Shanks Katrina: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shanks Katrina: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 14 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:337. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to take a call this afternoon. I would like to congratulate you Mr Deputy Speaker and the other presiding officers on being re-elected in this Parliament. I would like to begin my address this afternoon by talking about three very inspirational groups. We have heard a lot of negative talk in this House this afternoon and I just want to talk about these three groups I have met in the last couple of weeks.  
The first one I want to talk about is Maria Johnson. Maria Johnson is the founder of the Little Schools programme in Wellington. She is an entrepreneur she won the  
Her Business 
 award in Wellington at the end of last year and she is absolutely passionate about early childhood education. In fact she is so passionate that she is in the process of breaking through into China and the markets over there. She is totally aspirational for business and business women in particular in New Zealand.  
I would like to talk about the sanofi cyclists. The sanofi cyclists are a group of world-class cyclists who suffer from type 1 diabetes. They are elite athletes who can prove to and inspire other diabetes sufferers around the world that they can go out and live their lives to the full. They were recently in New Zealand competing and they became first or second I believe in the races they ran around Palmerston North.  
The third group is the Johnsonville and Newlands volunteer fire brigade. Like these volunteers and all other volunteers in New Zealand they give day after day week after week year after year to their communities. They are the backbone of our community and our country. I went to their awards ceremony and it was great to be part of that. Annette King was present as well it was good to see. It is always good to celebrate people who go out and make a difference in New Zealand.  
These three groups of people represent Kiwi ingenuity Kiwi spirit and the Kiwi way of life. We have heard in this House from the last couple of speakers from Labour about failures about how badly the country is going and how there is no hope for the country. 
Kris Faafoi 
: What happened to the positivity? 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: Well actually you are absolutely wrong. Su’a William Sio just sat down and he had said “I’ve just been around my businesses and I can tell you”. Well I just went to Maria Johnson’s business yesterday and I can tell you we have got some wonderful entrepreneurs out there doing some great work. Not often do we hear from the Labour members about solutions—solutions to the problems that face New Zealand solutions to our challenges—and about any innovation or inspiration at all.  
Well lucky this National Government has a solution. We have a plan and it lies in the spirit and the ambition of entrepreneurs like Maria Johnson. The role models of our cyclists and all those who work hard for our communities— 
Iain Lees-Galloway 
: The plan the plan I want to hear about the plan. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: National is committed to building a brighter future. It is so good to hear actually the Opposition talking about the brighter future that we have. I am going to look in Su’a William Sio’s  
Hansard 
 because I believe he talked about the brighter future most probably 10 times in his 10 minutes. It is great to see he believes in a brighter future for New Zealand where New Zealanders have opportunity where they are going to have jobs where we are going to have higher incomes where we are going to have better public services. When I talk about better public services what do I talk about? I talk about more elective surgery I talk about ensuring that our Maori and Pacific Island children have access to early childhood education—actually that we provide early childhood education that they want to access.  
We are going to ensure that we have high targets like the 95 percent target for the immunisation of our children before they get to school like rheumatic fever—reducing that instead of it increasing under the Labour Government— 
Iain Lees-Galloway 
: How? 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: How? Oh my goodness you know exactly how we are going to do it because we have got our 120-point action plan. It is funny—Clare Curran is now sitting in the back there and last week Clare Curran said to us “You have no plan no plan at all.” And we said we have got the 120-point economic action plan and Clare Curran goes “What 120-point action plan?”. Well actually it is on the internet—www.national.org.nz—and anybody can go and have a look at it. It is a very comprehensive plan and it takes us through the next 3 years.  
Unlike the Labour Party which has no plan no vision no aspiration at all we have four main priorities over the next 4 years. The first is responsibly managing the Government’s finances. The others are building a more competitive and productive economy delivering better public services and of course rebuilding Canterbury.  
Iain Lees-Galloway 
: How? 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: OK so how are we going to do it? A great question—I am pleased you asked. What we are not going to do is we are not going to borrow more money like Labour would have done if it had got into Government because we are all sitting back and watching Europe and seeing all those countries that are heavily indebted and knowing that we cannot borrow any more money. In fact I believe that in the election Labour campaigned on borrowing billions of dollars more money. We are not going to do that; we know we are not going to do that. We are thinking of other ways of raising capital and one of those is through our mixed-ownership model.  
But we alone as a Government cannot reduce the debt of the country. People have to take responsibility for reducing their own personal debt as well. We know that the tax switch was significant in ensuring that New Zealanders got to find a different way to look at how they are getting their money and what they are going to do with it. We know that before the tax switch for every dollar that was earned $1.10 was spent and after the tax switch for every dollar that was earned 99c was spent. So we know that New Zealanders are changing the way they are saving and spending their money. In fact in 2008 personal loans were $13.25 billion. Now personal loans are $12.5 billion. That is a significant decrease for New Zealanders in how they are spending and saving their money.  
This Government is committed to returning to surpluses in 2014-15. We are looking at $300 million in surpluses in our forecasts. We know that we have to be financially responsible—fiscally responsible—to ensure that we keep the pressure off interest rates because we know that one of the biggest pressures on households is interest rates. We need to keep those low so mortgage repayments stay low. Also we have to be responsible for our exporters to ensure that our exchange rate is stable and as beneficial to them as it possibly can be. But we know the only way we are going to grow our economy is through our exports: being productive and being a competitive exporter in overseas markets. We know that we need free-trade agreements and successive Governments have worked towards that. We know that our biggest trading partners are Australia and China and they have to be our biggest trading partners because they are the growing partners. We cannot afford to go back to our traditional partners which are not growing. If we want to grow we need to ensure that we hitch our wagon to the economies that are growing as well.  
I am excited about the future for our families our businesses and our organisations in New Zealand. I am excited that Maria has the opportunity one day to expand her business into China because of National’s commitment to business. I am excited about the future of sanofi cyclists and about how they inspire others in New Zealand and in their communities to overcome adversity day after day. I am proud that so many people in New Zealand are willing to put their hands up to help each other to help their communities. I am excited about this Government having its second term and that we can deliver the brighter future that we promised. We believe in opportunity personal freedom and the ambition to succeed. Thank you.