Sepuloni Carmel; Mallard TrevorHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): I'm going to start my debate speech by saying: Please National Party keep Simon Bridges on as your leader." We heard from the leader of the National Party this afternoon. We heard his very narrow view of what success for this country is and it's that narrow view that got us into trouble when they were leading this country for the previous nine years. Economic success so narrowly defined as it has been in the House today by Simon Bridges led to rocketing levels of New Zealanders living in homelessness. It saw the degradation of our health system and it saw the running down of our education system. Lack of investment in things that matter to New Zealand and New Zealanders—and he's trying to scream that that was a success for the nine years that they were in Government. Well it wasn't. We heard from Mr Bridges about an apparent lack of focus on employment and work in this country. Well actually I've been privy to information that cites very clearly that under their watch agencies like the Ministry of Social Development had a significant but steady decline in things like work-focused case management while they were in Government; less of a focus on actually supporting New Zealanders in work. Part of that was because of the lack of investment in that space but part of that was because of the fact that under their watch hardship went up housing demand went up and therefore they had less resource to put into supporting New Zealanders into meaningful employment. So I don't want to hear from the Leader of the Opposition Simon Bridges about our apparent lack of focus on employment on this side of the House because I know that we're doing it. He wanted to talk about things like apprenticeships. Well our announcements around Mana in Mahi—that responds to our apparent lack of focus on employment.We're all about getting people into jobs on the side of the House and making sure that they're better off. But our focus is on making sure that that's sustainable that they get into meaningful long-term employment that is sustainable and that where necessary they are supported with the upskilling and training that they need to be able to take on that meaningful employment—a much more rounded holistic focus than that side of the House ever did have when they were in Government.I want to refer to some of the changes that came in on 1 April—so on Monday this week. This side of the House is very proud of the fact that we have made one of the most significant shifts with regards to the minimum wage compared to any previous Government shifting it to $17.70 an hour. As of 1 April there will be 200000 New Zealanders that benefit from that minimum wage increase and we're not going to resile from the fact that that's a good thing. While we're on this side of the House trying to drive up wages and make sure that New Zealanders are well and truly better off that side of the House is still driving towards trying to put those wages down which makes absolutely no sense to us.I have to say it's not just the 200000 New Zealanders that benefit directly from an increase in the minimum wage but New Zealanders across the country will benefit from that increase. I need to refer to one of those groups being our senior citizens who are on superannuation. We know that rises in superannuation are attached to rises in the median wage across this country and we saw one of the most significant increases in our superannuation as of 1 April because of the significant increase in wages that we've seen in this country. So our superannuitants will benefit from the increase in the minimum wage and wages overall by a 2.6 percent increase because of the fact that we have been able to drive wages up. So I'm sure it's not just the 200000 New Zealanders who benefit from a minimum wage increase directly that are out there celebrating but also the 780000 New Zealanders who receive superannuation who benefited by the 2.6 percent increase on Monday. We on this side of the House know that New Zealand is heading in the right direction under this Government. This Government is demonstrating under the leadership of our wonderful Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern a new kind of leadership proving that it is possible while not losing sight of issues pertaining to the economy to be that kind to be that compassionate Government that makes a difference—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member's time has expired."