Barry Maggie: Debate on Budget Policy StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarry Maggie: Debate on Budget Policy Statement[Sitting date: 12 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16583. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore):The only thing going backwards in this House is that member’s popularity. “Mr Tricky David Cunliffe” is an individual who rants and raves and stampedes and makes very loud statements about everything. What has he actually achieved as the leader of the Labour Party this year? Very little. He has gone backwards. His own party does not trust him. This is a guy who trumpeted in this House for such a long time that we needed to reform legislation in relation to donations that effectively precluded the use of trusts. So what did he do? He established a trust for his leadership battle. The other contenders were honest enough about their trusts but he was not. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered.As we head towards the 20 September election it is time to put aside the distracting antics of the relentlessly negative Opposition parties—the uneasy and motley alliance of tired old Labour which is really bereft of ideas and energy. It wants to borrow more. It wants to spend more than we can afford. And then it wants to raise taxes through the roof. Then there is the increasingly rancid Greens who do not represent the environmental and conservation concerns that their name might suggest. I will talk a little bit about that later in my call.Let us focus at the moment on the issue that really does matter to our communities and to this country and that is a stronger economy. As others have said we are on track for getting the books back into surplus. There are more jobs now because of the strong economy—66000 more people are employed now than there were a year ago. There are more of them. There are better front-line health and education services and we have a much safer New Zealand. I intend for my call here today to examine the good progress that this John Key - led National Government has achieved. We have a very busy legislative agenda which we are sticking to and a very clear plan that we are also sticking to.In the area I represent on Auckland’s North Shore we are very well aware of the advantages of building a stronger economy. We appreciate that unemployment is down to 6 percent and is trending in the right direction—downwards—and that is because of the more competitive and more productive economy. It all traces back to that. Those are the sorts of issues that New Zealanders are most concerned about. They are not distracted by the antics and the sideshow pony tricks of the Opposition forces such as they are.Interest rates as we know are at a 50-year low. Government spending is well under control. Inflation is currently running at 1.6 percent and that is much better than it was when we inherited the Treasury benches back in 2008 when it was over 5 percent. On a day-to-day level we know that we are living in safer communities with the lowest reported crime in 33 years. Some trends are on the up and up even going through the roof. Business confidence is at its highest level in 20 years. The economy grew at 3.5 percent in the past year and we do not want to put that at risk. The economy is doing well but it is a fragile recovery and this Government is committed to ensuring that it continues.Let us look at a specific group: the seniors. This Government is making sure that older New Zealanders have the security the well-being and the overall respect that they deserve—our seniors who have worked hard and really do deserve to enjoy their retirement. We have recognised that in many tangible ways over the past 5 years.Chris Auchinvole: Thank you.MAGGIE BARRY: Yes that is quite all right Chris Auchinvole. You do appreciate it as a man over 65 in your prime. The net rate of superannuation for married couples is up 25 percent in the past 5 years. That is up by an extra $183 a fortnight and the single living alone payment has increased by more than $125 a fortnight. Since the last Labour Government in 2008 the Consumer Price Index has increased by 12 percent. With the net rate for superannuation up by 25 percent that does represent a much faster rate of increase for seniors than for any other beneficiaries in New Zealand. New Zealand’s faster economic growth has certainly benefited our seniors and they deserve it.This year we are investing $1.55 million on aged care. That is an increase of more than 60 percent on what Labour spent back in 2008. We are spending more on people in aged care—on respite care on carer support and on new clinical assessment tools for older New Zealanders. That is really going to make a difference to the quality of life of our older people. I feel in particular that it is commendable what we have done around Alzheimer’s with the amount of money that we have put into that. My own mother had a long journey with dementia and I was very upset to see the lack of advocacy for many of those older people who did not have friends and family to keep an eye on them. For 12 years I was patron of the organisation Alzheimers Wellington and I know very well how difficult it has been to raise public awareness as well as to raise necessary funds. So I am very proud indeed that we have put more money into this important area.At the moment in New Zealand there are 48000 New Zealanders who suffer from some form of dementia to some degree. By 2050 that will have tripled to 150000 New Zealanders. It is increasing at a rate of 4 percent a year. We have labelled dementia as a priority. We have put $100 million specifically towards services like home support so that people with dementia-related conditions can stay in their homes for longer and so that the people who care for them can have more support and better training to be able to do well the jobs that they do and to do them even better. To me it is not just a matter of clinical care; it is also a matter of having people attracted to that profession who have compassion because that is one of the many qualities that is required.Dementia bed subsidies have increased by 25 percent over the past 5 years. We have allocated $3.2 million in the last Budget to something I have been very involved in for a very long time which is the early diagnosis of dementia. Unless you realise and know and understand what to look for it is quite easy to miss those initial signs of dementia and not see it until it is too late and to perhaps misunderstand the symptoms and misunderstand the behaviour changes that do occur. So there is a need to put money into raising awareness and making people aware of how they can get support and what they need to tap into from an early stage. There is a thing called Cuppa for a Cause which Alzheimer’s New Zealand has just relaunched. When I was part of it back in 1993 we were jumping out of planes with parachutes and people strapped to our backs to raise awareness of dementia. It is something that has gradually been occurring over the years. I commend Alzheimer’s New Zealand for coming together and trying very hard to make mainstream New Zealanders whose lives have perhaps not been touched by this yet more aware of what is required. Fund-raising is needed—that is true—but to me raising awareness is the thing that needs to happen.There are other initiatives as well that are helping older New Zealanders get quality of life. The SuperGold card from very humble beginnings has certainly been improved on. Since 2010 this National Government has invested more than $68 million in this scheme and as of last week there are now more than 11000 businesses involved including transport retail dentists pharmacy and utilities services. For those seniors who can afford to and who have a mind to go overseas reciprocal arrangements are now in place so that our over-65s can also receive a range of commercial discounts that the Australian seniors receive there.When I look at environment and conservation I see as well a Government that has really put its money where its mouth is and that has also endeavoured to make sure that the regulations the controls and the penalties are in place so that our environment is protected. It would be foolish not to explore what our potential is when it comes to oil and gas. We need to see what is there. Anadarko has not had much success in Taranaki. There may or may not be oil reserves off Canterbury and Otago. Indeed we do hope so but it is prudent to find out. If they do find that there are oil reserves that are worth doing there will be full public hearings to ascertain what needs to be done before those permits are actually granted. That is an enormous improvement on what Labour did. There were more than 35 grants given through just the signature of a Minister to ensure that wells could be dug and drilled. There were not any provisions there were not any safeguards and there were no penalties and fines put in place. Labour compounded that problem along with its cronies in the Green Party by not supporting the exclusive economic zone legislation. We have now put in place very good measures and provisions—$10 million fines and so forth—for people who do not do what they are supposed to do.I would hope that when you look at us on balance as a Government and see what we are doing with marine reserves you would see that the Hon Dr Nick Smith has certainly made huge gains here. We are effectively expanding our protected territorial sea from 7 percent to 9.5 percent which is very close to New Zealand’s target of 10 percent. That is part of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. There is our Coastal Policy Statement our benchmarks for water and how we need to maintain water treatment and to clean up the waterways which have really over a very long period of time degraded and deteriorated so it is important that we ensure that these things continue.When it comes to the war on 1080 I think once again we have led the charge there. The battle for our birds ensures that we will be able to cut through some of the more emotive arguments that have surrounded this space in the 20 to 30 years that I have been involved and interested in horticulture and conservation. The 1080 aerial drops are the weapon that we need to ensure that our New Zealand native birds do not perish—2.5 million of them die annually and we do not want that to continue. Thank you.