Lotu-Iiga Sam: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLotu-Iiga Sam: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 03 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10692. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Minister for Pacific Peoples): It is a privilege to speak in this debate and I am particularly honoured to speak to Whānau Ora which the previous speaker Peeni Henare referred to. He said he did not know what Whānau Ora is doing. Well Whānau Ora is touching over 5000 whānau and families across New Zealand in the 2015 financial year.I cannot talk for the two Māori commissioning agencies but I can talk to Pasifika Futures. In Pasifika Futures there were over 2200 families connected via navigator support. Its focus was on giving families financial independence—giving them financial independence. It reported that of those families that it connected with where they prioritised economic independence 29 percent of them reduced their debt during that period. So it is helping families get independence. We are helping families into jobs and we are helping families and their children their whānau become independent. Pasifika Futures also engaged with over 200 families in terms of giving small grants projects. Those grants projects were to assist those families with a hand up not a handout. They are working alongside other agencies to help those whānau become enabled and become more self-reliant.I want to turn to the Pacific portfolio because as the Minister I am proud of the work that our ministry the Ministry for Pacific Peoples has done over the last year. I am proud because Pacific New Zealanders have become better educated. Under the National Government more and more Pacific people are working than at any time in our history and we know that it starts with education. It starts with early childhood education where Pacific participation rates are now over 90 percent. The participation rates in early childhood education are over 90 percent and that is something that we can be proud of. We know it starts young. We know it starts in the families at home and we know it starts in our churches. It is done through support by those early childhood education providers—and I have visited a number of Pacific providers in my time as Minister. They are people with good hearts good intentions who are providing our kids with not just an early childhood education but language skills in our aoga amata and they are teaching them Pacific values and Pacific language culture and heritage.I want to talk about the work that the ministry does in terms of the seven Pacific language weeks that are conducted throughout the year. The Samoan Language Week will begin again at the end of May leading into Samoan Independence Day. Our ministry works alongside community organisations in order not just to promote the language among Pacific people but also to promote Pacific languages to other New Zealanders—non-Pacific people who can enjoy who can thrive and learn a Pacific language—because we are a Pacific nation. Aotearoa New Zealand is a Pacific nation. Pacific people contribute to and they are part of the rich social and economic fabric of this nation. The Pacific language weeks are an opportunity for all New Zealanders to enjoy that Pacific language enjoy the Pacific culture and heritage and also enjoy Pacific dance arts and craft and rich Pacific food which I am quite partial to.It starts with early childhood education and our Well Child before-school check rates are some of the highest in New Zealand. It starts with immunisation rates that are over 90 percent. They are over 90 percent because Pacific health providers and Pacific family and whānau see the value in giving our kids the best start that they can get not just in early childhood education but also in terms of immunisation and health care and health provision.We also know that Pacific employment is up. Around 123500 Pacific people are currently employed in New Zealand today. That is the most in any time in our history. It is a 10 percent increase year on year for the year to the end of December 2015 and it is because we have a strong focus on education. This Government has a strong focus on employment. We are about growing our economy growing jobs and growing families and supporting families. The best way we can support our families is to give them a job because all our families are looking to do is to raise their kids in this great country of ours feed them clothe them nurture them care for them and love them. The best way they can do that is when they are meaningfully employed. When they are not meaningfully employed we can support them too because we are the first Government to raise benefits in the last 42 years. We have the compassion to look after those people who cannot look after themselves. But having said that we are about promoting Pacific employment.I am proud that there are more Pacific people now working in this country than ever before. The reason is that we have seen a huge increase in Pacific achievement in education. When National became the Government our National Certificate in Educational Achievement level 2 rates were around 50 percent. They are now around 75 percent so we have seen a 50 percent increase in those achievement rates. We have seen the number of Pacific students enrolled in qualifications at Bachelor level or higher. It was about 9000 in 2008 and it is now well over 13500. So we have seen another substantial increase in the number of those taking up tertiary level study. We have also seen that course completion rates at all levels are up to 74 percent in 2014.This is one of the success stories of this National Government—that we have promoted and we have encouraged and we have supported Pacific and Māori people to succeed and achieve. Is our job done? No there is a long way to go but what I can say is that we are doing remarkably well under this National Government compared with under the previous Labour Government.One of the areas that we need to work on—but that is coming down—is the area of “neets”. For those who do not know who “neets” are it is those who are not in employment education or training. One of the more innovative things that this Government has done is support those organisations that support young people into jobs or into training. The Pacific Employment Support Services scheme which was run under our National Government—over 5 years this programme had just under 1500 individual Pacific youth who participated in the programme and the statistics are quite encouraging. Of those 1400 709 were placed into employment with 463 of these achieving sustainable employment—“sustainable employment” is 6 months’ continuous employment—450 were put into training and 72 percent of those participants achieved an employment or training placement. Those are the types of interventions that this Government has engineered that this Government has put together alongside Pacific providers.We have got a strong Pacific health sector. We have got a strong sector around social services. It is that type of investment using the investment approach that we do in justice that we have done in social welfare and we are doing right across the social services sphere. It is that type of investment where we put in $4.88 million that will result in long-term liability to the Government being reduced by $18.8 million. This is not just about the numbers; it is about people being put into training being put into jobs and being better able to support their whānau and families. Ultimately that is what this National Government stands for. We stand for stronger families stronger communities and ultimately a stronger nation. Thank you.