Benson-Pope David: General Debate 
Benson-Pope David: General Debate 
[Volume:638;Page:8633] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 I am delighted to have the opportunity to make a contribution. I would like to begin by thanking that member Simon Power for his contribution to the annals of fantasy. I promise him I will try to deliver this speech with at least some passion. 
I would like to begin by talking about some facts; facts that are pretty widely disseminated in the community right now. They are facts about the changes and advantages that New Zealanders have seen over the last few days. Everyone knows about the substantial increase in the Working for Families package. Everyone knows by now—and many people are absolutely delighted—about the increase in annual leave. People are only too aware of the increase in the minimum wage. Nearly a million superannuitants I understand are only too delighted at the very substantial increase they have had in their national superannuation. That is an entitlement we have reinstated re-indexed and guaranteed thanks to the so-called Cullen fund which is part-funded into the future. 
I do not want to talk today about just those changes made on 1 April. I also want to spend a little bit of time reminding the community and the Opposition members of the reality of change since they were last in power in 1999. We often hear a bit of disputation about some of these figures in terms of who is receiving unemployment support or whatever sort of benefit support. I would like to put the current facts into the public domain yet again. In December 1999 at the end of the last reign—probably the last reign ever—of the National Party there were 401400-odd people receiving benefits of some kind. That figure of over 401000 is for all benefits. The figure in February this year after 7 years of Labour on the Treasury benches is around 268000. That is a complete turn-round; it is a reduction of over 33 percent in the total benefit roll. 
The high point of that has of course been the reduction in those receiving the unemployment benefit. In December 1999 when National was last in Government there were 161128 people on the unemployment benefit. There is more good news coming. At the end of February this year that figure was down to 32380. That is a most extraordinary reduction of over 80 percent—80 percent—in the number of unemployed in this country. What better can we provide as a Government than the sort of support that has assisted so many tens of thousands of New Zealanders into work. Numbers on the domestic purposes benefit are trending down and the numbers on sickness and invalids benefits while they are increasing at a very small level are under control and plateauing. I hope to have some good news for Parliament in the next few weeks about that. 
What does this mean for New Zealanders? Let us not just talk about the core raw numbers. What do this actually mean for the 360000 families—three out of every four families in this country—who are accessing this sort of support? Members will have heard me talk in the Chamber the other day about Josephine and William from Kaitaia and about Aveael. Those members who read the  
Sunday News 
 will have seen a delightful photo of Aveael Webb and her daughter. I know everyone in this Chamber—and certainly every member on the benches opposite—reads the  
Sunday News 
. 
But I have not talked to members about Raewyn and Bruce Haycock yet. Raewyn and Bruce have three children aged 9 6 and 3. Raewyn works as an early childhood teacher and Bruce is a youth pastor in the Papatoetoe Baptist church. Altogether that family is receiving $156 as a result of the various components of the Working for Families package. It is just a tad more than the $10—let us be generous and say it was $15—that the National Party promised in its flat tax cut. 
I have not talked about Natasha Fuller from the Waikato. Natasha has two children aged 8 and 6. She started her own business called Versatile Home Services in November 2006. She is cleaning homes as a business and she started that business with an enterprise allowance. She is currently receiving an accommodation supplement of $91 and a family tax credit of $69.50 and with her two children she is now getting another $20 a week from the Working for Families package. She now gets thanks to the Working for Families components $180.50 a week. That is just a tad more than the $10 or $15 she would have received as part of the National Party’s across the board tax cut. Then of course there is BayleaHanscombe in Taranaki or Thomas and Lorraine on the East Coast and so it goes on.