3. SUE BRADFORD (Green) to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: How does the Government ensure that all unemployed people are treated equitably and without prejudice by different Work and Income offices?
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment): This Government does expect people to be treated equally and without prejudice. However, each year, Work and Income's 142 offices help 1.1 million New Zealanders, conduct about 1.5 million interviews, and receive over 5.5 million phone calls. So, unfortunately, they do occasionally get it wrong. When they do, I expect it to be fixed.
Sue Bradford: Why were some of a group of unemployed Burmese people who were rounded up and sent to do seasonal work in Napier given a 13-week stand-down period when they walked off the job because of appalling pay and conditions, when others in the same group were not given a stand-down?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: I have been advised that one out of 27 of that group was given a stand-down period incorrectly. That has been fixed.
Carmel Sepuloni: How does the Minister expect her ministry to cope with the now forecasted further 60,000 jobless people by next year, given that her ministry's chief executive officer said, in the financial review of the Ministry for Social Development and Employment, "We can deal with up to 60,000 people on the unemployment benefit at this stage, with our current level of resourcing.", or is her plan to cross her fingers, hope for the best, and turn a blind eye to reality, like the Prime Minister, who has said he thinks the 60,000 figure looks too high?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: Work and Income can certainly deal with the number of unemployed going up to 60,000. In fact, what is happening at the moment is that we have moved another 100 people on to the front line to deal with people on the unemployment benefit. I am confident that of the people walking into a Work and Income office, a high percentage of them are walking out with work, and that we are turning those people round. But we are well-equipped for some of the harder times ahead.
Sue Bradford: Does the Minister think it is acceptable that this group of unemployed Burmese workers were obliged to accept being put up in a local hall and having to pay around $180 a week each for the privilege, in some cases being left with only $20 a week to live on; if not, will she do anything she can to ensure that Work and Income supplies labour only when proper wages and conditions are on offer?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: It is a good question. In my understanding, what happened was that an employer took these workers on and Work and Income worked in good faith with it, but when the workers arrived at work, their conditions had changed, so Work and Income took back the workers. There was one who accidentally had a stand-down period, but the others were actually put back on to a benefit straight away. We do not think it is acceptable that people be put in halls for accommodation, and we will not be accepting that sort of behaviour from employers at all.
Sue Bradford: Why in that situation, then, did Work and Income make promises of transitional support for those workers in that difficult situation and not follow through with that extra support when the workers turned up in Napier?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: It is my understanding that transitional support is individual, so the department did not roll it out automatically, equally, for all 27 people. People have different needs for clothing, shoes, and other things to help them in those jobs. We fronted up with Work and Income to give the workers that help. They were back at Work and Income within 2 weeks. That is my understanding, but I am happy to look into that particular case further and to make sure that that information is correct.
Sue Bradford: What steps will the Minister take to ensure that the kind of systemic racism that appeared to occur in this incident—whereby only Burmese people were rounded up, sent to the north in this way, and not offered helped with interpreters once they got into trouble with the department—does not arise again through her offices?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: I absolutely do not think there was any racism going on in my department at all. I categorically say that that is not what happened. I stand up quite proudly and say that I think the staff in that department work for all New Zealanders, refugees, and anyone they can help, and that they take great pride in that work.
- Read Sue Bradford's media release on this issue.
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