Hipkins ChrisCHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka): A few years ago the National Party had the song by The Feelers Stand up and Be Counted" as its election motto or its election theme song. I thought this year listening to Steven Joyce it would perhaps choose "As Good as It Gets" because that seems to be its attitude to the current state of the country—that this is as good as it gets. Forget about aspiration for the future; it is as good as it gets.But listening to that last contribution by Mark Mitchell I thought perhaps actually The Feelers were not the right people to look to for inspiration and in fact childhood nursery rhymes would be more to the point. I have spent a few nights just recently trying to get a baby to sleep and tonight if he is wide awake in the middle of the night I am just going to play him Mark Mitchell's speech because if it does for him what it just did for me he will be asleep in no time because that was the most passionless boring contribution that we have heard in this Budget debate so far. It was absolutely lifeless.But to return to my original point—the National Party thinks that this is as good as it gets for New Zealand and that is the message from this year's Budget. We have people living in cars—this is as good as it gets. We have got people on waiting lists who cannot get the treatment they need—in fact they cannot even get on to the waiting lists to get specialist assessments—this is as good as it gets according to National. Police stations have been closed up and down the country. Small community police stations have been closed under a National Government but this is as good as it gets. We have got kids learning in dental clinics in overcrowded classrooms in libraries in gymnasiums and in halls because they do not have enough classrooms but it is as good as it gets according to National. We have got a teacher shortage around the country because of the Government's failure to plan for the baby boomer retirement that has been looming for quite some time and its failure to address the major issues that we have got in Auckland around teacher supply but it is as good as it gets according to the National Government. Early childhood services are reaching breaking point because for the last 9 years of a National Government they have had their funding frozen. As my colleague Grant Robertson pointed out just a few minutes ago if someone went to the supermarket and tried to buy the same quantity of goods that they had bought 9 years ago for the same quantity of money they would be stiff out of luck and yet that is what this Government is asking our education system to do day in day out and early childhood education disproportionately has been the most affected by that.National members boast in all of their Budget contributions that they are spending more than ever before on this and more than ever before on that—well let us just do a reality check on all of that. We have got more people than ever before living in New Zealand so of course we are going to be spending more on public services. But let us consider in real terms—so adjust those figures for inflation adjust them for population growth and suddenly we find that actually on a per-person or per-child basis when it comes to education we are spending less. We are spending less than we have spent in quite some time—probably a very long time—because the Government despite putting more money in to cope with growth has not been putting money in to cope with growth in costs. So it is quite happy to boost the number of people in the system but it is not happy to put the money in that we need to invest to cope with that.And think about that for a moment. So there are more people in the workforce than ever before. That is a good thing. That means the Government is collecting more in tax revenue than ever before. But is it actually investing that in the services that we need to cope with that growing population? And when we have got people living in cars one could conclude that we are not doing a good job of keeping on top of demand for housing. When we have got kids learning in facilities that simply are not up to standard one could conclude that we are not investing enough in education. When we have got people unable to get their specialist assessments to get the treatment they need in the health system one could conclude that we are not keeping up with that demand and the pressures of that growing population.We have got infrastructure deficits around the country—roads at gridlock all around the country not just in Auckland. As somebody who drives from Wellington to Upper Hutt most days I can say that there is a fair amount of congestion on Wellington roads as well and the Government is not investing in keeping up with that. The rail network in Wellington has been crying out for investment. I was delighted to see money put in in this year's Budget but it has taken 9 years for the National Government members to admit that more money is required for rail in this country when actually that is one of the answers to congestion on our roads and they have taken forever to be dragged kicking and screaming to that conclusion.So the centrepiece of this year's Budget really is not the tax cuts. Despite the fact that there are billions and billions of dollars going out the window in tax cuts the centrepiece if you listen to Bill English and Steven Joyce and Paula Bennett is social investment. So what does social investment do? Well it is misnamed for a start because it is certainly not social and it is not investment. It is a form of rationing. And I want to talk particularly about what social investment means for the next generation of New Zealanders—for the youngest New Zealanders—because this is Big Brother on speed. This is the Government making predictions before a child is even born as to what their future is going to be.So just think about that for a moment: before a child has even been born the Government is going to stick a label on them determining whether they are going to be at risk of failing in the education system. It is going to then transfer that label to whatever school or early childhood service that that child enrols in. Think about that for a moment: before a child is even born the Government is going to make a judgment as to that child's educational prospects and put a label on them. Really? Is that really what we want to do? Just think about that for a moment. I hope members will think about that for a moment—putting a label on a child before they are even born in the name of supposed social investment. It is not actually in the name of social investment; it is in the name of rationing. It is in the name of the Government trying to save money by not investing in health and education because its form of targeting which puts labels on people actually makes social stigma and social problems worse rather than addressing the fundamental problems.Actually we have universal provision of public services like education and health in New Zealand for a very good reason—because it should not matter about the wealth or your parents or your parents' background. You should get the same opportunities in life as any other child. But that is not what the Government is focused on. It is actually focused on differentiating opportunities for young people in New Zealand based on their parents' economic situation. Or more than that—whether they have got a parent in prison or whether their mother does not have high levels of education. Really? So social support for education is now going to be rationed based on parental background? That is totally against the Kiwi egalitarian tradition. We have always seen education as the great social leveller—that people should all have equal access to it because that way your background does not matter in education. And yet that is not what the Government is talking about now and I think that that is something that I would really like to get into the debate about more and I think that we will hopefully have the opportunity to do so.It is future generations who are paying the price of this year's Budget—no question at all. In order to pay for the tax cuts we are seeing under-investment in social services and we are seeing under-investment in the next generation of New Zealanders. We know that because early childhood services are raising the fees that they are charging parents because they cannot make ends meet based on the Government funding that has been frozen for 9 years. We know that because schools cannot recruit enough teachers to fill vacancies they have got kids learning in libraries and gymnasiums and hallways even because their facilities are not keeping up and they cannot recruit enough teachers in order to make sure that kids are in decent-sized classes.We have got tertiary students leaving their tertiary studies with the highest levels of debt ever. Now that is something for the Government to think about while it is boasting about its highest level of this and highest level of that. How about that one—highest level of debt ever for the people undertaking tertiary study today and the Government is dead silent on that. Yet that is the next generation of taxpayers; that is the next generation of New Zealand workers who we are all going to be reliant on when we reach our retirements. For some members opposite it will be closer than it is for me. They are going to be reliant on the next generation of New Zealanders and yet they seem to be quite content to steal from them in this year's Budget by robbing them of opportunity by putting labels on them and by not investing in the social support that all young New Zealanders should have—that basic New Zealand egalitarian tradition that it does not matter where you are born who your parents are or who you know; you should get a good shot at life particularly through education.This Government has been continually and progressively undermining that during its tenure by not funding education to keep up with rising costs; by not funding other important social services like health which young people also rely on; by not putting money aside for the future cost of superannuation through the Cullen fund or the New Zealand Superannuation Fund thus kicking the can down the road and leaving future generations of New Zealanders to pick up the pieces. It is not good enough. We are better than this. This is not as good as it gets and that is why we need to change the Government."