Dunne Peter: Budget Statement —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDunne Peter: Budget Statement —[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3531. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future): Can I begin by congratulating my colleague to my right Te Ururoa Flavell on his impassioned address and on the contribution he makes to this Government. I must say also in respect of David Seymour to my left that the three support partners work remarkably closely together. We do not always agree on issues but we take a common approach on a number of things and I find it a real pleasure working alongside these colleagues to achieve real gains for the people of New Zealand. And that is what this Budget is all about.One of the reasons why the Budget is able to do the things it has been able to do is not part of the Budget at all. There was a reference in the speech from the Minister of Finance to the Prime Minister’s 10 key result areas. They are a vital part of shaping the direction and the delivery of government and its services to the people because for the first time—this may sound strange to people—the Government actually has clear measures of the impact of its policies. It sets objectives about what it wants to achieve in the justice sector or the education sector or the health sector and then it is able to measure its expenditure and its policies against achievement in those areas. As a consequence of that it is able to move out of areas where it is not making progress and into areas where greater gains can be achieved.One of the reasons why in this Budget for the first time since Sir John Marshall was Prime Minister there has been a lift in basic benefit levels is the much more strategic approach and focus that the Government has been taking to the whole area of its expenditure. It used to be the situation—I suspect we have heard it from some of the parties that have spoken earlier in this debate—where government was all about dishing out the largesse and all about leading the charge and spending the money. In this environment where this country is much more diverse and pluralistic government is about working alongside communities working alongside groups in communities to achieve specific outcomes. Those outcomes may not always be achieved by direct intervention by the Government but are part of outcomes achieved because of an overall sense of leadership.That is where those 10 key result areas are so important. They give the Government the flexibility and the drive to be able to pursue objectives that were not thought possible some time ago. It used to be the mantra at every election since 1990 about restoring basic benefit levels. We have had a National Government since then we have had a Labour Government and now another National-led Government. And only now nearly a quarter of a century later has it been possible to restore levels not to where they were in 1990 but beyond that and to make the first significant change in over 40 years. That is because the Government for the first time really has a clear understanding of the impact of its policies.Some 20-odd years ago this Parliament passed a fiscal responsibility Act which set the stage for the Government better monitoring its accounts and it is no coincidence that fiscal performance has improved markedly since that time. In coalition with National in the mid-1990s United Future proposed the complementary idea of a social responsibility Act so that we could measure the impact of the Government’s social policies and make changes accordingly. That proved far too difficult for officials to comprehend. I think the result areas are the next best thing to achieve that objective. So alongside fiscal responsibility we now have the Government much better able to measure and move in the areas of social responsibility as well. That is why you see the package in today’s Budget. That is why you see the ongoing improvements in health and education at a time when Government finances are genuinely constrained and are likely to be for some time in the future.It is almost a paradox that at a time when revenue is falling when the Minister of Finance can give this House a warning that because of international conditions the revenue track may not be as strong in the foreseeable future the Government on the other hand is able to make such significant social progress and still face the prospect of a surplus this year burgeoning to a greater number in the years ahead. That is not beyond possibility. It is certainly the sort of thing people would not have dreamt was possible just a few short years ago. That is how the transformation has occurred and that is the backdrop that makes this Budget I think such an important stepping stone for New Zealand.I am delighted that as part of the Budget one of the smaller but significant infrastructural issues facing this country has been addressed and that is the decision to rebuild the wharf at Waitangi on the Chatham Islands. The 600 Chatham Islanders identify as New Zealanders they are New Zealanders but they struggle sometimes to get their voices heard. The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and I have done a bit of work over the last year to get this wharf to the point where it can be renewed. It is a small step but for them it is a mighty one and will do a lot towards securing their future.In the time that is remaining to me I want to address one issue that was mentioned in the Budget but is still unresolved and that is the question of the Resource Management Act. I think this is a case of missed opportunity. For too long this Government in my view has tried to achieve its cake and eat it too in terms of the changes it wants. It is not going to get support to change the principles of the Resource Management Act.Denis O’Rourke: Hear hear!Hon PETER DUNNE: But there is a significant mood right around the House I think for addressing a number of the process issues and I say to the House that I suspect that there is sufficient momentum here that were the Government to come forward now and say that in the context of Auckland or whatever it wants to do we are going to focus on those changes we could make substantial and real progress very quickly. But that point needs to be understood. It was September 2013 that the Government first announced its intentions in this regard. We are now nearly 2 years down the track and substantially no further ahead.There is a way forward and I am pleased to have the intervention from the member on the right of me metaphorically speaking that confirms the level of support for changing the Act in that way because many of the complaints that New Zealanders have about the Resource Management Act are about its implications and about how it applies to them. They are not actually about changing the principles. In fact everywhere I go that is the one thing people say we cannot do we must not touch. So I say to the Government that given the commitment in terms of the broad infrastructure package around housing alluded to in the Budget it is time to forget those notions. It is time to actually start working on the changes that will improve and speed up the process under which the Act operates and get a majority in this House which I think would be substantial for driving those through to implementation.What the Budget says at its heart is that the Government is getting its house in order in so many different areas. The Government is now looking to provide opportunities and challenges for New Zealanders whether they be struggling families whether they be families of school-aged children or whether they be families in other situations. As a consequence of that challenge it behoves us to make sure that for its part the Government is there to help. It used to be sort of a throwaway slogan: “I’m from the Government; I’m here to help.” I think it actually has some substance as a point these days because the Government is not holding to the vain belief that it can do everything. It is really taking the view about its strategic role in a society and how that can best deliver assistance. So if I come back to my Resource Management Act example that is a strategic approach it can take that will benefit people and that will achieve a large part of the objective that it has set for itself.I want to acknowledge the work of the Minister of Finance. I think he is someone who has quite a deep vision about where he wants this country to head. It is not just a numbers game for him. He has a heart and a real sense of social commitment and I think that comes through in many of the things that are part of this Budget and many of the assumptions that underlie it. Who would have thought that we would be standing in this House today seeing a National-led Government increase benefit rates? Who would have thought a little while ago that we would see in previous Budgets a National-led Government increasing health and education expenditure? The paradigm has shifted because this Government under the leadership of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance understands that the nature and role of government in a modern society has also shifted. It is not the scorched earth free-market economics of the Thatcherite era nor is it Big Brother socialism which we used to see in the 1970s and 1960s and earlier; it is a new environment. This Government is smart enough to have adjusted to that. It has put out the challenges to New Zealanders and the Budget today I think reflects a sense of real opportunity for people to advance and make progress. I am very pleased to support it.