Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: General Debate 
Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: General Debate 
[Volume:625;Page:20248] 
LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Kia ora talofa and warm Pacific greetings. As the Labour MP for Mana I stand with dignity and pride to participate in a debate about remembering the 1990s and celebrating the present and the future under Labour. 
This debate shows that Dr Brash and National are suffering from short-term memory loss. They forget that National was tossed out in 1999 by the people of New Zealand. They forget how bad things were during the 1990s. We need to remind New Zealanders of what happened under the last National Administration and what Labour has done to turn the tide. 
Labour has clear policies. We are implementing them and we are doing more. We have kept our word. This Labour-led Government has spent the last 5 years reversing the trends of the previous decade which was a decade of despair. A deep loss of hope and powerlessness were felt by many New Zealanders during that time. We have turned around unemployment to a 20-year low. Do we want to go back to the 1990s when Maori unemployment was 18 to 19 percent? It is now only 9 percent. Pacific Island unemployment was 15 to 16 percent. It is now only 6 percent. Labour has turned those bad statistics right round. In the area of unemployment remember the 1990s! 
In terms of defence our Defence Force was seriously run down in the 1990s and Simon Power publicly attested to that. Our Government has recently announced additional funding of $4.6 billion over the next 10 years to restore and develop our Defence Force. Our Government is committed to a modern Defence Force with a motorised and readily deployable Army an enhanced Navy and an updated Air Force. The additional funding announced this week is the biggest funding initiative for defence in a generation. Our Government is extremely proud of the New Zealand Defence Force. Our military personnel are deployed around the world at the highest operational level in a generation. The outstanding work of the recent deployment to assist in the tsunami-devastated Aceh is a recent example of that. Our New Zealand Defence Force already has an excellent international reputation. Remember the 1990s! 
With our family policies we have also turned round the situation for families. From April this year about 55 percent of New Zealand families have been entitled to more money through the Working for Families package. Those changes will—and have already—put more money in the pockets of low to middle income families through increased support for living costs housing and childcare. Family support has increased by $25 a week for the first child and $15 a week for each additional child. From October there will be a 10 percent increase in child subsidy rates on top of last year’s initial 10 percent rise. That means working families will be eligible for up to $156 per week per child in childcare assistance. In addition to those changes childcare assistance is now available to families also on higher incomes. Remember the Budget cuts of the 1990s! 
We are also supporting vulnerable families. Family Start is providing assistance to families with children aged up to 5 years where their circumstances place them very much at risk. It is an effective early-intervention programme that helps children and their families achieve their potential later in life and greatly reduces the chances of abuse. Last year more than 4000 vulnerable families with pre-school children were helped by that service. We are currently investing over $18 million in Family Start and that will increase to an annual investment of nearly $29 million. 
In business growth the tax changes that have been announced pre-Budget will also help small and medium businesses. The focus of tax changes in this year’s Budget will be on facilitating savings increasing New Zealand’s access to worldwide labour skills and capital and ensuring their effective use so as to increase productivity and grow the economy. There will also be more money—$2.7 million—for business start-ups and the business incubator sector to help our companies grow innovate and develop a cutting edge.