Davis Kelvin: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Davis Kelvin: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:670;Page:16639] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 Nothing in the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday gave me any confidence that John Key the National Government its Maori Party supporters or ACT have any plan whatsoever for the future to create jobs or to ease the cost of living. In fact in the time it took for Jo Goodhew to finish her speech the National Government borrowed an extra $300000. It is borrowing $30000 a minute. It is borrowing $500 a second. The borrowing is all to pay for the tax cuts that this country cannot afford. 
We heard Jo Goodhew ask what is wrong with enrolled nurses working alongside registered nurses. Well why do we not just have volunteer nurses? National expects us to have volunteers in early childhood education centres. Why do we not all just go up to the local hospital and start administering injections? Let us start dishing out pills. Let us start doing all that sort of stuff. It is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in this House to ask what is wrong with having volunteer nurses going up and administering medicine. 
I also heard in John Key’s speech that he wants to help solve social problems and improve the prospects of the next generation. I ask John Key how on earth he expects to improve the prospects of the next generation when he is cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from early childhood education. For Anne Tolley to stand in the House tonight and say that that is not happening is a disgrace. Anne Tolley needs to crawl out of the cave she has been hiding in come up north with me to Kaitaia and visit the early childhood education centres I visited last week on 1 February when their funding cuts kicked in. She should hear from the people themselves on the ground that the funding cuts are hurting them.  
One early childhood education centre up in the far north is losing $160000 a year—$160000. That is being taken from the kids of that particular early childhood education centre up in Kaitaia. We are talking about Tai Tokerau here. We are talking about Northland one of the most socioeconomically deprived areas in New Zealand. The Government thinks it can cut $160000 from that early childhood education centre.  
What will happen? That early childhood education centre has two choices. I heard the Minister Anne Tolley talking today about choices; this early childhood education centre has two choices. The first choice is to reduce the education options it is offering the kids. I ask Mr Key how it will improve the prospects of the next generation if the Government reduces the education options of those kids. The second choice is to charge the parents to make up the shortfall in the funding. The parents in one of the most socioeconomically deprived areas in New Zealand can expect to pay an extra $20 or $40 a week to have their kids go to an early childhood education centre. 
Those parents also have choices: they can choose to pay to have their child attend an early childhood education centre or they can choose to feed their kids that week. Those are the choices that parents are being forced to make: food shelter and clothing over early childhood education. Yet the Prime Minister said in his speech that he wants to improve the prospects of the next generation.  
It is just ridiculous. The research is adamant that if we give children the best start in the years from birth through to age 6 then we will see improved outcomes throughout their life at 10 years of age 12 years of age 16 years of age and through into adult life. But the Government is cutting the support. National members sit there and defend cuts to the kids—the little kids in early childhood education who are the most vulnerable sector of our society.  
The Prime Minister minced up to the marae at Waitangi on the weekend and told Maori that they have to set aside grievance and take hold of education. Those are the exact sentiments that I have. We as Maori need to set aside grievance and focus on education. In my maiden statement I said that we can achieve more with one generation of fully educated Maori than we can from another 171 years of grievance. I still hold to that view and I am glad to hear that the Prime Minister supports my sentiments.  
The problem is that we have seen the Government actually entrench grievance. We have seen no better example than today at the Maori Affairs Committee when the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill was rushed through the select committee process with indecent haste and with a full disregard for democracy. That is saying to Maori who absolutely loathe the bill the committee is pushing through that it does not care about their submissions or about their thoughts and opinions on the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill. It is saying: “Stuff you! But please do not be angry with us.” 
Another example of the Government ignoring Maori opinions is on exploration rights and the issuing of permits for oil exploration off the west coast of Northland. Exploration permits have been issued for 100000 square kilometres of seabed in the Northland Basin. There are 150000 square kilometres of seabed off the north-western tip of Northland in the Reinga Basin. There are tens of thousands of square kilometres of seabed in the Raukumara basin. Maori have had no say in it. The Government has said that it does not care that Maori have opinions and interest in the seabed. It is saying “Get stuffed! But please do not be angry with us.”  
The worst grievance that is being perpetrated on the Maori people is that our parents cannot afford food cannot afford to pay the rent or the mortgage and cannot afford to clothe their kids because the cost of living is rising so much. That is the real grievance. That is what is really affecting Maori people these days. So it is a bit rich for the Prime Minister to mince on up to Waitangi and tell us to put our grievances aside.  
He says that Maori should take hold of education. What has the National Government actually offered in terms of education for Maori? It has offered the national standards. The national standards will not make a single iota of difference. Bill English proved that towards the end of last year when he said in this House that over the next 10 years the biggest Government department will be the Department of Corrections. I say to him that if national standards are to make an iota of difference the Government needs to address the one child in five who is leaving school without a qualification. That will mean those children will go on to higher education which means those kids will get better jobs and will have better social outcomes. We will be locking up fewer kids if national standards are to make a difference. But Bill English has stood here in this House and said that over the next 10 years the Department of Corrections will be the biggest Government department. Bill English has proven that national standards are a waste of time. He has no confidence in them. They are just another joke perpetrated on the people of New Zealand by the National Government.  
John Key also said that New Zealand needs to build up the pool of Kiwi-owned savings and investment. That is really good but what happens to all those Maori parents who are struggling to put food on the table to pay the rent and to make the choice between early childhood education and buying food for their kids? It is an absolute joke when Maori are struggling with everyday bills and with just buying groceries for John Key to say that Maori and New Zealanders need to save. It is an absolute joke.  
He went on to say that the Government wants to address the drivers of crime. Let me tell him the drivers of crime: poverty first poverty second and poverty third. If the Government wants to address the drivers of crime then it needs to do something about addressing poverty. It needs to create jobs. It needs to come up with a plan that will actually make a difference for New Zealanders who are out there on Struggle Street and who are having a hard time just making ends meet. Kia ora.