Menéndez March RicardoRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): I rise to speak on the third reading of the Taxation (Cost of Living Payments) Bill. I've been listening through yesterday evening and this morning to the exchanges between members on this temporary $350 payment that is going to be given out to people earning under $70000 and unfortunately excluding people on the benefit and superannuitants already getting the winter energy payment. What was really clear is that across the House everyone agrees that there are families doing it tough but somehow the people on the right while berating this payment are not offering tangible solutions to put permanent fixes to our income support system. It's all talk about austerity and cutting services. Meanwhile on the left while I welcome their approach to trying to address the cost of living payments they've introduced a bill which seeks to exclude some of the people that are doing it the toughest. I don't understand why we can in good conscience try to introduce a bill that seeks to address the cost of living pressures on low-income and middle-income New Zealanders and say to people on the benefits that they already received the winter energy payment and that they're all good.During the committee of the whole House it was really clear to me that the Minister thought that because people on the benefit already receive some top-ups they are not struggling to make ends meet. That is not true. The Government had not consulted with people on the benefit or those on the ground since it was it clear on the departmental reports—but they didn't even need to there's already so much information out there telling us that people on the benefit are several hundred dollars behind being able to participate in their communities. So we tried to put an amendment to the bill to guarantee that people on the benefit people under 18 who are on youth payment or who may be in work would be included in this bill. The Government has an opportunity still to do this because the bill doesn't prescribe who the recipients are even though the Minister has made it clear that so far the intention is to exclude beneficiaries. So we're urging Labour to please when you're looking at the recipients who are going to get this payment review your position to include people on the benefit. Because we can't just keep talking about how low-income people are struggling and yet exclude so many of them in one of the most significant things that are being done in this Budget.I mihi the other efforts around subsidies for free fares the child support pass-on—those things will make a difference. But let's not lie to ourselves. People on the benefit will continue being behind in order to make ends meet. And what that will create is a system where we're pushing people to Work and Income to get hardship grants just to survive. So the Green Party will continue pushing for permanent fixes to our income support system beyond these temporary measures because in three months the inequality crisis and the cost of living pressures would have not fully gone away. In fact some of these cost of living pressures on some whanau on lowest incomes they've been there since before this Government even came into power. We have had so many years of reports and Labour has a mandate a majority to basically transform our income support system so that it supports people.So I think the whole process has been deeply frustrating from the point of view that the exchanges that we have had I think ignored the realities of low-income families. It's been deeply frustrating to hear members of ACT and National berate this payment yet offer no alternatives to this. And so we look forward to campaigning to transform it.Toni Severin: Check out our alternative budget.RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH: I don't even understand the kind of exchanges that they're having here because again they're not really offering any solutions—the members to my right. So again I think all low-income people deserve a life with dignity. They deserve to be able to fully participate in their communities. They deserve to not have to be put into debt by our agencies that are meant to support them. The $350 may not be enough for some families to fully participate in their communities but it will create some relief for people who are having to face the choice each week of whether to afford food or pay their rent. This would have made a tangible difference. So again I urge Labour to include people who have missed out on this payment and look to transformative solutions so that our families can thrive not survive.