Macindoe Tim: Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Macindoe Tim: Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:678;Page:1304] 
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) 
: 
 This Government is definitely serious about this issue and nothing in the contributions of the two previous speakers Dr Rajen Prasad and Holly Walker has indicated that the Opposition members have learnt anything from the experiences of at least the previous generation. Nothing in the contributions of the two previous speakers has offered any hope to any New Zealander trapped in the cycle of welfare dependency. It is not good enough. I ask those speakers to take their blinkers off to look at the reality of the issue that we face today to look at the reasons why we have this problem and to support this Government in our determination to do something about it.  
The Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill which has been introduced into the House this afternoon is not only one of the most important measures that members of the 50th Parliament will face over this 3-year period but is in fact one of the most significant and demanding challenges that this generation of members of Parliament will face in our lifetime. I am proud to be here to tackle the challenge and I am absolutely determined to ensure that we make a significant difference in improving it. I sincerely hope that this bill will be enacted. The bill is not about cynicism blame or beneficiary bashing as the two previous speakers have told us. This bill is about hope. It is about aspiration. It is about a conviction that every New Zealander has a right to fulfil their potential.  
The parents and grandparents of this country want the best of opportunities and security for their children and grandchildren—their mokopuna. I say to the previous Green speaker that nobody has anything to fear from work-test obligations. Many have everything to fear from a Government that expects nothing of them. The teachers of our country want to see their pupils well prepared to cope in the modern workforce; successful and confident that honest employment will be available to them and fairly rewarded when their schooldays are over. And those young people themselves need and deserve to know that our society believes in them wants the best for them and will not abandon them before they have had a chance to fulfil the considerable potential that we know they have.  
I care passionately about this issue and I am 100 percent in support of this bill. I commend the Hon Paula Bennett for her vision and determination in tackling this issue head-on and in bringing this legislation before the House. I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with her as we commence this work. I do so because for too long we have as a country sat on our hands and watched as intergenerational welfare dependency has robbed our young people of aspiration while robbing many of those who care for them of hope and direction. For far too long as the Minister said at the outset of this debate our welfare system has been failing far too many New Zealanders. The Future Focus programme has already demonstrated not just the benefits of but the essential need for refocusing our welfare system on an active rather than a passive approach. The Future Focus programme has shown that targeted intervention and the imposition of work obligations make a very positive difference.  
The Labour and Green Opposition speakers whom we have heard from so far this afternoon have shied away from this reality. Sadly and predictably they have resorted to their ideologically blinkered spin—that this bill is about beneficiary bashing and blame.  
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: If the cap fits wear it. 
TIM MACINDOE 
: That Dr Prasad is nonsense and I would like to think that you know it is.  
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
TIM MACINDOE 
: I beg your pardon Mr Assistant Speaker. I would like to think that deep down Dr Prasad and the other speakers know that it is nonsense but unfortunately they cannot bring themselves to admit that the worst examples of beneficiary bashing are those that occur where young people without qualifications are thrown on the scrap heap and left to slide into a lifetime of welfare dependency. I am absolutely confident that if Michael Joseph Savage were alive and here today he would be 100 percent in support of this bill and that all those who were the architects of the welfare State would say that this was never how it was meant to become. It was never about trapping people. It was always about providing them with assistance.  
I return to my main point: this is a bill of vital importance to all of our society. We must not settle for the status quo any longer if we are serious about creating a brighter future for every New Zealander. I say to the Minister “Thank you for the work you have done.” As a member of the Social Services Committee I look forward to working on this bill but more important I look forward to overcoming a problem that dogs our country.