Benson-Pope David: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Benson-Pope David: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:632;Page:4315] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity to really paint a little of the wider picture of social change in New Zealand between 1995-97 and the current period. I am really pleased to say as I did in the House 2 days ago that the overwhelming improvement in the social indicators in this country should be something that all New Zealanders are only too happy about. I will deal with those in general terms and then come back to the specifics if I may in a moment. 
First of all over that 10-year period there has been a marked improvement in the affordability of housing. That should be a great concern to all of us of course and it is still an issue for us in Government. One of the reasons for that issue of course was that our predecessors in Government sold in excess of 13000 State houses so we should not— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: What did they do with the money? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: They mostly gave it to their mates or privatised for their mates—just as they do with so many things unfortunately. So we should not be surprised as a community that there are still issues around the affordability of housing in this country. But that is just one indicator. 
The second of the half dozen I will read out concerns a massive reduction in the share of households with low incomes. That is really good news for all New Zealanders— 
Judith Collins 
: Let’s talk about the vote. 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
:—and I can come back to the specifics of the unemployment shift by ethnicity if the member is really interested in the facts. 
There has also been a most significant improvement in market income per person with an increase in real gross national disposable income per capita from around $23000 in the mid-1990s to around $29000 in 2005. So that is a significant movement. It is rather ironic that as I came into the House today I heard after the demonstration at lunchtime of course Dr Wayne Mapp giving as his answer for the real issues we have about productivity in this community a further attempt to force down the wages of New Zealanders. Like most New Zealanders and certainly like members of the Government and its support parties I am concerned it has taken as long as it has for the increases in real wages for people to flow through into our economy. It is so ironic that that is happening just as the Australians are finding that the kinds of policies that that degenerate party National applied in the 1990s are starting to bite the Australian workforce is facing exactly the same quite corrosive policies that the National Party has historically introduced and is trying again to introduce. 
Judith Collins 
: What’s this got to do with the vote? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I am not going to take a point of order but I say to the member that it would be better if she articulated better. I do not mind her trying to interject because she just makes a rather sad fool of herself. I say further that that sort of behaviour will never get that member any respect with her constituents or her photo on the front page of the  
New Zealand Woman’s Weekly 
 or even of  
Investigate 
. 
The other indicator among many that have improved is an extraordinary improvement in employment participation. That has increased by over 5 percentage points to 68.5 percent in March this year which for New Zealand is an all-time high. Let me dwell for a moment or two on the reduction in unemployment. Unemployment was over 6 percent in 1995 it rose to 7 percent in 1998 and now it is 3.9 percent—the second lowest in the OECD after Korea whom we were ahead of last time. The reality of unemployment—all working-age unemployment—is a nearly 30 percent reduction since the last time National was in power. So Mrs Collins can play whatever games she likes with her interpretation of the facts but the reality of the figures is that if we take all working-age benefits there has been a startling reduction in unemployment in this country. 
 I also say to the members of this Chamber that very few people—only one in 11 I believe is the figure—move off the unemployment benefit and on to the sickness benefit. I also say before I come back to the raw unemployment figures that I do not apologise for being part of a Government that provides a benefit for people who get sick. One of the realities of the world that so few National members opposite realise is that sometimes people actually get sick and sometimes people are invalided. There are plenty of sick people—for different reasons—sitting on those benches. I am really proud to be part of a Government that makes no apologies and no bones about supporting people who need that support. 
Having said that the fact is that when this Government took power in 1999 there were 161000 people on the unemployment benefit. That figure is now for the first time in 24 years less than 40000. That is a remarkable achievement. The sorts of policies that this Government is espousing and driving will make sure that that sort of support for working New Zealanders will continue. 
There has also been a really welcome improvement in tertiary education. Around 11 percent of the population aged 15 years or over enrolled in tertiary education in 2005 compared with only 8 percent in the mid-1990s. There has been an increase in the share of school-leavers with higher qualifications with over 70 percent of school-leavers having greater than level 1 National Certificate of Educational Achievement in 2004 compared with around 65 percent in 1996. Most important if we are genuinely interested in the future of our country we should be delighted at the huge increase in expenditure on early childhood education—from 91 percent in 2000 to 94 percent in 2005. 
The prime focus of this Government has been twofold. It has been firstly on getting people into work and doing things like expanding youth transitions services and so on—I have talked about those numbers—and secondly on supporting people in work and incentivising work. I want to talk in some detail about the Working for Families tax relief extension. Because we are so committed to ensuring that families have every opportunity to give their children the best start they deserve we are continuing to roll out the Working for Families package. That package is delivering $1.6 billion of targeted tax relief and social assistance through Working for Families. Eighty-five thousand more families get additional tax relief through family assistance. By 2007-08 350000 families will be getting support from the Working for Families package. 
The Working for Families OECD data confirms that for a single-earner family with two children on average earnings Working for Families tax credits have taken New Zealand from having the eighth-lowest tax take to having the fifth-lowest tax take in the OECD. Under Working for Families a family with two children on an average income gets a further $90 a week—further to the original instalments they received—which makes them in total roughly $116 a week better off since 1 April 2005. The new in-work payment is worth up to $60 a week for families with up to three children plus an additional $15 for each subsequent child. Under the Working for Families package paid work offers families the greatest opportunities to improve their financial circumstances. 
I say to colleagues that one of the somewhat unexpected but welcome facets of the Working for Families introduction has been the choices that people are making. This Government has been criticised unfairly and inappropriately for forcing people into work. The reality is quite the opposite. The childcare assistance and the support for working mums and dads who want to do that have been extended enormously. Fascinatingly since the last instalment of the Working for Families package a number people have written to us saying that this is a fantastic social initiative that they can now make do on one salary and that they can look after their children. 
So the support that this Government is putting into the community is the sort of support that empowers people empowers families and communities and assists them in making the best choices for them and their conditions.