The Green Party says sanctions against beneficaries do not encourage young people out of work back into employment.
A new approach from the National Party involves helping those who have been on the benefit more than a year find work - but sanctions in some cases if they don't stick with it.
Green Party social development spokesperson, Ricardo Menéndez March, says it's just "dog-whistle politics" and National is missing the point.
He says the Opposition doesn't seem to understand that a large proportion of those who have unemployed for a long time have health conditions, are care-givers or are already doing voluntary work.
He spoke to Corin Dann.