Former welfare minister defends rise in beneficiaries at National toughens rules
Morning Report
English - February 19, 2024 19:12 - 4 minutes - 4.31 MB - ★★★★ - 11 ratingsNews Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
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Not only is the government apparently determined to crack down on those who break the welfare rules, it also wants people to know that the problem it's addressing is of the former Labour government's making.
It argues that more than 60,000 welfare sanctions were applied to beneficiaries in National's last year in office, but six years later, under Labour, that number had nosedived to 25,000.
That was despite the number of people on benefits increasing during the same period.
The previous welfare minister, Carmel Sepuloni, spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.