Sepuloni Carmel: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Sepuloni Carmel: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Advance Copy - Subject to minor change before inclusion in Bound Volume.] 
CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour) 
: 
 All I have to say to Amy Adams is this: no plan no progress no ideas no ability to control what is going on no vision for this country and no way this Government should be re-elected in 2011. That side of the House had 9 years—9 long years—to think about how those members might run this country yet here they are 2 years into their term and they still have no plan. They still do not know what they are doing. 
I have only 10 minutes to comment on the very uninspiring speech that was delivered by John Key yesterday and from the get-go it is impossible to know where to start and how to cover everything that needs to be said. We could start with the rising cost of living and the impact that is having on ordinary Kiwis. We could add to that the fact that wages are not going up despite the cost of living going through the roof. We could start by reminding everyone that the Government pulled millions of dollars out of research and development—money that could have gone towards investing in clean technology which is something New Zealand should lead the world in. We could talk about the State assets that that side of the House intends to sell off. We could talk about the fact that National intends to eventually sell off the assets to foreign investors with no regard for the real mums and dads who currently own them. We could talk about the fact that National has continually bashed beneficiaries over the course of its time in Government to try to shift the attention away from the fact that it has been unable to create jobs and the fact that the real problem is there are no jobs for New Zealanders to go into. We could talk about the fact that last month alone 1000 more people joined the other 68000 people who are on the unemployment benefit. 
Where do we start? There are so many examples of why the National Government is not fit to govern this country. But I do think that a good place to start is its tinkering with our education system and the damage it has caused. I visited a number of early childhood education centres in the Waitakere electorate over the last 2 weeks—most of them were second visits; I had visited most of them last year. All of them stand to lose because of the Minister of Education’s decision to cut $400 million out of early childhood education yet we have to listen to just about each and every National MP telling us that no money has been taken out of the early childhood education sector and that $91 million of additional funding has been added to it. We on this side of the House know that is not true and every single educator working in that sector knows that it is untrue as well. 
I have been to public meetings and I have listened to the commentary from MPs on the National side about the positive benefits that our Pacific community can look forward to because of the cuts made to early childhood education or as they like to say the additional funding that has been put in. National MPs like to go out there and say that no gains were made for Maori and Pacific early childhood education under Labour and right here I have information that tells me straight away that not only did the participation of Maori and Pacific children go up but also from 2001 to 2008 qualified Pacific early childhood educators increased by 534. That came directly from an investment by the previous Labour Government. Also an additional 479 Pacific early childhood education centres opened during the Labour Government’s term. That was because the Labour Government saw it as a priority. We have to sit here and listen to Anne Tolley tell us that National plans to build an additional five centres—five centres after 2 years. Under the previous Labour Government 479 centres were built for the Pacific community alone. That side of the House has its priorities in the wrong place. The early childhood education sector knows and very soon every single parent and grandparent who has children in those early childhood centres will also know that that is the case. 
When we look at the early childhood education sector we see the Government does not understand there was not just an investment by Labour but an exceptional commitment by the Pacific community to ensure that Pacific children have the same start as anybody else. The Pacific population is one of the fastest-growing—and the youngest—populations in New Zealand. Any adverse changes to the accessibility of educational resources like National’s slash and burn of early childhood education funding will have a disproportionately negative impact on Pacific communities. 
Let us go from education to welfare. Last year the Social Services Committee had to sit painfully through the changes that the National Government’s Minister for Social Development and Employment pushed through yet it seems that we have even more to not look forward to. John Key has revealed plans for radical welfare reform including pushing people off the domestic purposes sickness and invalids benefits. He said that it is a source of shame that people remain on a benefit for years even though work is available to them. The Government says it will provide more detail about its changes when a welfare reform working-group reports back later this month but the areas that we know are likely to be targeted include getting beneficiaries with children back into work along with invalids and sickness beneficiaries and tackling youth skills. 
We believe even on this side in welfare reform. But the best reform we can possibly aim for is the type of reform that creates jobs for people to go into. We cannot tackle a welfare problem if we are not creating jobs for people and growing the economy. That has been the failure of that side of the House. It has done nothing to create jobs and nothing to build the economy in this country post-recession. In fact John Key has admitted that we are slipping back into a recession when countries like Australia do not seem to have gone through one at all and other OECD countries seem to have come out unscathed unlike us. The only plan that we have seen from John Key and his National Government is to borrow billions of dollars in order to give tax cuts to the top earners to hock off our valuable State assets to foreign buyers and to slash and burn essential public services like hospitals and schools. Labour does have a plan. We stated it very clearly. We will stop the asset sales we will introduce a tax-free zone to help all New Zealanders cope with the rising cost of living and we will create a stronger export economy a fairer tax system and strong public services. Those are all things that the National Government is unable to promise New Zealanders at this time. 
The Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament—this is something I found really interesting—included a claim that his Government had placed a special emphasis on the rights of victims. He failed to state that that emphasis has been negative and detrimental to the rights of victims. One example of that is National’s refusal to enact the Domestic Violence Reform Bill which was introduced by Labour during its previous term of Government. We know and National knows because the bill has been through a select committee that it was a culmination of extensive consultation with organisations and key stakeholders who support victims of domestic violence. Instead whilst our bill which was very thoroughly consulted on languishes on the Government’s Order Paper—National passed its own watered-down version—the National Government has done nothing to give domestic violence victims the protection and support they need moving forward. 
In the last year the National Government added insult to injury by slashing counselling and support for victims and survivors of sexual assault. Previously they were able to access counselling support via ACC on the recommendation of their counsellors or therapists. The National Government imposed more stringent measures which included the requirement that victims/survivors be subject to multiple interviews with different health professionals. The Minister for ACC on that side of the House knows very well that when an independent report was released it criticised the Government and the actions that it had taken. The Government was then forced to do a turn-round and cut back on some of the more ruthless aspects of what it tried to do but by that time it was too late and the damage that had been done was immeasurable. 
Over the past 2 years that side of the House has caused New Zealand a lot of pain unnecessarily and it will only get worse. New Zealanders recognise that that is the case. Labour does have a plan Labour is progressive and Labour has a vision for the country. Watch this space I say to Ms Goudie because Labour will be re-elected to Government in 2011.