Ngaro Alfred: Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 25 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1970. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National): I rise and take a call on the Social Security (Clothing Allowances for Orphans and Unsupported Children) Amendment Bill in its second reading. This is my third speech in the House today. On members’ days I have always begun a speech by acknowledging the sponsors of the bills that I have been able to speak on. Like all members we look for our member’s bill to be drawn out of the ballot because it allows us to be the champion of a cause that we believe wholeheartedly and passionatelyabout. It allows us to connect with our communities and to advocate in a way that we believe makes a difference. However the challenges before any member with their member’s bill is to see that it aligns with the Government of the day with intentions that are true and right and that it obviously connects with that which is fiscally responsible—all of those things that make it important. I just want to acknowledge the member Tracey Martin for the cause that she has championed. I can start off my speech by saying that the National Government will support this bill in its second reading and it is fortuitous that 1 July is Tracey’s birthday.Tracey and I were on the ministerial reference group. We heard from a number of different members who are part of the sector of support who are out there in the community like Katherine Rich who was the chair. There was also Diane Vivian from the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust who is a feisty little grandmother who has a bucket of energy and just wants to go out and make a difference. She shared with us the survey of what the trust had polled its grandparents on. What it clearly showed was that at the moment we have around about 8500 kin carers who are out there caring for approximately 12000 children. As Mrs Martin has said often these children through no fault of their own are in circumstances of brokenness and despair and are really just looking for some support and help. I totally support this bill and I know the Government supports this bill because it is the right bill for the right need and for the right purpose. We believe that it is important to do that.Then it comes down to the aspect of how we make this work within our means but at the same time too how we make it work for those in need. I believe that our role in the reference group was to be able to hear from those providers and to hear the things that were important. Diane Vivian talked about the importance of grandparents and how we make sure that their support is there. Often children would just end up on grandparents’ front doorsteps and grandparents had to immediately meet their needs—things like beds drawers clothes and food in the cupboard. Many of them were still of working age and yet at the same time too they were only making ends meet for themselves so they needed that support. We heard that from Diane Vivian. We also heard from Linda Surtees who was with Fostering Kids and she talked about the importance of the system playing its role working with schools and how that worked in regards to the allowances which is what this bill is actually about. It is about parity for the allowance of clothes for children. I know Mrs Martin made it clear to us all the way through that all the other allowances we are providing are important and are for the needs but that did not include what this bill is about. I commend you Tracey Martin that we are true to what this bill is.I also want to mention Katie Murray from up in the far north. What she reminded us of was about some of the reality. Although people keep saying: “We want more and more and more. More money more resources.” she also was a challenger for those who are receiving that. So from the inside looking out she said that sometimes we also need to challenge those who receive this resource. How are they prioritising? That is something that we cannot do because from the outside in the sense of trying to give these sorts of messages it can make us look like we are mean-spirited cold-hearted and trying to force change when really for Katie Murray and the work that she does in the far north it was important to say that this is what she is seeing and these are the challenges that she is seeing as well. An important fact that also came out of that conversation was the fact that nearly 45 percent of those 12000 children are Māori children. I think that is an important issue to be raised because out of this although we talk about the generic aspect of children there are our Māori children and whānau who absolutely need this help. We believe that this bill will be a way of being able to address that.I just want to comment on a few things. Just as Mrs Martin has talked about at the Social Services Committee we believed that there were two amendments that needed to be made to the clauses. One was amending clause 2 to delay the commencement of this new legislation should it be passed until 1 July 2018. It seems like a long way away but as they say 1 week in politics can be a long time—it can be a short time—but I believe that we have come to an agreement where we will work towards that and I believe that it is important. Also too there will be parity in the payment of clothing-related allowances for foster children orphans and unsupported children should the school and the year start-up payment be no longer available.The second amendment that was made in the select committee amends clause 4 to clarify that an orphan or unsupported child would be entitled to a clothing allowance only if the chief executive used their discretion to set a rate of payment for a clothing allowance for foster children under section 363 of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act.National does support this bill. We believe it is a good bill. We have had positive negotiations with Tracey Martin. National believes that we can provide further financial assistance to kin carers in a better way and a more targeted way. Although we talked about the universal aspect of providing generically for all children in need in regards to the unsupported child’s benefit and the orphans benefit we also then looked at some of the targeted approaches. I just want to make mention of them because I think that the targeted approaches also came out of the ministerial reference group. Here are some of the things that it talked about. The Government recognises the incredible work done by these families so there is the Extraordinary Care Fund. More than 300 children and young people have benefited from the first round of this fund. This fund recognises the job that grandparents and extended family members do in raising children who come into their care. What we have done is provide grants that are now available for up to $2000 per child and this round of funding distributed more than $360000.The example I want to give came from Katie Murray. For instance she said: “There are times in which yes you provide for the basic needs for the children in your care such as uniforms beds food and so forth. But then how do we help them to achieve their dreams when in a sense their lives have been tragic and with trauma? How do we find a way to excel that?”. She talked about how there are times when the children whom she has cared for had an opportunity for them to excel in sports. She talked about a number of the young children whom she cared for—so taking them to for instance representative sports teams or functions or events. She said that this is another part that if we are going to help them overcome their circumstances and not allow their circumstances to define their destiny then this Extraordinary Care Fund would be an important inclusion in the fund as well. I want to acknowledge that we heard this and believe that this was a very important part of the support that we wanted to offer as well. There had been about 36 applicants who were successful in that inaugural funding round and we are providing extra support so that the children whom these carers are looking after have the opportunity to truly reach their full potential to thrive achieve and belong. The second round of the Extraordinary Care Fund opened in January 2015 just past and an additional three funding rounds are planned for 2015 and 2016 as well.Just a couple of other comments that I want to make as I begin to summarise is that we heard from the ministerial reference group from the dedicated person at Work and Income in regards to being able to provide that support because often when grandparents went there they felt that sometimes some of the front-line support people they got were a bit unsure about what they needed. They asked for a dedicated person to work with them and also for some greater parenting support. This is from Diane Vivian. She said that many times grandparents were having to sort of re-parent themselves. It has been a long time since they have been parenting. So in partnership with the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust and The Parenting Place we have also developed a tailored tool box programme specifically for kin carers at a cost of around $600000 a year. It is a refresher course for grandparents.I conclude my remarks by congratulating Mrs Martin on her tenacity and her passion and her ability to be able to advocate very strongly. She has put together what I think is a good bill a practical bill which I believe will meet the needs of and support for our children and especiallythose who are our kin carers. I commend this bill to the House.