Stewart Barbara: Future Directions (Working for Families) Bill — First Reading 
Stewart Barbara: Future Directions (Working for Families) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:13445] 
BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 As my colleague Peter Brown pointed out New Zealand First will be supporting this legislation—the Future Directions (Working for Families) Bill. We need families to survive as strong families are the basis of society and we have all debated that many times in this House over the last year. 
We are tired of reading negative reports on the state of New Zealand families. All the recent reports on New Zealand families the UN report and the Child Poverty Action Group report state that New Zealand needs to take urgent action to enhance the lives of its children and those of its families. Many children live happy and fulfilling lives in their families but the less fortunate live in poverty and face violence and discrimination. All of these issues can be addressed by the Government and this legislation should do that. 
When there are figures that are internationally comparable New Zealand always stacks up really poorly. We have a large gap between rich and the poor and we have many children living in poverty. We have high rates of death from causes such as infant deaths and sudden infant death syndrome. We have a large gap too between children who do well in school and children who do poorly. We have a high rate of youth suicide a high rate of teenage mothers and so forth. By international comparisons we could and should be doing a lot better and this legislation will hopefully do that. 
The Agenda for Children came out 2 years ago but last year’s Budget contained nothing to implement that agenda. It promised to end child poverty but there was nothing in that Budget to improve the situation of poor families. These families have had to wait until this year’s Budget and we hope they will benefit. 
I was really pleased to see on page 23 of the explanatory note of this bill two internationally recognised income poverty measures with thresholds set at 50 percent and 60 percent of median household income and that the Government estimates after full implementation that there will be a 70 percent reduction in child poverty at the lower threshold and a 30 percent— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member but it is a convention in this House that members should not conduct conversations in the House unless it is necessary to do so and then only so as not to disturb the proceedings. I urge restraint on members to respect the contributions of another member. It is good conduct common courtesy and good form. 
BARBARA STEWART 
: In looking at page 23 of the explanatory note I see that the Government estimates that after full implementation there will be a 70 percent reduction in child poverty at the lower threshold and a 30 percent reduction in child poverty at the higher threshold. We hope this reduction in poverty actually occurs and no one can argue that it should not. We in New Zealand First will be monitoring that very carefully. 
New Zealand First is really pleased to see that some of Dr Cullen’s pot of gold will go to families. We want to see families prosper and we want the worthy objectives at the start of the commentary which my colleague Peter Brown pointed out actually achieved. We hope this bill is right and that there are no errors in it as we have not really had a chance to thoroughly read its 50 pages. 
We always say that the wealth of our nation can be seen in our children. Our children at the moment do not reflect a prosperous nation. Hopefully this legislation should reverse that trend. We want to see changes to the state of our families. We want to see work pay for parents who move off benefits into work. We want to see family income increased to significantly address the issues of income inadequacy and we want to see childcare assistance an integral part of the social security system in recognition of its importance to families. We want to see accommodation made affordable by some way of responding to the increased cost of housing. This bill outlines these things in its objectives and we want to see them implemented.