Sabin Mike: Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sabin Mike: Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 19 July 2012. Volume:681;Page:3777. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MIKE SABIN (National—Northland) 
: 
 Can I just make it quite clear to the members on the other side that this party—and actually most New Zealanders—values working mothers. If you are working it does not mean that you are letting your children down. We back them and fundamentally that is what these members’ argument has been about—they are not prepared to back the people whom this party will.  
Before I go on I just want to commend the Minister for Social Development on this bill the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill for the hard work the compassion and the enthusiasm that she has shown with it. I also want to extend thanks to Mr Lotu-Iiga the chairperson of the Social Services Committee for his chairmanship and also thank fellow members on the committee from across the political spectrum. I have enjoyed the experience of working on this bill. I think it is fair to say that we do not always agree on things—and that is healthy—but I think it is also fair to say that we all do very much care about this particular issue for New Zealanders. 
Su’a William Sio 
: You’re such a greaser Mike. 
MIKE SABIN 
: Yes I have often been called that.  
The core focus of this bill is really around young people and the manner in which we can support them because the reality for thousands of young people—young teenagers—who are currently in that pipeline is that they are staring down the barrel of a collision with an adult benefit and certainly experience tells us that they will be there for a very very long time.  
Like all of us these young people have dreams hopes and aspirations and often through no fault of their own they find themselves in very challenging situations where they will struggle to achieve those things. It does not mean they do not have those dreams. The challenge for the community—indeed the challenge for us as legislators—is to actually find ways to address that issue. The burgeoning problem with welfare is something that has concerned not only New Zealanders but everyone in this House and this political spectrum for many years as $22 million a day is not financially sustainable but more important the human cost the human collateral is substantial.  
At the core of this bill we are looking at three major planks. The first is a stronger work focus. The focus is about enabling these young people to find their way into work. We have heard much from the other side about the fact that there is no work which I find amusing when the Opposition will rail against every single policy and every single bill that this Government has put forward to grow the economy. So if they were genuine about supporting work growth and job creation then they might find themselves supporting what we are trying to do to grow this economy in very challenging times.  
This bill also provides a mechanism to build capacity for work in these young people. It is a major cultural shift in the way that we have addressed welfare in the past. A very good example of that is the incentive payments that form part of this bill. Sanctions have long been a part of the Social Security Act but incentives providing encouragement and promoting behaviour by way of financial incentives is something new and I think something we have not spent enough time focusing on.  
Beyond that the payment card and the assisted management of essential bills I think will provide a number of these young people with an opportunity to step back from the stress that their lives are under and focus on what we want them to do—to be able to get control in their lives again to be able to develop the skill sets that will match them with employers who I know want them. Certainly in my electorate they are saying to me “We will employ these young people. We just want them to come here and show us they are prepared to work and prepared to learn.”  
I believe that this suite of changes will make a huge difference in the lives of these very challenged young people who are at a very difficult stage in their life notwithstanding their circumstances. The other important thing is the monitoring and guidance that the youth support providers will give these young people. I think this is very important. For many it will fill a gap that is lacking in their own family.  
Changes for teen parents are again another very very important focus of this bill. The work focus must be there with them the same as it is with other people on welfare because they also will have dreams wants hopes and aspirations. When the work is suitable and when they reach an age where their youngest children are 5 or 14 or their second and subsequent child is 1 then we expect them to be available for work and we will support them with childcare to ensure that. Being in work does not impede a mother’s relationship with her child; if anything it will enhance it. It provides a platform for far greater choices for that mother and a sense of pride and something in her day that she otherwise would not get while she is sitting at home waiting for crumbs from the State.  
This bill is the first step in fundamentally changing a culture that I believe has been very disabling for people on welfare for some time. This is about enabling. This is about supporting. It is not about just giving them money and leaving it up to them. You can give a little dollar here and an extra one here or there but ultimately that has not worked and this bill is about doing what will work: providing management incentives and support and preparing them for the world of opportunity and the world of work that actually they should be in they should want to be in and we certainly want them to be in.  
This bill goes where the Opposition parties certainly would not and certainly not over in the Greens that is for sure. This bill is about investing in and backing young people believing in them to have a dream and actually backing them to get on and achieve it and ensuring that we have got the right balance between obligations and responsibilities. And we should not forget that—it is about achieving the right balance. What is the reward for the young people? The reward in my view is a little more than just being prepared to be and actually being in work. It is actually about having a purpose. I think it is about having opportunities. I think it is about having self-esteem and a sense of self-respect in oneself and we all get that when we feel as if we have done something to contribute to the world each day.  
This bill is the first step in the long overdue changes that New Zealanders want and need. The Opposition will oppose it but we have come to expect that from them. Deep down I suspect that they quite agree with a number of these changes. It is just that this Government got on with doing what has needed to happen. We are walkers not talkers. I want to commend the Minister once again for the work that she has done and I wholeheartedly commend this bill to the House.