Upston Louise: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeUpston Louise: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4131. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Land Information): Last week I was fortunate to visit the Hutt with Chris Bishop our MP based there. We visited the children at Waterloo School. I was there in my capacity as the Minister for Land Information awarding a prize to a student who had named one of Land Information New Zealand’s drones. Who would have thought that drones are an important part of educating our children?These kids were part of a classroom. There were 96 classrooms that went on a virtual field trip to the Mackenzie Country. The amazing technology and advances in modern learning that this Government is providing provided the opportunity for 96 classrooms from one end of New Zealand to the other to learn through a virtual field trip in the Mackenzie Country about a place that many of their parents would never have visited. So to have the opportunity to learn about issues that are challenging for this country such as infestations of wilding pines and to learn about science and geography and important technologies like mapping was absolutely fantastic.It was interesting because these children live in quite a different world and the winning name of the drone was manu. “Manu” in Te Reo means bird or kite. So they actually see technology as just an extension of the natural world that they are growing up in and it is a natural extension of how they learn. They and their parents can thank this Government because this Government’s Budget 2015 will take the total spend on early childhood primary and secondary education to $10.8 billion.I have spoken on a number of occasions as to how my fundamental belief is that education is the passport to opportunities. For children who participate in schools from one end of the country to the other the best start that we can provide for them is an education. But more than that $790 million has been provided for children and families in this Budget.It was priceless on Budget day when our very fine Minister of Finance delivered the Budget to see the clear looks of shock and horror on the faces of the members on the Opposition benches. They had not anticipated what for us was a very fundamental logical common-sense delivery of a promise from our Prime Minister to govern for all New Zealanders and to look after those who had the most challenging of circumstances.So $790 million—and I want to echo the words of my colleague Simon O’Connor who talked about care and compassion. This is a Government that has care and compassion for families and communities that has put children at the heart of Budget 2015 and for that I am enormously proud.But I want to come back to these students at Waterloo School because actually it is about ensuring that our young children—every single one of them irrespective of their circumstances or their upbringing. Every single child we believe on this side of the House deserves a great education. One of the things that we have put spending into in this Budget is school infrastructure the modern learning environments that we walk into. The children at Waterloo School queue up outside the digital classroom at 8.30. They queue up dying to get into the classroom so that they can get in there at 8.30 and start learning. And the class does not even start until 9 o’clock. That is exactly what we want for every one of our children and it is just so incredibly inspiring. When you look at teachers and principals in schools like that when they have students who are just hungry for learning and queueing up at the door—I think it is absolutely stunning and that is what this Government is providing for through education funding and through funding for school infrastructure.But there is another really critical part of that and that is what we are funding in terms of ultra-fast broadband. In terms of our Budget 2015 we have also set aside funding to deliver on our commitment to roll out world-class internet connectivity for New Zealanders with an extension to our flagship broadband initiatives. I know years ago when we made this commitment to ultra-fast broadband and our Rural Broadband Initiative I think there were some who thought that it was just kind of beyond what we would be able to deliver. But if you think about schools that are connected homes that are connected health care facilities that are connected and businesses that are connected—Cambridge Tokoroa and now my own electorate Taupō are now fully fibred.So if that side of the House talks about the fact that this Government is not delivering for the regions well I can tell you it is. It is delivering for regions in every part of the country. If you look in Tokoroa at a decile 1 school every single child is able to access digital connectivity and to learn at a pace that suits them. No longer do we have the scenario where a teacher is at the front of a classroom teaching to every child at one level. No you can have children in that classroom who have a variety of learning challenges who are able to learn at their pace and because of that they are not being excluded they are not isolated they are fully engaged in their learning and more important their learning results and achievements are incredibly and significantly increasing which is exactly what we want for every one of our students.So let us look at broadband. If we look at broadband in Taupō which is a well-known tourist spot a significant part of our economy is around broadband roll-out. What we want to do there is make sure that—because we actually launched the Chorus roll-out in a backpackers. International visitors come into the backpackers and as we well know social media is just an integral part of a backpackers’ experience. They are taking videos photos and images of Taupō and beaming them around the world. So if there was one simple way to promote our country actually connecting Taupō to ultra-fast broadband with Chorus picking Taupō as its first town in the North Island has been a pretty stunning result.Broadband clearly and our ultra-fast broadband roll-out significantly benefits small business. I know that many of my colleagues here have been involved in businesses in a variety of ways. That is why we understand small businesses. We understand the issues that they face. I want to give you one very small example of a great piece of work by my colleague the Hon Paul Goldsmith. This Budget gave $12 million to the New Zealand Business Number. We have just introduced this legislation. It is a really fundamental way of simplifying and getting rid of some of the duplication paperwork pain and suffering that small businesses have to undertake which we have been able to remove. I am very proud to say that the Minister sitting beside me was instrumental in getting that piece of work concluded.Sue Moroney: 2 minutes left Louise. Talk about women.Hon LOUISE UPSTON: The member opposite is saying: “What about women?”. Well absolutely many women are at the heart of the families who will benefit very directly from the $790 million that has gone to families. It is fantastic. I am proud to say there was no change in the Ministry for Women’s budget. What we are doing is looking at—Sue Moroney: A 14 percent cut.Hon LOUISE UPSTON: No cuts at all Sue Moroney. Do not tell lies in the House—no cuts whatsoever.Sue Moroney: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take offence at that. I am happy to table—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order! That is not a point of order. The point of order about the offence relates to Speaker’s ruling 42/2 and I will just ask the member to be mindful of that one.Sue Moroney: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I informed you that I took offence. I wish to see an apology please. That is the normal course of action when a member takes offence.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): The offence was in relation to what?Sue Moroney: Are you asking me to reply?The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): I am asking you what the offence was that you have taken exception to.Sue Moroney: She said that I lied.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): That is right. I have told her under Speaker’s ruling 42/2 which is why I quoted it that she is not allowed to do that. That is why I quoted Speakers’ rulings.Hon LOUISE UPSTON: One of the significant pieces of work that I am progressing is at the heart of this Budget. The heart of this Budget is around children and families. It is fantastic that we have increased paid parental leave.The next piece of work for me is looking at how we can work with small businesses which are the heart of this country and looking at how they can be more flexible in having women in their workplaces making sure that women’s skills are fully utilised in part-time environments and I am very proud of the flexible work requests that we have brought into this House. It came into force on 6 March. We did not hear the Opposition talk about that because they know that piece of legislation alone is significant for women.This Budget is a great Budget. As I said in terms of education there is the significant opportunity for every young New Zealander to do well. This is a Government that is investing in them. It is investing in their very early days it is helping individuals and it is helping families and children. This is a caring compassionate Government which is delivering for each and every New Zealander.