Lewis StephSTEPH LEWIS (Labour—Whanganui): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'd just like to start this evening by commending the Hon Carmel Sepuloni for bringing this bill to the House and for her continued work to overhaul our welfare system. This bill shows our commitment and our vision for a welfare system that ensures people have adequate income and an adequate standard of living that they are treated with dignity and that they can live in their communities in a way that enables them to participate meaningfully in life. I've heard members from across the House tonight say that the changes the previous Government made enabled families to spend more time together yet the issue that we're debating tonight actually forces parents to go back to the workforce ready or not. They've also talked about people on benefits a lot and the insinuation is that if you are on a benefit you want to be there. I'd just like to remind the House that life happens and my family learnt that the hard way firsthand when my dad died. My younger siblings were just five and six at the time. My mum lived a 30-minute drive from the nearest main centre in a small rural community. Babysitters weren't exactly plentiful or readily available. Forcing parents to go back to work before they are ready or able or have the necessary support systems in place harms families. It doesn't protect them. The first thousand days as we've heard this evening are important. They are the most crucial and that's something that I've been particularly mindful of since becoming a parent. I want to acknowledge the contribution of my colleague Dr Emily Henderson. Recounting sleepless nights as a parent is something that I have recently gone through and even now on the occasional night I still go through. It's hard work. This bill is about ensuring that families can make decisions that are right for them and that they are not being forced back into work before they're ready. Last year I spoke to a single mum in my electorate. She had been at home and been forced to go through the back-to-work checks and been forced to make that decision whether it was right for her and her family or not and she said to me that she was struggling to make ends meet and it was hard and that she was being forced to look for work that wasn't right for her or her children or her circumstances. But what gave her hope was that last term the Government brought back the training incentive allowance and she was then supported to be able to go out and get qualifications that mean that she can now apply for work that is going to give her family more security higher wages and better long-term prospects. She's not trapped in a situation where she is being forced to apply for just any old job be it low-skilled be it within her skill set or whether it is right for her or her children. She is not being trapped in a situation that will lead to long-term poverty and hardship. She's been able to make choices that will see her and her children better off. Seeing the hope on her face and the pride when she talked about it—that's a moment that's going to stay with me for a long time to come. Forcing a parent to go back to work after a subsequent child turns one places huge financial pressure on families and again this is something I know having had to fork out each week for day-care fees. I am so grateful for the support that the day care provides me and my husband as we raise our daughter but a benefit does not cover childcare fees. Currently until a child turns three they're not eligible for any subsidies to help with the childcare costs. So when a parent's got two children under the age of three that's a huge financial burden that's being placed on them. At the moment that creates more pressure in an already difficult situation. I'd also like to acknowledge the work that our social service providers do in our communities and not one of the social service providers that I've talked to in my electorate has praised the subsequent child provision. All of them have told me stories of single-parent families who are struggling. Last week I went and visited Birthright in Whanganui. Birthright is an organisation that works together with sole-parent families to support them and they told me about stories of providing single parents with clothing and with kai bringing them together and teaching them to bake together and to cook together organising activities for the children and parenting courses—providing any kind of support necessary that single parents need just to help them get ahead to help them keep their sanity in an already tricky situation. So I want to thank organisations like Birthright for the work that they do in our communities to support in particular our single-parent families. Work obligations do not support people into work and my colleague across the House I think has already acknowledged that tonight. But what does support people into work is actually providing them with opportunities to upskill to retrain and to transition in their own time in a way that is right for their families and giving them those pathways to make those choices. I know that my community in the Whanganui electorate is not the only one with interesting stories to tell or share and not the only one with people who have been through tough times. We can all share stories where we know that this provision has harmed families and we can all share stories of amazing organisations in our communities and the work that they are doing. Everyone knows that it is hard being a parent. It is hard to juggle raising children. I've only got one and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be a single parent and to have to raise multiple children and being forced to have to look for work and go back to work whether you're ready or not. Somebody commented earlier this evening about children of beneficiaries and people on benefits saying that if they're not in work it has long-term impacts on their mental health. Well so is forcing them back to work whether they are ready or not. But being forced into work every single day when you're by yourself getting the kids up getting them ready making breakfast getting them dressed making lunches getting them into cars doing multiple drop-offs going to work and then at the other end of the day—rinse wash repeat—doing pick-ups after-school activities or childcare activities coming home by yourself cooking the dinner getting through bath time getting through bedtime and doing all the washing and all the other household chores that are required. That takes a huge toll on somebody and where in that day does a parent get the ability to have their own time for their mental wellbeing let alone to spend quality time with their children where they're not tired and where their child's not tired? Those first thousand days are crucial to a child's development to developing—as we've heard tonight—the strong bonds and feeling safe and secure and I take my hat off to all parents who do that juggle but especially to single parents. We need to be supporting them; not punishing them. Let them decide what is in the best interests of their family including deciding whether they are ready to go back to work. This bill does that and allows parents to spend more time with their children. I commend this bill to the House.