Mahuta Nanaia: General Debate 
Mahuta Nanaia: General Debate 
[Volume:634;Page:6095] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 Emotive politics that is what National is all about. But what is its policy what is its solution what is its answer? Nothing! Silence! Every time National Opposition members get up to say anything in the House it is negative it is dreary it is tired it is old and it is frustrated. National has not one solution. It is a tired Opposition. In fact the National Party is in disarray. It has leadership bids going on all over the place. National is not united. It has not been able to demonstrate at any one point that it has a vision for this country and that it has leadership that will take this country forward. 
Members opposite cloud the issues. In everything they said around election spending there is no transparency whatsoever about who bankrolled National’s campaign bid. 
Darren Hughes 
: 92 percent hidden in trusts. 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA 
: Yes 92 percent was hidden in trusts that the New Zealand public do not know about. Members opposite stand up in this House and say they want transparency on the issue. Well the New Zealand public deserve it because this country is not about “cash for policy”. This country does not stand for secret funds being used to fund campaigns to enable others to run the agenda of this country. It is a transparency that all New Zealanders deserve. The National Party is in disarray. It has no leadership no direction and no vision. Secret funding is running its campaign. National is going nowhere. Every time we ask National members what their policy is there is nothing. When we ask what they are going to do about it there is nothing. They just moan and complain. There is a cover-up going on in and only in the National Opposition; what this Government is focusing on is clear and simple. 
We need a country that is going forward. We need a country that will lift opportunities for every New Zealander. We need a country that performs to its highest potential. We also need a country that builds bridges and creates a sense of unity. Those are three key themes that this Government is running on. We want to make sure that families young and old have a greater sense of well-being and quality of life. We want to see economic transformation. We have to lift opportunities for everybody in this country but more important we have to lift what underpins us as a nation. We may be small but we are smart. We are diverse and yes that is a strength. We have opportunities here in New Zealand that should not be limited by our size our geographical position or the ethnicity of our population. In fact it is about building a sense of national identity. So Labour does have a vision. We are not tired. We are energetic we are keen and we are enthusiastic and we know that the way to go is forward and to continue doing that. 
We need only look back at the track record of the previous National Government. In 1996 when I first came into Parliament unemployment was around 18 percent for Maori under a National-led Government. That is not acceptable. Now unemployment is below 9 percent—half what it was under a National-led Government. We have to say that we have taken this country somewhat forward. The National Government let the trade sector languish. There was no focus whatsoever on Modern Apprenticeships or anything. Labour knows that it has to fix that gap. There are skills shortages throughout the whole country. This Government is doing something about it. More Modern Apprentices that is what we say. More than 2000 people are currently in apprenticeship training and we will increase that. 
More important bridging the skills gap for the benefit of the whole country is good for all of us. That is leadership under this Government. That is going forward. In fact I was quite excited to see in Te Kuiti’s local paper that no young person is on the unemployment register in Te Kuiti. Shane Ardern will agree with me that that is a fact. Fantastic! That did not ever happen under a National Government but it has now under a Labour-led Government. [ 
Interruption 
] That is right. That is in provincial New Zealand and in the rural areas. Shane Ardern will agree with me that never before has Te Kuiti ever trumpeted that kind of benefit. 
Under a Labour-led Government we have better access to health care and general practitioner services. People will remember that when National was in Government people were paying up to $45 to visit their doctor. Under a Labour Government if people are part of a primary health organisation they can be paying around $10. That is fantastic. That means that people will go to the doctor when they need to not to the hospital because they have to. Under a Labour Government those are the types of gains that we are starting to see. We can make real gains in the area of housing which is where I think a lot of New Zealanders who are really in need can really benefit from the direction and vision of a Labour-led Government.