Ardern Jacinda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is subject to correctionArdern Jacinda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 05 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15296. Text is subject to correction.]6.JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to theMinister for Social Development: How many children has her Government lifted out of poverty since 2009 if any?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development): There is no one measure of poverty. However according to the latest Ministry of Social Development household incomes report child poverty rates were flat between 2009 and 2012 on all standard measures. I think that is pretty remarkable considering the global financial crisis and what the country went through at that time. In addition between 2011 and 2012 inequality as measured by the Gini index fell significantly. In fact the report shows that the widest gap in incomes actually occurred in the mid-2000s and peaked in 2004.Jacinda Ardern: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I may have missed this in the—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Can I just understand what the point of order is?Jacinda Ardern: I asked quite a direct question and I am not sure that the Minister—Mr SPEAKER: Order! No very definitely the Minister answered the question immediately.Jacinda Ardern: If her Government is measuring and acting on child poverty and child well-being why did the United Nations make the criticism in this report that “Budgetary processes did not enable identification of the children in greatest need.” and that more is needed to be done to lift children out of poverty or is she claiming that the UN is wrong?Hon PAULA BENNETT: What I am aware of is that because of when we reported back on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to Unicef it had not actually taken into consideration the Vulnerable Children Bill or the Children’s Action Plan so that work was not in place. The Vulnerable Children’s Board was not there. There is a whole lot of work that has actually gone on and is not being considered as part of the report. I do not think that anyone denies that there are children living in this country at a standard that we do not find acceptable but that would be why we have put such a range of things in place that make the biggest difference. We are warming up their homes we are getting them immunised we are getting them into early childhood education and we are making sure that we wrap support around those children who are most vulnerable and that is making a difference.Jacinda Ardern: How many children will the Vulnerable Children Bill lift out of poverty and how?Hon PAULA BENNETT: The work of the Vulnerable Children Bill goes beyond just those children in poverty. It is working with those most vulnerable who are at serious risk of harm and neglect in this country. We see that that will affect actually thousands of children. You just need to take the number of notifications that we get to Child Youth and Family which is around 150000. Of them 60000 require further action. That means that we have nearly 90000 that do not. We need to work with those children at a different response so we are getting in earlier so that they are safer and grow up and have a happier and healthier life.Jacinda Ardern: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was quite explicit. It was “How many children will the Vulnerable Children Bill lift out of poverty and how?” and the Minister said that it was doing something else entirely. In her first answer though she claimed that the UN had not taken into account the impact of the Vulnerable Children Bill on poverty so I am left quite confused by that response.Mr SPEAKER: I acknowledge the point that the member has made. In my opinion on this occasion the Minister basically was saying it is impossible to give an exact number. She then talked about thousands being affected. I do not think the way forward is to repeat the question because in this case I think it has been addressed—I accept it was not to your satisfaction—but I am happy to allow the member an additional supplementary question.Jacinda Ardern: Will the Vulnerable Children Bill lift children out of poverty?Hon PAULA BENNETT: It is one part of what is a much bigger piece of work for these children. Actually they are not getting beaten hurt and sexually abused because their parents are poor. That is an ongoing complex piece of work that needs to take in and address more than just the income of that family. Actually poverty is relative. We have many many thousands of people who do not have enough money but they do not treat their children as appallingly as what we have seen. That is where our attention is at and I am unapologetic about it.Jacinda Ardern: Does she accept that the last time Unicef acknowledged that New Zealand had made progress on lifting children out of poverty was when Labour introduced Working for Families which John Key called communism by stealth?Hon PAULA BENNETT: No I do not. What I accept is that during the years 2009 to 2012 what we saw was that child poverty rates were flat. What I see is that more than 300000 homes have been warmed up thanks to this Government. What I have seen is that actually free health care for under-6-year-olds has been extended thanks to this Minister of Health. What I am seeing is an increase in the number of children in early childhood education thanks to that Minister of Education. What I am seeing is an absolute emphasis on those children who are being abused and neglected. It is a comprehensive piece of work for something that there is no easy answer to but we are willing to put a plan in place and tackle it.Jacinda Ardern: I am going to try one more time Mr Speaker. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order!Jacinda Ardern: Can the Minister explicitly name what policies her Government has introduced—Hon Dr Nick Smith: She just did.Jacinda Ardern: —to try to improve the economic well-being of children who are living in poverty—and not policies on insulation or early childhood education—because their parents do not have enough to survive?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I could quite happily talk about the 16548 fewer people on benefits now than there were 1 year ago. I could quite happily talk about the 7258 sole parents whose children are now better off because their parents are in work thanks to the policies of this Government so those children are actually in families where there is a better income than what they would get on a benefit and they are able to get ahead. I could talk about the economic policies of actually putting that money back into the schools which helps them. I could talk about KidsCan and the money that we are putting there. I could talk about the money that we have put into breakfasts in schools—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Supplementary question—[Interruption]. Order!Jacinda Ardern: What does she say then to the two out of five children who are living in poverty but whose parents are in work?Hon PAULA BENNETT: What I could do is actually quote the United Nations Development Programme Director Helen Clark who pointed out in August that “We have poverty here in New Zealand but it is relative poverty. No one lives below the $2.25 a day. No one even lives under $5 a day.”Jacinda Ardern: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! A point of order has been raised and I will hear it.Jacinda Ardern: I asked explicitly what the Government is doing for working families living in poverty.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member asked “What would the Minister say to children living in poverty whose parents are in work?”. The Minister then responded and said what she would say.