Ryall Tony: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ryall Tony: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 30 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7642. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) 
: 
 The John Key - led National Government remains intently focused on the thing that really matters to New Zealanders and that is building a strong growing economy that can deliver the prosperity that New Zealanders want. The Government is working tirelessly building the momentum so that it can put behind the last 4 years of difficult economic times in order to help New Zealand into the future and to give New Zealand those opportunities that it is looking for for all our families and for all our communities. 
But I can tell you the one thing that is not the answer to the significant challenges facing New Zealand is printing money. The last thing an economy like New Zealand—small vulnerable dependent on international trade flows—needs is printing money. Yet that is the only economic solution offered by the Opposition parties in 4 years—printing more money. Oh sorry there was a second one: a capital gains tax on your family home. So that is what their solutions are: a capital gains tax on your family home plus printing money. Neither of those is a recipe for getting the country moving. Neither of those is a recipe for the country moving back into surplus and paying our nation’s debt. That is why every day—day in day out—our Government is talking about what really matters to New Zealanders: building the economy investing for the future investing in infrastructure and investing in important social services. Those are the things that will help this country get ahead. 
The Government has been sensibly managing our nation’s finances but every time it takes a decision to help balance the books to get us back in the black so that we can start paying off that debt and not burden our children the Opposition opposes it. Every time we ask the Public Service to tighten its belt and focus on value for money we are told that that is wrong and to just turn the printing presses on—that printing presses are the solution to everything. But our Government is very sensibly turning round the financial crisis that we inherited from the previous Government. It had a decade of deficits facing our nation; we are working to be balanced by 2014-15. It is a huge effort but we can continue to do that and we know that both Treasury’s economic updates and the Reserve Bank’s monetary statements are looking at this average 2.5 percent growth over the next few years. We shall be working harder to increase that but it does mean that New Zealand will be growing faster than many of the European countries the United Kingdom Japan and Canada. 
We are continuing to focus as a Government on building a more productive economy in New Zealand. Huge investment is going into infrastructure in this country. Over $400 million is going into the eastern arterial roading route in the Bay of Plenty. This will save a significant amount of time as our logs and exports go to the Port of Tauranga the biggest export port in New Zealand. A huge amount of investment is going into the Waikato Expressway. That is linking those two hubs of economic development in the Waikato and in Auckland. A really significant investment is going into roading right throughout the country. It matters because it means that goods can get to the port and to the market faster but it is opposed by every party opposite. They are against the investment in roading. What is more the Opposition now wants to use the roading money to pay for building houses. So the motorists are paying for roads but the Opposition parties are going to spend that money on building housing. 
We are also investing in our human capital in New Zealand boosting skills and the opportunities for job training. We heard a tremendous announcement by the Prime Minister on youth apprenticeships in New Zealand. That was a tremendous announcement. It will see the first 10000 new apprentices enrolling after 1 April this year getting $1000 towards their tools and off-job course costs and $2000 if they are in those priority construction trades that we so desperately need for the recovery happening in Christchurch. There has been a huge amount of money go into these areas. Just in the last few years $64 million extra has gone into industry training across New Zealand. That is really significant and it is making a big investment. 
But the Government is also very strongly focused on Better Public Services—delivering for New Zealanders. If you just look at what has been happening in the health portfolio our Government has continued to invest very strongly in health—$2 billion extra has been put into the health service. We have more doctors and more nurses than ever before and more operations. They are now at a record level—over 30000 patients a year are getting elective surgery. That is more than before and they are waiting less. 
But the one policy we have got from Labour on health is on elective surgery where it has announced it will cut the numbers of hip cataract and knee operations and make people wait longer. That is its only health policy—cutting hip— 
Hon Damien O’Connor 
: Absolute rubbish! 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: Oh rubbish? Read what Maryan Street has said. She will cut elective surgery. That means fewer hip operations and fewer cataracts operations. In fact Labour’s plan will see I think around 5000 fewer operations a year for people over the age of 65. Labour is cutting hip operations cutting cataract operations cutting knee joint replacements and making old people wait longer. So that is its plan. It is the only policy it has announced in health. 
Our side though has got this comprehensive plan about a real investment in health promotion and disease prevention through our six national health targets. We have record levels of immunisation—no gap between Maori Pacific and Pakeha New Zealanders. We are making huge gains in diabetes and heart checks. We have introduced a systematic national programme of diabetes and heart checks for people once they reach a certain age. We have got a huge effort in fighting tobacco which is an unparalleled—unparalleled—effort in fighting tobacco. We are speeding up cancer services and emergency departments are faster and we are saving lives through that. We are delivering better public services with the investment that has been made. 
In education a huge investment is being made in lifting standards not only in early childhood education but also in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 2. A huge investment is going into that. Our goal is to see 98 percent of all school entrants having participated in early childhood education and 85 percent of 18-year-olds having achieved NCEA. We have got more teachers than ever before. We have got more and more investment going into the capital of our schools—new buildings and new equipment. We are renovating and rebuilding a whole lot of schools that suffered under the leaky homes debacle that happened under the previous Labour Government. We have got a huge investment going into education to lift standards so that that one New Zealand child in five who leaves school unable to read or write well enough to get a job is not in that position any more. And yes it is demanding in education and yes the Government does have a zero-tolerance approach to failure. We do want them to do better in our schools and the Government is going to continue doing that. 
We are delivering safer streets for New Zealanders with the lowest crime rates in 30 years—the lowest crime rates in 30 years. We have more police on the beat—more police on the beat. There is a significant lift in the number of on-the-beat police walks—more than there has ever been. A real investment is going there. In welfare we are getting the incentives right to encourage people into work and to give them the support that they need to be independent. There is a huge amount of work that we are doing. 
But the Government also has a very very focused plan which the Prime Minister talked about in his statement that continues to focus on the things that really matter to ordinary New Zealanders: a strong growing economy the changes we are making in the Resource Management Act the changes we are making in local government the changes that will come out of the housing work that is under way the changes that are happening elsewhere in the economy the changes in water the changes in agriculture and the changes to the Crown mineral estate. All these were opposed by the parties opposite though I have to say did Mr Norman not give a speech last year saying that the Greens welcomed mining? It is all very odd. There is a lack of coherence there. The Government has got a huge investment of work in the things that really matter to get the economy moving. 
The next year is going to be characterised by nasty politics from the parties opposite—nasty politics—focusing on sideshows and irrelevancies but our Government will remain absolutely determined and absolutely focused on what makes the boat go faster what makes the economy go faster and what provides the opportunities New Zealanders want. You will see over this next year or so really significant lifts in Christchurch. We will begin to see the economy elsewhere around New Zealand moving very strongly. We are expecting to grow faster than so many of our trading partners. But it will remain challenging. The economy will remain challenging. Printing money is not the answer. A more productive strong growing economy is the answer to the opportunities that New Zealanders want and that is what John Key and his team are strongly focused on.