Tizard Judith: Address in Reply 
Tizard Judith: Address in Reply 
[Volume:628;Page:156] 
Hon JUDITH TIZARD (Minister of Consumer Affairs) 
: 
 Mr Deputy Speaker I want to start this Address in Reply speech by congratulating you on your appointment as Deputy Speaker and Madam Speaker on her election. I have great confidence that this House will be well-led and well-organised and I am sure that as we all gather to make this respectful Address in Reply to the Governor-General on the occasion of the Speech from the Throne New Zealanders will get some taste of what the next 3 years will include. 
We had a very positive Speech from the Throne in which this Government set out what it intends to achieve in the next 3 years to consolidate the major work it has done over the last 6 years. We also recognise that there are major challenges ahead. Indeed we have to bring New Zealand back together in a way that we have not been challenged to do since the 1980s. I found the last election campaign to be nastier and more divisive than any I have participated in. After seeing the level of personal abuse of candidates through the campaign—often from anonymous sources—and after seeing the level of aggravation in the House in the last couple of days I think we are in for a pretty rough ride as New Zealanders. As the mover of this debate Shane Jones said at the centre of this Government we have a passionate belief in mainstream New Zealanders and in the decency and the values that hold us together in our families in our communities and as a nation. 
I am delighted to say that in Auckland Central 45.2 percent of the people who voted—and over 5000 more people voted in this election than in the last one—voted for Labour. That was a huge vote of confidence in the direction offered to Auckland by a Labour Government—and Auckland is New Zealand’s major international city. As I often say around New Zealand if Auckland is not moving well and effectively for the whole of New Zealand then our children and grandchildren will have to look for jobs in cities in Australia Asia North America South America or Europe. Auckland must work well for New Zealanders and I am proud to say that we received a huge vote of confidence in Auckland for this Government. 
I want to congratulate the other parties and I say to the member who has just sat down that I am not sure which party he was most recently in—whether it was the National Party or United Future. But I am delighted to be working in a confidence and supply arrangement with United Future New Zealand First and Jim Anderton’s Progressive and in association with the Greens. I believe that this Government does represent the broad range of values of mainstream New Zealanders and I acknowledge the disappointment which many people in my electorate have expressed that the Greens are not part of that arrangement. But as Rod Donald said when I spoke with him: “We didn’t get enough votes.” This Government is profoundly democratic and we have formed a Government that will work for New Zealanders and represent mainstream concerns. 
I want to talk a little about what this Government has done in Auckland and what the Speech from the Throne has foreshadowed. Our major work over the last 6 years has been around transport around a sustainable city’s work to develop sustainable public transport and good roading networks that work in with each other and connect up with public transport and around an environment where we have clean air and quality water available as well as energy. We are looking at the major infrastructure issues but we are also considering the people who live in Auckland. There are major programmes that are looking at youth development training and opportunities for young people to get the trades so as to get the technical capacities as well as to get the broader education they need. 
We have done a huge amount of work in economic development in Auckland and I am delighted to see the recent Treasury report that says that Auckland is indeed pulling its weight on an economic basis. It could work better. It could work in a more productive way but in terms of the hours worked Aucklanders are working extremely hard for Auckland and New Zealand. 
I also want to spend some time on what the Government has done in the creative industries because that is a vital part of what we are doing in Auckland. I first of all congratulate the member from the National Party who preceded me in this debate on his words about film. I want to give some credit to this Government which put $22 million into film 5½ years ago. We have since seen the best films that have ever been made in New Zealand and I am quite blasé about putting out an ad: if people have not seen  
The World’s Fastest Indian 
 they should go and see it. It is a fabulous New Zealand film of a fabulous New Zealand story. It is told by a New Zealander who has come back to New Zealand after being away for 30 years. There are thousands of people like Roger Donaldson who have something important to contribute to this country and under this Government they are having the opportunity to do that. I am delighted to say that the Film Commission in its latest report tells me that from that $22 million investment we have already seen $75 million of clear return. That is investment in jobs in opportunities and—as people in the tourism industry all around New Zealand say—in advertising and branding for New Zealand. 
I am delighted to see what this Government has been able to do not just in film but also in music. We have doubled the amount of New Zealand music being broadcast which means we have doubled the income of New Zealand musicians over the last 6 years. Toi Maori Aotearoa took a Maori visual arts exhibition to San Francisco to rave reviews. We saw the tourism potential in doing that but we are also seeing real jobs for New Zealanders across the communities of New Zealand and in our cities. 
This Government has foreshadowed that we will be looking at artists’ resale rights and a number of other efforts to protect and improve the incomes of artists in dance kapahaka drama and the performing arts generally. I am proud and excited to see what we have done in building infrastructure around New Zealand museums and galleries which again provide real jobs in tourism and in communities. These are real jobs with good incomes that this Government is delivering. I am excited to see what is happening in schools with the arts curriculum and with the development of training in all of those arts and creative industries which is where the jobs of the future will be. 
I am proud to say that this Government is working in this area under the leadership of the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage the Rt Hon Helen Clark for many reasons but I want to explain to Parliament that we are doing this because it is about our children’s stories and our grandparents’ stories. It is about who we are and how we describe our nation. It is about a multicultural country built on a bicultural base examining the issues around identity and culture. It is about how we have that debate across families communities and generations and about how we represent ourselves internationally. It is also about jobs and exports. It is about tourism and about economic return. I went to an exhibition last night  
Exposure 
 by Massey University’s transport design school in Auckland. It is proposing to transform the car industry and the boatbuilding industry and those people recognise that the work that this Government has done in those design task forces in that economic area was given credit by many people out there. 
I am proud to be part of a Government that was elected by a country that rejected the biggest bribe that we have seen since Rob Muldoon. The bribe of $3.9 billion was not enough to buy New Zealand because people did not trust the National Party led by Don Brash. The racism bribery homophobia nasty personal attacks and intolerance that I saw in this election campaign should make the other side ashamed. That bribery nearly worked until Don Brash described Helen Clark as not being mainstream. That is when Auckland completely turned off having a National Government. Unless one knows one’s own policy and one’s own people—and unless one is proud to stand up for New Zealand’s economy community and people—now and for the future the National Party will never be the Government. I am very proud to be part of the third term of a Labour-led Government.