Lotu-Iiga Sam: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lotu-Iiga Sam: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 12 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8450. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 It is a privilege and an honour to speak in this debate on the financial review of the Ministry of Social Development. Before I talk about the substantive achievements that this Government has done in this portfolio area I just want to say to the member who just spoke Jacinda Ardern that if that member thinks that turning up to Pasifika Festival on a Saturday afternoon gives her an insight into Pasifika children and the vulnerabilities that they have and their families have then she is mistaken. She is mistaken if she thinks that turning up to the Grey Lynn festival gives her some sort of insight into how Pasifika people are living in this country. 
It was a disgrace to hear that member talk about how Labour members are aspirational and yet they deny the fact that National Certificate of Educational Achievement levels 1 2 and 3 for Pasifika people have improved over the last 12 months. They deny the fact that pass rates for Pasifika people inside our tertiary education institutions are going up. They deny the fact that the number of people employed in this country of Pasifika descent has gone up under this Government. So they might want to deny those facts but certainly I will not. 
It is not about rich and poor but I will tell you what it is about. It is about the Ministry of Social Development. I want to thank the Minister the Hon Paula Bennett for the work the bold leadership and the hard work that she has put in to bring about the reforms in this country. We all know about the investment approach. We know about budgeting services and the investment that we are putting up front into vulnerable families parenting services wraparound services budgeting services—those are the things that matter to people who are in need. 
We know about our other welfare reforms in terms of social obligations: the re-categorisation of unemployment benefit as well as work testing and testing for those who are on drugs and want to work. But I want to talk about the 9300 staff of the Ministry of Social Development who are out there many of them on the front line dealing with vulnerable families and children—1.6 million people whom they are servicing every day. It is massive. In terms of its scope this ministry deals with the care and protection of vulnerable children. It deals with income support superannuation services and funding for community service providers. This Government believes that pushing our services out into the community just as the Maori Party does through Whanau Ora—[ 
Interruption 
] Louisa Wall knows this because she is a supporter of these types of services community services that actually interact with our whanau and our families out in the community. Those are the sorts of services that our communities are demanding. 
This budget is one-third of the total Government spending across the whole Government portfolio. It is $21 billion a year so this is not to be underestimated in terms of its importance. One of the things that I think has worked is certainly Future Focus which was introduced in 2010 as a precursor to those reforms that I have just spoken about. What it did was that it allowed unemployment beneficiaries to reapply if they remained on the benefit for over 12 months. It also provided for domestic purposes benefit recipients with children over 6 to look for part-time work. That is a particularly important reform because what we are seeing is that when solo parents see their kids going out into school they are able to get part-time work. They are able to get part-time jobs. It is good for them it is good for their kids it is good for our communities and it is good for our economy. 
What has happened under these reforms is that we have saved taxpayers $74 million since these reforms were put in place. That is $74 million. That is nothing to be sniffled at. That will be applied to services that are needed in our communities. What it has meant is that 21400 people have left the unemployment benefit as a result of this policy and half of those did not actually complete the reapplication form that was part of our reforms. 
I support the reforms that we have done over the last 4 years in Government. They have made a huge difference to the people in our communities. They have serviced a lot of families that have been in need during this global financial crisis. It has meant that they are able to go out and get jobs—