Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Ricardo Menéndez March: Green Party Social Development Spokesperson on National's plan to drug-test beneficiaries

Transcript

Ricardo Menéndez March: Green Party Social Development Spokesperson on National's plan to drug-test beneficiaries · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So obviously the Greens are not happy with National's benefit
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: policy and the plan is to randomly drug test those
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: on the dole. A first failed test will be recorded.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: A second failed test will trigger a clinical alcohol and
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: drug assessment. And so actually if you need to get
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: drug and addiction support services in order to be work ready,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: that's another way in which we're preparing you for that opportunity.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: And the current government, also if they become the next government,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: want to start slashing benefits for those who have been
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: on it for two out of the last three years.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Ricardo Menendez-March is the social development spokesperson for the Greens
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: and joins me now. Good morning to you, Ricardo.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: So what's so wrong about this? Use drugs at work,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: get fired.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, Winston even called it borderland fascist. But the
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: issue with this is that drug testing beneficiaries does not
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: create jobs. The reason why unemployment is high is not
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: because beneficiaries may or may not be using substances, right?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: The only thing that this will create is jobs in
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: the drug testing industry. It will not address the unemployment
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: crisis that we have right now. And if a beneficiary
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: has issues with substance abuse, what they need is rehabilitation support,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: not to be left out on the street.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: I can agree with all of that, but if they
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: also want to be given some money, they also have,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: it's not an entitlement, they have to actually do something
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: for it. And if the rule is don't take drugs,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: why not?
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Most beneficiaries are already looking for work. Drug testing beneficiaries
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: randomly will not actually address any of these fundamental issues.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: It will actually cost the taxpayer money. These drug test
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: equipments are expensive. And again, this just feels like punching
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: down desperate tactics by the National Party. Even New Zealand
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: First knows that this is actually nonsense because it will
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: not actually create jobs. I think a party that wants
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: to do such a thing needs to actually lay out
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: a plan where they will create enough jobs for people
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: out there.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Rather than not getting enough jobs and then putting this
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: kind of policy in place. It's about paying a benefit
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: so you can actually live while you do not have work,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: and it's not about creating work, it's not about creating jobs,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: but they're also saying that if you're going to get
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: some money, that there is a sort of an obligation.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: What do you think about the fact that they would
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: like to slash the benefits for those who have been
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: on benefits for two out of the last three years?
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: We have an issue with that because some people who
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: have things like cancer, who have ill mental health and
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: are on job-seeker medical leave, We'll end up having that
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: time counted towards the two years. Even Louis Substance admitted
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: that there will be people with cancer who are affected
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: by this policy. And we don't think that that is fair.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: People who are sick, injured or disabled actually deserve support,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: not to actually have a timer on their heads.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Or their benefits could be slashed.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Okay. Should new permanent residents be entitled to JobSeeker?
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: The issue with cutting that support for permanent residents is
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: that if they find themselves unemployed, for example, through no
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: fault of their own, you're actually condemning them to poverty.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: People actually are being made redundant right now through the
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: use of, for example, artificial intelligence. People are losing jobs
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: through automation. Having a sector of the population that cannot
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: access welfare only makes us poorer because those people end
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: up having to get into debt. They will end up
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: needing support elsewhere in the system. So it actually, again,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: is just populist politics that do not improve outcomes.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: All right, Ricardo, I thank you for your time today.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Ricardo Menendez-Marge.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: to News Talk ZB from 5 a.m.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.