Lee Melissa: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lee Melissa: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2012. Volume:678;Page:1165. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MELISSA LEE (National) 
: 
 That is the worst possible delirious answer in this debate. I think that member who just sat down David Cunliffe must have a really really short memory. I have not been in this House very long not as long as that particular member but let me just mention one name: Mike Williams. Goodness me! Talking about Mike Williams I do not really want to go into detail about Mike Williams but it is like the pot calling the kettle black. It is as if appointing to certain boards members of the public who happen to belong to a certain political party never actually happened under Labour. Let me also remind that member of the name of a particular former Minister who took a very long time to be sacked: Taito Phillip Field. He actually got convicted and served time in prison. It is as if the transparency and the standard that Labour is hoping for is a Government led by David Shearer as Prime Minister. Really? 
Did you hear the Leader of the Opposition last week talking about the aspirations for New Zealand? He wanted New Zealand to be like Finland. He wants a brighter future but he actually wants to compare New Zealand to Finland. I am a little bit confused. Finland in the OECD’s Your Better Life Index is lower. New Zealand actually surpasses Finland in that particular index. Does that actually mean that the Labour leader David Shearer actually wants New Zealand to have a lower standard of living? Is that the brighter future that David Shearer is actually hoping for? And is that why the two Davids the two front-benchers plus Grant Robertson have big smiles on their faces—smiling like the Cheshire cat hoping that he is going to stumble and actually make that kind of mistake again. Let us actually have a look at Finland again. Earlier some National members talked about that. We have more consistent growth compared with Finland. We actually have lower unemployment than Finland. We actually have lower inflation than Finland. We actually have better food and agriculture than Finland. We actually have fewer male deaths compared with Finland and we actually have lower homicide rates compared with Finland. We have much higher economic freedom than Finland as well. 
In the last 3 years the National-led Government has actually managed New Zealand’s economy well. How do we know that? Because the voters in the 2011 general election voted for a National-led Government once again. New Zealand overwhelmingly voted for National because New Zealand voters are not stupid. If they did not do well and if National was not going to be a safe hand in managing the New Zealand economy and the Government and all of its portfolios the New Zealand public would not have voted for National once again. Some people might say that the New Zealand public voted for National members because they are good looking or they are articulate or whatever. But let me tell you a lot of people in New Zealand want New Zealand to do better. The economic well-being of this country especially in the very difficult and tough economic times that we have had to go through is one of the reasons why New Zealanders voted in large numbers for National and I think we are very lucky that New Zealanders actually think with that perspective. 
In the next 3 years this Government is focused on making our country more competitive so that it can fulfil more of our potential as a nation and we want to keep our promise to New Zealanders. One of the ways that we are doing that is by way of improving the welfare system and spending $8 billion and having 351000 people on the benefit is not the way to go.