Goudie Sandra: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Goudie Sandra: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:645;Page:14315] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 New Zealanders are either thinking about leaving New Zealand or wishing they could and that is a tragedy for this country. The current Government is the reason and we know that the number leaving each year is about equivalent to the size of Rotorua—about 70000 people. They are leaving because the current Government is not addressing the issues that face New Zealand today. 
I am proud to support the motion of John Key that the House has no confidence in the Helen Clark - led Government because it has failed to make significant improvement in the real issues facing New Zealanders which are important to them; because it is tired lacks ambition and is bereft of ideas—that is why it keeps pinching National’s policies and everybody knows that—and because it does not have the leadership that our country deserves and has failed to capitalise on the opportunities that have been available for nearly 9 years. This Government has done next to nothing about them. It has concentrated more and more on its own survival and less on the issues that matter to the people of New Zealand. 
This Government has squandered New Zealand’s economic inheritance by failing to build strong foundations for the future. It seriously has. We see squandered opportunities when we look at the issues raised by my colleague Bill English in recent press releases such as “More gruel please Dr Cullen?” where he stated: “… Finance Minister Michael Cullen has described workers’ approach to tax cuts as an Oliver Twist mentality—they will just come back for more.” Dr Cullen has a disgraceful attitude towards the people of New Zealand. 
Bill English said also that Helen Clark must front up over the Owen Glenn donations. But those members have not done that. Gerry Brownlee said: “Labour is in denial as electricity prices loom large” but has Labour done anything about that over the last 9 years? It has done nothing. Another National Party headline states: “Labour kisses goodbye to single core benefit”. Again this Government has failed to achieve any outcome in the last 9 years. It has introduced policies but has then canned them because they just do not work. Press releases by Phil Heatley state: “Promises on housing looking empty” “Fisheries staff blowout…” and also “Labour’s affordable homes not so affordable”. That point has been recognised by most members of this House except for those on the Government benches. 
We have only to look at what Tony Ryall is achieving in the health portfolio to see the failure of this Government to achieve anything in nearly the last 9 years with regard to health. The Government has spent billions more but the health system is getting worse and worse. New Zealanders know that and no amount of rhetoric or spin from the Government benches will convince New Zealanders otherwise. The health system is failing. 
I will state the questions that Kiwis really want answers to. Why after 8 years of Labour are we paying the second-highest interest rates in the developed world? Why under Labour is the gap between our wages and wages in Australia and other parts of the world getting bigger and bigger? Why under Labour do we get a tax cut only in election year and not when we really needed it—years ago? We need only look at Dr Michael Cullen and his attitude towards New Zealanders and we understand why. 
Why can our hard-working kids not afford to buy their own house? Once again we can understand why when we look at the policies of the current Government. Why is one in five Kiwi kids leaving school with totally inadequate literacy and numeracy skills? That is an absolute tragedy. Why has the health system not improved with billions and billions of dollars being spent on it? Labour cannot answer that one; well we can. Why is the rate of violent crime against innocent New Zealanders continuing to soar and why is Labour unable to do anything about it? 
This parliamentary year is a good opportunity to look ahead and consider the challenges that New Zealand faces in 2008. I can tell the House that there are plenty of them. There are interest rates children leaving school and the nearly 800 Kiwis who leave New Zealand every week for Australia. There is a breakdown in our health system and collapsing finance companies are wiping out hundreds of millions of dollars in savings. 
A drought is affecting many parts of the country and our electricity supply is in a shaky state. Those two are actually inextricably linked. Right now there is a drought crisis and I am sure that the current Government is probably failing to take into account what that really means for New Zealand. Right now as of last Thursday the Matamata-Piako District Council said that the Morrinsville township had at that point 3 weeks’ water supply left and after that it would have to truck water in. There is a soil moisture deficit of minus 133 millimetres. 
Sue Moroney 
: Well that’s the council. The council does water supplies. 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: That might be a council matter but where is the Government in a drought crisis situation? What is it doing to support farmers throughout the country? This is a $500 million loss to the economic situation of New Zealand. This will filter from our country’s rural areas right through to the cities and they will feel the brunt of that. Families are hurting; where is the support from this current Government? Does it really know or understand that if we are looking at an electricity crisis it will be hugely compounded by the serious drought situation we are in up and down this country? The Government should be taking notice of the alarm bells being rung by Gerry Brownlee. But it is not; it is not taking the situation seriously at all. 
In the speech at the start of the parliamentary year the Prime Minister had a chance to address many of the issues we have talked about. She had the chance to be bold and visionary to reveal how she would deal with the problems many New Zealanders face and to lift the performance of her Government. By gee that is needed; after 9 years in power there has been literally no performance whatsoever. We have not seen any change to the economic and social problems in New Zealand. We have seen that all of those problems have only got worse. 
The Prime Minister did not take the opportunity. She announced two new ideas—mostly some initiatives for non-governmental organisations which borrow from the policy on turbocharging community groups that National announced last year and a plan for affordable homes that calls for more Government-led housing schemes like the Hobsonville development in Auckland. But we know that that will not deliver. Unfortunately the Hobsonville development will not be a glittering success. It has taken at least 8 years to get off the ground and last week the chairman of the Housing New Zealand Corporation Pat Snedden admitted that a buyer would have to have about $70000 to be able to afford such an opportunity. 
Well unlike Labour National will focus on the real issues facing New Zealand and we will not fixate on the tired old debates from 20 or 30 years ago. Unlike Labour we understand why Kiwis are demanding change. They are demanding change because they think it is time for a Government that says no to mediocrity and expects more for New Zealand. And that is what National will do. 
National will lift wages by driving economic growth investing in infrastructure having ongoing tax cuts and monitoring the quantity and quality of Government spending—and boy that cannot come soon enough! We will create safer communities by taking the brave steps needed to address this country’s growing crime problems. We will ensure that our education system delivers real opportunities for our young people. We want to give Kiwis confidence in the public services they rely on and we are more interested in building performance than in building bureaucracy. 
We will build a more confident and proud New Zealand and we will uphold the democracy and freedoms that Kiwis enjoy today. We will not allow Kiwis’ democracy and freedoms to be undermined by legislation—like the Electoral Finance Act and the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill—and we will continue to oppose any moves this Government makes in that direction. What this current Government is doing to the freedoms and democracies of New Zealand is an absolute disgrace and I think it is an absolute tragedy that we have to continue to put up with this current tired old Government. We are proud of John Key as the future leader for New Zealand.