Conflicting messages
This morning Adam listened to John Key on TVNZ’s Q & A stating that he believed a better educated work force was essential if NZ was to progress. This meant that the present statistic of 1 in 5 children leaving school with poor standards of literacy and numeracy was unacceptable. All very aspirational.
Then Adam read this article about how training grants to enable people to train for better jobs and come off benefit were being restricted.
Key talked about improving productivity, yet if this article is correct our human capital development will be held back. People will become demoralized and doubt if they will ever get off welfare. Does Paula Bennett actually know what she is doing?
Something is just not gelling here.
The newspaper story seems to indicate that Key is saying one thing and the Key government is doing something else.
My understanding is the TIA is still available to recipients of the DPB and Invalids Benefit up to the end of secondary school training.
Once the recipient goes on to tertiary education and eligible for student loans the TIA (max $3800) is stopped. The recipient still gets the DPB or IB, but is now considered on a level playing field viz tertiary education because of the student loan.
As Bennett put it to a rowdy House “Listen up.. there’s a recession on!”
It seems a reasonable argument that the TIA is icing when you still get a benefit plus a student loan.
JC
Thanks JC,
That was not clear from what I had seen, so the media beat up the Government unfairly again.