Choudhary Ashraf: Budget Debate 
Choudhary Ashraf: Budget Debate 
[Volume:618;Page:13623] 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
: 
 I am delighted to speak after my colleague who has very eloquently explained a whole lot of our policies in this Budget. I am really delighted to see how much we are doing for education for health—including surgery for hip and knee joints—and for whatever else we are doing. It is really great to see this Labour Government Michael Cullen and my colleague Steve Maharey presenting such a family-friendly Budget. 
With the little time I have I want to talk briefly about one part of the Budget that I do not believe has been talked about much—that is the package in it that allocates $62 million over the next 4 years for practical measures to help migrants refugees and their families to make a greater contribution to the economy and society in this country. In this Budget new initiatives will contribute to the Government’s settlement strategy which is designed to help employers find skilled workers. It will also enhance the ability of migrants refugees and their families to settle here. Over the next 4 years $4 million is being allocated to Career Services to provide specialist employment advice information and guidance to migrants. That will target migrants who are already in jobs or who are out of work but looking for better opportunities. Many of these migrants entered the country under old policies that did not require them to be matched with skilled jobs. Another Budget initiative is to target adults with professional qualifications who need to improve their English skills. It will provide free advanced English for speakers of other languages training at a cost of $1.6 million for a pilot programme over the next 4 years. 
Other initiatives in the immigration settlement package include a big boost to funding of about $37.9 million over the next 4 years for schools to provide more English language teaching to children from a non-English speaking background. The package will increase resources for refugee and migrant services by $6 million over the next 4 years. In addition $11.7 million will go to the establishment of a network of migrant resource centres over the next 4 years. A national secretariat based in the Department of Labour will be provided to support communication on migrant and refugee settlement issues between community groups other organisations and central and local government at a cost of $1 million over the next 4 years. 
Ongoing initiatives outside the Budget package will still form part of the Government’s broader immigration strategy and will include ongoing funding. There will be $1.3 million next year for the Language Line a telephone interpretation service that offers 35 different languages for clients of the Accident Compensation Corporation Housing New Zealand the Department of Internal Affairs the New Zealand Police the Ministry of Social Development and the New Zealand Immigration Service. Ongoing employment services for refugees and migrants announced in the 2003 Budget will be delivered through Work and Income at a cost of $21 million over 4 years which will enable migrants to connect with the New Zealand labour market in order to become productive members of the workforce. 
This Government has done tremendous work not only for families but also for the wider communities of New Zealand. I am proud to be part of this Government. It is delivering for everyone in this country and bringing peace harmony and stability to the society we live in. Certainly we are proud that we are providing fair and just budgetary measures for all concerned in New Zealand. 
Debate interrupted.