Hereora Dave: Budget Debate 
Hereora Dave: Budget Debate 
[Volume:608;Page:5874] 
DAVE HEREORA (NZ Labour) 
: 
 I would like to start off with a positive statement—that this year’s Budget reflects the needs of the majority of New Zealanders. I extend to my colleagues confidence in the growing reputation that the Government continues to manifest as a sound manager of the country’s finances. New Zealanders are supportive of the Government and the media commentators are catching up with that fact. The Budget may be easy to attack but it is hard to argue with the numbers: that in the year just gone growth in the New Zealand economy as we know it was at a rate of 4.4 percent—amongst the fastest growing in the OECD. 
The Government has made a decision to save the surplus and let us be very clear what that surplus represents. This Government has delivered a $4 billion surplus as the international economy comes under attack from war and disease and although international influences may see a negative drop in the growth rate to 2.2 percent this rate is expected to rebound in the following year to a rate of 3.2 percent. Future services will be sufficient to maintain infrastructural investment including dealing with the infrastructure deficit we inherited and it will meet our debt targets and finance contributions to the Superannuation Fund. Gross debt as a proportion of the gross domestic product (GDP) is at its lowest level since Treasury began collecting data in 1971. 
The Government is securing a reputation that is not flashy or flighty. There are no surprises; it is just plain old common sense. It is back-to-basics sound management of the national coffers and that is not hard. 
The ordinary Kiwi out there understands the effect of GDP unlike Mr Muldoon did or the Business Round Table which squabbles about how business has suffered and forecasts doom and gloom for the next decade. I intend breaking the provisions of the Budget down to demonstrate how they will assist iwi hapu and whanau and how they will address the disparity at the lower end of the socio-economic pit where Maori are. Let us be very clear why that is and why Maori are at its lower end. The origins came from the lack of vision of previous Governments and their lack of willingness to make substantial change to that socio-economic climate. That attitude continues. 
I want to mention an article in the  
National Business Review  
of 9 May headed “Labour’s treaty rights talk takes a wrong turn”. The assertion that Maori have superior rights under the treaty “opens an area that is vastly more contentious than the settlement of land grievances.” The article continues to say that the issue “is already creating opportunities for the Opposition. National’s Bill English insists there should be ‘one standard of citizenship for all’ ”. He describes the separate Maori seats as an example of special treatment for Maori that needs to be ended and says that the Opposition’s task is to strip away the veneer that the treaty is a living document which somehow moves with a predestined life of its own and beyond the purview of political accountability. The article also suggests that the primacy of Parliament needs to be reassessed over a set of principles that have never been tested at the ballot box before. 
Well “never been tested”—my eye! I think that that is a load of garbage. Why do members think the Maori seats returned to Labour en masse? I say that the Opposition is using Maori issues to justify its existence and I extend a challenge to Maori members in the Opposition. I want them to take a call and I would like to know from them whether they support that position and whether they support stripping away the very veneer of the treaty as a living document. It would be interesting to hear their responses. 
Over recent weeks we have been subjected to a continual barrage from the Opposition benches of claims we are spoon-feeding Maori and creating a two-tier society and a short-sighted attempt to introduce the option of abolishing the Maori seats. To go further yesterday’s announcement from the Opposition in today’s  
Dominion Post  
headed “ ‘Punitive’ truancy plan sparks anger” is again targeted at penalising parents on benefits which we know will hit Maori families. There is a method to that madness. It is specifically targeted to introduce another way to penalise Maori and to keep Maori in that low socio-economic pit. The recent  
Marae 
 DigiPoll shows impressive support for this Government and 68 percent are satisfied with the Government’s performance and support the Government’s policies and directions. 
I must say that that is impressive. The treaty programme announced in the Budget with its allocation of $6.5 million has the purpose of raising public knowledge of the treaty. I reiterate that it is to raise public knowledge; it is not designed to create a two-tiered society. It is to do the complete opposite and make the information accessible to the public to explore other options and to improve the information available—bearing in mind that the target audience is the general public and not just Maori. 
The key feature over the coming 4 years is the allocation of $1 million to develop iwi radio. That is about fostering confidence—the confidence to manifest the very essence that allows a culture to survive: the promotion of the language te reo. It will allow it to evolve as our nation evolves. Again the target audience is the community not just Maori. There will be an injection of $4.4 million into education to inform and to develop policy on how better to engage whanau to aid the development of teachers in te reo and tikanga Maori and to uplift the quality of te reo used by teachers in mainstream schools. Those provisions are all designed to lift achievement among Maori. The target audience again is not just Maori; it is whanau. 
In health there are provisions reducing prescription fees to a maximum of $3 for all children aged between 6 and 17 years and enrolled in interim primary health organisations and for patients of all ages enrolled in access primary health organisations and extending the health-line services so that New Zealanders will have access to a 24-hour health information and advice telephone service from next year. The target audience again is all New Zealanders. 
The success of the health-line over the last 3 years has been significant. We need only to go out into communities to appreciate how well the programme is regarded. The health-line improves the health and well being of New Zealanders by directing consumers to the right care at the right place at the right time. 
The challenge of youth unemployment is being tackled head-on as is youth training. There is a $56 million package to get all 15 to 19-year-olds into education training work or other options by 2007. A range of different training options will be made available including expanding the Gateway and Modern Apprenticeships programmes as well as providing specialised support from Work and Income. The Gateway programme prepares young people for the world of work while they are still at school. Senior secondary students on the programme are able to start work-based qualifications and they learn the disciplines of work. Nationally the Gateway programme will progressively expand to all decile 1 to 5 schools taking in 12000 students a year by 2007. 
In my area of south Auckland the Budget package also extends the popular Modern Apprenticeships scheme which has been a great success in the Papakura region. At the end of March there were 40 modern apprentices in our region. Last September there were 25 in Papakura and nationally there were 5000 in March. The number of modern apprenticeships will now increase by 50 percent to 7500 places a year by 2006. Papakura employers and educators need to ensure they do their utmost to secure as many of these extra modern apprentices as possible to assist our young people and to keep our local economy growing. These initiatives and others in the youth training package mean that the Government will meet the goal it agreed with the Mayors Task Force for Jobs by 2007. All 15 to 19-year-olds will be engaged in appropriate education training work or other options which will lead to long-term economic independence and well being. I welcome this youth training package because it specifically targets those young people who do not go to university or polytech and enables them to learn the skills necessary for today’s workforce. 
At the other end in education I too like my colleague spend time on the local primary school board of trustees and often we are seeking funding on that board to deal with pre-school entrants. There is the need for special assistance to teach pre-schoolers the very basics—and that is the ABC colours and numbers. That is becoming familiar and ongoing. I am very pleased that the Government will assist in that situation in pre-school with an extra $55 million over 4 years to increase participation in and the quality of early childhood education. 
I want to finish on a positive note. It was not very long ago that the business sector lacked confidence in this Labour-led coalition to manage our finances. That view has certainly changed. In fact it has changed so much that the lack of confidence has switched to now being directed to the National Party. The Government is proving to be fiscally prudent. That is a whole-of-Government approach that is what inspires confidence and that is why this Government is so sound.