GEORGINA BEYER (Labour-Wairarapa): It is a privilege to follow on from the Minister for Social Development and Employment as we consider this financial review of the Ministry of Social Development. I have to echo the disappointment from National Party member Judith Collins. In answer to the Minister’s question, I guess that perhaps the best idea that could be put forward to the National Party is to “bring back Katherine Rich.” At least, that woman had some vision—we might not have liked quite what the vision was, but she did have a policy to put out. But what happened? The policy was slapped into the corner, and she was packed off to the back bench for having vision in that party.

I take the point the Minister made previously—that we did not hear any policy from National Party members. What utterances we have heard in recent weeks have been calls to cut the domestic purposes benefit, to get rid of this and that, and generally to take us back to the era of the 1990s when, of course, there were terrible benefit cuts. Perhaps National Party members have forgotten what a social service is in this nation, and how many people have benefited from such a service and have therefore become great contributors to our country in helping, at least, to provide taxes through working.

We have the lowest unemployment rate in recent history at the moment. This Government has delivered on its promises. This Minister and his ministry have worked extraordinarily hard, not only over the last year that we are reviewing but certainly in the time since this Government came in during 1999.

The Working for Families package, which will be rolled out extremely shortly, will be fantastic news for New Zealanders. There are New Zealanders who will get somewhere in the region of up to $100 extra a week in their pay packets—in their hot little hands—to help build and strengthen families so they can continue to make their valuable contributions to this country. Those people will be beneficiaries. Those who are in need in this country will benefit from that particular policy package, which of course comes to light on 1 April. That will be very good news for New Zealand and for many hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders.

But we are not only introducing that; we have worked on strengthening families. That has been a tremendous help to many New Zealanders around the country. I have to mention that within my own electorate some of the strengthening family initiatives have gone on there, in order to combat our not-too-proud history of domestic violent crime, child abuse, etc., that has occurred in recent history in the Wairarapa. We have not heard many of those stories coming out of the Wairarapa in the last year or so. That is because community members, along with local government and certainly with a major contribution and effort from central government—namely, the Ministry of Social Development, Child, Youth and Family Services, and numerous other services—are working extraordinarily well together now, to try to get on top of those problems we experienced.

The problems are not only in our own area, of course, but also in other areas of the country. As we run out pilots in order to battle some of those issues, we are seeing ever-increasing, positive results around the country. We are trying to turn round those negative trends, but that relies on our supporting families, strengthening families, and providing expertise where the problems are.

There is a need for getting in together and working much more closely with non-government organisations—those that at times are often able to pick up the challenges facing communities and, with the assistance given by Government agencies, to roll out their particular plans and pilots for addressing specific needs. One size does not always fit all, around the country, in dealing with those particular matters. Generally, we are able to tailor services, advice, and actual help at the coalface to suit those communities and their particular vision of how they would like to develop. They have to have that buy-in, and we have to have them on board, in that sense.

This Government, with this Minister Maharey, with his Ministry of Social Development, and with all the other agencies attached to that, has done an extraordinary job.