Twyford Phil: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9189. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū): Yes indeed ring the bell. Give that member Alfred Ngaro a chocolate fish and please please make him sit down.A number of members in this debate have evoked the spirit of Margaret Thatcher and I actually think that it is very very appropriate that the debate on this beneficiary-bashing bill the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill should be dedicated to the spirit of the late Baroness Maggie Thatcher. It was she who presided over a period of privatisation of State assets the destruction of the welfare State and the smashing of the unions and in her society she delivered levels of poverty and inequality and social deprivation that had not been seen since the 1920s. That was her legacy: poverty and inequality that had not been seen in her society since the 1920s. The National Party members on that side of the House are very welcome to wrap themselves in the shroud of Maggie Thatcher and it is entirely appropriate that this petty nasty divisive punitive little bill that Paula Bennett has brought to the House should be dedicated to the spirit of Margaret Thatcher.Sam Lotu-Iiga started off his speech by quoting Maggie Thatcher who said that without economic liberty there would be no liberty. I sort of agree with that actually because if you do not have freedom from hunger and you do not have freedom from poverty and exploitation how can you possibly enjoy any other human freedoms? But this bill is not about economic liberty; this is a bill that is based on social obligations that imply that a parent relying on the temporary assistance of the State is a poor parent. It is a bill that imposes obligations of drug testing going against the expert submissions that came to the Social Services Committee that said that those provisions would do more harm than good. This is a bill that has work obligations based on the assumption that people who are on benefits do not want to work. This is not a bill that extends economic liberty to the citizens of this country; this is a nasty punitive petty little bill.I wonder whether Paula Bennett when she is in her political retirement will look back on this bill with a feeling of shame and disappointment. Is this what she came to this Parliament to achieve? Is this what she came to achieve—not to develop the potential of our people not to unleash the creativity of a whole generation of young people in this country not to empower people not to step up and wrap support services round people but to actually punish to put down and to denigrate? This is a nasty political divisive law and you know it Minister.Let me give the House some evidence. Let me give you some evidence—I will give you some evidence of why this bill is a nasty petty piece of politics. Nick Smith resigned last year over the ACC debacle. Within 6 days of that story breaking the first part of this package was announced. Oh it may be a coincidence—maybe that was just some random convergence of events. All right then the Kim Dotcom - John Banks story broke and the heat was really going on the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was up to his eyeballs in the Kim Dotcom story and then what happened? Paula Bennett announced the whole policy around contraception for long-term beneficiaries. Then in June we saw a rash of resignations from the ACC board and a series of revelations about Bronwyn Pullar and Bill English made the first of three different announcements about drug testing. That was raised again on 21 July a month later and re-announced for the third time on 28 August—all at the very times that this Government was feeling the heat over its own political scandals. And then the police report on the John Banks - Dotcom scandal was released. Coincidentally Paula Bennett then announced the whole package around social obligations.This is the “Minister of Cheap Nasty Political Diversions”. That is what is going on—cynical manipulative divisive politics brought to you by National which would rather demonise and stigmatise people who rely on the temporary assistance of the State than do anything about jobs and develop this economy.