te Heuheu Georgina: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
te Heuheu Georgina: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:660;Page:8891] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (Minister for Courts) 
: 
 First of all I pay tribute to Jeanette Fitzsimons. I think she and I came into Parliament at the same time—1996. Over all the years that she has been here—and I think she will be a loss to the Parliament and a loss to the Green Party—I want to commend her for her integrity her absolute focus on the issues never a focus on personalities or politics in the sense that that sometimes goes on in this Chamber and her absolute belief in the things the Green Party stands for. I am not a supporter of many of its beliefs but I did always admire the way that she was clear she was consistent she was thorough and she worked hard. I think her contribution to this House has been pretty amazing. 
I also make a comment about a colleague of ours the Hon Parekura Horomia who came into the House in I think 1999. I was a little disappointed in the offering he gave this afternoon. He is better than that but he seemed intent on using unacceptably bad language and I know he has probably apologised for that. He still commands respect obviously from those who originally put him into Parliament. He still is an electorate MP and I am sure those people can rightly expect better of him as well. 
I am very proud to stand in the House this afternoon and support the Prime Minister as part of the National Government that he leads. I am very proud to be part of it and to speak in support of the statement he delivered to the House last week. In listening to the contributions made by the two previous speakers on the Labour side it is very easy to pick out bits and pieces that might suit one’s argument but in the end the wisest thing to do is to focus on the package that the Prime Minister outlined last week. Just to repeat what he said and he said it many times before that and has said it many times since: “In 2010 we will have a firm focus on growing the economy.” 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: How? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: I will come back to that. That reminds me of what happened in the decade that the Labour Government was in power and ran up huge surpluses; when the National Government took over we certainly faced a global turndown but in fact the recession had started to set in before that time. Labour should be ashamed of itself about the surpluses that its Government was running in a buoyant economy because it did not lay up for the bad times ahead. A very good example is the fact that we inherited a number of legacies and ones that were not at all advantageous to the New Zealand public. But one of the things that was there when we came into Government was that over half of young Maori girls and boys were not achieving level 1 in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement. That is an indictment on a Government on a party— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: That’s not true. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: That is absolutely correct. That is an indictment on a Government that had every opportunity to make sure that young people were trained were educated and were skilled. We now have to deal with that legacy— 
Moana Mackey 
: Unemployment has gone up. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: They are right: unemployment has risen in the last 12 months but I do not know whether Labour has noticed that there was a global recession. Ultimately if a Government does not lay up educate support and nurture its young people then they will be the ones who will be hard hit when a global downturn comes. That is what happened. The members on the other side need to think seriously about what they did not do when the times were good and be a little bit more analytical about what it is we intend to do in this year and the years going forward. 
As part of our plan that was announced last week the Prime Minister laid out the following: a world-class tax system— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: There was no plan. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: We have signalled some of the things that we are going to do that we are thinking about. That is good. Going around New Zealand up at the Big Gay Out on Sunday moving around the grounds with the Prime Minister there was no one who said that they did not agree for instance with the Government raising GST. Nobody said that. They said they could see what we are trying to do and they were open to it because by gosh we have to do better with the New Zealand economy. That is what New Zealanders are saying. That is what they know. That is what they know needs to be done. 
We wanted a better Public Service when we came into Government. The previous Labour Government had built up the Public Service. Services were not necessarily the best. The people in Wellington—those numbers were just huge. We want a better-performing Public Service. We have put a huge emphasis on education and skills investing in infrastructure taking away regulation—red tape that was absolutely built up during the time of that Labour Government—and investing in science and innovation. There is a package. Members should look at the package. Members need to wait until the Budget and then they will see how this package comes together. People are at the heart of that economic plan—there is no doubt about it. 
I shall refer if I may to the emphasis on Maori and Pacific young people. The House will have heard many times already the Prime Minister’s absolute commitment to young Maori and Pacific children and young people—[ 
Interruption 
] Yes they have been hard hit by the recession but as I said that is what happens when we fail to nurture and educate them which is what happened in the period of the previous Labour Government. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: The creative industries are where they thrive. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: The member can say that but she knows very well that there is a legacy of underachievement uneducated and unskilled young people. Our emphasis will be on them. That is why national standards are so important. Those members should be ashamed that they would be happy to continue to see that one out of every five young people in New Zealand leaves school without literacy and numeracy sufficient to enable him or her to contribute to the economy. That is what members on that side are saying when they criticise national standards when they criticise what we are intending to do. 
We need all of our young children going through early childhood education. We need to make sure that young people leave school with qualifications. We need to ensure that the skills they need to help us grow the economy are theirs to be had. Labour would do well to encourage the schools the teachers or their colleagues and associates out in the public arena to support what this Government is doing. There is no point in raising— 
Moana Mackey 
: No we listen to them. We don’t treat them like idiots. They know what they’re talking about. We don’t treat them like they’re idiots. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: We do not. That is the problem: a Labour Government does. We do not treat them like they are idiots. People want better from our economy they want better from New Zealand and they deserve better. Our ability to engage with them is important. The ability of the Prime Minister to listen and engage with them is hugely important. They appreciate that. That side would do well to encourage the same. Thank you.