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Dear John Parliamentary News from LouiseIt is hard to believe we are nearly halfway through the year. The first part has been quite eventful and we have made some exciting announcements about National’s aspirations for businesses needing workers, our youth and jobseekers. Into Work WorkshopsI’ve been hosting country-wide “Into Work” workshops, connecting local businesses looking for workers and local people seeking employment. Businesses across the country are crying out for workers. You cannot walk into a supermarket, café or retail shop without seeing a ‘Help Wanted’ sign. The workshops are for anyone finding staff, looking for work or an agency helping others find jobs. They aim to help solve challenges for businesses and reduce barriers for those seeking work. If you are a senior getting back into the workforce, a parent returning to work, a local employer searching for staff or someone on Jobseeker Support, this ‘Into Work’ workshop is for you. A list
of upcoming events with date and venue details can be found here.
Welfare that Works policyAt the recent National Party's annual conference, leader Christopher Luxon announced a new Welfare that Works policy, specifically targeting those young people that Labour is ignoring. Businesses face critical worker shortages, yet there are currently 170,000 people receiving the Jobseeker or unemployment benefit and 13,000 of them are young people who've been receiving it for longer than a year. It stands to reason that the people on the Jobseeker benefit for more than a year during a time of high employment are either those who have particular challenges in finding or holding down a job, so need extra help, or they're people who don't want to work. National won't continue to fund failure and since the Ministry of Social Development is demonstrably unable to help this group, National's policy is to bring in community providers who can. We're proposing that community providers have job coaches who work with each Jobseeker to determine their needs and develop an individualised plan to move them towards work that is appropriate for their circumstances. This is the heart of the policy. As a bonus, if a Jobseeker who's been on a benefit longer than a year gets a job and stays off welfare for 12 months, they get a $1000 payment. More
information on this policy here.
Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Bill and Children and Young People's Commission BillThe
Government has recently used
its majority advantage to push through two bills to reform Oranga
Tamariki and state care monitoring through Parliament, in spite of
widespread opposition from other parties and sector
proponents.
The
system that Labour was bringing in, has not been designed with
children at its heart. Instead, they've made it incredibly complicated
and it creates an even greater risk of children falling through the
cracks.
The list of submitters against this bill is exhaustive. They include lawyers, judges, academics, public policy experts, teachers, social workers, iwi leaders, former police officers; children's advocates like Child Matters, the Save the Children organisation, Social Justice Aotearoa. Upcoming engagement opportunitiesFacebook Live
If you missed our August meeting, you can watch it back here. Friendly Forums
Women Influencers Taupo
Guest Speaker is Joan McBeath, Volunteer Great Lake Taupō founder. RSVP here. |
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