Faafoi Kris: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Faafoi Kris: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 26 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8930. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Thank you very much Mr Chair for letting me speak to Part 2 of the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. This is the kind of bill that you bring into Parliament when you have got the worst economic record in 50 years—when you have got the worst economic record in 50 years. This is the kind of bill that you bring in if you are trying to lay the blame somewhere else. Instead of dealing with the highest unemployment rate since Bill English was last the finance Minister dealing with the 50000 Kiwis who have gone to Australia since this National Party has come to Government or dealing with the 50000 more people who have become unemployed since this National Government has come into power this is the kind of bill you bring in to try to blame somebody else. 
Mike Sabin the last Government speaker on this bill talked about this side of the Chamber not supporting any pieces of legislation that have come in to enthuse job creation— 
Andrew Little 
: It would be nice to see some. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: —since this Government has come into power. Well exactly. As Mr Andrew Little said it would be nice to see something—it would be nice to see something. It is very rare to see a piece of legislation come into this House from that Government that increases job creation. Evidence of that is that the unemployment rate since this party has come into Government has stayed high. It has not gone down in a huge way. The Government said it would create a brighter future for Kiwis but unemployment has stayed high under this John Key - led Government. The only jobs that have been created around this bill are the jobs of people who perhaps were in charge of the focus groups that made sure that this piece of legislation came to this House. 
Another thing that Mr Sabin said was that this is a bill that helps create the business conditions to help create jobs. A question that I would like to ask maybe the Minister in the chair the Minister of Immigration is where in the vast volume of this bill it says that it helps create the business conditions to help create jobs because I do not see anywhere in this bill that says it helps create jobs. I know that it cracks down on a lot of Kiwis who would prefer to be working who are slugging their guts out at the moment to try to get work but who are being supported by social security. It says a lot about smacking them down. But it does not say anywhere in here anything to support Mr Sabin’s assertion that this bill helps create the business conditions to create jobs in New Zealand. It is a serious question which I would like to put to the Minister in the chair. Can he point to the relevant parts of this legislation especially in Part 2 as we are debating that where it does create some jobs? Because I do not see that anywhere in this bill. 
My colleague Dr Rajen Prasad spoke about creating an environment where we can create jobs. We will not disagree with the other side of the Chamber. We want to create an environment where jobs are created but this bill in no way goes anywhere near that. I want to talk again about the fact that the bill is completely lacking any job creation initiatives. It does not talk about creating any jobs. 
Another—and I think miserly and ugly—part of this bill is that it is going to crack down or place sanctions on beneficiaries if they do not put their children into early childhood education. We on this side of the Chamber want as many kids who are under the age of 5 in early childhood education as possible—absolutely no debate about that. We want 100 percent qualified teachers; they have a different opinion over on that side of the Chamber. But on this side of the Chamber we want to see as many children in early childhood education as possible. That will free up those parents to be able to go and find some work but this Government has not created the amount of places subsequently needed in early childhood education for us to be able to do that. So in that respect the sanctions in Part 2 that are carried out against those parents who cannot find a place for their children in early childhood education really expose the smoke and mirrors of this bill. 
Also around job creation I want to speak in a Wellington context because in the last household labour force survey unemployment in Wellington went up by 1 percent. When this Government is talking about this bill as another piece of legislation it is putting through to stimulate job creation well in a Wellington context and the electorate that I represent the electorate of Mana that just is not happening. It just is not happening so anything that this Government tries to tell you about the legislation that is brought through this House in terms of creating jobs is not being felt in the communities here in Wellington because the unemployment rate has gone back up. 
I think it was Grant Robertson who showed the front page of the  
Nelson Mail 
 today where 300 people I believe it was in Nelson went for just one job. Mr Sabin said this debate has been political. Well it will get political because this Government has done diddly-squat to create any jobs in this country. Nick Smith should be ashamed of the front page of the  
Nelson Mail  
today. What has he done as Mr Sabin says to create the business conditions to create jobs when 300 people can line up for one job in Nelson? We have heard of other examples where we have got 20 or 30 people lining up for one job. So although this Government says that the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill is creating the business conditions to create jobs in New Zealand the bill is not worth the paper that it is printed on. This Government has not delivered on any of those promises that it made at the last election and the previous election. It has not delivered on any of those promises that it gave in the last election and in 2008. 
So this Government brings in this piece of legislation trying to say that it is creating jobs for Kiwis but it is not. What it is doing is smacking down Kiwis on benefits who are looking for jobs and who have not been given the environment as Dr Prasad has said so that they can be in work. I do concur with what Mr Sabin said. If the Children’s Commissioner said the best thing that we can do for these people is find them a job yes that is exactly what we should do for them but this Government has not delivered on that at all. 
When you look at the track record from this Government back to I think the last time Bill English was Minister of Finance in 1999 you see that the party on that side of the Chamber has a track record of high unemployment. It talks the talk on creating jobs but for this Government and for the previous National Government in which Bill English was the finance Minister it has not walked the walk at all. On this side of the Chamber when we talk about the opportunities available for people on benefits under Part 2 this party has walked the walk. As Sue Moroney said before the last Labour Government had the lowest level of unemployment in the OECD. 
This bill will do nothing and Part 2 and the sanctions placed in it will do nothing to create jobs for those people on benefits who really want jobs. This bill will do nothing and the fact— 
David Bennett 
: What a wasted speech. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: What a waste of a speech and what a terrible speech? Well what a waste of an MP in Hamilton or wherever he is from. What is this Government doing to create the jobs for the people here in New Zealand? You know 300 people apply for one job and this bill is what the Government puts through this Parliament. This Government is not about helping to create the conditions or the business conditions to create jobs. The sanctions placed in this bill in Part 2 will do nothing to help create jobs. This Government has talked a lot about creating jobs. This bill does not deliver. It has failed and that is why the Government has the worst economic record in 50 years.