Woman hires billboard in benefit protest

PHIL DOYLE/Fairfax Media

LOUD AND PROUD: Trinette Tawse with her huge billboard protest.

A woman who has been battling with the Ministry of Social Development for eight years over her benefit entitlement has voiced her frustrations in a giant billboard.

Trinette Tawse paid for the hoarding to be erected yesterday at a carpark at Auckland's Victoria Park Market. It claims the government department "pays plenty of Kiwis to sit on their butts" while its policies drive "hard grafting Kiwis into bankruptcy".

Tawse has been refused benefits because she has a portfolio of property, heavily mortgaged, to provide for her future.

"I found the process so unjust. Everything I did to help myself was ring-fenced by them to the point where in the end they obstructed my last possibility to provide for myself and my retirement," she said.

"I'm sure as hell not going to have a poor retirement because I've worked hard all my life."

Tawse approached Winz in 2002, after losing her management job.

In her early 50s at the time, she found it hard to find another job. She used equity from an investment property she had saved for to buy further rental property.

She didn't live in any of the houses because she couldn't afford the mortgage. But Winz told her to use the money in the properties or their rental income to live on.

Winz case notes from a 2003 meeting read: "The net equity she has that is not used as a home is treated as a cash asset for benefit purposes, therefore she would not qualify for an accommodation supplement or special benefit."

She said she was told she may still qualify for an unemployment benefit if she could prove the property wasn't making a profit.

She picked up part-time work and invested in a taxi rank.

The business didn't work and Tawse said she had to finance someone into buying it. She returned to Winz but was told the money the taxi driver was repaying her for the loan was seen as income.

Tawse said the loan was defaulted on and she was granted a sickness benefit. She claims a Winz officer suggested she go bankrupt.

She said she tried commission-selling but did not make enough to come off the benefit. She said she was later found to have illegally failed to declare this income and was sent a bill for more than $8000 which she has refused to pay.

She had to move house and approached Winz for help with removal costs.

"They suddenly want to investigate my trust, even though I have provided prior financial statement and they have granted me a benefit.

"They stop my benefit without notice and I am forced to sleep on a friend's floor," she said.

A letter from a Winz's financial analyst which Tawse gave to Sunday News reads: "The client had resources that could generate $***** if invested on term deposit. I would not consider that she would qualify or in fact need a bond or rental advance, she has plenty of resources to call upon."

She said she was instructed to live in one of her houses that did not have a mortgage but was being used to meet the other's expenses. Tawse is not on a benefit and is working part-time at a sports club and cleaning.

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