Mahuta Nanaia: Address in Reply 
Mahuta Nanaia: Address in Reply 
[Volume:628;Page:137] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 I also support the Government motion. Madam Assistant Speaker I congratulate yourself Ross Robertson Clem Simich and Margaret Wilson on your appointments to the Chair to preside over matters in this House. I look forward to the opportunity to have robust debate but also for the Government to continue to build on the agenda it set out in the Speech from the Throne. 
The Speech from the Throne underpinned a forward-looking New Zealand and a progressive Government agenda—one that acknowledged strength and diversity and the many challenges that presents. The Speech from the Throne set out an agenda that intends to build on the progress made over the past 6 years by this Labour-led Government—progress that restores fairness inspires excellence fosters collaboration and generally gives a hand up to those most in need in our society. 
I want to take a little time to talk in a very local way from a Maori electorate perspective and that of my own electorate Tainui on the progress made over the last 6 years. Firstly there was a huge investment—led by the previous speaker Mr Anderton—in the last term of Government in regional development. But what did it mean locally? What did it mean for many of our communities? In Tainui it meant that in regions such as the Waikato we were able to create a hub to attract investment into our region. We have created an aviation hub and I think that both Dianne Yates and Martin Gallagher will attest to the opportunities that has provided in terms of regional development initiatives in Hamilton. In the Waikato region the Waikato Innovation Park with investments in that area has been created. We are attracting new investments into our region which is good for the community the local region and regional development and brings more jobs into my electorate. 
In the King Country area for example investment in regional development has meant that people are looking at tourism in a broader way to ensure that the tourism dollar does not stop in Rotorua but stays in the King Country a bit longer. That requires the commitment of local government to work collaboratively with tourism operators local business and central government to be able to create more opportunities in the region. That is what a regional development strategy under the Labour Government has delivered in the Tainui electorate. 
That bodes well for the general theme of what the Government has tried to achieve over the last 6 years. It is about economic development but is not driven from a centralist view. It is about getting back into the regions and communities and attracting opportunities back to where it really matters because we know that that is where employment for local people is actually created. So I certainly want to ensure that that continues to happen in our regions. Let me just put out this figure: the amount of investment in regional development stands close to $250 million. I am sure that many of my Government colleagues can attest to what that has meant in terms of stimulating growth and opportunity. 
My next point relates to education skills and training. Once we have a prosperous economy the issues become of course employment and making sure that we invest in the skills and talent of every individual in our community so that people can get the jobs that are out there. In fact we have a lot of employee shortages because the Government’s strategy is doing so well. The Labour commitment to going back to apprenticeship training and to investing in the skills and talents of our people bodes well overall. There are 7100 Modern Apprentices throughout the country and we are on target to reach 9000 Modern Apprentices by December next year. That is a good thing. Why? When we look at an electorate like Tainui we see for example that Fairview Motors is attracting Modern Apprentices from Piopio. Who would have thought that kids who drop out of school and are told they do not have a future can get onto a pathway that enables greater investment in them so that they can make a contribution and get a job? That is a really important thing because it affects the lives of real people in our communities. 
The Government has doubled the investment in industry training since 1999 and that is important because we know that more than 150000 New Zealanders are involved in industry training. That has stimulated a whole lot of other sectors to look at Modern Apprenticeships—Genesis Energy for example. I applaud its commitment to fund 60 Modern Apprentices in the electricity sector and to engage in local training initiatives to ensure local jobs for local people especially in communities where there is a high contribution to servicing the national grid such as Huntly—fantastic! 
The commitment to education also bodes well because the Government has said that it will commit to 20 hours of quality free early childhood education for all 3 to 4-year-olds at teacher-led community-based early childhood centres by 2007. We have put an extra 3040 teachers into our classrooms so that the quality of the educational experience in the classroom is much better. We have increased operations funding. We have made progress in tertiary education which is really important. When we talk about having a high-skilled workforce investing in skills through tertiary education is an important part of achieving that. All the progress we have made in student loans is really good. In my electorate in particular more and more Maori students have gone on to post-graduate education than ever before and that is a fantastic achievement. 
I want to talk about the support for Working for Families. I particularly want to talk about some of the local initiatives that are doing really well like Family Start which the Government has continued to build on and roll out into the Tainui electorate. That initiative is going very well because it supports young parents to be better parents. It helps them to network well into the community secure the support they need just to get by and explore the options that they have as young parents with regard to their own skills training and education needs. That has been done under a Labour Government. We certainly built on that success in the last term of Government and we will continue to do so. 
We have expanded the Social Workers in Schools programme. For a lot of schools that means that a lot of our kids have access to social workers so as to be able to deal with some very complex issues. I have met with people from a number of the schools in my electorate and I know that that initiative works well because the parents who are part of a whole wraparound approach for some very difficult issues are benefiting under it. So we have to support that and I look forward to the continuance of that programme. 
The support being given in education is best seen when we go into schools and see what is happening there. A number of students are now doing the National Certificate of Educational Achievement and a number of them say that it is a good initiative in terms of valuing their skills. In my time over the next term of Government I want to continue to build and invest in youth potential because I know that young people are an important part of the type of New Zealand we are working towards—the type of New Zealand that inspires excellence; the type of New Zealand that inspires people’s ability to look forward and to build on the strengths they have. That is the type of New Zealand and the type of future we are creating—where everybody has a role in this country. Some people might not think so but I do and I know that this Government does. 
The future under this Government will also include building on Maori development. The Government will accelerate initiatives to support Maori development. It will not do it for them but will support Maori development where it can be best supported. The touchstone for that is the outcome that emerged from the Hui Taumata. People said that they did not want the Government to take a major role in defining or implementing development goals but wanted support from the Government and we will do that over the next 3 years. 
So the type of New Zealand we are building is one where everybody belongs where everybody has an opportunity to succeed and where we value education invest in skills training and ensure that people are in a position to do things for themselves so that they can go forward. No reira tena koutou katoa.