Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you very much Mr Speaker.Hon Member: This will be better.Hon Member: It's better already.SIMON COURT: Thank you thank you. ACT supports this bill. Our spokesperson on child welfare Karen Chhour has given us a good rundown on the issues that were discussed at select committee including a number of recommended amendments to ensure that eligibility for the orphans benefit and the unsupported child's benefit includes caregivers who are caring for a child unable to be cared for by their parents for a short term or an unknown or an uncertain period of time. Because of the uncertainties that affect so many families in New Zealand we can only say There but for the grace of God go those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to care for our own children." But that's actually what the role of the State is for: to be that social safety net—in this case awfully the ambulance often at the bottom of the cliff. We also understand that the select committee recommended amendments to ensure that the principal temporary caregiver who is entitled to receive the orphans benefit and unsupported child's benefit can also receive supplementary assistance and can be supported to offer a birthday or a Christmas celebration to the children who end up in their care. I will admit that my experience with my own child who has a disability and meeting families who found it impossible to cope with raising their child and who had therefore because of a mental breakdown or a break-up of the family had found that their child was then living with another family—a disabled child in a foster situation—brought home the realities of how challenging circumstances are for many many families. And so it is correct that the role of the State should be to support children and their carers in that last resort. However ACT also believes that instead of promoting more people to be on welfare who are able to care for themselves in fact we should aim to reduce the number of children born into benefit-dependent households and support better income management for beneficiaries. However the changes in this bill do not undermine ACT's ultimate objectives to reduce dependence on welfare but it does rightfully correct a disparity in the current system. This was brought home to me again last year. During the 2020 election campaign I had the privilege of travelling around New Zealand meeting people from all walks of life including in Ōtaki one of my favourite places in New Zealand and in fact a place that has been blessed—blessed by the New Zealand Transport Agency just last week with the announcement of a long-overdue bypass of Ōtaki's main street by the State highway—Hon Louise Upston: They're lucky.SIMON COURT: They are very very lucky Louise Upston. They are extremely lucky to be gifted a bypass. Now not every town in New Zealand receives the benefit of that tooth fairy who normally sits in the seat where I think Helen White sits today known as the Minister of Transport but Ōtaki is the main beneficiary. However Ōtaki is a great town for another reason—Angie Warren-Clark: Ōtaki.SIMON COURT: That is because Ōtaki—Ōtaki thank you very much Angie Warren-Clark thank you. Ōtaki also is the site of the wonderful Swazi clothing company. Now Swazi I understand is short for Swaziland. Now Swazi is owned by the wonderful Davey Hughes and Davey Hughes recognises that in order to be a good employer he needs to provide his employees with plenty of flexibility when it comes to their home and family situations because many of his employees are doing what some might think is low-skilled work but from my observation was actually highly skilled work producing high-quality garments for hunting and fishing and outdoors wear. In fact until recently we understand that Swazi even held contracts to supply clothing to various New Zealand Government departments—the Department of Conservation until they picked the lowest price conforming option to import it from some country which probably has human rights issues associated with it. However in this case Davey Hughes introduced us to a number of his staff and one of his staff was a woman past retirement age who he had welcomed back into the workforce so that she could earn sufficient income to pay for the care of her grandchildren who had been dropped on her with almost no notice when her daughter and errant boyfriend had been caught up in methamphetamine use and their lives had hit the skids. This wonderful woman who thought that her life of toil had come to an end and that she was enjoying the delights of retirement in lovely Ōtaki found that she was caring for two grandchildren and she did not have the means to support them. Worse than that even though she was able to return to work she was not able to access the carer support or those other types of benefits that were available to the long-term carers or the parents of these children. She was in a situation only months in finding that she was unable to pay the bills and having to make a choice between going on a benefit or working. So being able to receive—she asked us at that time "What would you do ACT Party? What would you do if you were elected to Parliament as members of Parliament?" We said we would do something about it.So it's wonderful to be here today to be able to use this opportunity to speak in support of a bill that establishes a stronger social safety net but does not entrench all of the terrible dis-benefits of encouraging children to be born into benefit-dependent households and failing to support income management of people who aren't able to do it. But this bill in fact is a good bill—well by the standards of this Government so let's not get carried away.I acknowledge—the ACT Party acknowledges—that life is not easy for many and that the role of Government is to be a last resort the safety net. It is for that reason that we commend this bill to the House and we will support it. Ka pai. Kia ora. Ka rawe."