McClay Todd: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McClay Todd: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Sitting date: 26 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3372. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and speak in this debate. I was not sure how to start my speech until Mr Williams gave us an autobiographical account of life as a mayor of North Shore. He said: “Spray and walk away. Spray and walk away.” Those were the days when he was there as the mayor. He also mentioned to us that he had been talking to some of his constituents. Well here is a little wake-up call Mr Williams: you do not have constituents you are a list MP. It was Maggie Barry who won in that seat. She has constituents. Maggie Barry has told me she got 20000 votes and you got 1000 votes in that election. I did not realise there were 1000 people in that electorate who had lemon trees. “Spray and walk away” was the theme of that last speech. 
This is a very important debate today because it was an excellent Budget for New Zealand and an excellent Budget for New Zealanders delivered by an excellent Prime Minister John Key and a hard-working Minister of Finance Bill English. The Government has an economic plan. New Zealanders knew about it they voted for it and we are now delivering on it. 
Earlier in the debate David Parker spoke about his concerns about direction. He told us a bit about his vision for New Zealand. Well that was economic policy by David Parker of Athens—Athens in Greece of course not Epsom where he also stood. Another colleague in the House got so many more votes; in fact I think more Labour Party voters voted for my colleague in Epsom than for the Labour Party candidate at the time. 
Can I say that our Budget is about reducing debt and investing in New Zealand and New Zealanders about working hard to get back to surplus by 2014-15 and about less borrowing less wasteful spending and greater investment in New Zealand assets and we will grow them over the next 4 years to $267 billion worth of assets. They are important assets for New Zealanders: schools hospitals roads infrastructure—things that make us more productive and get ahead. Focus on what people can do not on what they cannot do. I was reading a story to my young daughter the other day. It was about the little engine that kept saying: “I think I can I think I can.” Well the little red engine on the other side is the engine of “can’t”. The Labour Opposition says: “New Zealanders can’t do anything. Nothing is right. We shouldn’t do anything at all—can’t can’t can’t.” 
 Of course we are reforming the welfare system getting back to helping New Zealanders supporting them back into doing the things that they can do and not merely focusing on what they cannot do. As a speaker said earlier in the debate this is not about taking people on the unemployment benefit and moving them to a sickness benefit or an invalids benefit which happened over 9 long years of a Labour Government; this is about supporting New Zealanders helping them get the skills they need to be productive in our society and telling them that this Government has their back and we know and believe that they can do more. 
In law and order we are making New Zealanders safer—making New Zealanders safer—which is something that has been important to this Government over the last 3½ years. We are recognising the rights of the victim not the criminal—putting the victim first. We are supporting our communities supporting the police and making New Zealand a safer place and the statistics are showing this and proving it. 
Finally we are focusing on productivity and growth. We are a trading nation—productivity and growth. The more productive we are the more competitive we are. When we export our goods overseas we will earn more for them. That is better for our country. Businesses will invest in their own businesses. They will employ more. This is about supporting New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses not about the Government employing and the Government taking money off others recycling it putting it back into the economy and growing a system of dependency. 
Over the last 3½ years the National Government has taken a moderate and balanced approach to managing the Government’s finances. I want to recognise that this 3½ years has been extremely difficult for many New Zealanders as it has been for many countries around the world. This has been part of a much wider economic programme to put the economy on a sounder footing. We have constantly reprioritised spending and what we have done is made sure that when we spend taxpayers’ money they deserve a return on it. So we have not just said in the area of health where the Minister Tony Ryall has worked effectively and hard over 3½ years: “Here’s a lot more money. Go and see what you can do with it.” We have said: “The taxpayer deserves more bang for that buck—more operations with the money you have.” 
The great news is that Mr Ryall has increased spending in health but also productivity in health has increased dramatically. In the Lakes District Health Board in my electorate last year the year before and again this year we have had more elective surgery operations than in any year ever before with almost the same amount of money. That comes through the hard work of doctors nurses and experts and they are backed up by Tony Ryall. They know that Tony Ryall supports them which is something they did not know of the last Minister over the last 9 years of a Labour Government. We have also said that for the past 3½ years the Government has provided responsible economic management at a time when New Zealand very much needed it. 
I want for a moment to talk about a fantastic announcement by our Prime Minister John Key this week. He said that for New Zealanders we will set 10 targets to challenge our public sector over the next 5 years. [ 
Interruption 
] I am going to read out what those 10 targets are because already there is a cacophony of people on the other side of the House who should be finding something more productive to do and who are naysayers. As I said earlier that is the party of “can’t”—“You can’t do this you can’t do that you can’t do these other things.” All those members are about is being “can’ts” and I do not think that is what New Zealanders want. 
I received a text this week on the 5-year Public Service targets. It said: “Dear Todd congratulations on the Prime Minister’s announcements. Not sure if I’ve missed these before. Perhaps this is the first time I’ve seen a Government come out with clear well-defined 5-year targets. It would have been good to see these targets done earlier. Well done. It’s so important for the general public to see where as a country we are heading with concise targets such as these. Have a great day.” Not a Labour Party supporter—that is right. Not a Labour Party member of Parliament because that text is all about what we can do not what we cannot do. The little red engine that thought it could but actually it could not—it cannot. 
So what did the Prime Minister say? He set 10 clear targets for what it is that we must do in New Zealand. Reducing long-term welfare dependency—reducing the number of people receiving the new jobseeker support for more than 12 months by 30 percent from 78000 to 55000 by 2017. What an admirable target. On this side of the House we will work hard to make sure that we achieve that. Why would we do that? I firmly believe that when people are in work they and their families are better off. We want to back New Zealanders to help them do the things they can do not tell them what they cannot do. Supporting vulnerable children—what did we hear from one of the members opposite yesterday? These targets are not important. 
Jami-Lee Ross 
: Meaningless. 
Alfred Ngaro 
: Meaningless. 
TODD McCLAY 
: Meaningless meaningless. Well you know what happened on 26 November last year. The New Zealand public told us what was meaningless. The Labour Party got the lowest vote ever under MMP. That is what meaningless was. 
Supporting vulnerable children will ensure that by 2016 98 percent of children starting school will have participated in early childhood education—fantastic. Not only have we put much more money into early childhood education we are going to make sure that those who are least advantaged the most disadvantaged are helped to get their kids into early childhood education so that they can get on the road to better education and better achievement. 
We are going to increase infant immunisation rates to 95 percent of 8-month-olds—a fantastic idea. Well done Tony Ryall. I know that we can do this. We will reduce the incidence of rheumatic fever by two-thirds by 2017. This is a disease that should not be in New Zealand. We all in this House need to join hands to find ways to support that and to change it. We will help stop the 10-year rise in children experiencing physical abuse and reduce the number of children experiencing substantial physical abuse by more than 1000 on projected numbers by 2017. Actually would it not be great if we could join together and find a way to do that? Minister Paula Bennett is focused on making sure the lives of our young people are better and that they are better protected. 
We are going to focus on boosting skills and employment—on 85 percent of young people getting the National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2—and reducing crime is very important for us. On the opposite side of the House they say it is not happening. Well look at the statistics. Get out and talk to people. Talk to some of Maggie Barry’s constituents and you will see that New Zealanders are feeling safer but we have a long way to go here because we want to put the New Zealand public first and the criminal second. There are some other changes around businesses so that they can have a one-stop shop in dealing with the Government and so that New Zealanders are able to complete many more of their transactions with the Government in a digital environment. 
I say to you that this is a Budget for the people. We are a Government for the people. We have a Prime Minister of the people. I think that this is a wonderful thing that we are doing here today and I commend this legislation to the House.