Kaye Nikki: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Kaye Nikki: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 12 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7712. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon NIKKI KAYE (Minister of Youth Affairs) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak in response to the Prime Minister’s statement. I want to start off by saying that today I want to speak as an Associate Minister of Education and as the Minister of Youth Affairs because I want to speak about young people in New Zealand and the policies that will make an actual difference to their lives. What we heard from the deputy leader of the Labour Party was a lot of slogans. He talked about hope and vision. But at the end of the day when you look at the Prime Minister’s statement you see that there is a plan for our country that means that young New Zealanders do have a future. 
That plan involves getting back to surplus. It involves ensuring that we have welfare reforms so that young people do not grow up in disadvantaged households with very low incomes. It involves ensuring we have the right policies in terms of business to ensure we can actually create jobs. And when we look at what the Labour Party says in these areas we know that its members oppose everything. They oppose welfare reform. They oppose many small business policies—everything from the 90-day trial period to Resource Management Act reform. The Labour Party opposes everything that helps the 500000 small businesses in this country actually employ more young people. 
I am confident that when New Zealanders actually step aside and read the Prime Minister’s statement they will see the very strong contrast between a party across the House that talks in slogans and this Government which has real policies in areas like labour reform Resource Management Act reform small business policy welfare reform and housing—reforms that are actual and that will do something for the young people of this country. 
I really want to start now and address the area of education because we know that if we want to give some of our most disadvantaged young New Zealanders the best start in life then we have to improve some things. Our Government has a very strong policy in education. It involves accountability it involves raising standards but it also involves helping some of our most disadvantaged learners and I want to talk about that. 
I have recently been given responsibility in the area of digital literacy. We know that as a Government we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars connecting schools to ultra-fast broadband. I want to take a moment in this House to talk about a very personal situation at a place that I recently visited with the Prime Minister. We went to Great Barrier Island a small isolated community a community of 800 people. There are children there who have never had the opportunities in education and this Government has invested in that community to ensure that those children will have the same opportunities as children in Auckland. 
That is part of our vision for our education system—wherever you are in New Zealand whatever community you grow up in you have the opportunities to have the best resources available. Ultra-fast broadband delivers that we have put several hundred million dollars into that and we are very proud of that as a Government. 
The other point I want to make is that when we look at education policy the fact is that our record is clear. We are spending $9.6 billion—that is successive Government increases in terms of education—and we actually spend more than any other country in the OECD. So our message is very clear when it comes to education: this National Government under the most difficult financial conditions in a generation—the global financial crisis and a massive fiscal impact in terms of Canterbury—is spending the most in the OECD and that is something that we are very proud of as a Government. 
The other thing we are very focused on is that if we want to have quality of life for all New Zealanders we actually have to do better in terms of the one in five students who need help in terms of numeracy and literacy. We have obviously implemented national standards but we have also put more money into programmes to assist that. We are also focused on accountability and that is why we have very clear targets. We have got targets that are ambitious: 85 percent of 18-year-olds will achieve National Certificate in Educational Achievement level 2 or an equivalent qualification in 2016. 
What does this actually mean? It means that it is not good enough that there are young people coming through my electorate office and the offices of many of the other MPs around this House who have left school not being able to read or write. We are saying that actually that is not good enough. I want to make this point. One of the opportunities I have had was to visit many schools in this country. We have some amazing teachers. 
We know there is a complex range of factors that we need to focus on in order to bring about change. Some of that is about having accountability like targets and some of that is about having rich data and parents being able to know where to help their children and that is what national standards are about. But it is also about being very clear about expectations and it is about ensuring that we have the best world-class infrastructure to ensure that students wherever they grow up whether it is Great Barrier Island or Palmerston North have access to resources. 
We know as the Education and Science Committee demonstrated—and that was cross-party among MPs—that there are many areas of change that need to happen over our education system. One of the key things in the select committee’s report was that our education system is rapidly changing as a result of technology. That means that rather than sitting in a geographical location there are so many opportunities for teachers to potentially reach students online in other parts of New Zealand. 
Our Government has demonstrated—whether it is through our investment in ultra-fast broadband whether it is through the fact that we will eventually respond to the select committee report or whether it is through Network for Learning which is a major vehicle for the Government to deliver in this area—that we are actually prepared to put in not only the money but the policies to ensure that we have some of the most digitally literate children in the world. 
That is something that we are proud of and that is real vision. That is vision with policies. But when it comes to the Labour Party all we hear is negativity slogans and opposition to policies. The point that I would make to New Zealanders is that they should read the Prime Minister’s statement and see the detail in terms of policies. They should look at what we are actually doing whether it is in the economy where we have actual policies about getting back to surplus whether it is through small-business policies where we have implemented the 90-day trial period and we have got a good record on Resource Management Act reform or whether it is through our education system. 
When you look at what we are doing in terms of investment in infrastructure when you look at what we are doing around Network for Learning and when you look at the fact that we have invested significantly in Youth Guarantee—this is another area for young New Zealanders. We are focused on delivering those programmes for 16 and 17-year-olds who may otherwise drop out of school. As I have already mentioned we have implemented national standards. But also we are interested in ensuring that as has already been mentioned we boost apprenticeships. We know that although some young people may want to be doctors and lawyers other young people have many opportunities in the building and construction sector—which brings me on to Canterbury. 
I have had the opportunity over the last couple of months to be down in Canterbury and see that we still have a long way to go. But what I am proud of is that in the most difficult fiscal conditions of a generation our Government has put billions into rebuilding Canterbury. There is one area that we have put a significant amount of money into and that is $1 billion in terms of rebuilding and renewing our education system there. That is incredibly significant. It is difficult and it is challenging because we have some very damaged schools and we have families that are still recovering from the earthquakes. But again I make the point that we have found that money and we are working very hard on the ground to rebuild that city and that is something that we are all proud of. 
The final point I would like—as the Minister of Youth Affairs—is that there are many people in this House who will stand up and speak about issues that matter to young people. As I have mentioned before I think we have got some very strong policies and we have invested. But as the Minister of Youth Affairs I think it is really important that we ask young people for their views whether that be in designing more modern education policies or whether that be about service and how we can increase the amount that young people give back to the community because that helps create leadership. I am looking forward to the fact that I will be visiting a number of programmes in my capacity as Minister of Youth Affairs because I think there are some great community organisations across New Zealand and there are some great young people who are contributing to this country. 
Too often we hear in the paper the negative stories about young people but whether it is Sam Johnson and the work that he did with the student volunteers in terms of rebuilding Canterbury there are some amazing young people in New Zealand and we are investing in a number of programmes to help support that. I look forward to hosting the Youth Parliament which happens every parliamentary term—I was pleased to make the announcement yesterday. But also I think there are a number of areas such as the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project and the Youth Crime Action Plan where we can do more. I am very proud of this Government’s policies in terms of young New Zealanders.