Horan Brendan: Budget Debate 
Text is subject to correction 
Horan Brendan: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 31 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2785. Text is subject to correction.] 
BRENDAN HORAN (NZ First) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Speaker— 
Hon Simon Bridges 
: Does that mean there won’t be time for singing? 
BRENDAN HORAN 
: Well there is another one of those jokes of yours staggering over the horizon with glacier-like speed. I look forward to seeing Mr Bridges in his role as Associate Minister. We all in Tauranga eagerly wait for you to do something.  
I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak to this 2012 Budget and I must admit that although this Budget at first glance bears an amazing resemblance to the “mother of all Budgets” from the Ruth Richardson era this Budget although similarly austere does contain subtle differences of a frightening yet somehow morbidly fascinating design. To many of us New Zealanders it almost seems as if consultants of a numerical leaning have transferred figures played a numbers game with no thought or due consideration to the social ramifications affecting New Zealanders—our people. Question time yesterday lent evidence to that theory with the education Minister’s admissions. I searched for redeeming features in this Budget for sport for transport for art heritage and culture for Maori affairs or for industrial relations but instead I found only austerity and despair for my fellow countrymen and women. It truly is a zero Budget and I wonder how much attention to detail has been paid by the relevant Ministers.  
I have seen some very sad occurrences of late as a result of the austerity measures imposed upon New Zealand by this Government. I will divulge some of those experiences to this House. Two weeks ago in Tauranga 32 primary schools sent teams to a Rippa Rugby competition. It was billed as the Rippa Rugby World Cup and all of the teams were given T-shirts of different nations. So you had England in one colour and France and New Zealand in other colours. It was a very exciting day. In previous years the children were able to keep the T-shirts to remind them of the wonderful day they had participating in a sporting extravaganza. It also reminded them of the day they strove to be the best that they could be. I say to the Hon Mr Bridges that I look forward to the day when your young lad can be involved in that competition because it truly is a great day.  
This year however at the end of the competition all of the children were told that they had to return their T-shirts due to a lack of the money and so that the T-shirts could be used again by other teams next year. How can this be? How can this happen in New Zealand that we cannot even give Kiwi kids T-shirts?  
The following day there was another unfortunate incident. My son was playing rugby in Paengaroa where a scrum collapsed and a 11-year-old boy was trapped in the bottom of that scrum and suffered a severely dislocated knee. We moved the rugby game to the adjacent playing field and I telephoned 111 for immediate medical attention. Well the operator did not even know where Paengaroa was and it turned out that she was in the South Island. About 30 minutes later an ambulance arrived and the young lad was taken to Tauranga to hospital. What if that boy had suffered a cut artery?  
Later that day I visited Tauranga Hospital and noticed a significant amount of blood splashed on the kerb just outside the emergency department doors. My sister informed the receptionist asking her to get an outdoor cleaner to wash away the blood but was told that due to budget cuts at Tauranga Hospital they had nobody to perform that task. This is blood. It could have been infected and it was metres away from the entrance. But no it was just left there. Too bad “Mr Spray and Walk Away” was not there. This is not a Middle East hot spot that I am talking of but New Zealand our country. Sadly this is not— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! I am sorry to interrupt. The member’s time has expired.