Ngarewa-Packer DebbieDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): This policy previously introduced by National has been extremely punitive and cruel and has done more harm than good already marginalising predominantly Māori and yes wāhine. By removing this policy parents and caregivers can do exactly that—parent and care-give without fear of ridicule and shame. This policy smacked of beneficiary bashing. It is actually shame—whakamā—that is taking our whānau out and killing us. It's the shame of being able to be too whakamā to ask for help. It's the shame of being too whakamā to ask for addiction support to sit there and say If I put my head up I'm going to be noticed for all the things that I don't want to be noticed for." In fact what we've done is create a generation of those that are too scared to ask for help when they're most vulnerable. So we stand in acknowledgment of Minister Carmel Sepuloni and the Government for bringing this bill to the House. It's good to see the Government implementing some recommendations from the Welfare Expert Advisory Group. However we do implore that it goes further and we need it to go fully further in realising more of the recommendations. We make acknowledgment to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's hard work in providing recommendations to the Minister. In 2019 the group released its report Whakamana Tāngata restoring dignity to social security in Aotearoa which identified that incomes are inadequate for our people including those receiving benefits and those in low-paid work. Current levels of support fail to cover even basic costs for many of our whānau let alone allowing them to meaningfully participate in their communities. Many of my esteemed colleagues to my left and opposite have referred to those on the ground those who have the reality of living in these situations and it's that that we need to talk about. Our whānau haven't rocked up to the Work and Income New Zealand office and willingly said "Put me on a benefit." These are whānau who have endured all sorts of situations from economic unemployment and redundancies to relationship issues and we actually need to put faces to our people here. There are hundreds of thousands of our whānau living in poverty in Aotearoa and material hardship is increasing. Around 200000 tamariki are living in poverty. So it's really concerning when I see our colleagues to my right talking about giving Māori back our independence especially when they're the first to shun mana motuhake the minute we mention it. Te Paati Māori's income policy Oranga Tangata talks about the importance of raising the minimum wage to $25 per hour and legislating for an annual increase to keep up with the costs of living. We talk about guaranteeing pay equity for all of our Māori nurses and our teachers doubling baseline benefit levels individualising benefits removing all penalties and sanctions and work-test obligations cancelling income support - related debt and ensuring that additional grants do not need to be paid back in future and raising abatement rates for benefits and student allowances. In short when we talk about our whānau here that are enduring all sorts of situations we're talking about people like myself who have also been single parents who have also sat there and had to talk about and think about "How am I going to get through the night? Where's my next $5 for my bread and milk going to come from?" and the last thing we need is people out in our community judging. We will never ever be able to address poverty and the complex social issues that come with that if we keep making it a shame to be able to reach out and ask for help. What needs to happen—and Te Paati Māori will continue to say and bring faces and places and voices to this House—is we need to continue to advocate for low-income whānau. It's important the Government works to support low-income whānau through implementing the rest of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's recommendations. I'd also like to ask that we take time to actually talk about what it is that we as whānau in the first thousand days and it was talked about very clearly across there with Terisa Ngobi. We have with us whānau that belong as pā harakeke. We don't exist just in the 999 days or the thousand days; we exist before we're born. How we decide to actually look after our whānau and our pā harakeke and how we decide to whakamana our whānau when they need it including our tamariki is really important for this House to contemplate. For those that are sitting there making it seem so easy to be on a benefit I suggest you go out there and look at those who are volunteering and still doing everything they can to get ahead. Kia ora. We'd like to commend this bill to the House. Thank you."