Mahuta Nanaia: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMahuta Nanaia: General Debate[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6689. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato): Social Justice Week is an opportunity for us as a Parliament to reflect on the type of society that we should have. Is it fair and decent? Is it a society where there is a greater equality of outcomes? Is it a society where our democratic principles are upheld at every point of the decision-making process? I listened very carefully to this debate and you could be forgiven for thinking that we are talking about two types of New Zealand here: one where everybody gets a fair go and the other where those who are most successful will get a shot at it.Social Justice Week is also an opportunity to highlight some really significant issues and it is about people. Do we think it is acceptable in New Zealand to have greater levels of homelessness for it to be harder for families to buy a home whether they are in provincial New Zealand or in urban settings or for the elderly to be feeling insecure in communities that they once thrived in? No it is not. Something is happening in New Zealand. Is it acceptable that there are greater levels of low-income households unable to support their family because of insecure work a change in employment conditions and the minimum wage and expecting families to live on that? No it is not. Things have been tough in the last 8 years. Is it acceptable that young children are raised in cold damp houses—whether it is in provincial New Zealand or in the city—and paying higher rentals? No it is not. Eight years of this Government’s rule have actually made it harder for families and children.Is it acceptable that higher numbers of children are moved from school to school to school because families cannot afford to live in the homes in their area so they go and take their families to live in garages and on couches until they find something stable because the Government has sold off State houses? No it is not. That is what has happened in the last 8 years. Social Justice Week is an opportunity for us as a Parliament to ask: is this the type of society that provides opportunity for all New Zealanders? Sadly it is not.I want to know what happened to Aroha. You know Aroha. Remember Aroha from McGehan Close where the Prime Minister held her hand and gave her hope and the promise of a better New Zealand for all? Where is Aroha? She is in Australia with hundreds and thousands of other New Zealanders who did not see any hope and opportunity here in New Zealand because times have got tough—times have got tough. There are more families living in poverty. There are lower household incomes unable to support the needs of families who just want a leg up. They want hope and opportunity all right. They are in provincial New Zealand. They are also in the cities of New Zealand. They are working harder to make ends meet and they want to work but there is not enough work around. Under this Government it has been really difficult.The erosion of workers’ rights health and safety legislation that does not give the full protection that it should charter schools setting up a two-type education system—those who are in the public system get funded at a lower rate than those who are in charter schools. How can that be fair—how can that be fair? Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru comes to mind. The Government would like to create a two-tier education system under its proposal that that is better for all New Zealanders. I cannot see the benefit.Privatised prisons—look at the shambles that is happening there under Serco. Can that be right in terms of justifying both taxpayers’ money and what is happening there? Heck we have even heard that the Government might be going down the track of privatised social services—who knows? But what I find fundamentally difficult to believe in the last 8 years is the total impact that the sell-off of State houses has had on every family that I certainly represent how hard it has got for people to get a good home and what the private rental market is doing to those who are most vulnerable and at the lower-income end of the street.Here is the thing. I know a mother with two children in a caravan park who was paying $340—living in a caravan park with two children paying $340 a week. Is that fair? I do not think so and under the last 8 years of this Government those types of things have popped up. Then let us talk about democracy. It is OK to have a say on the flag but not on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. How can that be democracy in terms of a New Zealand that wants to be informed about the things that are impacting on people’s lives? If it is about economic opportunity greater productivity and a chance for people to really flourish in New Zealand then let people know what is happening under that. The Government is not. This Government—