12. JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
Does she stand by her statements on 12 August 2008, regarding the quality of speeches she receives from her department, “I don’t want to be too critical of people who draft my speeches, but I get a lot of speeches, in draft, that I never use.”, and “The quality of speechwriting in some places isn’t great.”?
Hon RUTH DYSON (Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this
Yes, with an emphasis on the word “too”.
How can she expect taxpayers to believe they are getting value for money when staff numbers at the Ministry of Social Development have grown so much that the expenditure on salaries increased from $236 million in 2002 to almost $540 million in 2007, but for all the extra staff and the generous salaries, the Minister does not actually use a lot of the material she gets from the department because it “isn’t great”?
The member, yet again, refuses to acknowledge that the Ministry of Social Policy in 1999 was then added to, with the amalgamation of the Department of Work and Income, which was a separate department, the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services, the establishment of the Office for Disability Issues, the establishment of the Office of the Community and Voluntary Sector, and the integration of the Ministry of Youth Development.
Is she aware that recruitment advertising costs at her department have increased from $338,000 in 2002 to $1.32 million in 2007; and why does she expect taxpayers to accept this blowout in expenditure on advertising for staff when she goes around saying the quality of the work “isn’t great”?
The quality of social work in New Zealand is great and it is about time that that member and her party started supporting the overwhelming majority of front-line staff within the ministry instead of attacking them.
Is she aware that communications, media, and public relations staff at the Ministry of Social Development have increased from 22 in 2002 to 61 today, and the policy unit has increased from 200 to now 369; if so, how can she justify such enormous increases in staff while at the same time saying she cannot rely on the department for quality speech material because the work “isn’t great”?
The Ministry of Social Development has 31.75 public relations and/or corporate communications staff—not the figure the member alluded to. In my view, it would be preferable for her to not focus on statements that I have not made, but on the public reaction to statements that she and her leader have made, such as the statement from John Key that women on a domestic purposes benefit are “breeding for a business”—that quote has been put in the public arena—or the statement from Judith Collins that “Beneficiaries sit around all day watching Sky TV, living off the taxpayer, letting their children run riot, and getting stoned.” That is what that member thinks of beneficiaries.
Does she now disagree with the lines her department wrote for her: “We must cater for diversity; we know it exists. By this I mean the range of relationships from single, couples, triples, blended, de facto, and so on.”; given that the speech was removed only after it was reported in the media, can she assure the House that she stands by her other speeches on the Beehive website, or is her position the same as last week when she said she did not have a clue?
The member misinterpreted my very clear statement at the start of her question by asking whether I “now” deny it. I have always denied it.
Madam SPEAKERI seek leave to table Ruth Dyson’s speech to Victoria University’s first-year social and public policy students, dated 6 May 2008—
I seek leave to table “Big Love: Is this Labour’s hidden agenda?”, from the Listener on 22 August 2008.
I seek leave to table the State Services Commission’s Human Resource Capability Survey of June 2007, showing that staff at the Ministry of Social Development increased from 5,106 to—
I seek leave to table the Ministry of Social Development’s financial reviews and estimates, showing that the public relations, communications, and media staff are—
I seek leave to table “Welfare State is in many more hands”, an article in the Independent Financial Review—
I seek leave to table “Government pay spinning out of control”, from the Independent Financial Review—