Cunliffe David: Social Security (Fraud Measures and Debt Recovery) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: Social Security (Fraud Measures and Debt Recovery) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 27 August 2013. Volume:693;Page:13135. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn): I rise to support the Social Security (Fraud Measures and Debt Recovery) Amendment Bill but I do so with a very heavy heart and significant reservations. When I was on my first campaign in 1999 in New Lynn I was door knocking onNorthall Road. It is a small street just off Titirangi Road. Not far down that street I happened to knock on the door of a home where a young mother was bringing three small boys home after school. We got talking and it turned out that one of those kids had just come back from the doctor and was calcium deficient. Talking to me about it the young mum broke down in tears. I said: “What on earth is the matter? Are you worried about your son?”. She said: “I can’t afford him milk. I can’t afford him milk.” I have never forgotten that moment and the despair in the eyes of that young mother.Here we have the National Party’s best pitch to solve the problems of welfare dependency: beat up on the beneficiaries—beat up on the beneficiaries. The Rev. Dr Alfred Ngaro is I confess an MP whom I respect. He has earned his stripes out in the community and he should know better. From his theological training he would remember the verse about not taking the speck out of your neighbour’s eye or your brother’s eye when there is a mote in your own—that is a big log of wood right? I do not know whether the folks on TV can see but I have a graph here that has two bars. There is a big long bar here for the amount of tax debt and there is a tiny little speck here. That is benefit debt right? Here we have the National Party—not wrongly which is why we are supporting the bill—picking first on beneficiaries and going after $39 million worth of debt.But there is $1000 million of debt in white-collar evasion and back taxes that the Government is leaving. The Rev. Dr Ngaro has said: “OK we’ve juiced up the IRD to chase some of it down.” That is good as far as it goes but the Inland Revenue Department told the Finance and Expenditure Committee that it gets a return on investment of $6 back for every extra dollar that it spends chasing white-collar tax debt—$6 back for every $1 invested. Why has the Government not gone after the rest of it? There is $1 billion there which is 150-odd times more debt than there is in beneficiary fraud. So why is it not doing 150 bills on white-collar criminals and fraudsters before it does this one? The answer is that it knows where its bread is buttered. It does not want to shake the foundations of the white-collar community. It is protecting its big business mates—sorry not “protecting” because I know it is illegal. It is not prioritising the crackdown on its own.Kiwis are sick and tired and sick and tired of hearing about the better future and finding more of the same. They are so disappointed in this visionless lacklustre John Key - led National Government.I am very interested in an article on Stuff when the bill was introduced entitled “Fraud investigation measures raise concerns”. It says in response to the announcements of the changes by the Associate Minister for Social Development Chester Borrows: “Concerns have been raised about the plans to investigate people without theirknowledge as the Government introduces measures to prosecute the partners of benefit fraudsters.” This is part of an ongoing trend. The Government does not like local democracy in the Auckland Unitary Plan so it passes the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill which steamrolls over the top of it. It does not like the Ombudsman interfering in the privileges of executive Government so it starves it of decent funding increases. It does not like Kiwis having the privacy of communications so it passes in a tick a Government Communications Security Bureau bill that means that it can read every email that every New Zealander has ever sent and intercept any phone call at the drop of a hat. And now it is investigating the partners of beneficiaries with criminal charges and criminal powers because those beneficiaries are a few steps behind in their payments.All right fair is fair—here is the Labour Party’s position: go after fraud wherever it is. One law for all fair day’s work fair day’s pay fair suck of thesav—OK. OK. It is not wrong to collect beneficiary fraud. That is the right thing to do. But it is 150 times more right to chase down white-collar tax debt—150 times more right. Even if it did this in the middle and it just chased down 75 tax bills before it did this one that would be a fair thing. We see the National Party’s true colours. It is so blue that it is black. Kiwis are getting dark on National and we will find out next year.