Benson-Pope David: Social Security Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Benson-Pope David: Social Security Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:639;Page:9235] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 When I was speaking last week about this matter I was talking about the extraordinary performance of this Government or more accurately the extraordinary performance of Work and Income front-line staff and their dedication to the delivery of the wonderful results we have seen recently in New Zealand in relation to reduced youth unemployment. Most New Zealanders are already only too well aware of the delivery of this Government in terms of its policy around supporting people into work. But for most New Zealanders the most rewarding of Work and Income’s successes is the breaking of a cycle we inherited from our political predecessors in terms of unemployment work expectations and the proper work ethic for young people. That is perhaps the most rewarding of the initiatives of Work and Income and I compliment it on that. 
I would like to finish this call by reinforcing the contents of the document I was fortunate to be able to table in Parliament with the leave of members of the House earlier today. The fact is that at the end of last month April 2007 there were 28 Work and Income service centres with nil—zero—unemployed youth aged 18 and 19 receiving the unemployment benefit and there were a further 66 Work and Income service centres with fewer than 10 such unemployed youth on their books. That is an extraordinary achievement and a very serious compliment to the efforts of the policy analysts who designed the Working New Zealand policy which is so successful and the people on the front line who are already delivering what are in fact the effects of this legislation on a voluntary basis. A number of calls were taken by myself and my colleagues last week about this issue. This legislation is about the legal mandating of an approach that is already delivering results for New Zealanders. 
I guess that is why I and my colleagues find it so inconceivable and illogical that the Opposition—despite its support of these amendments in the select committee process and its voting for them at deliberation time—continues to oppose this legislation in the House. I just say to members opposite that they need to consider the fact that the residents of Alexandra Ashburton Blenheim Christchurch City Hastings East Hastings West Hawera Helensville Hornby Kamo Kilbirnie Linwood Matamata Mount Maunganui New Brighton Opotiki Otaki Papanui Point Chevalier Queenstown Riccarton Richmond Sydenham Tauranga Te Kuiti Thames Turangi and Warkworth are the lucky centres where Work and Income offices have no unemployed 18 and 19-year-olds on their books. 
Hon David Parker 
: None? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: None—zero. And the Opposition is opposing the legislation! I will not dwell on this matter further but that was a list of 28 Work and Income service centres. There is a further list of 66 which I am happy to dwell on if the member asks. I will now dwell on that. There is a list of 66 service centres where there are fewer than 10 unemployed people in that 18 and 19-year-old cohort on the books. 
When one considers that there are only 135 Work and Income service centres the fact that 28 have zero unemployed 18 and 19-year-olds on their rolls and the fact that that 66 have fewer than 10 unemployed 18 and 19-year-olds one can see an extraordinary record of policy delivery to New Zealanders and real support for them by our Work and Income front-line people. For the benefit of those National Party members who find this so hard to take I will detail those. The real high count starts with Cambridge. It has nine unemployed 18 and 19-year-olds. 
Jill Pettis 
: Nine? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: It has nine on the roll as do Ponsonby / Grey Lynn and Wairoa. They are the only three with nine 18 and 19-year-olds on the unemployment roll. The fortunate front-line centres with only eight are Lower Hutt Onehunga and Tokoroa. The three centres with seven are Huntly Otahuhu and Takapuna. There is a very long list of centres with six 18 and 19-year-olds receiving the unemployment benefit. I will detail these for the National members who have asked. They are Avondale Greymouth Highland Park Horowhenua Masterton Mount Albert Mount Eden Queen Street Three Kings Waitara Waiuku Westport and Whakatane. Those with five—a group about the same size—are Feilding Johnsonville Kaitaia Kawakawa Kawerau Orewa Papatoetoe Ruatoria and Waihi. The group with four is Glenfield Gore Kaiapoi Kaiti New Lynn Palmerston North Terrace End and Rangiora. 
I reinforce that these achievements are the result of the policy that this bill mandates. It is operating currently on a completely voluntary basis and it is being extraordinarily successful despite the opposition of the National Party members who clearly do not want to see Work and Income supporting people into work. Before I get to the centres with zero 18 and 19-year-olds on their register I have a long list of areas with only three or two. That list starts with Birkinhead District Foxton Kaikohe Marton Mosgiel Ngaruawahia Oamaru Stratford and Waiheke. The centres with only two are Albany Dargaville Napier Paeroa Stanmore Road Taihape Taupo and Waipukurau. 
Just before we get to the big zeros—and I am happy to repeat all 28 of them again for Opposition members when I get the opportunity—let me tell them that in Balclutha there is only one 18 or 19-year-old. Only one! I am sure we do know the person’s name and he or she will not be on the register receiving the unemployment benefit for very long. Similarly there is only one person on the list in Browns Bay Greerton Kerikeri Morrinsville Motueka Nelson Shirley Taradale Taumarunui and Te Awamutu. So in all those areas only one 18 or 19-year-old is receiving the unemployment benefit. 
It must be incredibly frustrating for Mrs Tolley to sit over there bleating about these figures but the fact of the matter is that when those members appropriately located on the Opposition benches were in Government there were 161000 New Zealanders on the National Party’s scrap heap—like the National Party members—unemployed. One of the most impressive achievements of many impressive achievements of this Government which will sit on the Treasury benches for many years henceforth is the fact that that number went to 30000 6 weeks ago and to 28000 a month ago and last month it dropped to 26000. 
Now that is too many people unemployed—of course it is. But the policies of this Government and the amazing front-line work of Work and Income has moved hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders from a position where they were parked by the previous Government—which used economic settings including unemployment as a tool to balance its books—to a situation where tens of thousands of them have been assisted into productive work. That is what this legislation is about and that is why I find it so absolutely incomprehensible so indefensible and frankly so despicable that the very people who are bleating now and constantly beat on sickness and invalids beneficiaries who need support from this community are not supporting this legislation.