'We're not asking much': Christopher Luxon defends benefit sanctions

Only a small number of those on the Jobseeker benefit aren't meeting their obligations, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says.

Opposition parties have slammed the government's move to crackdown on beneficiaries, calling it a "reheated failed approach".

'Work check-ins' and the initial sanction regime was already in force. Cabinet had agreed to further bolster it from early 2025, meaning jobseekers would have to reapply for the benefit every six months - instead of annually - and any transgressions would remain on record for two years, instead of one.

The law change would also allow new sanctions, such as mandatory community work or money management payment cards.

Luxon told Morning Report the vast majority of people on the benefit met their obligations, but everyone should be prepared to work.

"If you're not prepared to do that, that's not fair, that's not right."

He said the obligations were very simple.

"We're not asking much, we're asking you to get a CV together, show up at a job interview, and importantly meet with your case manager; that's not rocket science, it's not difficult obligations when your fellow Kiwis are helping you out.

"So for those people who want to take the rights of being a New Zealander, meaning they get a benefit, we also expect them to have responsibilities to do their job, which is to find a job."

Asked about the unemployment rate, Luxon said the responsibility was to look for a job, and people would not be sanctioned if they couldn't find one.

And those who didn't meet the conditions?

"What I'd hope is that they actually get obligated and meet some pretty basic obligations," Luxon said.

'Pushing them further into poverty'

Wellington's Downtown Community Ministry chief executive Steve Turnock said people were not getting access to the resources they needed to help them off a benefit.

"What works is people having adequate income so they are able to live with some degree of dignity, they are able to pay for their basic needs, they need access to healthcare, access to addiction services, access to affordable housing and being part of a community and social inclusion," he told Morning Report.

"The fact that they're not getting access to those resources is pushing them further into poverty, further into despair, and now we're introducing further policies that target this population that are already on the severe end of many other policies and the negative impacts of those policies."

Auckland Action Against Poverty spokesperson Brooke Pao Stanley told Morning Report sanctions don't work and do more harm than good.

"It further exacerbates people who are stressed out and communities at their threshold, and it's unjust.

"I think the barriers (to getting people into work) are the culture at Work and Income, I think the barriers are the priority that society places on people to be in work, and often work that isn't meaningful to them."