Tolley Anne: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 03 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10718. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): There has been an awful lot of emotion and accusations thrown around the Chamber in the annual review debate on the Social Development and Housing Sector so far but I would have to say based on very few facts.I want to start off tonight by recognising the outstanding contribution of the staff who work for this Government and this country at Work and Income. As I get around the country and meet and talk with staff and the clients sitting in their offices either waiting for an appointment or working with a case manager I have to say I am continually impressed by the absolute dedication of those staff in working alongside those people who for one reason or another have found themselves in difficulty helping them solve what at times seem like completely insurmountable problems. I am always impressed by their enthusiasm by their compassion and most of all by their professionalism in working alongside those people to support them through the tough times always with a focus on helping them into work and therefore into independence. Because that is what coming off a benefit means: it means you are independent of reliance on the State to maintain you and your family and you cannot underestimate the benefit of that.The week before last I was absolutely delighted to announce that the number of people in this country who were dependent on a benefit had fallen below 280000 for the first time since 2008. Did we get a celebration in this country from across this Parliament that that was an amazing achievement since the global financial crisis—that all those people have gone for one reason or another from relying on a benefit to being independent? All we heard from the Opposition was carping that we could not prove they had gone into work. Well let me tell this Committee that most people go into work but funnily enough people do not willingly give up a benefit if they have no other way of surviving. They can alter their circumstances; in fact some people go to prison and therefore they do not need a benefit but the vast bulk of them are going into work and that should be celebrated by every single member in this Chamber.If people do not go into work; if they go off the benefit and not into work and there is not a valid reason for them to go off the benefit then you have to ask why they would do that. I have asked that question of the Work and Income staff. I have asked that question because the accusation has been made tonight that they go off the benefit into the food banks. I have asked that question of the Salvation Army too and some of the other food bank providers around—and that is nonsense. That is absolute nonsense. Some of those people have gone off the benefit because they have not fulfilled the obligations that the taxpayers have of them. In other words they have not been out looking for work consecutively. This is a small number of people but we do have obligations. If you are supported by the taxpayer you are expected to do a number of things. In some cases it is to look after your children well; in some cases it is to be out finding work but the vast majority of people go off the benefit because they have gone into work.One of the most successful schemes we have been running is 3K to Christchurch—1900 people. I remember when Minister Bennett announced it and she was targeting 1000 people particularly young people moving down to Christchurch where there was a huge need for construction workers. Actually when you talk to them today 1900 people have accepted that challenge and moved down to Christchurch and by far the majority are now going into the hospitality sector are going into the care sector—not construction any more. And that is to be celebrated. Did we hear celebration across this Chamber for those people who had moved off benefit and into work? No of course we did not. The Opposition went out and found some employer who said they stayed only for 3 months.This Government is working hard and the staff in the Public Service in the Work and Income offices are working hard to support those people into independence because we know that work is the best way out of poverty both for those people and most importantly for their children. Every step we take should be celebrated.Hon Members: Mr Chairman.