As benefit numbers fall, the Green Party says keeping that support going is vital.

There are more than 13,000 fewer people on a benefit compared to September last year.

But the money being given out for one-off payments has increased to nearly $100 million dollars.

Green Party Social Development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March told Andrew Dickens we need to remember that people on benefits can be performing useful labour.

“Many of them are full-time parents or people who have picked up caregiving because somebody else in the family isn’t able to do so.”

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