Belich CamillaCAMILLA BELICH (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to speak in this general debate. As I've recently returned to Parliament following the birth of my son I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what this Government is doing for children. There are a number of things that this Government is doing for children and I hope that I'll be able to cover five of the key things that are most pressing in my mind at the moment. However as this a short call I may not have time.As all parents and carers know it is one of life's great joys to raise a child or it should be. For me in New Zealand for too long raising a child has been a struggle. This was especially so following the cuts in 1991 that we heard about during the Budget debate. I remember this time even though I was still a child. It is my hope that the children who are around now remember this Government for very different reasons. Today the key policies that I wanted to highlight that are really keeping our recovery going by focusing on our most important constituents our children are: firstly the decision to raise benefits; the re-establishment of the training incentive allowance; the extension of Ka Ora Ka Ako the healthy school lunches programme; better childcare assistance for working families; and the recent decision to fund period products in schools. Now this Government has a goal of making New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child and all of these policies focus on achieving the same. This first one I wanted to touch on is raising benefits. This Government is raising benefits and it will move children out of poverty. It is estimated that up to 33000 children will be lifted out of poverty by increasing benefits and it's not just money in the bank. It is food on the table warm homes clothes shoes and less financial stress for families and support to the local economy. This is a really important initiative. The next thing I wanted to touch on was the re-establishment of the training incentive allowance. When we support parents we also support their families. The training incentive allowance was scaled down by the previous National Government. This Government will support sole parents carers and those on the supported living payment with upfront ongoing costs of study such as fees childcare costs and transport. When I was a student I remember the inspirational sole parents and others who were so courageous in undertaking tertiary education while having childcare responsibilities. These people deserve our support so they can in turn support their families. And it was wonderful to hear Minister Sepuloni talking in the Budget debate about how the training incentive allowance had helped her and we see now what she has achieved. She's now an inspirational Minister of the Crown. The next policy I wanted to highlight was the extension of the Ka Ora Ka Ako healthy school lunches programme. This Government is extending this programme and this programme intends to help feed around 144000 kids in 660 schools. As we know with food children can learn and it is in fact the meaning and title of this programme. Ka ora Ka ako: if a child is healthy a child will learn. It is an honour to be part of a Government that is helping to feed our children. The next policy that I wanted to highlight was better childcare assistance for working families. This Government is indexing childcare assistance to income thresholds to increase with the average wage. This benefits around a thousand families. This Government is also increasing funding for the OSCAR which stands for the Out of School Care and Recreation Service programme and that will help around 9000 low-income parents remain in employment and training. We as part of this Government are supporting families with childcare to stay in work and that's so important for these families' future. In the brief time I have left the last policy I wanted to focus on was period products in schools. This has been recently announced by Minister Jan Tinetti to be in all schools by June this year. Now this particular programme will do a myriad of things. One thing is improve attendance. Another thing is assist low-income families and also end unjustified stigma that has too long been associated with what is a very normal function. So in conclusion I just wanted to reflect on why we all came to this House. I believe from both sides of this House we came here to make a difference so that the future would be better for our children for our grandchildren for our nieces and nephews. There is no better way of ensuring we achieve this goal than by supporting our tamariki and their parents by supporting families to live their lives and to grow. So I would like to commend the Government for its work that it's done supporting children.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.