Shanks Katrina: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Shanks Katrina: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5817] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a call this afternoon. Let us be clear: these are tough economic times and this Government is working on many different levels to combat the effects of this economic climate. We have to get the balance right in order to ensure that we have sensible financial management and in doing this we need to preserve our core benefits and implement our key programmes through Restart and the Job Support Scheme. The Government is committed to supporting these core social services. We are maintaining investment in services that people need in these tough economic times because the people of New Zealand are our priority. 
But what is the Opposition’s take on this? What have we seen coming from those members? Labour has total disregard for the economic realities and deficits that we are facing and it is just happy to rack up our debt. What is Labour’s answer? It is to spend more. That is great but there is no more to spend. We are no longer experiencing surpluses. We need good financial management. But Labour’s big idea was to put hundreds of thousands of middle-class people on benefits which is impractical unaffordable and unfair. It seems to be the case that Labour wants people to be on welfare. We want people in jobs. That is the distinction between a National Government and a Labour Government. A Labour Government wants people on welfare; it wants the Government to provide everything for them. The National Government wants to back people. It wants to back New Zealanders it wants to back jobs it wants to back independence and it wants to back people to be responsible for themselves which they desperately want to be. 
We have had media commentators political commentators and former fellow caucus members comment about the Opposition’s “welfare for millionaires” policy. Paul Henry described Phil Goff’s welfare proposal as the biggest blunder he has made since becoming leader. Mr Goff then suggested that his recession package once heralded as the solution to the recession was just a casual interview with the  
New Zealand Herald.  
That is yet another case of “Visa-nomics”. We have seen in the papers that Labour’s deputy leader Annette King is saying that Labour is contemplating extending the in-work tax credit to beneficiaries at a cost of $450 million. Whose taxes would those members increase to pay for this? Who can afford to pay more taxes? Which programmes would they cut instead? I ask those members to tell us which programmes they would cut to fund that. We are not experiencing surpluses; these are tough economic times. It seems as though the Opposition has no real policy to put forward for the country or for this area of need. 
So what has the Minister done? The Minister is supporting redundant workers with a package called Restart. Nearly 4000 people have received Restart since it was introduced—4000. The package gives support to redundant workers who face adjustments to their financial situation. What else has the Minister done? There are job support schemes. We help firms work through the tough times so that they can keep the staff they have; 32 firms have signed up. Collectively these employers are receiving support for nearly 3000 employees and this has saved 489 jobs. 
What has the Minister done? She is going to support community organisations with the Community Response Fund. We recognise that non-governmental organisations face increased demand from New Zealanders who are suffering because of the recession. At the same time those organisations are facing a decrease in funding. Over $40 million is to be invested in this sector in the next 2 years. We talked to the sector and introduced the Community Response Fund—another solution that Labour did not have. What else has the Minister done? She has supported the young people of New Zealand through Job Ops and Community Max. We have created new job and training opportunities for 16 to 24-year-olds through Job Ops. We will pump $20 million into funding.