Dyson Ruth: General Debate 
Dyson Ruth: General Debate 
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Hon RUTH DYSON (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 It is a real privilege to speak in the general debate this afternoon. My colleague and friend Steve Maharey mentioned the market madness of the National Party in relation to investment in training particularly of our young people through support of apprentices. New Zealand has a very proud history of supporting apprentices except in the 1990s when the then National Government said to leave it to the market and it would sort itself out. We ended up with a huge deficit in skills—a deficit that has cost New Zealand dearly. 
When we introduced the Modern Apprenticeships scheme National opposed it. As we expand that now National again in the House today demonstrated its commitment to just letting the market take over. It does not work. The market will not make investments in skills in infrastructure or in the future needs of our country. Investment requires Government support and understanding. That is the big difference between a Labour-led Government and a National-led Government. 
National had another rash of market madness during the most recent non-contact time in the last adjournment from Parliament. I am not quite sure whether National’s communications and public relations team were all at the beach overseas or just out to lunch but we had an extraordinary outbreak of National Party honesty. Bill English said: “We’ll have privatisation of our education system.” John Key announcing National’s education policy said “Yes we’ll have private commitment in both the ownership and management of our schools and we will increase the amount of money that goes to private schools because it is getting a little unfair that people have to pay such a lot to go to private schools.” 
I noticed throughout this entire contribution from both Bill English and John Key that the National Party education spokesperson was silent. Katherine Rich who stood up to the previous leader and got the sack remained silent. When she was finally dragged in to communicate with the media when she finally fronted up on  
Morning Report 
 and was asked directly what her view was on this market position of the National Party and whether she supported it she said: “I support the leader.” She would not answer the question. That is another sign of Katherine Rich being the only voice of sanity in the National Party and that she is clearly overwhelmed by National’s return to the market. 
Then we had the icing on the cake when Tony Ryall launched National’s health policies. He said: “We don’t support Labour’s fees control system. We’ll be knocking it on the head.” Why would National do that? Why would it stop the unjustified escalation of general practitioners’ fees? Once again it is because it thinks the market will sort it. 
John Key raced in to the defence of his poor old hapless health spokesperson who came under huge siege from mothers senior citizens groups and ordinary working New Zealanders saying: “Wait a minute—we can finally afford to go to the doctor. Don’t do it. Don’t return to the market madness of the 1990s.” John Key leaping to Tony Ryall’s defence said: “In the end it’s called a market and if they”—meaning the general practitioners—“decide to charge a lot more then probably some [people] will go down the road.” 
Which planet does that man get his policy advice from? People in some parts of this country do not have a general practitioner down the road who they can go to. 
Hon Member 
: They might not have a road. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: They might not even have a road. They certainly do not have the sort of theoretical competitive market that would deliver fair prices for general practitioners so that ordinary New Zealanders—particularly the most vulnerable the youngest and the oldest—can afford to get to their doctor when they need to. 
That is the commitment this Labour-led Government has made. That is the commitment we have given. We know that in the 1990s too many people did not go to their local doctor because they could not afford it. They did not have the extra money in their pocket. Mind you people have a lot more extra money in their pocket since Working for Families came in since the increase in the minimum wage and since we have restored the level of superannuation to the level it was at before National Government cuts and more. But under a National-led Government we will be back to the market madness and back to most people missing out.