Lees-Galloway Iain: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5533. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 That contribution from Alfred Ngaro absolutely sums up what this Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill is all about. All he talked about was branding. It is an absolute distraction. It does nothing to actually help people into work. All it is is a branding exercise. Alfred Ngaro talked about the branding of the different benefits but I tell you what this is not about the branding of benefits; this is about branding beneficiaries. That is all that this bill is about. When the Government is in trouble when it knows that there are 270000 children growing up in poverty in this country when it knows that income disparity is greater now than it has ever been before and that it is a direct result of the policies that this Government has implemented what does it do? What does it do? It starts to pick on the beneficiaries. It tells New Zealand that every beneficiary is on the run from the law or every beneficiary is a drug taker or every beneficiary is a bad parent and needs to be told how to raise their children. 
The things that those parents have to comply with! I saw Paula Bennett’s press release about forcing parents to put their children into early children education. The words “comply” or “compliance” occurred at least five or six times in that press release and that is what this Government is all about. It is about getting people to comply. 
Louise Upston 
: Social obligation. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: I hear terms like “social obligation”. I hear terms like “social engineering”. This Government is working overtime on social engineering getting people to comply with its view of the world— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: If I cannot hear the debate members are too loud. Quieten down. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I do not mind the Government members screaming back at me because I know that they do that when they know they have been found out. They have been found out about what this legislation is really about. It is about pitting one New Zealander against their neighbour. It is about divide and rule. It is about distracting people from the Government’s own failures. That is all that this legislation is about. It will do nothing to get people into work. 
Tim Macindoe tried to smear the last Labour Government’s record. He tried to say that all that the last Labour Government did was shift people from one benefit to the other. 
Melissa Lee 
: That’s right. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Well I have news—Melissa Lee believes that lie as well. Melissa Lee has fallen— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! The member cannot use that word. There is Speaker’s ruling 42/2 about using the word “lie”. So I would ask the member to withdraw that comment. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Speaking to that— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: No no. I have ruled—Speaker’s ruling 42/2. Just carry on. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: I withdraw that comment. Melissa Lee has fallen into that trap because she is so foolish as to believe the Government’s own rhetoric. This is what the last Labour Government did. We got people off benefits and we got them into work because we made sure that there were jobs. That is what this Government should be focusing on but it has so demonstrably failed to get people working that it has started this act of diversion simply to get New Zealanders fighting against each other and not fighting against this pathetic worthless Government which is not working for New Zealanders. 
The Government wants us to believe that all beneficiaries are on drugs that they are not ready to work because they are on drugs. Tim Macindoe used an example; he cited the number of jobs that are available in New Zealand at the moment. I agree with Tim Macindoe—there are jobs out there. There are jobs out there but people cannot get them and here is why. First for every job that there is out there there are at least 10 if not 20 people applying for that job. 
Darien Fenton 
: More like 200. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Darien Fenton suggests it is more like 200. There is so much competition for jobs out there. But here is the other thing. This Government has cut back the training that people require to have the skills that they need to get into those jobs. This Government has slashed polytechnic funding. It has slashed tertiary education funding. That is why people are not able to get into those jobs—because this Government does not want them to have the skills to be able to— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Not true. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Maurice Williamson says it is true. He is saying it is true— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: I said “Not true.” 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Oh he says it is not true. Well you just have to look at the facts Mr Williamson. You just have to look at the facts. This Government has cut and slashed tertiary education. That is why people are not able to get— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member but his time—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! Order! When the member’s time is up—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! When the member’s time is up when I have called the member and said his time is up that is it. You do not carry on.