Key John: Budget Statement —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKey John: Budget Statement —[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3531. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): That was singularly the worst reply speech by a Leader of the Opposition that this Parliament has heard. There could be a reason for that. A cynic could say that the real leader of the Opposition has not actually given his speech yet but let us be honest. Phil Goff would have done a lot better David Shearer would have done a lot better and David Cunliffe would have done a lot better and all three of them know it—all three of them know it. That was Andrew Little and the operative word is “little” because it is a touch kind to say that he has done anything more than “little” in the entire time he has been the Leader of the Opposition. He has done nothing—nada. That is why the speech was so bad. He basically agreed with the Budget. He did not actually have an idea. This man Mr Andrew Little is like one of the least favoured contestants on The Bachelor. He knows that he is never getting a rose that boy. He is not sure why he is there. He is not sure what he is actually doing. He knows that under normal circumstances he should just say that he is happy to be there. But he is not happy either. He is “Angry Andrew”. He has had 6 months in the job. He is the do-nothing Leader of the Opposition.Hon Annette King: At least he doesn’t pull ponytails.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well actually you are right. You are right Annette. You are right. I take it back. He has done one thing—he has done one thing. He has spent a week with Ed Miliband working out how to lead the Labour Party in a general election. And how did that go? It went about as well as Boo’s and Pistol’s holiday in Australia with Johnny Depp. That is how well that went. No the truth of it when it comes to the Labour Party is that the only time it is busy and the only time it is focused—actually the only time it is any good—is when it is having a leadership contest. And goodness knows it is good at that because it has them every 5 minutes. There may be another one just coming because I am telling you now that Phil Goff David Shearer David Cunliffe—Hon Steven Joyce: David Parker.Rt Hon JOHN KEY:—David Parker—all four of them know. They are looking down. They will not look up. They will not make eye contact. You could have done a lot better—a lot better. You were good back then you guys—good back then.Let us go to the Budget because it is a waste of time with the Opposition. This was another outstanding Budget delivered by a man whom we are lucky to have. The Budget was fair. It was thoughtful. It was reasonable. This National Government is the first Government to raise benefits in 43 years and I am proud of that fact. There is $25 a week for 110000 beneficiary families supporting 190000 children. There is $12.50 a week in Working For Families and $12 in the minimum tax credit. Fifty-three thousand low-income families and a further 103000 children will benefit. Tens of thousands of other families will get a bit more. In one way or another this Budget touches half a million Kiwi kids and it is fair and reasonable.There is an increase in childcare in the Budget so that people can go out to work and have that extra support. We have heard it before—it has been said before and it is not new—but this is what I call it: compassionate conservatism. I am proud to lead a Government that believes in that. This Budget is a continuation of the good work of this Government. I think we can all remember that we are the Government that brought in free doctors visits and free prescriptions for under-13-year-olds. We are the Government that insulated every State house that we could. We are the Government that provided the funding for 240000 other homes to be insulated and to have heat units. We are the Government that supported breakfast in schools. We are the Government that supported low-income schools or low-decile schools to have social workers. We are the Government that has provided the new Children’s Teams.In the worst—the very worst—of the economic conditions this country faced we stood alongside those vulnerable New Zealanders. We did not reduce their pensions. We did not reduce their entitlements. We were there for them and we are there for them today. My thanks go to our support parties: to ACT and David Seymour for the leadership he is showing to United Future and Peter Dunne for the leadership he is showing and to the Māori Party and Te Ururoa Flavell and Marama Fox for the support and great work they do. Collectively we provide strong and stable Government for this country and the results are on display.Let us turn to the macro-economic numbers for a moment because you have heard a load of nonsense from Andrew Little about those and you are going to hear a lot more from his sidekick Grant Robertson. Well here are the facts on the table and Labour will not enjoy them. Mr Robertson Labour is about as good at running the economy as the Greeks are. Let us get the facts on the table. You know how to do one thing spend money OK? You know how to print money and spend money. In seven Budgets this Government on average has spent additional resources of $680 million per year—appropriate for the times. Labour spent $3 billion in each of its seven Budgets. When National is in office New Zealanders stay in our country. They do not leave; they stay in our country. When Labour is in office they are off to Australia as quick as they can spell “didgeridoo”.Let us get a few other economic facts on the table so that Labour can digest them while it is digesting the Budget. ACC: what a mess we inherited from Labour. There were dozens of unfunded programmes. What a mess the books were in—a burgeoning State sector that was out of control. Wages could not keep up with inflation. Interest rates were soaring. Inflation was high. The current account: Michael Cullen from the Opposition benches told us that he would fix it; he made it worse. Productivity was falling. If Labour wants to go head-to-head with National on economic management bring it on I say—bring it on. I am more than happy to have that discussion any day of the week. Here are the facts: when we got into office—Hon Members: Show us your surplus.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Oh they do not—[Interruption] I will give them one thing: they are animated about my speech. They sure as hell were not animated about Andrew Little’s. Here is the deal: you vote for the Budget because you know you want to and I will sit down and we may as well just call it quits. You know you want to.Under our Government we have halved the projections of debt. When we are here it is 26.5 percent. It was going to be 60 percent. Do not take my word for it; go and have a look at the IMF numbers. When it comes to surpluses our numbers are better than those of the UK the United States Australia and the eurozone. They will be every year until 2020 and beyond. That is what good economic management looks like. And when it comes to debt—Andrew Little: When will you start repaying the $88 billion?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Oh at least they are listening I suppose. When it comes to debt yes our net debt levels are lower than those of Australia the UK the US and the eurozone. They will be until 2020 and they will be beyond then. We are creating tens of thousands of jobs. And when it comes to employment—there are 36 countries in the OECD—only four have a higher rate of employment than we do and 31 have a lower rate than this Government is delivering for New Zealanders. Pensions are rising. Minimum wages are up. Wages are rising faster than inflation. This is good economic management.Let me turn to child hardship. The fastest way out of poverty is through work and this Government knows that. I am proud to say that there are 42000 fewer children in benefit homes today than there were 3 years ago—42000 children who are getting to see through their own eyes the value of work and how it can make a difference to their own lives. Like I did through my mother they are seeingtoday with their parents in front of them that hard work and enterprise are the way to do things. The sign of a decent society is how you look after the sick the vulnerable and those in need. But in return for that there is mutual obligation—mutual obligation. I say: if you can work you should work. That is what I say.I want to thank Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley personally for the great work they are doing now when it comes to the extensive changes we have made to welfare—long-lasting changes compassionate changes. There is expectation built into what we do; and yes we brought in work obligation.Grant Robertson: Forcing the mothers of 3-year-olds out to work.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well that is very interesting. Mr Robertson has just said that someone whose youngest child is 3 years old should not actually have to go out and look for a part-time job. Well tell that to the tens of thousands of Kiwi families who do that every day. They do that half the time after 14 weeks.I will show you how welfare is working. We have the lowest number of people on the equivalent of the DPB since 1988. Teenage pregnancy rates are collapsing. The attitude at Work and Income has changed. When you go there now you do not go in to sign up for a benefit; they try to get you a job and they give you the skills and the capability to do all that. There will inevitably be some people who will get up and say that the increase today is not enough. Well I say this: it is 25 times better than any Government in New Zealand has done for 43 years. Do not even start by trying to tell me that $1300 a year will not make a difference to the lowest-income families and that up to $50 per week extra for childcare will not make a difference. It will.I now want to turn to the issue of debt forgiveness. It is a very important package that Todd McClay will be running. This is a very simple story I think because the responsibility of liable parents is to make child support payments—that is the responsibility of liable parents. They have a legal obligation to pay for their kids and they have a moral obligation to pay for their kids and they should be doing it. But sadly too many people are not and this needs to change. Why? Because for a start we need to breathe hope into those 120000 families and individuals who see themselves in a hopeless position. This is the situation: they owe $3.2 billion. Only $700 million of that is principal; the other $2.5 billion is interest and penalties. What is more of that $3.2 billion $800 million is owed by people who live in Australia and $800 million is owed by people who live outside New Zealand and outside Australia. We are a very pragmatic Government. What we are saying to those 120000 people is: come back start making the principal payments to those low-income families that you owe it to and we will forgive the interest and we will forgive the penalties. That is $1.7 billion over 4 years and more money for those low-income families and probably even a chance for those 120000 people to be able to come back to New Zealand one day themselves. That is what a pragmatic Government in action looks like.It is no great surprise that in all of the seven Bill English Budgets there is always more for health and more for education. We know that when it comes to the health system it is not just about throwing more money around; it is actually about lifting productivity and about doing things smarter. Actually I want to take this moment in Parliament today to acknowledge the doctors nurses and carers who do such a magnificent job of looking after people in our system. There is more money in this Budget for health—$98 million for elective and orthopaedic operations $12 million to extend the pilot scheme for bowel cancer screening and $76 million for hospices to extend palliative care.When it comes to education when was the last time you heard the Labour Party get up and say that it did not like national standards? Oh that is right: those members try to brush that under the carpet because—guess what—they have finally woken up to the fact that if you cannot read and write it is pretty hard to participate in modern New Zealand. When was the last time that you heard them get up and say that we should not be paying good teachers more and having professional development? We know that our schools are all about having high-quality principals and high-quality teachers. Yes in this Budget there is more for early childhood education and more kids will be getting National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2. And I am proud to say that there are more Māori and Pacific students doing as fabulously well in our education system. There is more for special needs and thanks to David Seymour and the ACT Party there is more choice actually in our education system. I could talk about so many other issues that are contained in this Budget. From housing and ultra-fast broadband to the plight of the kiwi to cutting ACC levies to biosecurity and to the men and women in uniform National is delivering on every front.Let me finish with this: on election night as I have done in the past I got up and I said to New Zealanders: “I intend to govern for all New Zealanders.” and I also said that night that I would focus on children who are most in need. I acknowledged that through no fault of their own they were growing up in some of the most deprived conditions in New Zealand. I believe that in the last 6½ years we have stood by those families. In the toughest of times we have protected them as best we could. I know my history. I know the struggle my mother had. I know how tough it is for those low-income families. Today is the day when we are in the position to stand up and just give them a little more—and rightfully so. We have done this in this Budget and rightfully so because Bill English’s economic leadership has allowed us to do it and to afford it. This is a great Budget for New Zealand. I am proud to have Bill English as the Minister of Finance of this country. May there be many more Budgets to come.