Hayes JoJO HAYES (National): Thank you. I'm pleased to take a call on the second reading of the Social Assistance Legislation (Budget 2019 Welfare Package) Amendment Bill. I'm really disappointed that we haven't had a full select committee process so we could hear what the public would say about this bill. However it is what it is. To me it's going to be a bit of a mistake at the end of the day when this Government in a couple of years' time in 2023 looks back and see they'll have a whole lot of beneficiaries sitting there going What on earth is $11 per week going to do in my benefit when we knew that back in 2019 rents went up food went up and of course the fuel prices were going through the roof?" They cannot afford to actually even live here now and what is the indexation of this bill going to actually do for them? Nothing. This is a bill that's actually not going to make a difference. This Government is looking at adding another 1600 sole parents on to the benefit. That is actually a travesty if that's what a Government is going to sit there and plan for—an additional 1600 people as sole parents—when at the end of the day as a Parliament we should be encouraging people to get a job and to go and do the training. But vocational training is now going to be out of the reach of many people as we know with the proposed changes that the Minister of Education is looking at on tertiary education. That's going to make it even harder for those people who are on a sole benefit. When we start to look at the indexing of benefits this side of the House was always in favour of an indexation to the Consumers Price Index (CPI) because that's the way that everyone else's salaries and increases actually work—with CPI. But now what this Government is looking at is something a little bit more than that. To be honest I don't know—even when they go out and they say "It's another $43 per week." when we start to look at it it's actually much less than that. The media have actually said that this is a very poor piece of legislation. They said—here's what they actually said. As One News said on the night of the Budget "This Government is falling well short of the recommendations from its own Welfare Expert Advisory Group."—well short of it. This is all around the country—well short of it. What they went on to say is: why didn't the Government take all of those recommendations? It was a total of $5.2 billion a year. Why didn't they pick it up and start to put it in? Remember the Welfare Expert Advisory Group was the group for the Government; that's who it worked for—no other group but the group for this Government the Welfare Expert Advisory Group.So this Government has ignored—ignored—those recommendations and has taken this paltry amount and this paltry piece of legislation with three main areas and thinks it's a great bill. Well it's not—it's not. There's no ambition in this bill at all. There is no incentive. It's letting dads get away with not taking their responsibilities as dad as I said in my first reading speech. Fathers need to step up. It might only be a small number but I tell you what you add another 1600 sole parents on there and there are a few more dads that will be able to get away with not paying a thing. In other words they will be able to play but won't pay and that is the crux of my argument—SPEAKER: Order! I did indicate to Ms Pugh that I think we were losing—Hon Member: A bit of taste.SPEAKER: It was in bad taste and I think we'll just wind back thank you. JO HAYES: Well I mean at the end of the day it is what it is. It is an indictment on our society here in New Zealand to do the things that this Government is trying to do through this bill. It is an indictment and I think that they need to go back and do their work all over again because at the end of the day the dads—Kiritapu Allan: An indictment on the Opposition is pulling out the rug from underneath those that need it the most.JO HAYES: —that are going to get away with it will continue to get away with it and it is wrong. In the East Coast there are high numbers of fathers that do not pay and that's—SPEAKER: Order! Order! There's an opportunity to take a speech soon.JO HAYES: That's right. Exactly—there is time to take a speech when you want to Ms Kiritapu Allan. At the end of the day we need to also look at the East Coast as well as I said on the radio this morning. It is not all roses and chocolates on the East Coast. This isn't roses it isn't chocolates and at the end of the day if that member wants to take a speech and actually have something to say—which I don't think she will—then she needs to get up and do it. Thank you."