Gudgeon Bill: Social Security (Social Assistance) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Gudgeon Bill: Social Security (Social Assistance) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:624;Page:19585] 
BILL GUDGEON (NZ First) 
: 
 My comments will be brief at this stage. Harking back to the comments I have heard today in this Chamber I would just like to re-emphasise to those listening and to members present today that family wealth increases only through a well-rounded education. Regarding wealth or poverty those situations come about only because of choices and decisions that people have made. 
I hark back to the 1999 election when I was invited to speak at the opening of an extension to an arm of Mangaroa Prison in Hawke’s Bay. The Chairperson probably remembers that. As a guest there I emphasised to the inmates that the key to any future development of them was for them to get a sound education. After that comments were made by Pacific Island representatives and Maori elder representatives because the majority of the people we were speaking to were Maori or Pacific Island—but mostly Maori. At the conclusion of that speech the inmates in that prison—not because I was a visitor; protocol dictates that they decide whether to support a speech that one has made—came and supported what I had said. They supported the notion and the suggestion that after their time was up in prison they needed to get a good sound education in order for them to get out of the situations they were in before they went inside. 
That is likewise for solo parents. As a former lecturer at a polytech I always emphasised to students in the lectures I gave—and I continue to do so today—that education was the key. Today I meet a number of those former students who are in good sound positions in work and who are contributing to society; previously they were on some form of benefit or in a solo mother situation. I say to members of Parliament that to solve the problems we have in our society today we have to get people out of that situation. We need to encourage people to get a good sound education and to develop the potential each one has whatever it may be. 
I notice—and I do not want to categorise people into ethnic groups—that the Maori Party is opposing this bill. When we look at the statistics we see that a large number of Maori are in that situation. Our people need to be assisted to get on their feet. Once they are on their feet we will not tell them to get a job but will say that this is the programme they need to follow and it is along the lines of their getting an education so that they can become skilled and qualified and can be in a situation in which they can achieve wealth. That is where New Zealand First is coming from. But looking at what is happening today. We can talk about the figures—19000 solo mothers with 35000 children. What are we going to do about it? 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Vote for the bill. 
BILL GUDGEON 
: I have already made members aware that New Zealand First supports the bill with provisos. The key for people in that situation is not for us to be judgmental about the situation they are in but for us to look at the skills and the education they need so that they can become good citizens contributing to society.