Tolley Anne: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 31 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11479. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): I must say that some people on the other side of the House seem to live on a different planet because the reality is that the Budget that Minister English delivered last week—his eighth Budget—was indeed for New Zealand a great Budget. It was a Budget that signalled steady economic recovery and growth going out in the years ahead of us. It was a Budget that showed that this country has weathered the global financial crisis which was followed quickly by the massive Christchurch-Canterbury earthquakes—a severe shock to the economy of this country. Throughout that time the Government was at pains to protect New Zealand’s most vulnerable. This Budget shows that those hard years were worthwhile and that the Government’s steering of a steady economic course is starting—starting—to pay dividends for New Zealanders.Look at the four significant packages that the Budget contained. Innovative New Zealand: investing in the economy of New Zealand in research and development and in backing science—$761 million. Public infrastructure: $2.1 billion of work in New Zealand in the years ahead. I want to spend my time talking about the Budget by focusing on the social investment package of $652 million over the next 4 years—that of course does not count the $2.2 billion being spent on health.I have to say in my electorate the major health issue that has been raised with me over the last year has been the bowel cancer screening so the announcement in the Budget to roll that screening out to a national screening system has been greeted with joy and delight. In fact we had the Bay of Plenty Mustang Owners Club display of cars on the reserve outside my house at the weekend. I went over—because I love Mustangs I must confess—to have a look and drool over some of the cars and the interesting thing for me was that the bowel screening scheme national roll-out was raised with me a number of times. So that was obviously popular.However Budget 2016 signalled that this Government is committed to making a significant change in the lives of probably our most vulnerable children and young people with $348 million identified to get started on making that significant change. Just to take members of the House back remember last year I appointed the expert panel to have a look at the overhaul of Child Youth and Family so that we can get better results from it. Of that cohort they had a look at—at 21—90 percent of them were on a benefit 25 percent of them were on a benefit with a child almost 80 percent did not have National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 and more than 30 percent had a youth justice referral by the age of 18. So the State does not do a particularly good job of looking after those young children it takes on the responsibility for. I have released all of the documents that came from that expert panel the interim report that built the case for change and then the final report—and the Cabinet papers that went with it—that showed that this Government is determined to make a difference in the lives of those young people.We have started work on the design of the new model based on five core services from prevention to intensive intervention care support redesigning the youth justice system and of course the transition into independence. The $348 million that was announced in Budget 2016 signals as I say this Government’s determination to get on with that job. About $145 million of that is to stabilise the existing Child Youth and Family services. The number of children who are in care has grown and they are staying in care for longer. But more importantly the complexity of the lives of those children has increased. So we are seeing far more children that have been diagnosed with things like foetal alcohol syndrome. For those children a whole raft of care is needed and will be needed throughout most of their lives.The other important issue that has come through the review is the understanding of the effect of violence on young children—not just when they are victims of violence but the effect of witnessing violence and the trauma that those children suffer. A major change in the practice delivery for this new operating system that is under design currently is how we deal with that trauma early on in a child’s life. As I say $150 million is to stabilise the existing Child Youth and Family service but then $200 million will be invested to get this new system under design and under development with the first part of that operating system to be in place by the end of March next year.So a huge transformation programme is under way and we will have the first bill in the House in the next couple of days but the important part was the strong signal from the Budget that we are serious about this. We are serious about the social investment philosophy of investing early in children’s and families’ lives when there is dysfunction and making a difference—making sure that the money that we are spending is actually effective; that the services we are providing are not duplicated that they are culturally responsive and that they are effective in making a difference in these children and their families’ lives.Budget 2016 also meant that we were able to see several million dollars invested in ensuring that we support people to get into work because we know that that is the best way out of poverty and we know that remaining on a benefit long term has long-term consequences not only for the family but for the children in that home. The liability of the welfare system has reduced by $12 billion over the last 4 years and that is a result of the really targeted thoughtful processes that Work and Income has put into place to get in behind supporting people to find work for themselves and their families. That means that over the lifetime of those people almost a million fewer people will be on benefits.We have in this Budget 2016 $111.5 million over the next 4 years to support people into work and I think the most important part of that has to be the $61.5 million that is being put into the expansion of the Youth Service. The Youth Service currently works with young people—16 and 17-year-olds—who are not eligible for a youth benefit but for some reason are independent of their families. It is a wraparound service; it helps them manage their money and it makes sure they are in education or in training as a first priority. For some of them that is not possible and we help them into work where we can. We are actually making some headway with these young people. The idea is to expand that Youth Service initially supporting young parents who are now 18 and 19 and then eventually young people in that same age group to make sure that we pick them up and stop them falling through the cracks—stop them going on to a benefit in the first place because we know that if they go on to a benefit before they are age 20 they are likely to be on that benefit for 20 years. There is $26 million to maintain the targeted case management and to fund 3K to Work which is now heading over the 2000 mark—2000-odd people whom we have helped move to find work or to take up work opportunities. Then we have got some pilots that we are running working with both health and corrections.Finally I want to just mention the $46 million in Budget 2016 for sexual violence work. I congratulate my colleague Alfred Ngaro and the select committee that has been working alongside us as we have designed a new system for sexual violence services in New Zealand that consists of for the first time a real focus on those first-response services. There is a 24/7 helpline. There will be professional assistance for the men and women—