Goodhew Jo: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoodhew Jo: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4117. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon JO GOODHEW (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): It gives me great pleasure to rise and speak in this Budget debate. When we heard the Budget being read last week the members on this side of the House had a sense of confidence because this is a plan that is working and helping the families of New Zealand. This is a plan that is working and helping the regions of New Zealand.What we saw on the other side of the House was a gobsmacked sort of reality sinking in because those members knew that there was so much in our Budget that they could not argue with. In fact that must have been a dreadful realisation for them. Since there was so much that they could not argue with what was this week going to bring to the House? Well yes there is the Budget debate but it also gave the Opposition the chance to fire questions at Ministers about what was announced in the Budget and to hold them to account for what they have not done. And what have we seen in question time today? One question about the Budget—well from the Opposition anyway.However we are quite happy on this side of the House to be trumpeting what has happened in the Budget. I for one was enormously disappointed when there were no supplementary questions about my Afforestation Grants Scheme. I had spent a bit of time preparing answers for supplementary questions that never came.Yes the Afforestation Grants Scheme is great for the regions. It is not just going to increase forest cover; it will count towards our emissions targets. It is going to help reduce soil erosion. It is going to make water quality better. It is going to reduce the severity of flooding. The Ministry for Primary Industries has had more than 80 inquiries about this already and the applications for it opened only yesterday.How did the rest of the country react to the Afforestation Grants Scheme? As you heard it was announced on Jamie Falloon’s property. He had 170 hectares planted with the last scheme. Here are the media headlines: “Forest owners gain confidence from scheme” “Tree grant revival ‘smart’ ” “Forestry scheme for steep land applauded” “Forestry devotees welcome return of seed fund” “Forest owners gain confidence from the scheme” and “Government reviving afforestation grants scheme”. I have got to confess though that there was some criticism in some of the articles which is that they simply want more of this. This is a measured response right now—15000 hectares is a great start. This Government is carefully and prudently managing its finances. Here is a revelation: that has been happening for as many years as we have been in Government. It varies vastly from what we saw before does it not?The Budget continues to support New Zealanders but we have got a responsibility to manage what is a growing economy—an economy that is the envy of many other nations around the world—and to make sure that every single dollar that the taxpayers of New Zealand give to us the Government to manage is managed very very carefully. As we know we have got an average of 2.8 percent growth over the next 4 years. We are predicting a $176 million surplus for next year growing larger in subsequent years. As a Government we are investing in priority areas. We have a plan that sees us active on all fronts trying to help this economy to grow at the same time as making sure that we look after the most vulnerable New Zealanders. We intend to be reducing debt. We are not the Government that profligately spends spends spends and forgets about the fact that you have to pay the bills as well—not you Mr Deputy Speaker of course.We will see higher wages. The average wage is expected to rise by $7000 to $63000 by 2019. There will be more jobs. We have already seen an additional 194000 jobs since the beginning of 2011 and another 150000 new jobs are forecast over the next 4 years. It is particularly important that those jobs are sustainable jobs. It is not the Government that is creating jobs; they are jobs that are coming out of businesses expanding. We know that business confidence tells us that people are intending to take on more employees and that is a wonderful thing to know. We know that there are many many unsung heroes doing an extremely good job in the regions and it is our job to get the word out that that sort of thing is happening in the regions.In terms of the reaction to the Budget what we saw on the front page of the Timaru Herald the day afterwards was “SC mums see promise in budget” and then on page 3 “NZ’s poorest families set to benefit most”. That was a sucker punch was it not? That was a sucker punch because you see members on the other side of the House think that it is only ever down to them to care about people in hardship. After 43 years we are giving this additional amount to the budgets of those families who are in the most hardship—in the most hardship.Hon Trevor Mallard: The member cut it in between—that party did.Hon JO GOODHEW: The member opposite says that we cut it in between. I think that he has got a very long memory or perhaps he has had a very long experience of this place—both of which would be quite true. However the member was part of a Government that did absolutely nothing for 9 years and it took John Key on election night last year to promise New Zealand that he would look after the most vulnerable families in hardship. And he has delivered but that is not the end of the delivery—that is not the end of the delivery.The pathway out of low-income situations is going to be work. That is not always possible but where it is possible the assistance that this Government is giving families in hardship will see them come out of that very difficult place. That is when hope prevails—that is when hope prevails. There is a $790 million package to help those children living in some of poorest families. As I have said employment is the way forward for them and this Government is giving real assistance to them. Not only have we seen that—and I can report from my electorate—but also we have seen a huge drop in the number of sole parents. The sole parents who are getting assistance and case management work from this Government have been telling me about the hope that they have for the future—the fact that they know what their job is going to be when they continue and finish their education. They know that their children are going to benefit from the fact that we are supporting them to finish their education. I have got wonderful examples of this in my electorate.We are committing an extra $32.5 million of operating funding to help those on long-term welfare dependency because we are putting our money where our mouth is. It is not about cutting and slashing; it is about investing. We are investing in New Zealanders and I well recall very soon after she was made Minister for Social Development and Employment Paula Bennett said in this House: “I believe in the possibilities these New Zealanders have.” We will go through welfare reform and my colleague the Hon Anne Tolley is continuing with that so that we can deliver to those New Zealanders who through no fault of their own have found themselves in circumstances that can be improved and they should have the Government’s assistance to improve. We are making changes to Working for Families as well so that low to middle income families that are not on a benefit are also going to get some money. The line between these groups is quite narrow and they certainly need a bit of assistance as well. Working families earning less than $27000 a year in gross income are going to get an extra $12.50 a week in in-work tax credits. That is part of how we are assisting New Zealanders but there is more.Just before I conclude I want to focus on some of the things that we are doing within the health sphere. There is more funding for elective surgery because boy do electorate MPs get to hear about the want for more elective surgery. It is not a small amount—we are putting $98 million into that. In my electorate we have a fabulous hospice Hospice South Canterbury and there is $76.1 million of extra money to support hospice care—that is the specialist palliative care nurses who do an absolutely incredible job. Another area where there is real tension is bowel cancer. My region has a high incidence of bowel cancer so there is $12.4 million extra in the Budget to extend the cancer screening pilot. We are working towards rolling it out nationwide. New Zealanders want that but we could do a real disservice to New Zealanders if we announced it and did not have the workforce or the ability to deliver it. It would fall flat on its face and it would not serve New Zealanders well. So it is particularly important that we get that process right.I want to finish with the $80 million to support New Zealand businesses to invest in research and development. The Opposition will say that we do not do this but the absolute proof of the pudding is that there is more money in research and development—more than $1.5 billion. In finishing this is a great Budget. We have a fantastic Prime Minister who is delivering on his promise to New Zealand to look after the most vulnerable. Thank you.