Upston Louise: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeUpston Louise: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 06 June 2013. Volume:690;Page:10884. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): I am extremely proud to stand and speak in this Budget debate and to support the Minister of Finance Bill English in the Budget that he delivered here 3 weeks ago. It is a Budget that I do believe is delivering for ruraland provincial New Zealand. It is delivering for families small businesses and communities alike. I can be quite confident in saying that because as I have been out and about in the various small towns and communities in the Taupō electorate that is what they are telling me. There are some very sensible very practical solutions where funding is focused where it actually counts and where it makes a difference for hard-working New Zealanders.Families are the backbone of our communities. That is clear. This Government has continued to support those families. We know that some families are missing out and that is why we have had a particular focus on those more vulnerable families in this 2013 Budget. We are also boosting the support for low-income families who are entirely dependent on the State.There are a couple of things that families up and down the electorate are pretty clear about in terms of what is important to them. It is important to them to be in homes that are warm and dry and they want to be able to know with confidence that they can buy their groceries each week that their job has got some continuity and that their children have the best education possible. This is a Government that is doing that. More important the very recurring theme that constituents raise is that they want to know that their lives are improving and that is exactly what this Government is doing. By focusing on the economy and where it counts and by getting into black that is where we are heading.One of the aspects that we have heard a lot about in this Budget is housing. We have made improvements in housing in a number of different areas through the home insulation schemes that are making houses warmer and drier and with legislation that we have initiated to actually make homes more affordable. We all know that for hard-working Kiwi families it is a dream of theirs to own their own home. This Government is actually being very practical and very sensible in making changes that make that a reality for those families. For many families living in Auckland it just seems incredibly unattainable right now so it is great to see that we are actually making progress in the area of affordability of housing.But the areas that I am particularly pleased about though are what we are doing for parents. We have had a number of debates recently here about paid parental leave. Well this is a Government that has actually increased paid parental leave by $67 a week. In other countries if we look at other countries around the world they struggle to keep the entitlements that they have put in place for parental leave and initiatives like that. We have also made sure that the Working for Families programme is better targeted so it actually gets those who need it the most. I think those are important measures.If we look for example across the Tasman—we are often compared with Australia—the Government there has made cuts in its Budget to its support for families. It has made cuts. But not only have we held our entitlements we have actually managed to increase them. If you look at Australia the Government has removed what it had as its baby bonus where it paid $5000 for each newborn child. It has introduced means testing for family tax benefits and some families in that middle tax bracket who often seem to be hit from all directions are losing entitlements. So I think it is really important that we have that as a perspective and as a measure when New Zealand is doing so much better than Australia in terms of maintaining the support and growing the support for families—and that is despite the fact that we have had this global financial crisis.The difference is that on this side of the House we are very clear about having the fix for these issues at the top of the cliff. You know we have the numbers batted to us from the Opposition parties about the number of children in poverty so I think it is important for us to just put a bit of perspective around this bit. After 9 years of surpluses that wereat record numbers after 9 years of a Labour Government there were 240000 children in poverty. So after the worst economic times this century the number of children has increased—absolutely—but actually the Labour Government did very little about it. This is a Government that is very practical very sensible and is focusing the support exactly where it is needed and that is at the top of the cliff rather than at the bottom catching those vulnerable children when it is far too late.I think those are the sorts of things that New Zealanders are responding to. If you walk down the street in the Taupō electorate not one person—not one person—has complained about something that we are doing in the Budget because they know it is sensible they know it is practical. We are focusing exactly where we need to and some of these areas are in health for example. As a mum you want to make sure that you are preventing your children from getting sick. What does that mean? It means things like immunisation. It means getting checks before your child is really ill.It also means things like cancer checks. We have got more money towards prostate cancer checks and breast cancer checks. Those are practical sensible solutions. We have got $35.5 million towards diabetes and heart disease checks. We have got significant increases in the number of children being immunised. All of these things are smaller numbers—then we talk about the $14.5 billion into health—but they are numbers that people on the street can actually understand and they can see where that difference is being made. You have got a mum getting cancer treatment sooner or you have got a child that is being immunised or you have got a child getting surgery without waiting too long. It is those simple practical things that make a difference for everyday hard-working New Zealanders. That is why they are supporting this Government in droves because the things that matter to them are the things that we are delivering. They are the results that we are delivering.I was absolutely staggered—absolutely staggered—in the House yesterday to have one of the Opposition parties raise this mind-blowing idea about having nurses in schools. Well there are already nurses in 860 deciles 1 2 and 3 primary and intermediate schools. Hello! We have nurses. They have been there for quite some time and in addition this Government has put more social workers into schools. This is what I mean about practical sensible solutions at the top of the cliff not waiting for those vulnerable children to become statistics. We are making practical solutions whether it is nurses or whether it is social workers in schools. It bothers me quite a lot that Opposition members in this House do not even take the time to figure out what support is already in our schools for our families and for our communities.Here is another example of a very practical solution. We are very clear on this side of the House that the ultimate responsibility for feeding children lies with parents. We are absolutely very clear about that but also we do recognise that it takes a village to raise a child. So here we have come up with a solution that embraces Government that calls on private enterprise and on the community and that also calls on the parents of the children involved by having a partnership with Sanitarium and Fonterra and expanding what we have had in place for quite some time.So it is quite irresponsible for members to be in this House and talk about the fact that this Government has done nothing about providing food in schools for those children. We have already had programmes and we are now extending them. We recognise very clearly that if we want to raise students’ achievement we need to focus on the barriers to learning. Clearly children cannot learn if they are hungry so we are taking care of that.In early childhood education it is fantastic to see that the numbers are going up. We all recognise that if children have access to education before starting school they are going to do better. We are putting money into boards of trustees—the school leaders.We are putting $2.4 million into connecting communities. To respond to the comment from the member Nanaia Mahuta who spoke prior to me in regard to the $19 million to establish partnership schools well as a parent I actually think it is a really good idea if parents have choice about their children’s education and I do not think that that is a problem. I am just staggered to be in this House to hear Opposition members who are defending unions and unions’ choice. Actually this side of the House believes that parents should have more choice about how their children are educated and Opposition members should be very willing to say that if someone is not measuring up parents should be able to choose another school and make sure that their child is getting the results that they deserve.That is why New Zealanders can see that this side of the House is delivering real results in education and in health and it is coming up with initiatives to solve community issues like children attending school without having breakfast. It is very solutions-orientated and that is why I am enormously proud to be part of the John Key - led Government and to be supporting a Budget that was so well delivered by the Minister of Finance Bill English.