Social Security Act 1938

[4] The development of social security policy, a commitment which all Labour MPs were enthusiastic about, but was itself a subject of considerable division within the government.

Finance Minister Walter Nash initially proposed a contributory, national insurance type scheme though the caucus rejected it.

Savage also announced that the bill would contain a provision that it would not come into force until 1 April 1939, thereby giving the opposition National Party the opportunity to revoke it if they won the election scheduled for October that year as an inducement to re-elect Labour for another term.

National Party leader Adam Hamilton said Labour was wrong to claim that the benefits were free as everyone would be in the tax-gatherer's net and have to pay for everything they received.

[4] Prominent National MP Sidney Holland unsuccessfully parodied Savage's description calling it "applied lunacy", which earned himself public displeasure.

[9] The largest apprehension came from the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association (BMA) over the implementation of free general practitioner consultations.

A 1939 government report in the United States of America for the Roosevelt administration described New Zealand as having made "the first attempt on a national scale to combine under one integrated system of economic security protection against all hazards which are covered by social insurance in other countries".