Chadwick Steve: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Chadwick Steve: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1125] 
STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
: 
 We are obviously off to a rollicking start on our return from a classic Kiwi holiday in our own backyard. That was a noble speech from the Opposition member but the exhaust backfired. It backfired on the big issues that this country faces in this term. 
I congratulate Jeanette Fitzsimons who painted a wonderful picture of intergenerational benefits for her grandson Jasper. That is what gladdens New Zealanders’ hearts—not our exhausts. The agenda for the future under this Labour-Progressive Government was firmly set today by the Prime Minister. This Government’s cup is half full. It is always half full. We are not the negative carping sorts who pick on the little nitty-gritty issues. We look at the big picture. We look at the type of society that we want to live in in this country. 
Then we had to listen to the Leader of the Opposition who had to refer pathetically to the Jolly Roger piracy of taxpayer funding. Is the current Leader of the Opposition—who is certainly not the honourable “Jolly Brash”—plagued and concerned about the piracy of his own colleagues on his leadership? Is he in for a “Jolly Roger-ing”? The peppy ghost who walks had nothing new to say. He had no new policy just policy that has been reinvented for the convenience of garnering votes. We heard of the no-nukes shift and of a rethink on tax cuts and Treaty settlements. How cynical can we be when the Leader of the Opposition thinks that the Government would ever believe him after he has dealt such a bad hand to the Maori vote in this land? 
Our Prime Minister had three simple clear messages: one of economic transformation one of benefits for families young and old and one of building on our New Zealand identity. I want to focus on building on our New Zealand identity. All of us have had a wonderful summer of eating good New Zealand food enjoying New Zealand wine watching New Zealand movies and reading good New Zealand books. That is what we should all do. Let us keep the feel-good factor going. We should not dis on the Kiwi way; that never works. That is why the Opposition lost the last election. It had no policies and it dissed the Kiwi way and New Zealand does not like that. We should not run down the regions of this country. We in the regions are ambitious and aspirational and we are enjoying great growth. That even includes Kawerau in my electorate which is rating up with the best land value increases in the country. 
We enjoyed our lakes and waterways this summer and we enjoyed the heroic story of the rescue of Robert Hewitt. In our region we have 14 lakes. I attended five ratepayer meetings over the summer holidays. Two Ministers came to visit to look at our iconic lakes. Why are they iconically important? Because we are talking about our New Zealand identity. Let us not just talk clean green rhetoric but actually put substance to it. What are we doing to fix our lakes? The Opposition did nothing for 9 long years about water quality and we watched it deteriorate. What are we in the Government doing about it? We are working with farmers; they are on board with us. Actually Federated Farmers have said that we have done something right and that Jim Anderton is listening to them. That is what I am being told by the farmers in my region. Farmers are looking at land use around the lakes. 
Scientists will receive $10 million in science and research funding over the next 10 years from this Government so that we can make and fund durable solutions based on science. Iwi are working with us on our lakes project. They are looking at walkways around the lakes and are looking forward to getting back ownership of the lakes. Our authorities—our local council and regional council—are working with us. We have little community action groups all around the lakes doing something. We work collaboratively and we work collectively in order to get long-term durable solutions and we put our money where our mouth is. We have already put $17 million towards fixing our iconic lakes. That is about economic transformation. It is not just about helping the export sector; it is about ensuring that we have long-term durable tourism to this country. When we say “clean and green” we must absolutely mean it. This project will contribute to our reality and to the future of our environment. 
I will just finish by talking about families young and old. Families are a great theme for us. The Opposition needs to go out and ask the 360000 families who will benefit from our package of increased family support about that package. What will the package do? It will put more food on the table. It will make work pay and people will be proud to go to work. Some people on medium incomes cannot sustain their family and they will get an in-work payment. The package will help with childcare subsidies and after-school programmes. It will help with accommodation supplements. 
I have a child who is a product of the 1990s and he came out with a massive student debt. He is now a father of two earning $60000 per year and finding it hard to make ends meet. He will benefit from the Working for Families package and that is why he voted for Labour. He lined up the tax cuts and the Working for Families package and said that he knew where he would put his money. I thought: “That’s my boy.” Let us ask students now about interest-free loans. Students were being indebted forever and that was affecting women’s fertility. We were finding that women were putting off having families until they were 39—that was the median age. That would have had a huge intergenerational impact on our country. 
Let us ask mums and dads very soon when we introduce the KiwiSaver scheme about that scheme. It is fantastic. It is a Government contribution to incentivise people to save for future learning student fees and homeownership. The scheme is fantastic. That is what will get us going collectively. That is how we will build resilient families and strong communities. 
I will finish by mentioning maternity services as I am a midwife. Over the summer Garry Evans the Wellington Coroner said that we must have an inquiry into maternity services. That was supported by Tony Ryall the Opposition health spokesperson. Actually we are under way on a review of maternity services. Midwives are not frightened about that review. Midwives themselves have been saying that we should have good information databases that they should be linked in with the new structure of primary health organisations and that they will work with general practitioners and obstetricians on policies and protocols. The issue is about relationships. That is what is key to this Government. We work on building strong relationships and strong professional ties. That is how we will build stronger families for our future.