Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): One hundred and ninety thousand—190000—is a big number but every single one of those is a person a family who's doing it tough. So while Labour might crow today that the unemployment rate from a Statistics survey is low at 4 percent what hasn't shifted is the number of people who are dependent on the job seeker benefit so unfortunately it's not so positive and optimistic and upbeat for them. I want to see the Government focus more seriously on each one of those 190000 New Zealanders because they're people who are struggling each and every day in each and every week. And at the same time it's enormously frustrating that businesses large and small are desperate for workers whether it's in agriculture whether it's construction whether it's in hospitality and tourism in my electorate whether it's in aged-care residential facilities. So here's a message I got earlier from a constituent: I need to vent to my local MP. With 117000 people unemployed according to Statistics and 190000 according to MSD why are some more not made to work in agriculture and hospitality when employers are crying out for overseas people? No one even mentions the point. Why can't the unemployed fill these jobs?"I'll give you one answer. I'll give you one answer: because the obligations under this Government have been reduced. And what does that do? That makes it harder for the very people the Government is supposed to be supporting who are currently unemployed and on the job seeker benefit to get a job to get opportunities to get back on their feet and have the ability to put food on the table in their own home for their own family. They're quiet now—they're quiet now. So there's a mismatch there and while Robertson might come out and crow about the 4 percent I want New Zealanders to think about the 190000 New Zealanders that's 70000 more—70000 more—than there were when the Government came into office. It's connected to hardship—it's connected to hardship. So in the Ministry of Social Development's own quarterly statistics as of the end of June we're unfortunately continuing to see vast amounts of hardship grants that are required: $81.1 million for accommodation-related. We're seeing still massive spikes in food grants for electricity and gas medical-related costs and accommodation-related separate to emergency housing. So this is not a rosy picture of New Zealanders going well and doing well particularly when there are businesses desperate for workers and people who are looking for and supposedly available for work. So the other part of the tragedy—emergency housing: now 4300 children this Government has put in motels and not even taken the basic measures to protect their safety. They don't know who's there. They don't know how long. They've got children next to gang members. They don't care about the fact that they are witnessing sexual assaults violence prostitution drug dealing each and every day. Oh and here's the good news they've just started a complaints register—just. How many months how many months later? How many years later? Four and a half thousand children is another number I want New Zealanders to remember particularly when we have asked and asked and asked for basic safety precautions to be undertaken. But oh no the Government can't tell us exactly what criminals are where how many in which motel. They can't tell us—oh no they've told us actually the motels that are getting the most money from taxpayers so that's useful—a million dollars a day—and meanwhile basic things like building more houses and emergency legislation that we offered the Government in January would get more houses built now."