Bridges Simon: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBridges Simon: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 29 January 2014. Volume:696;Page:15640. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Energy and Resources): It is a tremendous privilege to be speaking in election year in this debate on the Prime Minister’s statement. It is interesting of course to follow Metiria Turei who has outlined her schools policy for the Green Party. But I have got news for Metiria Turei: we are already doing most of it. We are actually already doing it. The only difference I could detect between what we are doing on the ground today in New Zealand’s low-decile schools and what she proposes is that she says “Well we’ll throw more money at it and we’ll do that without targeting it in any sort of way.” And somehow that ill-disciplined kind of approach means they care more in the Green Party—they care more. Well no they do not. This side of the House cares passionately about children and our future in this country and we have seen that with recent announcements made by the Prime Minister this year.What a great start to the year for the Prime Minister and the New Zealand National Party. It has been our privilege to be the Government of this country. We are offering this country—and we have seen this outlined in the speech from the Prime Minister—stable good Government. We have done that through very difficult and actually somewhat tumultuous times in New Zealand and around the world. With disasters we know about the earthquakes and of course the worst global financial crisis in some 70 or 80 years but we are coming through that in very strong shape. No one would say we are entirely out of the woods or that things could not go back with the wrong governmental policies—with the sort of ill-disciplined approach that we have heard about from Metiria Turei—but we are on the right track in this country.The Prime Minister has talked about our several options for coalition or certain agreements after the election on the basis that what New Zealanders actually want this year given the maturation of our system of MMP is some straight matter-of-fact transparency about whom we can work with whom we prefer to work with and whom we cannot work with because their policies are on the far left and are incommensurate with the kind of New Zealand we are creating day by day month by month in Government.Giving the lie really to MetiriaTurei’s speech was the Prime Minister’s announcement last week on education on training and retaining our teachers with $359 million more—dollars well spent. We are rewarding the best and doing a great job there and by so doing we are ensuring a higher attainment of our children so that they have a brighter future in this country. Of course we have heard from members of Opposition parties that they actually did not have any criticism of substance about the policy. Frankly as far as I can see they think it is good policy but they could not bring themselves to say that as yet.But they do say poverty is increasing. Well it does not matter how often they say that it is not increasing. Inequality in this country is not increasing. That is what independent people and the Ministry of Social Development have made clear. It may arguably be diminishing. Indeed the speech by the Prime Minister and the policies of this Government ensure that New Zealanders in those low-decile schools that Metiria Turei talked of actually have equality of opportunity in this country. It does not matter whether they come from parts of West Auckland like I do or parts of South Auckland likeJami-Lee Ross does; they do not have to suffer from the soft bigotry of expectations that some on the other side have. Frankly they can have the best teachers—who are rewarded for their efforts and who will have the training that they need—they can get ahead and they can learn as well as at any other school private or otherwise. Those are the sorts of policies that we stand for and that we believe New Zealanders stand for.Of course we have a very busy agenda in election year focusing as the Prime Minister has outlined in his speech on the things that matter. Those things really are when you boil it down fourfold. The first is an economy where our disciplined policies over time are ensuring all the economic indicators that should be going up are going the right way up and those that we want to go down—like unemployment although it is still too high—are going down. We have excellent policies in education. We are spending more than ever before but spending it right. With national standards we understand where children are at and we now have policies aimed at probably the most important thing in schools: the quality of teaching that is provided.We have a health care system that focuses on results. There are some 30000 more elective surgeries I think it is in hospitals around this country each year because of this Government and the magnificent job that Tony Ryall is doing. I see it in my electorate. When I first came into office in 2008 as a slightly slimmer no-grey-hairs backbench member of Parliament I would see people every week who had issues with elective surgeries and delays. I just do not see them in anything like the volume that I used to. We are getting results from the focus that Tony Ryall is providing there.In law and order there is the lowest crime rate we have seen in some 33 years. I think one policy really is a metaphor for what we are doing: the introduction ofsmartphones and the thousands of hours that is saving bobbies on the beat.Phil Twyford: A metaphor? Blimey that’s a bit highbrow for you isn’t it using metaphors?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Every so often I can pull that out—every so often. I grew up in TeAtatū; it is a great part of the world actually. The tablets and theiPhones are saving police officers thousands of hours and I think from memory the equivalent ofsome 345 additional police officers a year are on the street rather than back doing paperwork.The Prime Minister spoke about oil and gas and the terrific opportunities we have there. I think he talked about some three-quarters of a billion dollars being spent on exploration. Actually on some measures out there from commentators it is more like $2.5 billion. But contrary actually to what the Green Party says we are not all about non-renewables. I am just as excited about our renewables opportunities. We are focusing on all of these things and exploring all of our opportunities. It is not an either/or like the Green Party thinks. We can explore all of those things.We are I think third in the world at the moment for renewables in our electricity system. Look at Germany—23 percent renewables despite spending trillions of dollars I think it is and actually last year through very perverse policy outcomes more coal was being used than before. We have a great system. It is renewables focused. We have a target of 90 percent. I believe actually that we can reach that. We are investing in bioenergy in many things. We have a balanced mixed approach. The Greens could not be more wrong.Of course we have seen from the Labour Party that it now supports oil and gas while saying that it has to be at world’s best practice. Well let me tell the Labour Party that we have done that. We have gone from the Wild West actually that the Labour Party had when it was drilling through its time in office under Prime Minister Helen Clark to a much more regulated regime. It is a great thing to see. I am excited about 2014. Bring on the election.