8. Question No. 8—Social DevelopmentHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social DevelopmentQuestion No. 8—Social Development8. Hon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social Development: Is she satisfied with the increase in hardship assistance as published in the September 2019 MSD fact sheets?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): We said coming into Government that we would provide assistance to those who need it and this increase partially demonstrates that. We also cannot ignore the correlation between hardship assistance and housing pressures. So I am relieved to be part of a Government that is responding to a housing crisis that was ignored for nine years previously and to see that we have already seen an increase in public housing of around 2400 and we are well on track to meet our target of 6400. The need that we see through the welfare system with regard to hardship grants was there when we came into Government but under us people are willing to come forward because they know that they won't be turned away. I have been clear with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) that people should be able to access their full and legal entitlements and that's what you're seeing here. Qualification and criteria for hardship grants have not changed under us. People who are receiving hardship grants are eligible to receive them. Hon Louise Upston: Can the Minister confirm that the number of people receiving hardship grants for food this last quarter is almost twice as many as this time last year? Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I can confirm that actually there was already an increase occurring under the previous Government in access to hardship grants and that trajectory has continued. Hon Louise Upston: Does she agree with the Prime Minister who yesterday said that the numbers accessing food grants represented those able to access support and not those who are in need coming forward?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I don't know the context of what the Prime Minister has said or whether those were the exact words but I don't see those two things as mutually exclusive. We need to keep in context here that hardship grants are up where there are housing pressures. I think I said in the House previously that actually if the previous Government had built public housing at the same rate that we are currently doing they would've had 14500 public houses and we wouldn't have anyone on the housing register at all.Hon Louise Upston: Given that she believes the increase in hardship grants is a positive thing would she like to see the numbers go up even further with the next set of statistics?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I reject the premise of that question. What I do think is a positive thing is that when there are New Zealanders experiencing hardship they have a Government and Government agencies that respond to that need. We are not only responding to the hardship needs of New Zealanders but we're investing in areas that were under-invested in under the previous Government including that focus on work and work-focused support through the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). We saw that with things like the additional 263 work-focused case managers that were funded or budgeted for in the 2019 Budget. We're not going to apologise for helping New Zealanders in hardship but I will say on record that we are doing both and the Government prior to us was doing neither.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is the Minister saying that this Government does believe in helping people facing serious hardship and not the Darwinian principle of dog-eat-dog?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Absolutely and we also understand the importance of supporting people with regards to stabilising their financial situations before we can actually support them into meaningful and sustainable work. So when New Zealanders are in need the MSD agency the welfare system is there to support them and at the same time we're going to continue to invest in upskilling and training and getting New Zealanders into meaningful and sustainable work.Priyanca Radhakrishnan: Supplementary.SPEAKER: Question No. 9 Chris Bishop. Sorry I apologise. I did see the member earlier. Priyanca Radhakrishnan a supplementary question.Priyanca Radhakrishnan: Thank you Mr Speaker. So what is the Government doing to reduce hardship for New Zealanders?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We've implemented a number of changes to improve financial support for people in the welfare system. These changes are estimated to have a positive impact on 339000 people accessing our welfare system. For the first time in New Zealand's history we've indexed main benefits to average wage increases to ensure rates of main benefits do not fall further behind average wages. We've increased the abatement threshold for main benefits to help low-income families keep more of what they earn. We passed legislation to repeal the harmful sanction that penalised sole parents and their children. On top of that this Government has raised the minimum wage to $17.70 and will continue to increase this to $20 by 2021. We have increased the number of public housing placements by 2380 since we came in—SPEAKER: Order! Order! [Interruption] Order! [Interruption] Sometimes the member makes me sort of regret my soft heart.