Choudhary Ashraf: Budget Debate 
Choudhary Ashraf: Budget Debate 
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Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
: 
 I see the member for Epsom quite regularly at a number of Indian community meetings in Auckland. He often invites himself. He actually rings around and finds out where the meetings are happening and writes letters to my good friends— 
Dr Richard Worth 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take great exception to what the member has said. Any Indian event that I have attended I have always been invited to. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: That is not a point of order. 
Dr Richard Worth 
: I seek leave then to make a personal explanation. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: Leave has been sought for that course to be taken. Is there any objection? There is none. 
Dr Richard Worth 
: I would just like to say to Ashraf Choudhary that I think it is singularly unfortunate that he has chosen to start his speech with those comments. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: A personal explanation must rebut what was said. 
Dr Richard Worth 
: It is absolutely wrong that I have canvassed on any occasion an opportunity to speak to the Indian community and I am shocked and dismayed that those comments have been made. 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY 
: Despite what the member has said I actually like the member. I personally enjoy his company when he attends with me meetings with some of the community. What I would like to say is that although he has attended many meetings I wonder whether he has learnt anything from the community whose functions he attends. If he knows anything about that community there are two things I hope he has learnt. One thing is about savings. Something that is well known about the Asian community and particularly the Indian community is that they save. I am often told that if these people earn $2 they will try to save $1. I came to New Zealand 28 years ago and bought my first home after years of work because of a scheme from the Housing Corporation that gave a grant to encourage people to buy homes. I hope my worthy friend over there has learnt that our community loves saving. The KiwiSaver scheme in this Budget is about something that is part of our nature. It is part of the Kiwi nature for people to save for a rainy day. I am delighted that this Government has started the KiwiSaver scheme which will encourage people to save for their first home. Not only that but of course they will be saving for— 
Ron Mark 
: When does it start? It doesn’t start for 3 years! 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY 
: It does not matter when they start; the issue is that there is a scheme for people to put some money aside to buy their first home. I am delighted with that scheme. It does take some time for people to save money but once they start saving and with a Government contribution after 3 years the time will come when there is enough money for them to buy their first home. So I am delighted with the scheme. 
The second thing I hope my good friend over there has learnt from the Indians is about self-dependence. Indian people have always tried to depend on their own resources rather than to borrow money and live on someone else’s money. This country has lived on somebody else’s money—whether it has come from Asia or America or Europe—for too long. We have to have a sustainable economy and part of having a sustainable economy is being self-dependent. I am delighted with our policies in the Budget that Dr Cullen has presented—as opposed to what is being promoted from members opposite who want to borrow money to pay for tax cuts. I believe that self-dependence is very important for all people in this country to make sure we do not live on money borrowed from somebody else to pay for tax cuts. 
 I hope my good friend opposite has learnt some of those traits from the people he goes to meet and mingle with. I am delighted that he thinks he has often been invited to those meetings rather than his trying to get invitations for himself. 
I want to touch on a number of areas. Although the worthy member opposite goes to meetings with ethnic communities I was really surprised—in fact shocked—to see on the National Party’s list that Pansy Wong has been demoted from No. 10 to No. 20. That was shocking. What will my good friend Dr Richard Worth tell the Chinese and Indian communities that National has done for those ethnic communities in terms of its list rankings? It will be really shocking for him the next time he goes out to meet those people. 
I have a couple of other things to say about this Budget particularly in relation to the environment. My good friend Marian Hobbs has mentioned sustainability and the environment. Our national identity is tied up with our love of the land. Our love of the land is part of what makes us proud Kiwis. Labour believes in protecting the environment. It is important to act now with good regulations to look after the environment so that all New Zealanders can continue to enjoy it. Labour believes in cleaning up the environment. We live with a legacy of polluted air land and water that need restoring to their clean safe state. Labour believes that a clean and healthy environment sits alongside economic growth and social opportunity as the keys to an improved quality of life for all New Zealanders. We call this sustainable development. 
Labour’s approach is based on partnership underpinned by central government leadership. We want to work with local government businesses iwi and other communities. This Budget has allocated $12.4 million over the next 4 years for initiatives that promote sustainable business practices. The funding reinforces the success and progress of the ministry’s new way of working with industry and organisations. Underpinning this new way of working is the Government’s emphasis on quality economic growth through sustainable development. Since early 2003 the ministry has focused on partnership with industry players to support them in becoming more sustainable with the overall outlook of better economic and environmental outcomes. The funding allows core programmes set up over the last 2 years to grow and new initiatives to be actioned. Most of the core programmes are the result of industry action and are based on voluntary contributions. Those programmes are about finding practical solutions rather than unnecessarily imposing regulations and legislation. 
I want to say a couple of words about the Sustainable Farming Fund under this Budget. The Sustainable Farming Fund has a secure future. The Budget shows that the fund has moved from being a vulnerable add-on to the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to being a core output. The fund has been baselined which means that it should have a much more secure future where its funding is assured rather than funding being allocated specifically every few years. In this year’s Budget the fund is set to receive $8.44 million in the 2006-07 and the 2007-08 financial years and $9.422 million in the 2008-09 financial year. The Sustainable Farming Fund has proved its worth to rural New Zealand. More than 300 projects have been funded with the goal of ensuring the social economic and environmental viability of rural communities.