Macindoe Tim: Budget Debate 
Macindoe Tim: Budget Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19087] 
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) 
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 Before I focus on the 2011 Budget I will briefly echo the heartfelt condolences expressed by my friend and benchmate Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga the member for Maungakiekie to the family and friends of Philomen Gulland who was so tragically killed in the water-main explosion in Onehunga on Saturday morning. I also extend my prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery to the other Watercare Services workers who were injured in that incident. We know that the consequences were devastating for Ian Winson who was so critically injured and for his family. I am sure the thoughts of all members of this House are with those families at this distressing time. I certainly know that there is considerable sympathy for them all in my electorate of Hamilton West.  
My constituents are conscious of the very challenging circumstances that made the preparation of this year’s Budget so difficult. Members opposite do not want to acknowledge the fact but New Zealanders understand that a zero Budget was the only responsible option this year. The measures the Minister of Finance announced 2½ weeks ago are widely supported. Many of my constituents have told me that the Budget’s focus on building faster growth rebuilding Christchurch increasing national savings reining in Government debt while continuing to protect the most vulnerable New Zealanders and investing significantly more in health and education and in creating sustainable jobs built on savings exports and productive investment is exactly the right prescription for nursing the New Zealand economy back to good health.  
Budget 2011 is a Budget that I will be very proud to campaign on in the run-up to our general election on 26 November. I am proud that we are on track to achieving economic growth of 4 percent in 2012 with 170000 new jobs being created by 2015. I am proud that at a time of essential restraint we have nevertheless invested an extra $4 billion in front-line public services in areas such as health education and supporting our young people into jobs. Again that is very welcome in Hamilton where we have a large number of youth who need that assistance.  
I am proud that at a time of a record deficit—some of it caused by the tragic events in Christchurch some of it by the global recession and much of it by the irresponsible tax and spend obsession of the previous Labour administration which squandered the best economic conditions any Government has enjoyed for a generation—the Government’s average net weekly borrowing requirement will fall by over two-thirds to about $100 million a week by this time next year and that within about 3½ years the Government will start repaying the debt.  
Most members of this House will have met with constituents who have suffered the distressing experience of losing hard-earned savings—in some cases essential savings required for an imminent retirement—through the spate of finance company collapses in recent times. Although we cannot overcome that heartbreak we can and must provide more attractive and safer investment opportunities for New Zealanders who want to do all they can to provide a better future and a secure retirement for themselves and their families.  
That is why I support the extension of the mixed-ownership model to four State-owned energy companies which the Government has signalled and the reduction in the Government’s majority shareholding in Air New Zealand in order to enable more of my constituents and those of other members to invest in those important companies with the equally important proviso that the Government will retain a majority stake in all five companies and that local investors will be at the front of the queue for the shares. 
Not only will this offer better investment options for our citizens but also it will free up between $5 billion and $7 billion to pay for high-priority new capital investment in future Budgets and reduce further Government borrowing. Far from disposing of State assets as our opponents like to cry it is an intelligent option to enable us to acquire essential new ones and fund the growth that we all desire and depend upon. 
I want now to turn my attention to some important health and education initiatives that were announced by the Minister of Finance. This year’s Budget is delivering an extra $2.2 billion to public health services over the next 4 years. That is a substantial sum of money. It includes an additional $580 million worth of initiatives in the next fiscal year. In my electorate news of the $54.5 million for maternity initiatives to improve safety and quality and for extra Well Child visits has been particularly welcomed as we know that it is crucial to provide support for first-time mothers in particular as they learn to cope with the huge change to their lifestyle that having a baby totally dependent upon them places on them. 
I want to pay a very warm tribute to the Waikato District Health Board in my own area which is already making great use of the extra funding that has been allocated in the previous two Budgets to tackle the huge challenge of elective surgery. The board has made a very significant gain in reducing local waiting lists. So I am really delighted that there is a further $68 million for more elective surgery in this year’s Budget which will continue that record increase of 4000 extra operations a year that we have seen around the country and which will further reduce waiting times. I know that New Zealanders warmly welcome that focus. It was one of the core principles that we campaigned on in the last election and New Zealanders are delighted that we are delivering. 
For some time I have been concerned about the growing incidence of dementia. I have been concerned about the ability of our health providers and our social service agencies and indeed those who live with people with the condition to meet the many demands that a growing incidence of dementia in our community places on them. For everybody living with the condition dementia is a very challenging and often deeply distressing experience. 
In my own area over the last 18 months I have been supporting and encouraging in every way that I can the wonderful team who have been re-establishing the Waikato branch of Alzheimer’s New Zealand. It met with considerable difficulties and in fact went out of existence at a time when in the fourth largest city in the country we were seeing a greatly increasing incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 
So I am absolutely delighted to report that the Waikato branch of Alzheimer’s New Zealand is back up and running. It has achieved a huge amount in very challenging circumstances and in a very short period of time. I thank the branch for that. I also thank those who have been enabling it to raise the essential funding to continue its important work. 
This year’s Budget allocated an extra $44 million over 4 years to look after people living with dementia including $40 million for residential dementia services and $4 million for additional respite care including in-home respite care for full-time carers of people with dementia. I have had some experience of that within my own extended family and I know that most other members will have also had some experience of it. I know that this initiative will be warmly welcomed. 
The news is equally good in the field of education. Schools and early childhood education will receive an extra $1.4 billion in their operating and capital funding out to the year 2014-15 with total education spending rising to a record $12.2 billion in the next year. That is a significant sum of money but it is in an area where we know that there will never be enough. So there is extra operating funding for schools extra funding of $550.3 million for early childhood education which I particularly welcome and an extra $66.5 million to increase the number of trades academies and service academies and more and that is all very good news. 
I close by saying that I was delighted to be able to attend the launch of the Waikato Trade Academy a couple of months ago. This is a partnership between Wintec—the Waikato Institute of Technology in my electorate where there are two campuses—and 12 schools throughout my region. A large number of young people are now being given an opportunity to learn a trade to develop skills and to further literacy and numeracy all of which will equip them for the modern workforce. For too long we have seen too many of these young people not provided for and leaving school too early often ill-equipped to cope with anything other than the most menial jobs and we know that there are very few of those in the modern economy. 
I salute Wintec and all the schools that have signed up to the programme and I salute the Minister of Education who is doing a wonderful job in providing these opportunities. The programme continues the efforts made by the Minister for Social Development and Employment over a considerable period of time to support young people into jobs and I am pleased to report that there is another $55.2 million in the Budget for that purpose. With $15 million more now for other employment assistance programmes the balance in this Budget is the right one. The prescription is the right one. I am proud to support this Budget and I commend it to the House.