Field Taito Phillip: Social Security (Child Benefit) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Field Taito Phillip: Social Security (Child Benefit) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:13100] 
Hon TAITO PHILLIP FIELD (Minister of State) 
: 
 Tonight I am pleased to contribute to this member’s bill because it deals with the very important issue of children in this country. First I acknowledge the sponsor of the bill Sue Bradford a very good member of the Green Party. Her work in Parliament during this time has certainly proven her commitment to social issues that are very important to this country. I commend her for her efforts to recognise the needs of children. I also want to say that this side of the House is certainly committed to ensuring that we deal effectively with child poverty hardship and deprivation in our communities. 
The Government will not be supporting this legislation primarily because we believe we will be developing significant targeted initiatives in Budget announcements in the near future. Also moves have already been made by the Government to improve the living standards of struggling low-income families and for that matter middle-income families as well. In its last 4 years of power the Government has developed policies and initiatives that have significantly improved the situation of low-income families and their children. 
I know that there are continuing concerns about poverty in our communities. Recently I attended a meeting of community groups in my own electorate of Mangere who were concerned about poverty in our communities. Sue Bradford was present and also a few others who are very much into developing social policy issues to help those struggling families. This Government has significantly improved the situation of those families particularly if one considers Jenny Shipley’s 25 percent cut to benefits in the 1990s which contributed to the demise of many of those low-income families and their children. Market rents increased the cost of accommodation and housing around New Zealand enormously and were a major contributing factor to the poverty experienced in the community. 
Those two areas contributed to poverty and this Government has dealt significantly with them with the removal of market rents and the reinstatement of income-related rents. That not only made housing more affordable but also contributed to a more stable situation for low-income families and their children. Not only were those significant achievements made in the first years of this Government coming into power but benefit levels for low-income families havegradually been improved. Other initiatives including fairer industrial laws with the repeal of the Employment Contracts Act have resulted in the improvement of wages and conditions for low-income workers. 
Progress has been made towards dealing with deprivation and poverty in our communities and this Government will look to develop those initiatives further. This Government has signalled that in the Budget to be announced next week there will be an emphasis on dealing with poverty in our communities. Clearly the assistance that will be given to low and middle-income families with children who are on benefits as well as those in low-paid jobs will be the emphasis of what this Government will be doing within the next 2 years. I am sure that that will meet the legitimate concerns of communities with regard to struggling families with children on low incomes. 
Were we to accept this bill it would cost about $500 million and it would not alleviate poverty in our communities. In fact it would put only a small amount of money into the hands of those who really need it. Even with the research that has been done on children in low-income households—in fact one in three children have been defined as living below the poverty line—the reality is that we will end up paying another two-thirds of benefits to children who do not need them.