Pugh MaureenMAUREEN PUGH (National): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I join the chorus of congratulations on this bill being in the House in front of us tonight for its first reading the Social Security (Financial Assistance for Caregivers) Amendment Bill. I want to take this opportunity to recognise the work of former MP the Hon Tracey Martin for the effort that she put in in progressing this bill to where it is today. I too will start by acknowledging all the carers that bring children into their homes and provide them with stability. They provide for these children the basics of life: food shelter clothing and those intangibles like love and safety. I recall a trip that the Social Services and Community Committee did together. We visited several NGOs and providers in Australia providing these kinds of social support to families. There'd been quite a lot of research done by one of these groups where they had actually interviewed some of the children that were in care and one of the most amazing outcomes of the research that they did was that in terms of priority for what children were looking for it was to feel safe. So I do acknowledge all of the work that happens by those carer families when they take these children into their homes and provide that feeling of safety for them. Now we do know that often they are extended family members and they provide a very valuable service not only to those children but also to this country because without the selfless gift that carers give to these children—and we're talking about 22000 of them in this country at the moment—they would undoubtedly face even more hardship and upheaval in their lives. So a huge shout-out to the effort that they put in on our behalf. We have heard that this bill seeks to address some anomalies in the payments that go to these families. And as we have a look through some of the progressed legislation over time we've got the orphans benefit we've got the unsupported child's benefit and we have foster care allowances. There is no synergy between them with regards to these payments for support for families that have these children in their care under 12 months and also for the Christmas and birthday allowances. So this bill is seeking to synchronise those aspects of those various other pieces of legislation.But as my colleague the Hon Louise Upton alluded to there are fiscal implications in this bill and it does deserve the scrutiny of a select committee process and it does deserve the input of those people who are at the coalface of the services that are provided. Some of I guess the most tangible feedback that we got from some of the other social service legislation that has been worked on in this House has come from the care-experienced children themselves. As part of that we know that those voices are very real and deserve to be heard and as part of the select committee process we do hope to hear from some of those care-experienced children. We heard briefly about the social investment approach that National has evolved over some time over the last term of our time in Government and we know that the investment in children in those early days makes absolutely perfect fiscal sense it makes great social sense and it is the right thing to do. So we are very supportive of investing in those early years and supporting children and the families that care for them. We know that by doing that the long-term outcomes for those children are far more enhanced. For instance for children who have those advantages we know that they are about 50 percent more likely to have better paying jobs and be in more stable relationships as they grow older. So it does make very good sense to invest in these families early on.We know that some of these families who have them for less than 12 months are now supporting these children out of their own pockets. That is not feasible now given that we have identified the anomalies between the other benefits that are available. And simply because a child is in State care and is entitled to all of those other benefits even though they have had those children in their care within 12 months it does not seem fair that those other children who are on the orphans benefit or the unsupported child's benefit should miss out on those advantages. So we will be seeking to improve those inequities as this bill progresses. Extending the Christmas and birthday allowances of course is also a bit of a no-brainer in this piece of legislation. We know that not everything that is important to children takes money. In fact I know a lot of children would prefer time rather than gifts. But at the same time to be able to give a child a special treat at Christmas or on birthdays is usually a very memorable time in their life and is well worth that investment. I'd just like to conclude my contribution by looking at some of the background work that has been done on this bill and looking at how it impacts on New Zealand's international obligations. It was really pleasing—and we've had this conversation in the select committee many times in the past about our international obligations and especially this one which is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). So it was very good to read that this particular piece of legislation will address three of those policies and conventions within the UNCRC article 3 which is relating to ensuring children have the protection and care necessary for their well-being. It addresses article 20 which relates to the entitlement to special protection and assistance for children who cannot remain in their family environment. And it also addresses article 27 which relates to children's rights to a standard of living adequate for their physical mental spiritual moral and social development and the State's role in providing material assistance in support programmes. So this piece of legislation clearly looks to address some of our obligations under UNCRC and of course that's always a very good thing. Going back and talking about the birthdays and Christmas allowances if this bill does pass there are dates—and I obviously understand the Christmas allowance will start in December of 2021 but the proposal is for the birthday allowance to begin in January 2022. I look forward to the select committee process where we can tease out the rationale for that because it does seem to make very good sense that this would be in a budget bid that could actually begin on 1 July 2021. So we will look forward to some discussion around it. With that I have pleasure in commending this bill to the House. Thank you.