Sepuloni Carmel: Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill — First Reading 
Sepuloni Carmel: Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:661;Page:9922] 
CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour) 
: 
 I just want to say that it is a sad day for this country when the Government chooses to bash beneficiaries while they are down as a way of diverting attention from the fact that it has not done its job in creating jobs for New Zealanders and creating opportunities for upskilling and training. That is exactly what that Government has failed to do so far. The Minister for Social Development and Employment is not the only person in this House who has been on a benefit. I want to say as a person who is a sole parent as a person has been on the domestic purposes benefit that it is not easy— 
Paul Quinn 
: She has lunch at the Wellington Club and gives us a lecture about welfare. 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: —I say to Mr Quinn—to be a solo mother. It is incredibly difficult and the last thing beneficiaries need is a Government that is putting out a stigma about them and making society turn against them as if they have done something wrong. 
I have worked with many sole parents in the jobs I have had. I have worked with students at the University of Auckland and I have been a sole parent myself. I know that the vast majority of women on the domestic purposes benefit are working hard whether it be in study or in a job. They do so because they have aspirations for their children. They want to do well for their children so that they are role models for their children. I take offence at MPs on the Government side of the House implying that children of beneficiaries will not have aspirations as they grow older. That is what was said on that side of the House and I say to that side of the House as a mother who had to be on the domestic purposes benefit at one point in my life that my having been on a benefit does not mean that my son will not have aspirations for his own life. 
Currently there are 168000 still out of work and these people are not “living the dream” as Paula Bennett the Minister for Social Development and Employment said. It is not a dream for them. It is not a dream for children for their parents to be unemployed and living on the bare minimum with regard to putting food on the table and everything else. 
Hekia Parata has said that it is not normal for kids to see their parents out of work. I have to say that for short periods of time sometimes that just is the case. She also discussed the fact that there are currently 7000 jobs available through Job Ops and 6000 jobs on the books of Work and Income. Those 13000 jobs do not do anything in the way of addressing the 168000 people who are unemployed. Having 13000 jobs available is like a postage stamp on Eden Park with regards to the 168000 people who are unemployed— 
Paul Quinn 
: Be original. 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: I know that Mr Quinn has no empathy for people who are unemployed; he keeps barracking and yelling over on the other side of the House. But it would be good if Mr Quinn could listen to what I am saying. 
I want to quote one of the MPs from the Government side of the House—in fact from the maiden speech of one of the MPs. This quote is about the fact that women should have a choice. It starts: “More women are in paid employment than ever before and their contribution is immeasurable. However when we hear of someone currently working who becomes pregnant one of our first questions is: ‘How long will she be taking off work?’ There is a subtle—and sometimes not so subtle—push for women to return to the workforce as soon as possible. But I ask members not to misunderstand me. I advocate for choice—for women to work part time or full time in paid work or not at all or to stay at home and raise their children. Most men make wonderful fathers. We should let them have a choice about the role they play in raising their family. Most of all we should let parents have choices.” 
That maiden speech was given in 2005 and it was given by our current Minister for Social Development and Employment. Where is the choice now when she says that they need a kick up the pants—in other words they need a boot in the guts while they are down and they need to get out there and get a job despite the fact that that Minister for Social Development and Employment has done absolutely nothing to create jobs in this country? 
One thing that is quite disconcerting for me is that this Government has deliberately used beneficiary bashing as a strategy with which to turn one New Zealander against another as a way in which it can divert attention—as I said before—away from the fact that it has done absolutely nothing to address the economic downturn and the problems we are confronting as a country with regard to high levels of unemployment and low levels of opportunities for upskilling and training. The Government has attempted to turn the working taxpayer against the struggling person who is currently out of work. 
I read something in a  
Dominion Post  
column a few weeks back by a wonderful journalist called Karlo Mila-Schaaf who said: “The fastest way to create an underclass is for a leader to respond inadequately to rising unemployment and then divide society into taxpayers and those who are ‘poor’ investments (the recipients of social services not ‘showing the results that taxpayers have the right to expect’).” That is exactly what members on that side of the House have done so far. It is not the fault of beneficiaries that they do not have jobs; it is the Government’s fault for not providing those opportunities. 
What we have seen alongside this is cuts to the opportunities for training and upskilling. We have seen the training incentive allowance slashed which means that sole parents who would otherwise have been able to access funding for training and programmes to diploma and degree level can no longer get that. We have to look at our Minister for Social Development and Employment and question her motives her background and why someone who can say that she utilised these types of support would then turn round and pull up the ladder to deny other women access to those types of support. It makes absolutely no sense—no sense at all. 
We will not be agreeing with this bill. Even the Attorney-General has pointed out that this bill and what the Government is trying to do discriminates against different groups based on gender family status and also in terms of the type of benefit that they are on. And we cannot agree with that; there is absolutely no reason why we would agree with putting in the boot while these people are down. 
What will be the outcome of these changes introduced by this bill? The Government is saying that it wants to encourage beneficiaries into work. As I said before that is all about creating jobs and we cannot understand why the Government has not done that. Last week I was on  
Breakfast 
 with a Government member of the House—Mr Simon Bridges. He stated very clearly that this policy was good because it was popular. This Government makes decisions based on the fact that they are popular. Even Paul Henry who is not known to be a big Labour Party supporter actually turned round and said to him: “Yes that might be right. It probably is popular but that doesn’t make it right.” That does not make it right and that is what we are faced with. 
The Minister for Social Development and Employment has ignored the fact that this does not comply with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act that it discriminates against different groups of people and that most of all it discriminates against the children who are going to be affected by this type of policy. This Government forgets that when it cuts this funding when it cuts these benefits it is not just the adults who are affected: it is the children whom those parents are actually there to look after. This Minister has gone around saying that this legislation is all about the children; I have heard her say that on many occasions. But then why would we do that? Why would we take food off children’s tables by punishing their parents and then subsequently punishing them? 
Instead of focusing on solutions that will help people into work and increase opportunities for single mothers and for their children what has this Government given us? It has given us absolutely nothing. It has dragged different members of our society through the mud it has provided empty promises and frankly that is not enough. Labour will not vote for this bill; we will fight against it every step of the way. Thank you very much.