Mathers MojoMOJO MATHERS (Green): I rise to take a call on the social development Estimates. I would like to follow on from and pick up on a point from my colleague Jan Logie about the inhumanity of the target of reducing people on benefits by 25 percent. Why do I say that? Because a huge number of people on benefit have disabilities or are deaf or have major challenges in accessing employment.It is all very well to say Oh we've got this target." but if you do not have the reality of our lived lives of these challenges that are faced by people who are disabled in accessing work you will not get to where you want to be and will not recognise the absolute cruelty of forcing them to apply time and time again for jobs that they know they are not going to get and they know they are not going to be offered.Just a few weeks ago a young man who is profoundly deaf and who really wants to work and is very skilled applied for 50 jobs. He did not get a single offer of an interview. So he went to his CV and he took off his CV that he was deaf. He immediately the next day was contacted for three interviews. That is the level of attitude and discrimination out there by employers: if they just know that someone might be deaf they will not even give you a foot in the door. That is the reality of the challenges.So what did the Minister say? She said: "Oh some employers are reluctant to take on workers with a disability or health condition." No kidding? They are. But to help there is now a telephone hotline for employers who need advice about their workers. Well that assumes they have already got into the employment force. The reality is that hotline is not going to address the problem. The problem is much more structural and much more systemic and is going to require much more intensive affirmative action to get people into jobs who want them.So instead of forcing people to apply time and time again for jobs that are not there for them how about supporting them to be well to be healthy to gain the skills and the confidence that they need and not force them into multiple rounds of rejection which destroys self-esteem which destroys confidence and belief in oneself and absolutely just say: "We will help you apply for this job that suits your skills."? One reason why certain people are coming back on to benefits after being forced into jobs that do not match their abilities and skills is that actually they are getting sick. Their mental health is at risk. They cannot do the job because they have been forced to apply for jobs that do not match their skills or abilities. There is no point being forced into fruit picking if you have got asthma and poor health and you are going to be out in cold conditions. That job does not match your health condition and skill. We need to stop propping up this myth that jobs are available and it just requires forcing people to apply for enough jobs to get there.That is not the case and the frustration and the humiliation of being told time and time again that you are not doing enough fails to recognise the real barriers that are there. And there are also major barriers in just accessing the services at Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) for people who are deaf. They cannot just ring and make an appointment easily; it just does not work like that. If they are told their benefit is cut they do not know how to access the support they need to find out why their benefit is being cut because every step of the way is harder.They often cannot compete even for rental housing on the open market. For a deaf person if they are trying to pick up the phone and ring up the property manager and say "Can I apply for the rental housing?" they cannot even get a foot in the door. That is why deaf and disabled people are so over represented in these poverty statistics. We do not get a fair chance. The Government really needs to recognise that and start with looking at the accessibility of its own services and the culture at WINZ to be more inclusive to be more understanding and supportive."