Ryall Tony: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ryall Tony: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 12 September 2012. Volume:683;Page:5142. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. In a world increasingly dominated by debt deficits and demonstrations this is a Government that is protecting New Zealanders and growing the economy. Nothing is more important to New Zealanders today than a strong economy because that is where the jobs come from that is where the independence comes from and that is where security for our families comes from—a strong growing economy. That is where top-quality health and education services come from. So this is a Government focused on the economy. This is not a Government focused on trivial electoral fluff like taking GST off food free this and free that. This is a Government that is backing the producers of New Zealand to get the economy moving for all. We have cut taxes. We have got the lowest interest rates that we need. We have got low inflation. This Government has reduced compliance costs. We heard earlier on from the Hon Steven Joyce I think that we have removed 170 unnecessary and excessive regulations from the law book. There is an unprecedented amount of progress on free-trade agreements around the world. This Government has tidied up the capital markets and made a huge investment in innovation. 
This Government has been dedicated to protecting New Zealanders from the sharp edges of the recession and the increasingly serious global financial crisis and worsening international debt situation. The latest European GDP quarters results stand in strong contrast to the performance here in the New Zealand economy especially when it comes to the debt crisis that Europe is sliding further and further into. In the last quarter New Zealand grew about 1 percent. You just need to compare that with a negative growth rate across Europe in that period. Germany Spain Italy France and Portugal all had negative growth rates. In the last four of five quarters France has had a zero growth rate. The Socialist President elected on a platform of spend spend spend has just told the French people that he is now embarking on a programme of cut cut cut. So the French have got their debt out of control. Every week we are seeing the evidence on our television screens of how serious the impacts of economic stagnation or decline are in Europe where even countries like Germany are facing these problems. 
But here in New Zealand with a balanced approach of control on spending and a focus on value for money and a determination to reduce the deficit control debt and improve public services New Zealand is being able to deliver for its people. In fact a report released on Tuesday overnight from the OECD says that this Government spends more of its Budget on education than any of the other 33 countries in the OECD. So we are right up there. We will not comment about the Opposition: it has spent the last 10 years saying there is nothing wrong with the New Zealand education system and all of a sudden we need Reading Recovery. It said there is nothing wrong with the New Zealand education system but all of a sudden we need Reading Recovery. 
Let us focus just on what the OECD has actually said about the New Zealand education system and the spending from this Government in the toughest of times. The OECD says that New Zealand directed in the latest year available over 21 percent of its public spending to education. That was enough to push us beyond the previous bigger spender Mexico by nearly 1 percent. The OECD average is 13 percent. The report also considers public spending on education as a proportion of GDP. Again New Zealand ranks highly with 7.2 percent exceeded only by Sweden Norway Denmark and Iceland. That is a major achievement for New Zealand. In health the average OECD country had a zero increase in the year under review whereas New Zealand had the second-highest increase of public commitment to health services in the OECD. 
So in a world increasingly dominated by debt deficits and demonstrations from upset voters this Government is protecting New Zealanders and growing the economy and every day we can see a Government that is determined to work hard for New Zealanders.