Calder Cam: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Calder Cam: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Sitting date: 12 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7497. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr CAM CALDER (National) 
: 
 As the waves of the ongoing financial turmoil continue to lap relentlessly on the shores of New Zealand New Zealanders give thanks to this National-led Government. They recognise that we provide the prudent pragmatic and fiscal financial management that these troubled times demand. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has urged policy makers in all countries to maintain crisis management mode as the global economy experiences a wide decline of confidence and problems mount in the eurozone and beyond. 
Just last week US Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner warned that the domestic dithering continues and that he could not guarantee that the fiscal cliff would be averted. This could lead to a potential hit in the US GDP of 3 percent to 5 percent. President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi has said he would do whatever it takes to hold the eurozone together but the eurozone’s recession shows no signs of easing. In China growth appears to have slowed to just over 7 percent as politicians struggle to accelerate the shift from an export-driven economy to one that relies on domestic consumption. Globally then growth could stutter in 2013 should any of the Opposition be concerned. 
Here in New Zealand we are reducing our exposure to overseas debt markets as much as possible while still cushioning vulnerable New Zealanders from the harshest edges of the ongoing financial crisis. New Zealand’s economy it should be noted is performing better than the economies of the US Japan Germany France and the UK and growth in the last quarter is on a par with that of Australia. We have focused on growth that is sustainable and built on higher savings and earnings rather than ever-increasing consumption and debt as exampled by the previous Government. 
Our policies to navigate this fiscal fog of uncertainty are prudent practical and precise and have received a ringing endorsement from Peter Orszag more recently US President Obama’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Orszag praised New Zealand as standing out in the world as the only country that has coupled additional economic stimulus with medium-term fiscal consolidation. Not surprisingly huge numbers of New Zealanders suffer nightmares at the thought of our measured approach being replaced by an economy managed by a coalition of Green abacus-hugging parallel universe ersatz economists and their spendthrift lacklustre Labour union lackey colleagues. 
Our astute financial management has led to our being able to cushion the most vulnerable from the worst effects of this ongoing crisis. Nowhere is this more evident than in the health and social development portfolios. As a member of the Health Committee I had the pleasure of attending a global health forum recently where many delegates complained about the effects of the global financial crisis on their health budgets. In 2009-10 in this country whilst other OECD countries were reducing spending New Zealand had a 3.4 percent increase in real health spend—the third-highest of 27 nations. 
In my maiden speech I spoke of how a country is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable and I observed that a Government cannot legislate aroha and a Government cannot legislate love. The White Paper for Vulnerable Children sets out this Government’s commitment to identify support and protect the 20000 to 30000 most vulnerable children in our society. Decade after decade the deaths of up to a dozen of our most vulnerable kiddies annually has been a stain on our nation’s escutcheon. This Government is doing something about it informed by 10000 submissions on a green paper. The white paper sets out how this Government will address the appalling incidence of these tragic events. 
In the last week I have spoken in nine towns and communities all over New Zealand from Napier to Invercargill on this multi-stranded initiative. The implementation of the Children’s Action Plan will be driven by key Ministers in Wellington and implemented by the chief executives of social development health justice education housing Te PuniKokiri and the police. They will work together to be jointly accountable for achieving results for our vulnerable children. The joint accountability is hugely significant. No longer will these tragedies be swept under Child Youth and Family’s front door. Key features of the plan are a Vulnerable Kids Information System a risk predictor tool and the development of a stand-alone neutral Child Protect line. These initiatives are crucial long overdue and possible only because of our prudent and thoughtful fiscal rectitude.