Luxton JoJO LUXTON (Labour—Rangitata): Thank you Mr Speaker. Well once again the House and the public of New Zealand have just heard that the National Party are going to vote against something that will support our hard-working New Zealanders should they find themselves in a situation where they become unemployed through no fault of their own. We are hearing that more and more. The rhetoric across the House is We've got to support middle income the squeezed middle" everything else—every measure that this Government is putting in place or suggesting is being voted down by those opposite out of pure political spite. Pure political spite.I note that the previous speaker did talk about Kirk Hope who actually says income insurance scheme not a job tax. And I quote; he says: "It was designed to protect workers because economic shocks that lead to income shocks have long-term effects on those directly affected as well as their families communities and local businesses where they buy their goods and services." But actually it does not put this social insurance scheme into place. What this bill actually does is give the ACC the ability to begin the preparatory work should New Zealand decide that this is something that we wish to bring in to support those who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.We heard that over 100000 Kiwis lose their job every year. Can you imagine if that was something that was to happen to you or anyone here who may not—you know if you weren't an MP you had some other form of employment the panic that would set in when you hear that you are losing your job; particularly if you are a lower-income earner and you don't have that ability to save for that rainy day to prepare for a shock like that. This will allow you some time to just breathe to have a think to reassess what you're going to do perhaps retrain so that you are not forced into taking the first available job that comes along one that you may not be suited to but one that you have to take because you have to support your family. Because people deserve to be able to work in a job that provides them with dignity and one that they get self-satisfaction from not something that they have to do because they simply have no choice.Now we heard that this idea went out to the public in February to have a think about whether it is something that they think that we should be doing. And we know that submissions have closed as of April in this year. The decision or the thinking around that ACC may well be the best organisation to facilitate this social insurance scheme it does make sense although no decision has been made that that would absolutely definitely be them. But it would make sense if they were the chosen agency because they are used to dealing with ACC payments to people around New Zealand so they do have an idea of how that needs to work.This piece of legislation as I said before simply allows ACC to begin that preparatory work should it be something that New Zealand decides that it wishes to undertake. What it also allows is that if New Zealand decides that it is not something that they wish to do then there will be no further legislation required in order to follow up with that decision.We heard the Minister talk about how New Zealand is actually one of the only very few countries that does not have a social insurance scheme like this—Hon Scott Simpson: We have an unemployment benefit.JO LUXTON (Labour—Rangitata): We heard Mr Simpson just say that we have an unemployment benefit. Well Mr Simpson the unemployment benefit is for those that are as you mentioned job seekers but when someone is working in a job that they lose through no fault of their own they are used to a certain income. Their family relies on a certain level of income and when that is taken away very quickly through no fault of your own you do need some assurance that you are going to be able to maintain that level of living that you are used to to be able to pay the bills that your family requires you to pay in order to survive albeit at a slightly reduced amount than your 100 percent wages that you'd be used to.This is a really important step towards giving people that certainty and that security should New Zealand decide that it is something that they wish to do. I commend this bill to the House."