LINDSAY MITCHELL: National's problem epitomised

Why did National pick two former welfare-dependent sole mothers to be Ministers of Social Development?

Because National is woke. They buy into the leftist public service fetish for 'lived experience'.

New Zealand's unique welfare problem isn't disability or unemployment. Other developed nations can match us.

It is the high rate of sole parenthood that sets us apart. Majorly driven by Maori. The worst child abuse, neglect, deprivation, transience, non-preparedness for school, and later, absenteeism comes from fatherless families. These children spill through to non-achievement, gang membership, criminality and lives lost to prison and non-rehabilitation.

Yes, I paint the worst scenario and plenty of children survive. But compared to children from working, two parent families, their odds of success are heavily reduced.

Minister for Social Development from 2008, Paula Bennett drove through some reforms. She actually got rid of the DPB. But then replaced it with the Sole Parent Payment. The numbers since appear to have reduced but that's largely because mothers whose youngest turns 14 are moved onto the Jobseeker benefit. 2023 census data told us 70 percent of sole parents with dependent children receive welfare. By September 2024, the last time I asked under the OIA for a total across all benefits, there were 102,693. The number will have risen since.

Bennett was a champion for sole parents. She had a go at me once when I highlighted that although many left welfare, they also returned. From memory she wrote me an email saying, 'At least they are trying.' And fair enough. She took their corner.

She was, herself, an exemplary story of how a sole parent, Maori to boot, could succeed wildly. She was a John Key-type story. Pull yourself up from your difficult beginnings and be a trail-blazing role model.

Trouble is, only a few people respond to inspiration. Most respond to necessity - as in 'necessity is the mother of invention'. If the state wasn't doling out cash, other ways to survive would need to be found.

Having learned nothing from putting up Bennett to fend off the beneficiary bashing accusations, after their 2023 election win, National found another ex sole parent beneficiary in Louise Upston.

Upston's performance has been underwhelming. Her focus has been on the Jobseeker benefit and the young. It plays well for those who think superficially. Yes, we want to keep young people off the benefit (but her means-testing of 18 and 19 year-olds' parents ensures the most at-risk for long-term dependency are excluded). Yes, the traffic light system keeps adding new requirements to record job-seeking efforts but by and large, it will punish the low-hanging fruit.

What is Upston going to do about the ever-increasing number of children being born onto benefits, mainly to sole parents? How is she going to turn around the trend of ever-increasing children dependent on a benefit? The number in September 2025 reached 234,000. With seasonal fluctuations the total could reach a quarter million by December.

This country's propensity to put a soft-focus on hard problems is not working.

The level of toughness and objectivity required means that political appointees made on the basis of identity is a luxury no longer affordable.

Reform can't wait for who looks the part and how 'kind' it will be. It's urgent. Now.

Lindsay Mitchell blogs here