Benson-Pope David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Benson-Pope David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:637;Page:7275] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Well after that tale of doom and gloom it is not hard for anyone in the House or for anyone listening to this speech or in due course reading it to understand why members of the National Party are walking around the halls of this place with such long faces looking so depressed. I guess it is the same formula that we have seen coming out of the United States and out of the grubby little political regime that the National Party brought to us last year together with their friends—that is the politics of doom and gloom and the politics where one turns one’s greatest weakness into one’s greatest strength. Who would have thought that Mr Bush would be able to convince some time ago the Americans that Iraq was his greatest strength and who would have thought at a time when unemployment remains at record-breaking lows in this country that Tony Ryall or any other brat-pack member or not front-bencher from the National Party could stand up and make such an extraordinary speech? 
The facts of the matter speak pretty clearly for themselves. I will tell the members of the party that tells the half-story rather too often—and I will come back to that in a moment—and other members of the House some of those facts. In 1999 when National was last in power unemployment was at 161000. Let us make that really clear for the benefit of people who are listening to this debate as they drive home in newer vehicles than they had previously thanks to the economic growth we have seen in this country. In 1999 when National was last in power unemployment was at 161000. Later on I will talk in more detail about the unemployment figures but what is the unemployment rate now? Most New Zealanders know that unemployment has trended down consistently since that time and last month the figure passed through to fewer than 40000. Later I will also talk about the issues where we have had such great success thanks to the work of our really good and dedicated professional staff at Work and Income. We have had great success with sickness beneficiaries invalids beneficiaries people who need support in our community and also recipients of the support called the domestic purposes benefit. 
But let me come back to the half-story comment I made earlier. Mr Key in his half-speech talked about the Ministry for the Environment and its waste production. What he did not tell the House—or indeed did not tell the public of this nation—either by design or by accident was that he knows only too well why the Ministry for the Environment figures do not at first look as good as they might. It is really simple. Since the comparative figures were produced the ministry has introduced a creche. The member might not know this but one of the by-products of childcare facilities especially for younger people is quite a lot of waste including—dare I say it—nappy waste. Although we may hope that one day the ministry will move to the use of washed cloth nappies of the sort that Ms Rich and I used with our children historically which we are very proud of and with which we now polish our fuel-efficient vehicles the ministry has not been able to do that just yet. The volume of waste from the creche is why the ministry has had an increase in its waste. It is working on it but it is not the sort of rubbish that Mr Key represented it as being. 
And while I am talking about half-stories let us look at the wonderful half-story that we saw in the  
Dominion Post  
for 2 consecutive days. It is the story of the wonderful pizza parlour—and it does make good pizzas; it is just a pity its other policies do not match up with that—and the story of a young woman who went to Work and Income for assistance. What did National members say about that? They did not mention that that was night-time work part-time work or broken work and I am not sure whether they mentioned that the young woman concerned had a 10-month-old baby either. And they certainly did not tell the public of this country that the young woman went to Work and Income because she had already told her employer in Hastings of the difficulty she had with regard to childcare. She went to Work and Income to ask for both assistance with full-time work and support for childcare—and that is what Work and Income is providing her with. As long as the National Party continues to peddle the tired partial facts around whatever issue it happens to stumble across or drag out of the gutter the people of this country will not support that party. The people of this country deserve to know the facts and that is what I plan to help to convey to them this evening. 
I spoke earlier about the household labour force survey. I am delighted that the survey shows that the unemployment rate has been under 4 percent for 10 consecutive quarters—it is down again at 3.7 percent. We have extraordinarily low levels of unemployment in this country. We also have very high numbers of people in actual employment. Annual employment increased by 30000 people—30000 individuals—between December 2005 and December 2006 which is the last calendar year in which it was measured. In the past 7 years the total number of people receiving a main benefit has dropped from around 400000 to fewer than 290000. That is equivalent to the population of a city like Tauranga coming off benefits. I talked a little while ago about the change between 1999 and now but what people will not be as clear on is this extraordinary fact. There are now nearly 63000 fewer children living in households that are getting benefit support than was the case in December 1999. So let us add a little reality to the horror stories the scare stories and the fantasy that we have heard in the last little while. 
Between December 1999 and December of last year the number of working-aged people receiving the unemployment benefit for more than a year reduced by 80 percent. We have heard a lot of loose talk in the last little while about long-term beneficiaries. Let me share this fact with the House. When National was in power in 1999 the number of beneficiaries who had been receiving a benefit for longer than 2 years was 27000. There were 27000 on the benefit for 2-plus years under National and what is the figure now? It is 8000 and that figure is trending downwards. So let us focus on the real issues; let us not do the beneficiary-bashing stuff. Let members opposite not continue as an Opposition to scratch at a sore that they think might be yielding some political good for them because that does not do anything for this country or for its people. Let us focus on the real issues and on providing support for New Zealanders in a way that they require in a way that they request and in a way that they deserve. 
It is appropriate that I move to another matter having talked about the support in our community and the way we provide it to people when they need it for as long as they need it of the way we raise their skills and of the way we encourage people into jobs and support them there. That record is hard to dispute with any rationality. But I think it is important to focus on another part of the State provision: State housing which is so key to the reality of what it is to be a New Zealander. We have heard a great deal about Mr Key having been a boy who grew up in a State house. Well how does this work? That same person is now the leader of a party that sold 13500 State houses. How does that work? And when will we hear about the National Party’s policy on housing? We have heard a great deal about the Mr Key who grew up in a State house but that person is now the leader of a party that has not said it will abandon its policy on market rentals. So it would be great if instead of the flimflam and the blather we heard in his speech earlier we could hear some policy from that party. 
I would like to contribute Mr Key’s own words as I close my time allocation in this debate. Readers and listeners will be fascinated to hear this comment. Mr Key in an extraordinary interview with his friend the dual leader of the party Mr English—the real puppeteer behind the throne—recently made the following statement: “… while I’ve used a slightly softer tone in the last few weeks than maybe Don did … fundamentally we”—the National Party—“are still going in exactly the same direction with values that line up with where we think New Zealand is heading.” Well I am pleased to say that most New Zealanders do not think that New Zealand is heading in the way the National Party would have it head and that is why the Working for Families package has been so extraordinarily successful. Unlike National with the tax cuts we heard of again today which will be instituted if this country is ever unfortunate enough to return National to Government this Government is putting in huge amounts of money. As 1 April hits $1.6 billion will be put annually into families’ pockets and the bulk of that money is going into working and lower-income families—not people like Mr Key or the other people who sit in this Chamber and earn extraordinarily large salaries. I think that that focus is clear and I am sure that the flip-flops the lack of substance the triviality and the ego that drips as we watch it in this House are not lost on the people of New Zealand.