As a politician Social Development Minister Paula Bennett takes no prisoners, even when she is at risk of being stranded in no-man’s land. This week she brought her guns to bear on a couple of beneficiaries who dared to question the Govt over cutting training allowances. Did she go too far in releasing details of the benefits received by two solo mothers who had criticised the cuts? She was accused of breaching privacy law. Some commentators have called for her to surrender the Ministerial warrant, in your dreams, would have been her answer. John Key backed his feisty Minister, saying he is “comfortable” with her decision. The two mothers say they feel bruised by the experience, especially the public reaction on talkback and comments on news media sites criticising beneficiaries.

One of the mothers says she’s grateful for the $553.95 a week she receives but it is not enough to live on and fund a tertiary education as well. The other mother who receives $725 net a week had been given $9560 under an enterprise allowance scheme to start a cleaning business which subsequently closed because she has ongoing illness problems. The Minister says she doesn’t intend a “blanket practice” of releasing information on all those who speak out but she will do so again if people misrepresent their situation. As a Beehive insider puts it: “Bennett won’t take that stuff lying down.” The basic issue where public money is involved is the disclosure of full information. In claiming the Govt was limiting their prospects of escaping the benefit the two women could not expect the validity of their case to be accepted without all the relevant information.

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