Tolley AnneBUDGET DEBATEDebate resumed from 1 June on the Appropriation (2017/18 Estimates) Bill.Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Children): It is a pleasure to take a call in this Budget debate and what a great Budget 2017 is for New Zealanders. You know I have to congratulate the new Minister of Finance because he has delivered a Budget that is delivering for all New Zealanders. One could say that it is about time. This country has come through some pretty tough times but New Zealanders have knuckled down worked hard and been supported by a focused Government that has been determined to support and lead to ensure this country gets back on to its feet. The economy is now growing growth is predicted to continue for the next 4 years and this Budget makes sure that everyone gets the opportunity to benefit from that.This Budget takes three significant steps to bring the benefits of that stronger economy to all New Zealanders. First of all there is a massive investment in public services—$7 billion over the next 4 years in those public services like health and education and the justice sector.I want to take this opportunity to say how delighted I am to see the reward for those hard-working care workers who are getting a significant increase in their wage packets. If ever a group deserved to see its wages grow it is that group. I know that in my electorate I have hundreds and hundreds of women mainly who are absolutely delighted to see that reward in this Budget.The second major investment of course is infrastructure. An allocation of new spending of $4 billion in infrastructure spend right across the sector is most welcome.But the one that I really think is the most significant is the $2 billion a year in the Family Incomes Package—$2 billion every year to support New Zealand families. About 1.3 million families will benefit on average by about $26 a week—and some much more than others of course we know because we have targeted that support to those hard-working people who need the help the most.We have discussed in this House many times before how to measure poverty. There are a number of ways to measure poverty and people do it in different ways. I have argued in this House that there is no one sufficient measure. But if you look across those complex measures this Budget very clearly addresses two of the measures that we produce every year in the Ministry of Social Development analysis. First of all from a housing perspective it is going to lift 20000 households above the threshold for severe housing stress. Twenty thousand New Zealand households will be lifted out of that severe housing stress and I am really proud to be part of a Government that has done that.In addition one of the measures that the OECD uses—I do not think it is a robust measure on its own because it is easily manipulated—measures against the median income. Of course you can adjust the median income but in this case we are seeing 50000 children lifted above the measure of 50 percent of the median income. Again I am very proud to be part of a Government that has done that in Budget 2017. Of course last year this was the first Government in 43 years to increase the level of benefit that people who are unemployed get.We get to have these sorts of conversations only because we have a growing economy and as I say the economy is due to grow for the next 4 years. Over 200000 jobs have been created over the last 3 years and a further 215000 jobs are expected to be created over the next 4 years. That is really really important for the people who live in my electorate because the No. 1 issue that they have is employment. They want jobs because they want to be able to support themselves and their families.With an unemployment rate that is predicted to fall below 4.5 percent the proportion of people who are now dependent on a main benefit is the lowest it has been in the March quarter since 1997. That is a phenomenal achievement by hard-working New Zealanders running businesses expanding businesses and creating employment opportunities for New Zealanders.If we take a social investment lens across unemployment the group that has the highest priority for any Government should be those young people whom we refer to as neets"—that is they are not in employment they are not in education and they are not in training. Every quarter we have the household labour force survey and that tells us that of the 674000 young people aged between 15 and 24 588000 of them—over 87 percent—are in employment or education or training. That leaves about 86000 they estimate—remember it is an estimate based on a survey—who are called "neets".Now Mr Andrew Little sort of generously rounds that up to 90000 and then portrays these 90000 young people as if they are sitting on the side of the road waiting for a Labour bus to come along and pick them up and take them down the road to a job. Of course we all know that that is not the case; that is reading Labour's propaganda. When you look carefully at the facts of those 86000 young people that number does include about 16000 who are caregivers. It might be that they are caring for other members of the family or they might have children of their own. Many of them are taking a gap year many of them are on their OE some of them are in between jobs or courses—because the survey is taken over a certain period of time—and some of them are sick or injured or disabled who are not on a benefit.What we do know is that 46000 young people between the age of 15 and 24 are on a benefit of some kind at any one point and just 18000 of those are work-ready. They are what we describe as job seekers work-ready. That means they are able to be out there working.The Labour Party says it is going to cut immigration—tens of thousands of work visas are going to be stopped. But at the same time Labour is going to build more houses in Auckland and it talks about having those 84000 or 90000 young people with whom to build the houses. But if we break this down even further and have a look at just Auckland City there are just 4083 of those young people who are available to work. Apparently those 4083 young people are going to build 50000 houses. I mean that is ludicrous. That is just manipulation of the facts. And that is leaving aside any skills. I heard Paddy Gower on The Nation say to Mr Little that you cannot turn a "neet" into a nurse overnight. So I say to Mr Little that you cannot turn a beneficiary into a builder overnight.This Government is certainly determined to offer more than hope to this group of young people. We have a whole raft of initiatives in place that are aimed at supporting those young people into a job. We have the Youth Service. Every young person who leaves school is contacted by a Youth Service contractor offering them specialist case management and support to get into training and education first—or employment if that is what they would prefer but our first priority is to get them trained.We have a whole raft of regional initiatives in the areas of New Zealand where the proportion of those young people is the greatest. If we have a look at Northland the Kaikohe Growing Regional Opportunities through Work trial has successfully got almost 30 young people into jobs. We have now expanded that trial right throughout Northland—the Taitamariki 500. It offers pre-employment skills mentorship pastoral support skills and work experience.We know that these young people are not just sitting there waiting to be picked up and taken down the road to a job. Many of them have highly complex issues to resolve and our initiatives are part of addressing those complex issues. We have in the Hawke's Bay Project 1000 and we have in Tai Rāwhiti my own area—we are supporting its own locally developed youth employment strategy.This Government is serious about supporting those young New Zealanders into a job because it knows that gives them the best chance of having a good life. We are not afraid to tackle those complex issues. This Budget 2017 is a great Budget for all New Zealanders but in particular for young New Zealanders."