Stewart Barbara: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Stewart Barbara: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5528. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 On behalf of New Zealand First I rise to speak to the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. New Zealand First has got some reservations about some aspects of this bill. That is why contrary to what some parties expected New Zealand First is prepared to vote the bill only to a select committee at this particular stage. New Zealand First has its own views about beneficiaries keeping faith with the taxpayer. We are voting for this bill to go to a select committee because we are very interested in what various organisations and people directly affected by this legislation have to say and that is the only way we are going to hear what they say. It is only democratic that they have a say and they must be heard. 
Overall the bill states that it seeks to improve the social and economic outcomes for all New Zealanders and we agree with that—it does sound good. The bill does include some measures to protect the interests of children by encouraging parents to be employed in the workforce to increase participation in early childhood education which is good and to have Well Child checks which is also positive. We can agree with that. But we have to remind the Minister for Social Development that encouragement to work does not equate directly with the achievement of actually obtaining a job. 
Some of the practicalities of the legislation raise some questions in our minds. We know that the challenge for everyone is paid work and for those with few qualifications or for those people over the age of 40 this bill will actually be a challenge. Are we actually raising the expectations of these people in a way that their expectations cannot be met? We know that those people are struggling and it is quite a large group. We hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that this light is not a train actually coming to run them over. That is important. 
We know too that 1000 people a week approximately are travelling over to Australia for work and funnily enough this has not translated into an oversupply of jobs which one would think is a really logical progression. People want to work. They do not want to be excluded from the economy and the life that they want to lead. Work testing does not actually make people work-ready. They want that job right there at the end. 
One of the areas that does concern us is the increasing focus of this Government towards greater use of the private sector in order to bring about achieving targets. New Zealand First sees a real problem of accountability in this particular area and it is one area that we are going to be interested in exploring further because we need to ensure that these private companies are actually meeting the targets and doing the work that they have been contracted to do. Obviously we would like this work to be contracted back into the public sector so that we can ensure that those people have work. 
Another area that we have got some concern about is in relation to recent widows benefit recipients. We believe that they will be insulted by their amalgamation into the new jobseeker support benefit which requires recipients to be work-ready and available. We do not believe that that is very fair at all in this area. 
Drug testing is another area that is going to be outsourced. Are there strategies in place to actually advance this drug testing in a timely and effective way? This is one area in which we cannot afford any mistakes because people do not want to have a drug reference against their name particularly if they are looking for work. 
 The availability of early childhood education and the number of places in these institutions also have to be explored. We were very concerned this week when this was raised during question time and the Minister was not certain whether or not this was going to happen. We know that a change like this is not going to happen overnight so action has to be taken now if this is going to be part of the new way that benefits are going to be given out. 
Whatever the views that people hold on these points social welfare policy should be all about getting people off benefits and into jobs. Therein lies a major issue for this Government because whatever welfare reforms that it is pushing through Parliament it is doing absolutely nothing to foster an economy that ensures that there is job creation. We can take that even further by looking at National’s refusal very recently to even consider my leader’s member’s bill to give the Reserve Bank the flexibility that it needs to handle our seriously over-inflated dollar and to help our ailing manufacturing and exporting sectors. They are the sectors that are actually going to provide the jobs. We need to ensure that they can actually survive. 
The reality is that we want to see jobs created. We believe that at this point in time the National Government is a bit like a fly trapped in an empty soft drink can—buzzing around making a lot of noise but going absolutely nowhere fast. Beneficiaries may end up being drug tested. Those wanted by the police may have their benefits slashed but will these measures actually see them end up in paid employment? Sadly New Zealand First does not think so because these jobs do not exist under the policies of the National Government. But we are prepared to vote to refer this bill to a select committee so that the people of New Zealand can actually have a say. We believe that is what is required with such dramatic and drastic reforms as these which are going to be imposed on a very vulnerable group in our society.