Parata Hekia: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParata Hekia: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4122. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Talofa lava Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā koe otirā ki a tātou katoa. I join a very proud line-up on this side of the House in standing to speak on this Budget. It is a fine Budget. It is a balanced Budget. It is a Budget that is responsive to the times that we find ourselves in and it is one that is as fair to all sectors of our society as it is possible to be. It reflects the very deep aspirations and ambitions that our Prime Minister John Key has consistently led this Government with since we came into Government at the end of 2008. His commitment to the most vulnerable is reflected in this Budget as is his very sharp appreciation—unlike the Opposition—that money does not pour from a pipeline in the sky but that it actually comes from hard-working New Zealanders up and down the country. This Budgetreflects a recognition of this by both investing in the immediate term through a reduction in ACC levies and by looking to the middle and long-term future of our country through investing in regional science foundations.This Budgetdelivers on the commitment that the Prime Minister made during the election last year: that we would do our very best to lift up those who need support the most and that we would do it in a way that is as fair as possibleto all New Zealanders. That is why we see this $790 million package at the heart of this Budget and as we go further into the detail of theBudget we will see just how caring sensible and practical the policies and funding initiatives in thisBudgetare for families—for hard-working families both those who find themselves in circumstances where for a while they are dependent on benefit support from the Government and those who are on low-wage incomes.This Budgetreflects another principle that is resonant of a National Government: while giving also expecting reciprocal obligations. That is the nature of our National character. It is to ensure that we do help those who need help the most but that we do so in a way that does not induce the disease of dependency which the Opposition is so proud of. This is the first Government in 43 years to make a real contribution to lifting benefit incomes. It has done so while understanding that nevertheless we believe absolutely in the virtue and value of work. So there are incentives and requirements within the provision to these families. Approximately 110000 families are estimated to benefit from an extra $25 a week through this new package. That accounts for approximately 190000 children. We are unable to give the specific detail of this because of course New Zealand families whānau and aiga come in all shapes and sizes and it will be the particulars of their circumstances that will determine in the end the level of extra support that this Budget holds out for them.How is it that we are able to provide this support? It is through very prudent management of our economy in the very stable conservative and sensible hands of our Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English. We have come from deep recession to a very solid 3 percent growth which has resulted in more jobs. We expect 150000 more jobs. We expect to see the average wage go up by $7000. At the same time we have an inflation rate of 0.1 percent so we expect that interest rates will remain relatively low. All of these things make a difference to hard-working New Zealand families. They get the value from this and we continue to place emphasis on what their needs are. Families like my own from heartland East Coast Ngati Porou Ruatōria will benefit in the same way as families from Porirua and Paraparaumu. Of course we have heard already this afternoon about Gore and Dunstan and all of these heartland towns which like a string of pearls make up the beauty of what this country is in all of its colourful diversity.Our Government is absolutely committed to reflecting and representing that diversity but to doing so in a meaningful way to ensure that those families can earn a decent income—for instance so that they can have as a result of this Budget a 20 percent increase in the childcare allowance for up to 50 hours a week. That is both at early childhood levels and for out-of-school care provision. That means that while we are supporting families we are also encouraging them to get back into work and to do so we are being realistic about what that takes and are providing childcare support.In the vote for which I am responsible Vote Education we have seen a significant increase again in the seventhBudgetof this Government. As I have said in this House many times this Government understands the critical contribution that a good quality education makes to all young New Zealanders. It is a passport to a better future. It does give people better options. It does not mean that we all make better choices but it does mean that we have more options available. This Government understands that those choices should be ones made by individuals and by families. We do not prescribe what they should do. We invest in creating an environment in which those choices and opportunities are available to people and this Budgetreflects this. We have a plan that is working. It is one that we have continued to grow incrementally from the end of 2008 to where we find ourselves now in May 2015. Yes there is still more work to do but it is based on a very solid foundation.Let me turn to families in particular. Of course this Budgetspeaks very directly to families and to the specific contributions that we are making to support them. This Budget carries on a number of investments not least of which is the increase in paid parental leave that we are getting under way this year. It recognises that families do want to be at home in the first months after they have their babies to ensure that they are well brought up. That is supported by free GP visits up to the age of 13. It is reflected in the HomeStart grants for first-home buyers. I am looking forward to holding one of these evenings in Porirua in the next couple of weeks—I wish I could remember the date. Perhaps someone in my office who is watching will helpfully text me that date so that first-home buyers in Porirua can seize the opportunity that this Government is providing to them to become first-home buyers in the fabulous Mana electorate which stretches from Tawa in the south to Paraparaumu in the north.We have had record child immunisation. When we came into Government there was much less investment despite what the Labour Opposition speaker on health Annette King said. There is a lot of talk in health—the Opposition is very good at a lot of talk—but we had to wait until this Government came into power to see actual investment going into targeting those families who need it the most. Māori and Pasifika immunisation has gone up from about 60 percent to over 90 percent. That means healthier babies. We have got warmer drier healthier homes. We have breakfasts in schools much to the chagrin of Opposition members who want to legislate rather than just accept right now that every school in New Zealand that wishes to run a breakfast programme can courtesy of the support of Sanitarium and Fonterra. We have better education for children. We have more kids starting school earlier staying longer and leaving better qualified. We have more jobs and higher incomes. We are helping children living in hardship as I have covered. And we have put more money in the pockets of hard-working New Zealanders.My colleagues have already covered a range of investment areas so for the last 2 minutes I am going to focus specifically on the new funding in Vote Education: $10.8 billion which I have said is a shipload of money. I thank the taxpayers of New Zealand who continue to contribute their taxes to support this level of investment in education. There is $10.8 billion—Todd Barclay: How much?Hon HEKIA PARATA: —$10.8 billion—being invested in education. Of that $1.6 billion is for early childhood education which is more than New Zealand Police gets. We want that to be the case. We want money to be going on to the productive side of our citizenship balance sheet if you like. We have added to the special education provision which currently sits at just over $530 million. In this Budget we have put another $69 million into special education. About $32 million of that is to expand the Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Scheme and the remainder is to ensure that there are extra teacher aide hours in schools.There are three new initiatives—she said holding up four fingers just to test whether anyone in the Opposition was actually taking any notice. But no they were not and do you know why? It is because this is good news and the Opposition members thrive on being miserable and mean. In the weeks and months leading up to this Budget there were commands that the Government must make sure in this Budget that it attends to families in deep hardship and that it focuses on those children who are the most vulnerable and in the poorest of circumstances. And when this Budget delivered exactly that the Opposition was gobsmacked for about 5 minutes but then it defaulted to its usual miserable carping unhappy depressing approach to life.Is it not great for New Zealand that after 7 years we continue to have as high aspirations and as full ambitions for each and every New Zealander as we started with. What this Budget—delicately finally profoundly beautifully and elegantly put together—demonstrates is that we also have the funding and investment to deliver on the platforms of those aspirations. Thank you.