Ngaro Alfred: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9188. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National): I am proud to make a speech in this third reading of the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. In regards to that last speech all I need to say is this: how about taking some responsibility? I was in a meeting at the New Zealand Educational Institute last year where that member Su’aWilliam Sio pointed at me and said: “That member is part of a Government that has the responsibility for poverty that has the responsibility for underachievement that has all the responsibility.” But that member and that party over there did not take responsibility for its issues.Here is some evidence for this. In theDominion Post editorial of 29 February 2012 this is what was written: “They would have been appalled”—that is the pioneers—“by the thought of thousands of perfectly healthy adults spending more than a decade on the dole and thousands more 16- and 17-year-olds being paid to sit around and do nothing.”Dr Rajen Prasad: How many Alfred? How many?ALFRED NGARO: And here is the bit that Mr Prasad should listen to: “Critics who have branded the reforms ‘nasty’ or claimed they spell the end of the welfare state as we know it have either not studied the detail or are deliberately misrepresenting the facts.”So here are the facts—here are the facts as we know them. The Social Security Act 1964 let me remind Mr Prasad and Mr Sio has a principle that at section 1B that says: “work in paid employment offers the best opportunity for people to achieve social and economic well-being”. What have we changed? Absolutely nothing. We have stood on the foundation that was clearly established that work provides the best opportunities for our families for our communities and for our children. Read the detail. The problem is that you have not read the bill. So you keep arguing but the truth is here are the facts. Stand on this. This is what we are doing under this Minister for Social Development. It is to make sure that the opportunities for our communities are there. This is what we are doing. This is the second stage in our welfare reforms to ensure that the Government is future-focused.But this is what we have heard from the other side—this is what they have said. Miss Moroney said: “Go and speak to the real people.” Well we have been to the real people. Here is a question for the other side: when was the last time you were in a Work and Income office? When was the last time you actually sat with a family? Well let me tell you this I say to the member who walked out. Mr Sio I was at the Māngere Work and Income office. As I sat there and as I talked to the people there this is what they said. They said: “Yes there are opportunities. What we’re hearing our clients who are coming in saying is this: ‘For the first time we’ve been given an opportunity for hope. For the first time we’ve been tested on work obligations.’ ”Then there is the rhetoric and the scaremongering saying: “But they’re going to be hard on our mothers our young mothers who are there.” But this is what the case managers are saying: “We know that times are tough so we show discretion.”—they show discretion.It is not the scaremongering that we heard from the other side. It is not the doom and gloom. Instead while I was there they rang the bell. That is right—ring the bell ring the bell. Why? When they ring the bell everyone stands up and they clap because someone has found full-time employment and they give them a chocolate fish. So guess what? We are ringing the bell on opportunities for our young people. We are ringing the bell for those who have been in long-term dependency. We are ringing the bell for opportunity.This is a bill that is making a difference. I commend this bill to the House. I am proud to go out into my community to my families and to our people and stand side by side with this bill to look for the opportunities. Ring the bell.