Dean Jacqui: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDean Jacqui: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 20 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18131. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): This was not amickey mouse Government Budget but that sure was a goofy contribution from Kris Faafoi. So I was talking to people in—Kris Faafoi: Ha ha!Maggie Barry: It didn’t take long.JACQUI DEAN: Ah yes not my best work but you know—Tim Macindoe: What a great line.JACQUI DEAN: Yes a great line. I want to give thanks first of all to the senior whip for providing me with my best lines.Tim Macindoe: It was actually the junior whip.JACQUI DEAN: Oh it was the junior whip yes. I was talking to the people in my electorate of Waitaki about the Budget on the weekend—in fact I did not have to talk to them about the Budget because people were pretty keen to come to talk to me about the Budget—and some of the feedback was pretty interesting. What people were saying to me was that this Budget delivered by Bill English was pretty much what they had come to expect from this Government. So what they were seeing was again a focus on sensibly managing the economy and doing what we said we would do. That has been a consistent message for the past six Budgets and again it was the message in this Budget.We said that we would return the economy to surplus and we did. We said that overall we would get crime down and yes that is what we have done. We said that we would put the victims of crime at the centre of justice policy and that is exactly whatwe have done. We said that we would provide more and more timely elective surgery and cancer treatment and we have. We said that we would invest in improving education outcomes for all New Zealand children and we have done that. We said that we would build a more productive and competitive economy and we have done that.I also heard lots of congratulations for Bill English on his sixth Budget. One gentleman whom I know quite well and who has quite a salty turn of phrase—and I will leave the saltiness out of it but I will give you the essence—said: “You don’t get a fiery Budget speech from Bill English but my it is worth listening to.” So that has been the reaction from my wonderful electorate of Waitaki. And what about Labour? Well we have not heard terribly many policy announcements from those members.Iain Lees-Galloway: Ha!JACQUI DEAN: Oh yes—actually we have. We have—the trucks. So Labour has announced that it is going to ban trucks—Hon Nathan Guy: Any four-lanes in the south?JACQUI DEAN: —on any four-lane motorways. The question I have and it has just been raised by the Hon Nathan Guy is this: what is the impact going to be on the South Island of this marvellous policy for all New Zealanders on behalf of Labour to ban trucks from four-lane highways? Well the answer is that there are not any four-lane highways in the South Island.Hon Nathan Guy: Ah! They don’t care about the South Island.JACQUI DEAN: So those members do not care about the South Island and once again they show that they really have no understanding interest or care for rural New Zealand.On that note I want to acknowledge the farming community which is a large part of my electorate for being the true backbone of the New Zealand economy. I may be biased but I hold that view. The Business Growth Agenda has truly backed up the farming community in this Budget. We are developing new markets. There is $69 million extra for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to grow New Zealand’s presence in China South America and the Middle East and there is funding to enable 200 more firms to break into those overseas markets. It is one thing to create the markets but then the next step—the good step—is to enable New Zealand businesses to take advantage of those opportunities.There is $57 million in contestable funding for science and innovation. Have those members not gone awfully quiet on their shonky research and development tax credit proposals? There is $53 million to establish three more centres of research excellence. There is $83 million to lift tuition subsidies in science agriculture and health services. There is $20 million extra going into apprenticeships.We are looking at 4 percent economic growth in the next 4 years. That is growth in the cities; that is growth in the regions. The Otago region is growing strongly. That growth is based on agriculture. It is based on tourism. It is based on viticulture. It is based on education. It is based on manufacturing. And it is based on a good southern can-do attitude. The Otago region is absolutely picking up the challenge with the cycle trails. The cycle trails are absolutely transforming the South Island and the South Island is quickly becoming a bucket list destination unrivalled anywhere else in New Zealand. Others might have a different view on that but that is the view that I hold—unrivalled in New Zealand.We should not lose sight of Labour’s record in Government. I think it is important to remind ourselves. In 2008 the country was in recession on the back of a decade of the best of economic times. That is what National inherited. Mortgage rates were touching 11 percent. How quickly Labour members have forgotten that. House prices went up 96 percent—96 percent—under Labour and now those members are talking about housing.What short memories Labour members have—there was a 96 percent rise in house prices under a Labour Government. Electricity prices went up 72 percent under Labour. That is David Parker’s legacy. Woe betide the country if David Parker ever gets in charge of electricity policy again because we will have a single buyer for electricity absolutely killing off any innovation in the electricity sector. But I think that Waitaki learnt that lesson about David Parker and the rest of New Zealand has as well.This is a Budget that focuses on issues that matter. This is a family-friendly Budget. We are putting the well-being of young families and children at the heart of our new spending. We are spending $500 million to help families and to help children including vulnerable children—those children who are most in need. There will be free general practitioner visits and free prescriptions for all children under the age of 13. It took National to do that. There will be 4 weeks’ extra paid parental leave and we will extend it to caregivers other than parents. Who did that? It took National to do that. We will increase the parental tax—Sue Moroney: Oh that mother there didn’t need it.JACQUI DEAN: They hate this—they hate this. Sue Moroney is sitting on the other side of the House absolutely spitting. Why? I would have thought it was a good thing for the Government to support families. Why does Labour not support families?Maggie Barry: Angry and bitter.JACQUI DEAN: Well angry and bitter. Maybe they just talk the talk. We will increase the parental tax credit by $70 a week to $220 a week and we will increase the length of that support to 10 weeks. Who did it take to do that? It took a National Government to do that. We have put $155.7 million more into early childhood education to get even more children participating and to keep the costs down for parents. Who did that? It took a National Government to do that.There is $33.5 million extra to support vulnerable children. That includes eight new Children’s Teams to work with at-risk children and their families and to support children in care. It took Paula Bennett to do that. Paula Bennett is a Minister who understands children and who understands the needs of families.When I look at my own part of the country it does very well out of the Budget. Older folk will get more hip and knee operations. Should we need cancer treatment we will get that in a more timely fashion. There will be more support for people with dementia. There will be a further $20 million for the battle against rheumatic fever and another $6 million for cochlear implants for children. All of those measures will have a good impact on my electorate of Waitaki as they will for the whole of New Zealand.This is a good Budget. It was delivered by a Prime Minister who wants the best for all New Zealanders. This is a confident Budget delivered for a confident country. Thank you.