Sio Su'a William: Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Sio Su'a William: Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:13155] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Any member in this Chamber who says that the Social Assistance (New Work Tests Incentives and Obligations) Amendment Bill will provide hope for solo mothers and families is a fool. I would have to say that I agree with my elders who say: “Ia ka le ulu o le vale ae fa‘asau le toto fa‘avalevalea” which literally means with regard to any fools who say that this bill will provide hope to families out in the community that we need to club them on the head and allow the foolish blood to flow. 
When I also hear members on that side of the Chamber say that this bill provides incentives and rewards I am reminded of how people train dogs. They give them a bit of meat. They get them to do jumps or something and then they provide a little bit of meat. When I hear those words coming from members on that side of the Chamber I am disgusted at the way they promote this bill. This bill will not do any of the things that members opposite say it will do. 
Government members claim that this bill is underpinned by principles of fairness and an unrelenting focus on work. Well neither claim is true. It is unfair and the Attorney-General who is a member of that Government has judged it to be discriminatory. He stated that this bill appears to limit the right to be free from discrimination and that that limitation cannot be justified under section 5 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. 
The commentary on the bill talks about an unrelenting focus on work and there is an assumption that there are jobs for people to go into but we know that that is not true. We know that the unemployment figure has risen to 6.8 percent as of last month and that 159000 people are unemployed. That number is growing certainly in my neighbourhood where we continue to see that families are struggling and suffering because of the failure of this Government to come up with any viable credible plan to ensure that people have work to go to and that the jobs created enable people to earn an income that will sustain them and their families. 
I emphasise what the Hon Annette King has said which is that if this Government was serious about doing something with our families our solo parents then it needs to focus on and value children. We need to focus on and value parenthood. This bill does not value kids. This bill does not value parenthood. Every submitter I listened to from an organisation that works in our community such as the citizens advice bureaux the community law centres the budgeting services and the Salvation Army has opposed this bill. I will read something that Presbyterian Support New Zealand said. It stated that “we find it unconscionable that any government in New Zealand would propose measures that will inevitably increase poverty and hardship for some of the poorest children in this country and further penalise those in the most unfortunate of life circumstances.” 
When I hear members opposite say that this bill will encourage solo parents to get into work I have to say that that is a lie. Those statements are false. This bill if we are to read it properly forces coerces and bullies single parents into trying to find jobs that just are not there. 
When I asked some of the submitters on this bill whether there were jobs out there that would cater for single parents who had children at school and whether those employers would be flexible enough to allow a parent to take time out to prepare their children for school and to be available to meet them when they returned home the answer was no. They said that there are not employers out there who are willing to be flexible. The jobs are not available and the kind of pay that parents need to be able to earn in order to sustain their families is just not available. 
Earlier my colleague referred to an article from today’s  
Herald 
 that was written by Simon Collins and entitled: “When tightening the belt is not enough.” This article which I show to members now and which I recommend that all people read sets out the budget of a solo parent who is attempting to better herself by going to school. After receiving what income is available to her from Work and Income as a solo parent and after working out her costs which include rent petrol repayments on debt her child’s bus fare phone costs parking costs medical costs and water bills—and without taking into account food at this stage—that solo parent is at a deficit of $50. If she adds in $100 for food she has a deficit of $150. The article suggests that that mother has had to sacrifice food and has lost a significant amount of weight simply to make ends meet. 
That problem is not confined to that one person. She is one person and there are many like her in my community including one family who have approached my local citizens advice bureau. The bureau told me that people can manage the bills but they cannot then afford food or any minor luxuries such as taking a trip to the zoo. That is the situation that many families now face. It is good that there is some focus in this bill on ensuring that benefits move in line with the rate of inflation. 
We agree with all other submitters that a benefit is not something that people want to be on for the rest of their lives. In fact we would be hard-pressed to find any individual any mother or father who wants to spend the rest of their life on a benefit. They want to work. They want to be able to provide for their children but I have to ask what this Government is doing to enable those people to get jobs. Would it not have been better for this Government to invest in education; to put back the money it has removed from adult and community education to ensure there is money for early childhood education and to ensure that we give every child the opportunity to go to university or polytechnic and get a degree? That is what we should be focusing on if we want a stronger society and if we want strong families to be able to have a better future in this country. 
I have to ask whether there is a conspiracy from this Government to keep the browns without education—to keep them locked in a situation where they do not have the opportunity to receive early childhood education and where they are cut off from the opportunity to have a tertiary education. Now the Government is saying we have to force every beneficiary to get into a job—when there are no jobs and when this Government is introducing legislation that will drive down wages. 
If this Government continues to take away vital and important opportunities from people who are struggling what will it mean for those who do not have an education and do not have the opportunity to better themselves? If this Government is serious about moving this country forward and if it is serious about looking after families and children—our children—it should put away this bill. Let us go back to the drawing board and focus on investment in education: early childhood tertiary community education and education in the workforce. That is not what the Government is doing but we say it is what it ought to be doing. This bill will make things worse for ordinary families.