Tolley Anne: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 27 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4035. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): It is an absolute pleasure to stand in the House and talk about the great Budget delivered by the Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English. This was a Budget that was focused on the things that matter to New Zealand just as this Government has been focused on that since the day we were sworn into office in 2008. This Budget represents again excellent management of the country’s finances even in the continuing tough times that we are experiencing. We are seeing continued economic growth which most other developed countries are envious of. We are seeing restraint in Government spending from a Government that has shown that right through the global financial crisis in complete contrast to the people sitting on the opposite side of the House. When they had the very best of economic times they spent willy-nilly and really had little to show for it. This Government is focused on making sure that every single dollar of taxpayers’ money it spends is effective and is getting results for New Zealanders.We are seeing growth in employment low inflation low interest rates and low cost-of-living increases for New Zealanders. We have seen the lowest number of sole parents on a benefit in this country since 1988. That is absolutely outstanding.It just goes to show what a wonderful job those people working in the Ministry of Social Development are doing by working carefully with these women mainly going back into the workforce but also the desire of New Zealanders to be standing on their own two feet and supporting their families independently while making their own decisions about their own lives. That is what this Government is focused on doing.It is against that background of good economic management and good cooperation and work with the New Zealanders who have found themselves out of work that we were able to then focus on the children who we know are not living the sorts of lives we all expect New Zealand children to be able to live. So we were able in this Budget to dedicate a package of $790 million over the next 4 years that is very focused on those families whose children are experiencing hardship and who are earning the least in our communities.Over the next 4 years the package will deliver along with increased work obligations for our sole parents—so yes we are saying that when your youngest child turns 3 we want you to be out there looking for part-time work. Against that we are increasing the amount of support that we put in around those parents to help them do it. That does not mean that if they cannot find a job that suits them and their family we are going to be hard. Of course each individual person will be worked with and supported into work. As well as that we are saying to them that part-time work needs to be 20 hours. If you can get 20 hours’ work it lifts you up into Working for Families and we are seeing more and more of our sole parents getting into that space and able to come off a benefit and stand on their own two feet. That is what we want for more of them.I say watch this space because New Zealanders will take advantage of this. We will see those men and women who are sole parents now moving off and into work and we will see those better outcomes for their young children. The package increases the benefit rates by $25 a week by 1 April next year. I cannot believe the incredible stories that are coming into my office from people telling me the difference it is going to make in their lives. An extra $25 a week when you are a sole parent getting $301 a week—an extra $25 a week coming in every week will make an enormous difference for the choices that they have to make about how they can spend their money and support their children. That is a great thing that this Government has done. Even in the best of economic times Labour did not support those people on benefits by giving them an increase. Even in the very best of times when Labour had billions of dollars to spend every year it did not support those beneficiaries when it was very clear that they were falling behind. This Government even legislated the CPI to make increases automatic.We have stood beside those most vulnerable families in New Zealand since we came into the Treasury benches. So that means 190000 children in New Zealand from 1 April next year will see an extra $25 a week going into their households. But we did not just leave it at that because we know that although two-thirds of those children experiencing hardship are in benefit-dependent families there are good hard-working families with children out there who also have very lowincomes and their children are suffering too. So we supported those children by increasing the Working for Families payments. I think that is a tremendous thing. I have to say that the reaction out there in the community has been overwhelming both from people who are on a benefit and also from those working families who are going to get a huge difference in their life.But we did not stop there because as well as that in the Budget there is significant help for a wider variety of children—perhaps some of the most vulnerable children—in our communities and those who are in State care. We had an increase of $35.8 million to support the Children’s Action Plan over the next 4 years which helps the children who are just below those who require statutory care. My colleague Paula Bennett started setting it up throughout New Zealand as a result of a very long process. The community is very concerned about making sure we get in early and work with these families and prevent these children from being abused. This Government was able to support the Children’s Action Plan with a significant sum of money—$35.8 million over the next 4 years.We are also modernising Child Youth and Family. There is $5.8 million in this Budget to help with that modernisation project. We have got an expert panel having a look at the system that we put around our fabulous Child Youth and Family workers out there who are doing one of the most difficult jobs in our communities; that is making sure that young children are safe when they cannot be left at home with their families. When they are being abused or neglected by the very people whom they should be trusting to give them the best of care Child Youth and Family workers have to step in and take those children and find them a safe and caring home and they get to work to come in and support the families in order to get to the stage where those children can go back and live with them. There is $5.8 million over 4 years to help with that modernisation project.There is $5.7 million in this Budget over the next 4 years to support quite a small group of young people in State care who have very high needs very complex issues. The support is described as one-to-one therapeutic placements for these Child Youth and Family children with the highest of needs. These children have complex needs that need that one-on-one care. It is very expensive and the Budget provides for a small number of those children to get that ongoing care over the next 4 years.In fact this Budget does so much to support the most vulnerable people in our communities—our children. We hear a lot of talk in this House about vulnerable children children living in hardship children in poverty. Well I am proud to be part of a Government that has made that the centrepiece of its 2015 Budget against a setting of a growing economy that is producing more jobs. That means that the Government is able to take more care of those at the very bottom—the most vulnerable children in our community.