Bennett Paula: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett Paula: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8722. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development) 
: 
 I move  
That the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. This Government is progressing the most comprehensive package of welfare reforms that this country has ever seen. The reforms have been designed to be carefully staged over 2 years and this bill represents the latest suite of changes to improve the benefit system for all New Zealanders. 
It has been some time since this bill was before the House so I will run briefly through the changes this bill introduces. Seven benefit types will be consolidated into three: jobseeker support sole parent support and the supported living payment. This is key to simplifying and modernising the system. We are introducing social obligations to ensure that children in benefit-dependent homes get quality early childhood education are enrolled with a doctor and get their Well Child checks and that school-aged children are in school. 
We are introducing a requirement for job seekers to be drug-free and available for work. Forty percent of jobs advertised with Work and Income require a drug test. It is simply unacceptable that because of recreational drug use many are unable to work and take up available job opportunities. We will stop the benefit after 10 days if someone has already had an outstanding arrest warrant for 28 days that they have not cleared. 
These changes are fair and reasonable. We campaigned on all of these policies at the last election and overwhelmingly New Zealanders support these reforms. We are introducing the investment approach to the benefit system which will focus support on those most at risk of long-term welfare dependence. This underpins welfare reform and the new modernised benefits system. It is part of the National-led Government’s approach to welfare reform which will better support people into work. 
The old system had a very narrow focus of support for the unemployment benefit which as we know from the first actuarial valuation of benefits is very short-sighted. Those on the unemployment benefit are least likely to stay on long term yet it is that group we invest the most money in through employment support. Greater support needs to be tailored to individuals who need it most and these reforms will do that. 
A number of changes have been made to the bill through the select committee process. These include allowing for additional parent-led options for early childhood education like the Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters. The changes have also widened the scope for approved home-based early childhood education through Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu. For those who prefer their preschoolers to remain at home they can enrol with this home-based early childhood education. I support these changes and thank the chair and the Social Services Committee for their input. There are a number of other technical changes but I will let the select committee chair and others go through those in more detail if they so wish. 
We have heard a lot of rhetoric from the Opposition about welfare but quite frankly I have seen no plan. If hand-wringing and sympathy were the answer to welfare dependence Labour would have solved that problem many years ago but it did not. Even at the height of the economic cycle Labour did not reduce dependency. Today it is no closer to a solution just an offer of tea and sympathy for those on benefits whom it clearly sees as victims. This Government does not see people on welfare as victims but as individuals who with the right support can in most cases have a better life in work and off welfare. 
For those who simply cannot work due to severe illness or disability we will continue to support them with dignity. Changing the name of the benefit is a small but significant gesture to them because many found the term “invalid” to be quite frankly offensive. From July they will no longer be on an invalids benefit; they will receive the supported living payment. 
Throughout the recent recession we have heard the Opposition’s hollow call for more jobs. We would all like more available jobs and if simply calling for jobs actually created employment it would be easy—perhaps someone should tell Europe. This Government listens to and supports employers to keep people in work and take more staff on. We have done this through a suite of work subsidies which has made a real difference. We have also cut red tape introduced the 90-day law and improved productivity and competitiveness through the Government’s Business Growth Agenda. As you know the House is currently debating the starting-out wage which employers welcome because it will help them to take on more young people. 
For every tragic story that the media rolls out where the Opposition stands by wringing its hands I can give you a positive story of success because even through the worst of the recession we have seen real successes. In 2012 we had 81000 people go off welfare and into work and that is worth celebrating. Work and Income is getting around 1000 new vacancies a week from employers. These are jobs in agriculture forestry fishing and construction in large part as well as others in manufacturing administration and so on. Work and Income is matching people with these jobs every day and is seeing successes every day. 
I will continue to sing the successes of every New Zealander who finds a job keeps a job and kicks welfare for touch and do you know why? Because quite frankly we on this side of the House back people. I do so because I have never forgotten where I have come from. I have never forgotten how tough it was being a young single mum on welfare with the Labour Party telling me that that was all I was worth. I have never forgotten how tough it was going for those job interviews when I felt I lacked the experience the knowledge the skills and the confidence. But most of all I have never forgotten how it felt when an employer said yes and gave me an opportunity. It was the best feeling in the world. It was both terrifying and thrilling and it gave real hope. The first job was not the best job—not by a long shot—and they did not all last for long but each job gave me experience and skills and built my confidence as I learnt to stand on my own two feet and took responsibility for my own daughter. 
It was National quite frankly—it was National not Labour—that spoke to me as a young Maori sole mum with an ambitious message that said: “You don’t have to be a victim. You can be a success.” That is what I want for others—the feeling of being self-reliant in work and of saying to Work and Income: “Thanks but I don’t need a benefit any more.” I know it is a big ask. I know that it is not easy but with the right support and the right policies in place I also know that we can do it. I want New Zealanders on a benefit to know that they have a Minister and they have a Government that are backing them to look beyond a lifetime on welfare. We will support encourage push and incentivise and yes we will sing the successes of those who can and do find work and of the businesses—[ 
Bell rung 
]—that make those opportunities available. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Mr Speaker— 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: Not yet—not yet sweetie. The public see where the differences lie between an Opposition encouraging victims and a Government backing ambition. 
I have heard the criticism that the number of people on benefits went up under my watch and yes it did when the recession hit. People needed help and this Government provided it to them. I sometimes these days find it ironic that I am the one defending people’s right to welfare if they need it and Ms Ardern is advocating kicking them off and saying that there are too many on it. I read the minority report on this bill from that member’s party and quite frankly it was not worth the time it took to read it. It was so full of inaccuracies. I want it on record in  
Hansard 
 that the Labour Party minority report is actually factually incorrect and misleading. 
The public have already seen the steady decrease in benefit numbers since the peak of the recession. The numbers of people on the unemployment benefit the DPB and the invalids benefit all fell during 2012. In the past 2 years the number of young people on welfare fell from 21576 to 15858. 
The changes in this bill are essential if we want to refocus the welfare system so that it helps New Zealanders reach their potential and reduces the amount of people locked into welfare dependency. This Government undertook to deliver that system—a modern system—and this bill is a significant step towards that outcome. I commend this bill to the House.