Ngarewa-Packer DebbieDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Tēnā tātou e te Whare. I'm a result of a tribe who brought us up collectively and continued to do that model despite having our natural development interfered with by the State. So I'm proud to rise on behalf of Te Paati Māori to speak to the second reading of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill.This bill will put to end the injustice of the Government refusing to pass on child support payments to the parents who are entitled to them just because they've been on a benefit. The estimated effect of this is approximately 141550 single-parent families who receive an average of $65 per week of child support income with a median gain of $24 per week—$24 that those whānau need.Following the abatement of income-tested financial assistance those families will gain overall by an average to my understanding of $47 per week. So we will be voting in support of this bill and we acknowledge the Minister for addressing this long-overdue issue.We are concerned that child support payments will be considered income when determining entitlement to a benefit or other assistance. Honouring a long-overdue entitlement should not mean that already established income support is cut back.While the net effect of the change will still be positive Governments should not be continuing with such a mean-spirited approach to the welfare system. So we don't want to see anything penalised because of these changes.Whānau experience intergenerational poverty due to dispossession land loss and systemic racism which was all created by the Crown. Inequality inequity—again all created by the Crown. The resources and the labour that have built the wealth of this nation—and the 1 percent who hoard it—were stolen and exploited from indigenous peoples and the working class; sadly a lot who make up these figures of solo parents.In the 1980s the regulations and the industries gave our people some sense of agency which were smashed to funnel more wealth to the rich so unemployment soared. I've spoken about this numerous times coming from a community such as Pātea. Instead of responding with care and compassion and restoring our dignity the State responded with cruel punishment and hate.In the 1990s the welfare system was torn apart benefits were slashed aggressive media campaigns targeting the poorest in society portraying people with the least as being the biggest problem. Sadly I hear some of that tonight.Solo parents sole parents—who are disproportionately women and as I said earlier wāhine Māori—have been treated with contempt for decades. There is never a chance to catch a break. Poverty is the norm and barrier after barrier has been put in place to prevent whānau to live with dignity to be able to raise their babies in the village carefully and without judgment. Simply surviving has been a daily struggle.In 2019—and I know I'm singing to the choir largely in the House tonight—the Welfare Expert Advisory Group put forward dozens of recommendations focused on restoring dignity to the social security system in Aotearoa. If all the recommendations were implemented we would be a lot closer to ending entrenched poverty.We acknowledge that this bill addresses one of those recommendations but again we remain really frustrated and hōhā at the lack of transformational thinking that we need to see coming from this Government in the refusal to act with courage and urgency to ensure that our whānau can do more than survive but actually live with dignity and break free of this intergenerational trauma that holds us back and sadly sees us stereotyped by those sadly on my right.I want to acknowledge those on the front line of poverty in this country: to our single mums and dads our kaumātua our tamariki those whaea and those nannies who are working two-to-three jobs to put kai on the table; to the Whānau Ora practitioners; to the Kia Ora Hauora Champions; to the groups like Child Poverty Action Group who have consistently pushed for lifesaving policies like extending the in-work tax credit to all whānau; to advocates like Auckland Action Poverty Group who hold the powerful to—and the power to—account on behalf of our people.This bill represents one small step and Te Paati Māori thanks all those who have fought so hard for it. Our people have had enough of small steps; we need to push forward. This is not a time to be thinking about piecemeal change.I guess on that note I just want to say if we're talking about passing on income let's talk about taxing the rich let's talk about making sure that wealth is redistributed let's talk about passing on the wealth they extracted from stolen assets back to tangata whenua and all families—all families—in Aotearoa who are struggling to put food on the table to pay power bills to get homes to see doctors and dentists. This is what transformation looks like and this is what Te Paati Māori will support. Kia ora rā.