Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 26 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3996. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): Talofa lava Mr Assistant Speaker. It was great to see you come into the House and greet us with a Samoan greeting. This week we are celebrating Samoan Language Week. In New Zealand—the most diverse country in the world—it is very important that we acknowledge the cultures that we have adopted. The Samoan language is the third most spoken language in New Zealand and I appreciate those who are still continuing to speak their language and are continuing with their culture. Today we also celebrate Africa Day in Parliament. It shows another example of diversity in our country and we are lucky to have people from different ethnicities representing us in various areas.It is my pleasure to participate in this debate on the Budget. As we know the appropriation bills are the basis on which Parliament authorises the executive to incur expenses and capital expenditure. Each year the Minister of Finance places in front of this House the Budget which provides appropriations for the coming year. I would like to congratulate the Hon Bill English on presenting an excellent seventh Budget and I am proud to be part of this team. For the past 7 years thanks to the strong leadership provided by the Prime Minister and our finance Minister this National-led Government has provided prudent Budgets that have proven instrumental in the New Zealand economy’s excellent growth.I was talking to my friends based in Melbourne and they were full of praise for our Government for presenting an excellent Budget; so much so that one of my friends said that he would like to move to New Zealand to live because it is a better place to live—and that has been proven in the last 7 years. There was a time when 50000 Kiwis were migrating to Australia each year but the trends are changing. Now Australians are moving to New Zealand.A survey conducted by Statistics New Zealand and published today indicates that New Zealanders are highly satisfied with their lives with people rating their sense of purpose highly. The New Zealand General Social Survey conducted by Statistics New Zealand which provided the above result was based on a survey of 9000 people. The General Social Survey is the biggest social survey conducted by Statistics New Zealand outside the 5-yearly Census of Population and Dwellings. This independent survey by the country’s most credible organisation proves what we in the National Party and the Government have been sharing with this House and New Zealanders for some time. The leadership of New Zealand has done an outstanding job in steering this country forward in the difficult times. Here I would like to congratulate the Hon Paula Bennett who did a lot of work in social welfare which has been appreciated worldwide and is now being continued by the Hon Anne Tolley.In this Budget the honourable Minister of Finance has once again provided excellent vision for New Zealanders. The Budget makes excellent allowances for issues that matter to New Zealanders. The Minister of Finance has announced that this National-led Government will deliver a $790 million package to support children who live in poor families. This amount will be balanced between sole parents and the provision of $25 per week more for families that may be on some form of income support. The Government has also announced in the Budget that we will increase the Working for Families payment. There is also an increased focus from our side of the House on providing more childcare support for low-income families to help parents to be in work education or training. Budget 2015 makes allowances for a further $60 million in extra support for at-risk children. We know from experience that the best way to help families and children out of hardship is through employment. Keeping this in mind we are allocating $32.5 million for services that help beneficiaries to move into the workforce. I would like to reiterate that we are allocating $32.5 million to help beneficiaries to move into the work force. These initiatives confirm that this National-led Government focuses on building a stronger economy and that delivering Better Public Services is working for New Zealand families.In addition to taking steps to improve the economy we have said from the very start that this National-led Government has zero tolerance for corruption and we remain committed to maintaining New Zealand’s robust reputation. That is why this Budget has allocated $218 million to the justice sector. The Budget provides an extra $8.1 million over the next 4 years for the operating fund of the Serious Fraud Office. This further enables the Serious Fraud Office to fight bribery and corruption and to create a business environment that is free of serious financial crime. The Department of Corrections will receive more than $6 million from the justice sector. Also the new operating fund of $164 million over the next 4 years for the New Zealand Police shows that the Government is investing more and more in creating communities that are away from crime-related activities. There has been a 22 percent drop in recorded crime over the past 5 years and we have been successful in disrupting organised crime. We have over 600 extra police officers on the front line. They are helping to safeguard vulnerable communities.I take this opportunity to thank the New Zealand Police for making New Zealanders feel secure while at the same time developing constructive relationships with the people who belong to different cultural backgrounds. The New Zealand Police has been able to successfully identify issues of victimisation within ethnic communities and to develop culturally appropriate strategies that are implemented in order to increase the community’s safety. This funding will support the police in providing more effective policing and will help in preventing crime to a huge extent.There are some positive points of our economy that I would like to share here. New Zealand is on track for an average of 2.8 percent growth a year over the next 4 years. This strong growth is forecast to deliver another 150000 new jobs over the next 4 years. Government debt is expected to be less than 20 percent of GDP by 2020-21 when we can resume full contribution to the Superannuation Fund. This is a Budget that is responsible and based on a plan. The Government can deliver when it is following a plan that is working. It is because of the prudent plan in all areas that we have announced a record investment of $15 billion in health. New Zealanders and their families should have access to timely quality health care no matter where they live. The health budget will reach a record $15.9 billion this year—a clear sign of National’s commitment to supporting the growing public health service. We are investing $1.7 billion over the next 4 years in new initiatives and to meet cost pressures and population growth. Budget 2015 also includes $12 billion to extend the Waitematā District Health Board’s bowel cancer screening pilot to start in December 2017.Despite the economic challenges National is focused on delivering high-quality services for New Zealanders in areas that make a huge difference. Of course we understand that to continually pay for these and other services we need to have a well-trained and skilled workforce. We are spending $10.8 billion on education. These are the plans we have for New Zealanders and I commend this Budget to the House.