Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour—Kelston): I was just reflecting on what the first hundred days of policy for any new Government should look like and thinking back to our time when we first got in in 2017 and how aspirational and ambitious we were for New Zealand and how our immediate priority was the lowest and middle income New Zealanders compared to what we see now—and it is worth comparing. Back then for our first hundred days we had the Families Package introduced we saw the winter energy payment and the Best Start payment introduced for the first time we extended paid parental leave we had the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill setting minimum standards for rentals. We did things like ban overseas speculators buying New Zealand houses we stopped the sell-off of State housing we lifted the minimum wage for our lowest-income workers. And what do we have here in the first hundred days? Sadly we have a Government that is taking $670 million from the poorest New Zealanders to pay for their tax cuts. I said it a number of times in the House: they should be ashamed of themselves.Over the course of our six years we were very considered and deliberate when it came to welfare policy. We set up an expert welfare advisory group that traversed many of the sectors that should have an input into what a welfare system looks like. It had New Zealand businesses it had unions it had the social sector it had beneficiary advocates it had young people it had Māori it had Pacific. They gave the advice on what our welfare should look like but the fundamental element of what the welfare system should look like is that anyone who accesses it should have their dignity upheld. Well this bill does not uphold their dignity and we've traversed all of the arguments for why that is the case. Any Government that can receive a supplementary analysis report on a bill where the report states very clearly that more children will be in poverty as a result of their actions should be ashamed of themselves.It's not just this bill. The Minister put on record that she believes the suite of measures that they are introducing are going to actually be conducive to reducing child poverty in this country. Well where is the evidence to back that up? We've already seen the report on this bill. We already know that excessive sanctions drive families into poverty not lift them out and yet those are the two measures that we have heard from. But it is predictable. It's predictable. It's taken out of the playbook of every National Government that has come before this one. It's déjà vu. It is the playbook of Jim Bolger. It is the playbook of John Key. It is the playbook of Robert Muldoon. It is the playbook of every National leader that has ever gone before.Hon Member: Don't forget Ruth Richardson.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Ruth Richardson—she wasn't a leader but she made some horrible changes that were detrimental. And I want to speak about Ruth Richardson's changes actually. We only just made moves in recent years by significantly increasing benefits to reverse the benefit cuts of the 1990s that the National Government and Ruth Richardson were responsible for then and here we have a National Government that are taking us backwards again. And we will end up in the same situation. Ten years from now if no change occurs to fix this indexation mistake then what we'll have are benefits falling further and further behind. We'll have more children living in poverty. The scary thing is they were told that this was the case but they have made the decision as a coalition Government to go ahead with it anyway.The rhetoric is predictable. We've heard even just in the state of the nation speech the priority given to focusing on being tougher on beneficiaries. Well it's not anything of use to New Zealand or anything that should be a priority to New Zealand. What it is is bullying. It is bullying from that side of the House and deliberate distraction tactics—move people's attention away from what they should be focused on put their attention on the poorest New Zealanders as if they are to blame they are the villain when it comes to any of the challenges that we are facing as a country when actually in reality we know that they are falling victim to the challenges more than anyone else in this country.Over the course of the campaign and whilst this Government have been in office we have heard them say over and over again it's about the cost of living focused on the cost of living for New Zealanders but they seem to forget that our lowest-income New Zealanders including of course our beneficiaries are also New Zealanders. So focused on the cost of living for their mates that are New Zealanders but not focused on the cost of living for the most vulnerable New Zealanders. For that I say it again—and I can't say it too many times—that side should be ashamed; ashamed also of the polarisation that we are seeing of people in our welfare system. Rather than putting the ladder out and assisting people with climbing up rather than putting opportunities in place so that they can actually move up get the skills that they need they are taking the ladder away again and kicking people who are vulnerable while they're down. Again for that they should be ashamed.Beneficiaries inevitably because of this change are going to end up with less money in their pockets. Initially when they did the analysis they thought they might be marginally better off this year but we've since heard the net average wage growth numbers and now we know that actually there's not even any gain this year. Every year over the forecast period beneficiaries fall behind because of that Government's decision to take $670 million off the poorest New Zealanders to pay for tax cuts. That is the reality of this particular change.We've talked a lot in the House about child poverty and who will be impacted but I also just want to touch on and dig a little bit deeper on who specifically lives in those houses. Disabled children and children with a disabled family member in their household are more likely to be living in benefit households. Women make up 55 percent of all beneficiaries; 80 percent of those on sole parent benefit are women. Māori and Pacific are going to be disproportionately impacted by this change and yet the Government have no shame or no remorse about the fact that they have made this very conscious decision. We've stood here in the House and we have quoted all the experts including former Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft who said a few years back before we'd even made this change that indexing benefits to wage growth instead of inflation is one of the single most significant things we could do to address child poverty in this country. They have ignored that particular expert and every other expert that has come out in favour of wage growth being the measure for adjustments not inflation.So when that side of the House stands up in any room and says that they want to be an evidence-based Government that they will make decisions based on evidence then I just say Baloney." actually. It is not true and every decision that they have made to date is questionable because the evidence runs contrary to the arguments the ideology and the policies that they are putting forward. We will continue to fight these types of legislation in the House. We will continue to take the information that the public deserves to see out to the public so that they understand the detrimental impacts of the policy that that Government is introducing. We of course are not going to be supporting this bill in the House nor will we be supporting the beneficiary-bashing narrative that that side continues to run. They do not have New Zealand's best interests at heart because if they did they would be making sure that child poverty reduction was a priority not putting it on the back seat and not agreeing to policies that are only going to increase the number of children living in poverty in this country."