The government wants 50,000 fewer people on the benefit by 2030. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Quin Tauetau
The Green Party is accusing the government of knowingly driving more people to foodbanks by tightening access to the Jobseeker benefit.
The coalition will end Jobseeker payments to 18 and 19-year-olds whose parents earn more than $65,000 from next November.
Its rationale is that "going on welfare when you're young is a trap" and could negatively impact a teenager's long-term outcomes.
The government wants 50,000 fewer people on the Jobseeker Benefit by 2030 but has denied its policy is being implemented to help meet that target.
A regulatory impact statement (RIS) shows officials presented the government with five options for reducing the number of young people on a Jobseeker benefit.
They included retaining the status quo, providing more education and training, introducing a parental income test, introducing a parental support gap test or introducing both a parental income test and parental support gap test.
The Ministry of Social Development's preferred option was more education and training services for young people, including addressing numeracy and literacy barriers to employment, education and training.
Minister Louise Upston's preferred option was to introduce the two parental tests. This policy was supposed to take effect in July 2027 but has been brought forward to November 2026.
Minister Louise Upston. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
The RIS states Upston's preferred policy would lead to an increase in demand for assistance provided by community service providers or other non-governmental organisations, like foodbanks.
'Throwing young people towards food banks'
The Green Party's social development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March asked Upston if her Ministry's advice was correct in Question Time on Thursday.
Upston: "Yes, and the Ministry of Social Development was also right, as the Prime Minister was, saying that we don't want to see young people trapped on welfare. We don't want them to see future decades of their lives stuck on welfare. We have higher expectations of them."
Menéndez March: "So if her answer to the previous question was yes, why did she go ahead with a policy that would result in more people needing income support and greater demand for foodbanks?"
Upston: "Because, as I've said multiple times in this House, we believe 18- and 19-year-olds should be starting on the path that gives them the greatest opportunities for the rest of their lives. That means being in education, being in training, or being in a job."
Speaking on Friday, Menéndez March said the Minister's answer showed the government's policy was about meeting its Jobseeker benefit target, not supporting young people into jobs.
The Green Party's social development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March. (File photo) Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
"The government has admitted that their policy will lead to more people requiring assistance from food banks and it's pretty damning to see a Minister knowingly pushing ahead with a policy that will lead to more people needing foodbanks just to survive.
"It shows that the Minister never intended to actually support young people into employment and instead it willingly throwing young people towards food banks at a time that we now there are simply not enough jobs available out there for young people who are finding themselves unemployed and out of education."
Menéndez March said the policy would cause long term harm to 4300 young people estimated to become ineligible for support in the 2027/28 financial year.
"We know that poverty compounds and when we have young people needing to go to food banks to make ends meet, we are setting up young people for a life of debt, of hardship, which in and of itself is counter intuitive to setting them up to a path of employment and stability."
Upston said while the government wanted 50,000 fewer people on the benefit by 2030, that was "not the intention"
The government wants 50,000 fewer people on the Jobseeker Benefit by 2030, but Upston has said "it's not the intention" of the policy to help meet that target.
The minister said she completely rejected the assertion the policy was about meeting the government's reduction target.
"The 18-19-year-old policy was a significant Budget announcement and our position remains very clear - young people should be in work, in education or in training.
"Young people should first be supported by their parents and we don't believe a life on welfare is as good as it gets."
On policy advice and settings, Upston said officials regularly provided free and frank advice to her.
"That's their role," she said. "Our government is working hard to grow the economy, which helps to support the conditions for jobs to be created.
"We know jobs are coming - Treasury estimated 240,000 extra jobs will be created over the next four years."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
