Shanks Katrina: Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Shanks Katrina: Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to take a call tonight in the Committee stage of the Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill. I have sat here for a while now and listened to the debate around me. It has been interesting because if one were to sit here and watch this debate on television tonight or to listen to it on the radio one would think that National does not have a heart that National does not want to help the most vulnerable that National does not care about the mums at home living on their own that National does not care about those on the unemployment benefit and that National does not care about those on the sickness benefit. Well actually we do. Being a little bit aspirational about giving people pathways to improve their lives is a good thing; it is not a bad thing. 
I think that Labour members believe that if we can keep people in poverty if we can keep them in welfare then that is the best we can do for them. But keeping people in welfare is not the best we can do for them. In fact if the previous Labour Government had not made such a mess of our economy 4 years ago we would be in a much better state now; we would be seeing through the recession in a much better way and there would be more jobs. That is the reality of it. 
I want to respond to what Ross Robertson said about those who are 50 or 60 and about how hard it is for them to get jobs. It is. It is hard for everybody out there to get jobs at the moment; no one is denying that. But this legislation is saying that we believe there are jobs and there will be more and more jobs as we get through the recession. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: No it’s not happening. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: Is it not interesting? Darren Hughes the previous member for Otaki says there will be no more jobs. Well I tell him that there will be more jobs in New Zealand and that jobs are growing under a National Government. If saying that there are no more jobs out there is the best that he can do for New Zealand then that is why he is in Opposition and why we are in Government because we will be developing more jobs. 
As for Ross Robertson’s comments about those seniors who cannot get into employment I say that many people are employing people over 50. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: It’s not happening Katrina. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: It is interesting that Darren Hughes sits there again and shakes his head. I employ somebody over 60 in my office. So he can sit there and shake his head but it does happen. Those people still contribute a lot to our society and they still have a lot to offer. 
It was interesting when we sat on the select committee and had many submitters come in and talk to us. Many of them gave good insights into their own personal experiences or came as representatives for other groups. I will touch on what the Child Poverty Action group said which was really interesting. One of the statements its representatives made which I wrote down because I asked them to repeat it was that they did not believe that long-term beneficiaries were better off in work. If that is what they truly believe—that long-term beneficiaries are not better off in work—and that is quoting what they said then I am sorry but I disagree with them; they have got it totally wrong. 
Other groups came in the Auckland Women’s Centre and the Women’s Health Action group. They came in and gave submissions to the committee. What they said was really interesting. They said that solo mums can be good mums and work in jobs at the same time—and they can. They were endorsing that it is OK for solo mums to go out there and get a job and work and that solo mums can do both; they can balance working and motherhood. That is what the Auckland Women’s Centre and the Women’s Health Action group said. If we listen to the messages they are sending we hear that they are quite powerful messages because they are backing women and that is not a bad thing. 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Who? 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: The members are asking who. For the third time I will repeat myself. If those members stopped badgering me maybe their colleagues would hear me when I say it was the Auckland Women’s Centre and the Women’s Health Action group. They said that solo mums can be good mums and they can work in good jobs at the same time. 
Those groups are backing women and National is backing women. National backs those people on the unemployment benefit and those on the sickness benefit because we believe that there is a pathway for them to have a better life. Thank you.