Media Release 13 – Australian Benefit Reforms Bow to Parents’ Rights

Press Release 13

Media Release – Australian Benefit Reforms Bow to Parents’ Rights

December 6, 2012

Palmerston North, NZ – As the Select Committee hears submissions on the proposed Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill, which threatens compulsory preschool for beneficiaries’ children and tightens work test requirements for sole parents, similar Australian welfare reforms acknowledge the value of family-based work.

Under new regulations brought in this year, Australian single mothers receiving a parenting payment will be transferred to the lower Newstart benefit when their child turns eight. The Australian government estimates that this will save about AU$700 million over four years.

To be eligible for the Newstart benefit mothers will need to apply for a certain amount of jobs per fortnight and be obviously seeking employment.

“The situation is similar to what we have in the Social Security Bill with increased work test obligations and sole parents being transferred to a jobseeker benefit once their youngest child reaches a certain age,” explains Barbara Smith, National Director of the Home Education Foundation of New Zealand.

“But unlike our Minister for Social Development, Paula Bennett, the Australian legislators found a way to recognise and affirm home education as a valid parental choice.”

When Australian single mothers expressed their concern about the welfare reforms, employment minister Bill Shorten assured them that mothers who home educate their children will not be forced to put their children in school and look for work under the new legislation.

Home educators on a benefit will be exempt from work or study requirements if they can provide evidence of registration to home educate (where required) or that home education is occurring (where registration is not required). Additionally, their benefit will not be reduced.

“This is wonderful,” says Mrs Smith. “Australia is recognising the great work that home educators do. Every child needs the care and attention of his or her parents, not an endless stream of detached caretakers.

“Early preschooling and schooling is linked to severe social disadvantages for children. But that’s not the only benefit of home education.”

The Home Edeucation Foundation estimates that a home educating mother in New Zealand saves the government up to $8,500 in schooling fees per child per year. If a special needs child is involved, the saving may be as much as $160,000 per child per year.

“The Australian reforms also allow women to put their families first,” says Mrs Smith. “Most of us would be offended if the government told us that women can only hold certain jobs. But that’s exactly what the Social Security Bill does. Thousands of women want to be at home caring for and teaching their children. This Bill wants to tell them that the only valuable work is nine-to-five wage-slavery. Their whanau is not important.”

Mrs Smith believes that welfare reform is necessary. “It’s wonderful that the government wants to address this area,” she says.

“But home educating parents already have to satisfy the Ministry of Education that their home educating program will benefit their children as much as conventional schooling.

“They’re saving the government money and raising secure, responsible citizens.

“Australia has affirmed that and it’s time for New Zealand to recognise it too.”

More information on the bill can be found at www.hef.org.nz.

About the Home Education Foundation

The Home Education Foundation has been informing parents for 27 years about the fantastic opportunity to de-institutionalise our sons and daughters and to embrace the spiritual, intellectual and academic freedom that is ours for the taking. Through conferences, journals, newsletters and all kinds of personal communications, we explain the vision of handcrafting each child into a unique individual, complete with virtuous character, a hunger for service to others, academic acumen and a strong work ethic. For more information, please visit www.hef.org.nz or more specifically hef.org.nz/2012/make-a-submission-reject-compulsory-early-education-for-3-year-olds/

This appeared:

Scoop: Australian Benefit Reforms Bow to Parents’ Rights

Please feel free to repost, forward or pass on  this email

Please do so with the whole post. Thankyou

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Related Links:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Smiths:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/craig-smith-26-january-1951-to-30-september-2011/

Updated 5 October 2012:  One year on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

Needing help for your home schooling journey:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational:
https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

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Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill

Make a submission: Reject compulsory Early Education for 3 year olds

A few more tips when giving an oral submission

From Dave
As someone who has done many submissions to  select committees I just wanted to pass on a few tips to other  of your supporters who have yet to do oral subs.

1. turn up early and listen to questions from members of select committee of others who share your views  – you get the same people asking the same questions. If you hear a question that you think is irrelevant to your  the submission,  and you get asked the same one, have an answer prepared and don’t be scared to tell the member that you only have 10 mins and that question is irrelevant to the submission because …..

e.g  Ngaro – who is a bit of a doozer –  asked me about children at risk ( he probably asked most o f you that Q) . I told him my submission wasnt about children at risk and you know that, we agreed so what was the point of your question. If five year olds  have to be compulsorily educated what are you going to do about giving parents the choice? etc etc etc.

2. you are primarily there to  summarise your submission and take questions. so use the first 5 mins to summarise, the next 5  mins to answer q, ifthere is no questins or not many, just keep going on expanding on your points.

3.  If they ask ( as I got asked) about the  possible quality of homeschooling, tell them about the quality of Homeschooling, then state that the question is irrelevant to the legislation as if it was quality under question, then 6-16 year old’s  would have their home schooling education threatened.

4. homeschooling doesn’t save the govt money in the scheme of things. its really small $$$$ and is not a compelling argument. In fact it would probably cost more in the short term to provide exemptions for 3-5 year olds .

5. one point to make- why should 5 year olds of beneficiaries be treated any differently? that got a bit of a response given that education is not compulsory til age 6 and they will have the same work test obligations as beneficiary parents of those 6-16, who can home school) .

6. Why make education compulsory through the social security act when we have an education act that deals with this? Ask the SC that. they have no answer to that one.

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Key links for presenting an oral submission

 

Please feel free to use any of these links to help you with your oral submission

Please feel free to repost, forward or pass on  this email

Please do so with the whole post. Thankyou

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related Links:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Smiths:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/craig-smith-26-january-1951-to-30-september-2011/

Updated 5 October 2012:  One year on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

Needing help for your home schooling journey:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational:
https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

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Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill

Make a submission: Reject compulsory Early Education for 3 year olds

More experiences before the Select Committee

 I have just done my oral submission for the ECE bill via teleconference. I am a bit annoyed I wasn’t better prepared. I mainly focused on the educating side of the bill, but I now realize the main card they are playing to bring in this bill is the child neglect and abuse. At the end of my submission they asked me something like : “There are many children who are not so lucky to have such good and caring parents like yourself. Don’t you think the government should try and protect them ?” I managed to give them a reasonable answer, but if I had known this was going to be their main card, I could and would have done a better job. Maybe if you know others that still have to do their oral submission, you could warn them and get them better prepared for it.
I hope this may be of any help.
I talked about this:
There are vulnerable children among beneficiary families and
there are vulnerable children among non-beneficiary families.
There are non-vulnerable children among  beneficiaries and
there are non-vulnerable children among non-bendficiaries.
This Bill is not going to help all vulnerable children and it is unexceptable for all other children
AND another experience
I was just before lunch – so although polite enough I felt rushed through my statement – although my husband did say I slowed down terrible – chalk that to nerves.
 As much as I have had years experience of presenting in my life before children – I found myself exceptionally nervous.
There was only time for 2 questions
Paul Goldsmith – who was standing in for someone else – asked something along the lines of “seeing as I was going on about rights did I think it was the right of my neighbour to work hard and pay taxes so I could be with my children – we all would like to spend more time with our children”
this I felt attacked by, and just stated no if a job is there it should be done, but again re-iterated how unemployment is a reality at this present time.
Alfred Ngaro also asked me what about children at risk – I cant remember how I answered that.
In essence, nerves got the better of me and I wished I’d handled it a lot better – however its all experience and my intention is to send an email to each person present thanking them for their time, explaining I was slow because of  nerves and attaching what I was going to read out in full. Whilst at the same time answer Mr Goldsmiths question
“After much thought, Yes he is correct, I was going on about rights –  but in essence this amendment is stating that my right as a mother to raise MY children as I believe is taken away from me if my husband becomes unemployed or made redundant ( a reality in today’s environment) , and this right is removed from single mothers because the child’s father chooses to avoid responsibility, and this I disagree with”
and to answer his question  is it the right of my neighbor to pay taxes for my benefit, it is my understanding that in 1938 New Zealand rejected an insurance concept towards social welfare and instead chose to accept the care and welfare of citizens as a national responsibility and that is what was behind the creation of the Social Services Act 1938 and this is what New Zealand as a country still stands for today, not everyone looks out just for themselves, but New Zealand is a country that chooses to accept the care and welfare of its citizens as a national responsibility.
More comments from FaceBook:
A question someone was asked this morning: I was also asked if these problems would be solved by providing more options in daycare. “Yes,” I replied. “The obvious option missing from this proposal is HOME. For some kids, it’s no good tinkering with daycare – they just need to be at home.” Excellent answer

  • Parents are our children’s first teachers. Although being a trained preschool teacher myself, our babies potential for learning is at home in my view. Both my children have been in some form of ECCE at some point and time in their lives. Home I believe is where its at, if parents have the knowledge and the creativity to inspire their children’s learning go for it I say, the benefits are amazing….
  •  This is what the person said: I added some information which was not in my written submission. I had thought a lot about this, because my time was so limited, so what I added was commentary I had had from friends who actually did use daycare for their children. These parents were also against compulsory daycare for beneficiaries. I gave some of their reasons:

    * The only reason they put their children into daycare was to earn extra money which they hoped benefited their children.

    * They always retained the belief that they would remove their child if
    s/he was miserable – something beneficiaries won’t be able to do.

    * They chose the daycare, sometimes driving miles (not an option for
    beneficiaries with no car), and they chose the hours, often working as
    little as possible to minimise the hours in daycare.

    So I think that people even with very different feelings on daycare from those of the people on this list, oppose compulsory daycare. I am hoping this was an important point to make to the committee – it’s not just the diehard homeschoolers who oppose this.

AND

  • CraigandBarbara Smith Some have asked for the answers we gave to the questions so here they are from another FB page.
  • OK answers for the questions were. There is no need for any monitoring of preschoolers. Their days should be filled with play and interactions with their mother. — the family that gave their submission before me
  • Second question – this is how I answered it on another FB page: With the 2nd question I have heard people who send their children to school and also work say why should those on a benefit be able to stay home and home school their children when we have to work to get our money. Again it is the same question. And easy to answer.
  • I had already told the Select Committee that Home schoolers are saving the Government money. Each child NOT in school saves the Government between $9,000 to about $12,000 and up to $160,000 if special needs a year and ECE is $10,000 a year. So with a family of 4 children – 3 in school and 1 in ECE and taking a modest school fee of $7,000 that family would be saving the Government $31,000 in school and ECE fees if they home school them and what is the benefit – a mere $15,000 plus the supervisory allowance of under $2,000. The Govt is saving heaps of money when a beneficiary home schools.
  • So when the MP asked that question others on the panel reminded him that home schoolers were saving the Govt money – I didn’t need to answer it. But I did also say that it is all a lifestyle choice. We can all home school it we want to. Mothers don’t have to go out to work. It is all a matter of choice. Do we want to do what is best for our children by home schooling them or have a fancy house and car etc. We can take a lower standard of living and home school or send our children to school and have lots of money. I know what I would rather do.
  • I didn’t answer it quite like that but sort of like that.

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Key links for presenting an oral submission

 

Please feel free to use any of these links to help you with your oral submission

Please feel free to repost, forward or pass on  this email

Please do so with the whole post. Thankyou

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related Links:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Smiths:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/craig-smith-26-january-1951-to-30-september-2011/

Updated 5 October 2012:  One year on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

Needing help for your home schooling journey:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational:
https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

*******************************

Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill

Make a submission: Reject compulsory Early Education for 3 year olds

Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill: Best Scenario?

Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill

Someone asked on a Facebook page:

Could someone please tell me the best case scenario arising from all our collective efforts

This is what I answered:

No Social Obligations:

  1. No compulsory ECE from age 3
  2. No work requirement for home schooling mothers
  3. No requirement to be enrolled with a General Practitioner.
  4. No compulsory Well Child /Tamariki Ora Checks

I would like to write a bit more on all of these from my experience from my preparing for and being infront of the Select Committee. I think there is a lot more that the Select Committee needs to hear from many of us.

Other topics I want to explore as well are:

  1. Vulnerable children
  2.  Is New Zealand wanting to follow Sweden’s example
  3. Australia’s law for beneficiaries and Media Release 13 – Australian Benefit Reforms Bow to Parents’ Rights
  4. We do not want to have to apply for exemptions for keeping our children out of an ECE

I would like to write about each of these as I have time.

Summary of the Human Rights,  UN conventions and Berlin Declaration – December 10 is International Human Rights Day

  1. Media Release 14 – Social Security Bill Is Unjustifiably Discriminatory, Says NZ Law Society
  2. International Human Rights Day 10 December 2012
  3. New Zealand, Sweden and the Johanssons

I talked to someone recently who is going to write out what he said during his Oral presentation and send it to all the MP’s on the Select Committee. This is a good idea especially if you were not happy with your presentation or ran out of time and didn’t say all you wanted to. Or if after the experience you thought of new things or new answers to their questions that you would like to say, then say it in an email to the Select Committee. If you feel so inclined here are the email addresses:

Against the Bill at the 1st reading:

Jacinda Ardern, Jan Logie, Rajen Prasad and Su’a William Sio

jacinda.ardern@parliament.govt.nz, Jan.logie@parliament.govt.nz, rajen.prasad@parliament.govt.nz, sua.william.sio@parliament.govt.nz

Those who voted for the Bill at the 1st reading

Simon BridgesMelissa LeeAsenati Lole-Taylor , Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, Tim Macindoe, Alfred Ngaro, and Mike
Sabin

s.bridges@ministers.govt.nz, melissa.lee@parliament.govt.nz, Asenati.Lole-Taylor@parliament.govt.nz, peseta.sam.lotu-iiga@parliament.govt.nz, tim.macindoe@parliament.govt.nz, Alfred.ngaro@parliament.govt.nz, mike.sabin@parliament.govt.nz

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Key links for presenting an oral submission

 

Please feel free to use any of these links to help you with your oral submission

Please feel free to repost, forward or pass on  this email

Please do so with the whole post. Thankyou

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related Links:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Smiths:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/craig-smith-26-january-1951-to-30-september-2011/

Updated 5 October 2012:  One year on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

Needing help for your home schooling journey:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational:
https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

*******************************

Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill

Make a submission: Reject compulsory Early Education for 3 year olds

 

Home Educators happy with benefit revamp in Australia

Thankfully I came across this Australians have common sense where it seems our NZ Government does not  and was able to mention it in my Oral Submission. I was not able to find any more information about it before I presented my Oral Submission but today I finally have more information. So for those still to give their Oral Submissions you might like to mention this. For the rest of us we can mention it in our emails and other contact with the Select Committee over the next few weeks.

Beverley Paine in Australia wrote about it 13 September here Centrelink and Home Education

So what is all this about?

Australia is revamping their benefits as well. And Home Educators are VERY happy with the outcome. So we need to be pointing out to the Select Committee what has happened in Australia and ask our Government to follow their example.

Some one wrote this to me and it seems to explain it very well:

The Australian government wants to force all single mums / parents into work once their youngest child turns eight. So they will no longer be able to access single parenting payment after then, but will be transferred to Newstart allowance which is, to my knowledge around $200 less per fortnight. They will need to apply for a certain number of jobs per fortnight and be seen to be actively seeking employment in order to receive the Newstart payment.

Home schoolers, who are registered with the appropriate education authorities in the state in which they live, will be exempt from having to look for work, or engage in study etc, and will receive Newstart but at the higher rate ( the same rate as parenting payment).

This is wonderful. Australia recognises the great work that home educators do and the need for them to be at home with their children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Key links for presenting an oral submission

 

Please feel free to use any of these links to help you with your oral submission

Please feel free to repost, forward or pass on  this email

Please do so with the whole post. Thankyou

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related Links:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Smiths:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/craig-smith-26-january-1951-to-30-september-2011/

Updated 5 October 2012:  One year on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

Needing help for your home schooling journey:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational:
https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

*******************************

Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill

Make a submission: Reject compulsory Early Education for 3 year olds