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.

Lindsay Mitchell: Understanding the $50 boost for working families

I am not a supporter of government hand-outs. That's because I am not a supporter of the government taking people's money by force and deciding who to redistribute it to. That ability confers enormous power on the state. Taxing to redistribute only ever spirals upward. Wherever possible, earnings should be left largely with the earner - not expensively churned by dead weight bureaucracy.

Lindsay Mitchell: Latest benefit numbers - beware the spin

Await some spin regarding falling beneficiary numbers.

But be skeptical.

After two months of data problems, MSD has managed to produce monthly statistics for February 2026.

Lindsay Mitchell: National window-dressing on welfare

Last week Simon Bridges, CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber, could be heard waxing lyrical to Mike Hosking about the new partnering initiative, ChamberWorks, between his organisation and MSD (WINZ) to get recently unemployed people into jobs. These are people who have not long been on a benefit but have skills, and recent experience and attachment to the workforce.

Lindsay Mitchell: RNZ catches up on news reported here over a month ago

Today RNZ catches up on news reported here over a month ago.

Why has it taken RNZ so long to catch up with the latest benefit numbers? Given the numbers are well up, it's right in their wheelhouse for pushing their anti-government agenda.

Lindsay Mitchell: Get rid of the sole parent benefit

Here's a policy for National. Or ACT.

Get rid of the sole parent benefit.

Known for decades as the DPB, the Sole Parent Support (SPS) benefit, in today's world, is an anachronism. It has lost context in modern society. Why?

Lindsay Mitchell: How the Sallies have evolved to become part of the problem

The 2026 Salvation Army State of the Nation Report revealed their official conversion to wokeism by repeatedly finding excuses for Maori over-representation in poor social stats because of victimisation through colonisation. This caused a number of readers to ponder future contributions to the organisation.

But it isn't just this development that should concern donors.

Lindsay Mitchell: A litany of excuses

The latest Salvation Army State of the Nation Report 2026 presents a litany of excuses for the sorry state of New Zealand's social statistics, in particular, those relating to Maori.

The report is divided into sections covering children and youth, work and incomes, housing, crime and punishment and social hazards. Each section ends with a Te Ora o Te Whanau lens view.

After the section on children and youth comes the following:

Lindsay Mitchell: Benefit Data Update for December 2025

This post begins with a message from the Ministry of Social Development:

"Unfortunately, because of further system issues we will not be able to publish the full December monthly and quarterly data and benefit factsheets on 5 February. We apologise for the delay.

Lindsay Mitchell: Hollow Gesture Replaces Real Action

Do you ever wonder what the Office of the Children's Commissioner - with an annual budget of $11.5 million and 36 full time staff (83 percent female with three quarters earning in excess of $100,000) - does?

Well, wonder no more.

Lindsay Mitchell: Boosting birth rates with benefit payments is a very bad idea

Last week the UK government gave in to the growing pressure from activists to scrap their two child cap on welfare benefits - this despite polling showing majority support for the cap. Glancing through commentary in response to this move, there is an increasingly common theme appearing. That governments should not curb welfare payments for children when the fertility rates are heading south. Or, put another way, birth rates should be incentivised - not discouraged. Who cares where the money to raise children comes from?

Lindsay Mitchell: Officials warn: "...some young people may be incentivised to have children to keep access to income support."

This morning NewstalkZB reported officials warning, in a Regulatory Impact Statement about the government's policy to block teenagers accessing Jobseeker benefits from next November, "...some young people may be incentivised to have children to keep access to income support."

This is a distinct possibility given the existing habit of treating children as meal tickets.

Lindsay Mitchell: Latest benefit data - Three observations

The latest monthly benefit data was released yesterday.

Here are three observations.

There are more Cook Islanders on benefits in New Zealand than the Cook Island's entire working-age population

Cook Island's resident population doesn't fluctuate much.

Lindsay Mitchell: Same-old, same-old

The Social Investment Agency is a creation of the National government. It kicked off in July 2024 and is headed by the former police commissioner Andrew Coster.

According to Nicola Willis, “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for all New Zealanders... So we’re taking a different approach. We want to look beyond good intentions in our policy-making and use hard evidence to invest in what works. Our new approach builds on better social science evidence and advances in technology."

That sounds promising. A break with the old.

Lindsay Mitchell: What an effective welfare system might look like

For three decades following the 1938 introduction of most social security benefits (including Invalid, Sickness and Unemployment), dependence never exceeded more than 2 percent of the working-age population. Today the percentage is 12.7 and the average future time expected to stay on a benefit (which does not include time already spent) is 13.6 years. For those who start on a Young Parent Payment or Youth Payment the figure rises to a staggering 24 years and for Sole Parents, 18 years.*

Lindsay Mitchell: National's problem epitomised

Why did National pick two former welfare-dependent sole mothers to be Ministers of Social Development?

Because National is woke. They buy into the leftist public service fetish for 'lived experience'.

New Zealand's unique welfare problem isn't disability or unemployment. Other developed nations can match us.

Lindsay Mitchell: Who Moves from Welfare to Super?

The National government is presiding over significant growth in benefit dependency, in both numbers and the length of duration people remain dependent. When they took office in late November 2023 there were 369,000 work-age people on benefits. By the end of September 2025, that number had grown to 410,328 - or by just over eleven percent.

Given New Zealand's rapidly ageing population, I wondered how much the apparent growth is being suppressed by people moving off a benefit and onto Super. So I asked for data from MSD under the Official Information Act.

Lindsay Mitchell: National trying but nowhere near hard enough

RNZ's headline reads:

"Jobseeker: Parents earning more than $65k must support 18-19yo children"

Inter-generational welfare dependence is a thing. A big thing.

2014 actuarial findings revealed: