Coleman Jonathan: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Coleman Jonathan: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 29 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7541. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 Happy New Year and what a surprise to see you in the Chair. The National Government has got off to a fantastic start this year. The first day of Parliament today and already look at what we have had: a decisive Cabinet reshuffle; reform of the warrant of fitness system saving New Zealanders $159 million a year; a major announcement on irrigation last week with $400 million going into that and $80 million to set the scheme up; and 14000 new apprentices. The point of this is that if you were listening to the leaders of the National Party and the Leader of the Opposition today you would see there were two very competitive narratives there. You would see that on this side of the House the Prime Minister was very clearly laying out his plan to continue the work of the National Government the work that we started 4 years ago and that we are going to continue down the track with. It is very clearly focused. It is about sensible financial management it is about building the economy of New Zealand it is about rebuilding Christchurch and it is about providing better public services. There is a very concrete plan in all those four areas. 
Take that in contrast to David Shearer this afternoon who was saying he is going to make the tough decisions—he said it twice actually—and then he said he was going to make strong decisions. The first big challenge he has got is clearing out the shadow Cabinet next week because there is some real culling to be done on that side of the House. If he cannot get rid of some of that Labour Party dead wood it shows that he does not have the steel to face up to the challenges that he says he is going to deliver on as Labour Party leader. We were sitting there on Sunday watching the news watching Mr Shearer speaking at Wainuiomata Rugby Football Club reading off those auto cues. We were expecting some serious policy and what did he deliver? Absolutely nothing. His answer to the housing crisis is to say that the National Government just needs to roll up its sleeves and build more houses. Well that is pretty easy to say when you are in Opposition but what the people of New Zealand are looking for is a solid plan to get the economy going. We have had zero policy from the Labour Party. 
Meanwhile over on “Planet Green”—I do not know if you saw their state of the planet thing on the news last night; there was more green space there than you would see in rural New Zealand. Apparently it was in the middle of Mount Eden but it looked like every attendee had 2 square kilometres of space all to themselves there. The Greens are talking about printing money. They are talking about all sorts of bizarre stuff. What we are focused on as a Government is things that really matter to New Zealanders. At the forefront of those is making sure that the economy is going in the right direction. That is why National Party members and National Ministers are very focused on delivering on that economic agenda. 
If you look at the reforms we have been progressing as a Government it is all about making the economy grow—making it expand. You have got to also look at the international context. New Zealand over the next 3 years is going to have a higher rate of growth than the US than Canada than Japan than the eurozone. That is pretty hard to beat. That is after 4 years of very solid economic stewardship in the most difficult economic circumstances seen since World War II and the Depression before it. When you look at this Government’s record in that international context it is very very clear that we are on the right track. 
 What is also very clear is that this programme resonates with New Zealanders because they know that in John Key we have got the best Prime Minister that New Zealand ever has had and they know that we have got the guy who has the knowledge and the decisive leadership to lead us through what has been a very difficult set of circumstances. So if Labour Party members think that by devaluing the New Zealand dollar by 25 percent they are going to increase New Zealanders’ standard of living they are just dreaming. There are no easy fixes here. They are talking about a manufacturing crisis. Well they are just in cuckoo-land on that. They do not have answers. What they want to do is interfere in the management of the New Zealand dollar. They want to accept the exchange rate but they will not absolutely commit to that. I want to hear David Shearer come into this House over the next week or so and tell us what he really is going to do to bring the dollar down because what that would mean is higher petrol prices at the pump. It would mean a higher cost of imported goods and it would actually mean that New Zealanders will be hurting in the pocket. So I caution those members. They want to think very very seriously before they make those sorts of promises. 
There are other sorts of promises they have made—things like housing. They are going to build a hundred thousand houses for $300000 each. Well that is impossible. In actual fact David Shearer is admitting that he cannot deliver on that. When he said that initially people were expecting you know three to four-bedroom houses. Yesterday on TV he was saying “Well actually no. That is going to cost over half a million dollars a house.” So he knows that they cannot do it. Meanwhile what are we doing? We are just progressing on with sensible reforms. If you look at infrastructure broadband fibre to the home—it is all happening. If you look at what is happening around hospital building the Canterbury District Health Board redevelopment and if you look at $12 billion worth of roads over the next 10 years this is the sort of infrastructure you need to get an economy going—not you Mr Speaker but one needs to do that. What I can tell you is that if you ever have a Government made up of the Greens and the Labour Party things are going to grind to a halt because when Holly Walker and co. are in that Cabinet they are going to stop the road building. They do not agree with this stuff so Labour’s hands are going to be totally tied. Then you throw in Hone Harawira—what is going to happen there? So you can you see that nothing is going to happen if these people were ever given the Treasury benches. 
Meantime we are progressing with a programme of serious reforms. Water and irrigation are absolutely vital to agriculture in this country. You see we are in drought conditions at the moment. What are we doing about it? We are actually doing something practical that is going to make a difference with $80 million initially and $400 million over the next few years. That is the sort of thing that is going to get the agricultural sector going. It is not going to be continued bleating by the Opposition about the price of the New Zealand dollar because frankly we cannot do anything with a floating exchange rate. By definition it is floating. The dollar is worth what it is worth. We have to work with it and you will see that many manufacturers in New Zealand know that. At the same time they have been benefiting from cheaper costs of imported parts for the products they are manufacturing. So there are some pros and cons in that issue of the value of the dollar but what we have got to develop in the economy in the long term is a real resilience to ride out those highs and lows and if you look at it overall with 2-3 percent economic growth over the next few years we are definitely on the right track. 
I just want to speak about Better Public Services because that is one of our top four priorities. It is no secret that the public have not got the best delivered public services over the past 10 years. It is no secret that under the Labour Government the size of the Public Service expanded by 50 percent but the results were not any different. So we are taking a very focused approach to that. We have chosen 10 results areas over five different sectors. We have put very clear targets there that we expect the Public Service to meet but more importantly than that the Public Service has to reorganise itself so that it has a configuration that sees those services working properly together to actually deliver results. We have got to make Wellington relevant in Glenfield which I represent. We have got to make Wellington relevant in Southland. We have got to make it relevant on the West Coast and in Northland—everywhere outside the beltway because it just has not been so. In the area where I am responsible State services we are going to make sure that the Public Service really is delivering for New Zealand. 
I just want to reiterate for the public that if you look at those two narratives the Prime Minister’s narrative was very focused on those top four priorities—rebuilding Christchurch sensible management of the finances growing the economy and we are making sure that we are going to be delivering Better Public Services as well. David Shearer—he is talking in vague slogans. He tells us he is going to take the tough decisions. You should have seen— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: But he doesn’t tell us what they are. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Well yeah he does not tell us what they are. But you should have seen the faces on his caucus today during that speech because they have blown their chance to remove Mr Shearer. They are going to have to vote him back in in February. Mr Cunliffe now says he is not even going to challenge him. I reckon Mr Shearer is going to be there through to the next election and he is going to be the albatross around Labour’s neck for time to come. So there you have it. There are very clear choices for the electorate: sensible economic management and a clear plan from John Key or vague vague slogans from David Shearer the Greens and co. I rest my case.