3. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
Does she stand by her statement in regard to hardship assistance that “… I think it proves that the help is there when people need it,”; if so, why?
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this
Yes; because hardship assistance payments were given to 51,000 people for the month of March 2008, but 91,000 were given out for the month of March 2011.
Why did she tell the meeting of 48 budget advisers on Friday that it was her staff’s fault for misinterpreting her instruction and not understanding her intent with regard to changes to hardship grants that have led to even more hardship for some people, and what will her new directive to staff be?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
That is not what I said to the budgeting services on Friday. I said to them that there is a leadership issue—that it should start here, and then go through managers to front-line staff, who simply interpret what information comes to them. We said there should be budgeting activity. That was interpreted as meaning that everyone had to go to a budgeting service. We can look at changing that instruction so that we do not have quite the same number going through to budgeting services.
When she said on Television One on Friday night that there would be extra funding for budget advisers from unspent funds from this year’s Budget, what increased figure did she have in mind to give them?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
As I explained on Friday to those services, we are still working through that process. Family and community services are looking at how we can fill some of that gap, because we certainly recognise that they have had an increase and have had trouble filling it. We are looking backwards a bit to make sure we fill the gap for them.
Why did it take 2 months for desperate budget advisers to get a confirmed meeting with her to discuss the explosion in the number of people being sent for budget advice, and why was the appointment confirmed only the morning after their spokesperson appeared on television?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
That is not true. The meeting has been my diary for more than 3 weeks. To be fair, the request came through in mid-February, and we then had a wee thing called the earthquake, which meant that the next 3 weeks were taken up with trying to deliver aid—which is what a Minister does and what one would expect. So when the budget advisers made the suggestion of the date, Friday, I confirmed it—and it was actually weeks ago.
What did the Prime Minister tell her about the difficulties that low-income New Zealanders are facing and the pressure that budget advisers are under in light of his statement last week that he regularly goes out to see social services, which leads one to assume that he knows what is happening to the so-called underclass in New Zealand?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
In all fairness, the comments the Prime Minister makes to me about social services and what they are delivering are so many that I do not have time to stand here and relate them to the Opposition. He follows what is happening in the different regions and with the different organisations all the time. He is rather forward in giving me his opinion on them.
Will she now admit that she had no idea of the level of hardship that some New Zealand families are facing and the pressure and problems that community services have been trying to deal with, and does she think that turning up in a BMW—with or without a heated seat—removes her from the real world they are living in?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
I will not play politics with people’s lives like that. I will say that—[ Interruption] It is about time you got riled up about something. What is happening as far as hardship assistance is concerned is that in March 2008, under the Labour Government, 51,000 payments were given out, at a cost of $12 million, and in March 2011 the National Government gave out 91,000 payments, at a cost of about $20 million.
Mr SPEAKER