Cunliffe David: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: General Debate[Sitting date: 05 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16339. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Leader of the Opposition): Sunday was Children’s Day. To celebrate the day we went out and asked Kiwis just what their dreams were for Kiwi kids. The responses were not something to celebrate. The responses were in turn heartbreaking and infuriating. It was a hard lesson in just how tough it is for New Zealanders and their families and just how tough life has become for so many under this Government. It is like this response from Eleanor a teacher who claims that kids fall asleep in class because their house is so cold that it keeps them awake. Or the response from another Kiwi who dreams of a day when “I take my kid to the supermarket and he wants a lollipop or chocolate and I can get it for him because I have got enough money and a good job. I want to see him happy and not crying because I can’t afford it.” Those are New Zealanders’ dreams for their children under National’s New Zealand—to be able to afford a lollipop when they take them to the supermarket.This response is from Angela who wants kids simply to have clean waterways green grass and parks to enjoy the Kiwi lifestyle. Another person dared to dream of a New Zealand in which kids could “have their parents around not working all hours just to make ends meet.” It is like the woman in Papakura whom I met a few weeks ago who works 16 hours to support two teenage boys and who has not had a pay rise since Helen Clark was the Prime Minister. She is on less than $14 an hour. Shame shame shame! Or this from Byron who wrote: “I have nightmares about being able to afford my son’s education and pray that I will be able to help build the finance.”Then there are the endless endless dreams of warm houses of kids not going hungry and of parents with decent jobs: “I want to be loved fed and secure. I want my kids to have their basic needs met. I want a family that I can feed and raise. I want breakfast lunch and dinner; warm clothes to wear; a full tummy; a warm dry home; nourishing food; warm clean clothing; and parents who have time. I just want to be valued.” That is where National is taking New Zealand—to a point where making our kids warm andfed and safe is not a policy it is a dream. Even more damning is the fact that under National so many of those dreams will continue to be unfulfilled as the gap between the haves and the have-nots gets wider and wider.Let us not forget that in the last fortnight we found out that another 20000 New Zealand kids are living in poverty because the Government got its numbers wrong and that it knew about it before it declared it to this Parliament. There are now 285000 children living below the poverty line growing up in poverty—more than the populations of Dunedin and Hamilton combined. It is a disgrace that so many children and their families are in poverty and left dreaming of meeting the basic needs of life because this Government has washed its hands of them.Well Labour has not walked away. We have a dream that we will make a reality. It is one that we share with Curtis and many other kids who have written to us. We stand for kids being able to follow their dreams no matter where they are or how much money is in their parents’ wallets. Both the Prime Minister and I had those kinds of opportunities but the difference is that his Government is pulling the ladder up after itself while we are extending it for all New Zealanders. That is why we will be extending the number of jobs out there and making sure New Zealanders in all our regions have the opportunity for better jobs and higher wages. That is why we introduced the Best Start package for children.I note that National is yet to attack the substance—I wonder why. It is yet to attack the substance because either it would like to do it or it does not want to be seen arguing against the principle of feeding our kids. Giving $60 a week to the families that wrote in here will make a difference—so will paid parental leave so will early childhood education and so will decent care for the mothers. We want a future for all New Zealand’s children not just for some.