Guy Nathan: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Guy Nathan: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2012. Volume:678;Page:1156. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 I want to contrast the two speeches last Thursday dubbed by the media “Super Thursday”. What we saw from the Leader of the Opposition was him trying to say that we need a new New Zealand and we need to be like Finland. You would have thought that the research unit in the Labour Party would have at least done some work would you not? But alas Mr Shearer got up for his big speech and pretty much the first thing he said for this parliamentary year was “We want to be like Finland.” What I could not believe when we delved into it—and it was exposed yesterday by the Prime Minister—was that Finland has a mixed-ownership model. Its big energy company Fortum is 51 percent owned by the Government. Then we went on and also exposed that Finland has a higher rate of unemployment than what we have here in New Zealand. 
We discovered in Mr Shearer’s speech last week that he is a quiet supporter of welfare reform. Is that not surprising? We also found out from Mr Shearer last week that he supports lifting education standards. Is that not great? If Mr Shearer was here I would like to ask him whether he supports national standards. That is one thing Mr Shearer should come down to the House and say: “Yes I support not only the welfare reform that this Government is delivering but also the roll-out of national standards.” which is going very well up and down New Zealand and is being well received by parents in my electorate of Otaki. 
 Also what we heard from Mr Shearer last week was that not only does he want a new New Zealand; he wants a brighter future. But one thing is for sure: our campaign pitch last year resonated right across on the other side of the House and it is now imprinted in Mr Shearer’s brain that indeed he wants a brighter future for New Zealand. 
What we found from Mr Shearer’s speech was that actually he wants to move the Labour Party towards the centre. In my humble view Mr Shearer has not even shored up the left of his support. With the ports protest we did not see Mr Shearer proudly holding the banner out the front with the union workers at the Auckland port; we saw Mr Cunliffe out there. Lo and behold we still have the battle of the Davids. Mr Cunliffe dragged Mr Shearer along to the protest by those Auckland port workers. I am sure Mr Cunliffe when he gets up in his general debate slot this afternoon will indeed confirm that. 
Contrast Mr Shearer’s woeful contribution in his speech last Thursday with what the Prime Minister announced: policy of substance better public services more efficiency reducing costs and better results for New Zealanders. It is worthwhile running through those 10 platforms where we have got stretch targets over the next 3 to 5 years. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Which targets? 
Hon NATHAN GUY 
: Reducing the number on the working-age benefit—and I am sure Mr Mallard’s electorate will be pleased to hear that in Hutt South—getting a greater participation in early childhood education which is hugely important; lifting the rates of infants being immunised; reducing serious assaults on children and I am sure we would all agree with that; lifting those 18-year-olds up to getting National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 which is hugely important if you want to move to a productive New Zealand economy; increasing the proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds who have trade or tertiary qualifications; reducing overall crime and we heard that today from Minister Collins who is doing a fantastic job in her work as Minister of Justice; reducing the overall reoffending rate; the one-stop shops online to help grow New Zealand’s business—and I want to make another contribution on that in a moment—and ensuring that we have more digital transactions for the New Zealand public. There are big reforms happening in this space big targets that this Government is going to be held to account on to ensure that we reach them. 
The other big news of last week in this speech by the Prime Minister the Rt Hon John Key was the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment rolling four agencies into one which is going to be hugely important to drive our economy forward.