Woods Megan: Budget Debate 
Text is subject to correction 
Woods Megan: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 31 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2802. Text is subject to correction.] 
Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram) 
: 
 First they came for the paper boys and then they came for the old people in the rest homes— 
Maggie Barry 
: Change the record. 
Dr MEGAN WOODS 
: —and then they came for the woodwork teachers. This—[ 
Interruption 
] I have been asked by the members opposite to change the record. I would like to but that would have required the Government opposite to deliver a Budget that offered something. Instead what we had was a Budget that offered zero ideas zero hope and zero opportunity.  
We have heard this afternoon that this is a Budget of investment in New Zealand of opportunities for New Zealanders and a Budget of innovation. Well I do not think that when New Zealanders in 2008 fell for the line of a brighter future they thought the National Party meant the Sunshine Coast but that seems to be the opportunity for New Zealanders according to this National Government. Because ladies and gentlemen last week we had a Budget where young New Zealanders are paying the price for the Government’s deficit of ideas—and what a deficit of ideas it is. It is a Budget that has done nothing but tinker around the edges and in that tinkering it has done nothing to address the real issues for New Zealanders. There are no jobs there is nothing in there to increase our exports and there is nothing in there to raise incomes for New Zealanders.  
We have members opposite telling us what a wonderful track record they have in Government. But the reality is that this Government has the worst growth record in 50 years. This is not something to be proud of. There are more than 50000 people leaving for Australia and a 52 percent increase in unemployment with nearly 50000 more people on benefits. How can it herald this as a triumph? What is more there was absolutely nothing in the Budget that we heard for the 87000 young people who have been thrown on the scrap heap by this Government—the 87000 young people who are not in education employment or training.  
This Budget did do some tinkering around the edges but in doing that tinkering it has created some sharp edges for young people. It has increased their class sizes. It has jeopardised their right to a good education. It has taxed children. This is something that is just beyond belief—that this is what the National Government could come up with as an idea. When it looked and thought “What are we going to do to fix our economy?” it actually thought that cutting tax credits for children was the right thing to do and the way to fix the economy. The Government has issued disincentives for postgraduate study and it has lowered incomes for graduates in New Zealand. All these four measures amount to more of our young people getting on jet planes and leaving.  
This is a Budget and a Government that do not understand education and its importance to New Zealand. It is an anti-education Government and it is an anti-education Budget that was delivered. It does not understand the impact of what changing teacher ratios means. Well I think Hekia Parata has found out pretty quickly over the last few days that changing teacher ratios actually means fewer teachers in our high schools and fewer classes being delivered and—lo and behold—students parents and their teachers do not think that that is a good idea. We have a Government that does not understand education at the early childhood education level. We have a Government that does not understand its worth and the need to invest in it.  
But its understanding does not stop here. Over and over again we hear members opposite say—and we have heard it today we have heard the rhetoric from Paul Hutchison and we hear it from the Prime Minister and the “Minister of Everything” Steven Joyce all the time—that science and innovation are the major drivers of growth in international competition for New Zealand and that we must invest in these areas. However last week a Budget was delivered that undermines our very ability to do that at every level.  
Let us start with the staffing cuts for technology subjects for years 7 and 8 students. Previously National had seen the worth in teaching technology to young New Zealanders. In fact John Key in 2007 said that National was committed to working with industry and teachers to make it easier for schools to find pay and employ people to take their trades and technology classes. He went on to say that National was also committed to helping schools overcome the funding and bureaucratic barriers that prevent so many students from accessing trades- and industry-based education at school. Well we did not find this in Budget 2012 did we? No. Instead what we found were cuts in this area.  
We in Labour know that the food technologists the scientists the engineers the designers and the builders whom we need for this creative and innovative 21st century New Zealand get their start in the very classrooms that this Government is axing. This is where it begins. And it is not just we in Labour who know this; industry knows this as well. We have had the Industry Training Federation come out and remind the members opposite—remind the Government—that it is in years 7 and 8 that pupils start to think about their career and losing these technology classes could take away potential career options. Principals and teachers know this. We have heard that if we want to set our students up for careers in biotechnology engineering or research we need to set those foundations early on. We do not wait until year 10 or year 11 to start teaching kids literacy and numeracy.  
So why is it that we have a Government opposite that thinks we can have an economy that is based on science that is based on technology and that is based on innovation but we do not start teaching those very skills until kids get to high school? This is not a Government that understands the value of education. It is not a Government that really understands the role that innovation can play in our economy. A principal in my electorate has told me—well actually he has told every parent of the students—that these staffing reductions are unacceptable. They are denying students valuable skills knowledge and attitudes to develop them into competent and capable adults of the future.  
So here is a question for the members opposite. How does your policy of cutting funding at this level your slashing of funding for technology teachers either set our kids up for a brighter future or contribute to New Zealand having a 21st century economy that is based on science research and innovation? Well the answer is nothing.  
National is making sure that even if someone gets to university—after getting through an intermediate school where there was no technology and science taught—does a science degree and decides they might like to go on and do some postgraduate study it will kill their hope and aspiration there too by taking away student allowances for people going on to do postgraduate study. If we do not invest in this vital area of postgraduate study we will have no innovation and we will not have a chance of creating the higher-paying jobs that National talks about but does nothing to invest in. There is no use throwing $166 million into the development of an Advanced Technology Institute and smothering the human capital needed to grow this institute in the future. For our future to be reliant on technology and innovative manufacturing we need the technologists we need the engineers and we need the scientists. All we have seen from members opposite is policy that is going to destroy this human capital.  
Even if you manage to get through all that and you are a young person in New Zealand in the future—you have got through your cut technology classes you have gone on and you have paid for your postgraduate studies—your income is going to fall because you are going to be asked to pay back your student loan at a rate that outstrips that of other countries in the OECD.  
This is not a Budget that is investing in our education system. This is not a Budget that is investing in our young people. In fact it is a raid. It is about cutting hope and opportunity and it is driving more and more of our young people on to jet planes and it will continue to do so in the future. The young people are starting to fight back. They want more for the future. I would like members opposite to give them a choice that is a bit broader than Melbourne Sydney or Brisbane. Thank you.