Kaye Nikki: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: General Debate[Sitting date: 03 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4265. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]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.