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As you are probably aware my time as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars has finished and I want to thank everyone who voted for Michael and me.
The Neonatal Trust is a great charity and money raised will go towards ensuring the most precious of our community are given every chance at life.
Also to benefit were three charities of my own choosing, including Violence Free Wairarapa. This is through the fee I was offered to take part in the show. I have to admit that doing the show was partly motivated by the opportunity to raise a largish amount of money for these charities. Rest assured I will let you know how much when the final figures come through.
It is so rewarding to be able to do this so my thanks again for all the support I have received while I was doing the show. Be sure to watch the final on June 19, when Michael and I will again be taking to the dance floor.
Around 200,000 families are already receiving extra help as a result of the 1 April Working for Families increases in family income assistance.
Initial uptake figures made public last week show 196,230 families with an estimated 385,000 children received family income assistance from either Inland Revenue or the Ministry of Social Development in April.
The figure is set to exceed 260,000 by April next year, before the In-Work payment takes effect, and reach 300,000 by the time the roll-out is complete in 2007.
These results are clear evidence that the Working for Families package is already making a difference for New Zealand families. Working for Families is providing real increases to the weekly incomes of families with children. The average Inland Revenue family assistance payment was $113 per week - a 33 percent or $28 increase on April last year.
Since family support rates increased on 1 April, the uptake of Working for Families assistance has been tracking slightly above initial forecasts across all of the elements of the programme, including Family Assistance, Accommodation Supplement, and Childcare Assistance.
Other highlights from April 2005 include:
- $36.6 million of family income assistance paid by Inland Revenue in April 2005 compared to $22.7 million in April 2004, an increase of 61 percent
- 13,950 more working families received a family assistance payment from Inland Revenue in April 2005 than in April 2004, a 21 percent increase - this shows that more people are opting for payments weekly or fortnightly, rather than waiting until the end of the tax year to receive them as a lump sum.
- 3581 more people received Accommodation Supplement than in April last year
- On average during the month, parents received childcare assistance for 30,818 children, 8412 more than in April last year
- $8.2 million in Childcare Assistance paid by the Ministry of Social Development in April 2005, an increase of 57 percent on the $5.2 million in April 2004
As a matter of interest, tax cuts which delivered the same increase as Working for Families is currently providing would cost $4-5 billion a year - around half the total amount spent on health each year. This is without the further increases under Working for Families in October this year, April next year and April 2007.
Information from the OECD could not be clearer. Any extra monetary incentive beyond that already planned would need to be offset by higher interest rates to bring the economy back on to a sustainable growth path.
This reinforces Finance Minister Michael Cullen's repeated warnings that tax cuts will mean higher mortgage and interest rate costs and none of us wants that - me included!
Trials of a new work-focused service for all beneficiaries will begin in 12 areas across the country, including Masterton, next month as part of the Government's reform of the welfare system.
The new service - which extends employment services to all beneficiaries, regardless of benefit type - will underpin the single core benefit to be introduced in 2007.
The service will focus on work outcomes for all beneficiaries, not just the 20 percent on an unemployment benefit. Sole parents and people with disabilities or illness will have access to a full range of specialised employment services, including work seminars, job matching and training.
Rather than categorising people on the basis of why they are unable to work, the service will focus on what support people need to help them move into work, regardless of their benefit type.
We can no longer assume that people with disabilities and illnesses don't want to work or are unable to. Many are eager to join the workforce but often face barriers such as high costs. Reforms of the welfare system are geared towards removing those barriers and supporting people to move into the workforce.
But Work and Income will continue to provide financial security to people with severe illnesses or disabilities who clearly are unable to work.
It is great to see the expansion of the Social Workers in Schools programme to two schools in Dannevirke. This programme has made a real difference so far so I am really pleased to see it extended in the northern part of the electorate.
Finally my staff and I want to extend our support to Carterton policeman Pete Cunningham and his family.
Police are highly valued for the outstanding service they give to our community, notwithstanding recent controversies, and I was appalled to hear of the attack on such a community-minded officer. In small towns around New Zealand everyone is affected when a leading member of our community and their family are threatened in this way.
We must band together and help police investigating this crime to apprehend the offender.
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