2. Question No. 2—Social Development and EmploymentRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister for Social Development and EmploymentQuestion No. 2—Social Development and Employment2. RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does she stand by her reported statement from November last year that she would scrap the warrant-to-arrest sanction today if she could; if so what is the barrier to removing the warrant-to-arrest sanction?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Yes. As I said yesterday I believe the welfare system should not be used as a tool for the justice system. Our first focus was on removing sanctions that had the biggest impact on the wellbeing of children and as a result we've seen an 87 percent drop in sanctions that impact children since June 2017. I received advice on the warrant-to-arrest sanction last year which outlined that further cross-agency work was needed before consideration could be given to addressing this sanction. Since then I've decided to pause the work in order to prioritise the significant amount of work this Government has under way to improve the wellbeing of New Zealand families. This work includes the ongoing review of Working for Families which has already resulted in an increase in incomes for 346000 families; increasing access to hardship assistance like dental grants; and expanding successful training and employment programmes including the Training Incentive Allowance Mana in Mahi and He Poutama Rangatahi which has resulted in record numbers of exits off benefit and into work.Ricardo Menéndez March: Does she think it's acceptable that under this Government more children have been affected by this sanction due to it being applied to their caregivers and if not why is the sanction still being applied?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: The majority of people who have had this sanction applied don't have children—although there are of course some but the majority don't have children. As I said also what we've seen is a massive reduction in the number of sanctions that have been applied to whānau who have children. And also it is not the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) that makes a random decision to apply this particular sanction; it is instigated by Justice and Police and MSD then lawfully have to carry out the sanction.Ricardo Menéndez March: Does she agree with the Welfare Expert Advisory Group that The current benefit system is based on one of conditionality and sanctions. We heard overwhelmingly [throughout] our consultation that such a system diminishes trust causes anger and resentment and contributes to toxic levels of stress. The application of obligations and sanctions in New Zealand … is problematic." and if not why not?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We committed at the beginning to reviewing sanctions and to getting rid of the excessive sanctions and we've started that work: two of the most excessive have been removed already. I certainly think there's room to do more in the future in this space but we never committed as a Government to removing every sanction or obligation that is in place in the welfare system.Ricardo Menéndez March: Is she or is she not committed to scrapping the warrant-to-arrest sanction so that we stop a growing number of people being stripped of their income including families with children?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: As I said that work has been paused.Ricardo Menéndez March: Does she agree with Labour MP Jacinda Ardern who in 2013 when debating and voting against the introduction of the warrant-to-arrest sanction by National said "[The] bill tears up the idea of a social contract. The message it sends is that the job seeker's role is to look for work and the Government's role is no longer to ensure that there are jobs to train to educate and to help you move into work. No the Government's role is simply to sanction … when you fail." and if so why is this Government continuing to sanction people in the welfare system rather than providing support?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: As I said there has been an 87 percent reduction in the number of sanctions that are applied to whānau with children. I absolutely agree with what the member is saying and the Prime Minister had previously said in Opposition and in fact said the same things. The issue is that when you are a Minister you have a range of work that needs to be done and you've got to make decisions around prioritisation and what will happen and when that will happen. We as a Government have focused on particular areas where they have the biggest impact in particular where we can get money into the pockets of households that need it where we can invest in the upskilling and training that will help whānau get ahead and those things have been my priority as a Minister. It means I haven't been able to get on to everything perhaps that the member thinks I need to do but that will be always the case for any Minister with any portfolio."