Dyson Ruth: Urgent Debates — Ministry of Social Development—Job Cuts 
Dyson Ruth: Urgent Debates — Ministry of Social Development—Job Cuts 
[Volume:655;Page:4827] 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills) 
: 
 Only one thing in my mind is worse than reported child abuse and that is unreported child abuse. That happens when we have a situation where a baby a little toddler or a kid at primary school is beaten and abused left cold and in pain and no one does anything about it. That is worse than reported child abuse and that is why despite the agony I am sure it causes every single member in this Parliament to know about the horrific record of the child abuse we have in New Zealand we have said that it is better to have that abuse reported than to know that those kids are being left in pain and on their own and in a home where all they should expect—but do not get—is love and security. 
In the Budget cuts that the Minister for Social Development and Employment Paula Bennett signed off we have made that situation worse for those children. The very people who worked in our community—with our families with our nurses and doctors and with our teachers—and who taught all of those people how to recognise child abuse how to stand up and take what for many is a big step and how to ask for help have now been sacked. I heard some members opposite say there were only 18 of those people to cover the whole country so we should just get rid of them. We could have increased the number because we have a disgraceful record of child abuse in our nation. We know that every day there are children who are living in fear in their own homes and who do not have anyone to help them. The role of the community social workers was to get out in the community—amongst those families and amongst their preschool education teachers their primary school teachers and the general practitioners and nurses who treat them—and to tell us to recognise that these kids need help because no one else will put a hand up to help them if we do not. 
This Parliament should be ashamed of some of the contributions in the debate today. We have said we are going to turn our backs on those children even though we know they are being hurt and we should instead be doing everything we can to stop them being hurt. Most people in our country—thank goodness—do not understand child abuse. We do not understand it; it is literally beyond our comprehension and thank goodness for that. We certainly do not understand how anyone can know that a baby or a child is being abused or hurt and just stand by and watch that. We do not understand it because if we did I am sure that every single one of us in this Parliament would do something about it. 
But as a Government there is an additional responsibility on top of the responsibility we have as individual members of our families and communities. It is the role of leading of putting money where our mouths are of putting resources where our families need them and of putting the Budget behind the biggest need. In my view there is no bigger need than the need of kids who are hurt in their own homes. It beggars belief that that is the very area Paula Bennett has signed off for a cut. It was not the only cut; she let a whole lot of other cuts go through. But I ask how on earth a Minister could allow the department to put that proposal to her. Maybe she said that it was “so last year” maybe she said that we need to “step up” or maybe she said that it was too long a report and that she would just sign it because she did not want to read it. I do not know what she said but it beggars belief that any Minister could sign off what could be for many families their only lifeline to getting help. I think we need to do more not less to protect our kids. I really urge the Minister to reconsider these tragic cuts which will affect the very people who have been working in our communities to give our babies and our children the protection that as New Zealand citizens they deserve however little they are. Those workers should have been better supported and not sacked. 
We have heard a lot about the recession the worst recession in 30 years—that we are going through tough times that we have to tighten our belts and that we have to make tough decisions. Well we do. We do have to make tough decisions and that is all about priorities. Now is the worst time to be cutting jobs. There could not be a worse time for the Government to be cutting back on Public Service jobs and adding to the list of unemployed people. This is the hardest time for families. When the mums or dads in the family or maybe even both parents lose their jobs then suddenly the money is gone but the bills do not disappear; people still have to pay their rent and power. People still have to buy food and buy clothes for their kids. A huge amount of stress is put on families because the benefit is not much to live on. Not too many people in this Parliament would know that but I say to members that the benefit is not much to live on. It takes a lot of hard work to support a family on a benefit yet that is what over 1000 more families every week are having to do. So we have the Government adding to unemployment. 
We have families that we know are facing increased stress and we know that during times of increased stress people resort to behaviour that we would find unacceptable including abusing their kids and abusing each other. The husband cannot cope with not being able to support his family the mother is under huge stress so they start fighting and often end up in a violent situation. That is the time when we should all be working together to help those families and support and protect the children but “No no—let us cut some more of the social development jobs.” we hear from the Government. I heard Paul Quinn a one-term National list MP saying that Government members were getting rid of the pen-pushers. But these are community social workers who are working in the homes of families that are finding it hardest to get by every week. Community social workers are not pen-pushers; they are men and women throughout the country who have worked very very hard to support the families that need that help most. So I say “Shame on Mr Quinn for talking about our community social workers in that way!”; I think that that is a disgrace. 
Going back to the “tough times tough decisions tighten our belts” words that we are hearing from Government members I say that when a Government puts together a Budget it has to look at different priorities. It has to ask what is important for the Government and what is important for the country. Well I think that families are more important than cycle lanes and bike lanes. I think that families who need help are more important than boot camps that do not work. We could have saved every single dollar of cuts in the social development area if the Minister had not decided to go ahead with her boot camp proposals which will fail. We could have had $8 million left over to pay for a few more social workers in schools and we could have—heaven forbid—canned the knees-up at the Rugby World Cup if social welfare had been a priority for a Government. There was the choice of social workers to help our families or a party at the Rugby World Cup. National has made its choice to go partying in Auckland while our wee babies will get hurt and no one will be there to help them. 
The final point I make on behalf of the children who are abused in New Zealand is about the offer I made under the previous administration to the National Party. Every single party but National committed itself not just to attend but to work on a cross-party family violence task force. I pay tribute—and this is a rare occasion—to Heather Roy. She would not have felt comfortable in the grouping she was in; maybe Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples did not always feel comfortable either. But every single party except National attended and contributed so we put in every good idea. We reviewed the domestic violence legislation together and we made agreed suggestions to the Minister. The whole of Parliament except the National Party did that because we thought that not only could we make a contribution—we all have good ideas; why do we not all put them in—but also the message that family violence is not OK would be a very strong message for Parliament to send. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.