Barker Rick: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Barker Rick: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:606;Page:3313] 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 I want to say how interesting it was to listen to David Carter speak and I make the observation that that speech showed how little his opinion is worth. I will refer to one minor matter—before going on to the substance of some other issues—in relation to representation for the agricultural sector. I tell David Carter that in Hawke’s Bay there are five councils four of which are chaired by farmers. That is 80 percent and farmers represent much less than 80 percent of the population.  
I do not necessarily see that there is anything to change about that; it is just that there is good quality representation. The people respect that and they will elect councillors where they see good quality representation whether they are farmers schoolteachers business people or whatever. The member is barking up the wrong tree completely.  
The second issue that the member completely missed was the substance of the Prime Minister’s speech. Yes it might have been boring but when there is a speech like that I like boring. What did the Prime Minister talk about in her speech? She talked about growth skills research and development clusters for growth innovation exports transport improvements in health improvements in mental health communications broad-band Internet access to rural communities and early childhood education. The list goes on and on and it must have been so disappointing to the Opposition that in every sector there have been improvements and advances made by this Government in 3 short years.  
I was pleased to hear the Leader of the Opposition Bill English say on the basis of the Prime Minister’s speech that we are here for at least 9 years. Well I have news for him. We will do better than 9 years because this is a very energetic and hard-working Government. [ 
Interruption 
] I want to make the observation to Lindsay Tisch that he should not be so demeaning of good results. He should not be like that. He should accept success and say: “Hallelujah sisters and brothers this is a great job and a great Government.”  
 He should listen to the statistics today. Unemployment is down to 4.9 percent. Lindsay Tisch should be celebrating that and saying that this Parliament and this Government are doing a great job to reduce the scourge of unemployment.  
I urge Lindsay Tisch to listen to some figures; he will like them. On 7 January 2000 there were 195000 unemployed people in this country. On 5 January 2001 the figure was 182000. On 4 January 2002 the figure was 166000. On 3 January this year the figure was 147000. Mr Tisch should celebrate the fact that when this Government took office for every four people who walked through the doors of a Department of Work and Income office to get the unemployment benefit only three do now. Unemployment has fallen by 25 percent in this country and this Parliament should celebrate that. It should say that that is fantastic. I am sure Opposition members will try to decry that. However if they were honest they would say: “Great job.” Members should look at the headlines in the Taranaki newspaper: “Taranaki has more work than workers”. When have we seen a headline like that? “Taranaki has more work than workers”. Some fantastic work is going on in Taranaki.  
I pay tribute in part to the staff of the Department of Work and Income and particularly to the policies of this Government. Under the leadership of Steve Maharey Work and Income has changed dramatically. Yes the tables chairs and the decor might look similar but what goes on in there is radically different. One of the things that has changed under this Government is that instead of saying that all knowledge and wisdom comes out of Wellington we have decentralised. Now we require regional commissioners to develop plans for improving employment prospects in their region with their staff and to develop initiatives that are suitable for their particular area. We have regionalised many of the activities.  
Steve Maharey in his leadership has said that he wants the regional commissioners to take initiative to be active and to move more and more to individual case management. We want case managers to look at resolving issues for individuals and to try to assist them to get the necessary wherewithal to get into employment. We are looking at improving skills training education mentoring the unemployed to give them in-work support providing financial and other resources and making sure that they are capable of taking up the work available.  
There has never been any shortage of work in this country. There has always been plenty of work but we have not been able to match the workers to the work available. Work and Income today is dedicating itself to making that happen. We are trying desperately to shift the unemployed to the employed. I shall give some examples. I came across one example in Nelson that I thought was fantastic and I have asked the service to put it across the country. If one walks into the Work and Income office in Nelson one is not automatically signed up to the unemployment benefit. One is asked to go to a seminar the next day. The first question people are asked when they get to the seminar is what are they doing there. People say that they have not got a job and they are asked why they have not got a job. They are asked where they worked before and what were the issues. The service is working with the unemployed in those areas directly through case management to enhance people’s opportunities to get employment. Signing up on the dole if they cannot get a job is the second worst option for them. The best option is to get them into employment and Nelson has been spectacularly successful at that. We are approaching several other initiatives like that around the country.  
Don Brash said in a speech the other day that he wanted the unemployed to line up outside a post office. The post office has gone if someone has not already told him that. The second most important part about that statement is that to line up every day to get a money handout will not solve the issue. We have to identify what the issues are for those individuals that prevent them from getting a job. Very often it is health issues sometimes it is skill issues and sometimes it is a whole range of issues. However we have to try to get those people into a situation where they can get a job.  
I shall give another couple of examples. I spoke to people from the Methodist Mission in Christchurch. Work and Income and the Methodist Mission in Christchurch have a strategic relationship. The Methodist Mission has people whom it calls community advocates. They take on individual unemployed people to help them resolve their personal issues or barriers to getting a job. Those issues can be mental health health or a whole range of things. They have been spectacularly successful. A very high number of people who were seen by Work and Income as not finding it easy to get into employment have transited from unemployment to employment. That is working to solve the problem and I support that 100 percent.  
Another fantastic example I saw was in Dunedin North with Presbyterian Support. The Knox Church down there said it was concerned about the level of unemployed in the north-east valley. So it found itself sufficient money to buy a nursery. By having a nursery propagating plants and wanting to get into some very interesting things such as the export of saffron it is employing people who were formerly unemployed paying them the minimum wage and then giving them work skills and resolving other issues that those people have so that they can move on to being employed. It has been spectacularly successful in helping to reduce unemployment in Dunedin North. 
Another strategic relationship between Work and Income and the 4 TRADES trust in Dunedin is helping to get people into apprenticeships. In west Auckland Work and Income officers identify opportunities where there will be work in the future and we have seen a spectacular jump in that area in the number of people employed in apprenticeships in the boat-building industry. 
What is happening is that Work and Income officers are taking it as their personal challenge to help reduce the level of unemployment in this country. They are working directly with the individuals on their books to help them resolve the issues they have and make them more suitable to employment. They are giving people the skills knowledge and confidence to get jobs and they are succeeding beyond my expectations. I have travelled around the country and spoken to many people in Work and Income offices. Almost universally I found them to be good ordinary Kiwis who are dedicated hard-working and professional about their job. They want to make this country a better place to be. They are responding positively to this Government’s challenge to them to come to work every day and look at creative ideas and initiatives that can improve the quality of life for the people they are there to look after. They do not treat the unemployed as simply another statistic. They are working hard to ensure that they do their best to get those people into employment and a positive future career. 
The situation is completely different from that portrayed by Dr Brash. I have written to Dr Brash inviting him to go any Work and Income office throughout New Zealand—or if he does not want to I will organise a tour for him—to see how good things are happening in Work and Income in New Zealand.