McClay Todd: Budget Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McClay Todd: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 29 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2593. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise so early in this debate and speak on what was an excellent Budget. Can I congratulate our Minister of Finance Bill English on delivering another Budget for New Zealanders—a Budget for the times. It is a Budget for New Zealand and a Budget for New Zealanders. It is not for Greece—before the members opposite start talking about the policies they would bring to this country. It is not a Budget for the eurozone and of course the challenges they are facing. It is not for the USA or other parts of the world. It is a Budget that invests in New Zealanders; a Budget for the future. This is of course a Government for the future and of the future.  
I say that not just because of the way members opposite talk about their policies as if those 9 years in Government all that long time ago were the best of times but because New Zealanders woke up and said they were not the best of times. The spin came from members opposite—but it was not the best of times. This Budget is a Budget for the times as I said and I commend Bill English. Can I say to our Prime Minister John Key the New Zealand public not only trusts him but they voted for him in record numbers to continue to lead this country towards a brighter future.  
The problem we have—and I say to my colleagues on this side of the House that we must be extremely cautious—is that we must ensure that when we have had a number of terms in Government we do not end up like members opposite who still after 3 years are not listening to the public. They think the public will wake up and realise that they got it wrong and that those years—all that time ago—were a good time for them here in New Zealand and that they made a mistake and should change their vote.  
Well it was not a mistake. They made a clear and conscious choice as to who they wanted to govern this country. They had an opportunity to reflect upon that at the election last year and they moved forward with that in giving Prime Minister John Key the biggest vote any party has ever had under MMP—second time in a row. That is quite some accomplishment.  
What is the Budget going to do? Well it focuses on four key areas that I believe are extremely important to New Zealanders. The first is responsibly managing Government finances. Can I say to the members opposite who last week voted against legislation that will save $347 million over 4 years—money to reinvest in our economy to grow productivity to put more money into schools and to back New Zealanders—that actually the point they were making when they decided to vote against that legislation was that we should instead borrow that money.  
Members opposite should just look at the newspapers and cast their minds all the way across the sea to Greece and other parts of Europe. They will see the great problems they have over there because they have not fronted up to their responsibility on their issues. They have not fronted up to the changes they made. If you keep borrowing sooner or later you have to pay it back. Well if members opposite want to keep borrowing it is the New Zealand public that will have to pay it back.  
Secondly this Budget is about building a more competitive and productive economy. That means taking taxpayers’ resources and spending them better for a better return on behalf of taxpayers. I think that the New Zealand taxpayer after 9 years of a Labour Government has a lot to look forward to over the next 2 or 3 years of this Government including responsible spending of taxpayers’ money in building a more competitive and productive economy and delivering better public services.  
I am going to talk about a couple of these areas in a moment but can I recognise the unbelievably committed and focused job that our Minister of Health Tony Ryall has done. This is not just about those 9 years under Labour where it increased the spending significantly. I recognise that members opposite when in Government increased the health spend significantly.  
Somebody told me the other day they thought that Labour had almost doubled the health spend. That is commendable—it almost doubled it. But productivity in health—productivity is not mums and dads receiving letters saying that they cannot see their doctor this week or that they are not going to get their operations—did not increase by the same amount. Productivity—people being treated by the health system by our hard-working and excellent doctors and nurses—did not increase by the same amount. It did not almost double; at best it probably went up 10 percent over that period of time.  
Every single week our newspapers in Rotorua are full of praise of the Lakes District Health Board. The papers are focusing on the great work that the board is doing because last year there were more operations in the Rotorua Hospital than in any year before. Under Labour we were just told they needed more money; that is what they needed to do these operations. We found if you backed doctors and backed nurses and you get more doctors and nurses then more people are treated and more people get better.  
Who would have thought that it is not just about money; it is about doctors and nurses in the health service. Tony Ryall has done a fantastic job. He has delivered more money to health so that we can do more and has backed doctors and nurses so that they can get on with the task and do the job that New Zealanders want them to do.  
The next point of this four-point plan is the rebuilding of Christchurch. Just over the weekend there were more earthquakes in Christchurch. Can I say that it is hard for us in the rest of the country to know what the people of Christchurch have gone through but I say to the people of Christchurch that this Government is supporting them and this Government is continuing to make sure that the rebuilding of the city and of their region is a priority. That is very much what this Government focused on during the past 3 years and will be focusing on in the coming 3 years. We will be lifting economic achievement and doing more for New Zealanders.  
Christchurch was New Zealand’s second-largest city. A year or two ago it passed the size of Wellington. It was New Zealand’s fastest-growing city and it was not growth based upon wasteful Government spending which New Zealanders got used to over 9 years but growth based on productivity. It was productive growth—people producing things and getting on in manufacturing or selling them and taking that money back into their businesses reinvesting it and growing employment.  
Had it not been for the earthquakes can I say to New Zealanders I think that our country would be in a very different position and the books may look quite different. But it is a commitment that the Government has made and a commitment that New Zealanders in my electorate tell me they want us to honour—that is to support the people of Christchurch to rebuild their city and at the same time to help rebuild our economy.  
The next area is finance. We want to get the Government’s books back to surplus by 2014-15. I have heard almost every member opposite—at least from the Labour Party—say that that is not important. Labour has its own plans and would borrow a bit more and would get back to surplus in a few years in the future. Well one need only look back a couple of years ago at countries like Greece and they were saying similar things.  
The members opposite are not fit to run this country. We cannot forever borrow and spend more than we earn. That is what they are happy to do on the opposite side of this Chamber. So this Budget which was delivered by the able Bill English gets us back to surplus by 2014-15. Members opposite will say that that is a modest surplus and only an odd hundred million dollars here or there. But can I say that when you are borrowing money as this Government has had to in order to take the sharper edges off the recession a few hundred million dollars here or there becomes very important. When we add up all of the promises that the Labour Party has made over the years of the recession—a few hundred million dollars here $20 million over there—all the promises and commitments well it is not just a few hundred million dollars.  
This economy and the Government’s books will be back to surplus which is projected by Treasury to be by 2014-15. That means we can stop borrowing we can start investing more in New Zealanders and we can start lowering our debt levels. Of course our debt levels will peak around 30 percent of GDP. When we came to office they were spiralling. They were forecast to spiral out of sight for the next 20 or 30 years; we have turned that round.  
I want to finish if I may in a moment by talking about education. A $511.9 million investment has been made in children in this country—an admirable investment. Our hard-working Minister of Education Hekia Parata has done a very good job to make sure that as a Government we are doing the right things. We will invest in children and we will invest in teachers. Our teachers do a very good job on our behalf. I entrust four of my children to teachers to help educate them every day. We will take some of this money—almost $60 million—and invest it in these teachers so that they can continue to do a good job and that together we can raise educational standards.  
Members opposite are right when they say that this is all about the children and we must make sure we do everything we can for those children. But the last 9 years of a Labour Government when it spent money on education that did not raise achievement was a good trial but that is all it was—a trial. It did not succeed and if we want to raise achievement we must do things differently and I commend Hekia Parata for her hard work and focus in this area.  
To members opposite I say that if you keep doing what you have always done then do not be surprised by the same outcome. Can I ask only one thing of you and I do this genuinely: please keep doing what you have always done and in the next 3 years we will work hard in the third term of the National Government. Thank you.