Kuriger Barbara: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKuriger Barbara: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 31 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11504. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): This Government does have a plan for the future. This National Government is very aspirational. If you on the other side of the House talk about the National Government not caring about the vulnerable people I want you to look into some parts of this Budget that you have not actually set your eyes on yet—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order!BARBARA KURIGER: —because what this National Government is about is giving people the courage and the confidence to be accountable for themselves.We look at education. We are hearing all these questions about where the money for education is. Well I can see two fantastic pots of money for education: $43 million for our most at-risk vulnerable children and $42 million for the children who have special needs. Every day in my electorate when I am out talking to schools and visiting schools—and I must say in my electorate I have 80-something schools; somewhere around 85 and I am making an effort to get around them all—teachers say to me that yes it is really easy to measure the academics of those children who are doing really well but the ones they are struggling with are the ones who have either special needs or some vulnerability and they are most at risk of not achieving. It is really important for methat in this Budget this National Government has recognised that this is an issue and that these are the children we need to focus on so that they can learn to build their courage and confidence and so that they can be aspirational. We see some fantastic teachers out there doing some wonderful things with these children and this is about giving them a boost.Secondly as I am out and about up and down the electorate I hear a lot from people who have jobs in our provincial areas. They have jobs in our regions and they are very keen to have young people turn up with skills and education. So on top of the courage- and the confidence-building there has also been $257 million going into tertiary education particularly around agriculture and around engineering—around the things that people in our communities are asking for. No one can ever let me say that there are no jobs in the regions because there absolutely are. I see that every day. But what those employers are wanting are not only skills which we are actually providing but also the courage and the confidence for people to know that they can turn up to work every day and be confident aspirational young New Zealanders who want to carry out the jobs that are available to them.Next I want to mention health because we seem to get this feedback all the time that there is no money going into health. There certainly is money going into health and I really want to make mention of the $124 million that is going into providing dollars over the next 4 years for Pharmac to look at some of the new medicines. Being on the Health Committee I am aware of the fact that medicines are changing. Things are happening with biological drugs particularly around Opdivo which is now being looked at for melanoma. We are starting to find options that we have never ever had before. We are starting to find answers to some of our health needs. It is really important that Pharmac is given the opportunity to explore those with some of the new biological drugs that are coming on the market. We have also heard a lot today around bowel screening for which there is $39 million. That has been well received all up and down the country.I also want to make mention of mental health—the extra $12 million that has gone in mental health. We have seen a lot of funding go into mental health. I have actually been extremely aware of that in my own rural New Zealand as we support some of our farmers through the process that they are going through at the moment. Times are tough for them but communities are really supporting each other.Health education tertiary education—people standing up for themselves—come on top of the regional roading packages that we are getting. I just want to say also that the regional tourism in my area of Waitomo—for the Timber Trail Pureora there is $1.2 million for 80 beds. What is that going to do? It is going to bring more tourism and provide more jobs to those people. So we are aspirational. This National Government has a vision and it is an aspirational vision for our people. I am really proud to be supporting the Hon Bill English our Minister of Finance in the presentation of his Budget. Thank you.