Jim Anderton MP, Leader of the Alliance

Alliance spokesperson on employment
http://www.alliance.org.nz/

1. What are your employment policies? What employment initiatives will your government take?

The Alliance is committed to full employment and to help achieve this will extend the role of government to include responsibility for economic and regional development.

Long term sustainable employment is only possible if a different approach is taken to our macro economic policy. Unemployment occurs because the government tolerates it. The Alliance will restructure Treasury and reorient the Reserve Bank's monetary policy to ensure that full employment is a key economic goal. This will be done in conjunction with our regionally based economic development plan, which will create jobs.

The Alliance sees investment in regions as the key to addressing the problem of unemployment and will provide an initial capital fund of $200.million to an Economic Development Fund. Under this fund, the Alliance aims to create 80,000 new jobs in its term as part of the next government.

The Alliance will establish Regional Development Agencies to work through local communities to utilise the human and physical resources peculiar to each region to build new industries and to create sustainable job opportunities.

Investment opportunities could be as wide in scope as new housing built by young building apprentices or new technology electronics companies such as Tait Electronics.

The Alliance will establish a Ministry of Economic Development and Employment, which will take over the economic development policy functions of Treasury and implement a range of active economic development policies.

2. What is your party view on the future of work and income?

The Alliance is committed to full employment, an adequate income and a good standard of social well-being for all. The Alliance has a range of policies to achieve these things.

Alliance policies on work place relations are designed to increase social well being around issues of work and income. We will increase the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour, legislate for 4 weeks minimum annual leave entitlement and 12 weeks paid parental leave. We will abolish the Employment Contracts Act. The industrial relations environment will be reformed to emphasise co-operation and real wage and productivity improvements.

The Alliance recognises that the role and nature of work is changing radically. Advanced technology has reduced the need to work forty hours a week to meet our collective needs. The Alliance will investigate measures that will shorten the working week and encourage work to be shared more equitably.

To ensure that all people have an adequate income, the Alliance will instigate a major review of the income support system to raise the standard of living for beneficiaries.

There will be an investigation into the feasibility of a universal basic income (UBI) to provide non-stigmatised support to waged and unwaged workers, including caregivers.

3. What changes, if any, would you make to the new Winz department?

The Alliance will get rid of the corporate business culture at WINZ which has it calling beneficiaries customers. We will re-introduce the ethic of public service and the focus will be on ensuring that the needs of beneficiaries are met.

There are many internal systems and processes that need to be reviewed in order to ensure that the staff at WINZ deliver adequate assistance to beneficiaries.

The Alliance will undertake to review these in consultation with the advocacy groups that have the day to day knowledge of the failings of the current systems and policies of WINZ.

Under our Economic Development policy, there will be a wide sweeping change in the way employment is handled by government. In the light of this, the role that WINZ plays in employment policy will be reviewed.

The Alliance will create a new Ministry of Economic Development and Employment. This Ministry will have responsibility for employment matters and the Minister of Employment will appoint regional employment commissioners who will take an overview of the employment needs of the region. These officials will work flexibly with local communities to find and develop employment opportunities.

4. What are your policies on the Community Wage?

The Alliance will rescind the Community Wage. We will revoke the changes made brought in under the legislation the Social Security Act (amendment no 5) and the Social Security (work-test) Amendment Act.

This means that we will reverse those changes made to benefits (such as cutting the sickness benefit rate, changing the criteria for the Invalids Benefit, excluding students from income support) as well as getting rid of the requirement to engage in `organised activities' as set by WINZ.

The Alliance rejects work-for-the-dole schemes as punitive and doomed to failure and will invest in real job creation.

5. Will you make any changes or additions to the Winz employment subsidised work programmes?

The current employment subsidised work programmes represent a pitiful investment in employment creation by the current government.

The Alliance will pursue the goal of full, sustainable employment and in doing so will substantially invest in the creation of real job opportunities through its regional economic development plan.

The structure for developing employment opportunities will be the responsibility of the new Ministry of Economic Development and Employment.

6. What are your policies and initiatives on education and training for the unemployed?

The Alliance is committed to a free, high quality, fully funded, public tertiary education system. The student loan scheme will be scrapped and there will be no fees. This will allow all people to have access to free tertiary education in public institutions.

The Alliance will review the current approach taken to training including the roles of NZQA, Skill New Zealand and the ITOs in order to develop a co-ordinated vocational training plan for New Zealand.

Our vocational training plan will ensure that training provision has clear employment, industry, and local economic development objectives. The Alliance training policy is part of our Regional Economic Development policy.

The Alliance will aim to ensure that all people under 20 have access to a job, trades or technical training or full-time education. It will also ensure that people will be able to train and re-train throughout their working lives. Training will take place in adequately resourced training facilities the standards of which are properly monitored and which provide qualifications leading to access to jobs.

7. How will you encourage local government to be active in solving unemployment?

Local government will be encouraged through the visible commitment to regional development in their area. The Alliance plan for regionally based economic development will see government enter a partnership with local government to strengthen the regions of New Zealand. Under this plan initiatives and proposals will not be imposed by central agencies but will happen in partnership will industry and communities, and local government will play a key role in this.

Partnership 2000 will offer real opportunity for economic development in local areas, with the establishment of an Economic Development Fund and Regional Development Agencies. The EDF and Regional Development Agencies will take a flexible approach to their work and will work closely with industry and communities, including local government, to develop guidelines for investment in sustainable development.

8. How will you encourage community groups working in this field?

Community groups will be encouraged by being given real support and resources. Regional Development Agencies will work through local communities to utilise the human and physical resources specific to each region to build new industries and create sustainable job opportunities.

Community groups will be encouraged to participate in the development of guidelines for investment in economic development in their local region.

Their employment initiatives will be eligible for funding under the Economic Development Fund.