Mackey Moana: General Debate 
Mackey Moana: General Debate 
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MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I join my colleagues from around the House in paying my condolences to the people of Christchurch for what they continue to endure to all the workers in Christchurch who are helping those families to all the volunteers who are heading there again—I see that Federated Farmers and the student volunteers are arranging to go back—and also to our Christchurch colleagues from all around the House who I know are working very hard to make sure that their constituents are looked after as best as they possibly can. 
That contribution from the Hon Tim Groser was extraordinary. 
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: It was great wasn’t it? I agree. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Jonathan Coleman says that it was great but I say that it was very telling. If there was ever a demonstration of just how out of touch this Government is on the cost of living and its impact on Kiwi families it was that speech. What a load of bureaucratic gobbledygook! While he stands there talking about structural imbalances and unsustainable requirements people cannot put food on the table they cannot keep a roof over their heads and they cannot buy for their children what they could have bought 3 4 or 5 years ago. That is the reality. Maybe if National Ministers and our Prime Minister visited a food bank once in a while we would not continue to be subjected to these offensive speeches that say that it is all the fault of the unemployed that they are unemployed and that the Government will just bring in tougher welfare measures because what those people need is a kick in the pants. That is what Paula Bennett and John Key have said instead of accepting the reality that for 2½ years our Government has done nothing. 
Our Government has no plan for dealing with the recession. Our Government has no plan for helping families cope with the spiralling cost of living. I thought it was very interesting when the member talked about averages and the average wage. The reason that the average income has gone up is because poor people have lost their jobs and wealthier people have become even wealthier. That is why the average has gone up but National members continue to defy the laws of mathematics. When Labour was in Government we had at one point the lowest rate of unemployment in the world. That meant that a number of people came into the workforce and a lot of them were on low incomes in lower-paid jobs. So we had more people employed. They had jobs but yes the average wage was slightly lower because so many more people were employed and a lot of them were on low incomes. National members are now saying: “Let’s just get all low-income people out of work.” I think we are now seeing the plan—we are seeing the plan. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Just leave John Key with a job. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: That is right. If the only person in New Zealand who had a job was John Key then our average wage would be in the millions—the tens of millions. So that is National’s plan and it worries me deeply that National members continue to stand up and say that this is a good thing whilst ignoring the fact that more and more New Zealanders are unemployed and more and more New Zealanders cannot cope with the current cost of living. 
Tim Groser said that Labour can always find a case study to wave around. I could find thousands of case studies to wave around; I actually visit my food banks and my budget advisory services. When it comes to the budget advisory service in Gisborne I tell members that it is so overrun at the moment that staff are having to meet people in the hallway. It does not have enough space in its offices to meet people because of how difficult it is and because of some of the changes that the Minister has made which are just ridiculous and which have no extra funding. The Minister promised all that extra funding but the budget advisory service has not seen any yet. 
I want to tell members about one case I heard which I thought really summed up how dire things are for so many of our families. This is the case of a solo mother in Gisborne. Work and Income made an error and put more money into her account than she was entitled to. In a rush of blood to the head—and she should not have done this—she went out and spent the money. She then came back to the budget advisory service in tears saying that she knew she would have to pay back the money. She was upset about what she had done but it was not often that she had had money in her account at all and she acknowledged that she had made a mistake. The service managed to sort that out and someone went around to see her. Do members know what she had spent that extra money on? It was on non-perishable food. She had stocked her pantry. She did not spend the money on alcohol or cigarettes as National members would have us believe and she did not spend it on going out. She saw an opportunity for the first time to fill her cupboards with non-perishable food. When food becomes a luxury in New Zealand that is a sad sad day.