Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:609;Page:6259] 
10.  
LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN (NZ Labour—Mana) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: What initiatives has he taken to implement a new approach to welfare? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 This Government is in particular committed to building the capacity of communities to solve problems for themselves. Yesterday I announced grants from the Social Entrepreneur Fund to 51 community leaders who are working with their communities to introduce a range of policies. Jim Moriarty for example is working in youth prisons; Jan Bieringa here in Wellington is working on issues to do with the digital divide; and a number of other projects are under way that will make a great difference to communities around this country. 
Luamanuvao Winnie Laban 
: What other partnership approaches to welfare are being pursued by Government? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Alongside social entrepreneurs the Government is championing a number of partnership initiatives in welfare and employment that strengthen communities in solving problems for themselves. For example we fund community Maori and Pacific organisations to place people in sustainable open employment. We partner with the Mayors Task Force for Jobs—57 of those mayors—to ensure young people have employment and training opportunities. We directly fund community programmes such as the Stronger Community Action Fund and we work with community-based organisations to build employment in social service capacity. 
Katherine Rich 
: As he is into his fourth year as Minister is it not desperate to now start talking about new approaches to welfare and is the Minister’s getting himself asked patsy questions about his welfare initiatives just indicative of Labour’s worry that it is weak on welfare issues so it had better scurry about and look as though it is doing something? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Putting aside the invitation to answer in kind I say no. We have been releasing new policy around partnerships with communities since the first year we came in. We released our overall framework for policy in 2001 which we have been implementing. Far from scurrying around we are ahead of that player in every sense of the word. 
Sue Bradford 
: As part of the Government’s current review of welfare is research being undertaken into the potential of a universal basic income as one possible way out of the current costly and inequitable three-tier benefit system? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: No. It is not Government policy to introduce what is known as the “UBI” or the universal basic income. However we have made it clear that we are interested in simplifying the benefit system to get rid of all the complexities and allow staff to focus on helping people rather than always processing entitlements. 
Judy Turner 
: What initiatives has he developed to reconcile the paradox between the desperate skills shortages facing industries such as agriculture forestry horticulture building and other trades and the fact that there is still a significant number of unemployed or does he agree with his colleague Damien O’Connor that the biggest problem finding workers for the agriculture industry is due to the perception that it is long hours and hard work? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I think the agriculture industry itself agrees with Damien O’Connor that one of the problems it has is the image of the industry and it is working hard on that. If I were to identify some of the things we have been doing lately I would identify the Tertiary Education Commission the review of the Industry Training Strategy that has now been implemented Modern Apprenticeships the Gateway programme the commitment to 250000 people in training by the year 2005 $85 million in this Budget and so on. 
Judy Turner 
: What initiatives is he considering to stop fruit growers from resorting to employing illegal immigrants to harvest their crops since the lack of pickers has already cost Kerifresh half a million dollars in lost export orders yet according to the technical manager the work is 8.5 hours of working away steadily and it just does not suit a lot of people who get referred to it by Work and Income New Zealand? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The immigration issues are ones that we work on closely with the Minister of Immigration Lianne Dalziel but I point to the real success that we have had with seasonal workers in areas like the Hawke’s Bay and the Marlborough-Tasman and Nelson areas. To take the latter one over the Christmas period the register dropped to 80 people simply because of the success in getting people on to orchards right throughout that region—and they worked very successfully. 
Judy Turner 
: Will he commit to a reassessment of the way in which Work and Income New Zealand promotes employment opportunities when the department’s job bank classifies vacancies by geographical location rather than skills required making it difficult for those actively seeking work in one region to be aware of opportunities in another? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I think that is a very good idea and I am willing to work with the member on it. 
Judy Turner 
: Is the Minister aware of criticisms that the Modern Apprenticeships scheme focuses on above-average students at the expense of those with a lower record of academic achievement who have to complete costly pre-apprenticeship courses to gain entrance and are arguably most likely to benefit from the scheme? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I have heard that but do not regard it as a criticism. The Modern Apprenticeships programme is a prestige programme; people who want to get on it should take pre-employment programmes so that they can step themselves up and cope with the work.