Sio William: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sio William: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8740. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 I am happy to take a short call as I am no longer on the Social Services Committee. When the Government began beating the drums for its welfare reform legislation Radio Samoa in Auckland picked up the issue and started discussing this on its talkback shows. The Samoan community like all the Pacific communities are people who are proud about their family and have a strong work ethic. Thousands of callers a week called in and hammered consistently following the views by the Government the need for greater personal responsibility. There was a unanimous voice from callers on that programme that any Samoan on the benefit ought to get off the benefit immediately. There was a strong sense almost of shame: if any of our people were on the benefit that was wrong and they needed to get off it. That was how it was based on what I would say are dog whistle politics used as part of this welfare reform. So instead of supporting those in need we turned on those in need and started attacking them. I suspect that that was the same throughout New Zealand. 
As the dutiful MP for Mangere I felt it was my duty to talk to the community through the radio waves and through community meetings about what this was all about. I reminded the community that this Government has now experienced the worst economic record in 51 years. It has the highest unemployment rate in 13 years—6.9 percent as of the end of last year or 175000 people. The Pacific and Maori unemployment numbers are now at double digits after being under a Labour Government at a single digit. This Government despite its many promises has failed to rebalance our economy and now we have a current account deficit that has risen to 5 percent of GDP our exports fell last year to $1.3 billion and our international liabilities have worsened now at $150 billion and 72 percent of GDP. 
I think that when you explain the thrust of what this Government is doing people gradually begin to understand. You see they were suckered in when the mantra that this Government used in introducing its welfare reform was that it would have an unrelenting focus on work—an unrelenting focus on work. Despite the smarty one-liners and short-term headlines we know and the community out in New Zealand knows that this Government has no long-term solution to fix New Zealand’s economic woes. It continues to mismanage New Zealand’s economy with these short-term short-sighted gimmicks. Time and time again in the first reading leading up to this second reading Government members said this Social Services (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill was about their unrelenting focus on work yet nothing in this bill addresses the three main barriers to work. How many jobs does this bill create? None I say. What support is given to parents for childcare costs? None I say. What training support is given to match those without skills to jobs that require high-level skills? None I say. 
We heard from the submitters that this bill was more about an unrelenting focus on attacking children attacking motherhood and attacking single women who are mothers. One of the submitters who stands out in my mind is Charlotte Murray a single mother with two children. She said her main job is raising her 2-year-old and 5-year-old children. She said forcing her into work is not good for her children. Forcing a mother into work when a child reaches 3 years 5 years or 6 years will cause stress and will harm her children. And the Office of the Children’s Commissioner backs that up. In its submission it said that where sanctions are imposed on beneficiaries with children who suffers? It is the children. So we should not be believing the Government’s one-liners that this is an unrelenting focus on work. This is an unrelenting attack on children and motherhood. The Salvation Army’s state of the nation report of earlier this year  
She’ll be Right 
 reaffirms that under this Government child poverty has worsened.