Ball Darroch: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBall Darroch: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3647. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DARROCH BALL (NZ First): Looking through the Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill in particular Part 2 clauses 20 and 21 the theme that stands out—the intent of this—is that it is passing the buck. It is an absolute dereliction of duty by this Government to pass the buck the responsibility of maintaining that safety net that I have mentioned previously in this House and that the Government has a responsibility for maintaining and ensuring that it has integrity and that it catches those who fall. State housing is an integral part of that safety net. But what is happening now is like I said that dereliction of duty—passing it on to NGOs to community organisations that are underfunded under-resourced and understaffed and they have to take the brunt of the effects and consequences of legislation like this.There is a question that I need to ask—and everybody should be asking and the Government and the Minister for Social Housing in particular should answer—how did it get to this stage in the first place? They can stand up and give the situation and the reasons why it needs to happen now but how did it get to that situation in the first place? Like Kris Faafoi has already mentioned this has been happening slice by slice over the past 7 years to get to this stage where there is some feasible reasoning in dreamland—with all of the positive outcomes where the Government believes that it is all candyfloss and lollipops that it can put this responsibility on to someone else and try to make it believable. But the question is: what are the real consequences for the people on the ground and the NGOs that have to take up all of these responsibilities?I have got an example in Palmerston North in my electorate where I am based where we have got a trust the Shepherd’s Rest Trust which houses over 60 of the most needy people. The trust had Ministry of Social Development funding which was taken away. It had to get funding from the Lotteries Commission and it was not renewed this year. And there is a potential now that there will be over 20 people without beds unless a private organisation or NGO steps in and takes over from that trust. But what are the consequences? You have got the real responsibility of the Government which needs to look after those needy people being put on to the NGOs which have not got the funding have not got the resources and are balancing on a knife edge about the funding and keeping those people with beds.The fact is that this legislation will make it even worse in the regions. What the concern is for New Zealand First is that this is going down the pathway a step closer to the voucher system in the social system which Mr English was talking about. That spells doom for the regions because what that means is that if it is not financially viable in the regions for branches to be open to look after the people then they will close. And it is happening already. The Salvation Army has closed seven branches in the regions and is bringing itself back to the main centres—and we are talking about the two-tier system again. In closing I would like the Minister and the Government—any Government member when they want to stand up—to answer a simple question: what is the priority? Is it profit or is it people? Because all the way through this legislation and especially through Part 2 it all looks like it is about the bank balances it is about the surpluses it is about the profit and it is not about the people.