Newman Muriel: State Sector Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Newman Muriel: State Sector Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:610;Page:7317] 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN (ACT NZ) 
: 
 I simply cannot resist making a contribution on Part 1. It is the part of the bill that looks at the commencement. As we know the commencement date in the first subclause of clause 2 on Supplementary Order Paper 107 is 1 October 2001 which shows the sort of shambles that this Government is involved in—it having legislation here that is so far out of date. That is the first point. 
But this bill is the biggest fraud ever to go through this New Zealand Parliament. It is absolutely appalling legislation because it involves this Government using this Parliament to shield itself from a huge embarrassment it faced in its first term of office—the huge scandal and embarrassment over Christine Rankin the chief executive whom it wanted to destroy. What did the Government do? Rather than go through the proper employment process—so that she might have a payout or whatever—it decided to use the power of Government and the power of this Parliament to bring in legislation that had no other purpose at all but to restructure the Department of Work and Income so that the Government could axe Christine Rankin the chief executive in a way that did not bring it public embarrassment. The Government went out and said: “This is a big department. We need an umbrella organisation. We need a Ministry of Social Development.” It was a plot hatched by the Minister sitting in the chair Trevor Mallard; by the Prime Minister; and by the social services Minister Steve Maharey. It was those three who decided that that was a perfect way to put up a front and get rid of a chief executive without having to give her a golden handshake. 
I say to the Minister of State Services that of all the things he has done since he has been in Government he should be more ashamed of this bill than of anything else. It brings the whole of Parliament into total disrepute. Those three people announced a restructuring of the biggest Government department the Department of Work and Income without the chief executive knowing without the chief executive of the Department of Social Welfare knowing and without any of the 5500 staff knowing and with no costings no consultation and no research. It went against all the papers that had been produced about what should be done about the social services sector if changes were wanted in the future. The Government did that for one reason and for one reason only—to be able to restructure the public service without it having to go through due process. So now with an Order in Council the Government can change everything in the public service without there being any checks and balances and without there being any proper scrutiny of the reasons that those changes are being made. I say to that Minister that I still think it is the most appalling thing that he ever did. I do not care what answers he gives in this Parliament; he knows in his heart that it was simply a way for his Government to avoid embarrassment. 
I say to Green Party members who went along with it that they should be ashamed of themselves as well. I can understand that they did not like the Department of Work and Income. They did not like the work-for-the-dole scheme the department being tough on benefit fraud and all those things so I can understand why they supported that change. I cannot understand why United Future members would ever support it. They say they want to be tough on welfare. Well that mechanism allowed this Government to go totally soft on welfare. It got rid of all the good things and that is why sickness beneficiary numbers are increasing. 
When there is a downturn in the economy welfare will be the single biggest problem that this country faces. It already is with about 400000 people on benefits in spite of all the employers out there who want people to go and work for them. We have a Government that already has created a huge problem. Do members remember that before Labour changed welfare back in the 1970s there were 28 workers to every person on a benefit? Right now there are four workers to every person on a benefit and when the economy turns down under this Government’s changes to the welfare system there will soon be three workers to one then two workers to one. This Minister in introducing this bill which allows the Government to manipulate the public service is responsible.