Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:615;Page:11586] 
4.  
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Does he stand by his answer to question 5 yesterday in relation to limited employment locations that “I also reassure the House that every locality on this list is there as a result of consultation.It has taken place over the last 3 months with people in local areas and that is why they support this policy.”; if so why? 
Hon RICK BARKER (Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: The answer is yes because consultation was an integral part of Work and Income producing and refining the limited employment localities alert list. Localities were placed on the alert list using the criteria of the number of current job seekers the number of job placements made in the last year the local employment opportunities and the availability of public transport for travel. Consultation was undertaken on the resulting provisional alert list with a number of localities. Some were added and some were taken off. 
Sue Bradford 
: How can the Minister really believe that local districts have been properly or adequately consulted when Garry Moore the Mayor of Christchurch and chair of the Mayors Task Force for Jobs says that he is ropeable that there has been no genuine consultation at all with him or the task force at any stage about the whole basis of the limited locations policy? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: There is a bit of confusion here. This is not about the Mayors Task Force for Jobs. Consultation was undertaken with local councils regional councils and other local communities. 
Georgina Beyer 
: Does this policy stop people moving to limited employment localities if they have a job offer? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: No. If someone has a job opportunity in these areas it has no effect on them whatsoever. If they have a means of commuting to or from the job there is no problem. The limited employment localities policy is simply designed to ensure that unemployed people have the maximum chance of securing a job. In 1999 there were 164000 on the unemployment benefit. There are now just 81000. This Government has been very successful. 
Katherine Rich 
: Where was the evidence to back the policy of a tidal wave of unemployed people moving to places like Becks Lauder Patearoa or 120 of the other no-go zones which in October 2003 did not have one single resident registered and drawing the unemployment benefit? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: There are a number of people who are registered as unemployed in these areas. What we are saying to people is that if they are living in an area where there are job employment prospects and they decide to move to an area where there are no job employment prospects then this is a lifestyle choice and the Government via the taxpayer should not fund it. 
Bill Gudgeon 
: Does the Minister accept that these areas which are perceived by some as no-go areas would create social classification and that New Zealanders would become economic refugees in their own country? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: Certainly not. New Zealanders were economic refugees in their own country in the 1990s. Hundreds of thousands of people were unemployed. This Government has spent its whole focus on getting people into a job. I repeat: in 1999 164000 people on the unemployment benefit; now 81000 people. This is a very very good result. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: Why is it that a married couple on the unemployment benefit cannot move to a limited employment locality but a sole parent on the domestic purposes benefit can; and how does he respond to criticisms that his policy discriminates against couples? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The policy does not discriminate against couples. That is a ridiculous statement. The policy discriminates against people who are on the unemployment benefit. One of the tests for the unemployment benefit is that people are to be ready willing and able to take on work. So people who worked but move from an area where there are employment opportunities to a place where there are none have failed the test for that. That test simply does not apply to a person on the domestic purposes benefit. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Can the Minister explain the logic of encouraging people who are unemployed to go to areas where there is no employment and then paying them an unemployment benefit when they do so? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: There is certainly no logic to that but that seems to be what some people in this House think there should be. This Government is saying that if there are employment opportunities in a person’s hometown and they decide to move to a place where there are not then that is a lifestyle choice and they should fund it not the taxpayer. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Can I take it from the Minister’s comments that the Labour Government belatedly now supports the community wage introduced by New Zealand First when last in Government and why are we wasting all this time slowly getting back to that sound policy? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: This Government certainly does not support the community wage concept. What this Government does support is opportunity for people. This Government has put an enormous amount of resource and effort into giving people training and opportunity to get employment. That is why when this Government came into power there were 164000 people unemployed and there are now just 81000. We have been very successful. 
Sue Bradford 
: Will the Minister consider scrapping the limited-location list following emerging evidence from areas as diverse as Banks Peninsula Kaiaua Blackball Christchurch and the far north that there was no genuine consultation in those places with the mayors or anyone else and that many of these places in fact do have opportunities for employment? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: No we will not consider scrapping the list but what we will do is consult with people over time and as places show that there is opportunity for employment in those areas we will amend the list. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Has the Minister seen the claim from the Greens that including Maori with ancestral links to areas within this scheme “abrogates the treaty at a fundamental level”; if so can he advise the House where in the Treaty of Waitangi employment guarantees are contained? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: I have seen the claim I do not agree with it and the member is quite right it is not in there. 
Sue Bradford 
: Is there any chance that the Government will consider taking the proactive and positive advice that came out today from the Dunedin City Council and consider creating must-come zones instead of no-go zones for the unemployed? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: We certainly do support a very proactive approach. The member will be delighted to know that the Government has put in a mobile employment fund; we are going into rural and remote areas seeking out job opportunities for people. We are very positive about getting people into employment. That is why unemployment has fallen in this country by over 80000 people. 
Sue Bradford 
: Why is the Government putting so much focus on its limited employment locations policy which affects according to the Ministry of Social Development around 1 percent of the unemployed and not on doing a whole lot more to help the 40 percent of the unemployed who are aged under 25? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The member will be delighted to know that we will focus on those under the age of 25. I am looking forward to seeing those statistics fall dramatically over the next 12 months. We are focused on getting people into employment. That is why we have many partnerships with industry—such as the driving industry Hotel Association for training etc. We have so many work programmes going on we are struggling to find people to fill the courses. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I call question No. 5. 
Sue Bradford 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I believe we can have another supplementary question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member has had four. 
Sue Bradford 
: Yes. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member can have the other one but that cuts back the number further down the track. The member can have one if she wishes. That is her right. 
Sue Bradford 
: Has the Minister been receiving training from his colleague the Minister of Education on how to get offside with those local communities and their civic leaders and is there a Government master plan to close down rural and provincial New Zealand and move everyone into the big cities? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: Quite the contrary; the Government has been spending an enormous amount of time and money in making sure that remote locations in rural and provincial New Zealand get the full attention of Work and Income. 
We have spent substantial sums on training courses getting people into employment and that is why unemployment in this country is half what it was when this Government came into office.