Moroney Sue: Financial Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMoroney Sue: Financial Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 04 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16289. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SUE MORONEY (Labour): Well look after that speech from the member Melissa Lee I think we need to put the record straight a little. We absolutely need to put the record straight because it was under Labour that we had the lowest unemployment ratefor a very very long time in this country. It was under Labour. Remember this: under a Labour Government we had the first or second lowest rate of unemployment in the OECD but under this Government that has slumped to about eighth or ninth place the last time I looked. New Zealand is probably down to about 12th place now in the OECD for unemployment numbers. Why is that important? What that tells us is that every single one of those OECD countries went through the global financial crisis. Not many of them were in the privileged position that New Zealand was in because of the surpluses that the Labour Government saved up over 9 years. Over 9 years in every single year there was a surplus and that meant that New Zealand was in a much better position than almost any other OECD country when it came to dealing with the global financial crisis and when it came to dealing with unemployment.What has this Government done—what has it done? New Zealand has slumped in the OECD when it comes to the number and the proportion of unemployed in our society. Government members celebrate that—they celebrate that. Melissa Lee and the Hon Paula Bennett think that they have done a fabulous job. Well if they looked at the international community and they looked at what they were given on a plate—on a plate—from the Labour Government then they would know that they have failed. They have absolutely failed.Hon Jo Goodhew: Oh what a mess we were given—10 years of deficits.SUE MORONEY: Jo Goodhew can yell and scream as much as she likes but the facts speak for themselves. Go Mrs Goodhew and look at the OECD ratings. We were the first or second in the ratings under the Labour Government and we have now slumped. We have now slumped. So that is the record of this Government and no one should be confused about that.The other record of this Government is that not only has it had a very poor track record in terms of actually bringing down the number of unemployed during the global financial crisis but it has miscalculated and made its policy decisions for the last 4 years on false figures—on false figures—from Treasury. The Treasury figures—Andrew Little: That’s right. I think it was deliberate.SUE MORONEY: —I think it is deliberate Mr Little; I agree with that—have confused the whole picture so that 20000 children living in poverty were not being counted by this Government. No wonder its policies are wrong. No wonder it has not worked out that the way to address child poverty is to actually increase the financial resources of those families. That is the answer to it. Fiddling around with immunisation is not going to actually address the issue of the financial problems and the crises that those families find themselves in.Hon Jo Goodhew: Don’t you call saving lives fiddling.SUE MORONEY: Jo Goodhew may yell and scream about it but that is still not going to get one more cent into those families where they actually need to be able to provide food provide decent shelter and provide the necessities of life for their children. I think it is a disgrace that we have 285000 children in poverty in New Zealand—and the number is growing; every time Treasury revises its figures it is growing—because this is the land of milk and honey. We are not one of those countries without resources. We are not one of those countries without the means to get by. We are a South Pacific country with everything going for it.Well we did have everything going for us when we had a Government that had a plan in place a Government that cared about addressing inequality and a Government that brought in the Working for Families package. That party opposite called it communism by stealth but that package brought the largest number of children out of poverty that we have ever seen in recent times in this country. On this side of the Chamber we are deeply proud of that because that is the practical way of actuallyaddressing issues that matter to families—the real issues. They are not the trumped-up issues not the trumped-up figures from Treasury and not the diversion that the Government seems keen on pointing fingers at members over on this side of the Chamber. The Government needs to actually address the very real issues that its policies are creating for everyday New Zealanders every day of the week. As for the assertion that the Government is somehow getting all this number of New Zealanders into work it is not.