Muller Todd: Social Security (Extension of Young Persons Services and Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMuller Todd: Social Security (Extension of Young Persons Services and Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 23 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5301. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): I rise to speak for a few minutes on the Social Security (Extension of Young Persons Services and Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill. Well what an extraordinary last 15 minutes we have had to endure here. Firstly there was the speech from Ms Moroney. Fortunately I managed to catch only the last 4 minutes of that and I would have to say that those 4 minutes will last me a lifetime. Her critique of our social investment model and our actuarial approach to identifying a full-term cost of social welfare in this country was some of the weakest analysis that I have heard in the 10 months that I have had the privilege of being the MP for the Bay of Plenty. I am sorry but you are caught in a time warp. The fact that you think that the way we help people in this country is to just throw money around with gay abandon—I am sorry. You need to actually get close to people—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order! [Interruption] Order! I do not need to get close to people.TODD MULLER: No that is probably true Mr Assistant Speaker.Ms Moroney I would suggest that in getting out of this House and actually talking to people you might actually get some reality around what is happening out there. Your analysis was weak and feeble. You need good data. Ms Moroney you come from a party that has a philosophy of throwing money around without data without an understanding of where that should go and here we have a Government that is focused on finding the information and then delivering that investment to the people who need it most.Then we had to sit through 10 minutes of the Green Party accusing this Government of being paternalistic—saying that we should not be providing support for 18 and 19-year-olds was the most extraordinary thing quite frankly. Again I would ask the Green Party members to get out of their little theoretical bubble and actually go and talk to some of these service providers who are actually out in the field and providing the services to these young people. They tell us—and they told me when I was in Tauranga talking to EmployNZ only a few months ago—that the one key thing that they want this Government to consider is to extend this Youth Guarantee scheme and the youth services from 16 17 and 18-year-olds up to under-20-year-olds. Why? Because it works. And those who oppose it on purely ideological grounds have lost the argument. You have lost the argument I am sorry. You have lost it because the people who are benefiting from this Government’s focus on ensuring that we have education and budgeting and parenting advice for those who need it are the ones who are actually helped. It is their families and their communities that are supporting this Government and your party is on the wrong side of it and you will see that over the next few months.Can I please say just a few words to acknowledge the Minister for Social Development Anne Tolley. Again in stark contrast to what we have heard on the other side of the House here is a Minister who actually gets out of Wellington who actually goes and talks to the agencies—Government and non-Government agencies—that are on the front line of complicated and difficult and systemic issues. She listens to them and understands what actually works. She hears them and says: “Yes you have a case. This is a platform that is working and delivering and yes this Government will stand behind you and expand the youth services from 16 17 and 18-year-olds to include 19-year-olds and that will deliver real benefits for people and real benefits for families.”For those particularly in the Green Party who argued that somehow actually providing budget support and parenting support to those young people is paternalistic I say again that you are not close enough. The Green Party is not close enough to that reality and I specifically put a challenge out to the Green Party this afternoon for its members to go and talk to those providers and go and talk to those who are currently benefiting from this service. What they tell us is that this is a huge help for them. These are people who were falling through the cracks. These are people who are not in our education system and who have been identified and services and guidance and support are being wrapped around them to enable them to participate in this society into the future. This is a Government that cares this is a Government that is focused on delivering results and it is one I am hugely proud to support. I look forward to this bill being debated through the select committee. Thank you.