Jones Dail: General Debate 
Jones Dail: General Debate 
[Volume:646;Page:15286] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 I sometimes get very tired and bored when I am listening to debates in this House because we hear the same old speeches all the time. A National member will say that the statistics for a certain group in society when it comes to education are going down and that wage rates are going down. Then a Labour member will say that if one does this or if one does that then something else will happen. 
Let us take education as an example. Speaking generally from my own experience—and I am actually an immigrant to New Zealand from Asia—one of the things that I have been noticing as New Zealand First’s education spokesperson is how well Asian immigrants seem to do when it comes to education. Many of them come to New Zealand not even able to speak English yet often within 5 years they are at university and are often doing medical degrees. Why is that so? I have always put it down to something very simple: immigrants from Asia appreciate the wonderful education system in New Zealand. Regardless of which party is in power neither party can damage what is essentially a wonderful system with a wonderful bunch of school teachers who get denigrated in this House time and time again by each party when it abuses the education system. 
My philosophy on education is simple: firstly one should go to school; secondly one should pay attention when one is there; and thirdly one should do one’s homework. The biggest problem we seem to have today is that children will not go to school. If a child does not go to school there is nothing that any Government can do to force him or her to get there. With all due respect to National Party policy we cannot send 5-year-olds to a boot camp because they are only 5. But that is when the problem starts; it starts at a very early age. Boot camp policies are useless for children at that age so let us get real. At the end of the day as the ACT member Heather Roy was saying we should put some responsibility on ourselves and put the responsibility on parents. Governments can really only interfere and it is up to parents to accept responsibility in all sorts of ways. 
Of course I have been out of Parliament for a little while but I have come back. I was speaking to Peter Brown about what I should say in this speech. Peter said it was very important that I realise the things that New Zealand First has achieved since I have been away some of which came into effect on 1 April. I thought: “Well yes.” Then I asked Peter Brown what they were. He reminded me that—as has been mentioned today—the new superannuation increase has come into effect; the rate is now 66.2 percent. When I left Parliament in 2005 the rate was actually below 65 percent but thanks to New Zealand First it has been increased by that extra 1-and-a-bit percent due to our supply agreement. 
I also say that I have noticed how well the agreement has worked between Labour and New Zealand First. There is respect on both sides which is quite different from the situation that I understand existed in 1997 and particularly in 1998. New Zealand First has shown how an agreement can be carried out. 
The minimum wage has gone up. Was it not New Zealand First that worked with Jim Anderton’s Progressive which was talking about increasing the minimum wage—or was it the 4 weeks’ annual holiday? One of the things we did was make sure that workers can have 4 weeks’ leave. I think that members have forgotten that fact and it should be asked of other parties in this House whether if they came into Government again they would put the leave back to 3 weeks. I understand that certain members voted against 4 weeks’ leave for all workers in New Zealand. 
The company tax rate is down to 30 percent. When I was at the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) in Khyber Pass Road in about 2004-05 it said New Zealand First must support a reduction in company tax and I am sure it said the National Party wanted one. So New Zealand First supported a reduction in the company tax but what did National do? It opposed it. I am absolutely amazed as a former National Party member of Parliament from 1975 to 1984 that National could possibly oppose a company tax reduction. That is quite amazing. 
New Zealand First has done other things. I never go to race meetings but I know many people who do and the things that New Zealand First has done for the racing industry are out of this world. I thank all those people in the racing industry for their support and I look forward to that support on election day in particular. 
Looking ahead to the future one of the things that I am working on as education spokesman for New Zealand First is our policy of a universal student allowance which would make sure that students can go to university and not leave with a heavy debt load around their necks. New Zealand First has always had a student allowance policy. When I hear student leaders talk about the tremendous debt that students have to repay I say to them: “Why didn’t you vote for New Zealand First? You’ve gone to university you’re supposed to be very clever you’re supposed to be coming out with these degrees but has it ever occurred to you that one way of making sure that you will go to university and not have a debt is to vote for New Zealand First and support New Zealand First?” 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.