Mackey Moana: General Debates 
Mackey Moana: General Debates 
[Volume:614;Page:10599] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 Yesterday in this House I was much maligned. I returned to my office after question time to hear some random ranting Tory— 
Simon Power 
: Random is a bit much! 
MOANA MACKEY 
: True—telling mistruths about my activities in a select committee I do not belong to. So I came down to the House to defend myself against that not actually knowing who had said it. Now I could be excused for looking at the usual suspects—Mr Simon Power and Mr John Key—but after I had made my point I was informed it was actually the Hon Roger Sowry who had made those vicious comments and it all came clear. Mr Sowry is the most bitter man in the National Party—unlucky No. 13—a man who accused me of reading  
New Idea  
which is ironic given that he has a lifetime subscription to  
“No Idea” 
. It surprises me that Mr Sowry even has time to notice what goes on in his select committee given that his nose is constantly stuck in the situations vacant column of all the newspapers in this country. I ask Mr Sowry not to come begging to me for a reference particularly regarding his observation skills. 
The trans-Tasman ratings have been causing a bit of conversation amongst MPs this week. People have been debating the various rankings people got and whether they deserved them. But the one thing everyone agrees on is the comment on the abilities of National’s dumped deputy. What did it say? It said he deserved his demotion. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Which one? 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Roger Sowry—he deserved his demotion. He is unpleasant ineffective and a career as a shoe salesman beckons. He is unpleasant and ineffective. Well I can certainly concur with the first part of that statement and my colleague Darren Hughes and the voters of Otaki can certainly concur with the second part. But to be fair it cannot be easy for him to lose to someone half his age—someone who was not even at high school when he first came to Parliament. 
That is symptomatic of the National Party’s wider problem when it comes to young voters. The party is outdated. While the Labour Party is selecting and electing young candidates into Parliament National is making Don Brash its leader. 
The Government’s achievements for young New Zealanders are significant and speak for themselves. We are committed to the goal of ensuring that by 2007 all 15 to 19-year-olds will be engaged in education training or work—leading them to financial independence. We have already reached our target of 6000 Modern Apprenticeships. We piloted the Gateway programme which is now in 62 schools around this country. We have introduced the primary health strategy so that all 6 to 17-year-olds who are enrolled are now eligible for low-cost health care. 
We have replaced the draconian Employment Contracts Act with the fairer Employment Relations Act. Young people all too often were faced with “take it or leave it” employment negotiations and this Labour-led Government has rectified that problem. We have increased the minimum wage four times in 4 years. To make sure that all young New Zealanders can take part and participate we have the lowest unemployment in 16 years. 
We have made tertiary education more affordable. We have removed the interest from student loans while students are studying. Student loan debt forecasts are now down $2.6 billion largely due to this Government’s policies. We are going to increase the eligibility for allowances. We froze fees and brought in fee maxima so that students now know that their fees will not increase by more than 5 percent each year which is far better than the situation I faced in the 1990s when I was at university. We have introduced fees and loan help for secondary teachers and for health sector trainees in the form of scholarships. 
What did the National Party do? The National Party cut student support in the 1990s. It cut family support and it cut health spending. What can we look forward to if the National Party is elected into Government with Don Brash as its leader? I say to all young New Zealanders that they can expect more cuts. They can expect to pay more for their tertiary education. They can expect to pay more for their health care. Young New Zealanders growing up in families close to the breadline can expect to face far greater pressures and to have families who are not coping because of cuts in family support. The National Party that made those cuts in the 1990s is still saying it will make them again. That is the scary thing about this National Party; it has not changed its policies.