4. Question No. 4—Social Development and EmploymentRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister for Social Development and EmploymentQuestion No. 4—Social Development and Employment4. RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: What new steps if any will she take to end hardship in Aotearoa?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): This Government is committed to addressing poverty and hardship in Aotearoa. We are the first Government to measure child poverty and hold ourselves accountable to addressing it. In our first hundred days last term we invested $5.5 billion into our Families Package to boost the income of low and middle income families. We've since lifted main benefits and indexed them to wages raised abatement thresholds and invested significantly into supporting people into work. We know we have much more to do. We have a programme of work which we are conducting on the back of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's report. New steps will come out of this work as outlined in our Cabinet paper and any announcements will be made in due course. Ricardo Menéndez March: Is she comfortable with the goal of the Social Security Act to alleviate" hardship or should we be aiming to eliminate hardship?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I think that all of us in this House would like to see the elimination of poverty and hardship in Aotearoa New Zealand but what we also understand is that we need to take steps towards addressing it and be focused on reducing it if we're going to make the progress and the traction that we all want to make. There's no way of just clicking our fingers and getting to the point where poverty and hardship are eliminated in this country. This Government is committed to making progress and has already taken serious steps and will continue to do so.Ricardo Menéndez March: Does the Government believe then that the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's recommendations to ensure everyone can live with dignity can be implemented by amending the current Social Security Act or will the whole Act need rewriting?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: The Welfare Expert Advisory Group was very clear about wanting to change the principles of the Social Security Act and that is one of the recommendations that we keep in mind. But if we are to change the principles to the Social Security Act then we do need to make sure that the whole Social Security Act aligns with those principles. Until we make some of the other fundamental changes that have been recommended by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group we are not at that point.Ricardo Menéndez March: Is she concerned that the increasing number of hardship assistance grants in the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) quarterly report shows that whānau and children don't have enough food in Aotearoa?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We have already recognised that income adequacy in the welfare system is something that we need to address. It is in the Labour Party manifesto and we're taking steps towards addressing it. We also recognise the fact that food security in New Zealand is an issue which is why we invested last year I think $32 million towards our food distribution network. There is food in abundance in this country but it isn't necessarily getting to where it needs to go to so it is about making sure that whānau and communities are fed whilst at the same time doing something to address the large amount of food that goes into our landfills and is wasted.Ricardo Menéndez March: Would increasing benefits reduce the need to deliver so many food grants; if not why not?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: As I said we are committed to continuing to address income adequacy in the welfare system. I will say that part of the reason why food grants have gone up—acknowledging that there are families experiencing hardship and that's the first and foremost reason. But secondly is because we have changed the culture of the Ministry of Social Development. We have been focused on making sure that our Work and Income offices our MSD staff give New Zealanders the support that they are entitled to when they go into those offices for help. Ricardo Menéndez March: What is the Government's time frame in months and years to take action on the medium to long term recommendations in the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's report?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: When we talk about medium to long term generally we're talking about a three- to five-year programme of work but we also recognise that change and improvements to the welfare system will need to continue to be ongoing. We're not going to get to the end of a work programme and look at our welfare system and think it's perfect. Any Government that's in place will need to continue to improve the way in which we support some of New Zealand's most vulnerable people."