Martin TraceyHon TRACEY MARTIN (Minister for Children): Kia ora Madam Chair. Thank you very much. I rise to take a call on the Estimates in the social services area. As the Minister for Children can I first acknowledge the chair of the Social Services and Community Committee. I want to thank the chair very much. I had to seek permission to do something that hadn't been done before and that was to bring in a whiteboard to the select committee. I've been—Hon Phil Twyford: High tech.Hon TRACEY MARTIN: —sitting on select committees for six years. I love whiteboards. Mr Twyford has just shouted something along those lines.Hon Ruth Dyson: High tech.Hon TRACEY MARTIN: High tech—there you go. But what it is is a method to communicate and the intent was to give as much detail as I could to the select committee around the background to the Budget. So I drew what I have drawn all over the country whether it be for social workers on the front line of Oranga Tamariki whether it be for the NGOs whether it be for the VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai youth panel—I drew the pictures that show why we are investing where we are investing.I want to be clear that nothing about the direction of Oranga Tamariki has changed actually from the previous Government to this Government and that is because we don't play politics with children. That is because this House—and I want to acknowledge again the members of the select committee—doesn't play politics with children. So this was about the children that needed us the most. I want to thank very much the members of the select committee for giving me that leeway and giving me that opportunity to draw you the diagram of why we are funding what we are—$52 million in this year of new funding; $72 million each year for the next three years—into what are the operational matters that Oranga Tamariki must put into place for the children that we all need to care about the most: children who have families that cannot look after them for a variety of reasons without judgment. For a variety of reasons these children and these families need us to make this investment so that we can break the cycle of what has been youth justice in this country to break the cycle of what has been the care experience in this country for these children.I want to particularly acknowledge the Hon Alfred Ngaro for his intelligent yet critical questioning at the select committee. That is absolutely correct—the Hon Alfred Ngaro quite rightly questioned the Estimates and that is what the select committee is for. So I want to thank him for his respectful yet insightful and querying questions. It was disappointing that at that select committee there were questions asked by members of the select committee around visitation for example that may or may not have happened for a child that they were concerned about in their area. Yet after the select committee process when my department contacted them they would not give us the details to be able to follow up on that child. That was not the Hon Alfred Ngaro so I want to just say that that was a disappointment after we'd had such a collegial and appropriate interaction at the select committee. I believe that everybody in this House wants to make sure that children who are in need get the services that they need and get the care that they need from Oranga Tamariki and from us as a country.The other thing I want to close with though is I want to acknowledge inside this Budget the I think $104.9 million per year that was a commitment by the previous Government that is in the Budget of this Government for the unsupported children and orphans clothing allowance parity with foster carers. Can I thank the whole of the House. It was unanimously supported as a member's bill I think in my first term—so two Parliaments ago—but it takes some time to find $104.9 million. So can I just acknowledge at this opportunity this contribution around these Estimates the previous Government. Can I acknowledge the current Government and the fact that it's been delivered today for these children.I spent Friday morning with the care-experienced young people from VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai who were talking specifically about this money. I have been in touch with and the Hon Alfred Ngaro and the Hon Paula Bennett were also with me at a Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust event. This will make a difference in the lives of children. This money is inside these Estimates. We have done well here across this House. I thank you all for the unanimous support that you have given to these children. Kia ora.