Turei Metiria: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTurei Metiria: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 14 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10597. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) to the Deputy Prime Minister: Ka tū a ia i runga i te mana o tana tauākī e mea ake nei “We want to ensure Government activities are effective in changing the circumstances that trap people in poverty”?[Does he stand by his statement that “We want to ensure Government activities are effective in changing the circumstances that trap people in poverty”?]Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister): Yes.Metiria Turei: Is the Deputy Prime Minister reviewing those activities given today’s Unicef Fairness for Children report that shows that not one of the Government’s policies has improved income inequality in New Zealand?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister): Yes I am constantly reviewing them and I am a bit surprised that Unicef does not regard $25 a week for all of New Zealand’s lowest-income families—at least $25 a week—as having some impact on the income of that household. We think it does and actually the families think it makes—probably not enough impact but certainly some.Metiria Turei: Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree with Children’s Commissioner Russell Wills that $25 for those few who will get that much will not do enough to alleviate child poverty because the gap between the bottom and the middle is growing so fast?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It certainly does not meet the Children’s Commissioner’s requirements although I gather he has indicated some positive reception of it. Of course alongside the direct income issues and core hardship the Government is investing enormous amounts of time and money in dealing with all of the sociological and employment and education-related aspects that keep people trapped in poverty. Most families can handle a low income for a short time but it is pretty difficult when they have got to handle it for years and years. Government in the past has frankly been a bit passive about that and we are trying to change it.Dr Parmjeet Parmar: What changes has the Government made recently to increase support for families in need?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Probably one of the more important ones has been that from 1 April this year we have increased work obligations for beneficiary parents provided additional childcare subsidies for low-income families and also low-income working families are benefiting from an increase in Working for Families. For those who cannot get a job and are on a benefit the rates for those families with children have increased by $25 a week after tax—the first such increase in 40 years and something that the Greens actually did not support when they were part of a previous Government.Maureen Pugh: How is the Government supporting the creation of jobs to help people move from a benefit and into work?Hon BILL ENGLISH: We are very keen to work individually with thousands of people on benefit who could move into work and we have had considerable success with sole parents where we have the lowest number of sole parents on benefit that New Zealand has had I think since 1986. But further success remains dependent on an economy that keeps creating new jobs and the good news is that over the next 3 or 4 years we are expecting around 173000 new jobs. The Government wants to make sure that a proportion of those jobs go to people who are currently locked into lifelong welfare.Metiria Turei: Is it not the case that Government activities have continued to trap people in poverty given the Unicef evidence that shows that the gap between the poorest families in New Zealand and the average New Zealand family—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Bring the question to a conclusion.Metiria Turei: —has not improved at all?Hon BILL ENGLISH: If the member thinks that the actions this Government has taken have made poverty worse then she just clearly is not doing the job of a member of Parliament. She must be missing turning up to select committees reading nothing in the newspaper and not following any policy because in fact this Government has spent quite a lot of time and money in changing a lot of how the Public Service works precisely to deal with the long-term dependency that is so hard on families and so expensive for the taxpayer.Metiria Turei: So is he saying that it is a successful outcome for the Government that we currently have the poorest New Zealand families living on only about half the income of the average New Zealand family; is that a success for his Government?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Income measures are one measure. In fact there is any number of income measures; you can pick the ones you like. The fact is that the benefit system has been indexed to inflation and you can decide whether it is good news or bad news but wages have been rising faster than inflation. The Opposition is always trying to say the cost of living is out of control. Well you cannot have it both ways. In fact wages have risen faster than benefits. That is why it is so important that for those who can work we provide personalised services to tens of thousands of them so that they can get into work and cover that income gap.Metiria Turei: Does he agree with the Unicef Fairness for Children report that failing to close the inequality gap will risk children’s health and education outcomes?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No I think that is a real oversimplification. What puts children’s educational and health outcomes at risk is when Government does not try hard enough to educate them when they get to school regardless of their circumstances. Fortunately we have a Minister of Education who understands that and school by school is bringing about significant change in attitudes. Actually it is the same in health. That is when a child turns up we should care for their immediate need but also understand the context in which it occurred and act on it. That is why further changes in primary care and Whānau Ora are starting to have an impact for New Zealand’s most needy families.Metiria Turei: So is the Minister satisfied by the drop in New Zealand’s ranking to 31 out of 37 OECD countries for worsening educational inequalities for our poorest children?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No of course we would be dissatisfied even if it had not dropped because New Zealand’s education system has historically not been that good at overcoming socio-economic disadvantage despite its good intentions. That is why the changes going on in education now around understanding children’s progress and what it takes to improve it are so important and it is good that the education sector has stopped resisting those changes and is now enthusiastically embracing them. I would expect over the next 10 years that we will make a lot of progress.