Wall Louisa: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWall Louisa: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4146. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Talofa lava Mr Assistant Speaker. Thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to this Budget debate and analysis. I have got a question for the House: how many children will be lifted out of poverty as a result of last week’s Budget? How many children will be lifted out of poverty as a result of last week’s Budget?Grant Robertson: They don’t know.LOUISA WALL: They do not know. Thank you Grant Robertson. Those members do not know. They conceded that this morning on Radio New Zealand National. This Government does not know how many children will be lifted out of poverty as a result of last week’s Budget.Beneficiary families are supposed to be grateful because beneficiary families are going to get $25 from 1 April 2016. Why? Because Prime Minister John Key said: “Supporting children in hardship [is a] focus of the Budget.” That was the title of his press release. It is such a focus ladies and gentlemen that beneficiary families have to wait for only 307 days to get the $25 a week—307 days. So that is the National Party’s definition of compassionate conservatism. You beneficiary families and your children are such a priority such a focus that you have to wait for only 307 days. So what is so compassionate about having to wait for 307 days?Well the Government has tried to claim that this is the first increase since 1972 forgetting that National—that is Ruth Richardson and Jenny Shipley—in the 1990s had actually cut benefits. So the National Government in the 1990s cut benefits—Chris Bishop: Yep and you had 9 years to reverse them and you didn’t.LOUISA WALL: —and Chris Bishop is proud of that fact. How much are those cuts worth today? Well ladies and gentlemen that is $43 worth of benefit cuts today. So in fact in giving them $25 you have actually ripped them off $18. That is how much this Government wants to address poverty and address the hardship in beneficiary families.And now I want to focus around another aspect of this Government’s compassionate conservatism. It is actually related to the Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Act. I am going to do a little bit of facts and figures and some people who were here on the weekend will have heard this. But of the 4.471 million New Zealanders 52 percent—2.35 million people—have actually enrolled in KiwiSaver. Of those 350000 children and young people have been enrolled. So congratulations to the parents out there for enrolling their children in KiwiSaver and committing them to a life of saving so that one day they might be able to own a home one day they might be able to get an education and one day when they are 65-plus they will be able to have a great retirement—because that is actually what it is all about. We want to prepare people for the future.Of the 2.121 million people who are not enrolled about 340000 have opted out. They have made an informed decision to not be involved in KiwiSaver. Of the 1.7 million or 40 percent of New Zealanders who now are not entitled to the $1000 KiwiSaver kick-start contribution to their retirement scheme—who are they? Because I am really interested to know who the 40 percent of New Zealanders are who are missing out.I am going to focus on a couple of cohorts. One cohort: those are the people who earn under $30000 actually. They are missing out on this KiwiSaver scheme and these are people whom I would classify as living in hardship. These are those families whom John Key said that his Government is focusing on. All of those families are going to miss out. Who else is affected? Well actually according to the Inland Revenue Department in its February 2015 reportWho is enrolling in KiwiSaver?—I am basing this on the just under 40 percent of KiwiSaver members who were automatically enrolled. And who was automatically enrolled in KiwiSaver? You had to be aged between 18 and 64 years. It had to be a new job with a new employer and you were either in full-time or permanent part-time work. Or you could have been an agricultural worker in the job for more than 3 months.So you are part of the 40 percent of New Zealanders who used to be automatically enrolled in KiwiSaver. What do you look like? What is the profile of this cohort of New Zealanders? They are single and aged between 18 and 24. They are Māori and Pacific Islanders. They are people who are secondary school educated. They are working in lower white-collar positions. They are working in retail trade and the accommodation industry. And they are earning between $30000 and $50000 in employment income. So these are the people who based on the Government’s Budget and its piece of legislation the Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Act now miss out on KiwiSaver.I would actually now like to quote from a couple of sources. The first source is the Child Poverty Action Group. It had a breakfast both here and in Wellington. And this is from its 2015 Budget analysis: “We know parents prioritise their children and this extra money will be spent to meet their needs.” This is the $25 that this Government is so kindly giving them in 307 days. “It is a shame that this promise will not be delivered until April next year. It is also a shame that the thresholds for access to Accommodation Supplement income-related rents and supplementary assistance have not been adjusted. This means that much of the increase in incomes will be instantly eroded.” So the net effect of the Government’s prioritisation of families and children in hardship based on that analysis is nil. It is zip. It is nothing. So thank you National Government for prioritising families and children in hardship! You care so much about them they only have to wait 307 days.I would also like to quote from Dita De Boni who wrote an excellent article in the New Zealand Herald today: “In the UK there is a movement called the ‘Good Right’ project which wants non-conservatives to ‘appreciate the right’s moral strengths and for conservatives to deepen their belief in social justice’… a conservatism that is more compassionate and visionary. But to be visionary you’d have to concede there are problems that need fixing and an even better country that could be built. By that measure our lot would fall at the first hurdle.” So there is an assessment from Dita De Bona about this Government’s—Hon Member: De Boni.LOUISA WALL: —De Boni thank you; De Boni—for this Government’s commitment to as John Key said in his press release “supporting children in hardship” which is a big focus of this Government.I think that in the final analysis what this Government will be seen as is a Government that takes from the poor to give to the poor. Actually it is the complete opposite of Robin Hood. I actually think it is the “Sheriff of Nottingham” Budget because this Government has deceived everybody into thinking that it is compassionate and that it actually cares. But the reality of the situation is that this Government has not prioritised children in poverty. Otherwise it would have been able to answer this question: how many children will be lifted out of poverty as a result of last week’s Budget? Actually this will be the defining legacy of this Government: a growing inequality an entrenchment of inequality and actually a lack of compassion and a lack of care and consideration for those most in need.Chris Bishop: You need to join the Greens.LOUISA WALL: Excuse me? I am happy in the Labour Party and very proud to be the MP for Manurewa who is advocating for the needs and aspirations of my community.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: Could be a bit more aspirational.LOUISA WALL: I do. Education is a pathway out of poverty and that would be a focus for our Government if we were in power. A focus would also be assisting and helping those most in need.So I think what people have seen from the analysis that I have shared this afternoon is that this Government is incredibly deceptive and this Government likes its platitudes about caring for families in hardship and saying that it actually wants to address child poverty but at the end of the day look at the actions. If families have to wait 307 days to get $25 because you want to prioritise those in hardship and children living in poverty then you have failed miserably. Kia ora.