National's working on its social welfare and education policies for the next election and they've let a few snippets leak out to test the water.

The headlines - a 25 percent cut in the number of people on benefits.

A weird one on the gangs. Gang members can get a benefit but only if they can prove they're not making money from stand-overs or cooking P, mmmm, easy to say, but how the heck do you implement it.

The one that caught our eye this morning is this idea of a $3000 fine for parents, when their children leave school early but don't start work or go into further training.

So, ping the parents when their children leave school before 18 unless they're starting a job or further study.

Right now, the school leaving age is actually 16.

So this is about zooming in on that wedge of 16-18 year-olds and there's nearly 20 thousand in that group who aren't working, this I think is the smart bit.

It is such a crucial time when a lot of the attitude to work and life in general gets laid down.

Get them on the right track then, and you can arguably set a person up for life.

The same can be said for letting them get on the wrong track.

Using the threat of a fine to put pressure on the parents to put pressure on the kids...I dunno.

The bottom line here is that we're now a year out from an election.

National wants this stuff out in the public arena to see how we react.

It knows there's a section of the electorate, and I'm part of it, that likes the sound of tough on welfare.

Welfare is about helping those who can't help themselves, seeing people through a rough patch...it's not meant to be a lifestyle.

Under the current government we've got businesses saying they can't get skilled staff, yet the numbers on the dole are going up.

This will play well with National's core audience. Is that enough, playing to the crowd?

And whether they could actually make any of it work in office, is another thing entirely.