te Heuheu Georgina: Budget Debate 
te Heuheu Georgina: Budget Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:4181] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (Minister for Courts) 
: 
 I am very pleased and very proud to take a call in the 2009 Budget debate. It is the first Budget debate for the National-led Government with many more to follow. This is the first Budget on the road to recovery and I am very pleased to be here this afternoon and to be following my colleagues like the Hon Anne Tolley who outlined all the things we are going to do in education. In referring to education I will pick up on what the previous speaker Steve Chadwick said when raising the issue of young Maori without skills. 
After 9 years of a Labour Government we have inherited the long tail of underachievement. Shame on the previous Labour Government for not addressing the long tail of underachievement. The previous Labour Government had ballooning surpluses and strong economic growth but what did it do? It squandered them. Yet that member has the cheek to talk about young Maori being under-skilled as if we were to blame for that. Well we are not to blame for young Maori being under-skilled. We will not take the blame for that but we will take the responsibility now for the long tail of underachievement that has been bequeathed to us by Labour. 
I am very pleased to take a call so let us go back to Budget 2009. Why am I pleased? There are two simple reasons. This Budget has been delivered in the most extraordinary circumstances—a global meltdown of a type not seen in over 60 years—but it is a great Budget. It is a thoughtful considered Budget the type of Budget one would expect from a National-led Government. I am very proud of the Hon Bill English for the work he has done to deliver a considered thoughtful Budget. 
The second reason I am pleased is that most New Zealanders support us. They know because they are feeling it that we are in hard times and the last thing that I think they would condemn us for is for having to make difficult choices. Yes we have had to make difficult choices. We have had to defer our long-wished-for tax cuts. We did that willingly though because it was the right thing to do. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Because the election’s over. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: The Opposition would have us deliver those tax cuts. But why? Members opposite keep criticising us for deferring the tax cuts. Does the Labour Party not know that circumstances have changed? 
The other thing we have done is resist the urge to borrow to pay for the Superannuation Fund. Labour would have us borrow to pay for it but when one thinks about it one realises that that is not what New Zealand families would do. In these circumstances they would not borrow money to pay for the kinds of things that Labour would have us fund. Members opposite are being very dishonest and very stupid in panning us for giving those things away for the time being only. 
This Budget safeguards entitlements that are very important for pensioners retired New Zealanders students and those families who are working. It also safeguards those other entitlements that people on low incomes or benefits are entitled to. Our Budget delivers extra public services but again we have addressed in a very considered and thoughtful way the main areas of education housing and health and of justice by delivering more police. We have also brought forward infrastructure spending for more roads broadband houses and schools. They are important parts of the economic framework and we need to get on with addressing those areas quickly. Our Minister for Infrastructure who is also the Minister of Finance is making sure that those programmes get under way quickly. 
We are a Government that knows that it is important to bring Government debt under control. As I say we had to make hard choices in order to do that but we do not shirk that decision because we know that New Zealanders by and large will support us in the approach we are taking. The Labour Opposition would have us continue to borrow to pay for things we cannot afford because that was its mode of operation for 9 years. That approach is just not realistic. It is not what ordinary New Zealand families would do and we will not do it either. 
I refer now to some good news in the area of courts for which I am responsible. In particular I refer to this Government’s bolstering of court security. I am very pleased to be the Minister for Courts and to say that after the previous Labour Government turned down requests for a boost in court security Budget 2009 will provide $9 million in operational funding and $800000 in capital funding to upgrade court security over the next 4 years. 
We are a Government that listens. We have listened to the concerns of judges and to the people who run the courts. The new funding will help improve safety for court users and staff while maintaining public confidence in the justice system. Scanning and searching people as they enter courts is the single most effective way to reduce the risk of security incidents. As Labour members opposite know those incidents increased over the 9 years Labour was in Government. In two recent Budgets the previous Labour Government did not listen. It did not worry about the issue. It was not concerned for the safety of court users judges or any of those who come in and out of the courts. We have listened. We will bring in 30 more court security officers who will be employed over the next 4 years bringing the total number of court security officers to around 83 by 2013. 
Additional security equipment will be purchased including walk-through metal detectors baggage scanners radios and closed-circuit television systems. Court security is an ongoing issue and we will keep an eye on it. I am very mindful that safe courts are part of a fully functioning justice system. Court users and particularly victims are entitled to know that if they will be in and out of the courts they will be safe. 
The other initiative I refer to because it is also good news is that the Budget increases the capacity of the Auckland criminal courts. It provides $53 million in operational funding and $6 million in capital funding to increase criminal court capacity in Auckland over the next 4 years. Members of the Labour Opposition will know that court waiting-times and workloads in Auckland have increased dramatically over the past few years. The increase in funding delivered by the Budget will help courts keep up with the increasing number of criminal cases which are forecast to rise by 7 percent annually. The Budget supports a wider programme of work that aims to improve court services in the Auckland region including additional registry resources; eight community magistrates for criminal courts which will free up District Court judges; and completion of a new complex for specialist courts and tribunals which will free up space and judges for criminal cases in the Auckland District Court. 
As I said I am very proud to be part of this debate. I am very proud to see those court initiatives come in through the Budget. I say quickly that I am also pleased about what the Budget delivers for Pacific and Maori people. There is a huge emphasis on literacy and numeracy. I talked earlier about the long tail of underachievement that was bequeathed to us. Minister Tolley has made huge strides in ensuring that there will be a big emphasis on lifting achievement levels for young Maori and young Pacific people. They are the workforce of tomorrow and they deserve better. They did not get that emphasis from the previous Labour Government but they will get it from a National Government. Why? Because they are the future of this country and we badly need them to be educated and skilled. Our boost in education funding which I am very proud to support and which Minister Tolley has worked very hard to achieve will ensure that the prospects of those young people will be vastly improved over the next term and the terms to follow. 
Sue Moroney 
: How old are they going to be when they can get superannuation? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: That member over there can keep on talking about whatever she is saying but her Government was scandalous in bequeathing to us that long tail of underachievement. We will address it. The last issue I refer to is Treaty settlements. We are making great strides in that area as well. Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker.