Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): Can I start on a positive note and say that it's a privilege to be able to present to the Social Services and Community Committee as the Minister for Social Development and also the Minister for Disability Issues. Can I thank the select committee for the questions and I guess the interrogation which really is the Estimates hearing. But it's a good opportunity for us to be able to talk about what we're doing and why we're doing what we're doing.I might just reflect on Simon O'Connor's words where he said that we should be thanking National. Well can I just say Mr O'Connor that clearly given the housing crisis that we encountered when we came in and the fact that we even have an emergency housing special-needs grant in the first place—those would be two things that we would need to thank the previous Government for. Because of the fact that there was so much inaction over nine years we have been left with a system where so much has been neglected and it's our responsibility to fix that up. So we do take that seriously.We heard from the other side about the housing pressures and we certainly feel that in the welfare space with our social security system. Wherever there are large numbers of special-needs grants given out by and large they are given out in areas where there are housing pressures. So in response to the people who come through the welfare system it is important that we do have a cross-Government response to respond to all of the needs that they encounter. Housing by and large is the biggest cost expense pressure that many of the households who are in the welfare system experience.Can I say that what we put through this Budget and we spoke about at Estimates really did build on the Families Package from last year. That was a $5.5 billion investment money that went into the pockets of low to middle income households and they were in desperate need of that investment. So reflecting on that of course there was the Best Start payment because this Government is about investing in our children. We saw the winter energy payment—that goes to almost or just over one million New Zealanders every winter.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): That's not actually in this. Come on let's focus on 2019-20.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Many other—many other—positive things came out of the Families Package but this year we built on that. This year what we saw finally was the removal of the discriminatory deduction from benefits for sole parents who didn't name the other parent of the child. This benefits around 12000 sole parents with around 24000 children in those households. On average they will be better off with that one shift by around $34 a week.We also saw the historic and systematic change to our welfare system which was the indexation of main benefits to wages which will see over time benefits continually increase. We need to remember that what has happened is that because they haven't been fixed to the Consumers Price Index they haven't kept up so people in beneficiary households have been left behind.We also saw the investment towards work that this Government has focussed on. Firstly with the lift of abatement thresholds for those on benefits who work in line with minimum wage increases which will ensure that those that work can keep more of what they earn and will benefit around 73000 low-income individuals and their families. Also what we've seen is a refocus back on to work through the Ministry of Social Development and our Work and Income offices—an additional 263 front-line staff who will be focussed on work—because we know that the vast majority of people who come through the welfare system of course need stabilisation of their financial situations but also do want to work and they just need that support to do so. Unfortunately under the previous Government there was a steady decline in the work focus because there wasn't that investment in the space that those on benefits and through the welfare system needed.On top of that I'm really proud of the fact that we've invested an additional $26 million over the next four years in Oranga Mahi which will see a focus on those with disabilities and health conditions who face additional barriers to employment getting the support into employment that they need. We need to remember that in our welfare system—and this is overlooked all too often—around 52 percent of those on main benefits have a health condition or disability or are caring for someone with a disability or a health condition.