Parata Hekia: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Parata Hekia: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 17 June 2009. Volume:655;Page:4384. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 Tena koe e te Mana Whakawa. Huri noa i te Whare tena tatou katoa. I am proud to stand today and participate in the debate from this side of the House and to be part of a National-led Government that is looking forward and is focused on the needs of New Zealanders into the future unlike the Opposition which spends the whole time looking backwards while occupying an alternative reality of amnesia and equivocation. The Opposition spends all its time dwelling in the past and digging up irrelevancies and distractions without getting on with the jobs that confront New Zealanders today and in the future. 
What did we inherit when we became the Government? We inherited falling economic growth of 0.2 percent rising unemployment of 4.6 percent high inflation of 3.4 percent and a rising current account. Labour members seem to be continuing to labour under the misapprehension that they left the economy in good shape. They did not; they left the economy on the brink of collapse. This Government inherited not only that situation but the challenges of the world’s economic recession. This Government has set about trying to answer those challenges. 
What has been the alternative answer served up to the public of New Zealand by the Opposition? Spend more. Most recently the promises being made on the Waterview tunnel are symptomatic of the approach the Opposition takes. The Opposition’s approach is that it does not matter whether the country can afford it; let us have credit card economics and let us do what we try to counsel New Zealanders not to do and live in debt. The Opposition personifies exactly what we are trying to encourage New Zealanders not to do which is to live beyond their means. Labour while in Government took us to either the greatest heights or the deepest depths by showing us how to live on a promise. The Labour Government did not fund anything but allowed the public to believe that they could rely on getting the services and outcomes it told them to expect. 
We have moved from credit card economics; we have moved to focusing on the future. One thing the world knows the New Zealand public know and members on this side of the House know is that these are tough economic times. We need to focus on what matters. We need a suite of policies that focus on the short medium and long term. We need a suite of policies that try to soften the sharpest edges of the recession for the most vulnerable New Zealanders while at the same time investing for sustainable growth in the future and minimising the debt burden that New Zealanders might struggle under now and into the future. 
This Government has been prepared to confront this very challenging balancing act and according to all the commentary it is doing so successfully at the moment. We have a Prime Minister who is in touch with the pulse of New Zealand. In the first 100 days of Government we did not—as the previous member said—deliver rhetoric; we delivered the promises of our election campaign. We did it within the 100 days as we had committed to and we have gone on since then with traction momentum and pace to continue to deliver. 
We have done so under the leadership of the Prime Minister who is in touch with New Zealanders. He is supported ably in Cabinet by Bill English the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance who has experience capability and cognisance. All of those skills have been ably reflected in the very balanced Budget 2009 which sets New Zealand on the road to recovery. 
Let us take just a moment to remind ourselves of some of the key elements of Budget 2009 and of how they will assist us in navigating the road to recovery which all New Zealanders are interested in. Budget 2009 takes steps to ensure that New Zealanders are cushioned from the sharpest edges of the worst global recession since the 1930s. We have safeguarded entitlements. Our Prime Minister and this Government have said that one of the most important aspects of living in a time of turbulence and change is to ensure that there is certainty and confidence.