Lindsay Mitchell: Bigger benefits won't help children

Why are incompetents routinely called 'experts' these days? The election campaign brings them out in their droves. Today's Herald headline:

Child poverty experts urge politicians to adopt recommendations before election

Lindsay Mitchell: The Anxiety Epidemic

Over the last twenty years the number of people depending on a benefit due to psychological or psychiatric reasons has increased by 140 percent. Meanwhile the working age population grew by just 26 percent.

In June 2006 the number dependent was 37,300. Fast forward to June 2026 and it's 89,385.

Lindsay Mitchell: What the Left constantly ignores

Here is the political argument from the Left:

Poverty causes hardship for children. Whether the parent is working or on a benefit makes no difference. It's the lack of income that matters.

My argument is that the source of income matters. A lot.

Children in households with the same low income suffer hardship disproportionately if their parent is on a benefit.

Lindsay Mitchell: Why the vacuum around the new Children's Commissioner?

For those of us who take an interest in child welfare and listen to various media outlets, Jane Searle is a familiar voice. As head of the organisation Child Matters, she was often the go-to person when child abuse deaths occur. As an ex detective who worked in a child abuse team, Jane wasn't afraid to talk about contributing factors such as drug addiction. My first response to her appointment was that she would have to be better than the wet Claire Achmad.

So naturally I am keen to hear what she has to say in her new capacity as Children's Commissioner but can find very little. Here's why:

Lindsay Mitchell: Outgoing Children's Commissioner calls for bigger benefits as swansong

Today on Q&A outgoing Children's Commissioner Claire Achmad told Jack Tame the idea that work alone will lift children out of poverty is a "fallacy".

Yet the US evidence says the opposite.

NZ has a very high rate of sole parent benefit dependency. So did the US. The two countries share the family breakdown of African Americans and Maori. The Maori ex-nuptial birthrate is currently 81 percent and Maori make-up 51 percent of sole parent beneficiaries (with a recorded ethnicity).

Lindsay Mitchell: National are not promising you anything except other people's money

National are not promising you anything except other people's money.

The latest example, having historically opposed Paid Parental Leave, they are now promising to extend it further. This is what they famously did with the Clark government's Working for Families which sealed the 2005 election for Labour. Remember John Key and his scathing comment about 'communism by stealth'? He had three terms to repeal but it is still with us. In this term National have increased payments.

Lindsay Mitchell: Christians electioneering

A report from the Chief Executive of the NZ Council of Christian Social Services has made some headlines this morning. It's called Kua Mahue/ Left Behind: Poverty in Aotearoa in 2026

Lindsay Mitchell: Residents must retain their right to participate

According to Treasury, "People present in New Zealand each year are increasingly non-NZ citizens":

"In 2024, there were 476,000 resident visa holders to spend at least one day in New Zealand, and 705,000 holders of permanent resident visas."

Lindsay Mitchell 'Too sick to work' needs addressing

ACT announced welfare policy at the weekend.

Their concern is about the growth in people who are on a benefit because they are too sick to work.

Readers here will remember the distinct Sickness and Invalid's benefits that were abolished in 2013.

Lindsay Mitchell: TOP's Citizen's Income policy

Let's look at the costings first.

Lindsay Mitchell: Sound decision from Becroft

In August last year, on the issue of banned gang patches, I wrote:

In what appears to be a first, District court judge Lance Rowe has decided to return a patch to its convicted wearer.

He came to the decision using the concept of tikanga or kinship. The court reporter detailing this decision says it "may yet be appealed by the police."

In a sound judgement High court justice Andrew Becroft has decided that gang patches cannot be returned.

Stuff reports this morning:

Lindsay Mitchell: Quarter of a million children are now dependent on welfare

It's appalling that a quarter of a million children now need an income from the state to feed, clothe and house them.

Data released under the Official Information Act shows over a quarter of a million children were dependent on welfare at December 2025.

At 31 December 2025 there were 255,300 children aged 0-17 reliant on a caregiver on a main benefit (234,429); or on an Orphan/ Unsupported Child benefit (20,871).

Lindsay Mitchell: Colonisation blamed for Maori Meth use

Here is yet another example of a taxpayer-funded health professional teaching that self-destructive behaviour by Maori is the fault of colonisation: land dispossession, loss of language, attack on family structures, attack on belief systems etc.

Lindsay Mitchell: Is Whanau Ora lifting student attendance?

I was asked the following question via Family First: "How is the Whānau Ora network developing and what are its prospects. In particular, is it helping school attendance effectively for Maori and Pacific island pupils?"

Whānau Ora was introduced in 2010 resulting from the 2008 Confidence and Supply Agreement between the National Government and the Māori Party, the underlying principle being, it's not individuals who need access to services, but whānau. It is very much a 'by Maori, for Maori' approach.

Lindsay Mitchell: The deafening silence about welfarism and children

It took becoming a mother to awaken an interest in politics in me. Having then become increasingly aware of the detrimental role welfare was playing in weakening family structure and what it meant for children, I developed an unfavourable view of big govt and extensive redistribution. In that context libertarianism made sense to me. I listened and read in that sphere, gravitating first to Lindsay Perigo's minor party (slogan - "Its enough to make you vote Libertarianz") and then ACT. During the 2000s the one person constantly drawing welfare dependence to the attention of the public was Muriel Newman. Time after time Muriel would appear in the Dominion or Evening Post exposing some new data or penning an opinion piece. I think she single-handedly kept a concern about welfarism to the fore, championing time limits and work expectations for single parents. She also worked hard on representing the rights of fathers and shared-parenting. When I campaigned for ACT in 2005, Muriel's name was the one that would come up. Her recognition factor was very strong.

Lindsay Mitchell: Stanford admits Kiwis don't want to work

Immigration Minister, Erica Stanford, criticising ACT's proposed levy on immigrant workers, said it will fall to farmers to pay it. Farmers need immigrant workers because:

“There are certain regions in New Zealand where there is low unemployment or there are Kiwis who are simply not willing to do some of those jobs, be it in agriculture or aged care,” she said.

Lindsay Mitchell: How MSD treats covid fraudsters is revealing

For the last four years, the Ministry of Social Development, the main agency for the Wage Subsidy Scheme, has relentlessly reported on people who committed fraud during the Covid period. For example:

Lindsay Mitchell: Luxon isn't talking to me

Speaking after his cabinet meeting yesterday, affirming his continuing leadership of the National Party, Prime Minister Chris Luxon said:

"Everyday Kiwis will not be losing sleep over political sideshows in Wellington – they’ll be thinking about their mortgage, their kids’ education and the safety and security of their community."

It suddenly hit me.

He's not talking to me.

Lindsay Mitchell: Immigrants pull their weight

Just-released March 2026 ethnic data shows Maori form the largest group of dependent unemployed people.

At the end of March 2026, 48,261 Maori were receiving a Job Seeker-Work Ready benefit (Job Seeker-Health Condition/Disability is a separate category for those considered temporarily unemployed due to illness.) NZ Europeans followed at 43,626. Pacific people occupy third place at 19,005. Asians trail back at 6,840 with Middle Eastern/ Latin American/ African people numbering 2,178.

Lindsay Mitchell: 'Brown Optimism'

I visited the new Wellington Library today unprepared for the towering inscription, rising through almost three stories, which has been installed on the west face.