Robertson Grant: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Robertson Grant: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5520. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 I am sick to death of hearing from this Government that the people who are to blame for the situation this country finds itself in are the most vulnerable people in our community. That side of the House needs to take some responsibility for the fact that its economic mismanagement is what has led New Zealand to be in the position it is in today. We have a situation with unemployment going up and my God it would be higher if more than 50000 people had not gone off to Australia in the last year. This Government has done nothing to create jobs. This Government has done nothing to improve our current account deficit. This Government has done nothing to improve wages. This Government has done nothing to find job opportunities. But day after day in the media the Government comes out with diversions and tactics to blame the most vulnerable people in our community for the situation we find ourselves in. 
As Jacinda Ardern has already said what have we heard about the Government’s welfare reform programme? What have people who do not spend all day analysing every bit of this legislation heard about what the Government’s approach is? What they have heard about are people who fail to meet their obligations; people who do not get their kids into early childhood education who do not take them to the doctor when they are sick and who are not part of a well child programme; people who need to be drug tested; and people who have been arrested. That is the message the Government is sending. That is the message the Government wants people to hear. It does not want to talk about its poor economic record. It does not want to talk about the fact that hundreds of jobs are being lost every week in this country and that there are no jobs—Melissa Lee—for people to go to who might well be work-ready. Those people do not have the opportunity to get into work because there are no jobs yet the finger of blame gets pointed at them every day by members opposite. 
When people in privilege blame the most vulnerable for what is wrong in society that is wrong. That is the wrong approach from this Government. It is wrong and it is a failure of leadership of this Government to resort to blaming the most vulnerable in society for the problems we face. But worse than that every single time there is a problem for the Government—if it is John Banks high unemployment figures or whatever it is—Paula Bennett rolls out a re-announcement. She comes along and she re-announces one of these punitive measures just to make sure everybody is reminded that “Those people are shirking those people are dragging us down and we will get them.” and every single time it diverts away from this Government’s failure to provide leadership in the economy. This Government has let New Zealanders down and sets about a smoke-and-mirrors approach that says there is someone to blame. 
We on this side of the House have had enough of this policy of fearmongering and exclusion—that there are people out there to be fearful of that there are people who are ripping you off and that you have got to look out for them because if we solve that then everything will be fine. Well I have got a message for the Government: it is not like that and it will not be fine. The real problems relate to the economy of this country and the exclusion of people who cannot achieve their potential because this Government will not really invest in them. 
The Government uses rhetoric like “an investment approach”. The real investment this Government could be making is to help create jobs. The real investment this Government could be making is to actually invest in skills and training for people who are out of work. That is what happened when Labour was last in Government. The reason we got unemployment so low is that we took an active approach. We took an approach of investing in people. We said: “If you need skills and training we will help you to get it.” and we did that through things like the training incentive allowance which this Government has cut. We had an active case management process because we believe social security should be a springboard into work. We believe social security should be a springboard into a better life. But this Government does not believe that. This Government says: “This is the way we can get to people and fearmonger. This is the way we can exclude people from our community.” Well I think that is a disgraceful approach. 
What is needed is actually some hope for these people and some inclusion in society so that they actually feel they have a place and a role. Of course people should not be getting benefits if they are not entitled to them just as people should pay their fair share of tax and should not avoid paying their tax if they are on a high income. We do not stand for that on this side of the House whoever is doing it but that is not the issue. That is a diversion. It is a diversion from the Government’s total failure to come up with a plan that will actually move people into work. 
The key to moving people into work is to actually have jobs for them to do and week after week in this House we hear about the jobs that are going from this economy. Week after week we hear about the impact on families yet the best thing this Government can do is set up straw people for people to look at and say: “If that’s solved everything will be all right in our society.” It is not true and shame on this Government that it is using the most vulnerable in our community to play that kind of game in politics. 
The Minister for Social Development in her first reading speech on this bill the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill talked about social obligations. On this side of the House we agree that there are the obligations of citizens and there are the obligations of a Government. Where are the social obligations of this Government? Where is its investment in housing health and education—in the things that will actually enable families to improve their circumstances to grow their wealth and to contribute to society? Where is that investment? Instead we see things being cut all across the country in health services. We see a lack of critical investment in housing. We seek a lack of investment in education. Education in this country at the moment is seen by the Government as being a cost to cut rather than an investment in our future. They are the social obligations of a Government and this Government is sadly lacking in them. 
The social obligations of a citizen go hand in hand with the social obligations of a Government. It is called a social contract. It was the basis on which the social security system in New Zealand was established and this Government is failing its part of the social contract. It has broken the social contract. If people are breaking the social contract that is wrong but what kind of example are they getting from over there? What kind of example are they actually getting from this Government when it comes to social obligations? Again it is the rhetoric of obligations from this Government—people are not meeting their obligations. 
Whatever few people there might be out there who do not meet their obligations they are outweighed tenfold 100-fold 1000-fold by the number of people who just want the best for their children who just want the best for their families and who want to get into work and those people are being let down by this Government. Time after time I have people in my electorate office who want to do the best for their families and want to do the best for their children and they are not being supported by this Government because this Government is not investing in those people. It is not giving them the skills or helping them to get the skills. It is not supporting them to get the health care that they need. It is not providing the kind of social housing that is needed so that people are healthy. 
The investment approach the social obligation of this Government is totally lacking yet Government members stand up day after day in the media and try to send that message of fear and exclusion. Well on this side of the House we are sending a message of hope and inclusion to people. We will work with people who are on benefits to make sure that they have the skills to get jobs. We will invest in an economy that helps create jobs. We will make sure that there are opportunities for people to train. The jobs are being lost under this Government yet it blames people for not taking them up. They are not there Melissa Lee—that is why people are not moving into work. 
Once again we have a social security bill in front of this House that preaches all kinds of things about how the Minister cares for people and wants to cajole people into work and it uses words like “investment” but the reality is that every single day Government members go out and engage in dog-whistle politics that seeks to drive New Zealanders apart. The Labour Party does not believe in that. We believe that we are all in this together and that we need to work together to support people into work give them the skills and training and help create the jobs. That is what the Labour Party will do and that is why we are opposing this bill.