Bennett Paula: Financial Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett Paula: Financial Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 04 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16292. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development): I just want to thank the speakers who have sat down. What they have pointed out is something that is really important. Is it not interesting though that what we have not had from the Labour members is a discussion on welfare? This is supposedly Labour’s hot topic. This is supposedly where it holds the Government to account. It is supposedly our weakness. The reality is that we have 17000 fewer New Zealanders on benefits today than we did 12 months ago. Do you know how many children that is? That is 12000 fewer children living in benefit-dependent households.Do you know what this Government’s legacy is? It is nearly $500 million more spent on support for welfare. That means 354 more front-line staff who are working with people. That means that where we used to see around 10000 people face to face we now see more than 100000 people face to face. That means we call them in and we talk to them about what they can do not what they cannot. We talk about the training that will support them into jobs. We then put real money behind them which then sees them going into jobs.What we see is that more than 8000 sole parents have themselves gone into work. What I hear from those sole parents who come up to me is: “I have to admit I never thought I would be thanking you but that was the first time someone asked me what I wanted to do what I could do and what support I needed for that to actually happen.” That means real support like aiding people to get a driver’s licence. It means helping them with their CVs. And yes it means helping them gain confidence because more often than not if you have been out of work for a long time if you live in a family that has not worked then actually having that confidence to put yourself out there is huge. The difference between this National Government and what you have heard from theOpposition tonight is that we celebrate their success. We believe in them and their capabilities. With the right support at the right time they can make a difference in their lives.So we talk about poverty and we certainly have the Opposition raising it as their sort of topic. What the Opposition does not talk about because they might be dirty words are parental responsibilities and families actually stepping in and helping each other and the fact that it takes a community and yes it takes Government support as well. Actually that sort of backing without putting the right support in—throwing money at them and hoping—was what we saw in the 2000s and it did not make a difference to those people who needed it most. It is hard complex work that needs wraparound support to lead people to independence. That is the difference for families that are struggling in New Zealand.We do that through the Children’s Action Plan because we see some our most vulnerable children not able to access the kinds of services and help that they need—and it is not all about Government; more often it is more about how they can help themselves. More often than not it is role modelling that shows them there is a different way in life. More often than not it is access to that health care that they need and access to education for their children.While we are at it we will talk about education because without a doubt getting those children into early childhood education and seeing them stay in school longer will hold the biggest difference. We have seen a huge reduction—a 30 percent reduction—in teen pregnancies and teen births in this country. That is something to celebrate. I myself go around every teen parent unit I can and meet every teen parent I can. Do you know what the best thing is I think about being a teen mum and I was one myself? It is that you get to love your children longer. If you have them earlier you actually get to have them for a bit longer and you get to love them a bit longer.But you know what those girls can do? They sit in front of me and I say to them “So why are you here? Why are you in education?” and they will go “Oh because you told us we had to because we couldn’t get the benefit without it because we’ve got to create a better future for ourselves.” Every single determinant every research you look at and every evaluation report will tell you how we know those children will do well. The one determinant that will make the biggest difference for those kids is their mums. Their mother’s educational achievement whether they have got work experience and how solid their relationship is are the best things we can do for those kids. So what are we going to do? More than $40 million is going into childcare so that that mum can be in some form of education. We actually set some responsibilities for them. We expect them to be in education if they want a benefit. We expect them to do budgeting courses. We expect them to do parenting courses. And we are making a difference.Report noted.