Goldsmith Paul; Borrows ChesterHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment): I suppose it is the Opposition's job to always speak negatively about the country but I was a bit saddened that David Clark feels the need to only ever concentrate on what he sees as the shortcomings of this great nation. I was down in Dunedin where he is based a couple of weeks ago and what a wonderful city Dunedin is—what a wonderful city it is. I went to the university—it is doing well doing enormously well. There are thousands of bright young New Zealanders setting forth with a positive outlook. They are making incredible strides in terms of for example Māori graduates in the medical school. There are huge numbers and they are having huge success in that area of consequence to the country.When I look around the world and when New Zealanders look around the world—Fletcher Tabuteau: You'd still make a better Deputy Prime Minister.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Thank you. When New Zealanders look around the world they see chaos they see division in so many countries and most of them who are generous-hearted New Zealanders—unlike that previous speaker David Clark—do come to the conclusion that New Zealand is a well-managed and tranquil place where we are governed by strong stable Government where the leaders of this country and the Government in this country are united know what they are doing are competent and are focused on the interests of what New Zealanders really want and need.We all experienced a wonderful day on Waitangi Day. I was down at Ōrākei Marae in Auckland not far from the Epsom electorate where I am based with the Prime Minister. A wonderfully positive occasion it was with a large crowd of New Zealanders and Aucklanders of all different ethnic backgrounds all together in a very positive environment. That is so rare in this world and something that we should celebrate.When it comes to the I suppose research department lines that the Labour Party put together on the leadership of Bill English I can reassure you that this is a man who has a genuine concern for all New Zealanders who has thought about the issues that New Zealanders face over decades in Government—Dr David Clark: But he's not a leader.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Well the best leader is somebody who leads by example and he is a man who has worked very hard every day for New Zealanders. He has the absolute confidence of this caucus and we are so much looking forward to the opportunity to have another term so that we can carry on the hopes and dreams that we have developed over the last 8 years.One of the main determinations that we continue to have is to grow our economy here in New Zealand because although the Opposition can talk about all the sorts of things that they want to do with the money that is taken from New Zealanders through their taxes the most important thing we can do is ensure that we have a strong productive economy that is internationally competitive and that can provide the jobs that New Zealanders need. It is wonderful to see that even in the last year we have had 137000 new jobs created by this economy—137000 jobs. So more and more New Zealanders and their families have the ability to get a job and get out and work.A stronger economy enables us to invest in the sorts of things that we need in order to manage a growing economy. Where I come from in Auckland yes there has been rapid population growth in Auckland and so the most important thing—Dr David Clark: That's just his family.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Yes and the most important thing we need to do is make sure that people can move around. So I am looking forward in the next few months to the opening of the Waterview tunnel which is one of the biggest ever infrastructure investments made by this Government. It was held up for many years by Helen Clark who should have done it a long long time ago but held it back. We put the money in and we are going to make a big difference to traffic in Auckland.That is just one of many many investments that have been made by this Government and we are determined to make sure that we can try to keep ahead of the growth that is the reflection of the fact that so many people do want to come and live in Auckland because it is such a wonderful city. We can also when we have a strong economy invest in strengthening New Zealand families and again it is very easy to forget that this was the Government that was the first to increase benefits for the first time in 40 years in real terms and we can invest in so many ways to help all New Zealanders. It seems incredible to me that it is not recognised—the colossal amount of investment that is made by Government on behalf of all New Zealanders to help those vulnerable New Zealanders through free education through stronger welfare through strong free healthcare services and the fact that everybody under the age of 13 can have access to GPs visits and in so many ways. That is why we enjoy the high levels of social cohesion that we have.Most important is that everybody wants to feel safe in their homes and that is why I was so delighted that the Prime Minister's opening speech referred to the fact that we are investing in extra police on the beat on the streets—another 880 new police officers who will make a real difference in terms of keeping our community safe. I am looking forward to seeing them out and about on the streets of Auckland and in—Ron Mark: Ha ha!Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: —and they will be everywhere and they will continue to make a great contribution to what is ultimately a safe country and one where we do enjoy very high levels of security. But like everything we do in this Government we are determined to raise the bar further and improve the quality of what we do. So that is why most of the ideas that you will be seeing this year during the election year will be coming from this Government 8 years into Government from a caucus that is full of ideas and wanting to raise the bar further rather than from members over on the opposite side who you would have thought given their many years of Opposition would have come up with some new ideas but have not.I was given the great privilege of picking up some new portfolios over the summer: Tertiary Education Skills and Employment; Science and Innovation; and Regulatory Reform. The tertiary sector is of course incredibly important to the future of this country in terms of helping New Zealanders into jobs and that is why it is so important that we have got an economy that is developing jobs such as we have—137000 new jobs last year. The tertiary sector needs to deliver the next generation with the skills that they need in a demanding world where I think many people will end up doing a number of things over the course of their lives. So the most important thing they need to come out with from university or a polytechnic or an industry training course of some variety is the ability to be adaptable in a changing world. If we do that well we will increase our productivity as a nation but we also deepen our culture our understanding of the natural world and the scientific world and our contribution to global knowledge.That is why New Zealanders through the Government make a huge contribution to tertiary education in all its many guises. As Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment I am determined to ensure that we get the absolute best value for money for that investment and that is why we brought new legislation in to the House only yesterday to ensure that the Tertiary Education Commission has the powers necessary to make sure that that investment is wisely spent and that it makes the difference that we are looking to make from that investment.Also we have got the international education side. Again many thousands of New Zealand families let us not forget have their livelihoods sustained by that export education industry which brought in export earnings by one estimate of more than $4 billion last year. Thousands of New Zealand households have their living sustained by this important industry and we want to make sure that it continues to grow and that it is sustainable and in most cases a wonderful product is delivered and many students come to New Zealand. Most of them go back home. Some stay in New Zealand and that is absolutely as you would expect. If you have come and done a degree in New Zealand you have learnt and you have a qualification from New Zealand and you have had years in the country learning the language you may well be some of the best migrants that we can get.But it is also very important that we ensure that the systems that we have in place there continue to be robust and that fundamentally the main thing that is being offered is an education not a pathway to residency. So we are absolutely determined to make sure that the systems that we have are robust and we have made big changes over the last couple of years in that area and we are seeing changes there. I am determined as a new Minister to keep a very close eye on that aspect.On science and innovation again this Government has been determined to raise our investment in science because we see that some of the many challenges that we face as a nation as outlined in the science challenges such as sustainable seas and resilience to nature's challenges are ones—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Sorry to interrupt the Minister's riveting speech. His time has expired.