Sepuloni Carmel: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSepuloni Carmel: General Debate[Sitting date: 25 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11257. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour—Kelston): That Minister Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman was talking about another member in this House being dull and I actually think that that Minister needs to go back and re-watch his speech to get the true definition of “dull”.I want to concentrate today on the issues that we have with emergency accommodation and with Work and Income New Zealand debt but to set the scene I just want to point out how out of touch that National Government is by touching on some of the statements it has made around housing. John Key says: “If you’re homeless go to Work and Income New Zealand. They’re going to resolve all the problems.” Nick Smith says: “Homelessness is a figment of their imagination.” And Paula Bennett says: “Get out of Auckland. That’s the answer. We can’t fix it here so we’ll pay you to get out.” That goes to show that actually they have no plan for the housing crisis that we are facing and they have no plans to address the homelessness that we have in Auckland or in any part of the country.I think that that side of the House has underestimated how much middle New Zealand actually cares about this issue. It is clear that it is the most vulnerable New Zealanders who are in this situation but everyday middle New Zealanders—the ones whom National members are chasing for votes—are confronted with this issue. They are confronted with this issue because there are 305000 children living in poverty and some of those middle New Zealand children are attending school with them. They are confronted with this issue because some of those parks that middle New Zealand goes to visit early in the morning have cars with people sleeping in them. They are confronted with this issue because every day they go to their shopping centres every day they go to the mall and they see people begging outside. They see homelessness it does affect them and that side of the House has underestimated to what extent.I got some numbers back recently that showed that debt for Work and Income New Zealand clients has gone from $377 million in 2011 to $417 million now. Our poorest New Zealanders are being thrown into debt by Work and Income New Zealand and we know that a large chunk of that debt is because of emergency accommodation. Unfortunately despite the fact that the ministry can do this the Minister and the ministry refused to pull that information apart so we could find out exactly how much the Government has had to spend on emergency accommodation at least in the last 2 years. It says it is not willing to commit the resource and the time to collate that information but this is a matter of public interest. This story has been running on Radio New Zealand and in other forms of media for the last 3 weeks at least—non-stop consistently—and it will not stop because there is public interest in this.It is disappointing when we see in the Official Information Act request that I have here received in January that that Government was made aware back in September last year of the incoherency in respect of emergency accommodation. Those members were told that they needed a plan they were made aware of it and since then they have done nothing. It is only now that it has come to public light that they are starting to act on it. Meanwhile what we have seen is increasing numbers of New Zealanders showing up homeless to our electorate offices having gone to Work and Income New Zealand seeking emergency accommodation. And what do they get? They get told that there are no social housing places: “There is no State housing for you but we will put you in a motel. Unfortunately you will have to pay it back.”Darroch Ball: Stupid.CARMEL SEPULONI: It is stupid Darroch Ball. In one of the cases that I have seen recently a couple with four children now owes $26000 to Work and Income New Zealand and a big chunk of that is because of the motel accommodation that they have been put in. For 2 months—2 months—they have been in motel accommodation. Another family that I had come into our office is $45000 in debt to Work and Income New Zealand and when they were told that their only option in terms of accommodation was going to be motel accommodation they said they would rather sleep in their car with their children. That Government should be ashamed of itself. We are hoping for some big announcement tomorrow around emergency housing but unfortunately we think that all we are going to get are more pitiful announcements like Paula Bennett’s admission of defeat—that people should be paid $5000 to get out of Auckland because that Government has no plan to solve the housing crisis.