A sole parent and mum of two under five, the 25-year-old is now a first time home owner, too.

When she left school at 18, Donaldson moved south to try her hand at farming and discovered she loved it.

Moving up to the Waikato a year later, after the birth of her first son, she worked her way up to become a herd manager and continued working after the birth of her second son, Dexter.

When her job in Waikato ended in 2022, Donaldson moved back to her home town, Levin, to be closer to family. Read more

The latest figures show beneficiaries owe $200 million more than the same time last year.

In this year's Budget, the Government gave those over 18 and earning $70,000 or less a $350 cost of living payment to help them with the effects of rising prices, but it refused to extend the payment to beneficiaries and superannuitants. Read more

Speaking in the minor party leaders debate last Saturday Seymour said having babies while on the benefit was an "outrage" to working parents, and "the biggest driver of child poverty in this country.

"We don't want the state controlling people's reproduction. That's disgusting.

"What we do need to say is that we have a crisis in this country where one in five children are born into a family dependent on a benefit."

Seymour said that if a person on the benefit keeps having children they will be subject to income management.

"We're gonna pay your rent, pay your power, pay for the groceries so the kids get the benefit of those resources and we break the cycle of child poverty in this country."

In July Seymour told Jack Tame on TVNZ1's Breakfast the $60 benefit for every New Zealand child promised by the Labour Party would lead people to intentionally profiteer off having more children.

"At the margin, yes people will change their mind [about having children] because they'll say 'oh the Government will give me this money now'," Mr Seymour said.

He told Tame "all of the things a bleeding heart liberal, like yourself Jack, worries about all the time have been created, in terms of child poverty, by a welfare experiment gone wrong over the last 50 years."

Around the same time ACT deputy leader Beth Houlbrooke said the Labour Party promise "could extend the misery of child poverty and even child abuse", and that "parents who cannot afford to have children should not be having them".

Seymour said it just happened to be a coincidence that he sent his social media followers a photograph of an ACT-branded condom on the same day his deputy leader said poor people shouldn't have babies.

The condom wrapper had a sticker saying, "Helping people keep more of what they make - Vote ACT."

Source

• Newshub
• Newshub
• TVNZ
• Image: Stuff

Salvation Army says the budget is a step in the right direction to correct the growing imbalance in New Zealand society between the "haves and have nots".

"Although all the areas identified by the Army have not been addressed Budget 2017 delivers a substantial boost to low income working families" said Ian Hutson the Salvation Army's social policy director.

In its media release the Salvation Army says:

• The most significant boost for low income working families will be achieved by the movement of the $14,000 tax threshold to $22,000.
• Increases in the Family Tax credit and increases in the accommodation supplement will make things easier for vulnerable working families.

The Salvation Army says while for beneficiary families the gains are not nearly as great these families will benefit from Accommodation Supplement increases and an extra $350 million of social housing rent subsidy.

"Our concern is that for the Accommodation Supplement gains to be effective, housing supply also needs to increase."

The Salvation Army had asked for a commitment of $500 million dollars in capital funding a year for social and affordable housing, but the Government's commitment in the budget to capital for housing supply is well below this.

They say while supporting Governments efforts to move people from benefits to work where possible, for some beneficiaries' health and childcare means work is not a realistic possibility.

Earlier in the year, in its written submission on the Budget Policy Statement Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand focused on four areas in its call for the government to ensure economic growth brings a better quality of life for everyone in New Zealand and that no one misses out on essentials for wellbeing.

The four areas were: the well-being of vulnerable communities; homelessness; protection of migrant workers; and climate change.

Source

• scoop.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• pndiocese.org.nz
• Image: apnonline.brightcove.com.edgesuite.net

Other reasons for sanctions leading to cuts or cancellation of benefits are failing to attend seminars or not providing proof of a job search.

Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley said people were told what their obligations were when they first signed up for a benefit.
She told Morning Report anyone who was wrongly sanctioned was fully reimbursed.

"There is a process, there are things that they are required to do," said Ms Tolley.

"This is not a lifestyle - there are obligations, and the obligations can be a simple as turning up for an appointment.
"If people do not do that, that is a choice that they are making."

And Ms Tolley said there was help available for people who were struggling to re-apply for their benefit.

"I've watched the case managers working with these people, I've seen them at the counters and where they are having difficulty filling in forms there are people sitting and standing with them helping them to do it." Continue reading

A Canterbury Community Law (CCL) investigation, which looked at access to justice for beneficiaries, says beneficiaries felt they were treated as "non-humans" by Work and Income - not even allowed access to toilets during lengthy waits at offices.

"Beneficiaries are uniformly scared stiff of the department (Work and Income). The department's got the axe above their head . . . they've got huge power over these people, power of the most basic rights, food, clothing and shelter," said a lawyer in the report.

The lead researcher, CCL lawyer Kim Morton, said past negative experiences stopped beneficiaries challenging the Ministry of Social Development if their benefit entitlements were turned down.

The report found:

• Beneficiaries experience an inherent imbalance of power when dealing with the government department that makes decisions about their entitlements at both the institutional and individual case manager levels.
• Beneficiaries felt they were disadvantaged by a case management system that required them to see a different case manager on each visit (although Work and Income do provide dedicated case managers for some groups of beneficiaries).
• While participants reported a variety of positive and negative experiences, beneficiaries' negative experiences as clients of Work and Income and stigma attached to being on a benefit overwhelmingly permeated their interaction with the benefit system at all levels.

And a report issued by the UN Committee Against Torture has called on the New Zealand Government to do more to protect the human rights of all New Zealander.

As well as torture, the committee also monitors cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Among other things, the Committee welcomes the government's ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and legislative and administrative changes in areas of relevance to the Convention Against Torture.

The bulk of the Concluding Observations cover principal subjects of concern and the Committee's recommendations in thirteen areas:

• Incorporation of the Convention in national legislation,
• Resourcing for the National Preventive Mechanism
• Independence of the Independent Police Conduct Authority
• Measures to prevent and combat
  • violence against women
  • trafficking in persons
• Custody and treatment of persons deprived of liberty (including recommendations on privately-run places of detention),
• Indigenous people in the criminal justice system
• Excessive use of seclusion in mental health facilities
• Protection of juveniles in the criminal justice system
• Use of electrical discharge weapons (tasers)
• Standards of protection of asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants, non-refoulement and mandatory immigration detention
• Redress, including compensation and rehabilitation, for victims of torture
• Withdrawal of reservation to Article 14 of the Convention (whereby the right to compensation for victims of torture victims is left to the discretion of the Attorney General).

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Radio New Zealand
• Peace Movement Aotearoa
• Image: communitylaw.org.nz

Research and advocacy co-ordinator Lisa Beech said what the legislation was attempting to do had parallels with the poor houses of Britain in the 19th century.

Beech said Caritas had no confidence that its views would be heard.

"In 25 years of making submissions, I have never felt more disillusioned and discouraged about participating in the select committee process."

"The role of the select committee is not simply to rubber-stamp the decisions of the Cabinet ... or to provide some kind of legal proof-reading of minor details."

Statistics New Zealand's latest household labour force numbers, published earlier this month show people out of work rose to 7.3% in the September quarter.

Labour leader David Shearer and other opposition MPs, say prime minister John Key's legacy is leaving the highest jobless rate since Jenny Shipley's National government in the late 1990s.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• NBR
• Image: The Daily Post

In its submission to the Social Services Select Committee the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Agency Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has expressed very real concerns about the proposal for case managers to offer any woman on any kind of benefit, including married women, as well as the daughters of those on benefits between the ages of 16-19, free long term reversible contraception.

"The Catholic Church teaches a respect for human dignity and many of the proposals will damage that dignity. The key purpose of welfare changes should be to reduce poverty, not to make the vulnerable more vulnerable," says the CEO of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, Julianne Hickey.

"If contraceptive options and incomes become linked, a beneficiary facing a case manager may feel they have little option at all," she says.

"While the Government says that they won't be coerced, we know that coercion can be subtle and when punitive measures are proposed for those who have subsequent children while on welfare it seems there is little option but to take it."

Source

• The Catholic Diocese of Auckland
• Image: MSN News

Foodbanks from Auckland to Dunedin are reporting empty shelves and with Christmas looming they are asking for food donations - specifically canned soup, fruit and spreads.

The Auckland City Mission said their food parcel statistics were at a record high.

Gisborne Salvation Army pastor Graham Medland said their demand for food parcels had remained steady but the donation of food to the centre had dropped.

Student demand for financial assistance and foodbank services has soared in Dunedin, with welfare schemes run by student associations at the university and polytechnic being pushed past their financial limits.

Otago University Students' Association welfare officer Shonelle Eastwood said there had been a 64% increase in student demand for foodbank services compared with 2010.

Financial assistance vouchers for supermarkets had also been sent to students based at the university's Christchurch and Wellington campuses - the first time these kinds of requests had been made, Miss Eastwood said.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• Otago Daily Times
• Image: Zimbo.com

One in five New Zealand children live in poverty, with subsequent effects on their health, educational achievement, and productivity - to the point where effective early intervention could add up to $4 billion to the nation's gross domestic product and up to $1b to New Zealand tax revenues.

Read Campbell's column

Gordon's career in journalism includes a long stint at the Listener magazine as a feature writer and columnist. He worked as a media and research officer for the Green Party, but has now left the Greens in order to return to journalism.

Image: Scoop

The delegation, led by Archbishop John Dew, met Mr English on 15 August to discuss welfare reform, a day after the National government began a series of rolling announcements on welfare policy.

The delegation included current and past Caritas Board chairs Mark Richards and Fr Gerard Burns; Wellington Catholic Social Services director Barbara Gilray; Caritas director Michael Smith and Caritas research and advocacy coordinator Lisa Beech.

Mr Smith said the delegation outlined to Mr English the considerable experience and interaction with beneficiaries and low-income families that the Church has through Catholic parishes, schools, religious orders and a wide range of Catholic agencies and groups. Many poorer families and individuals are feeling very anxious and stressed about the proposed welfare changes.

‘Most beneficiaries are genuine,' said Mr Smith.

‘Most are working very hard to manage, despite living with disadvantage often resulting from bad experiences such as illness, disability or job loss.'

The government needed to show leadership from the top to describe beneficiaries in ways that don't reinforce stereotypes.

Mr Smith said the delegation appreciated Mr English's explanation of the government's commitment to an investment approach to assisting people into work. This considers the long-term costs of joblessness and exclusion from the paid work force, and invests resources early to prevent financial and social costs.

The Catholic delegation welcomed many aspects of the investment approach. However, it said such an approach does not require punitive aspects such as sanctions and penalties, increased work testing on sick and disabled people, and compulsory management of incomes - signalled in impending welfare changes.

Mr Smith said, ‘We recognise that some people may require extra help to manage their money, but that doesn't justify a blanket approach to treat all beneficiaries in this way.'

The delegation raised deep concerns with a government Welfare Working Group recommendation to provide ‘ready access' to contraception to reduce children born in beneficiary households. It objected on the grounds of not only Catholic doctrine, but that it is also a human right that parents should be able to make their own choices about their families.

The importance of adequate job-creation policies was also discussed, so those being required to find work had a realistic chance in a job market which cannot currently provide employment for all seeking it.

Mr English told the delegation he agreed with many of their concerns about the Welfare Working Group recommendations and process, and noted that the government's response will become clear as welfare policy is made public over coming months.

Source
NZCBC
Image: John Whitburn