Brash Don: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Brash Don: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:619;Page:15309] 
1. 
Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Does he stand by the Budget statement that a key aim of the Working for Families package is: “to make work pay by ensuring that people are better off by being in work and are rewarded for their work effort”; if not why not? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 That was a statement made by the Minister of Finance and he was absolutely right so yes. 
Dr Don Brash 
: Was the decision to put solo parents working between 10 and 20 hours a week in a situation whereby their effective tax rate on an extra hour’s work is 92.2 percent a simple mistake on the Government’s part or was it in fact a deliberate decision? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: That package delivers benefits to 300000 families in the form of extra income. Those people whom the member is speaking about will have an increased income. Everyone will benefit from this package. Those people are part of the package and they will benefit. 
Georgina Beyer 
: What reports has the Minister seen that advocate the use of “making work pay” initiatives such as those contained in the Working for Families package? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I am aware of the following statement: “What you have to do I think is get people jobs and if they can’t live on those wages then find some way of supplementing their income so that they can live comfortably.” Ironically those comments backing the Working for Families package were made by Don Brash on Television One’s  
Good Morning 
 show last Thursday. They came just 2 days after his colleagues voted against the package. Don Brash supports every aspect of the Working for Families package. 
Sue Bradford 
: Why did the Minister include in the Working for Families package the abolition of the special benefit and how will that make it easier for those beneficiaries who will be affected by that in the future to move into paid employment? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: As the member knows one of the complexities of the benefit system is that a lot of it gets paid toward what is called the “third tier”—for example the special benefit. This package brings forward money that beneficiaries often had to go through the system to seek. They get paid it on the first and second tier. That will benefit them. They will have less connection with Work and Income people. They also have in the package things that will make work pay like childcare and transport support. The package simply makes work pay by them going out to work. They will be better off. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: How can the Minister claim that Labour is making work pay when a one-income family with three children renting in Auckland find themselves in the ludicrous situation that under his Government’s policy the stay-at-home partner would have to earn more than $108318 a year to match his partner’s present $38000 a year take-home pay? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I have no idea where the member gets those figures from. This package will ensure through a mixture of accommodation supplement family income support and assistance across a wide range of things to help people to go back to work that all people who are affected by this package will benefit. 
Dr Don Brash 
: In what circumstances other than sheer desperation does the Minister imagine welfare mothers might work extra hours to improve the lot of their families when their extra earnings are taxed at 92.2 percent? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: This package will ensure that people whom the member describes as “welfare mothers”—those on the domestic purposes benefit—will have access to a wide range of supports to go back to work. When they make the crossover they will benefit. They will have childcare costs paid for; they will have accommodation costs paid for; and they will have the “make work pay package” which makes that transference possible. They will get more money by going to work. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Would the Minister please answer the question asked by the Leader of the Opposition—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The problem is that a member is interjecting. The member knows that he cannot do that and he is nearly out of the House. Please start the question again. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Would the Minister please answer the question asked by the Leader of the Opposition which appeared to me to be that under the package introduced by the Government to help people get into work a solo mother who works for 20 hours a week will pay 92.2 percent tax or in other words on $100 that solo mother will keep $7.80; could the Minister please explain why any solo mother would think that was fair? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Some people will move towards marginal tax rates which means they will retain less but the vast majority of people under this package will benefit from an accommodation supplement childcare costs and family income assistance. They will retain more money when they go to work and they will have a “making work pay” package. We are talking about a very small number of people—who still benefit—but the vast majority will benefit a great deal. 
Dr Don Brash 
: Does the Minister take pride in putting an iron ceiling above welfare beneficiaries; if not what is he going to do about it? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: There is no iron ceiling above beneficiaries. This Government has made work pay. The National Government put an iron ceiling above people by never introducing the very policies that that member now says are exactly what needs to happen. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: I seek leave to table the calculations that show that somebody would have to earn $108370 a year to be better off. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table those calculations. Is there any objection? There is.