Mahuta Nanaia: Budget Debate 
Mahuta Nanaia: Budget Debate 
[Volume:639;Page:9581] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 Sad mad bad—Chris Auchinvole summed it up. That amounts to what National’s policy is about. He summed it up when he said that all the solutions the National Party had were sad mad and bad solutions for this country. This Budget is a great Budget. It is an excellent Budget. It is forward-looking and it is investing in all the right places. This Budget secures small steps forward for long-term gains. What do we have from members opposite? They have nothing but sad mad bad solutions that will not work for this country. 
This Budget builds on gains over time. Since 1999 this Government has continued to make a difference in the lives of real people real families and real communities who continue to gain benefits and opportunities under a Labour-led Government. What is the solution from Opposition members? All they can offer are sad mad bad solutions. Instead the Government wants to ensure that every New Zealander every family has real opportunities and can walk confidently into the future. This is about having a strong economy. It is about ensuring that we have a confident national identity. It is important that we continue to care for our families and for all members of our communities young and old. That is what a Labour-led Budget is about—not like that of the Opposition. The Opposition’s solutions are sad mad bad solutions that will not work for New Zealanders. 
Let us summarise—let us look at how we propose to go forward. It is about driving the economy forward. Dr Cullen made a very fine speech on Budget day when he set out an agenda about how that might be achieved. We are committed to globally competitive firms so growing that competition is really important. How might we do that? One of the things Dr Cullen has set out is a 15 percent tax credit to promote investment in research and development. We know that we have to make a fundamental shift in the way we do things to ensure that we are competitive and have high-value gains in terms of our export sector. So the 15 percent tax credit to promote investment in research and development will move some way towards that. The Budget is a forward-looking Budget that recognises that the way we can make a difference in terms of supporting growth in our country is to invest in this area—a big research investment to transform our economy and make a difference for all New Zealanders. 
The Budget invests in world-class infrastructure. A lot has been said by former speakers about how we propose to do that but these are some of the ways. We want to have a sustainable rail network. There is $600 million for upgrades to Auckland and Wellington passenger rail including the electrification of Auckland rail and the replacement of infrastructure in Wellington which is fantastic. The Budget is forward-looking. We are trying to ensure that we can have a sustainable option in terms of transport in our two largest cities. A whole lot of changes also ensure that we are creating greater funding certainty for transport. Dr Cullen has proposed a regional fuel tax to be able to fund transport projects. That is forward-looking and this Budget ensures that regional economies can continue to work positively in terms of growth opportunities in their areas. 
This is a good Budget. We propose to develop innovative and productive workplaces that are underpinned by high skills and education. A lot can be said of this area but I say in particular that it is under a Labour Government that we recognise we need to invest in the skills of every New Zealander. For far too long through the neglect of the previous National Government there was no concern about increasing the skills of people in our workforce. Labour cares. We know that that has to be done and we want to ensure that New Zealanders have opportunities to work in our economy and businesses. 
So what have we done? We have provided $76.3 million in operating funding over the next 4 years to meet skills shortages and to raise skill levels within the workforce. That will make a real difference to young people in particular. Over the next 4 years $53 million will be put into industry training $15.8 million will be put in to support industry training organisations and to help them respond to industry needs $7.5 million will be put into operating funding and $2.2 million in capital will be provided for the development and implementation of national assessment tools for adult literacy numeracy and language. More important it is in this area that mature Maori and Pacific workers will benefit. We know the appalling issues around numeracy and literacy especially amongst the more mature in the workforce. This is a case of investing in the right places because we are saying that people in our workforce need to be invested in in terms of their skills and training and literacy is fundamental to that. 
This is a good Budget because it sets ambitious targets by investing in environmental sustainability and sustainable business and makes a large investment in warmer and healthier homes just to name a couple of areas. Why? Because that can make a fundamental difference to people’s lives. How many of us know old people in our communities who have health problems that are exacerbated by poor insulation in their homes? Retrofitting in our communities has made a difference to old people in particular and to young families especially in relation to respiratory issues. 
This is a good Budget—it is forward-looking. It sets out opportunities that make us think as a nation about where we are going and how we can confidently build and secure our future. The biggest part of this Budget I think and one of the things that Dr Cullen will certainly be recognised for is his attempt to push our thinking and push every one of us as New Zealanders into a savings type of mind-set. That is not easy for everybody. I am sure that a lot of people in this room might not have come from a savings background and others could have had quite a background of being savers. But I know a lot of New Zealanders will be pushed and stretched a bit more in what they have really thought about by this. The Budget is forward-looking and ambitious. KiwiSaver provides a real opportunity for New Zealanders to invest in their future and provide a secure future for themselves and their families. The investment in that future in itself will speak multitudes because we know that far too few New Zealanders actually save. So KiwiSaver is a really great opportunity for us all. 
We could go on about other parts of the Budget in very positive ways but I really want to focus on what I think will set a platform to improve Maori development in particular. The way out of poverty has to be through education. If people are well-educated they can walk confidently into the future. So a Labour-led Government asked what was happening in this area and what it could do. 
We needed to lift participation rates in early childhood education. One of the things that we did at the very beginning was to initiate a participation project to ensure that we were targeting areas that would help lift Maori and Pacific Island education in that area in particular. 
Now we are starting to implement opportunities to increase early childhood education. We have increased the subsidy rate for kohanga reo we are moving towards free early childhood funding rates and we are ensuring that those funding rates recognise quality of service by having teacher-led services which is really important. But we are also increasing the number of teachers in new entrants’ classes. We are providing 702 additional teachers which will reduce the ratio of those classes to 1:18. That will enable fundamentally improved foundation-learning opportunities for those young people. 
In particular Maori and Pacific Island students will undoubtedly benefit from this opportunity because there can be a greater focus on their learning outcomes and on increasing their potential opportunities going forward. We have increased funding for wharekura and schools in general. We are providing greater support for schools in terms of extra staffing especially in those hard areas—South Auckland and Counties-Manukau in particular—because we know that the quality of the learning experience has to ensure that we have kids at school. That is why we have invested more in the district truancy services in areas where there are high truancy rates. We have ensured that we are putting quality teachers in front of our kids. We have the Te Kotahitanga programme which looks at improving the way in which teachers and young people interact to improve the quality of that learning environment. 
These are all the types of initiatives that will continue to add to the learning opportunities of young people growing up in New Zealand but more important that say to every young person: “You matter; your future matters; we care.” What do we have from the Opposition? We have sad mad bad solutions that will not work for New Zealanders.