Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Ngā mihi o Te Tau Hou ngā whānau o Te Whare Pāremata. I hope everybody's had a wonderful break and enjoyed the time with whānau and friends and are ready for this new year in this place that we spend as servants of the people.I really want to emphasise and focus on leadership and the leadership displayed by our leader and our Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern a leader who absolutely cares and a leader who is kind and compassionate. And when was the last time I saw this kindness and compassionate side of her? Actually it was at the Big Gay Out on Sunday in Tāmaki-makau-rau. How she shows and displays that kindness and compassion actually isn't just about the hordes of people who want to have selfies with her—and can I say she made time for every single person who wanted to have a selfie with her—but actually it's been demonstrated through her actions in this Whare Pāremata in this House of Parliament through being a champion for same-sex adoption and actually through being a champion in voting for marriage equality. I know other leaders have got issues about whether or not they support the LGBTI community. Well can I say the Prime Minister is not one of them.We also know that she's a champion of young people and through the work that she's done through her colleagues—and I do want to acknowledge the Hon Willie Jackson who's here today and also my colleague the Hon Carmel Sepuloni because for us employment is incredibly important. Making sure that our young people have opportunities is incredibly important and again through her actions what has been her priority as the leader of this Government? The Child Poverty Reduction Act which will actually hold us accountable for the policies that we are instituting with the specific outcome of reducing poverty.So I want to say that we will set targets and we will be transparent and that takes leadership and the leadership I want to acknowledge also of our community partners. Today the Salvation Army released a report and we have had commentary on that report from organisations like the Child Poverty Action Group. What have they said? They have said that there has been some reduction in income inequality based on our policies for those on low incomes and in paid work.How have we demonstrated that? Actually through our commitment to lifting the minimum wage. So on 1 April the minimum wage will be $17.70 but through this Government we've made a commitment to make that $20 by 2021. It has been through the winter energy payment and it has been through our Families Package that by 2021 384000 whānau are going to get an extra $75 per week. We've also demonstrated our commitment by instituting our Best Start which is $60 per week for every child which will extend to years two and three if a family are earning under $79000.Now to say those are insignificant commitments from this Government actually downplays again the leadership that we are showing on this side of the House to address the issue of poverty and to address the issues of inequality. It's been 12 months in the job and I think we've not done too badly and we don't mind being critiqued by the Salvation Army or by the Child Poverty Action Group who say to us that we actually need to help our beneficiary families the most.So what I want to finish on is an emphasis on how do we do that and I've found a little bit of research from The Economist in 2013. It was an article entitled Pennies from heaven: Cash to the poor" and what they found was that cash transfers with no strings attached are the best way to help those people in poverty because what do they do? They actually spend it on vaccinating their children. School attendance goes up. They have improved living conditions because people buy food to feed their families. They make sure that their homes are warm and dry. Their psychological well-being increases and fundamentally we actually help them to become more entrepreneurial so they start having dreams and aspirations.We're on a pathway to supporting all New Zealanders with a specific focus in the future of making sure that those who are most vulnerable and those who need the support of the Government to create a pathway for themselves and for the next generation are supported. Kia ora."