Ngaro Alfred: Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Ngaro Alfred: Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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ALFRED NGARO (National) 
: 
 I stand in support of the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. I hear much of the talk from my colleagues next door who talk about the fact that we should be blamed and we should be shamed for the things that we are doing. I find it ironic that the very party that talks about a plan is in review at the moment. In fact if you look on its website it is asking questions. It does not have a plan; it is not sure. Why? It is because the things that it said before have not worked so it has become a one-trick pony—a one-trick pony—where it keeps saying the same things over and over and over again. If anyone should be blamed if anyone should be shamed it should be that party.  
I stand here today and say this: my colleague talked about Mr Savage and what he talked about. When he set up the welfare systems that we are talking about now they were set up to be a safety net. Over generations when that party was in Government it became a mattress for people to lie on rather than a safety net which is what it should be. That is what this policy is doing. It is very clear that it is talking about youth support and work focus. It has a vision; it has an ability to take our people forward.  
I hear all this rhetoric. I hear young people talking about what this ideology should look like. I have just recently worked with the very young people whom we are talking about—these young people who are looking for opportunities. I remember just recently talking to a number of young people—20 of them—and I asked them one question: “What is your dream?”. They could not come up with a dream. They were not sure. Why? The fact is that for many of them they saw just a life of dependency where they were heading. So over a period of time— 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Rubbish! 
ALFRED NGARO 
: That is right; it is rubbish. The fact is that the rubbish was that they lost their sight to dream. That is what this is doing: we are giving them a sense of dream. We are giving them a sense of optimism and hope to believe that they can become something rather than be stuck time and time again in a form of dependency. That is what we are doing here.  
Many of them said to us: “Mr Ngaro nobody wins at WINZ.” I asked them why they said that. They said that all it does is provide them with the things that they need; it does not provide them with the opportunities that they are looking for. These young people have been saying to me: “Mr Ngaro give us opportunities.” I want to applaud the Minister for Social Development because this is what this bill is doing. We talk about being trapped in a cycle. We want our people to have an opportunity to be successful in the dreams that they have to be successful in their lives.  
This system has been letting our people down for years allowing too many to become trapped in a cycle of dependency and with this bill that has to change. We want people to participate in the workforce. The words talked about by members were “It’s about jobs.” It is more than just about jobs. What the Minister is saying to us here today through this bill is that it is about an attitude for change. That is what she is telling us. That is the vision that she is giving to us. It is not just about the jobs the counting of jobs and how many are out there. It is about the fact that we say: “Let us have an attitude to be work-ready to train and to seek out the best opportunities.” A job is just a means to an end.  
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: You’re going to legislate for attitude are you?  
ALFRED NGARO 
: A job is a means to an end Mr Prasad. That is what it is and that is what we are talking about here. It is using the words “future focus”. We talk about hope. It has future focus. It is encouraging our families. It is encouraging our young mothers to be future-focused. That is what we are asking them to do.  
Here are some of the changes we are talking about. We are introducing financial support in the form of a new youth payment and young parent payment. We are introducing greater flexibility in the hours of work for part-time and full-time work tests for beneficiaries subject to a work test obligation. We are introducing work obligations and preparation for sole parents widows women alone partners and for parents on benefit who have additional children. We are also authorising information sharing so that we can improve the process as well.  
There was a lot of talk about jobs. It amazes me that somehow the Opposition members do not take time to read some of the statistics. Let me just remind them. The household labour force survey produced by Statistics New Zealand found that 62000 jobs were created over the past 2 years and the  
ANZ Job Ads 
 report for January showed that jobs were on offer in every region in the country with 30000 positions available. If you look at Work and Income it receives 1300 to 1500 vacancies a week. The Department of Labour job index indicates that job vacancies will increase by 0.8 percent in January alone—and I could go on and on.  
I am a strong supporter of this bill. I am a strong supporter of this bill because our Minister and this Government have taken the courage to make a stand. No longer are we one-trick ponies. No longer are we going to say “Same old same old.” Instead we are prepared to take courage and say that this is the day that we will make sure that the opportunities for our young people and our young parents are there for them. Thank you.