Chadwick Steve: Address in Reply 
Chadwick Steve: Address in Reply 
[Volume:628;Page:246] 
STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
: 
 Mr Deputy Speaker before I begin my speech in this Address in Reply debate I would like to congratulate you on your role and the Speaker Margaret Wilson and the Assistant Speakers on their roles. It is great to know we are in safe pairs of hands. 
I would like to congratulate new members in the House—this is an exciting place and they will enjoy the cut and thrust—those returning to the House and the new party. I think it is exciting to see more diversity coming into our House. I welcome back Nandor Tanczos. 
What did this election deal to us? It dealt a very strange hand but I know that a Government under the leadership of Helen Clark was voted for by the people of New Zealand. They voted for a Labour-led Government and that is what we have. It is a victory for the type of country that the majority of people in this country want. We have leadership that is intelligent experienced and highly visible both nationally and internationally. 
We have got vision in this Government. I have heard people ask what the vision is and the Speech from the Throne delivered the vision of the sort of society that I came into the House to build and that is one that is inclusive tolerant creative and proud. That is the sort of society we are proud of one that we love one that values excellence and hard work. We have policies that address need not back-pocket greed which nearly was the success of the day. I was deeply disturbed to hear on the campaign trail “What’s in it for me?” not “What’s best for mine and for those in the generations to come?”. We have a proud country—telling our stories singing our songs and making our movies. We have a front bench to be proud of: strength diversity hard work women experience and ownership of policies—and it is policies that I will go on to talk about. 
It is not a group of old hacks who believe they are the natural Government of this country. National members are already baying for a leadership change asking why Don Brash did not take them there. Certainly out in the regions of New Zealand there was a definite sniff for change and I felt it very much all around me in Rotorua. But it did not happen so the Opposition will be baying for a change of leadership. I must say from our region that the look of Mr Brash with Judith Collins beside him was a very frightening look for New Zealand. It was a very anti-woman anti-family look that I personally found very frightening. The campaign was a campaign driven by wedge politics and I had not felt that before in the last two campaigns. A National Government would have damaged the New Zealand that we have worked so hard over the last 6 years to build. The public sector which now has confidence and leadership and is a public sector to be proud of would have been absolutely slashed and burned. 
But I want to talk as well about policy that came out of the Speech from the Throne and health policy in particular. That is my love and I am sorry to have left it behind really but I have gone on to a new and exciting challenge. We have actually consolidated the health sector after the terrible so-called health reforms of the 1990s. We value practitioners. We have learnt the art of valuing health practitioners and we would never privatise in the health sector. I want just to mention midwives in relation to valuing practitioners. I am afraid that Garry Evans a coroner came out with some very damaging and not constructive recommendations when he looked at midwifery practice. That is what primary health organisations are all about and the ministry is already getting general practitioners and midwives together to work more closely in the primary health organisation environment. This Government also settled the nurses’ award which had been left in abeyance for 9 years. We are getting on with valuing those people in the health sector. 
But there are two new pieces of policy that I think were missed in the election and that we are particularly proud of. The first is the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening programme. Now that we have got that and also school-ready checks for every New Zealand child we will prevent children falling through the gaps in their learning and skill acquisition. We will have resilient children who are ready to learn to soak up what is there for them to grab opportunities with two hands. 
Wherever was the Opposition’s health policy? In the entire campaign I never heard it mention one piece of constructive health policy. Perhaps we have to wait 3 more years to hear what it was. 
Our social policy is something to be proud of. The Working for Families package of structural benefit reform will assist 350000 New Zealanders including those in work. It will raise the bar for low and middle income New Zealanders so that they too can take part with every opportunity to add to productivity in our country. The focus on youth is also something I can see we will move into in the next 3 years with youth transition programmes helping children move from school into work with the Gateway programme and with youth justice facilities to help turn our kids round. Youth restoration programmes help young people go back into communities and grab skills and learning. 
The focus on apprenticeships and skills-based training is incredibly exciting. Our employment statistics are an example of something we can be so proud of. The number of people on the domestic purposes benefit dropped by 3329 in 1 year. When I hear some of the speeches in this debate refer to beneficiary dependency it makes me mad and sad because beneficiaries are getting back into the workforce just as we expected them to do. 
In conclusion I do not ever want to be involved again in such an ugly mean-spirited campaign that did not talk about policy. The allegations made were mean and untrue. There was questionable funding of campaigns—that was so overt—the media withdrew from informing the public properly and there was wedge politics of the worst kind scoring on the backs of minorities. I come from Rotorua and our community has been ripped apart by an Opposition that pitted Maori against Pakeha in a way such as I have never seen before. Thank goodness I am there to help mend that gap in the next 3 years! If PC stands for political conviction to make a difference for the families and the people of this country then Labour and I will be there. 
Debate interrupted.