Simpson Scott: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Simpson Scott: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 09 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:2097. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 One of the most interesting things for me as a new member in this House is the constant daily discovery of new information. What I have learnt this afternoon about the Church of Scientology has added to the sum total of my general knowledge immensely so I would like to thank the Green member Mr Hague for his very interesting presentation on the Church of Scientology.  
But as I rise to speak this afternoon I am thinking really about the Coromandel electorate and the very good hard-working people of the Coromandel who are by and large small-business people running enterprises of varying shapes forms and sizes. Most of them know that in order to be successful in their business—whether it be a farm a retail business horticulture aquaculture fishing or whatever—you really need a very good plan and you need good budgetary responsibility. You need that especially when times are tough.  
It is no different for a Government. In the past 3 years National has delivered on its plan to put the economy back on a sound footing based on more savings more exports and more productivity. We are determined to have less debt to reduce housing speculation and to make sure that Government spending is sustainable. These are the sorts of things that the good business people of Coromandel want in a Government. They are the sorts of things that they voted for last November. At the same time as we have been focusing on those matters over the last 3 years we have protected the most vulnerable and taken the sharpest edges off the recession for families and for businesses.  
National’s responsible management means that the Government’s books are set to be back in surplus by the year 2014-15 and that will be the first time since the global financial crisis hit the world economy. Returning to surplus means that we can start as a nation reducing debt and that will be no small achievement. It has taken a disciplined fiscal policy and management to make that happen. We have a plan to rebuild and strengthen New Zealand’s economy we have stuck to it and it is working.  
In just over a fortnight on 24 May the very good Minister of Finance Bill English will be delivering his Budget. It will be a Budget that will reflect our four priorities for this term of Government. Members opposite probably need a little bit of a reminder about what those four priorities are. The first—and most important I guess—is that we should be responsibly managing the Government’s finances building— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I have seen the rules in respect of reading one’s speech. I am not trying to say that that should be enforced in the way— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The right honourable member cannot interrupt another member’s speech over an issue of whether or not that member is reading a speech. I refer the member to Speaker’s ruling 47/1. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! Only the Speaker can decide—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! I am on my feet. Only the Speaker can decide whether or not a member should be reading a speech. I must say I think the general debate has improved enormously. I think we have not had members reading speeches in recent times and I think that has been a great improvement. I just alert all members to the need not to read these short general debate speeches but I had not perceived that to be a problem on this occasion.  
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not doing this to interrupt but I think maybe we could work on the person who is drafting these speeches to get the word “you” out of them.  
Mr SPEAKER 
: Neither do I want to see members’ speeches interrupted when they use the word “you”. All members should be aware—and the honourable member did correct himself—not to use the third person when referring to other members. It becomes particularly bad when members get accusatory across the House and are saying “you” or “you did this” and that is what I want to eliminate if possible. I apologise to the member for his speech being interrupted.  
SCOTT SIMPSON 
: It is with pleasure that I continue to rise and speak about the Government’s plan for our economy—a good four-point plan that is going to ensure that the economy is on a sound and robust footing for future generations. That is the message that the people of Coromandel want to hear. That is what they voted for at the last election. They voted for responsible management of the Government’s finances and that is what we have delivered on. They voted for the building of a more productive and competitive economy and that is what they voted for last November. That is part of our plan. They voted for the delivering of better public services.  
In the Budget in a fortnight’s time those will be measures that will be introduced and will be addressed by Bill English. The rebuilding of Christchurch is a hugely important facet and aspect of this Budget that we will be hearing about in just a fortnight’s time. I am sure that the Government will announce a package that will show that the most vulnerable in our society are further protected.  
 A group who are very vulnerable are young people who are on welfare. We want to make sure that those people do not spend their lives scrap-heaped because of welfare dependency stuck there in a trap of poverty and despair that they cannot move away from. So I will be very happy to support the Budget’s initiatives that will see that we will be targeting young people who are on the benefits because we know that young people who get on to benefits at a young age tend to stay there. They stay there far too long and that is not good for them it is not good for the nation and it is certainly not good for our community and for our society. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.