Sharples Pita: Social Security Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Sharples Pita: Social Security Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:640;Page:10124] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 The term “welfare” means many things to many people. Its origins emerged in responding to the needs of those in poverty. But over the years as material living standards have fallen as income inequality has increased and significant ethnic differences have arisen we have witnessed the emergence of a disturbing new way of thinking around welfare. Ironically at a time when compassion is most needed we have seen the development of a new era where blaming the poor is seen in the idea of welfare dependency and perceptions that the sick the disabled the poor are somehow the result of a moral turpitude a laxity of values and personal sloppiness. Instead of welfare being seen as the foundation of our modern State it has become fashionable to speak disparagingly about those on income support. “Welfare” is becoming another pejorative term for describing the difference between the haves and the have-nots. “Beneficiary” has become the latest term of abuse. 
The Social Security Amendment Bill is motivated by this force of public hostility towards those of our citizens who require the support of social security. It is based not on the attainment of inclusive citizenship but on the relentless drive of welfare-to-work. Let me say from the outset that the Maori Party also shares a deep concern about the dependency mindset that is associated with modern-day welfare but our concern is levelled not at the individuals and communities requiring protection from hardship; our concern is about the system that presumes it knows best about how people should live their lives a system that appears to revel in removing hope then victimising those from whom the hope has been removed. 
We think of the reforms of the 1980s which promised much but have subsequently seen in this decade an increase in the incarceration rates and plans to build more jails to incarcerate more people. Is that genuine progress? I think not. We will never shirk from the responsibility of caring for those whom the great poet James K Baxter referred to as “ngamokai”. In his poem “He Waiata motaku Tangi” he describes those who cling to our social periphery: the young the alienated the ostracised the underprivileged the long-term unemployed those who have done a lag inside people with mental illness and Maori. We must not leave ngamokai in our trail. 
In the 16th century the Protestant reformer John Bradford was burnt at the stake as a heretic. There is one particular incident involving Bradford that has passed down through the centuries. Whilst either seeing a beggar in his rags walking down the streets on a stormy night or watching a criminal go to execution for his crimes Bradford gave utterance to a humble observation that I think has bearing on this bill. He said: “There but for the grace of God go I.” Whether the person he saw was a prisoner or a pauper is irrelevant; the philosophy of compassion of support of humility remains. I absolutely identify with such an utterance for as I reflect on my own youth and as I see what has happened and is still happening to my people I like Bradford would also be saying: “There but for the grace of God go I.” 
The Maori Party is absolutely convinced of the need to reform the social support system. We also endorse the vision of being able to reduce the number of people on a benefit the numbers of people applying for a benefit and the duration of the benefit received. But we must never forget that no one is immune from sickness or disability from the trauma of divorce or death and from the insecurity of a volatile labour market. We must never forget the effects of colonisation of land language and the cultural deprivation that being in this Parliament reminds me of every day. These effects are played out on a regular basis at the Maori Affairs Committee as we listen to the experiences of our people as they attempt to get justice through the Treaty of Waitangi claims process. 
When I listened to the debate on the Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill I experienced at the same moment both anger and grief and I wonder how much of what we are discussing today is really about a discussion of the whakapapa of deprivation. 
My co-leader Tariana was pilloried in some quarters for daring to mention the trauma suffered by our people as a result of colonisation—trauma identified graphically by the Waitangi Tribunal in its Taranaki reports. Yet just this week I read an article by an Australian psychologist who stated that it was time Australia acknowledged the trauma suffered by its indigenous people the results of which are vividly seen today. 
So we come to this day when we must not overlook the everyday reality of overcrowded and poor housing longstanding difficulties in accessing health care and the fact that people are being excluded from the full range of economic and social opportunities because of the grip of poverty. The Maori Party will safeguard the rights of New Zealanders to participate equitably in their own society—to belong no matter what. We believe in the rights of all citizens to be able to benefit from meaningful employment. We support therefore the commitment in the bill that people will be assisted to plan for work in the future and develop work-related skills. But we know also that people are more likely to stay in jobs that are meaningful adequately paid and are not inhibited by the constraints of institutional racism. 
We do not subscribe to the point of view that any work however menial is better than no paid work. We challenge any notion that forcing people into work in which the conditions and rates of pay leave a worker vulnerable is a good thing. We will for example be supporting Sue Bradford’s age-discrimination bill where 16 and 17-year-olds will receive the adult minimum wage. The Dunedin Community Law Centre described this bill as a shuffling of beneficiaries into low-paid insecure work which does not benefit individuals or society but simply allows employers to continue offering low wages and poor working conditions to those who have few alternatives. Well-being must not be compromised by the pressure of work at any cost. 
We also oppose any situation by which the value of the vital unpaid work that underpins our society is denigrated. This is the work that our communities depend upon—voluntary work looking after our children our sick our elderly our needy. The submission from the Child Poverty Action Group highlighted that this bill further entrenches the divide between deserving and undeserving children—a surprising key feature of the Working for Families package. 
We noted also the views of Dr Susan St John and Dr Louise Humpage that this bill “punishes those who can’t find work.” and requires a new pre-benefit activity to be completed before anyone is even eligible for the unemployment benefit. 
These concerns are also raised by the ordinary New Zealanders who have contacted our offices fearing that the distinction between the ill the impaired and the healthy is becoming increasingly blurred in order to categorise more people as fit for work. They have shared their anxieties that people are being forced to seek work who are not well enough to do so. 
The issue of social security and participation is fundamental to the advancement of our nation. We know too well that social cohesion is being seriously undermined by the oppression of poverty. We know too well the marginalisation of ngamokai—New Zealanders who are prevented from being able to participate equitably in their own society. We worry also about the stories we have heard of sole parents being harassed into paid work to the detriment of their tamariki and their whanau well-being. We know that Maori are targeted in such an approach and that sickness and invalids beneficiaries are suffering inordinate stress to comply with new requirements. 
The serious challenge before this House must be to alleviate the poverty of our poorest families. We must urgently address the unacceptably low family incomes. We must also invest in quality care for the children of working parents. The problems facing our nation are not wrapped up in an exclusive package called “benefit dependency”. We in the Maori Party do not want to end in a policy cul-de-sac—a no-end street in which society has run out of options. We must address the low incomes and low wages the pervasive racism of welfare reform demonstrated by specifically targeting Maori beneficiaries the folly of targeting sickness and invalids beneficiaries—pushing them into work when they are not well or ready—and the failure of the certainty that meaningful adequately paid secure employment is available. We cannot support this bill and we will continue to place pressure on the Government that it is essential that the whole sum of issues situated around the tribe of ngamokai must be seen as of the highest order.