Despite what the Labour Party will have the public believe, the subsequent child policy in 2012 was about reducing long-term welfare dependency. The impacts of long-term welfare dependency, particularly on children, are deeply harmful—not even Dr Webb can argue that away. Of the thousands of children in New Zealand who live in material hardship, 60 percent of them are in benefit-dependent households, so to put measures in place to keep their parents dependent on benefits is a retrograde step. 