Hobbs Marian: Budget Debate 
Hobbs Marian: Budget Debate 
[Volume:608;Page:6016] 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 He must have been a very difficult fourth-former that young boy. 
Rodney Hide 
: He was not as bad a pupil as you were a teacher. 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: I remember many of the people who taught Mr Hide so I would not go down that road too fast or too far. 
I rise to support this stable well-balanced Budget. In the address I wish to make I want to cover a number of issues: New Zealand overseas aid expenditure some environment expenditure some work in the area of adult education and the advantages to Wellington. In terms of New Zealand aid overseas the interesting problem we face is that we were party—as was almost every other country in the world—to signing up to the millennium goals. Those goals set out quite strong targets for the provision of clean air and water to the peoples of the world; the provision of sanitation so that children do not die of diseases caused by lack of adequate sanitation; and the provision of literacy around the world. It was recognised that those goals would be met only if we all pulled together. The goal was that by 2015 the countries of the world would each provide 0.7 percent of their gross national income. New Zealand is producing only 0.23 percent so we are a long way from meeting the millennium goal of 0.7 percent of gross national income. 
Just recently a piece of research was done on world aid programmes listing the countries in order. Normally one would expect to see a country like Norway which gives out 1 percent of its gross national income to aid near the top of the list but it ended up 11th.. New Zealand was fourth. That is because New Zealand has an extraordinarily high record in the intake of refugees and our record in terms of trading with developing countries is equalled by almost no other country. Then comes our direct aid overseas which I have to admit is not all that great. It is nearly 12 months since we established a semi-autonomous agency NZAID within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We met the desired needs as we restructured and looked at where we were going. We said we needed to concentrate on our near neighbours in the Pacific and on the elimination of poverty. We have met that goal one step at a time. In this Budget we have increased our overseas aid by 9 percent with $20 million extra a year going in. 
Why the Pacific? The Pacific has some of the most appalling pockets of poverty and we ignore that at our peril. There is self-interest in aid and I am always upfront about that when I talk overseas. New Zealand operates in partnership with the countries to which it gives aid. We do not give countries what we determine they ought to have; rather we work with them to determine what they might want in terms of health and education. Papua New Guinea has some of the worst statistics. It has the lowest standard of living of any country in the Pacific the lowest average life expectancy and the highest maternal and infant mortality rates. In the Solomon Islands only 500 jobs are available each year for the thousands who leave school. Over 16 percent of people living in Kiribati are not expected to survive to the age of 40. In Vanuatu more than 66 percent of adults are illiterate. 
That is what New Zealand aid work is about. It is about working with Papua New Guinea the Solomons Kiribati Vanuatu Fiji Samoa Niue the Cook Islands and Tonga—devising programmes so that the children get into schools so that diseases like TB malaria and HIV/AIDS are tackled and so that women and young people in rural areas get a chance to earn a living. Working with AusAID and the European Union we have a major regional initiative to develop basic education across the entire Pacific. It is called PRIDE. We work to create opportunities for peace in the Pacific particularly in Papua New Guinea and the Solomons. Members know the relative success we have had in Bougainville. We do not want more Bougainvilles because that is more cost to us as a country. That is why 45 percent of the new funding will target governance.  
But New Zealand aid does not focus exclusively on the Pacific; we also have significant programmes in Asia and smaller programmes in Africa. In this Budget we have also put aside a further $10 million if it is needed to help rebuild post-war Iraq. That is on top of the funding we have already given to that country.  
Finally I am pleased to announce that we are increasing the funding for non-governmental organisations in New Zealand—our very good partners who are often in the front line of delivering aid to some of the poorest areas in the world. Some of those partners are organisations such as Rotary which has been out there raising funds. We have met Rotary dollar for dollar and more in its worldwide work to defeat polio. I am proud of that 9 percent increase. I am proud of the extra $20 million that we have given to NZAID. 
In the area of the environment the one I particularly want to mention is increased money—$1.8 million over 4 years or the $450000 a year that was asked for—to support the New Zealand Landcare Trust. That trust which is made up of eight groups including Federated Farmers and Fish and Game New Zealand—who work together in the same room which is always interesting—and Rural Women has done extraordinary work with the rural community particularly on the question of biodiversity on private land. For instance there was an absolute explosion from Banks Peninsula farmers over defining significant natural areas. Landcare Trust worked with the farmers and the Ministry for the Environment and together we found some money whereby we could actually work with the farmers to put up fences at the top of Herbert Peak so preserving some of the flora and fauna there. It was not the rabbits that we were preserving. I am delighted to announce that extra $450000 a year for the New Zealand Landcare Trust. When I became the Minister for the Environment the trust had begun receiving that money on a year-to-year basis. We then asked it to go out—and it went I think to Transfund and got money from there. We have now said that that money is permanent it is baseline it is in there. The trust has done really good work in terms of working with the community particularly in the area of biodiversity. 
Regarding adult and community education I heard the previous speaker talking about illiteracy in the community. This Government is the first to ever acknowledge the fact that with many people in our schools we have failed and that they need to be given and supported in second-chance education. We have called that both adult and community education and foundation education. Part of the problem is that in adult and community education there is a whole range of providers. I can go to some towns and find that REAP does not know what a private training establishment or the Workers Educational Association is doing. Through the Tertiary Education Commission we have set aside $2.8 million for the regional networks—for quality assurance for setting priorities in that area and for actually helping them to adapt as we face the new commission—so that we do not leave people all on their own. Through the Ministry of Education we have also set up 4 years of work for foundation learning which is dealing with some of the industry training organisations students straight out of school and the Gateway programme. 
Finally I want to end with a bit of pride at what the growth and innovation fund is doing for Wellington. There is work there to help the task forces particularly in screen and production. We are hoping that over the next 4 years $110 million will come out of the fund for projects here in Wellington. Extraordinary work has happened in terms of education. The Wilton Playcentre in my electorate is one of the six centres of innovation that will be used to build a strong research base for informing and developing best models of teaching practice in early childhood education. We are putting in somewhere in the region of 236 new teachers for the 2004 teaching year. In the Wellington region we will also have 7000 new industry trainees. That is what we want for a growing economy.