Sepuloni Carmel; O'Connor GregCHILD SUPPORT (PASS ON) ACTS AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): I present a legislative statement on the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill.SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I move That the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill be now read a third time.This is a significant day for sole parent families and whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is a day on which the Government is righting a wrong in our welfare system that for many years has seen vulnerable New Zealanders and their children worse off. Firstly I wish to start by thanking the Social Services and Community Committee for their hard work and careful consideration of this bill and the submitters who took the time to give their views on this legislation. This bill is a complex one and the work of the committee has ensured that the bill is as robust as possible. This bill contains important amendments that will pass on child support to parents on a sole parent rate of benefit. It will remove a discriminatory policy that has withheld child support from some of our most vulnerable sole parents and in doing so deliver on the Government's commitment to put dignity and fairness back in the welfare system.As a Government we are focused on the bread and butter issues and the things that matter most to New Zealanders like tackling the cost of living. This change will also ensure that approximately 41550 sole parent families will have an average of $47 more in their pockets per week with a median gain of $20 per week after abatement of income-tested financial assistance. This additional income will provide critical support to whānau and see up to 14000 children lifted out of poverty by 2023-24.Currently child support payments are retained by the Government rather than passed on to sole parent beneficiaries to support their children. However this is not the case for other beneficiaries who have their child support passed on such as those on a couple's rate of benefit or those only receiving supplementary assistance. This bill fixes this inequity by passing on child support administered by Inland Revenue directly to sole parent beneficiaries as is currently done for other parents. This child support will then be treated as income by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) for benefits and other assistance.These changes respond to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's recommendation to pass on child support. They are another example of this Government's commitment to deliver on our welfare overhaul work programme put dignity in the welfare system and make it fairer for individuals families and whānau. They build on our many achievements for sole parents and whānau to date. We implemented the Families Package which helped around 330000 families in its first year—more than half of all families with children in New Zealand. We have made record increases to main benefits including further investment through Budget 2023 that saw sole parents receive an extra $31.83 per week from 1 April this year.As a first step of the review of Working for Families we have implemented changes that mean 346000 families will be better off by an average of $20 per week and an estimated 6000 children will be lifted out of poverty. We have indexed childcare assistance income thresholds to average wage growth so that income thresholds will continue to increase each year with a further one-off increase in 2023 to make up for the thresholds being frozen in 2010. And we have increased dental grants from $300 to $1000—to name just a few.We are continuing to invest in support for families and whānau including our sole parent families. Alongside the significant investments through Budget 2023 to provide 20 hours' free early childhood education to whānau with two-year-olds from April 2024 we are expanding eligibility criteria extending the duration period and increasing the rates of flexible childcare assistance. Around 540 families are expected to be supported by these changes in 2024-2025. Aligning the guaranteed childcare assistance payment rate with the highest childcare assistance subsidy rate and indexing it to inflation in April 2024 it is estimated that there will be 150 children for whom guaranteed childcare assistance payment is paid.As well as providing additional financial support to sole parent families and whānau the bill removes the requirement for sole parents on a benefit to apply for a formula assessment of child support through Inland Revenue. This means that these parents will be able to make arrangements that better suit their circumstances such as formula assessment voluntary or private agreements. Research suggests that passing on child support will increase the incentive for liable parents to meet their child support obligations. This is likely because liable parents are more willing to pay child support when they know that their child will receive their financial support.This bill will also reduce the burden on clients to declare child support paid to them. Inland Revenue will share child support information with MSD so that MSD can charge this income more accurately. MSD will automate how child support applies to clients' assistance to charge the income forwards over the period it is intended to support the child and will reduce the administrative burden on parents. These changes won't just give parents and whānau more time and energy to spend with their children; they are important safeguards to minimise the potential for debt to be incurred by families.This bill will come into force on 1 July 2023 which means parents will be able to receive the benefits of child support in the coming months. Our prioritisation of these changes highlights how the Government is focused on addressing the cost of living pressures by putting more money in the pockets of low-income families. Passing on child support to parents on a sole parent rate of benefit is the right thing to do. We want to ensure that sole parent families get the full benefit of their child support payments and that they have more in their pockets. This bill does that. I commend this bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.