Bennett David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Bennett David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:660;Page:8901] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to rise and follow Allan Peachey’s speech. I think that he hit it on the head when he said Labour is the party that is trying to hold New Zealanders back. The New Zealand public have been held back for 9 long years and now they are finally getting some leadership. They are getting some direction they are getting a path forward and they are getting a Prime Minister who actually delivers and listens to what they want. This Prime Minister has taken on board the concerns of New Zealanders and has addressed them in a way that New Zealanders feel they have some support and empathy with. New Zealanders now feel that they have a part in the future and that they have a Government that listens to and delivers on their needs that has a purpose and direction and that is willing to make decisions for the benefit of this country. 
Before we look forward to what the Prime Minister said let us look back at the last year. It was a very difficult year for New Zealand as most economic indicators show with the change in the world’s circumstances because of the recession. But the National Government led the New Zealand economy through those difficult times. We took an approach that listened to the people and delivered a system and structure that meant New Zealand could sustain itself through the most difficult times. That is in contrast to what the previous Government would have done. It would not have been able to portray that or build New Zealand through a very difficult time. We need to give a lot of credit to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and to the political parties that supported the Government through that time. It was difficult but now we have to make some more and bigger choices as we move forward to build a stronger country in hopefully better times in the next decade or so. The Prime Minister’s statement sets out the plan for how we intend to do that. 
National wants to build a New Zealand that emphasises the ability of people and our communities to succeed and prosper. We want to make sure that there is an attitude out there whereby people want to go for it and take advantage of their opportunities. We want to see New Zealanders have faith in their future and see the reward to be gained from taking the risks and doing the hard work that is necessary to make that future a reality. That is what the National Government is doing in the Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament. It is sending a message to New Zealanders that the time has come for them to follow their destiny and take advantage of what this great country can be. We will give New Zealanders the tools so that they can become what they deserve to be. We will not hold our people back we will not hold our country back and we will not tell people that we know everything. We are letting New Zealanders build their own future. 
That is why we have concentrated on many economic issues in the statement to Parliament and we have also focused on some other issues that are of a more social nature with regard to education and social well-being that are fundamental to building that attitude change. If we look at some of the economic issues that the Government has focused on we see that a big one is with regard to taxation changes. Most people out there are quite aware of the situation in the property market. New Zealanders have made an investment in that market that could be quite detrimental to the growth of this country. New Zealanders have not had the incentives to go out there and look for higher-income earning jobs or to get the skills and attributes that would give them higher incomes. Instead they have looked upon property as an investment vehicle. 
We want to change that attitude. We want to show New Zealanders that the attitude that people need in order to succeed in this world is one where people get the skills and they go into high-income earning jobs where they build not only their own personal wealth but also the wealth of this country. That is what we are looking at doing. We want to send the right incentives out there so that people make those choices. We are not trying to get people to make choices on the basis of what they see as tax incentives in the system. We want people to make the right choice on the basis of education and an understanding that they can build a career and find success. 
That is important when we see that the previous Government had the opportunity to do that for 9 years and it did nothing. All it did was to keep those incentives there so that people would invest in other structures rather than investing in themselves and in this economy. National is not afraid to make the hard decisions in order to change that investment philosophy so that people invest in their education and skills. When we look at the skills of New Zealanders we see that it is a very important part of what we need to have a fundamental change in attitude. 
We need to see that New Zealanders have the fundamental skills in their schooling system that will give them the opportunity to take advantage of the modern world. That is what we are doing with the national standards approach. It brings about a fundamental look at what we need in our schools for our young people so that they can achieve at school. Once again the National Government has shown itself as not being afraid to make the tough decisions and to go out there and provide leadership so that parents students and our schools will understand that we have a desire to see people attain their full potential. So just in those two elements of taxation and education we can see the philosophy that this Government is portraying through this statement to the public. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Labour members are trying to change the subject. They do not want to hear about education or tax cuts. What they want to hear about is how the top 16 executives in our Government departments should have their wages cut reduced or held. That would be the step change for the Labour Party. Labour members are now very quiet because they have no vision and no direction. The public saw that for 9 years and the public did not want it. It wanted to see direction a step change and some choices. The public wanted to see some decisions and to see the Government move ahead and that is what they are getting with this statement. 
What pleases me the most about this statement though is that it takes New Zealanders along on that journey. It does not force New Zealanders into one camp or another. We give New Zealanders the option of taking advantage of the process the Government will set up. We are not being dogmatic and saying that this is the be-all and end-all of all things. We are giving New Zealanders the tools to make that future for themselves. John Key will go down as one of the great Prime Ministers of New Zealand and as the leader of his generation because he has taken the people along with him. He has understood the psyche of the New Zealand public and has managed to incorporate that in his future delivery of a vision for this country. Bringing together a vision that people are part of means that one can actually have success because the ownership of that vision is not with the National Party or this Government. Far be it for the 120-odd people in this room to tell New Zealanders how they should live their lives. The vision and the purpose are owned by the people of New Zealand and that is the leadership John Key is providing. 
He is taking everybody together so that we can deliver a system and a structure that will enable New Zealanders to achieve. I think that is something that many of the politicians on the Opposition side need to take a good hard long look at because unless we can drive a country through itself rather than trying to drive it out of Wellington we cannot achieve what we want to achieve in Government. I think the key to what New Zealand is doing through this new National Government is that change is being driven through New Zealanders and their vision of what they can achieve and not necessarily the vision of this room. I think that is an important part of the step change that will come to New Zealand. 
We are giving faith to New Zealanders. It is about building the attitude of a new generation so that New Zealanders have faith in their ability in their Government in their institutions and also in their future. We are giving New Zealanders the brighter future that they sought at election time 2 years ago and the way to do it is by delivering not only specifics but also a future and a policy that people can buy into accept and have ownership of. 
It gives me great pleasure to be able to support this statement to Parliament. It is a very important start in the process of delivering that new vision and attitude for New Zealanders as we go forward. If we look at the statement we will see that it also includes a couple of comments that are very relevant to the Waikato that we need to be supportive of and they are around our Crown research institutes and our infrastructure developments. They are very pleasing for our region as well. Thank you.