Barclay Todd: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarclay Todd: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 07 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11739. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD BARCLAY (National—Clutha-Southland): It is a privilege to be able to speak on National’s eighth Budget since coming into Government. I would like to acknowledge the finance Minister Bill English; the finance team Paula Bennett and Steven Joyce; and Prime Minister John Key for an outstanding Budget that will benefit all New Zealanders and in particular all Southlanders and all members of the Otago communities.Before I go on and talk about some of the main areas that will benefit Southland and Otago I want to touch on a couple of insights as to what an alternative Labour-Greens Government might potentially look like just based on some of the few short facts that we have received in the last few days since the Budget. So far we know that if a Labour and Greens alliance was in power there would be more for traffic control more for cleaning our rivers more for social housing more for preparing for climate change more for public health and more to support parents.The National-led Government has done a considerable amount in all of these areas. I saw a figure the other day saying that to counter National’s $100 million fund to clean up freshwater waterways the Greens’ proposal would cost up to $7 billion—that dwarfs the budget of the police and early childhood education combined. I do not think that we can afford that for a region like Southland whose backbone is the agricultural sector. What we need is a pragmatic Budget—which this delivers—delivering more jobs higher incomes better outcomes and brighter prospects for our people.Just to have a bit of an idea about what a Labour-Greens alliance might look like in consultation around the Budget which would be an interesting prospect to be a fly on the wall forwe already know that in housing Labour wants to scrap Auckland City limits but the Greens do not. Deep-sea oil drilling—it has been a longstanding fact that the Greens oppose this but Labour would not ban the offshore activity.Instead it would call for better safety activities. Immigration—Labour wants to slow the intake of semi-skilled migrants but the Greens do not think that would help our economy. Too right that would absolutely shatter the Southland economy. Have you any idea Mr Deputy Speaker—and I know you will coming from a provincial area—how much it means to have additional low-skilled migrants coming into our areas to be able to fill the jobs that our regions struggle to fill with locals coming on board. It would absolutely cripple the local economy if that were to progress. We know with foreign trusts that Labour would look to ban foreign trusts but the Greens would not go that far.One thing they do agree on though—and it is another thing that would absolutely cripple the Southland and Otago economies—is they both want to ban the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. We all know as this is going through the select committee right now that it would be an absolutely shattering thing for regional New Zealand particularly for trade-based economies such as Southland and Otago that rely on export markets.One thing though that is quite interesting—and this is too good to miss—is what a Labour-Greens Cabinet might potentially look like and I just want to pick on two particular areas. There is the future Minister of Health Mr Steffan Browning who said that Ebola could be cured with homeopathy. This is something that goes against the World Health Organization which issued a warning against using homeopathy to try to cure severe diseases such as HIV and malaria. It says there is no science to support that. How would the Labour Party view that? I do not think that that would be a very interesting prospect for the Labour Party to take to its constituency.And there is Catherine Delahunty the future Minister for Primary Industries calling for a moratorium on bottled water and a moratorium on dairy conversions. Again for the Southland and Otago communities this would be absolutely shattering. It would destroy our economies. What we survive on is the progressive nature of our primary industries succeeding well on the world stage and dairy is a key part of that. And I think for most New Zealanders who want to live a healthy life bottled water plays a key part in that. So it is not surprising that the Labour primary industries spokesperson Damien O’Connor will not support the deal saying that many West Coasters were worried about the Greens’ proposition because of its opposition to mining. So that is a bit of insight there.There are a couple of areas in this Budget that are of huge benefit to Clutha-Southland. In the primary industries space there is the biosecurity spend at a record high of $223 million and I would like to acknowledge the Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy who is sitting here—it is his key priority. There are also tuition subsidies for agricultural and veterinary sciences at the tertiary education level and there is more investment into tackling wilding pines. In tourism the investment of an additional $25 million into the cycle trails is hugely beneficial to the Central Otago area and I would like to acknowledge my colleague Jacqui Dean who represents most of the Central Otago area. So that is good.There is also the small but significant fund of $8 million that can go towards—that is right—providing additional toilets in small communities that are faced with the issues of freedom camping.On that note I would just like to acknowledge the Ministers who have played a key role in preparing this year’s Budget and acknowledge the National Party caucus. Thank you very much.