In a written submission Caritas says the speed of consideration was unreasonable and unrealistic. Only 11 working days were provided between the first reading of the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill on 27 March and the close of submissions on 13 April. Now hearing dates for the Social Services Select Committee considering the Bill are being condensed to only two days in Wellington this week.

Caritas Director Julianne Hickey says that despite the Bill being introduced shortly after the consultation period on the Government's Green Paper for Vulnerable Children, there is no coherence or integration of government social policy. "There is insufficient time to consult and consider how people and communities, particularly the most vulnerable members of our society, may be impacted by this legislation," she says.

The Wellington Archdiocesan Catholic Commission for Justice, Peace and Development Commission has expressed concern about the government's welfare reform package with a particular focus on 3 areas:

1. Legislation and social policy that devalues the role of parents as care providers

2. The narrow focus on "work" as "paid employment"

3. Youth training being taken out of the education system and placed in the hands of private providers.

Mrs Homan said the Commission was deeply concerned that at a time when current tax policy has given more money to the better off in our society, those most economically and socially vulnerable are being ever more controlled. "The possibility of gainful employment and the importance of work are central concerns of Catholic Social Teaching but so is the safeguarding of the family unit."

The bill is designed to reduce the number of young people on welfare benefits and toughen up work tests for sole parents .

It also establishes a new work test obligation for women on the widow's benefit or on the woman alone benefit.

Other laws will be changed to allow Government departments to track young people at risk of becoming dependent on welfare, said Social Development Minister, Paula Bennett.

Source

• Voxy.co.nz
• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: Liberation.typepad.com

"The self-styled "quiet man", the secretary of state for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, is proving himself a passionate man when it comes to tackling poverty in our communities.

..."People like me, following Harvard professor Robert Putnam and David Campbell's recent study of the contribution that faith communities make to societies, American Grace, are wondering why there hasn't been more dialogue with a faith sector, which reaches the most disadvantaged in every community in a way few networks can. Having said that, the secretary of state's attention is at least focused on the right area.

"What's needed now however is not more thinktank, top-down work on what we should do for "the poor", but rather a sea change in our approach to how citizens engage in their own redemption.

"... My experience of living alongside the disadvantaged in Blackburn, Cape Town and London's Burnt Oak teaches me that what people want to contribute most is their creativity.

"This month a young American, Rye Barcott, has been in London to launch his already well-received non-fiction title, It Happened on the Way to War. ... "Barcott made one strategic intervention of $26 - given to a nurse to set up a vegetable-selling business - that within a year was funding a small clinic, now a leading health-care facility.

"More crucially what he gave was time. Time to listen to citizens' ideas, time to help them work out for themselves how to unlock the support they needed.

"At one end of the parish I serve there's a part of Burnt Oak with very high levels of deprivation, but with a creativity and energy that its citizens want to be harnessed.

"They deserve the "participatory development" found in Kibera. Duncan Smith is right, though not in the way he supposes. It's not all about money. No, it's about listening and giving people the gift that costs the most: time."

Full Article: The Guardian