2. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does he stand by his statement “this Government is not prepared to turn its back on our most vulnerable citizens when they most need our help”?
Hon BILL ENGLISHDoes he receive information from his Ministers on the impact his Government’s policies are having on the most vulnerable New Zealanders? For example, has the Minister for ACC told him that the changes to the travel policy for accident compensation carers is denying a 91-year-old woman 1 hour a day of home support that is desperately needed, because the person providing the care would end up receiving $7 an hour as payment and cannot afford to take the job?
Yes, the Prime Minister does regularly receive advice from Ministers about the impact of Government policies, and there has been consistent advice that the Government’s decisions to retain all transfer payments, such as Working for Families and national superannuation, and, in fact, to increase both of them in the Budget, are having a positive impact on the most vulnerable citizens. In terms of individual cases, the Prime Minister expects Ministers to look into those in detail, sometimes with the help of the Opposition, to make sure that New Zealanders are getting a fair go.
Has he been told about the growing concern being expressed by the Disabled Persons Assembly at his Government’s policies as they impact on disabled people, leading the organisation to say this week that the overall picture for disabled people’s welfare looks disturbing, and that the Government’s changes in the health area are likely to have negative implications for disabled people?
Again, the Prime Minister has the benefit of Ministers who keep him informed and are very much attuned to front-line services. The member will be aware that the Government has committed to reducing the large, sprawling back-office bureaucracy built up under Labour and to moving those resources to front-line services.
Did the Minister of Finance discuss with him the decision to freeze funding set aside to establish safe drinking-water in small, vulnerable New Zealand communities; if so, was this unfortunate decision made by his Minister the reason New Zealand did not support the non-binding UN resolution seeking that clean drinking-water be a basic human right?
The New Zealand Government makes decisions about water quality in New Zealand—not the United Nations. In fact, that fund would have been frozen along with just about all other items of Government expenditure except for the vital services of health and education. As a representative of probably more of those small rural communities than anyone else in the House, I have to say that many of them have found the Government’s regulation onerous and expensive.
Te Ururoa Flavell Link to this
Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. He aha tāna whakautu ki te wero o te ripoata What Works Counts nō te rōpū Child Poverty Action Group e kōrero ana, nā te tirohanga whāiti o te Kāwanatanga ki te pūmahi o ngā mātua, kua mahue atu ngā tamariki ki te taha; ā, ka aha ia ki te whakaruruhau i ngā tamariki o ngā whānau e kainga ana e te pūtea mimiti?
[What is his response to the challenge from a publication by the Child Poverty Action Group, What Works Counts, which suggests that the Government’s single-minded focus on parents’ work status sidelines the needs of children; and what mechanisms are being put in place to protect the needs of the children in families who are vulnerable to falling income?]
We do not agree with the Child Poverty Action Group that the Government is single-mindedly focused on parents in work—
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I know that it is unusual to challenge the translation, but some of us try to follow both languages, and in some cases it does become clear when a clause of the member’s question was not interpreted.
Mr SPEAKERThe member used both words there; it is an interpretation that members are receiving. Obviously, the interpreter felt that he had interpreted the question that was being asked.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. It may be that you could rule that a whole clause of what the member said was irrelevant, but I do not think it is right for the interpreter to do that. He finished before Mr Flavell did.
Certainly, his voice finished before Te Ururoa Flavell’s did, but I cannot determine whether he had completed his interpretation of the question being asked, and it is very difficult for me to rule on that. I can only assure members that our interpreters do their very best to deliver the question. I think the Minister heard sufficient of the question to be able to answer it, and I invite the Minister to continue to answer it.
The Government does not agree with the Child Poverty Action Group that it has a single-minded focus on parents in work. I think the coalition is referring to an evaluation of Working for Families that attempts to assess whether the Working for Families system has some benefit for families. The Government has set up the Welfare Working Group precisely to address the issues of longer-term dependency—that is, those people who have been shut out of the workforce for many years now. I am advised that, as background to that work, over 80,000 New Zealanders are now classified as being long-term beneficiaries. We cannot afford to waste that much capacity in this economy, or to condemn those people to the less than full lives that they can live on a benefit for years, year after year.
In light of that answer, is it the Government’s intention to increase payments for the children of beneficiaries, many of whom are living below the poverty line?
Well, in the first place the Government has done that; the last Budget increased those payments by indexing them. Secondly, that question is a bit rich coming from a member of a Government that was in office for 9 years and had the biggest surpluses that New Zealand Governments have ever had. Why did it not do it?
David GarrettDoes he agree that prison is no place for a 69-year-old man suffering from Parkinson’s disease and probable dementia, and what steps is he taking to ensure that such people can be remanded to a more suitable place?
I understand that the Minister of Health has been briefed on this case. Information related to it cannot be released because of privacy considerations, but the public can be reassured that the Ministry of Health is acting appropriately and has ample resources to respond to this case.
Brendon BurnsDid the Government refuse today to support the UN resolution on safe water because at present about one in six vulnerable New Zealanders does not drink water that is known to be safe, or because a Government bill proposes to privatise ratepayer-owned water supplies for up to 35 years?
The Government has to focus on the significant deterioration in water quality that occurred under the previous Government. Many of our rivers can no longer be swum in and the water is not potable, after 9 years of a Government that was meant to be focused on sustainability and the environment. We take that responsibility very seriously. It needs more direct action than some UN resolution.
Te Ururoa Flavell Link to this
Hei tā te United Nations special rapporteur aProfessor Anaya , i kōrero nei, kei te pā atu ngā raru ōhanga, raru hapori hoki ki te iwi Māori, ka aha te Kāwanatanga ki te whakatika i tēnei āhuatanga?
[The United Nations special rapporteur, Professor Anaya, identified that the Māori people suffered extreme disadvantage in social and economic conditions; how will the Government rectify this situation?]
The Government is working closely with the members of the Māori Party and a number of other leaders in the Māori community to make progress in this respect. The measures that the Government is focusing on currently are, firstly, getting on with Treaty settlements, and that has become a very positive and progressive process; and, secondly, the introduction of Whānau Ora, which gives us the opportunity to get much closer to the people and the problems that are holding so many Māori families back. I must say again that that has generated significant positive momentum in the Māori community, who are finding out that they now have a Government that respects their desire to take some control over their own destiny.