28 Apr 2017

Jenny Shipley launches another attack on middle class

From Morning Report, 7:42 am on 28 April 2017
New Zealand's first woman Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, Parliament, December 1997

New Zealand's first woman Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, Parliament, December 1997 Photo: Supplied

The former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley has made another stinging attack on the middle class for taking social welfare she says they don't need.

In the 1991 'mother of all budgets' in her role as Minister of Social Welfare, Dame Jenny presided over sharp cutbacks to state benefits, and would later become prime minister.

She says at the time she tried to take welfare off the middle class, but now they're just as dependent on it as ever.

The interview with the former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley is part of a five-part radio and podcast series called 'The 9th Floor' conducted by Guyon Espiner.