National promises random drug tests and lower pay for long-term Jobseekers
National would bring in random drug testing for people on Jobseeker Support, the main benefit for people who can work but do not have a job, alongside lower payments for long-term beneficiaries and longer stand-downs for people who leave jobs without good reason.
The proposal
The package, called 'Firm, fair, affordable welfare', was published on 8 October 2026 and attributed to social development spokesperson Louise Upston. National said a re-elected National government would keep the welfare system focused on employment and fair and affordable for taxpayers, according to the party release National.
Detail so far is limited. Random tests would apply to people on Jobseeker to check they are "ready for work" RNZ. It is similar to workplace testing many staff already face. Payment rates would fall for people who have been on a benefit for more than two years. The stand-down, the waiting period with no payment after leaving a job, would double for people who repeatedly leave jobs without good reason.
Reporting puts the maximum cut at $81 a week NZ Herald, with the Jobseeker cuts to apply from 2028 Newstalk ZB. National has also said 200,000 jobs are on the way.
Upston said drug testing was entirely reasonable. She said many people are expected to do it to get or keep jobs.
The response
Labour campaign chair Kieran McAnulty called the drug-testing proposal "frankly rubbish" and "quite offensive" to people trying to find a job. He said if National wants to randomly drug test beneficiaries, it should randomly drug test itself.
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson called the policy cruel. She said it was embarrassing, distracting, lazy politics of picking on struggling people. Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick pointed to unemployment at an 11-year high in response to National's jobs claim.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the idea could be a massive attack on people's freedoms. He warned the suggestion borders on fascist behaviour.
On MPs, National leader Christopher Luxon said he was open to MPs being drug tested. Peters said he would agree to MPs being drug tested.
ACT leader David Seymour supported the drug-testing plan. He said "people should have to work for their drugs". He was less supportive of the payment change. He called the proposal to lower the benefit rate for those on benefit for two of the previous three years a "cop-out".
The broader context here is familiar at the Beehive. Welfare conditions poll well with National and ACT voters, force Labour and the Greens to defend beneficiaries, and test coalition discipline. Peters criticising a National policy on freedom grounds while backing MP testing keeps his options open. Seymour backing the tests while calling the rate cut a "cop-out" does the same. The policy detail, costings and how random testing would operate under current social security law are still to be set out.
