Martin Tracey: Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is subject to correctionMartin Tracey: Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 23 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14234. Text is subject to correction.]TRACEY MARTIN (NZ First): Kia ora. Can I firstly thank members of the House for their kind words and their support for this bill the Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill. This bill does have personal meaning to me but over time I have gained a deeper knowledge of the many and varied families that it affects.I want to take this 5 minutes to be very very clear not only for the members of this House but also for the public and for those families particularly that they should submit their stories to the select committee to make sure that the picture of what they are dealing with is understood by the wider community of New Zealand taxpayers so that when the $16 million possible price tag is put out there it does not stop conversation. This is about children and their equity in circumstances beyond their control. We can talk about the money and we can move money around but really what this is about is that an orphan is an orphan. It is interesting to me that when I have been asked to speak on this bill people have asked me not to use the term “orphan”. They do not like it; it is not a word for today. But they are orphans.Today I spent lunchtime with a grandmother whose daughter was murdered. She is now raising her 6-year-old grandson. She gave up a six-figure income because that child needs her to be there. She is a grandparent. She is not of retirement age. She requires and lives on this benefit for that child—$10700 a year—but because she is a kin carer because she has a blood relationship with that child she does not receive the $1000 to $1700 a year that she could receive. She does not receive an allowance for psych services for that child. There are some ACC payments of $134 a week. I want New Zealand to hear that this is not massive amounts of money. This is not grandparents becoming rich off this as a scam. This is a real equity issue for these children.I want to acknowledge Melissa Lee and just take up the comment about the role that grandparents play in different ethnicities. My mother was raised by her grandmother. My mother was then taken in under a whāngai relationship by MaudeMohi. My mother now lives in an extended family situation with our family and assists with our grandchildren. Grandparents do it all the time.I ask every member of this House who is a grandparent and every member of this House who is an aunt or an uncle to now take a moment to remember the last time you played with and visited those grandchildren or nieces and nephews. Now I want you toimagine that tonight in the dead of the night there is a knock on your door and a police officer with a Child Youth and Family officer shows up saying: “Somebody has to take in these children.” There has either been a murder or there is now drug addiction mental illness or another very very real reason why these children need to come into your home. Can you continue working? Is your home big enough to take those children?There is another grandmother I am working with in Wellington here. She got a call from the Australian authorities. She flew to Sydney to pick up four grandchildren and bring them back here. She gave up her $60000-a-year job. Due to the drug addiction of the parents she now is looking after four grandchildren. I ask you to think about it in your own life before we make a decision that this is something we cannot do.I thank the House for its time I thank the House for its support and I look forward to working with the select committee going forward. Kia ora.Bill read a first time.Billreferred to the Social Services Committee.