Shaw JamesJAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green): Why thank you very much Mr Chair!The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): I am giving you a platform.JAMES SHAW: I am glad that my previous contributions have been so memorable. I would like to continue where my colleague Jacinda Ardern was leaving off there to do with the commencement date that is outlined in the clauses here. This is a piece of legislation that drops in literally only 120 days before the election day itself and so it is entirely probable that there will be a change of Government before the commencement date that is outlined here in this legislation.As this whole package to which this bill gives effect was drafted by someone who wears a number of hats—one of which is Minister of Finance another of which is campaign director for the National Party—it is a highly political and politicised document. If we wanted to actually ensure that the bill does what it says it is intended to do earlier on in the objectives which is to support families and family incomes then we would ensure that its start date would be before the election and not to take place after the election.I would propose that the commencement date—rather than being on 1 April 2018 as outlined in clause 2(2) (3) and (4) with section 24 coming in May 2016 and clauses 2(2) and (3) being 1 April 2018—changes to 1 July 2017. That would ensure two things: it would ensure that the families who absolutely need the support that is available—paltry though it is through this bill—would actually start to receive it before the election. But the other thing is that by having it be on 1 July it would give the Inland Revenue Department and the tax and accounting profession in New Zealand time to adjust their own systems in what is frankly a fairly mind-bogglingly complex set of interrelated tax and benefit systems here.I know that that is a tight deadline for both Inland Revenue and for private and public sector organisations to adjust but I think that just over 2 months should suffice. I think it is important that we send a very clear signal that actually we should take what it says in the bill as being the primary purpose and actually give effect to it as fast as possible if the Government is absolutely honest that the intention here is to ensure that families who are really doing it tough in New Zealand and primarily receive the benefit of those changes to Working for Families then actually start to receive that boost to their income as fast as possible because they have waited for 8 years for anything.In fact in 2013 Working for Families expenditure peaked and has been steadily declining since because families have been slowly moved off the Working for Families system by this Government since 2013 but are not out of hardship. They are actually in increased hardship as a result of actions that this Government has taken over the course of the last few years.I think if the Government is sincere—and it keeps telling us in this debate that it is sincere—that the intention here is that those families receive that benefit and that it is designed to lift New Zealand's hardest-up children out of poverty then it should act on it as fast as possible and not wait to kick it off until well after the election—in fact over a year down the track. So it is on the commencement date that I propose that we make an immediate change.