4. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
Is she satisfied that her programmes are working for New Zealanders?
Hon SIMON POWER (Acting Minister of Social Development and Employment) Link to this
Yes. For example, approximately 70 percent of Community Max programme graduates who finished the programme have not gone back on to any benefit.
Why should New Zealanders believe the figure the Minister has just given us on the success of her make-work programme, because she has actually given three different answers to the number of people staying off benefits having been through the programme, each time reducing her so-called successes?
Katrina ShanksYes. I have seen a report in which a reporter visited a Northland Community Max project called Paikauri Reserve. The reporter turned up 8 months after the project had ended, and failed to mention that of the 24 participants in the project, as at today 13 remain off the benefit altogether.
Will she provide better information on the success or otherwise of her make-work schemes, which are costing taxpayers over $100 million, before Bill English commits any more funding, which is likely to be wasted on empty pumpkin patches, tracks to nowhere, and abandoned sewing classes?
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am sorry but I missed the first part of that question. I apologise to the member.
Mr SPEAKERI ask the honourable member if she would not mind please repeating her question, and I ask members to show a little courtesy so the question can be heard.
Will she provide better information on the success or otherwise of her make-work schemes, which are costing taxpayers over $100 million, before Bill English commits any more funding, which is likely to be wasted on empty pumpkin patches, tracks to nowhere, and abandoned sewing classes?
Better information will always come to hand and will be made available as all information is, under various avenues. I have to say that the list of initiatives that the member opposite lists did not include two gangs in Timaru who received money through a pilot employment scheme, and used the money to upgrade their headquarters, when she was Minister of Employment in 1989.
I apologise to the honourable member, but I am sure that the Minister will not be able to hear, again. I ask members on the National benches, please, to show some courtesy.
When will she listen to the growing chorus of advice, including from Treasury, telling her that the schemes are poor value for taxpayers’ money, are having no effect on youth unemployment, and are merely recycling people through expensive schemes that are abandoned after 6 months; is not quality just as important as quantity?
In fact, those schemes are designed to give people life skills—to get them out of bed in the morning, and to give them a commitment to a purpose during the day. It is a $13,000 investment over a 6-month period, which is a lot cheaper than funding someone to go on and off an unemployment benefit for the following 10 years. That is why this Government will continue to back the Community Max scheme.
Why is she refusing to answer questions on her make-work scheme, hanging up on reporters, and then heading to Washington again to learn about the quality of that city’s programmes, when it is quality and value for money here at home that she needs to concentrate on?
The member is right in the sense that the Minister for Social Development and Employment is currently at an international seminar that deals with intervention programmes, which, I am sure, will help inform the Government’s decision making in this area.
Jacinda ArdernDoes she agree with Work and Income’s description of Community Max that “It provides an opportunity for young people to build skills …”; if so, what skills did the job of sending text messages to defendants before court appearances, at a cost to the taxpayer of $18,000, provide young people in Hamilton?
Yes, I do agree with that advice. And I also happen to agree with the advice that the member expressed on 2 August 2009 that “Any initiative that creates opportunities for young people is to be welcomed,”.
Labour members of Parliament clearly see Community Max as having value, as I have just outlined. They have consistently argued for it to be expanded or continued. Nanaia Mahuta said: “the Community Max scheme that I visited in Thames demonstrated positive gain for the community and individuals involved,”. Chris Hipkins on 10 March 2010 said: “It would be good to find a way to keep similar programmes going. There’s a real gap there that needs to be filled.” And Maryan Street, who, I have to say, brings a slightly more intellectual approach to these things, said that it is “a step in the right direction”.
Why has she spent more than $300,000 on a garden that has left participants unemployed and produced just one pumpkin?
Hon Gerry BrownleeOrder! I say to Labour members on this occasion that one of their colleagues has asked a question, and I am sure that she wishes to hear the answer.
In fact, the programme the member refers to has not left everybody unemployed; it has taken a number of those participants off the benefit. I also add that unlike hip-hop tours going around the world for $26,000, on this occasion three visits occurred to the Northland social development services project. Those visits were monitored, and a very close eye was kept on the project.