Lotu-Iiga Sam: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLotu-Iiga Sam: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9177. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie): It is a pleasure to speak on this the third reading of the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. Before I start I would also like to just add my deep sorrow that we have had the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Baroness Thatcher—who was a great woman a great leader—said: “There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.” This bill promotes economic liberty in this country. As chairman of the Social Services Committee I want to thank the Hon Paula Bennett for the hard work that she and her officials have put into bringing these reforms into this Parliament. I want to wish her a happy birthday as well. Happy 30th birthday Paula! I want to congratulate the officials also the clerks the parliamentary counsel and also my fellow members whom I may disagree with tonight on this substantive issue of welfare reform.We are here because it is the second phase of welfare reform which introduces new benefit categories ensures a work focused system and requires job seekers to be drug-free ready and available for work.Simon O’Connor: Social contract.Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: The bill as my colleague behind me says is about introducing a social obligation a social contract for parents to make sure that their children are participating in early childhood education are at school from the age of 6 are registered with a general practitioner and are up to date with their Well Child checks. Those things are positive. They are positive for those kids and their families and they are positive for our country. It also provides for benefit payments to be stopped for those who are on the run from the police. To me that is just common sense. Members opposite think it is the end of the world.The reforms we are making today are about building confidence in the welfare system which we campaigned on so it can regain the work focus that it was intended to have 75 years ago which that member Jacinda Ardern spoke about.Long-term welfare dependency is trapping way too many people in a life of limited choices poverty and poor health. We are doing this for the 220000 children who are living in benefit-dependent homes. Evidence shows clearly—and the Minister sees this almost every day out there in the community—that children are better off when their parents are at work and not on welfare.Sue Moroney: Yes. That happened under Labour. Actually they got jobs under Labour. Under National there’s no jobs.Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: We are doing this because we are focusing on what those people can do and not on what they cannot do Miss Moroney. But having said all that we still believe that it is about protecting and safeguarding those people who need assistance who need the assistance of the State and who are unable to work. We believe that wholeheartedly.National campaigned on reforming welfare by taking an investment approach. The Minister for Social Development talked about that. We have a welfare system that is active and work focused. Last year we implemented some of those changes—$287 million of welfare reforms—so that young people as the Minister stated and teen parents could access specialist services around things like budgeting services parenting courses and getting them back into school and into education so that their lives can have more meaning into the future.Future Focus implemented in 2010 introduced clear obligations and greater fairness to the benefit system. Since then more than 171000 benefits have been cancelled because people found work. I want to reiterate that for members opposite: people found work which is a good result in spite of a tough local market.Le’aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor: Where? In Australia?Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: The member there asks where the jobs are. I am going to say it once again; this is the fourth time I have said it in this House on this bill. The jobs: 15000 on the SEEK website. Twelve thousand of those are full-time about 1000 are part-time and 2000 are contract jobs. That is without talking about all the jobs that are advertised internally all the jobs that are filled by word of mouth. There are thousands of jobs out there but Labour does not want to hear about jobs—no it does not.One simple policy change requiring unemployment beneficiaries to reapply if they remain on the benefit after a year saw 21000 people come off the benefit. That saved the State $74 million. The Government is focused on supporting New Zealanders whom Labour when it was in office abandoned to a life of long-term welfare—long-term welfare. There are more people working in this country today than ever before. There are over 2.3 million jobs in this country and Labour cannot back it up with its record. When you look at its economic record you see that sickness beneficiaries went up by 17000 you see that the number on the invalid’s benefit increased by 26790. Labour does not want to talk about that because it knows its record was poor and needed improvement. It was actually a former Minister of Social Development and Employment who said that a rise for two quarters in unemployment numbers was “Not bad news actually.” That is the sort of aspiration that we get from across the aisle and that is the aspiration that those members continue to show in Opposition.We are delivering on welfare reforms for New Zealanders because they voted us in in 2011 to get the job done: expecting job seekers to be drug-free ready and available for work; ensuring a work focused welfare system; stopping benefits to those with an outstanding warrant; and introducing health education and social obligations sochildren in welfare-dependent families get the best possible start in life. We are tackling welfare fraud. We are tackling long-term benefit dependency. And this is a Government that will still protect the vulnerable. Members across the House talk about how they built the welfare system 75 years ago but I can tell you they are also the ones who broke the welfare system. We are here to fix it. I commend this bill to the House.