First reading. Parliament. 19 August 2009. Tēnā koutou katoa. I am so glad to get the chance to speak in support of this particular members bill, the Social Security (Benefit Review and Appeal Reform) Amendment Bill. It is very interesting to note how often this member gets her bills drawn from the biscuit tin. I am sure there is some statistical reason relating to how many bills she has written, but I like to think that the gods favour the people who fight for the poor. I think that if Jesus and Buddha were hanging around in the Clerks Office, they would approve the magical good luck of Sue Bradford in having her bills in defence of children and the poor selected from the ballot. They would not get very excited about some of the bills, especially not bills about building jails, Tasers, privatisation, and trashing the environment. But being spiritual visionaries they would be very keen on this bill, because it supports the people reviled by the media and the shallow, unimaginative policies of decision-makers—people who cannot visualise themselves waiting in a line at Work and Income for their moment of humiliation, after hitchhiking from a village 2 hours away with two small kids and a power bill they cannot hope to pay, only to be told they do not have the right to their entitlement but they can fill in a form for a review by the system that has just rejected them. It works well, but for whom? Sue Bradfords bill makes this process of benefit-review panels appear with ...
Tags: Catherine Delahunty, MP, Green Party, Parliament, Social Welfare, WINZ, Appeal, Benefit, Paula Bennett, Social Development, national, John Key
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