Clark Helen: Budget Debate 
Clark Helen: Budget Debate 
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Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) 
: 
 That speech was the parliamentary equivalent of the last rites—and I saw more than a few priests along the front bench wanting to administer them rather sooner than later. As they think about the epitaph for the Leader of the Opposition I suggest something like this in keeping with the speech: “Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what good things you can say about Australia and run down your own country while you are doing it.” 
I think there is only one message for Dr Brash: if he thinks it is so hot over there he should go and live there. And by the sound of it he is. I think he has just gone to buy his air ticket. Any casual listeners tuning into Parliament and hearing that speech would think they had got Radio Australia. They would have thought it was the Australian Parliament. And I think the Leader of the Opposition should go. He should go over to Australia and enjoy its higher unemployment. He should go and enjoy the fact that Qantas today announced that a thousand jobs are to go down the gurgler—adding to that unemployment. 
Dr Brash should go and enjoy the fact that after the Australian Budget was delivered consumer confidence went down. Today’s  
New Zealand Herald 
 has the headline: “Tax cuts fail to buy confidence” under which it states that high interest rates “wipe the smiles from the faces of consumers”. That is the sort of Budget Dr Brash wanted—a Budget that would put up interest rates fuel inflation and drop consumer confidence. I say that Dr Brash is welcome to his new homeland and I think he might just have gone in that direction. 
This Budget invests in New Zealand and New Zealanders. This Budget is about transforming our economy it is about making life better for all New Zealand families and it is about building our unique national identity. This is a Budget that delivers on the promises Labour made during the campaign. During the Minister of Finance’s speech I heard members opposite say: “That’s been announced before.” That was a promise we were keeping in every single case. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: They don’t know the identity of the nation. 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: No it is a very foreign idea to the National Party. Everyone remembers “no ifs no buts no maybes; the surcharge will go”—and it went up! 
This Budget also delivers on the confidence and supply and working agreements we have with other parties in this House and I thank New Zealand First United Future and the Green Party for the formal arrangements that make it possible to govern and to deliver this Budget. 
Labour offers steady predictable stable and progressive Government. This is our seventh Budget for the fifth Labour-led Government and every Budget we have brought to this House has been another step in building a stronger economy making life better for our families and investing in those things that make New Zealand a special place to live in and be part of. I think most New Zealanders appreciate that this country has gone ahead under Labour. The facts speak for themselves. 
Our country has grown ahead of the OECD average under Labour and even at the bottom of the economic cycle growth will be positive on an annual basis. Our Government is ranked sixth in the world in terms of Government contribution to a country’s competitiveness and we continue right up there at the top of the employment rankings. We have the second-lowest rate of unemployment in the OECD. I know that if we go back and compare the average annual unemployment rate to March with what it was under National 7 years ago we will find that it is exactly half of what it was then. Those results are spectacular. More than 313000 more Kiwis are in jobs today under Labour. There are 313000 more jobs than were there before. 
However as good as these results are we know that New Zealand can do even better. We know that as other countries lift their economic performance so we must lift ours. That is why in the Prime Minister’s statement that I give at the start of the year—given this year in February—I set out the aspirations for our Government and the work programme for economic transformation. This Budget and recently announced policies follow through on that statement. 
I said in that statement that faster cheaper broadband was a top priority for the Government and that the lack of it was holding New Zealand back. Now our Government has announced policy to get that faster cheaper broadband. I might say I have heard support expressed for that from just about every corner in New Zealand except the National Party. I can only agree with the  
New Zealand Herald 
—the National Party has defined itself as the chief appeaser for Telecom. The National Party needs to explain why it continues to back a set of rules that showed they could not deliver what New Zealanders are entitled to in telecommunications. 
We are serious about transforming this economy and we will act to see that our people get modern infrastructure and services. That applies to transport as well. The faces of National members went down when the Minister of Finance read the Budget’s transport provisions. The truth is that our Government inherited a huge infrastructure deficit and nowhere more so than in the transport area. The spending cuts under a National Government meant that transport missed out time and time again. 
Even before this year’s Budget this Labour-led Government had virtually doubled spending on land transport since 1999 and public transport spending was up almost fivefold. This Budget takes total land transport funding under a Labour-led Government up by 134 percent since 1999. That is an incredible figure. The Minister of Finance has set out the extra $1.3 billion that will guarantee our country’s State highway programme for the next 5 years. That will speed up work on major projects to ease traffic congestion in the metro cities and keep up the momentum right around the country. In addition the Waikato will be waiting to hear tomorrow the additional funding to be announced for that fast-growing region’s land transport network. 
These investments mean that over the next 5 years this Labour-led Government will spend $300 million more on land transport than we take in by way of any user charge on petrol road users and motor vehicle registration fees. These are huge investments in the modernisation of New Zealand and only a Labour-led Government could have made those investments. 
I know that National members are very depressed about the transport spending but that increased spending is not the only feature of a Government that is very strong on stepping up economic performance. Take for example education and skills. We are delivering on the promises we made to New Zealanders for more apprenticeships for young people more opportunities to experience workplaces while at school through the Gateway programme more possibilities for industry training and more investment in literacy and numeracy programmes in the workforce. Most of the people in the workforce in 10 or 20 years’ time are in work today and it is critical to lift their skills as well. 
We are delivering more investment across our tertiary institutions and in our students. Under this Budget more students will be eligible for student allowances and for scholarships for university study. Of course this Budget implements another policy the National Opposition has heard about before and opposed—that is interest-free student loans. National members hate it because they know it more than cancels out the miserable little tax rebate they had planned for their policy. The interest-free student loans policy has given our young people and our graduates new hope for their future in New Zealand. If they stay here they know that their debt is manageable and that they can plan ahead. That is what it is about. The National Party drove them out with high debt. Labour says: “Stay and make your contribution here and you will be rewarded for that.” That has to be a win-win for New Zealand. 
In the area of science and research which is so critical for the transformation of our economy spending is up yet again. We have increased the investment in science and research by 65 percent since 1999. We do think there is a critical role for Government in supporting innovation across our primary industries our high tech industries our environmental technologies and our biosecurity. There can be no old economy in New Zealand. The whole economy has to be a new economy driven by innovation. 
This Budget also increases investment in the commercialisation of research and in venture capital to help young Kiwi firms with high growth potential. This Budget builds up to Export Year 2007 with more funding allocated to market development assistance for Kiwi companies. As was promised in my February statement a major review of regulatory frameworks is under way to make sure that our economic performance is not unduly constrained by overregulation. In all the barracking that went on from Opposition members I kept hearing them say that there was nothing for business. I just heard quite a lot for business and working with business to improve the New Zealand economy is very important to this Government. 
I also want to say that this Budget invests massively in New Zealand families. I know that Working for Families is transforming the lives of our families across New Zealand. We are seeing countless reporting and Government members are getting countless letters and emails from families saying that it is easier to make ends meet. It is no wonder it is easier—over the next 4 years 350000 Kiwi families will share over $6 billion of family tax relief. That averages out across 350000 families to about $88 a week. 
For some reason I do not hear the National members praising tax relief for our hard-working families. They want it for themselves; they want it for their rich friends. They would sell billions of dollars of State assets and cut health and education to give people like themselves tax cuts while leaving ordinary families in the lurch. This Government invests in New Zealanders and their families. It invests in health education housing and policing—all those areas that guarantee opportunity and security for our families. We do deliver on our policies. 
I especially want to mention the health spending in the Budget. Since 1999 this Labour-led Government has increased spending on health by—wait for it—77 percent. There has been a 77 percent increase in health spending and this Budget sets out yet another $3 billion over the next 4 years. That could never have been afforded by the National Party—it would never have made that a priority. This Labour Government is building new hospitals. We are increasing the numbers of treatments and operations we are making visits to the doctor and the chemist more affordable and we are especially targeting the health needs of our children and older citizens. We see investment has gone up this year in the school dental service in well child health care and in home-based and residential care of older people. 
Simon Power 
: That’s old stuff. 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: By Jove! It is old Labour stuff to be supporting the health system—it certainly is. The other thing about this “old stuff” is that it is good to be supporting the health of our children and older citizens. 
This Government is investing massively in the fight against obesity. I repeat what the Minister of Finance said in the Budget speech: if we do not act as a country we face the very real possibility that today’s generation of Kiwi children will be the first to die younger than their parents. Who wants to have that on their conscience—other than National Party members? 
This Budget continues very significant increases in the education system and in the needs of our children and that was well outlined in the Budget speech. Since 1999 in real terms funding is up by over 31 percent in our schooling system. There is big investment in this Budget in early childhood education. Another $162 million has been allocated over the next 4 years as we lead up next year to the provision of 20 hours of free early childhood education for all our 3 and 4-year-olds. 
We are investing in housing because nothing is more fundamental to a Kiwi family than having a decent home. We are investing in policing and as a result of the agreement with New Zealand First this Budget rolls out the funding for those 1000 extra front-line police and also for the 250 non-sworn police staff. There is a lot of investment in the Budget on tackling family violence and those important issues. 
I conclude by saying a word about the importance of building— 
John Key 
: Give it away—the Budget’s hopeless! 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: Far from my giving it away National’s leader just gave it away. He went and got his ticket. If that is not giving it away I want to know what is. That leader would rather go and buy an air ticket than listen to the Prime Minister in the Budget debate. I can understand him doing that though because after hearing the sad last rites he just ploughed his way through I would be feeling like having a rather stiff whisky if I were him. 
This Budget promotes what is unique and special about our country. It puts resources into areas like historic places. I am waiting for Nick Smith to interject about this issue because he virtually crippled the Historic Places Trust when he was the Minister of Conservation. This Government had doubled spending on the Historic Places Trust by the time of the last Budget and we have just put it up by 47 percent again because we actually care about Kiwi heritage. We do not let it crumble and fall down in the way the last National Government did. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Is there a place there for Don? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: There might be a last resting place somewhere in a heritage home. 
As a Labour Prime Minister I am very proud of the Budget. I am proud of the Budget because I know that only a Labour-led Government could have delivered it. I know that this Budget is based on a clear vision about the future of New Zealand and that is a vision to transform the economy to make life better for all our families young and old and to build our national identity and celebrate the things that are special about us. 
I congratulate the Minister of Finance on the Budget. I thank him for all he does to ensure that this Government’s Budgets actually take New Zealand ahead and spread the gains to all our families. He has done a wonderful job for this country and he will keep on doing a wonderful job for this country. 
While the Leader of the Opposition books his fare to Canberra where he would obviously feel so much happier we will keep on doing the business supporting Kiwi families and making it better in our own country. If there is one lesson Dr Brash really does needs to learn it is that Kiwis do not vote for people who always run our country down. Kiwis vote for people who are proud and celebrate this country and who want to take it ahead.