Willis Nicola; Williams PotoNICOLA WILLIS (National): It is my great honour to rise to speak on the second reading of the Child Poverty Reduction Bill. And it is my privilege to be speaking on a piece of legislation that marks parliamentary consensus that marks the coming together of parties across this House to craft a bill that will make a difference for children for generations to come.I think what we have today is a meeting of intention: an agreement that whether you sit there or here or there when you come to this House you share an intention that you will make a difference to the lives of others and that you will make a difference to the generations of New Zealanders that are yet to come. Our debate in this Parliament is not about whether that is a good intention; our debate is about what will make the biggest and most enduring difference for those future generations. What we share is a shared abhorrence of child poverty and it is to be a denigration of us all if we are to pretend that some people dislike child poverty more than others. What we all believe is that every child deserves a good start in life. They deserve to be happy and healthy and to have the ability to fulfil their potential. They deserve access to a strong public health and education system. They deserve a good family and home life. What we all acknowledge is that here in New Zealand the Kiwi way is that everyone has hope and opportunity and that when that happens the whole society benefits. And so today we acknowledge that in order to advance these shared objectives a programme of transparent reporting on poverty targets a programme of public accountability is called for.I want to pay particular acknowledgment to the Social Services and Community Committee who have worked very hard to make this a much much better bill than it might have been. In particular I want to acknowledge Alfred Ngaro who said that what we measure in this bill is important. We have to measure housing conditions. We have to measure education and health outcomes. He said that this must not just be a Government strategy; this must be a strategy that brings in churches iwi non-government organisations—all in our society who have the ability to impact on our children. He said that this policy will only work if it brings in the principles of social investment if it looks at early intervention and if it looks at the evidence-based policy. He ensured that this bill is much better than it would have been. And I do want to acknowledge the Prime Minister for accepting those great changes from National and making this a better piece of legislation than it could have been.But most importantly I want to today acknowledge Bill English. I want to acknowledge him as the grandfather of the social investment policy that I believe will be the enduring thing that makes a difference to child poverty in this country. I want to acknowledge the good work he did in the past five years of the National Government. Against a backdrop of a global financial crisis and major catastrophic earthquakes he managed a fiscal strategy that ensured 85000 children were lifted out of material hardship and he was able to do that because he understood that the foundation on which equality of opportunity is built is a strong economy because with economic growth we can have better jobs for parents we can have better incomes and we can have a better ability for all families to juggle their responsibilities and support the aspirations of their children.He also understood—to quote his valedictory speech—the dangerous complacency of good intentions." He understood that strengthening families and the lives they are able to provide their children is not just about family incomes. It is about breaking the cycles of dependence and dysfunction that impact too many of our whānau and we have the tools to do it. We have the data. We understand the evidence. It is our responsibility to use those things and that is what social investment is about.How will we be judged when New Zealanders look back on this bill? I put to you that we will not be judged by the adjectives we have used to describe its good intentions. We will not be judged by whether it was historic landmark or transformative in its description. We will be judged by how many lives it changed. Together we commit to that work in this House but let the great debate continue about how we achieve that. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I understand this is a split call. Priyanca Radhakrishnan you have five minutes."