STUFF.CO.NZ: Maori Party calls for the dole to be scrapped are "dangerous in the extreme", Green Party MP Sue Bradford says.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia suggested on Tuesday at the party's economic policy launch the dole should be scrapped and replaced with government-subsidised jobs.
When asked if she wanted to see the dole scrapped, she said: "Yes. Absolutely. I'm opposed to the dole. I have to be very frank with you - I don't think it is healthy for the spirit of our people, to be getting money for doing nothing."
Mrs Turia said she wanted the next government to return to subsidised "make-work" schemes where people get a community job and are paid a government wage.
Ms Bradford said she supported full-wage job creation schemes, but scrapping the dole would mean some households would become dependent on charities, local government or their families for handouts.
Ms Bradford said unemployment was set to rise in the current economic climate.
"Tariana Turia's suggestion ... that the dole should be scrapped is dangerous in the extreme, and especially for Maori who tend to be disproportionately unemployed," she said.
"If this meagre support is removed we will see family breakdown, child poverty, crime, begging and homelessness at levels way beyond anything we can conceive of at present."
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