General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGeneral Debate[Sitting date: 03 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4260. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]General DebateHon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. The Budget debate began with the best speech I think I have heard our Prime Minister make. It was a fantastic speech and it set the scene for what was an amazing Budget debate by the members on this side of the House. It concluded yesterday with an outstanding speech from the Minister of Finance laying out quite clearly I think for anyone listening the difference between this side of the House—the Government benches—and what is that rabble on the other side of the House. The reality was as both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance said that Labour had nothing to say. Labour members sat in the House yesterday with their heads down as they have sat through the Budget debate because they had nothing to say.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Tells us about the surplus.Hon ANNE TOLLEY: The member over there who was so outdone by Maggie Barry today—I mean he really was outdone by Maggie Barry today—says I should talk about the surplus. In fact this Government showed that it was more interested in supporting vulnerable New Zealanders than it was in reaching surplus because we probably could have done it if we had done what the party over on the other side of the House is talking about which is cutting services. We probably could have done it but this Government showed it really cares about vulnerable families and is prepared to put its money where its mouth is. That is what indeed the last two Budgets that this Government has produced in this House have done.If you come back to what the Minister of Finance said yesterday about the Labour members having nothing to say as they sat there in the House—just a few of them actually—and there being no leadership. Well they were probably all out fighting over who is actually the real leader over there. There are so many factions out there so many past leaders so many wannabe leaders and so many failed leaders on the other side of the House. But there was no one in the House to actually even lead the voting. They ended up voting against their own leader’s motion of no confidence.Hon Member: How embarrassing!Hon ANNE TOLLEY: That was so embarrassing for the Opposition. It has absolutely no direction as compared with this side of the House which is focused confident and out there delivering on the things that actually matter to New Zealanders.We are focused on those things like transport an economy that is providing jobs an increase in wages—all of those things—and at the same time we are confident enough to stand in this House and deliver a Budget that for the first time in 43 years increased the income of the people with the lowest family incomes in New Zealand. Those beneficiaries have waited 43 years for a Government to have the courage to do that over and above the CPI. In the very best of economic times when Labour was in Government I remember it talking about the very best of economic times. Even then it did not do anything for those very low-income families. It did not help them whatsoever. It heard their cries and it did not help them.This Government had the courage to do that because we know that the welfare reforms that we put in place are supporting those families into work in record numbers. Under this Government the number of solo parents reliant on a benefit is at the lowest level it has been since 1988. That is what gives this Government the courage to say yes we will increase benefits by $25 a week and yes we will support those low-income working families.The Opposition members have nothing to say because they know it is the right thing to do. They never believed for a minute that a National Government would do it and we did do it because we are serious about helping our most vulnerable families. This Government over a number of Budgets has put money into supporting those families but we want to know that our money is making a difference because taxpayers work hard for that money. They pay it out of their salaries every week and they want to know that the Government is using it wisely. So yes this Government makes no apologies for the fact that we are saying to all those who provide social services that we want to make sure that every single dollar whether it is from education or health—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member’s time has expired.Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North): This is a dodgy tired out-of-touch Government mired in scandal. It is led by a Pinocchio Prime Minister who continues to make unfounded allegations in this House that he would not make outside it. That tells you a lot about the Government. It is making accusations that it just cannot back up. It is writing cheques that it just cannot cash. Then there are its foot soldiers of course. Murray McCully was sent out of the country for 3 weeks for his part in an $11 million scandal that should lead to his resignation. On top of that Saudi sheep scandal we have got foot soldier Joyce who has obviously been to the same school. He has attended the Murray McCully school of micro-management. Just today we heard from him about his obsession with the small things in his department but heard his refusal to take overall responsibility for the bigger mess-ups there and the flagrant abuse and misspending of taxpayer money. This is of course fresh from the Northland by-election. That was not so long ago.Mr Joyce’s obsession with his $40000 erection—which would be funny if it was not so serious—is a symbol of what is going on with this Government. It is distracted. It is focused on the small issues because it is out of ideas on the big issues. Mr Joyce himself as we have learnt today is concentrating on the layout of documents on the colour of the covers and on the full stops. This is a Minister who is out of ideas and it is no wonder that he is failing to reach his own targets. Forty percent was his target for raising exports as a proportion of GDP. Well it was 32 percent when his Government took office; now it is down to 27 percent and the best projection we have at the moment is that it is down as falling to 26 percent next year. It is a Government that is out of ideas out of touch and that is failing to achieve its own goals. Now Mr Joyce is concentrating on improving the feng shui of his reports. Well Minister I am saying now that it will not work.We know of course that this is a Minister who is responsible for the Skycity deal where we have a 10 percent smaller cut again on top of the other cuts to the centre. He talked originally about a maximum of 5000 people at this conference centre when the other players were knocked out of the bidding. Now he is down to 2850 which is just 57 percent of the size of the convention centre originally promised and to be built off the back of problem gambling.Then there is the Chorus deal. I cannot talk about that given the limited time but this is a Minister with a failed reverse Midas touch. He has tried to set up his glorious empire in the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. He has sent a hospital pass though to officials who have an interfering micro-managing Minister. Treasury said from the start that the ministry would never achieve the efficiencies that were promised and it is showing every day that this is the case. This is an MP who is out of touch. He has set up this Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment empire to rival Bill English’s Treasury and he is failing.We have seen that in the Budget. Bill English is cutting his expenditure Budget by Budget by Budget. In 2013 just two Budgets ago he had $470 million of new expenditure. Then it was $363 million last year. This year it is $259 million. He has got fewer dollars to spend because the Government is losing faith. The Government is losing faith with its main foot soldiers. It is deep in scandal and it is out of touch.Northland should have delivered a clear message to this Government but it does not seem to have done so. The list MP who ran the Northland campaign could not win one of the safest National seats in the country—the list MP who ran the campaign could not win one of the safest seats in the country. The public is sending a clear message: the regions can no longer be neglected. The 10-bridge bribes were seen for what they are—74 percent of New Zealanders said that those bridges were a bribe. The pig in front of the sign said it all.That was not a unique set of circumstances there either. Mr Joyce claimed it was but of course Taranaki used to have a real wage premium over Northland; now it does not. Gisborne - Hawke’s Bay used to have a real wage premium over Northland. Now its wages are actually behind those of Northland. And of course we know that the West Coast - Nelson-Marlborough area is struggling too. Moving on to unemployment we know that Manawatū-Wanganui used to have 3 percent unemployment when this Government took over. Now it is up to 9 percent.This is a Government that is failing. It has no new ideas no plan and the regions are hurting. Then we have the wasteful spending which caps it all off. There was $43000 on this Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment monument $360000 on luxury couches motorised desks and apple stools. Skycity is going to the pot. This is a Government not taking responsibility. It is breaking promises and it is failing. It failed to achieve its central election campaign promise to get the Government to surplus. It was the seventh failure in a row.JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Question time today highlighted a number of ways in which the National Government is being cute when it comes to the economics of climate change. For one National members like the polluting industries that they are trying to protect can see only the costs when it comes to rolling up our sleeves and doing something meaningful to address climate change. Climate change for National is not about the costs that polluters will pay for the damage they are doing to our climate; it is all about the costs that New Zealanders will have to pay on their behalf so the polluters do not have to change. We have made it clear that putting a real price on carbon will flow through the economy. It has to have the transformative effect that we need but it will not leave households and businesses worse off. All the money raised from our carbon tax is paid straight back to families and businesses in the form of a personal and company tax cut. Only those who pollute will actually pay for the pollution.So what is the impact on the wider economy? Government modellers Infometrics has forecast that a 40 percent emissions reduction target by 2030 would cost the economy just one-tenth of 1 percent of GDP growth per year—one-tenth of 1 percent of GDP growth to secure a stable climate and a prosperous future. The other way that National members are being cute on the economics of climate change is how they say nothing about the costs of doing nothing. National will not add up the costs of increasing severe weather events rising sea levels and the millions of dollars of subsidies being paid to polluters through the failed emissions trading scheme. Failure to take action on the climate carries a higher economic cost alongside the moral one. There is also a significant economic opportunity cost of doing nothing meaningful on the climate. By not setting ambitious targets for reducing carbon we will be slow to decarbonise our economy. We will fail to send the kinds of price signals that businesses like Fonterra need to stop investing in new coal-fired plants rather than in renewable energy-fired plants.On the world stage without incentives to innovate and invest in smart green ways of doing business New Zealand companies will miss playing our special part in one of the world’s fastest growing sectors—the cleantech economy. We will be slow to invest in renewable energy plants solar panel installations energy-efficient retrofits the development and production of significant volumes of biofuels electric cars fast trains and all the cleantech services that we are so good at developing in niche fields. A well-regulated market is what is needed to send the clear signals that business needs to divest and then reinvest. A smart use of Government procurement processes is what is needed to help small and medium sized cleantech businesses to scale up to take on the world. A stable consensus across this House on carbon budgets would give the confidence and the certainty that all businesses need to make long-term capital investment decisions. National is getting increasingly out of touch with how modern 21st century economies are going to need to work for them to be able to work at all.I stood for Parliament and for co-leader because I want to change the things that matter. Our current collision course with our climate is something that matters. Despite recent set-backs I would like to build common cause across this House on climate change. The Government is about to set an emissions reduction target to take to the Paris climate talks in December. I want us to talk to each other rather than past each other and agree on an ambitious target that New Zealanders can be proud of. This century will be the century of sustainability. The countries and the businesses that lead the shift to sustainability will prosper the most. Thank you.RICHARD PROSSER (NZ First): Last week I received an answer to a written question to the Minister for Primary Industries regarding the number of possums that have been found to be carrying TB—bovine tuberculosis—which the Animal Health Board now known as TBfree New Zealand is attempting to eradicate using aerial 1088 poison. It turns out that over the last 9 years or so TBfree has autopsied something like 124213 possums and of those 54 were found to have TB. So that is 54 possums out of more than 124000 which works out at a touch over 0.04 percent.David Bennett: Ha ha! What’s the percentage?RICHARD PROSSER: Four one-hundredths of 1 percent of the possum population.David Bennett: Oh good on you.RICHARD PROSSER: Mr Bennett be quiet the adults are talking. From that number we are invited to believe that the humble possum is putting our dairy and deer industries in some kind of deadly peril.So I got to wondering whether in fact any of the other justifications that are given for the continued use of 1080 poison are actually capable of holding water—and holding water is a very valid argument because next month Auckland Council is planning to drop 1080 poison 50000 kilograms of it about 50 tonnes of 1080 poison baits over the Hunua Ranges in what is explained as an attempt to target possums and rats not for the purpose of eradicating TB but because the rats and possums are blamed according to Auckland Council’s website for harming native plants and animal life and their habitats. Maybe they are. Possums eat plants—this we know. Possums live in the bush and they eat the bush and one could be forgiven for asking how after 150 years of possums eating the bush we still have bush. The Hunua Ranges are covered in lots of nice green lush bush and that is the way we want them to stay. The possums do eat the bush so we kill the possums and that is the way everybody likes it.But how much of this is actually based on reliable data? I ask because if the farming sector and TBfree New Zealand and the Animal Health Board can justify carpet bombing thousands of hectares of New Zealand with 1080 in order to wipe out a problem that is present in just 0.04 percent of possums how can we be sure that Auckland Council has good data to back up using 1080 over what just happens to be its single largest and most important drinking water catchment? It is targeting rats as well of course and rats do eat native birds and we need to do something about that. But do we need to do it by dropping tonnes and tonnes of deadly poison over the most important water catchment of our biggest city?We know there are better ways. There are better ways and we know that because all the initial survey work that is done to ascertain what the pest populations are and what the native bird populations are before a poison drop and after it are done on the ground. It is all groundwork. It is all trapping which is used to establish what those numbers are beforehand and then again afterwards to see how successful the drop has been. So it can be done and it can be done even in the rough country in the steep country. This is important because quite a lot of the ground in the Hunuas is rough and steep. It is just this sort of country where if something is going to go wrong it will go wrong there. In steep country there is no way of guaranteeing that poison pellets are not going to bounce and slide and end up in places where they are not meant to be like in the reservoirs and in the creeks that run into the reservoirs.The thing about Watercare Services which is the arm of the Auckland Council that runs the water services is that it does not control the catchment itself. It has control of the dams and the access roads and a wee strip about 20 metres wide around the outside of the dams. The rest of it Watercare Services has no say over.Tim Macindoe: This member has a future as a racing commentator.RICHARD PROSSER: It all looks very good on paper Mr Macindoe and the presentations are all very slick and professional. We have got all sorts of reassuring technology like GPS maps with their pretty coloured lines and exclusion zones and all that sort of thing. But as anyone who has ever been on the ground will tell you as soon as the choppers start flying a lot of that stuff goes out the window. They cannot take account of the vagaries like wind gusts and so forth.We know that Watercare Services which looks after Auckland’s water has some very strict protocols in place. It is very concerned about the safety and security of its dams. Watercare Services would also very much rather that no one messed around with the potential safety of Auckland’s water supply. It is very professional and it is very worried.Maybe the people of Auckland need to be worried as well because have they been told? Has anyone actually taken the time to explain properlyto Aucklanders what is going to be done in their water catchment next month and what might happen if something goes wrong? The Auckland Council website says very reassuringly that “Each hectare will receive around 2-3kg of cereal pellets containing 0.15 per cent of the active 1080 ingredient. That’s about one teaspoon of 1080 per hectare.” Well just to put that into perspective. A lethal dose of 1080 for an adult is about 200 milligrams which is about a twentieth of a teaspoon. So that is enough poison to kill 20 people per hectare which over 17000 hectares is enough poison to kill 340000 people. No one believes it is going to go anywhere near that wrong but it does show us just how dangerous this stuff can be. There are sub-lethal effects that can be very nasty as well.But all that aside it is a very great concern that this operation will require half of Auckland’s Hunua dams to be taken out of commission two at a time for an unspecified period until the poison drop is over and the tests have all come back clear. That is if nothing goes wrong. Never mind the cost to the Auckland ratepayer—$500000 roughly and that is on top of the cost of the drop itself. It might all be based on faulty inaccurate or massively overstated data just like with TB. Thank you.Hon NIKKI KAYE (Minister for ACC): I am very pleased to speak in this general debate. The other day I was chatting to some constituents and they said to me that it is phenomenal what National has been polling because of a couple of things. Firstly leadership. Andrew Little is at 9 percent and I will tell you why. There are a couple of reasons. Firstly ultimately politics is a contest of ideas. That means it is about not only putting up good policy for our country but also supporting when the other side has really good policy. What have we seen from Labour members in the area of social innovation? They oppose the ACC cuts they oppose mental health bonds they oppose everything but they do not have good policy for New Zealand. Under our Government we have embarked on a very significant programme of both economic and social reform. That is why New Zealanders are voting for us. It is because they can see the results. They can see that 170000 jobs have been created. They can see that we are on track for another 2.8 percent growth. They can see another 150000 jobs on track to be created. They can see that we are making real results in areas like vulnerable children—whether it is the $790 million package or whether it is the thousands of houses that have been insulated in this country. How about the policy of free GP visits for the under-13s? This Government has done a significant amount not just in the economic area but also in the social area.What do we have from Opposition members? They just say no. We saw that this week with mental health bonds. It is significant because ultimately people ask the basic question: is the Opposition focused on the issues that matter? This week what have we heard from the Opposition? We have heard about Saudi farms. Actually there are a whole lot of people in New Zealand who care about our most vulnerable children. They care about the issues of housing. They care about tax reform. They care about ACC levy reductions. These are the issues that matter to New Zealanders. We have an Opposition that is not focused on the issues that matter to New Zealand. Compare that with a Government that is absolutely achieving the results.Let us look at some of those results. We have seen a 38 percent reduction in youth crime. In terms of the number of teenage sole parents they have dropped by 40 percent since 2011. This Government’s social reforms have been phenomenal and the reason the left is in trouble is they know they are bereft of ideas. They cannot compete at the social level. National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results are improving and they are improving across some of our most disadvantaged groups. The NCEA results for Māori and Pasifika students are up. Why are we able to do so well in terms of targeting those students? It is because of national standards. It is actually saying that to be able to help those children we need to know where they are and that means knowing those schools in Northland—Rt Hon Winston Peters: Been up to Northland College lately?Hon NIKKI KAYE: That is right Mr Peters. It means knowing the schools in Northland where those kids are actually targeting them and ensuring they have got the teaching support to be able to raise achievements and ultimately give those kids a passport to a better future. That is what this Government is focused on. That is what this Government has policy for. This Government has leadership.Compare that with the Opposition which is not focused on the things that matter. That is why Andrew Little is at 9 percent. I saw it better than anyone. At the end of the day when you look at ACC what were Opposition members’ comments? What were Mr Little’s comments? Firstly he started to talk about pay as you go. In a situation where we have finally got a social investment approach we are finally able to help some of our most vulnerable in terms of the seriously injured Labour wants to unravel ACC it wants to gut the assets and it wants to go back to a situation where we cannot have long-term meaningful injury prevention. It is very clear that we have got a party on this side that has good ideas and new ideas in terms of social innovation like mental health bonds. We are doing things right across education reform. We are doing a huge amount in terms of ACC reform to make sure the scheme is more transparent for our most vulnerable New Zealanders. Compare that with an Opposition particularly the Labour Party that will oppose everything and propose nothing. Thank you.Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green): At question time today just a moment ago I asked the Acting Attorney-General whether the terms of reference of our intelligence review would be amended to reflect the views of other legislatures that are moving to protect civil liberties. This included the US Congress which yesterday passed the USA Freedom Act to end the mass collection of metadata. Minister Adams was not especially forthcoming in her reply. She stressed the adequacy of the terms of reference and then confessed that she basically lacked the ministerial competence to comment further on the question the question having been passed on to her by the Prime Minister. So let us analyse the issues that were passed over so lightly by the Acting Attorney-General. The terms of reference contained two general tasks. The first is to determine whether the legislative frameworks of the intelligence agencies are well placed to protect New Zealand’s national security arrangements while protecting human rights. The second is around whether there are sufficient safeguards to ensure the agencies act lawfully and maintain public confidence.Well if we are talking about public confidence it is time that New Zealand emulated the United States in restoring the principles of civil liberties laid down by Jefferson and cherished in the United States and presumably here as well. There is a distinction between the general review requirement that is in the statute and the precise terms of reference that the Attorney-General has crafted. The statute foresees a review of any matter relevant to the functions of effectiveness and efficiency of the agencies in their contribution to national security. But the terms of reference are more focused. They are on whether the legislative frameworks are well placed to protect national security while protecting human rights. It may be a coincidence and it is good to have human rights included but what we have here is national security as the primary value and central framework with human rights as a secondary value something to be protected from the onslaught.A specific task identified in the terms of reference is whether the recent foreign terrorist fighters legislation should be extended or modified beyond March 2017. This is an issue of some moment. Just last Friday the Security Council adopted its latest presidential statement on foreign terrorist fighters. The overriding concern is that foreign terrorist fighters have increased in numbers to 25000 from 100 countries. Receiving one back into one’s own country is proving too dyspeptic for Australia but New Zealand at least is maintaining for the moment a level head on the matter. The Attorney-General’s statement to the council had many good elements—in particular the stress he placed on countering violent extremism through supporting individuals in communities in having a positive stake in society. The key he said is to be inclusive not exclusive—to integrate not marginalise. We agree and commend him for this. But that approach needs to be buttressed with legislative reform on mass surveillance. It needs to lead with the principle of human rights and make national security compatible with the inalienable rights of the individual.That Jeffersonian principle has just been rediscovered in the United States in the past few days following the loss of its constitutional compass 14 years ago. Sanity at last is being restored. The USA Freedom Act replacing the notorious Patriot Act limits the Federal Government’s ability to collect phone data. It requires the FBI to formally declare a statement of facts showing reasonable grounds to believe that the information sought is relevant to a particular investigation and that the facts give rise to a reasonable articulable suspicion of activities associated with a foreign power or its agent. Under the terms of reference here in New Zealand the review will also have regard to any additional matters that arise during the review as agreed by the Attorney-General. We therefore recommend that the Attorney-General notify now in writing in the New Zealand Gazette that the modification of intrusive surveillance powers and restoration of civil liberties as legislated in the United States be taken up as a matter that has arisen and that New Zealand consider emulating the US initiative.Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Minister of Corrections): It is a pleasure to speak here in this general debate in the first week of June. As we have already heard the polls were quite clear in the last week. National continues with our ability to stay in the high-40s. The Labour Party of course is wallowing in the early-30s. We have got Winston and his crew hovering around 5 6 or 7 percent. And you have got members opposite who complain and whine and moan and say that the sky is falling. Well clearly according to New Zealanders across this nation the sky is not falling. You have got to ask yourself why. I was at the Warriors match on Sunday night and a few Australians were asking me why this Government is so popular. They asked what we were doing that leads us to have these types of polls in our third term. I said to them that it is because we have got leadership—clearly. We have got John Key an extraordinary politician an extraordinary man and a man who is leading this country admirably. Clearly we have got a caucus that is capable that is competent and that is doing its job of leading this country. But the other thing we are doing is focusing on the things that matter to all New Zealanders.On top of that list is jobs—on top of that list is jobs. When I survey my electorate of Maungakiekie and I get 2500 responses from the 46000 people who live there they say the No. 1 issue that they want me to focus on that they want John Key and our caucus to focus on in this Parliament is jobs. Today this morning in New Zealand 2.36 million people—2.36 million people—got up and went to work and that is the most New Zealanders who have got up and gone to work than at any time in our history. We have got unemployment falling steadily to 5.8 percent and we know that that is heading towards 4.5 percent in 3 years’ time. We know that we have created over 194000 jobs in the last 4 years and in the next 4 years we estimate that we will create another 150000 jobs.Jobs are important. Why? Well let us just give members opposite a little bit of a lesson as to why jobs are important. They help families. They help families feed clothe and raise their kids as well as look after their elderly as well as look after their communities. That is why jobs are important and that is why our focus our primary focus of this Government has been on jobs. Jobs also release people from the dependency of welfare. I know that the Hon Anne Tolley as the Minister for Social Development will know this. It gets people off welfare and into jobs and away from the dependency on welfare that you get. It also helps with the reoffending rates because we know that if people are working—people are in employment people are occupied and earning money looking after their families looking after their communities building up this nation—they are less likely to reoffend. That is why it is important that we focus on jobs and this Government’s track record on jobs is unsurpassed.But it is not just about jobs. We know that there are families there are kids suffering out there and that is why at the heart of Budget 2015—at the heart of this Budget—we are focused on a support package: $790 million. Yes that is right. If you did not hear that right: $790 million will be spent on helping children in our poorest households. That is $25 a week for the beneficiaries out there who are struggling. I went to my local budgeting agency just after the election. I spent 5 hours there listening to people who were suffering listening to people in hardship and they told me that they needed a hand up not a handout. The $25-a-week increase in benefits for families with children is the first time in 43 years that any Government has raised them above inflation. It is the first time and it is a National Government. I am proud of this package. I am proud of this Government for focusing on jobs for focusing on those who are impoverished and for putting together a Budget—the seventh Budget in a row—that is actually committed to the welfare and the well-being of all New Zealanders.Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): For me the member who just resumed his seat the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga personified the arrogance that has taken over the National Party going into this third term of Government. He modestly said: “People ask me all the time: ‘Why do you do so well? Why are you so popular? Why are you so well-liked?’ ”. How modest can he be? The Government has stopped connecting with what ordinary New Zealanders really feel. One of the examples that I am increasingly hearing frustration about from members of this House is the Ministers’ arrogance and dismissal of select committee procedures where members of select committees—including National Party members who are the chairs of the committees—hear about determinations of bills that are the property of the committees through a ministerial statement. How arrogant and disrespectful of the process and of members of the select committee—including members of their own party—is that? It really is just one of many indications of the increasing arrogance and dislocation of this Government that its members must be a little bit despondent. They all went into the last election—and actually the election before—with their No. 1 promise being to deliver a Government Budget surplus in the 2015 Budget. And what did we see? Yet again Bill English—failed leader now failed Minister of Finance—after seven Budgets each failing to deliver a surplus. It was not just an expectation or a hope; it was the No. 1 election promise in the 2011 campaign and the 2014 campaign—another broken promise.Judith Collins seems to be the only one who is reasonably excited about the future of the National Party. She recently led the caucus revolt. I have heard a number of people saying about the National caucus being revolting—but she led the revolt in relation to the health and safety reforms that Michael Woodhouse had promised. She ruined his speech to a very large workplace safety conference. Michael Woodhouse had said “I will be there and I will be giving a speech with great promises and detail.” and he had to turn up and say “It has all been put on hold.” because of the revolt that Judith Collins had led. Then there was her less-than-subtle attack on Gerry Brownlee where she launched an attack about the doors that he has required to have put in. I am not sure whether he thinks the doors will keep Judith Collins out of their caucus room or just out of our corridor but it certainly was Gerry Brownlee’s idea.That pales into insignificance though—pales into insignificance—beside what Murray McCully has done. An $11 million bribe—there can be no other word to describe it—paid to a private Saudi farm. I disagree with the politics of a number of members of the National Party thank goodness but I do not challenge the integrity of every single member and I know that some of them will be squirming because they like many other New Zealanders deeply value the integrity of our country of our representatives and of people who travel overseas to represent us. And our international reputation has been tarnished by Murray McCully’s bribe. He is off on overseas leave now; he is having a bit of a rest.Meanwhile we have got Steven Joyce causing bother for the National Party. He said he did not know much about the sign that cost—what?Hon David Cunliffe: $43000 for a sign.Hon RUTH DYSON: $43000 for a sign saying “MBIE”—“MoBIE”. It seems like quite a lot of money to pay for a sign.Hon David Cunliffe: It’s a whale of a time.Hon RUTH DYSON: It certainly is. I will leave that to your contribution Mr Cunliffe because that was a very good interjection. But Steven Joyce today during question time was exposed as not only knowing details about the sign but having personally chosen the colour. This Minister for Economic Development is right into the details of his portfolio. It is just another example of the disconnect between Ministers their departments and ordinary New Zealanders. We have had poor old Maurice Williamson. How he sits in the House every day watching hapless Ministers struggle through questions when he is still consigned to the backbench. And now he has been publicly rejected by the ACT Party—publicly rejected. There were the Northland by-election bribes with the bridges and now we have got the Prime Minister distracting once again with boat people coming to New Zealand. It is a really Tony Abbott trick.Can I conclude on an Australian point a serious point that I want to make. The first-ever—and only actually—woman Premier of Victoria passed away this week. I want to conclude with a tribute to the memory of Joan Kirner and all she did for women internationally and for education. Thank you.DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Just following on from that point about the death of Joan Kirner the first woman Premier of Victoria National members pay our tribute as well.In this House today we had a question from the New Zealand First Party around the SuperGold card access that they were supposed to deliver for the punters who voted for them. I will just read from an article that quotes the words of the member for Northland: “I’ll get you a Gold Card across there. But it goes like this: you’ve got to vote for us first.” Well they did that. They voted for them. They voted for them. And have they been delivered the SuperGold card access? No not at all. What I am going to say next—there will be points of order from the New Zealand First Party because they will not like this but this is the truth of what happened. There was an email on 27 May from Winston Peters to the Minister for Senior Citizens. That is only because he knew that the media was on to the story first. He did that email only after the media was on to the story to cover himself. That is the old Winston Peters New Zealand First - approach to politics. What they did is they came into this House today and said “Oh we sent you an email on 27 May.”—only a week ago not even that—and “We are looking after our constituents.” What a load of rubbish. The people of Northland will never get anything out of the New Zealand First Party and they know it. That is the reality of that political party.Denis O’Rourke: Why did they vote for us then?DAVID BENNETT: Oh why did they vote for you? They voted for you for some unknown reason that nobody can find out but they will not do it again I know that much.Ron Mark: 70 years.DAVID BENNETT: Seventy years. OK—43 years it took for this Parliament to deliver for the people of New Zealand who were on welfare 43 years. Labour could not lift a finger and deliver for those people and National did it. Labour never did it. It cannot even get a decent leader who can do a decent speech. Labour members sit there now ignoring the reality of what is going on.Bill English did a great speech yesterday He talked about the reality of left-wing politics. In the left wing it is about control of people. That is all it is about. It is not about empowering people it is not about giving people education and the ability to make their own futures. It is about control by having a group of academics on that side of the House who think that they are holier-than-thou and can come in and tell other people what they should do with their lives. We have seen the newest of the holier-than-thou come in as the leader of the Green Party. I say to the Labour Party you should be worried about that man. You should be worried about him because he is putting across a rational image for the Green Party—which is unusual I know but he is doing that. And he is actually talking about the environment which is something they never talked about and was one of their big failings. But he is doing those two things and in doing that he is eroding the left-wing vote from the Labour Party. He will be eroding the left-wing vote from the New Zealand First Party.But I tell you the public of New Zealand you cannot trust anyone on that side. Even if they come into this House saying what you want to hear they do not believe it. There is no way a leader of the Green Party can actually have a rational thought. That is not possible because that party is the party of extremes. They do not vote in people like that. People who will have rational thoughts will not be in that party and you can do all the messages you like but your party is in exactly the same boat—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. I have a point of order—well I hope I have a point of order.Denise Roche: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I find what he is saying personally offensive and I would ask that he withdraw it—Mr SPEAKER: Order! No—this is a robust debate. If that offends the member she is frankly in the wrong game.DAVID BENNETT: Look I just want to back that up with a bit of proof if anything. Richard Prosser spoke and his line of the day was that possums live in the bush and eat the bush. So let us talk about rational thoughts coming out of that side of the House. That is your best speaker and he talks about possums living in the bush and eating the bush. Are we not lucky to have a bush at the end of the day? That was Richard Prosser. Well the Green Party—do not trust them. Do not trust that man. That man is coming into this House professing to be some kind of neutral leader of a political party. The Green Party will always be the extreme in this Parliament. It will hurt the Labour Party at the next election because it will go out there and try to take those rational left-wing votes. So the Labour Party will have to take out the Green Party at some stage and well the New Zealand First Party is just a protest party. It is just a party where if nobody can find anything else to vote for they vote for them. It is a shame that its members actually believe that they stand for something and that they are of any worth in this Parliament because they are not. It will be a good thing when they go because then this Parliament will actually be a much better place. It has been a great Budget it has been a great time to have these speeches and we look forward to it following through the House.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn): The member who has just resumed his seat David Bennett personifies this National Government. Instead of making a logical argument he just gives us abuse. Whether you allow it or not Mr Speaker it is just abuse. This is a Government that is mired in distractions in scandal and in corruption—which is not too strong a word—while New Zealand lacks a plan that will put more money in the pockets of hard-working Kiwi families relieve the housing crisis and get New Zealand back to work.Let me tell you about the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment—what a multi-headed hydra. It was created by the Prime Minister to give Steven Joyce a sandpit almost as big as Bill English’s. It was divide and rule at work balancing the lieutenants to give Mr Joyce an empire. It has been a miserable singular failure. Steven Joyce can micro-manage the portrait and landscape on his slide pack but he cannot oversee cost control on a $43000 street sign. What an embarrassment what a failure of ministerial responsibility and what a failure of cost management in his department.It is no surprise because this is the same department that spent $360000 on luxury couches for its staff. It is the same department that screwed up the negotiations with Skycity which was not helped by the Prime Minister giving the casino a lucky break or two or three or four. It screwed up the discussions with MediaWorks and gave it a $43 million suspensory loan. Oh and what did happen to John Campbell recently when he got a bit uppity with the Prime Minister? I wonder. The Government folded for Rio Tinto—a $15 million roughly bribe to stay in office. That reminds me somewhat of Murray McCully’s exploits building sheep farms in the desert.This is a Government mired in scandal mired in distraction and without a decent idea about how to effect change in our economy. We face a choice ladies and gentlemen. The choice is between muddling through banking on milk powder earthquake rebuilds and bits and pieces or being a country that undertakes a proper change programme for the future. To do that it has got to be high value. It has got to be driven by innovation science and technology.Today in the Education and Science Committee Minister Joyce showed what a complete waste of space the Government’s science and technology programme is. The chief executive officer of the MacDiarmid Institute no less says that the Marsden Fund is a shambles. Only 7 percent of project bids get through and the Minister admitted they have no idea of the overhead costs of the 93 percent that do not.The Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Sir Peter Gluckman whom the Government just made a member of the Order of New Zealand said the system is beset by “short-termism” and that the Government has no strategy. Shaun Hendy an eminent professor of physics and co-author of a book with no less than Sir Paul Callaghan said that is because they have to go cap in hand for co-funding to the dairy industry because it is the only one that has any money. The science system reinforces the old economy instead of building the economy of the future. That is why we have had a Budget of broken promises and seven deficits out of seven instead of Labour’s nine surpluses out of nine.Chris Bishop: Also not true. $4 billion deficit in 2008—$4 billion.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: There is a growing international deficit as exports go backwards Mr Bishop from 32 percent of GDP not to the Government’s target of 40 percent but in this Budget by its own admission down to 26 percent from 32 percent. That is an amazing snatching of defeat from the jaws of the victory of the post global financial crisis rebound. It is a spectacular failure and we have hundreds of billions of dollars of external debt and savings debt.What is the Government’s solution? Knacker KiwiSaver and take away the kick-start to fund some public relations for beneficiaries that it never believed in in the first place. That is the game of this Budget: spin above substance fiddling while Rome burns. This is a Government without a plan a Government beset by distractions and a New Zealand that deserves better.BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): In the words of Minister Anne Tolley this afternoon this is a Government that really cares. As you have heard from other speakers National is the party that is investing another $790 million over the next 4 years—money that is going to go into families on benefits and low incomes and help those children. A $25 weekly increase in benefits for families is going to be immensely helpful.Also this Government is the Government that is interested in what works. To help us make the right decisions and investments for taxpayers’ money in the future we are actually using data to get a better understanding of the people who use our services and have the need for that support. Just as an example right now if you take the most vulnerable 1 percent of all 5-year-olds which is around 600 children in any one year and we know who these kids are and actually help them get on to a wonderful track as 5-year-olds—at the moment the trajectory says that three-quarters of those children will not get National Certificate of Educational Achievement without help. It also says that 40 percent will have been on a benefit for 2 years by the time they are 21 years old and probably it is likely a quarter of those children will be in prison by the age of 35.We know that actually taking these children now investing in them and changing services in order to intervene will help these people lead more fulfilling lives. Imagine the self-esteem of being able to be on the straight and narrow as opposed to the other options that are currently the tracks where they might head.The other impressive thing about this Government is it is actually putting a lot more money into education and health. I was very very impressed in the last adjournment week about 3 weeks ago when I had a day out around Te Awamutu and Ōtorohanga with the Hon Hekia Parata and we looked at some of the money that was going into special education particularly around literacy. It was really worthwhile to hear from a young girl standing up with an iPad who had been really struggling with literacy about 8 months prior and through having a wonderful school principal who cares sharing their knowledge and information with young people—she was so proud of herself this young girl. That very same principal is actually working with other schools in the community to share those programmes and share those skills.The other thing is that this Government also is a caring Government. Mental health funding has increased by over $200 million since 2008-09 and today was a classic example. I have just been out for a couple of hours at a function at lunchtime where a programme was released called Farmstrong. It is there to help connect rural communities help well-being and help farmers get through this stage in their life where actually the payout is not brilliant. It will come right and we all know it will come right; we just do not know when it will come right. There are going to be a lot of farming families out there who are going to be struggling in the meantime until it does come right.How do the Green Party members show they care about that? They stand up in the House this afternoon and they talk about carbon taxes—more targets on farmers who have already got enough on their plate. We are doing so much work at the moment trying to hold them all together and trying to solve as many issues and save potential suicides as we possibly can. The money that the Greens are targeting in terms of wanting to put carbon taxes on these people might just be the money that helps those people to feed their families and take part in their family activities over the next little while.So I actually applaud what this Government is doing. I applaud the money that is actually being put into exploring these social bond programmes particularly around programmes that will expand on pilots that are delivering employment services to New Zealanders who have mental health conditions. I have been witness to those people in my own community and some of the organisations in Te Awamutu that are helping those people get into work. They are doing a fantastic job and we will help communities to help themselves. Thank you.DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First): Transport is one of the most vital functions for any Government but in New Zealand regional transport is being shunted aside. New Zealand First is the party for the regions because we would put that right. We deplore it that only $97 million has been set aside in the Budget for regional roads and only $210 million has been set aside for rail. These are drops in the bucket and show no real commitment to regional transport issues by this Government. Northland has suffered transport neglect for far too long. An improved highway from Pūhoi to Wellsford is a high priority. Everybody agrees with that but only the link as far as Warkworth has been actually planned and budgeted for.Rail is also seriously neglected there. You can have a look for yourself as I did on the weekend at the rail link from Auckland to Whangarei which is in a shocking state and needs significant improvement and maintenance to service the deep-water port at Whangarei which is the main alternative to the struggling Ports of Auckland. Passenger rail for far too long has been neglected in north-west Auckland and it is being run down. There is a special housing area of 2500 homes planned for Huapai Kūmeu but the Waitakere Station is to be closed in July and the station at Huapai has been closed for some time yet it is a modern fully functional station built only in 2009. North-west Auckland has got the railway line it has got the stations it has got the rolling stock and it has got the population growth. What it needs is that rail link upgraded and not for stations to be closed.Let us look at Hawke’s Bay. We have the dumb decision by KiwiRail and this Government not to reopen the Napier-Gisborne rail link. Currently there is 1.6 million tonnes of logging per year there and 390 trucks on the road projected to go to 2.2 million tonnes and 430 trucks by 2022.Hon Anne Tolley: Logs have never used that railway line—never.DENIS O’ROURKE: The cost is only $4 million and local MP Anne Tolley once supported the reopening of that line at home but not when she is in Wellington. She is a lion in public at home but a lamb in Cabinet. That is her record on regional transport; that is her record in the Hawke’s Bay—not one to be proud of.In Wellington the Capital Connection serviceis planned to close. It is the only commuter service for up to 700 people per week between Palmerston North and Wellington but poor management by KiwiRail and a lack of maintenance and development of the route are the problem there. Incompetent KiwiRail management actually wants to de-electrify the main trunk line from Hamilton to Palmerston North. Ditching a core existing electrified rail route is nothing short of vandalism. New Zealand First would instead electrify the entire Auckland to Wellington route.In Canterbury the earthquakes caused a huge outflow of people north to Rangiora Kaiapoi and Pegasus and south to Rolleston. Road traffic to the north especially is now chronic. Surplus carriages and locomotives are available and so for just the cost of a few temporary low-cost railway stations we could have an effective passenger rail system from those places to the centre of Christchurch. It could easily be done but nothing of course is being done by this Government.In Auckland the completion of the Auckland City Rail Link is urgent but this Government dithers. There is also a need for a passenger rail link to the airport in Auckland via Onehunga and there are many opportunities for new light rail networks in Auckland City.Rail should have a great future but it needs a better development strategy and I am not confident that this 30-year strategy talked about by Simon Bridges today would be what we need. I would have very little confidence in that because as a consequence of the National Government’s underfunding and downgrading of the rail network KiwiRail has degraded and undermined the entire rail network and has ignored any opportunity to enhance and expand it.Finally other countries develop and electrify rail networks; in this country the opposite happens.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.