Estimates Debate — Vote Community and Voluntary Sector (continued)

When we concluded the earlier part of this debate I had followed Judy Turner, the United Future member, who had followed Paula Bennett, who once again told the Committee a completely different story about the National Party’s policy on social services affecting the community and voluntary sector. This is the only consistent thing that we can expect from National members—that they say one thing to one audience and another thing to a different audience. National members will say whatever they think the audience they are speaking to wants to hear. It does not matter whether it is about Kiwibank and whether it will be kept, as they say to one audience, or sold, as they say to another. It does not matter whether it is about Working for Families, about which we have now had two entirely different stories from John Key and two entirely different stories from Bill English, peppered with an apology from Bill English. It was not an apology for gross offence and insult to his leader, nor an apology to the public of New Zealand for threatening to take away the money in their pockets that they deserve, but an apology for being recorded and using words that he had not chosen carefully.

This is another demonstration of one set of words for one audience and another for another audience. It is the same with accident compensation. National members have tried to tell the public of New Zealand that their policy on accident compensation is now full and open and is not about privatising; it is about competition. We know that it is about privatising, in the same way as their industrial relations policy is. The community and voluntary sector policy that Paula Bennett talked about last week is not a commitment to Labour’s Pathways to Partnership funding, where we have committed ourselves to fully fund essential social services over the next 4 years. We have put on public record the 850 community organisations that provide those essential social services and that will benefit from that funding.

Paula Bennett’s commitment is not to support Pathways to Partnership. It was put on the public record by her leader, John Key, that National would encourage community organisations to put in a bid in a competitive tendering round at a fully funded rate. We know what that means. It means that that organisation would not win the contract because its bid in the competitive tendering round would be too high. That is not a commitment to Pathways to Partnership from National. It is not a commitment to the community and voluntary sector. It is not a commitment to building the capacity and recognising the support that our community and voluntary sector needs.

I know that the public of New Zealand will see through the different speeches that are given to different audiences. Mr Key, Mr English, and Paula Bennett need to understand that New Zealand is a small country. We are a country that communicates, listens to what is said, and understands the implications of the policy. The community and voluntary sector deserves better.

Vote agreed to.

Vote Employment agreed to.

Vote Senior Citizens agreed to.

Vote Social Development