Jones Dail: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Jones Dail: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:623;Page:18340] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 The Prime Minister in her speech referred to “dreams” and “visions”. It is all very well for the Prime Minister to speak about dreams and visions but many of the things that New Zealanders have to face are really a nightmare. She said that she wanted to make it possible for every individual to fulfil that person’s educational potential and that was her dream. Well for those going back to school this year that is something of a nightmare with school fees uniform fees and suchlike. The Prime Minister says that the future of our dreams will provide better wages and salaries—that at a time when the OECD has put us in the lower to middle income bracket along with two former communist countries. The situation is not a dream for New Zealanders; it is a nightmare. This Prime Minister has no idea of what is going on in the country. 
Of course there is no reason for the nightmare. We in New Zealand First know as Dr Bollard said in his recent statement that in 2000 and 2001 we had an exchange rate low commodity prices were up and climatic conditions were good and that we have been doing well financially. He went on to point out that since September 11 2001 our tourism industry has been just tremendous with more than two million people coming to New Zealand and over $6 billion in foreign exchange being earned. He went on to say that in the last couple of years world commodity prices have gone up for reasons such as the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the US which stopped the exporting of US beef to Japan the continuing rundown of sheep numbers in the European Union and droughts in Australia that affected that country’s rural exports. All that was good for New Zealand and for New Zealand farmers—and we still run on the back of the farmer in New Zealand although did the Minister Jim Sutton when he spoke just a few moments ago mention farming at all? I do not think so; there was not a word about farming. I really cannot say that I have heard any Labour member let alone any National member give any credit to farmers in our society and we still run on the back of the sheep the lamb the dairy cow and beef cattle in this country. 
Of course Mr Bollard also made the point that the growth in private consumption has been very strong—in other words we are borrowing a lot. Sure we are borrowing a lot: $21.6 billion on credit cards in 2004 with hard-core debt now for the first time ever reaching over $4 billion. It is no wonder that we should be doing well. But what does it mean for New Zealand? What does it mean for the average mother? Does she have the same length of stay in hospital today as she did say when the Prime Minister came into the House in 1981? In those days mothers had 7 or 10 days in which to stay in hospital to get attached to their children and suchlike. Now the mother is out on the first day and Helen Clark does not even want mothers to stay at home to breastfeed their children. She wants the mother to be back out in the workforce getting a job and leaving the child behind and she offers parents dawn to dusk childcare. What a disgrace! Obviously we would expect that from a Labour Prime Minister whose main interest is in things like the Civil Union Bill and the Prostitution Reform Bill rather than in really caring for mothers and families in this society. Fortunately of course children under 6 years are entitled to free medicine something assured to them by New Zealand First when we were in Government before and we intend to extend that when we get back into Government again. 
Is education free? Well the only people in New Zealand who think so are the Hon David Benson-Pope and the Prime Minister. We know it is not free in secondary schools any more and we know it is not free even in primary schools. Why there is a letter to the editor today from Bern Hoani of Browns Bay stating that a child’s school fees at Sherwood School in Browns Bay on the North Shore are $160 a year plus $40 per term for resource fees which are compulsory.That is $320 if people want to go to school in Browns Bay. Where is the free education today? Sure the Prime Minister can talk about her dreams but it is a dream for her. She has never had to worry about children going to school although that is a nightmare for everybody else. Student debt is now at $14242 per student; it was $11664 in 1999. 
People cannot own their own homes any more. It is a nightmare for young people to try to buy their first home—it is just absolutely impossible. The average price of a house in Auckland was $316000 in December 1999 it is now $491000. That is a 60 percent increase. Throughout the country there has been a 45 percent increase in the price of houses. Workers have been given the great news that we are now a low to middle income country as far as the OECD is concerned. 
The Prime Minister can keep her dreams; it is about time she got back here from her walkabout and suchlike. It is dreamtime for her but it is a nightmare for the rest of New Zealand. New Zealand First intends to fix that. Students will get a living allowance when they are at university rather than having to borrow and hope in the way that they do today.