Flavell Te Ururoa: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5524. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
Tena koe Mr Speaker. Ka nui te mihi ki a koe i tenei ra. Tena koe tena tatau katoa.  
[ 
Thank you Mr Speaker. Regards for you today are great so greetings to you and to us all. 
] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Kei te pehea koe? 
[ 
How are you? 
] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: Ahua pai ahua pai. Kia ora rawa atu. 
[ 
I am somewhat good. Thank you indeed. 
] 
Koinei te mihi o te ngakau ki a tatau e korero nei i tenei take nui whakaharahara i tenei rangi. Tena i te tuatahi kua rongo au i nga whakawhiu ki te Minita i tenei ahiahi. Ko au tetahi kare i te tino whakaae atu ki era momo korero. Ko au tetahi e ki ana ko te wahine nei ko tona ngakau he ngakaunui nei ki te ahuatanga o te hunga e rongo nei i te ngau o te poharatanga me era mea. Ko au tena e korero pera ana ki a ia. No reira waiho tera korero ki reira. He mahi uaua ki te whakatikatika i nga uauatanga o te wa me te penihana tonu he take nui tera. No reira waiho tera korero ki reira. 
Katahi ano ka hoki mai i tetahi tangihanga i roto o Tauranga Moana i te motu o Rangiwaea. Na ko te tangihanga he tangihanga mo tetahi tangata ko tona ingoa ko Ben Tawhiti. Ko wai a Ben Tawhiti? He tangata no roto o Tauranga Moana a ka mutu no Rangiwaea tonu. Engari kua roa ia e noho ana i roto o Tamaki-makau-rau. He aha tana mahi? E aua hoki kare au i te tino mohio i nga ra o mua engari no natatanei kua koroua kua pakeke. Ka mutu ko tana tino pukenga ko te purei i te rakuraku whakatangitangi i te rakuraku. Koina tana mahi i nga tau kua hipa. Na he aha te panga o te Ben Tawhiti ki tenei o nga kaupapa. Kati me tuku i taku poroporoaki ki a ia. Kua ngaro atu i te tirohanga kanohi engari ko tera whakatipuranga he whakatipuranga kaha ki te mahi. Ka haere ki nga wahi katoa ki reira kimikimi haere nei i te ahuatanga o tenei mea o te mahi. Pai mai kino mai ka whai atu i nga huarahi katoa kia taea ai e ratau te whiwhi i te mahi. No reira e aroha atu ana ki tera whakatipuranga. Ki tera whakatipuranga ahakoa pehea te ahuatanga o te ngakau i kimi mahi ratau pukumahi tera hunga. 
Na reira ko te wero nui nei ki te titiro i a tatau e korero nei mo tenei take ehara i te korero hou. Ko te wero ki te titiro ki te aronga tahi nei o te tangata ki te penihana ehara i te mea hou ehara i te kaupapa hou. Ono tekau ma ono tau kua hipa na Henare Waitoa tetahi waiata. Ko te ingoa o te waiata nei ko “Moni Penihana”. He waiata tenei ki te aki i a Ngati Porou ki te poti mo Apirana Ngata i te wa i a ia ahakoa kare tera koroua ra i tautoko i te awhina a te penihana. Ehara i te mea ko Ta Apirana i tona kotahi na tetahi ano ra o tera iwi o Ngati Porou na Tuini Ngawai tetahi waiata. I ki mai ia i roto i tera waiata he mea patu mahara he mea patu tikanga a-Maori te penihana. E orite ana nei oku whakaaro mo te penihana. Kare au i te paku whakaae kia noho te toru tekau ma tahi paiheneti hei mokai ki te penihana Maori nei taku e korero nei. Kotahi rau tekau ma rua mano tangata kei runga i te penihana. He rahi rawa tera. 
Kua roa te Pati Maori e korero ana mo te noho tata o te ao Maori ki te penihana. Ahakoa ehara tera momo korero i te reka ki te taringa a wetahi. Mena he roa rawa te noho i te penihana ara noa atu nga whainga ko te kore whai i te matauranga ko te mauiui a-tinana ko te patu wairua penei i ta Tuini i waiata na i roto i tana waiata. Ki te pera he wa tona ia tipuranga ia tipuranga ia tipuranga ka noho kohatu i te penihana. Koina te mutunga iho. Kai te pera te ahua i nga taone pakupaku penei i a Tokoroa penei i a Kawerau. Koinei te ahuatanga nga taone i rongo nei i te ngau o te kore mahi. No reira e kore te Pati Maori e tautoko i tetahi hikoi mo te penihana kia noho tonu te tangata i te penihana engari ka noho pokohiwi ki te pokohiwi i te taha o te rawakore i te taha o te tamariki i te taha o te mokopuna. Koinei te raruraru. Kua noho taupatupatu nga mea e rua. He noho taupatupatu ta matau. Ae he hiahia no matau kia kaua e noho i te penihana he hiahia no matau kia kimi mahi kia whai i te oranga o te tangata. Engari i tenei wa kei te whakahe matau i tenei pire na runga i te mohio he wa uaua tenei ka mutu ara ano nga uauatanga o tenei momo penihana. 
I tenei ata me penei rawa te korero i whiwhi au i tetahi i-mera mai i tetahi o aku hoa na runga i te putanga o etahi korero mo te penihana. Anei tana korero i te reo Pakeha kia huri ki te reo Pakeha kia marama tonu te tikanga o tana korero. This morning I received an email from one of my constituents to share her concerns about this bill the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. This is what she said: “I think this is a really dangerous reform as it doesn’t take into account circumstances of poverty. And by this I mean people who are unable to run a whanau car as they have just enough money to scrape by on; people who cannot physically get their children to these preschool centres because the bus run is too far away; and people where there is no accessibility to a bus run. If they could walk their children some distance to the nearest bus stop do they do so in the rain or in the cold of winter? Then once bussed to a certain spot do they then have to walk the rest of the way to the centre? The solution is to find ways to empower to provide creative ways towards educational opportunity and to lift up not to increase the burden of poverty.” 
Na koinei te korero a tetahi o nga mea i whakapa mai ki a au. Ko ta matau ko te ki atu me puta te tangata i te penihana. Engari kei te mohio tonu tatau he wa uaua tenei ahakoa koinei te moemoea te wawata e kore e taea i raro i nga uauatanga o tenei wa. No te marama tata kua hipa i roto i tetahi purongo o te tari o te Minita i puta te korero kei te whanui tonu te wahanga o te hunga e noho nei i te kore mahi ki era o te hunga me ki whai rawa. I roto i taua purongo kua piki haere te ahuatanga o nga uauatanga kua pa mai ki nga tamariki. Ko nga mea Maori o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa ko ratau kua tino rongo nei i te ngau o te kore moni. Penei i a Kawerau kua ngaro atu te ahuatanga o etahi mahi i roto i etahi hapori. No reira ko te hunga ka rongo nei i te mamae ko te hunga tamariki ko te hunga rangatahi ko te hunga taiohi. No reira ko te wero ki a tatau kia kaua e titiro ki te patupatu i a ratau engari me titiro ki etahi huarahi hei whakapakari ake hei whakahihiko i te ngakau kia puta ratau. Ana mena ka titiro ki tetahi tauira ko Vodafone tetahi. Kua whakakorengia te ahuatanga o te kirimana ki Inia. Ka mutu kua hoki mai nga kotahi rau mahi nei ki roto o Aotearoa mai i tawahi. Katahi nei te mahi pai. I a matau e haere nei i te mata o te whenua ko te trade training tetahi mea e korerotia ana. No reira me mihi me whai atu i era momo mahi. 
E ki ana te korero ko te whakamoni nei i te penihana ana ko te capitalisation of family benefit. Koinei tetahi kaupapa i nga tau kua hipa. Me whai atu i tera i te mea tera tetahi kaupapa i whai painga na runga i te hiahia o etahi ki te hoko i tetahi whare. Me whai atu i tera huarahi. Ko etahi penei i a matau kei te pirangi ki te whai atu i te utu whanau a tamariki ara te universal child payment i puta i roto i tetahi purongo ina tatanei. Enei korero katoa me whai atu i tetahi huarahi kia puta te tangata i te penihana. I tona mutunga mai ko te matauranga tetahi ka mutu ko te oranga o te tangata te huarahi hei whainga ma te kawanatanga tera. 
No reira ahakoa te tautoko a te Minita me tona hiahia kia puta te tangata i te kore mahi i te uaua ko ta matau ko te ki atu ehara tenei i te huarahi e tika ana. Me huri ke ki kaupapa hai whakaora hai whakapakari i te tangata. Na reira pea ka puta te tangata i te penihana. Tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
This acknowledgment to us addressing this marvellous and great matter today is coming from the heart. Now then in the first instance I have heard criticism of the Minister for Social Development this afternoon. I am one who does not agree with those sentiments. I for one say that this woman is passionate and committed to the situation and other circumstances that cause people in poverty great hardship. I am one who talks like that to her. So park that statement there. Finding a solution for the hardships of the time is a difficult thing to do and as for benefits that is a major issue. So park that one there.  
I have just returned from a funeral on Rangiwaea Island in Tauranga. Now the funeral was for a man and his name was Ben Tawhiti. Who was Ben Tawhiti? He was one from Tauranga but really of Rangiwaea yet he lived in Auckland for a long period of time. What kind of work did he do? I do not really know. I am not sure what he did in former times but in recent times he became more grandfather-like and an elder. But he eventually became an exceptional guitar player. That is what he became known for in the past. So where does Ben Tawhiti fit into this issue of the policies? Enough I must deliver my farewell tribute to him. He is seen no more and no longer with us but he was from that generation of hard workers. They went anywhere to seek this thing called employment. Be it a good job or a bad one they sought all avenues to secure a job. And so I empathise with that type of generation. That was the generation that sought work regardless how they felt. They went looking; they really worked hard out.  
So this is the greatest challenge for us to take aboard as we address this issue and it is not a new conversation. The challenge in confronting the battle of benefit dependency is not a new one. Sixty-six years ago Henare Waitoa composed a song. The name of this song was “Pension Money”. It was composed to encourage Ngati Porou to vote for Sir Apirana Ngata when he was a member of Parliament even though that fine old gentleman did not support pension dependency. It was not as though he crusaded on his own against this. Another of that tribe of Ngati Porou Tuini Ngawai composed a song. Through her song she suggested that reliance on the pension would render their Maori thinking and Maori ways useless. I have similar views about the pension. I do not accept at all the notion that 31 percent of working-age Maori should be enslaved by being on a benefit. That is 112000 people on the benefit. That is really too high.  
The Maori Party has been saying for a long time that Maoridom has been too closely aligned with the benefit. That sort of talk however is not sweet to some. If dependency on benefits gets too long other considerations come up such as lack of education poor health and low self-esteem and hope as mentioned in Tuini Ngawai’s song that I mentioned. If that became the situation in time successive generations would become totally dependent on benefits or pensions. That is how it will end up. It is a bit like that in smaller towns like Tokoroa and Kawerau. This is the situation in towns where there are no jobs. So the Maori Party will not support a march related to benefits that encourages a person to remain on the benefit but we will remain shoulder to shoulder with the destitute the children and the grandchildren. This is the problem. The two things are at loggerheads with each other. We have a double-edged situation with each other. Yes we want non-dependency on benefits and we want to find employment for the well-being of the person. But at this stage we oppose this bill knowing full well that this is a time of difficulty and that at the end of it all this kind of benefit has other difficulties.  
This morning—let me put it this way—I received an email from a colleague of mine when some information about this benefit was published. Here is what she said in English and I will switch to English now so that the meaning of what she said is clear. This morning I received an email from one of my constituents to share her concerns about this bill the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. This is what she said: “I think this is a really dangerous reform as it doesn’t take into account circumstances of poverty. And by this I mean people who are unable to run a whanau car as they have just enough money to scrape by on; people who cannot physically get their children to these preschool centres because the bus run is too far away; and people where there is no accessibility to a bus run. If they could walk their children some distance to the nearest bus stop do they do so in the rain or in the cold of winter? Then once bussed to a certain spot do they then have to walk the rest of the way to the centre? The solution is to find ways to empower to provide creative ways towards educational opportunity and to lift up not to increase the burden of poverty.” 
This is what one of the ones who contacted me said. Our response is that we want people to get off the benefit. But we know for a fact that this is a difficult time and despite it being the vision the hope and the dream it is not possible under the difficult circumstances. In a report from the Minister’s department the Ministry of Social Development just a month ago it stated that the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever. In that report as well it said that hardship rates for children had increased. Maori and Pasifika ones had fared particularly poorly during the recent economic downturn in communities like Kawerau. So children and youth are often the most vulnerable in a recession. The challenge then for us as a country is to quit the blame game and to look for avenues that are inspirational and motivating for them to succeed. Vodafone is an example to look at. It has ditched its contract with India and as a consequence created a hundred jobs here in New Zealand. Now this is a great outcome. In our travels trade training is something that is talked about across the country. Those kinds of employment are applauded and must be followed up.  
There is a quote worth revisiting that is about capitalisation of the family benefit. This was a system of some years ago that should be followed up because it was a policy that had good homeownership outcomes for those who wanted to buy a house. That avenue should be explored. Some like us want to follow up the universal child payment that emerged in a very recent report. All these statements should be followed up to get a person out of the benefit-dependence syndrome. At the end of it all education is one aspect and well-being of the person is another for the Government to follow up.  
Therefore despite the support of the Minister and her desire for people to get into a job it is difficult. We say to her that this is not the right way. She should turn to policies that will enhance the person’s well-being and outlook. That might just be the solution to make a person less dependent on the benefit. Thank you all. 
]