpayers $10 billion a year, and is set to rise by around $500 million each year for the next decade or so.
The impact which the New Zealand Superannuation scheme has had on reducing poverty amongst older New Zealanders is unequivocal and this scheme accounts for New Zealand having one of the lowest poverty rates for the elderly in the OECD.
There is, however, clear evidence that not everyone receiving the New Zealand Superannuation benefit actually needs it, and over 100,000 people receiving this benefit are still working.
Suggesting that the New Zealand Superannuation payment is a benefit and pointing out that people are working and being paid a benefit usually draws the ire of older people who seem to carry either a sense of entitlement or a mistaken belief that by paying taxes they have contributed to the fund which is now paying for their retirement incomes.
By Alan Johnson- Senior Policy Advisor