Lotu-Iiga Sam: General Debate 
Lotu-Iiga Sam: General Debate 
[Volume:677;Page:680] 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 It is my great pleasure to stand and speak in this general debate and to support not just the Prime Minister John Key but also the Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett for the reforms in welfare that were recently announced. These changes are welcome and we all know that because the statistics are quite clear. We know that 13 percent of our working-age population are on the benefit. We also know that $7 billion is spent on benefits annually. That is $20 million a year a week a day sorry. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Oh! What is it? 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA 
: If you think in terms of 5 minutes then it was $67000 for the 5-minute speech given by Mr Peters. But crucially it is about the 200000 kids who grow up in welfare-dependent families every day and that is an abomination. Long-term welfare dependency as has already been demonstrated by the speeches today is about failure for those families and failure for those kids. 
This National Government is about standing up and making change. It is about doing something about an area of the law that does not work. We believe that those who are able to work should work but we also know that those who are looking to work also need encouragement they need support and sometimes they need a little bit of financial incentives. But crucially in terms of the reforms we believe that those who genuinely need help will receive that help. So these reforms are not just window dressing; it is about changing the focus the attitude and the behaviour of those who are on welfare. There will be a greater emphasis on work and support in every way because it is about supporting the aspirations of those who are on a benefit to go forward and get work. It is about getting behind people so that they can achieve what they aspire to be and not what they cannot be. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does that go for the Palagi policy? 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA 
: We want to target those resources Mr Peters. We want to target those resources at the long-term welfare-dependent because we want to support young people in order for them to stay in education or for them to get training or trades training and get into work. 
We also want to provide financial incentives to provide for budgeting services as Mr Borrows has already mentioned and also for parenting programmes for those on the domestic purposes benefit in order for them to get the wraparound service that they deserve. So we are no longer going to hand over benefits without some level of obligation and some level of commitment from those who actually receive those benefits. 
I stand here next to my colleague Alfred Ngaro. As migrants to this country we came here for jobs and opportunities. We came here not to be on long-term welfare dependency but we came here to gain the jobs and opportunities and live in a better country. So this series of reforms will be about work availability. It will be about delivering expectations and obligations. It is really about a partnership between the State which provides funding for beneficiaries and those who receive it. 
I just recall in last year’s campaign I met a young 18-year-old lady who was heavily pregnant and who had an 18-month-old son.  
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: She’s still laughing. 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA 
: She was living in a cold damp garage. Mr Peters might want to laugh at this young lady but she was a person who definitely needed help. She was falling through the cracks and living in squalor in a damp cold garage. These reforms will actually support this young lady by giving her income support by giving her some budgeting services and by allowing for her to get some parenting services and also for her to access training in order for her to go forward in her life. This lady would support these reforms of National. It is about getting people back to work. It is about supporting those who want to work. I support these reforms. I support our honourable Minister and the Prime Minister in bringing about long-overdue reforms. 
Debate interrupted.