Bennett Paula: General Debate 
Bennett Paula: General Debate 
[Volume:653;Page:2303] 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 The member who has just taken his seat David Cunliffe decided he would talk about eye contact and how important that is yet he spent his 5 minutes performing nicely for the camera. It was all about him trying to run his show and trying to make his bid for leadership. We know there is nervousness over there and we know there is a twitter in the Labour ranks as its members watch their leader performing so badly. Mr Cunliffe stood up performed nicely for the cameras and spent his whole time with his eyes on those and the gallery while trying to make some pretty minor points. 
I will talk a little about wilful blindness: it is a legal term for people pointedly ignoring something they should have known about. That is what the previous Government showed last year. It saw that the economy was starting to do something and if it did not see that then it was well and truly a case of wilful blindness. The previous Government saw unemployment numbers rising for three consecutive terms. 
Chris Tremain 
: And what did Ruth Dyson say? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: We heard that having 29000 unemployed people was not a bad thing. What did we see in three consecutive quarters from the previous Government when it came to addressing the issue of people losing their jobs and being out of work? Absolutely nothing! As early as the beginning of last year commentators were predicting trouble. With an eye on America those commentators could see that it was happening. Did we see anything from Labour on that? We saw a programme of spending leading up to the election. We saw a dying Government gasping for breath and making reckless promises that it did not fund. We saw an accident compensation fund that was quite frankly in trouble and that the National Government is now having to fix up. We heard nothing about the concerns that needed to be addressed. The previous Government was so focused on trying to win an election that this country became tired; it had had enough. There were no new ideas and as a consequence the people spoke. Labour was raiding workers’ piggy banks in the weeks leading up to the election. It sneakily brought forward the family tax adjustment just weeks before the country went to the vote. It really amazes me that the former Minister had the gall to then go and give those people their own money back. 
This Government today is raising the minimum wage to $12.50. I am thrilled for those people who need it most and that even in these tough times this Government has seen the need for something and is raising the wage. I stand up proudly and say that this Government is helping over 900000 Kiwis get extra payments in their benefits today. Our superannuitants and our veterans will be seeing an increase in payments of at least 3.38 percent on their main superannuation. People on other benefits will be seeing an increase too which could be up to $13 a week; that will make a difference for them. 
In National’s first few weeks in Government it introduced the ReStart scheme and over 1200 people are on ReStart already. We are unfortunately seeing more redundancies and that number will increase but this Government is prepared to step up for those people and be counted. The Job Support Scheme is allowing companies to work with their staff in order to keep people in their jobs while they are experiencing short-term difficulties. We have had over 30 companies contacting us and wanting to be a part of that scheme and we are in discussion with them. 
So what did Labour do to help those most vulnerable people they keep spouting on about? Actually its track record is not so good. It did a lot of banning of stuff. Do members remember the Government banning showerheads and saying what kind of showerhead people could have? It banned some light bulbs and tried to make people have the most expensive ones. It decided what children could eat or not eat in schools and it made a whole lot of other rules. I loved the thing about parents becoming caregivers and guardians—we had a lot of that sort of language. Beneficiaries were turned into clients and that is what the focus was on. Members will be pleased to know that I am discovering a lot of impact seminars—whatever they are. I constantly read in reports from the previous Government about collaboration fatigue and I have come across some truly astonishing pieces of research. There was a lot of navel-gazing and a lot of hand-wringing but what we did not see was actual action for the people who needed it most. Thank you.