Ministry of Social Development (New Zealand)

• Less talked about has been the party’s promise to index benefits to inflation to keep pace with the cost of living.
• In any case, this alone it is unlikely to break the cycle of poverty many find themselves in.
• With rising costs, the situation is only getting worse for many of the 351,756 New Zealanders accessing one of the main benefits.

Our whittled down welfare state

• The main benefits (such as jobseeker, sole parent and supported living payment) pay a fixed weekly amount.
• The jobseeker benefit rate is set at NZ$337.74 and sole parents receive $472.79 a week.
• The third level of support is one-off discretionary payments for specific essential needs.

Benefits have been too low for too long

• But Ruth Richardson’s “mother of all budgets” in 1991 slashed benefits.
• Rates never recovered and today’s benefits are not enough to live on.
• The main benefits plus supplementary allowances did not meet the cost of the bare essentials, let alone minimal participation.

How ‘advances’ create debt traps

• But in practice, Work and Income virtually never makes this type of grant for anything except food and some other specific items, such as some health travel costs or emergency dental treatment.
• First, people on benefits are racking up thousands of dollars worth of debts to cover their essential needs.
• And the Social Security Act 2018 doesn’t allow the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to waive debts.

Contradictory policies

• MSD policy says repayments should not add up to more than $40 a week, but that is often ignored.
• On the one hand the law says a payment should be made if not making it would cause serious hardship.
• People receiving benefits and their case managers face the choice between more debt and higher repayments, or failing to meet an essential need.

Ways to start easing the burden

• A great deal could be achieved by just changing the policies and practices followed by Work and Income.
• These could and should be used when someone has an essential need, particularly when they already have significant debt.
• When it comes to changing the law, the best solution would be to make weekly benefit rates adequate to live on.

• DOHA, Qatar, Dec. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tickets have gone on sale for the second edition of Qatar Foundation's D'reesha Performing Arts Festival, which taking place during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 from 11-17 December is set to celebrate Qatar's rich culture, heritage, and traditions.
• The festival will also have cultural performances from Qatar and other nations such as Morocco, Senegal, Turkey, and Greece.
• STEM shows and workshops will also take place during the festival as part of D'reesha of Invention, which is being sponsored by ConocoPhillips Qatar, showcasing scientists, scholars, and researchers from the Arab world.
• The D'reesha Performing Arts Festival is being held in collaboration with principal partners ConocoPhillips Qatar and the Social & Sport Contribution Fund.

• PANAMA CITY, Panama, Sept. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Scientologists of Panama have a great deal to celebrate.
• Scientology is recognized in Panama as a religion that works for the benefit of the community.
• And the Church of Scientology Mission of Panama is now free to provide its full range of religious services to its parishioners and the community.
• The Church of Scientology Mission of Panama received religious recognition in 2019 and held its grand opening in October that year.