John,



We’re focused on holding the Government to account for it's lack of delivery on issues that affect the lives of all New Zealanders, like the cost-of-living crisis, making our communities safer, and delivering outcomes in health and education.



Catch up on the latest in politics with our Week in Review below.



→Probe needed into cost of living payment <[link removed]>→People living in cars has quadrupled under Labour <[link removed]>→88,324 submissions and Labour still isn’t listening on Three Waters <[link removed]>→Low unemployment hiding benefit dependency <[link removed]>Nicola Willis: Probe needed into cost of living payment



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Over the past few days, we have had people around the world contact us saying they have received the cost of living payment, despite being ineligible because they don’t live in New Zealand. They haven’t asked for it and many were embarrassed to receive it.



Alarmingly, Ministers have been unable to quantify the scale of payments made to ineligible people, with Minister Parker saying they ‘don’t know what they don’t know’. We do know that some recipients have been out of the country for many years, which suggests potentially hundreds of thousands of expat New Zealanders and former visa-holders could be caught in the mis-payment net.



We will be writing to the Auditor-General today to ask for an investigation to determine the scale of these mis-payments and to determine whether taxpayer funds have been used without the proper authority of Parliament.



The scale of these issues could be massive. We know that there are a million New Zealanders living overseas. We have had a report of someone who has lived in Dubai for 22 years has got it, and of people who have been living in Australia for many years receiving it.



The worst part of this is that it was entirely foreseeable. The Government was warned there would be a host of problems with the payment, and they went ahead with it anyway.



Read more from Nicola Willis <[link removed]>.



Chris Bishop: People living in cars has quadrupled under Labour



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Despite claiming they would fix New Zealand’s housing crisis, the number of people forced to live in cars under Labour has more than quadrupled to 480 in June 2022, from 108 in December 2017.



While in Opposition in 2017, Jacinda Ardern tweeted that ‘kids living in cars and motels is not a sign of care’. Yet under her watch, there are now over 370 more people sleeping in their cars every night and 4100 kids are waking up each morning in motel rooms.



Simply saying that you ‘care’ is not good enough. If you care about a problem, you act on it. There needs to be a plan, but Labour doesn’t have one and that’s why the problem is now exponentially worse.



Since Labour came to Government, rents are up $140 a week and 27,000 people are on the social housing waitlist, an increase of more than 21,000. People are being pushed out of the housing market because of Labour’s complete and utter failure to deliver on their housing promises.



This Government talks a big game, but nice words won’t get people out of their cars and into a home. Having a plan and delivering on that plan will, but sadly for New Zealanders, Labour can’t deliver anything except worse outcomes.



Read more from Chris Bishop <[link removed]>.



Simon Watts: 88,324 submissions and Labour still isn’t listening on Three Waters



Labour doesn’t care what the public has to say and will rush through its Three Waters legislation despite intense public opposition.



Parliament received an overwhelming 88,324 public submissions on the Water Services Entities Bill, so National suggested a time extension to consider them.



Despite all other political parties on the Parliamentary committee agreeing with an extension, Labour used its absolute majority to block it.



Labour also used its majority to prevent most of the 16,000 people and organisations who made submissions collected by the National Party, from making an oral submission.



A Parliamentary committee will now spend only four days travelling the country to hear submissions in-person from concerned communities. Astoundingly, advertising has already begun to fill executive positions in the water service entities, before the committee has heard a single submission.



National will repeal these broken reforms and will listen to New Zealanders, not shut them out.



Read more from Simon Watts <[link removed]>.



Hon Louise Upston: Low unemployment hiding benefit dependency



New Zealand’s low unemployment rate is masking the explosion in benefit dependency overseen by Labour.



Under Labour, 55 per cent more people are on the Jobseeker benefit longer than one year. Low unemployment is only positive if more people have jobs and fewer people depend on benefits. But that’s not what we’re seeing under this Government.



The Prime Minister said last week ‘it does matter to us as a Labour Government that we have people in the dignity of work’. Why then, has her Government allowed 50,000 more New Zealanders to become dependent on the Jobseeker benefit under their watch, particularly at a time when employers across the country are desperately crying out for workers?



Labour is squandering a golden opportunity to connect people on a benefit with job vacancies, and is instead creating a social and economic crisis down the road.



Clearly, Labour’s approach to welfare is failing Kiwis. The Government needs to be doing far more to help people stuck on the Jobseeker benefit to overcome barriers to getting into paid work.



Read more from Hon Louise Upston <[link removed]>.



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