Bennett Paula: Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill — First Reading 
Bennett Paula: Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:661;Page:9904] 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 I move  
That the Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I will be moving that the bill is referred to the Social Services Committee and that the committee reports back to the House finally on or before 30 July 2010. 
In the context of this legislation my focus is on the future: the future of New Zealand; the future of the welfare system; the future of individuals families and children; and the future of our society. Do we want a society that values work and the ability to provide for ourselves and our families? Do we want a society that says we will look after those who are most vulnerable and most in need? Do we want a society that teaches its children by example that the path to a better more prosperous and fulfilling life is through work not welfare? I believe that the answer is yes and I believe that that vision for the future is shared by most New Zealanders. Surely we all aspire to a better future for our children. 
When this Government took office 18 months ago it inherited a welfare State that showed no sign of diminishing despite having enjoyed a decade of favourable economic conditions and strong employment. So through the best of times Labour failed to do anything about long-term welfare dependency; it simply squandered that opportunity because it dared not challenge the status quo. That status quo which Labour has been so wedded to embodies an attitude towards welfare that is quite frankly dangerous. An entitlement mentality has become entrenched to the point where for some welfare is viewed no longer as a last resort reserved for the most vulnerable but as a right of all citizens. National recognised that attitude as an unhealthy unsustainable burden on those who work hard to support the system. It is those hard-working New Zealanders who gave National the mandate to bring this legislation before the House today. National’s manifesto commitment to fairness and an unrelenting focus on work on what people can do and not on what they cannot do is what New Zealanders voted for at the last election. It is that promise that we deliver today. 
It is ironic to think that after enjoying such sunny economic times Labour left office and slunk off into the sunset while behind it the storm clouds of a major economic recession were already breaking. New Zealanders were left to struggle through an economic storm that washed away the remnants of a strong labour market leaving many people high and dry with fewer jobs to cling to. Those hard-working New Zealanders struggling to pay the bills who battled on supporting themselves and their families watched their tax dollars flowing out each week to support a growing number of people on welfare and asked themselves whether that was fair. They asked whether the people they were supporting were really those in the greatest need. 
Fairness is a vital part of this legislation. It is a sense of fairness that calls us to rebalance the incentives and the obligations to ensure that only those who need help will get it. We have a responsibility to taxpayers to ensure we are spending their welfare dollars carefully because every dollar we spend on welfare has been earned by a hard-working New Zealander. We have a responsibility to get this right because this system has been left to its own devices for too long. We have a responsibility to those who are on welfare and have the ability to do more to actually follow through and give them the support they need so that they are not consigned to a lifetime of limited choices and limited potential. 
Why are we making these changes? We want to ensure fairness in the system with the right balance of obligations and incentives to address an unreasonable sense of entitlement and to introduce a set of expectations. Yes we do expect those on the unemployment benefit to make every effort to find work. Yes we do expect those on a domestic purposes benefit whose youngest child has turned 6 to be working towards work or taking part-time work. Yes we do expect those on a sickness benefit to be getting well so that they can return to work. These are fair and reasonable expectations. We have changed the processes around sanctions so that when obligations are not met a first time a 50 percent cut in the benefit kicks in. That means those who do not turn up for a scheduled job interview for example could lose half their benefit unless they have a very good reason for failing to meet their obligations. If again and again they fail to turn up their benefit will be cut completely except for those with dependent children who will lose a maximum of half of their benefit with no changes to add-ons like the accommodation supplement so that they are not penalised unfairly. But let us be clear: all we are asking is for people to meet their obligation to make an effort to get off welfare and into work. If the work is not there their benefit will remain. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: The children will suffer. 
Sue Moroney 
: You’ve failed to provide jobs. 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: I say it one more time for the snappy turtles: if the work is not there their benefit will remain. The safety net is not being hauled in completely; it is just being trimmed to catch only those who need it. 
We are providing greater incentives for those who are on benefits to transition into work by raising the abatement levels so that those who do work for a few hours a week keep more pay in their pockets. I am thrilled that we went a step further than our manifesto and increased the upper abatement level from $180 to $200. That is a fair incentive. 
But there is a higher purpose to this. It comes back to the question of what kind of society we want to live in. Are we happy to leave thousands of children of beneficiaries to languish in households living a hand-to-mouth existence and leading limited lives? Are we happy to do nothing about the 82000 who have claimed a benefit for 5 years or more? Frankly although Labour was content to ignore this problem this Government is not. National has greater aspirations for New Zealanders. They involve a brighter future for many people a future where they are in work and not on welfare. We know that it is vital that we implement supports for those who are reliant on welfare to provide pathways into work. 
Sue Moroney 
: There are no jobs. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: The Minister should be ashamed. 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: Those members should listen up. That is why we are investing $223 million a year in employment-related training and support—$223 million a year. We are investing in industry partnership wage subsidies straight-to-work programmes and Training Opportunities Programmes providing help with writing CVs boosting literacy and numeracy skills and placing those people in work. We know that a country of 4.3 million people cannot continue to support 345000 beneficiaries. It is not healthy for our economy it is not healthy for individuals and it is not healthy for society. 
This is a conservative start one that sees our tightening up the system to provide only for those who genuinely need it while sending a clear message that those who can should. We must get this right. This is a crucial opportunity to effect a major shift in thinking a shift in attitude and a shift in aspiration that lifts people’s sights up beyond a simple existence on welfare to a meaningful rewarding life as a working member of society participating and giving back. We are effecting a change in the way that society views the welfare system. This policy makes it clear that welfare is a stopgap not a solution. The introduction of clear obligations and expectations will change the way that people use the system by discouraging long-term dependency. 
National is taking this opportunity to have the first real honest discussion this country has had about welfare in a long time. We are quite simply calling a spade a spade. Labour likes to talk about “clients” “supports” “help” and “entitlements”. It is called welfare and beneficiaries are paid benefits—let us at least be straight up and honest. But Labour fails to see the bigger picture which is a New Zealand that does not have 12 percent of its working-age population on welfare and a New Zealand that values work and self-responsibility. And here is the rub of it all: if we shut our eyes to the bigger picture as Labour did we will be blind to what is staring us in the face. The fact is that if we do not do something right now our children will be mortgaged for years to come by an irresponsible reliance on a welfare system that supports an ever-growing population of beneficiaries. Working New Zealanders cannot support an ageing population as well as an increasing number of people on welfare. So I say that society has arrived at a crucial junction: we can continue on as we have been without ambition or we can move ahead. This legislation provides the first few steps on that path.