Borrows Chester: General Debate 
Borrows Chester: General Debate 
[Volume:677;Page:677] 
Hon CHESTER BORROWS (Associate Minister of Social Development) 
: 
 I am pleased to follow the Hon Phil Goff who has just resumed his seat. By now having listened to the wannabe and the guy who got the job some of those members on the other side will be shaking their heads wondering whether they can have the vote again tomorrow. 
I am proud to be part of a Government that believes like other New Zealanders that people who can work should work. It is an ethic that has kept New Zealand great for a long time and will continue well on into the future. Getting off welfare and getting into work means a better life—a better life for the individual concerned and a better life for their family. 
I want to speak about the independent youth benefit and the new terms of that particular benefit. This country under this Government cares enough to intervene in those young lives. Previous to this those young people on the independent youth benefit about 2500 of them were given the money and they walked away. They were given the money and the country walked away from them. Now under this Government we are saying this. A card will be given to those young people so that they can go on to purchase the food and other requirements that they need for daily life. Their rent will be paid for them and their power will be paid for them and they will have some small amount of discretionary money that they can spend according to their own will. But most of all and best of all they will be given a budget mentor to help them and walk alongside them to make sure they learn the lessons that many of us learnt when we were young from our parents because our parents were there and our parents cared enough to show us the way we should go. And that is the way it should be. 
Similarly then for those young mothers about 6500 of them who are under 20 and solo parents; they will be given the same assistance. They will be given a card that they can buy good food with—not takeaway food not alcohol not tobacco. They will have a small amount of discretionary spending up to a maximum of $50. But the rest of the money will be available for them on a card to use as they need to meet their requirements in clothing food and other necessities. Again a budget mentor will be placed with them to encourage them to attend schooling to attend classes training parenting courses and so forth. As we saw on a television item last night they are getting up to an extra $30 a week for attending those courses for turning up and in this way we are helping them through. It seems ridiculous to me that in a world where 3 or 4 years ago we put a spaceship on Mars we neglect our young people who are the most vulnerable in our community and I am proud to be part of a Government that cares enough to intervene in people’s lives to that degree. 
We are similarly encouraging solo parents to be work-ready for part-time work at the stage that their children reach 5 and to be work-ready for full-time work when their youngest child is 14. What we normally hear from the other side of the House—strangely silent at the moment—is “There are no jobs! There are no jobs!”. Well I would just like to relate to the House an email I got yesterday from a man from a labour company operating out of Palmerston North. He said they put about 80 people into work placements every day of the week. He said they constantly ring workers asking them to come into work and they constantly either cannot get them on the phone—so if they are not on the phone they are not work-ready—or they get responses like: “I’m sorry but I don’t like doing that job.” They have no tolerance towards drugs. They screen for police records—do Ministry of Justice checks—and also for drug testing and driver licensing. They lose about two out of 20 because they cannot pass a drug test they lose about two out of 10 because of their criminal records and they lose about three out of 10 because they have not got a driver’s licence. But he finishes off by saying this: “Therefore to sum up if you don’t take drugs if you have a fairly clean MOJ check and you have your own transport you can virtually be guaranteed a job.” 
There are jobs out there for people who are willing to work. There are jobs out there for young people who say they are willing to work and stay off drugs. There are jobs out there for people who are not dishonest and who are not habitually offending and some people with low infringement type of offences are still encouraged into work and can still find work on a day-to-day basis. There are jobs for people who want to work and are prepared to make themselves ready for work. I am so proud to be part of a Government that supports that sort of thinking from our young people.