Burton Mark: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Burton Mark: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:606;Page:3365] 
HON MARK BURTON (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 That member has not listened for the last 24 hours. If one thing has been clearly stated over and over it is a clear close honest and simple Government position with regard to the matters—[ 
Interruption 
] Look Mr Mapp has had 10 minutes; he should draw breath for a while. The member should be really clear—the Government absolutely supports the rule of international law and a properly pursued multilateral process—and yes we should pursue a diplomatic resolution to the absolute limit of our ability if that can be found. The alternative is to send certain death and slaughter upon thousands upon thousands of men women and children of all sorts of nationalities. I tell Dr Mapp that I know of no one in his or her right mind who would want that as a first second or third choice.  
But let me move on. Yesterday the numbers were 11 for Dr Brash. Today Mr Brownlee came close—he had 10. [ 
Interruption 
] Several of them of course were the same person. They are hedging their bets! Mr Mapp had four or five depending on whether he was supporting himself. For the moment Mr English is safe. It seems to be a matter of an absence of choice more than anything else.  
It is a privilege to speak in support of the Prime Minister’s statement. What a contrast her statement was! It was full of the substance of this Government’s work and achievement and brimming with facts and detail about the work programme ahead. What a contrast to the shallow deflated insubstantial flimflam from members opposite.  
I want to answer Mr Hide because he asked what this Government had done for working people. It is not often that I want to bother responding. It took about 8 minutes before Mr Hide said anything that was worth looking up but he did. I am not sure whether it was so much a speech as a bit of a health episode that we witnessed from Mr Hide but in what was really more of a “caca-phony”—to put it in his own words which I think is a phonetic representation of a word most of us would know as “cacophony”—he asked what was being done for working people. I shall visit a few examples for that member. Obviously the custom of him and his party is to avoid as long and as often as possible anything vaguely factual in their utterances in this House because that might lead them into some difficulty.  
Let us look at the massive improvements in access to primary health-care. It is a top priority and it has been a top priority. We have made some good beginnings and laid some firm foundations. Let us look at public health organisations which are already providing a broad range of primary health-care services to over half a million New Zealanders. The majority are now being guaranteed lower costs for primary health-care and all are being assured of access to comprehensive and coordinated primary health-care. A further 25 public health organisations are due to start up in April this year. By then it is estimated that close to 1.5 million New Zealanders will be enrolled in public health organisations.  
Yes we have laid the foundations and yes we have talked about what we have done but we are not resting on any laurels. There is much more work to do and we are getting on with it. The economy is growing. We have seen an increase in economic activity. Occasionally Dr Brash will show a little good grace and acknowledge work well done but we have not had that from the speakers we have heard this afternoon. However they cannot deny the truth of it. In relation to economic activity there has been 3.9 percent growth in the year to September and that has been driven by the household sector and by tourism. It continues the solid performance of the last four quarters.  
What have we done for ordinary New Zealanders? What does Mr Hide mean? It always makes me just a little nauseous when I hear ACT members talk about ordinary working people. I remember the outrage some of my constituents felt when they looked at the advice of people like Muriel Newman to low-income people. About 3 years ago I had a woman in my office in absolute outrage over that book. She was an unemployed person and a devout Christian. The thing that outraged her most was not the hint that perhaps she could make an income out of a massage parlour or prostitution; it was the bit about getting a job. The ACT solution for people who do not have much money who need support who need decent jobs is for them to get a job with someone in the market garden sector who grows fruit and then eat their fill when nobody is looking—in other words steal the food. That is what outraged my constituent most about that book. That is ACT’s formula. That is straight out of Muriel Newman’s solution to unemployed and low-income people. I am pleased to say that this Government sees it a little differently from ACT.  
Yesterday we heard that unemployment is about 4.9 percent with room for a lot more improvement. That is the best figure in 15 years—below 5 percent. It will be a tough road ahead to make further improvement but we are determined to try. That is the difference between this Government and the sort of flimflam we heard yesterday. It is easy for Opposition members to sit over there and make the snide comments we hear so often but where are the real solutions for the ordinary people that Mr Hide had the nerve to talk about?  
Let us talk about tertiary education. We have seen control of the costs of tertiary education for growing numbers in New Zealand and it will get better. It is not perfect because a lot of people are still struggling with loans that stretch budgets to almost breaking point. However improvements have been made. Controls have been put on those escalating costs and we will do more in the next term and the term beyond that. Mr English at least had a brief moment of honesty yesterday and acknowledged that that was likely. However we will earn that third and fourth term. We are not taking them for granted at all. We will earn them.  
What else is there? We have seen 700 additional teaching positions in schools. We recognise that the ongoing increase in quality in schools and education is a key part of what is necessary to build that future we are committed to building. But none of that is taken for granted. As we went through the Prime Minister’s speech to this House yesterday we saw a description of 3 years of solid hard work laying foundations and also laying out the work ahead for New Zealanders. That speech was about all New Zealanders. Again it was one of the things that differentiates members on this side of the House from some of those opposite. That speech was about inclusion. So often in recent times we have heard the politics of division hatred and greed. There is no place in this country—and there should be no place in this country—for that sort of political stance. I am proud to be part of this Government. I am proud to be working for a place for all New Zealanders in this society.  
My portfolio of tourism in particular is part of the economic growth of this country but we cannot take that for granted. I was pleased that before the end of the year we reached a milestone for New Zealand tourism of 2 million visitors to our country. But in the end it is not about numbers; it is about quality. In an interesting way it is in everybody’s best interests. With tourism we have the opportunity in this country for the best of both worlds. People can come here to enjoy the quality of life and cultural experience of a society and the natural environments we treasure—but only if we manage and build them with great care. We focus more on yield rather than just on numbers. We focus on quality of service and delivery and that is what this Government is committed to.  
As a Minister I am committed to looking after that important 10 percent of our GDP now and 10 percent of our jobs in tourism. But those jobs have to be good jobs. They have to be quality jobs for the future not just the jobs one does until one gets a real one. That is where having a long-term goal and a proper plan for sustainability is so important in tourism and that is what we have. We have worked constructively in partnership with the industry from day one and that work is continuing. We have a 10-year working programme—a long-term strategy that the Government and the industry have built together and are committed to putting in place together. That is what this Government’s approach is all about—working constructively with communities and business to build an inclusive positive future for all New Zealanders from one end of the country to the other.  
I want to finish by mentioning Tuatapere. What a great example! So many of our members were down there to help celebrate at the beginning of the year. That is a good example of a community getting alongside this Government and developing a world-class track. It is part of the solution to the question of how we look after our environments. Go and visit the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track! They do not often see National members down there.