Sio Su'a William: General Debate 
Sio Su'a William: General Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19601] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 We have a saying in Samoa: e maua loa kafiki loa which means that when someone is caught doing something wrong they begin to attack. That is what we have heard from the Minister of Education. If the National leader had the cojones to accept those postcards then they would not have gone to Sue Moroney.  
About this time in 2008 Mr John Key the then Leader of the Opposition turned up in my electorate flanked by two known Pacific former sports stars. There was a big splash and a big ado about what they would do for the people of Mangere the people of Manukau and the Pacific community. It was splashed in the paper that $6 million would be invested in a trade academy at the Southern Cross Campus. Today that school is still wondering where the rest of that money has gone. They are still wondering. The two former sports stars who flanked the Prime Minister at that time are nowhere to be seen. They are not receiving answers to the questions about where that money has gone.  
At that time too we told the community of Mangere that with National in Government we would have to fight to protect ourselves; we would have to fight to protect early childhood education; we would have to fight to protect housing our public health system and our assets; and we would have to fight to protect the working community of New Zealand. That is exactly what has transpired in the past 3 years under a National Government. The first thing it did was cut the budget for adult community education which served that community well. It continued to cut money that went into early childhood education which is significant for a population of generally young people. Now we are hearing that it will again be looking to undermine the rights of workers not only through the 90-day bill that it introduced right off the bat but also by undermining the ability of trade unions and workers’ representatives to be able to negotiate with employers.  
With the high cost of living that we now have prices are running up to 20 percent. They are rising above more than what people are earning. I ask this Government what it will do for the working population the length and breadth of New Zealand when it has given significant money to the wealthy few. What will the Government do to enable ordinary working families with children who are struggling to make ends meet to meet the regular cost of living?  
Let me give the House a couple of examples so that that side of the House understands the struggles of working communities. There is a family in the south side of Mangere who are currently living with two children in a Housing New Zealand Corporation house. They have had to leave that house because it leaks and was not fixed up by the Housing New Zealand Corporation. That family have to live with their parents in a crammed-up situation. The promise that was given to the community of Mangere in those days was that the Minister of Housing would fix up the stock. Today many families are still waiting for that housing stock to be fixed up.  
A young man with a family of two children was sick in hospital in April. He had an operation for cancer. He applied early just prior to leaving hospital to go home to Work and Income New Zealand and he was told he was eligible for a sickness benefit. Today that family is still waiting to see whether they will receive a hand up to help them with their normal day-to-day expenses including mortgage payments. They risk losing their house because the culture of Government departments under this Government has changed significantly.  
Labour recognises the hardship that families are working through. We promise the working population of our communities and the rest of New Zealand that we will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Under this Government we have had only a $1 rise in the minimum wage after 3 years.