Wong Pansy: Estimates Debate —  
Wong Pansy: Estimates Debate —  
[Volume:610;Page:7183] 
PANSY WONG (NZ National) 
: 
 It is refreshing to hear that even United Future members are talking about the problem of the rise in invalids beneficiaries and sickness beneficiaries. The test that remains is what they are going to do about it. United Future continues to support the Labour Government which does not seem to be able to keep its social welfare portfolio under control. 
When I read through the select committee’s report I immediately got the message that there is bad news for the Minister for Social Development and Employment Steve Maharey because even his own caucus members are no longer convinced by his spin that the social welfare portfolio is under control. Even the Labour members on that select committee are frustrated because they state in this public document that the number of people on the invalids benefit has been increasing for some years and they urge the ministry to proceed with its pilot study to find the causes of the rise. Just to get a feel for why they are worrying in late 1999 when National was in Government there were 52700 invalids benefit beneficiaries. By this year there were 68800 and the numbers are forecast to increase to 71000 people. 
 The number of people on the sickness benefit has increased from 32000 to 39000 and the warning that an urgent study needed to be done into that area was already recorded in the select committee’s report last year. But what has the ministry done or shall we ask: how did the Minister respond to that urgency? We learn that the ministry is now conducting four pilot demonstration projects but apparently all those results will not be due until August 2004. I think that the public should get as worried as the select committee and myself that it took about 3 years just to learn the result of a study on that urgent issue and some members on that select committee believe that the research findings will not be made available until 2005. I think that the Minister should take a call and say whether that is how he responds to an urgent problem at hand. 
Talking about benefits the other issue that I learn from the select committee’s report is that the expenditure on special benefits is forecast to increase from $82.9 million in 2002-03 to $130 million in the coming financial year—a whopping 57 percent increase. I notice that the only other items that have increased at the same speed are the number of increases in taxes imposed by the Labour Government. There are 17 tax increases. I think that is about the only area that has kept up with the increases in these special benefits. Apparently we have some explanation. According to the select committee’s report it is partly to do with some people who might have been entitled to special benefits but who were not aware of that and the ministry’s task is to increase their awareness of those benefits. But the other explanation in the select committee’s report which I find really fascinating is that it reckons one of Wellington’s social welfare agencies claimed that the Ministry of Social Welfare’s staff might have some bias against bringing the availability of those special benefits to the attention of the Maori and Pacific Island communities. When I read that in the report I begin to get quite worried because the ministry says it has implemented a policy to ensure that staff members are not—even subconsciously—operating a bias in order to fix the problem.