Parmar Parmjeet: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParmar Parmjeet: General Debate[Sitting date: 18 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2366. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Just looking at the opposite side I wonder who is the Opposition here—the Greens New Zealand First or the Labour Party. But when I closely analyse this I see more ex-leaders sitting on the backbenches in the Labour Party. So that must be the Opposition party then. But unfortunately its current leader is also no better than their previously failed leaders and that is because he is not backing his own candidate in Northland. When this Opposition Labour Party was in Government for 9 years it created loads of inefficiencies. I say this because I still remember how I felt in 2008 with this huge global financial crisis coming our way. Then I am sure every New Zealander feared how they and their families and children would get through this global financial crisis. What our new Prime Minister the Rt Hon John Key then inherited from that Labour Government was this economy that was already in recession with Treasury predictions of doom and gloom and endless debt and this huge responsibility of navigating us through this global financial crisis.I do not want to remember those nanny State days when those members wanted to tell our families what kind of shower fittings and lightbulbs we should be using. They stood for more Government more dependency more rules and more spending. But the Rt Hon John Key and his Ministers in 2008 focused the machinery of government to deliver more for less. They did not increase taxes. They gave tax cuts across the board helping low and middle income New Zealand families. They did what they promised to do and that is what I call leadership. That leadership is working. The National Government understands issues around our children and issues around our families. National understands the worries of our senior citizens. It is not just about them being safe and secure physically; it is about them being safe and secure financially and socially too. New Zealand families do understand the importance of our economy if families are to flourish. National continues to stand with the families and that is why we keep investing in the public sector and we keep having challenging targets.Just for an example from 1 April next month paid parental leave is going to increase from 14 weeks to 16 weeks. That is the National Government increasing it from 14 weeks to 16 weeks. From next year on 1 April 2016 it will be increased by another 2 weeks to 18 weeks. This assistance will be extended to other families too. The parental tax credit is going to be increased from $150 to $220 a week and the length of that is also going to be increased from 8 weeks to 10 weeks. This is being done by the National Government. This is going to start from 1 April. After that if we look at 1 July free GP visits are going to be extended to children under the age of 13. Currently children under the age of 6 can access free GP visits and prescriptions but the National Government is investing to extend free GP visits to children under the age of 13. This is an important precautionary health measure. It is expected that 400000 primary school - aged children will benefit from this investment which is being done by the National Government. This kind of assistance is really going to help our families and children because then families do not have to end up in the hospital queue at odd times. Because of that sometimes children miss their schooling and their suffering is longer as well.All of this is complemented by keeping our houses warmer drier and healthier. Around 300000 homes are insulated under the National Government thanks to the Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes and the Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart programmes. Again with our focus on children and families the National Government has partnered with Fonterra and Sanitarium to give free breakfasts in schools. This is in all primary and secondary schools regardless of their decile. This is to look after children’s well-being so that they do not suffer in their education if they are not fed at home. Education is really important. National believes in delivering for all children. National believes that we should provide opportunities to all our children to succeed. That is why we are investing $359 million in communities of schools. This is to keep our best teachers in classrooms to extend that leadership across different schools. Since National came into office the Government’s investment in early childhood education has doubled. Our target is that 98 percent of young children are able to access some kind of early childhood education programme before they start school.The National-led Government under the leadership of the Rt Hon John Key will continue to support our families and children. We will remain focused on the economy we will remain focused on jobs and we will keep taking people off welfare because employment is important. Employment is not just about money; it is much more than that. We will continue to do that. Thank you.