Upston LouiseClauses 1 and 2Hon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Madam Chair for the opportunity to speak on the title and commencement of the Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill. For those people who have just tuned in to this debate social security legislation covers $25 billion worth of taxpayer spending each and every year—$25 billion. What we've seen is an absolute farce of a process by the Government who have picked up a piece of legislation that was drafted by the previous Government put a 500-page Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) on the Table within hours of the second reading being planned—no public consultation no explanation in this House.The National Party members have diligently tried to improve this legislation and then again we've had further SOPs tabled by the Minister in charge of this legislation Carmel Sepuloni and a flat-out refusal by the Minister in the chair to answer any questions about SOPs that no member of public has sighted or had the opportunity to debate and have also denied this House of Representatives—the people's House—any explanation whatsoever on SOP 49. That is an absolutely outrageous abuse of process in this House.I'm still staggered that we have a Minister that will refuse to answer basic questions on an SOP and whether or not there are policy changes because the Minister has previously said No policy changes. No none at all."—and given no explanation at all. It's quite disgraceful and I think this is a sad day in this committee when this Labour-led Government won't allow any scrutiny on a piece of legislation the social security legislation which is legislation that protects New Zealanders in their time of need—$25 billion of taxpayer money a year. It didn't put the 501-page SOP out for consultation wouldn't refer the bill back to a select committee for consideration and then in this committee flatly refuses to answer any questions about further SOPs that are tabled.Now members of the public should be absolutely outraged. Taxpayers work hard each and every day to provide a fair welfare system that supports people in need and they have zero opportunity—zero opportunity—to have their say. Then in this committee—the final opportunity to provide scrutiny on this legislation—a simple question was asked of the Minister in the chair to provide answers explanation and detail about an SOP and we got zero answers. I think that's an absolute disgrace. I think it's appalling for this House of Representatives. Actually I don't believe it can call itself a House of Representatives because the Government of the day don't believe in allowing the public the chance to have their say on the most significant area of spending that this Government makes decisions on on behalf of taxpayers.So it is a disgrace. This is a process that's just been appalling right from day one where this Government has refused the opportunity for members of the public to have submissions and then having shut down that debate won't answer simple questions on an SOP that's been tabled since this legislation's been well under way. I think that is an absolute and outright disgrace and a sad day for this Parliament. Just yesterday the Speaker of the House was talking about engagement and a parliamentary engagement strategy. Well I suggest number one should be "Make sure that the public have their say on legislation where the spending is $25 billion a year." It's a bit of a no-brainer.I want to go on to some of the other areas because this is the debate on the title and commencement of a very substantial piece of legislation—legislation that was basically first drafted 50 years ago and things have changed a lot since then. It's not about welfare reform; this legislation is about bringing it into the aegis—so when a Parliament makes substantial changes to update legislation like this it does require significant scrutiny. One of the areas that I want to bring to the public's attention—because as I mentioned earlier they don't have the opportunity to with this 501-page SOP and the three SOPs by the Minister that have followed without any debate or any answer or explanation from the Minister in this committee. The Labour Party has preached about putting children at the heart of everything they do; at the core of their policy. Yet their first piece of legislation around social security—what does it do? It makes it harder for children in some of the most challenging and challenged circumstances to access support that they could've otherwise accessed.So yes it's the principle of social investment which is about changing lives. Bill English's work was about changing lives. Social investment one of the principles that this Government has ripped out of this legislation was about ensuring that those who need taxpayer support more than ever—we could focus on their needs; we could focus on what support they required and intervene earlier than before. That gives the opportunity to have the greatest impact on those lives. So the principles of social investment have been ripped out of this legislation which is a huge lost opportunity.But more than that the other changes that the Minister's SOP—and I'm going to state this in the committee because the public didn't have the opportunity to see these changes and to provide their views on it. There are very practical changes that would make a difference in the lives of Kiwis who most need the Government's support. Yet what does this Government do? It removes them. So whether it's decisions about unsupported children whether it's about simple practical measures like shared care the Government has decided not to make it easier for front-line staff to support those who need it most which is quite a misfit because this is supposedly—for those of you who are watching at home—the Government that purports to be a kinder Government and a more caring Government. What do they do? They make it harder for front-line staff in the Ministry of Social Development to support the people who need their support the most—kind of interesting.It's $25 billion that taxpayers provide to support people in need and I don't think there would be a taxpayer out there who doesn't want to make sure that people who are struggling have easier access to their support. So it is a sad day in this Parliament. It's a sad day for a Government completely missing an opportunity to do their best for children in need to do their best for families in need and an absolute outrage that members of the public don't have the opportunity to participate in this process. And that the Minister sitting in the chair doesn't even answer a simple question or provide any explanation of an SOP that's been tabled in this committee with zero input from anyone. It's a disgrace."