Kaye Nikki: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 26 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3968. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NIKKI KAYE (Minister for ACC): I am very pleased to speak this afternoon. At the heart of this Budget is the concept of fairness. I was in Japan when the Budget was delivered and one of the things that struck me was the number of people from countries within the Asia-Pacific region who said this to me: New Zealand is the comeback country. It is really important when we have this Budget debate to understand the history here. In 2011 we said there would be 170000 jobs created and 3 months before that deadline we have done it. When we came in from Opposition we were faced with a decade of deficits. We have seen an incredible comeback as a nation. We are within reach of surplus.But what we have also said and what has been a hallmark of this Budget is that we will not get to surplus at the expense of our most vulnerable. So with all due respect to all of those Opposition members who stand up in this House and talk about the surplus they know actually that when you are in Government it is about the hard choices. I am proud to be a member on this side of the House to not only be delivering at a fiscal level—to be responsibly managing the books; we have got 150000 jobs forecast in the next 4 years and we have got 2.8 percent growth forecast—but also to have delivered over a long period and to now be focusing on some of the harder issues for New Zealand. We have had public sector reform but we have to do more. What you can see in this Budget is a concerted effort to tackle the hard issues. But this is on the back of years of hard work in areas like some of our most vulnerable children. So let us walk through it.We have under our Government insulated more houses than ever for vulnerable children. We have in the last year’s Budget really focused on those children having access to good health-care. That is why we announced free GP visits for under-13s. We have also done a range of other things so you can see that on the back of that there is an investment in the vulnerable children’s action plan. And then on top of that $790 million in this Budget is targeted at those children who are in hardship. This has been a concerted effort over a range of years to help our most vulnerable children.Secondly if you actually look at what we are trying to do from the education perspective part of our legacy is significant reform in terms of ensuring where those kids who need basic numeracy and literacyare. Through national standards we are targeting those schools more than ever in terms of numeracy and literacy and we are seeing those results particularly around Māori and Pacific Island students. You can see in this Budget another round in terms of investment in those young people and you can also see that we are fixing those schools that have for years been in a state of disrepair.Over successive Budgets we have done more than ever. I think we have spent about $80 million on weathertightness and earthquake strengthening and another $240 million is in this Budget package around not only ensuring those schools are fixed and earthquake strengthened but also so that we can expand where we need to expand and build for growth. It is not a model whereby communities have been left in the cold because they have not had the planning for growth that we need. So we have got another area in this Budget building on all of the good work that we have done before to invest in young people on top of a targeted package of $790 million targeted towards our most vulnerable children.If you take the area of science and innovation—again we have had sustained investment. But if you look at this Budget alone there is funding of $25 million for regional research institutes. The Budget will give an $80 million boost over 4 years to research and development growth grants. We have got a $113 million boost for tertiary education and skills. This is very significant and it is very significant particularly in the investment in terms of Māori and Pacific students in trades academies.So for those members opposite who say that we are not investing in young people they need to have a really good look at the line items in the Budget. We are investing more than ever before. In fact $2.4 billion in this Budget is in education and health services. But this is 6½ years of concerted effort around our most vulnerable and young New Zealanders. I am very proud of this Budget.The second area we have been really tackling is housing affordability. Again let us look back and see what we have done. So firstly we have increased subsidies for the HomeStart grants. Secondly we have had one phase of Resource Management Act reform. Thirdly we have invested more than ever to really tackle those issues of productivity in the construction sector. But also we have really got a focus in this Budget on ensuring that those people who are trading effectively or speculating in terms of houses are penalised for that. Again this is a very targeted policy focusing on penalising those people who may be shutting young New Zealanders out of the housing market while also respecting the fact that we do not want to be taxing those people in terms of the family home. That is building on an existing policy that we think needs to be enforced properly. That is about tackling the hard issues and having dedicated policy focused on housing affordability.In my area of ACC again we were left with a $4.8 billion hole. Again I heard Andrew Little. Andrew Little went out there when I made these announcements—Hon David Cunliffe: Just not true.Hon NIKKI KAYE: No I think it is time the member Mr Cunliffe listened for a second. Andrew Little went out there when I announced $500 million of ACC reductions and when I announced a new piece of legislation aimed at transparency. I do not have his exact quote but it went something like this. He said that it was dishonest and manipulative.This is a piece of legislation based on transparency of the ACC accounts after we have come back from a $4.8 billion hole to actually be able to give another round of levy reductions and this is after we have already given back $1.5 billion. He is so out of touch. He is so emotional that he does not actually have any policy that exists behind what he says. We saw it with the means testing of superannuation. We saw it when he commented on ACC. We are seeing it all over the place and that is because those members do not have targeted policy on the other side they do not have the grunt within their caucus and then they have got a leader who effectively just goes out there says what he thinks and then has the caucus pulling him into line. That is compared with a Government that has continually developed good policy that is targeted and has invested where it matters.Another area where we have invested where it matters is the Future Investment Fund. Again we had ideological opposition from members on the other side of the House but I think the total capital investment in New Zealand is about $939 million. This includes a contingency of up to $210 million for additional investment to bring ultra-fast broadband to 80 percent of New Zealanders. We have got the telecommunications development levy extended to provide $150 million for major improvements in rural broadband. I represent Great Barrier Island actually and we have a whole lot of young people there who have not done as well as they could have but who are now getting access to learning resources that they have never had before. For members opposite again who talk about this Budget not delivering for young New Zealanders these are very tangible things that make a difference to isolated communities and to young New Zealanders.We are also seeing KiwiRail receive $210 million in new capital investment and a further $190 million as a pre-commitment against Budget 2016. In the area of the Resource Management Act and freshwater reforms we have got $37 million of operating funding for 4 years to provide greater national direction and support to councils. Again this is on the back of a whole lot of other money that we have invested over successive Budgets around fresh water.So there is a lot of hot air and rhetoric that comes from the Opposition but at the end of the day what it knows and what I knew when I was in Japan—I was there when this Budget was delivered by our Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister—is that people there said to me that we are the comeback country. In my view the numbers show that. We have created over 170000 jobs. We are on track for 2.8 percent growth. We are in reach of surplus. But we are a Government that has done more than that. At the heart of our Government is fairness and you saw that with this targeted $790 million package for some of our most vulnerable children. That is on the back of so much investment whether it is education reform whether it is free GP visits for under-13s whether it is insulating houses or whether it is an investment in fresh water. We have managed to do that in very difficult fiscal times balancing the books but looking after New Zealanders and providing fairness at the heart of this Budget. This is a great Budget. This is a fair Budget. This is in contrast to an Opposition that is bereft of ideas. I support this Budget.