Robertson Grant: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Robertson Grant: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5570] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 Vote State Services is ground zero for the broken election promises of the National Government. Let us begin with the promise to cap but not cut public services. That is the promise John Key made when he spoke to the Public Service Association congress in October last year. In relation to this policy he was asked “So does that mean National will be cutting services?”. “Not at all.” said Mr Key. But that is not the record of this Government. When I stood in this Chamber and asked Gerry Brownlee what core public services were and what would not be cut do members know what he said? He said “It’s the bit that won’t be cut.” National members do not actually know. They do not have a definition. They went into the election with a policy that was fluff. It was designed to try to reassure the people who in 2005 knew that the real National Government agenda was to cut public services and that is the agenda we have seen put in place by this Government. 
We have seen cuts right throughout the Public Service. We have seen cuts in the Ministry of Social Development. It was a remarkable decision to cut jobs and services in the ministry that looks after the most vulnerable people the ministry that in a recession we would expect to be there providing those services. But we have seen hundreds of jobs go from the Ministry of Social Development including jobs within Child Youth and Family and including the jobs of people who work with people advising on child abuse. John Key stood in this Chamber and said that this Opposition side of Parliament did not care about child abuse. That was an outrageous statement! When Labour was in Government we continued to support the Ministry of Social Development to ensure that child abuse was reported and looked into but that Government over there has decided to cut back staff in that area. 
The Government has also cut back on other important front-line services. That is promise No. 2 broken. Front-line services were going to be the priority of State services within this Government but we have consistently seen front-line services cut. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s biosecurity division looks after our border but now 60 jobs have gone. One 55-year-old man from the division with 25 years’ experience asked us what he can do now and what will happen in the future. The reality is that when cargo volumes return that man’s experience will be required. Will we be able to get him back or will he come back as a consultant or a contractor as happened in the 1990s and will we see ourselves paying more for those services? That is a front-line service that has been cut by this Government. 
School library service advisers who spent their time in rural schools ensuring that children had access to good-quality information provided through the National Library budget have gone. That is another front-line service that has gone under this Government. We also have the example from the Department of Conservation of the East Coast Hawke’s Bay Conservation Board which has gone. Staff from the Department of Conservation have been cut at the front line. Front-line staff have been cut right across the board from the Ministry of Fisheries and the Tertiary Education Commission. People in the regions and in the communities representing the Government have had their jobs cut. I am quite sure that when the promise was made that resources would go to the front line and that there would be a capping of the core Government administration people expected that Government services and the Government presence in the regions would be continued but they have been cut. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Remember what Stephen Franks promised? 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: That is right. My colleague Sue Kedgley reminds me that on the campaign trail the National Party’s Wellington Central candidate said that no jobs would go from the Public Service under National. Well we have seen up to 2000 jobs go from the Public Service—2000 New Zealanders are out of work as a result of the decisions of this National Government. We have heard all about the recession we have heard all about the effects of the recession but these are decisions made by the National Government to put hard-working New Zealanders out of work. 
The third broken promise was when John Key stood up at the Public Service Association congress and said that we would not have a radical reorganisation of the public sector. He said that it was easy to underestimate the amount of energy and inspiration soaked up by institutional change as well as the loss of personal and institutional knowledge. What a sensible thing to say! Why then do we hear from Bill English time and time again that we are in for a period of radical change in the Public Service? We hear that there will be big changes and that there will be job losses. This is a broken promise. The State services the public services that New Zealanders rely upon in their daily lives are being undermined on a day-by-day basis. This recession is being used as an excuse by National to undermine public services and to make the cut-backs it has always wanted to make to the Public Service. That is an outrage because New Zealanders rely on those services.