Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): I apologise in advance because I will not be singing any Bob Marley lyrics in the House today. But I do want to start by acknowledging the Prime Minister for leading the work on this bill and for being a champion for children. Her goal is that New Zealand will be the best place in the world to be a child. We on this side of the House all share this goal and I truly believe that this Government can make that happen.Child poverty is one of the most emotional and heart-wrenching issues of our time and I absolutely believe that no one in this House wants to see children experience hardship. This legislation is a commitment to doing better for children. It is an agreement that we will put children at the heart of all we do and make progressing their rights and upholding their well-being an absolute focus of this Government. I know the previous speaker Alfred Ngaro wants us to state that this is an all-of-Parliament bill; we could if there was one more person in this House that was supporting it. But I do acknowledge not only Labour but also New Zealand First the Greens and National for supporting this piece of legislation.Child poverty has a huge emotional physical social and economic cost. There is robust evidence that growing up in poverty can harm children in multiple predictable substantial and often sustained ways. We consider current levels of child poverty to be unacceptably high and have made reducing child poverty a priority. As part of this we have created a new ministerial portfolio for child poverty reduction held by none other than the Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern herself. We want to make sure we look after our children so they can have the best childhood here in New Zealand and we know that if we provide that then we will enable them to reach their potential. And that has to be good for New Zealand.This bill will establish an enduring legislative framework for Government action on child poverty and ensure transparency and accountability for progress in reducing it. As we know there is no one measure of poverty. This bill will put in place a measurement framework for child poverty and establish four primary and six supplementary measures of child poverty. The bill requires the Government to set 10-year targets on a defined set of measures of child poverty and periodically set and publish three-year targets. It will also require Governments to report each Budget day on progress made in reducing child poverty and how measures in the Budget will affect child poverty.We know that some groups such as Māori Pasifika peoples and disabled people are overrepresented amongst those in poverty. In fact Pacific people Māori and disabled people tend to be overrepresented in a range of statistics in New Zealand. It's clear that while we are making progress towards addressing pay inequality gender inequality and disparities in educational achievement and so on progress for Māori Pacific and disabled peoples is not being made at the same pace.With my Associate Minister for Pacific Peoples hat on it's important to note that this bill in particular is hugely important for the Pacific population in New Zealand because we have such a young population. In 2013 over one-third 35.7 percent of Pacific peoples in New Zealand were children aged zero to 14 years and according to median projections Pacific people are projected to make up almost one-fifth of all New Zealand children by 2038 and a similar story can be told for Māori.As the Minister for Disability Issues I want to acknowledge that families of children with disabilities often face increased financial hardship due to high and fluctuating costs of services and supports. This is something raised throughout the select committee process. For our children with disabilities or health issues having access to the right supports and feeling like part of the community is so important. Children with disabilities will be an important focus within the child well-being strategy which is currently being developed. This will set out the Government's vision for the well-being of all children and as New Zealand's first child well-being strategy it is an opportunity to harness collective goodwill knowledge and resources to create positive change.The interests and needs of children with disabilities and of children of disabled parents will be a key part of improving well-being for children. As the Minister for Social Development I know I have an opportunity as well to really make a difference in the lives of some of New Zealand's most vulnerable children. The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has an important role to play in upholding and uplifting the well-being of children. This is one of the key drivers behind this Government's decision to overhaul the welfare system to ensure that it is fair accessible and maximises the potential of anyone and everyone who uses it including our young ones. We want to make sure people have an adequate income and standard of living are treated with respect can live in dignity and are able to participate meaningfully in their communities.This year I established the Welfare Expert Advisory Group to support this work. The group will review the welfare system and provide advice to the Government. Professor Cindy Kiro has been appointed as the chair of the group. Her focus on building on the potential in people reflects the principles of this Government. As a former Children's Commissioner she brings an important set of skills and knowledge to the role. The group also includes people like Professor Innes Asher a paediatrician with vast experience of children and families interacting with the welfare system and the broader determinants of well-being of children and families. While I look forward to the work of this group we've already started making progress towards changes at MSD including improving service culture making it easier for people to know their entitlements and providing more support through the Families Package to low and middle income families.This is just some of the work currently going on and I know across Ministers and ministries there is much more. What I really want to emphasise by pointing that out is that improving the well-being of children requires all of us to make changes requires all of us to be engaged and focused on making that a priority. It requires us to look at how we can make positive changes in the lives of children across this Government but outside of this Government as well across our communities across Aotearoa—how we do that together.I'm excited to be here at the second reading of this bill and to get one step further to implementing what really is a groundbreaking piece of legislation that is being put in place for the good of our tamariki—effectively for the good of New Zealand. Can I just state to end that all of us on this side of the House truly do believe that New Zealand absolutely can be the best country in the world to be a child and we here in this Parliament have the privilege and the responsibility to make that happen. Fa'afetai lava.