Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Income adequacy has been a core part of our overall welfare programme. The Stats New Zealand report released earlier this week showed that prior to COVID-19 we were making good progress in increasing incomes and reducing material hardship, including through the $5.5 billion investment in the Families Package, increases to the minimum wage, the removal of excessive benefit sanctions, lifting benefits by $25 per week and indexing them to the average wage, making the largest change to abatement levels in two decades, removing the hours test for the in-work tax credit, and ongoing investment in training and apprenticeship programmes. All of this shows the Government's real commitment to addressing income adequacy and ensuring people can live in dignity, but we do acknowledge there is always more to do.