Bennett Paula: Budget Debate 
Bennett Paula: Budget Debate 
[Volume:663;Page:11220] 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 There is a buzz in the air; New Zealanders are excited. They see an opportunity for themselves and they are simply saying: “Thank you Bill English. Thank you John Key.” This Budget delivers to New Zealanders. This Budget delivers hope. It delivers opportunity. It makes us see a future that is full of opportunity for our children for our young people and for the people who are here now. It is exciting. It is really exciting to see a country that can move ahead and develop those sorts of opportunities. Economic growth matters and it matters most to those I work with in the social sector. It matters most to those who are at the vulnerable and hard end of some of the choices made. I am so proud to stand up and say that it is the only way that we can lift incomes create opportunity create permanent jobs and build the kind of country that young people not only need but also simply deserve. 
We have steered our way through the worst of the recession. We have steered our way through some of the toughest times. The social services that have held on to that money have made sure there has been opportunity for the people who have needed it. We have been able to shorten waiting times within Work and Income. We have been able to stand up and create opportunities for our young people ranging from Limited Service Volunteers to Job Ops and Community Max. 
This is a great time to talk about Job Ops and about exactly what it is doing for our young people. We have stepped up. At the weekend when I read the papers that come to me I saw there were 5649 jobs via Job Ops at the moment; more than 5000 of them have been filled. Those young people throughout New Zealand are in jobs at the moment. Of those young people who have finished their Job Ops placements 86 percent have stayed off a benefit. That is pretty remarkable. This Government is pumping in more places. We are saying that we can put up another 6000 places and I am optimistic that those places will be picked up quickly by our business community. We feel energy in the air and we feel that bit of optimism in the business community. Members of the business community are excited to see taxation coming down from 30 percent to 28 percent for companies. I think that business people are ready to step up and to say that with a bit of a hand from the Government they will take on young people and give them an employment opportunity. There are 6000 more places for Job Ops in this Budget—$26.7 million extra funding is going there. 
I am responsible for those who are on benefits and for those on the superannuation we pay out. There has been a key focus on making sure that those people are treated fairly through the taxation changes. We have stepped up and in this package we have $159 million more going into compensation for the increase in GST—$2.2 billion will be going in over the next 4 years. That will cover the main benefits. It will cover the obvious ones that we can think of such as the unemployment benefit the domestic purposes benefit the sickness benefit and invalids benefit but it will also go into the student allowance the veterans pension and Working for Families. It will provide payments equivalent to just over that 2 percent as members would have seen. To give a bit of an example I tell members that someone on the domestic purposes benefit will receive $9.79 in GST compensation. 
I will give a further example because this Budget is good news for those on benefits. We are hearing about how we can help those people who are on benefits at the moment and how these measures will create real opportunities for them. Someone on the domestic purposes benefit for example who works 15 hours a week is already better off because we are raising the abatement this year. At the moment those on the domestic purposes benefit can earn $80 but are taxed quite highly on earnings after that so we are raising that threshold to $100. The $80 threshold was not good enough for this Government because we really do want to create opportunities and the right incentives for people to be getting into part-time work. So we have raised the second abatement level. People on that benefit are already substantially better off; they can earn $100 before their benefit is abated. They will also get an extra $5.62 in GST compensation which is on top of the extra $14 a week they will be getting from the abatement. 
As well someone who is working 15 hours a week at $20 an hour will pay $10.50 less because of personal tax cuts. This measure has not been picked up on widely yet but the secondary tax level coming down is really exciting. It is a great opportunity for people to see the benefits of abatements and of the secondary tax rate coming down so significantly from 21 percent to 17.5 percent and then to see the way they can get a bit more money in their own pockets. So it is good news good news and good news again for those who need it most. 
In particular members know that I always go on the side of those who are on the domestic purposes benefit with their children; I personally want to see them supported the most. We have the single biggest spend on teen parents ever seen in a Budget—the single biggest spend on teen parents ever seen in a Budget. The National Government started the teen parent units in 1997 which is something that I have always been particularly proud of as a member of the National Party because we recognised the needs of teen parents. In this Budget we are seeing $14.9 million being spent on teen parents. That will boost the number of teen parent coordinators from nine to 19 and get them into a role where they are using more intensive management in relation to what those needs are. This Budget goes towards coordinating what those teen parents most need: helping them to stay in work and education and ensuring that they get antenatal care at the very beginning of the process as well as budgeting advice parenting advice and everything else. We have seen teen parent coordinators working in some places; we reckon that we can take it a step further. We are also bringing in voluntary support and financial support with regard to those advisers so that they can be making sure that teen parents get what they need. 
In respect of support in homes which is a biggie we all know the stories. I know that members opposite will be hearing those stories as well. We see teen parents who are struggling to the point where they are probably getting pretty close to notifications to Child Youth and Family quite frankly and involvement in some pretty awful stuff. But where do they go for help? Where do they get that live-in assistance that they not only need but also deserve in a country like New Zealand? Will people step up next to them? I think that support in homes with trained staff available 24/7 so that teen parents can live in is a most worthy spend. If we want to have the economic argument then I think that the benefits as far as how those children develop and how they—hopefully—stay out of the system are brilliant. 
Then we have that group that is always overlooked: our teen fathers. I do not think that we focus so well even on teen mothers to be honest—I would like to see more going on there—but we do not actually focus on teen fathers at all. There are some good programmes around the country but we can coordinate them better. We can give teen fathers the resources they need to get some best practice and I am particularly proud of what we are doing there. 
We are also increasing the number of Child Youth and Family social workers in hospitals. When we talk about what is happening for our most vulnerable we need to step up stand up and listen up well. We are talking about support for teen parents. We are talking about compensation for those on benefits. We are talking about more Child Youth and Family social workers in hospitals. One baby under 2 years old is hospitalised in this country—at the hands of someone who should be caring for babies and looking after them—every 5 days; we have to do better than that. The rate of re-abuse quite frankly is far too high. There needs to be better coordination of what happens to those children when they get into hospital and we need to look at what we can do differently. The $6.6 million coming out will cover each district health board in this country and again I am proud to stand up and advocate for that spend. I think it is a good use of money and I am proud to say that that is part of the Budget. 
Then there is the Pathways to Partnership programme and no we do not hear a roar from Opposition members because they know that we are standing up and giving more power back to communities than they have ever had before. Local solutions simply cannot be driven from Wellington by officials here; they should be driven locally. It was not enough to take the money allocated to Pathways to Partnership and put that back into our communities. We have taken the family and community services spend of $110 million which is already there and we have added that to the Community Response Fund. We have said that we trust communities to know what is best. We will put that money into the hands of local community people—some retired business people and local officials—and we will look at that measure closely. 
We ask whether what we are doing now is working well. We are looking at the current Government spend and adding $90.5 million into that fund over 4 years to make sure that we are identifying where services can collaborate better and where that training and supervision is going for those fantastic people who work at the grassroots and on the ground level. We are stepping up and giving them resources. 
This Budget supports the people of New Zealand and those who need it most. I am incredibly proud to stand up and advocate for it.