Sepuloni Carmel; Williams PotoHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): Can I say happy New Year to all the members in the House even though it's February given it's our first day back in the House. Can I acknowledge the new member Agnes Loheni. Can I welcome you to this House on behalf of our side and wish you all the very best with your political career.Can I start by saying how predictable that last speech was. And I love how she ended it by saying that she hoped there would be no personal insults or attacks on others because I think she might have known where I was going to go following on from her.Some of us accessed support through the State.Hon Member: No!Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Yes some of us did. Some of us accessed support through the welfare system. Some of us acknowledge how helpful that was with getting ahead. And we don't pretend that we did it by ourselves without the support of the State or pull it out when it works in our favour. We certainly don't go and pull up the ladder on other people after we have received those supports. Unfortunately that's not the case for all of the members in the House.I found it really interesting to listen to David Seymour and also the deputy leader of the National Party when they talked about the welfare system. David Seymour said that he is fearful that we are going to squander what he calls years and years of good work in the welfare sector." Well can I just say that that good work is definitely not reflected in a report I released last year which was called What happened to people who left the benefit system whereby after the welfare reforms were introduced by the previous Government of 133000 people that left the benefit system in 2013 in 2014—under their watch and after their welfare reforms—46 percent were back on benefit within 18 months. So if that's what you call good work then I don't know what David Seymour's doing here and I don't know how he's providing a service to New Zealanders.We need to rearticulate the fact that 4.3 percent unemployment is the second-best unemployment that we have had in over a decade. The best unemployment rate was last quarter—under us again. So when they talk about unemployment going through the roof I don't know what statistics they're looking at. In fact I think they're looking at the ones that existed whilst they were in Government and not the current ones.I'm really proud of this Government and I think that this Government has demonstrated a new kind of leadership proving that it is possible to be responsible stewards of the economy while advancing concepts like compassion and kindness. We've made no secret of the fact that one of our key objectives is improving the well-being of New Zealanders and their families. We want every New Zealander to have access to world-class education and healthcare to live in a home that is healthy and in a community that is safe and to realise their potential. We will ensure that everyone who is able to is earning learning caring or volunteering.For too long—particularly under that Government—New Zealanders have not been able to access the services that they deserve. Our welfare system has often been seen as a source of stigma and shame rather than a valuable support that over a million New Zealanders every year interact with or rely on: disabled people young people senior citizens parents students and those who are unemployed or not regularly working all use our welfare system. In fact the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) even provides support during natural disasters as we have seen recently following the devastating fires in the Nelson-Tasman area. Under the previous Government New Zealanders who accessed support from MSD were shamed and blamed—but not under this Government.This Government has already achieved so much since coming into office and I want to say that MSD has been a part of that. During the first 100 days MSD played a critical role in our fees-free policy the Child Poverty Reduction Bill and of course our Families Package which provided extra support for low and middle income families: 1 million people now have access to a winter energy payment 65000 children will benefit from Best Start each year and 136000 people have had an increase in their accommodation supplement.As part of our confidence and supply agreement with the Greens our Government agreed to overhaul the welfare system. As the Minister for Social Development I am committed to seeing this through to ensure we have a system that is fair accessible and maximises the potential of everyone who uses it. This Government wants to make sure that people who come to Work and Income for support are treated with respect and dignity—that they get the support they are eligible for and are able to participate meaningfully in the communities that they live in. As the Prime Minister has outlined we are committed to improving the well-being of all New Zealanders and their families and actually improving our welfare system is an important part of that.Previously the deputy leader of the National Party stated that hardship grants have gone up that the demand on our Housing New Zealand register has increased. Well let's not pretend that that demand only came about in the last year. Actually what's happened with respect to the housing register is that all of a sudden I think New Zealanders are feeling a little bit of hope—a little bit of hope that this Government may actually have their best interests at heart and may actually be able to provide them with the types of support that they need which includes housing and unfortunately because of the cost of housing in too many instances it also includes support for things like hardship grants.Under this Government's watch we're not going to put people off from coming forward for support. In fact they are legally eligible for that support and we are going to make sure that we uphold our commitment to those New Zealanders who need it whilst at the same time engaging in that very important building programme and doing things like building the State houses that New Zealanders need. And I'm proud of the fact that we're part of a Government in that first year who have already built 1200 to 1300 new State houses. We stopped the sell-off and we started to replenish the stock.Hon Amy Adams: All put in place under us. All put in place under us.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: That member who's yelling out should be ashamed of herself because she was part of the creation of this housing crisis and did nothing to address the issues that New Zealanders were facing.And so yes New Zealanders are feeling hopeful and yes we are seeing more New Zealanders come out of the cars and the garages that they were staying in—under the previous Government's watch—to actually seek out real housing support and where we can we will do.Over the next year we are going to be rolling out changes—as we have for the past year—to our Work and Income offices. I do want to say that common sense as I said has finally prevailed. We recognise as a Government that it is of no use to New Zealanders if we kick them while they're down. In fact it doesn't help them get ahead at all. It is much better when we put a hand out and help them up and that is what this Government is about. As part of overhauling the welfare system we have an expert advisory group that will be reporting back to us at the end of the month. And I have to say it's really important to note that yes this is about reforming our welfare system but it's also about how we provide the best support we can to New Zealanders needing support for getting into work and getting into upskilling and training. As has already been mentioned today in the House under that side there was very little investment in upskilling and training and in fact we saw the demise of our polytechnics occur because of them and now it's time to reinvest in those spaces. We need New Zealanders to have the skills to fill the places with regards to work that will exist moving forward and we're focused on doing that. Again I want to refer back to what was said today about beneficiaries and the number of people that are out of work. I think all too often what is forgotten or overlooked is that 50 percent of those that are on main benefits actually identify with having a health condition a disability a mental health issue or an injury of some sort and yet that side would still proceed to stigmatise that group of New Zealanders. Very little was done under the previous Government to actually support that group of people to get into employment. This Government isn't about pushing people off into jobs just for the sake of getting them off benefit. We are about ensuring that they get into sustainable meaningful employment to ensure that not only is life better off for them—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! I apologise to the honourable member. Your time has expired."