Budget Debate 
Budget Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:4232] 
Budget Debate 
Debate resumed from 3 June on the Appropriation (2009/10 Estimates) Bill. 
Hon JOHN CARTER (Minister of Civil Defence) 
: 
 It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak on the Budget debate because first of all I have the opportunity to congratulate the Minister of Finance Bill English on what has been recognised across the country—and indeed in countries around the world—as a fantastic job done in setting out this Budget. It was a job done under difficult circumstances. Nevertheless he has come up absolute trumps. It is a great credit to his skill and also I must say to the Prime Minister’s for the work they have done together along with fellow Ministers people of the caucus and our coalition partners in presenting this Budget to New Zealand at a time when the country knows we are going through global turmoil from a financial perspective. 
People in this country are saying “Thank goodness we have somebody like Bill English to lead us through this difficult period.” They are saying “Thank goodness we didn’t have to sit and listen to another Cullen Budget.” They are saying “Thank goodness the leaders of our country are in good control.” Right across the country there is a resounding first-class tick for the Budget presented by Bill English. He is to be sincerely congratulated on the presentation. 
Let us look at some of the things this Budget does. The first thing it does is to cushion New Zealand from the sharpest edges of the global recession. That in itself is an amazing feat. Not only has it done that but also it has added to the opportunity and the future of this country. 
Let us look at some of the other things in the Budget not just the fact that it has cushioned New Zealand from the recession. There is also new spending in so many areas. At this time we must respect the fact that Mr English had the ability to come forward and to make further funding available for some necessary areas. There is new core Crown spending of $2.9 billion that combined with the recent tax cuts will support this economy and get it back on its feet a lot quicker than we would have had otherwise and a lot quicker than most other countries will be able to do. 
Budget 2009 directly supports jobs through a $323.3 million home insulation and clean heating campaign. We have allocated $50 million for a national cycleway network. There will be a multibillion-dollar infrastructure boost. We all know that those things are sorely needed around this country. It is a shame that the previous Government took 9 years and did little yet in this Government’s first Budget it has come up trumps and has been recognised for it. 
One thing I will talk about particularly from a Northland perspective is the issue of home insulation and the clean heating campaign. Northland as we know is an area with serious housing problems. My friend and colleague Hone Harawira has been on about the issue of housing in Northland ever since and before he became a member of Parliament. He and I have worked to get this programme under way. The shame of it was that we had to wait until we got into Government to have these issues addressed because the previous Government did little about it. My friend and colleague from Northland and I are proud of the fact that this Government will make this money available to the people of New Zealand. The impact it will have in Northland will be enormous. We estimate that about 180000 households are eligible for grants of up to $1800 regardless of income. On top of that people who hold community service cards will also be eligible for grants of up to $3000. That starts on 1 July 2009 a little under a month away. 
It is also important to note that the impact of this scheme is twofold or threefold. Not only will it make the homes of the people in greatest need more comfortable but also it will cut down on heating costs. If we have properly insulated homes it means that the way in which people can heat those homes will be far more efficient. But there is more. Not only does it mean that there will be therefore savings for individuals but also it means that it will reduce the demand on health care. As we all know a lot of sickness is generated by people who live in unhealthy homes. This Government decided to get involved in this initiative not just so that New Zealanders would have warmer homes which is a great thing but also so that people would be a lot healthier. I think particularly of our young children in Northland. They are great young kids who need the opportunity to have a good future who need the opportunity to have an input into this country and who need the opportunity to make a contribution for themselves. Those children will have a far better start in life as a consequence of this programme and I am really proud to be part of that. 
To those of us in Northland this initiative will mean that we will see a great step forward right across the community. Right across the community Maori and non-Maori will benefit from this. The whole community will step up and we will be far better for that. It means lots of things. It means that we will get better productivity out of those who are working because they will be less stressed about the fact that their children are unwell. It will mean that there will be more money to go around so that people will be able to better provide for their children and their wider family. It means that in the community itself people will be able to make a greater contribution to the community in which they live. So many positives have come out of this sort of initiative and we are all proud I am certain that we are doing this sort of thing. 
The second thing I will talk about is the matter of superannuation. I am pleased to say and again I am proud that we have a Government that has guaranteed that superannuation will continue. It has absolutely guaranteed that superannuation will continue. Firstly the age of entitlement is at 65. We know that that age will continue to be 65. Secondly we are keeping the level of superannuation at 66 percent of the average income for couples. It is important to recognise that for a couple the level is at 66 percent. Those are the sorts of figures that we are talking about. The issue around the Superannuation Fund is something that Opposition members like to talk about and frighten people with. But of course if they were honest enough to tell us about the facts of the fund they would have to say that at its peak it was going to contribute only about 12 percent of the money— 
Hon David Parker 
: 25! 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: There are different figures. But the point is that even if that member was right—and sadly he has never been before so why would he be today—the fact is that the majority of the funding for superannuation is going to come from the consolidated fund. 
One of the things that this Budget will do is ensure that we have a prosperous and buoyant economy so that we can afford the superannuation that so many of our people in New Zealand need. That is one of the reasons why this Budget is so positive: it gives the people in need the greatest opportunity it gives them a good start-up and just as important it ensures that an income from the State will be provided to those who need it and rely on it as they get older. 
I have to say that I am proud of this Government. I am proud of Bill English and the Budget he has delivered. I am proud of the way in which John Key is giving leadership to this country. I have to say that I am proud to be part of this Government and to be a Minister in it because this Government is taking steps and going forward whereas in the past we have not seen that. This country needed leadership. It has it from John Key it has it from Bill English and it will continue to get it from this Government. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 I am indeed glad that Mr Carter raised the superannuation issue and talked about the benefits of this Budget for Maori and non-Maori. I say to Mr Carter that for Maori and non-Maori this Budget will go down in history especially for those in their sunset years looking to retire as a big loser for them and a great lie. The day after the Budget 53 percent of New Zealanders stated in a ShapeNZ poll that they do not believe Mr Carter. They do not believe the National Government’s claim that the deferral of contributions into the Cullen superannuation fund will not result in a reduction in the entitlements for superannuation when they retire or indeed in a lifting of the age of entitlement as well. 
I say to Mr Carter that this Budget is a typical Tory Budget. If we look at the last 40 years’ history of superannuation in this country—if we back to Robert Muldoon and if we look at  
Hansard 
—we would see the same set of speeches. We would hear about how proud National members were of Sir Robert who overnight bribed people with their own money and gutted superannuation. I am sure—I know because I worked in the building in the 1990s—that there were similar speeches. 
If we advance a few years to the early 1990s we will see that Jim Bolger made the “no ifs no buts no maybes” speech. He said he would not raise the age of eligibility. There were similar speeches about the age of eligibility being raised from 60 to 65 and about how proud National members were of that pre-election commitment which turned out to be one of the great lies of New Zealand history. 
Let us move on and consider Bill English’s period a few years later in the late 1990s under the Shipley regime. The proud Budget speeches came out then as well. And who was Minister of Finance? It was Mr English and National cut superannuation three times. I think Mr Carter was in Government then. He got up and made another of those speeches about how proud he was of the leadership of National as it slashed national superannuation as it refused to inflation-proof it and as it lied to the people of New Zealand—as it did in Muldoon’s time in Bolger’s time and in English’s time and as it is now doing in John Key’s time. 
It was John Key who went to the country with a cast-iron guarantee almost signed in his own blue blood that National would not tamper with superannuation. What it has done is defer the pre-funding of the Cullen fund for 10 years based on a lie. It is based on the premise that if we have debt we should not fund superannuation. Well if that is the case as John Pagani said on  
Q 
+ 
A 
 that would rule out most New Zealanders if not all or all those with a mortgage. Under that thesis they would never provide for superannuation ever would they because they have a 20 25 or 30-year large debt called a mortgage. That is another great lie of the National Government and 53 percent of New Zealanders as I said do not believe National. They do not believe that because of the deferral the age will be held and they do not believe that their entitlements will not be cut. 
I have looked at Mr Carter’s proud speeches about courage and leadership. Courage to Mr Carter is a self-congratulatory attitude about the fact that for the first time in 40 years National has held the age of eligibility and has not altered the current entitlements in superannuation and for the first time has not slashed and burnt the current 66 percent entitlement. But what National members did do was go round to the back door and gut superannuation through the deferral— 
Paul Quinn 
: They locked it in! 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: That silly member over there says they locked it in. I hope the Hansard people are getting every word that genius says. He joins a long list of National folk who said one thing on superannuation before the election and then went back on their word. National members lied to people. They went back on their word and no one believes that member. 
Do members know the greatest crime in this Budget with regard to superannuation? It is the fact that there is no longer the same certainty. For a decade prior to this crew getting into Government there was certainty about superannuation. Promises about entitlements were kept. It was of course a Labour Government that reversed the triple cut that Mr Carter and Mr Williamson put through in the 1990s and it was a Labour Government that set up the Cullen fund which acted as smartly as Kiwis do when they are managing their own domestic budgets. 
What do Kiwis do if they know that there is a big expense coming up like the need for a new washing machine in the house in another 6 months? Average Kiwis smart people that they are start to put money aside because they know the expense is coming. Indeed the Cullen fund operated on the same principle given that we know the age of folk when they will retire and what the bill will be. The other great lie is that the fund will contribute only 12 percent. That is rubbish—it is more like 20 percent to 25 percent. Labour said that given the age of entitlement we knew when folk would retire and we would make provision for it. We said we would create certainty and take away the fear people have as they move towards retirement. The great sin in what the National Government has done is that there is again fear and uncertainty for every person in his or her 40s and 50s. All those people had 10 years of certainty about superannuation because the Labour Government said: “Here are the rules here’s the age here’s how much you’re going to get and we’ll guarantee it because we’ve logically made provision for it.” as Kiwis do every day in their domestic budgeting. But now fear and uncertainty have been unleashed. What do I mean by that? Well commentators every day are saying that we need a debate about the age of eligibility. They are saying we need to look at what the Australians have done in terms of lessening it. 
Hekia Parata 
: Who are those commentators? Are they National Ministers? 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Well some will be National Ministers of course. 
Some people will be sitting at home now and thinking “Hang on a minute! Is history going to repeat itself? In my 50s as I move towards retirement a decade away—which is simply too short a time to recalibrate—” 
Paul Quinn 
: You will still be bludging off the taxpayer. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: It is a pity about the fool on the second row opposite. If anybody knows about bludging it is that member. The fool on the second row cares nothing about the elderly. Let him go and barrack at the Grey Power meeting in his patch—oh he does not have one! Let him go to an Age Concern meeting and sit there like a stuffed dummy and barrack at the old folk. Let him go and sit in public meetings and barrack at those people in their 50s who do not have the time to recalibrate their arrangements because he and his ilk again for the fourth time in 40 years pulled the rug out. I know what the old boys and girls at the Rangiora Grey Power would do to him and I know what the old boys and girls at the North Canterbury Age Concern would do to him: they would treat him with the disrespect that he deserves. All he can do is sit there and barrack away. 
So the great sin in this debate is that Kiwis no longer have the certainty they once had. For 10 years Kiwis knew that if they did all the right things—pay the mortgage look after the kids and ensure that their debts and their affairs are in order—the Government would look after them. For 10 years Kiwis could say: “The Government has told me what I have to do and the Government will look after me.” And we know that Kiwis are generous—we need only look at KiwiSaver. Kiwis stepped up to the plate and said they would make their contribution. They decided to contribute to their retirement. They said that as well as getting superannuation they would up put their own money. They were generous they were strong and they did that. 
Today as the debate in the media and among political parties moves along we see a headline in this morning’s  
New Zealand Herald 
—I do not mean the interesting individual on the front page. That headline says it all: “Super at age 65? Don’t bet on it”. Now that that debate has been ignited and the consensus has been destroyed folk in their 40s and 50s are rushing around trying to work out what they have to do to enjoy their retirement for which they have worked all their working lives. 
The great betrayal is what the National Government has done. Yet members opposite sit there and want to be congratulated because for the first time in their history they decided they would not move on the age of eligibility or cut the current levels of entitlement—yet. But we know what they will do at the next election. They will go to the country and say: “Look it’s been 3 years. We haven’t put money into the Cullen fund and we are billions of dollars behind.” They will tell New Zealanders: “You have a choice. We’ll up your taxes and put the money in or we’ll have to look at changes to the age of entitlement.” But they will not say that before an election. I say to them as they barrack away like the old bellows in the second row that they should not take my word for it. They should look at the history of the National Party from Muldoon to Bolger to English to Shipley and to Key. They are condemned by their own history. 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not want to interrupt my colleague’s very fine speech but I point out that the National Party has obviously found a purpose for Paul Quinn. That purpose is him moving to another seat from his own to yell and scream when members are making their Budget speeches because he does not want to hear what his Government has done. I ask you to restrain Mr Quinn from his practice and he did it yesterday as well of moving to another seat in order to yell and scream at the member speaking. 
PAUL QUINN (National) 
: 
 There are a number of references about moving around the House; I refer to Speakers’ rulings 63/1 63/2 63/3 and so on. The issue is that a member is not allowed to move seats to advance his or her ability to interject. Since I have been a member of the House a number of people including Speakers of the House have commented that it would not matter where I sat because my beautiful baritone melodic voice would be heard anywhere. So I put it to you that moving from my seat does not advance my position. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 Although I am indebted to my learned colleague Sue Moroney I take no offence. It simply shows what a thug Mr Quinn is. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: It is not helpful to cast aspersions on individuals. The member Sue Moroney makes a valid point. People should not deliberately move seats to disrupt a speech and I accept that as a general principle but there has to be a level of threshold. I have made this point before: if members interjected only from their seats we would lose one of the ambiences of this House. Members who will be speaking drift generally towards the front benches and the exchange backwards and forwards creates a debate. This is a debating chamber. People did not build this place to be a lecture theatre and interjections are part of a debate. But the interjections should be to the point hopefully witty somewhat insightful and not just a barrage of noise. 
The member interjecting was noisy. He made the point that he can be heard from anywhere in the Chamber and I do not doubt him on that. But if it goes beyond the point where I cannot hear or others cannot hear then I certainly will ask members to be quiet. Mr Quinn should take note that members have objected to the level of noise and he should consider how he interjects. We will see how he goes on interjecting on the next speaker. 
CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier) 
: 
 Mr Cosgrove is big on courage. In fact he spent his entire speech talking about courage in relation to superannuation. So let us talk about courage for a minute and ask Mr Cosgrove a question although that will be difficult now that he has— 
Paul Quinn 
: Scattered. 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: —scattered. We will have to ask that question of members of the Labour Party. Oh he is back in the Chamber. Fantastic! I look forward to asking this question of Mr Cosgrove. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I say to the member that one of the Standing Orders of the House is not to mention the absence or otherwise of members. I did not want to interrupt the speech but that was a flagrant breach of the rules. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I agree with you given only six National members are in the Chamber. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: No I tell the member that that is not a point of order. I am dealing with the matter and making sure it is straight. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to raise— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Seven. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Points of order are supposed to be in silence. I want to raise the issue that within the space of 10 minutes that member has raised two points of order just as an opportunity to have a whack back at whoever raised the initial point of order. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Tit for tat. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: And there he goes again. I think that once is OK but when it happens on a regular basis somebody has to stand up and say that that is enough. 
Hon David Parker 
: Speaking to the point of order— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: No I do not want any more on this thank you. We do not have a “three strikes and you’re out” rule in this House and we do not have “enough is enough”. The point Tau Henare makes is right and I have chastised Clayton Cosgrove and said that his point was not a point of order. If I have to continue to make that point then members can be assured I will take some action on that. 
Hon David Parker 
: Point of order— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Is this a fresh point of order? 
Hon David Parker 
: It is. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Point of order the Hon David Parker. 
Hon David Parker 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I was not going to take a point of order earlier but the reality is that there were two breaches of the Standing Orders by Mr Tremain. He first referred to the absence of a member which you Mr Assistant Speaker Barker have already addressed. He also said that the member the Hon Clayton Cosgrove lacked courage. That imputation is also in breach of the Standing Orders so if Mr Henare is to stand on his high horse then I think that the National member Chris Tremain should be brought to order for that breach as well. 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: Speaking to the point of order— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: No I think I can deal with this; I want the debate to carry on. The member has raised only one point in actual fact and that is about the questioning of a member’s courage. I listened to the speech carefully and I did not construe that the speaker said the member lacked courage. The speaker said that he was talking of courage and raised an issue about courage and he was then going on to raise issues about how one might measure that. So he did not cross the line. He might have been going on to say that all of these values are found in Mr Cosgrove and one can only assume that he has great courage. He may not have been going on to say that; we have yet to hear what the speaker is going to say. 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: Yes it was a question that I wanted to put to Mr Cosgrove because he spent a lot of his speech talking about courage in relation to superannuation. Let us talk a little about that. Have you Mr Cosgrove in this recession used that courage to double up on your mortgage and then go out and invest that double mortgage in the sharemarket? 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Me personally? 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: Yes. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: No I have not. 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: No he has not. Yet he is implying this Government should invest hard-earned taxpayer money; that we should go out and borrow it put it on the bill and invest it in the sharemarket. That is financial lunacy. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is a very serious point of order. The member has asked me a question and I want to inquire of the member whether he would like me to give a full answer to it. He has asked me a question so if he wishes to yield I am happy to give an answer. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: No that is not a point of order. The member is entitled to ask by way of interjection across the House whether the member yields. If the member yields the call then falls to the member asking the question. But the member has not yielded so I want him to continue. 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: I got a no from his answer and that was what I wanted to know. The member was not prepared to invest his own money in the sharemarket but he is prepared to invest taxpayers’ money. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: The member talks about courage but he won’t hear the answer will he? 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: I am here. I am not prepared to invest my own money in the sharemarket at this point in time. There—I am telling the member what the situation is. And I am not prepared to invest taxpayers’ money in the sharemarket at this point. So I tell that member that it is not a matter of courage. The member talked about courage so I wanted to ask him that simple question. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: The Budget. 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: To the Budget. Since being fortunate in being elected to power in 2008 this Government has been about action. With the help of United Future the ACT Party and the Maori Party and more recently with some support from the Greens we have been about putting things into action and going forward. It has been absolutely fantastic. No more is that the case than with Budget 2009 which takes steps to ensure that New Zealanders are cushioned from the sharpest edges of the recession but also and more important focuses on the future and on providing jobs as we go forward. 
I will particularly focus on the investments we have made in this Budget that will create jobs. As I have sat through this Budget debate I have heard challenges from the Opposition many many times asking how the investments will create jobs what they will do and where the jobs are in this. That is what we have heard from the other side of the House. So I will pick up on a couple of points in that regard. I want to focus on one of the unique ideas that came from the Job Summit and that John Key is delivering on in this Budget. It is the cycleway. I recall yesterday that a lot of calls were made from the Opposition— 
Sue Moroney 
: How many jobs? 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: And those calls are coming now. I will start with just a little analysis of the Otago Central Rail Trail and a couple of quotes from some tourists who have enjoyed that cycleway. This quote is from Stephen Bigarelli from Australia a tourist: “It is a really great trail and one I can see becoming more popular over time. I am sure I will be back to do the trail again. Keep up the good work I wish we had trails in Australia that were as good.” This quote is from Mary Bennie from Australia: “We completed a return Trip … while holidaying at Wanaka in March. Fabulous weather views and experience. When next back we plan to do more. Your brochures are great and so too the web site. Congratulations”. These are examples of quotes from genuine tourists who are coming and utilising that trail and that is providing a serious number of jobs. I have talked to Mr Parker because I understand that the trail is in his former electorate Otago. There are 16 tour operators. That is not just 16 jobs; that is literally tens if not hundreds of jobs. There are four bike and transport hire companies. Do members think that they employ people? Yes they do. They employ a heap of people. There are 25 small towns and hamlets that provide accommodation varying from basic to luxurious and where cars four-wheel drives cycles dirt bikes and canoes can be rented. All of these are businesses employing people so this cycleway is providing a product. 
 The $50 million cycleway package will extend that product throughout New Zealand. I say that yes it will start with iconic trails around the country. I know that in my own province of Hawke’s Bay a bid is being put in to have a trail going through it. This is exciting stuff. I visited Taupo and Rotorua and I saw the trail that is starting to progress along the Waikato River. What an amazing opportunity that is! I say in response to challenges from the Opposition that the trail will provide jobs. It will provide jobs not only in terms of making the trail but also in terms of the hundreds of other businesses that will form around it. We will create not just one or two products; we will create a large number of products. When Australian tourists like the one I mentioned come here they will look at the cycleway and see that they have a whole raft of opportunities to come and do. It will expand the product base and expand the opportunity. I cannot understand why Opposition members shout asking how many jobs there will be because hundreds if not thousands of jobs will be created over time from this cycleway. It is absolutely fantastic and it is just one of the opportunities coming from this Budget. 
There are hundreds of opportunities that I can speak about in this Budget. The home insulation package that we are getting together with the Greens on is a wonderful opportunity. That will create jobs. I cannot stand here and say that the package will create 50 or 100 jobs or 223 but I can say that it will create jobs because it will provide businesses with contract work. You see it is not Governments that create jobs although I guess the previous one did through the bureaucracy; it is businesses that create jobs. This home insulation package will create hundreds of jobs and it will retain them. Not only will we improve the environment and create healthier homes but we will create jobs with $323 million in this particular part of the Budget alone. It is the second area creating jobs. 
In the health area there will be a $3 billion investment in health services over the year. There will be 800 more health professionals which will increase elective surgery capacity. That is 800 jobs in addition to all the jobs I have just talked about in respect of the home insulation package and the cycleway. We are already talking about thousands of jobs that this Budget will create. That is fantastic. The improvement of maternity services has gone down particularly well in my home electorate. The fact that fathers and mothers can stay in the maternity ward for a little longer than they were able to before will ensure that breastfeeding is going well before they go home. How can anyone complain about that? That is absolutely wonderful. 
Education will have $1.68 billion going into it from the Budget. I understand that that is one of the biggest spends in education going forward. Napier Intermediate School can now be sure that it can proceed with spending funds on its buildings and that will provide jobs. A number of construction companies sparkies and plumbers in Napier will be able to get jobs there and retain people. Again this is a wonderful opportunity. 
The investment in standards for literacy and numeracy is also absolutely wonderful. I will spend my last 2 minutes speaking about the standards in literacy and numeracy because this gets to the heart of the concerns of a constituent who came into my office recently. She said that she wanted to understand more about numeracy and literacy and that she had gone to one of the teachers at her school to ask for the progressive achievement test results. My constituent initially found it pretty tough to get the results out of the teacher. She finally got the progressive achievement test results back which was good and she found out that two of her children were not doing very flash in one particular area based on the national levels. She asked why her children were not doing well and what she could do to help with their improvement. We have to understand that this is not just the teachers’ responsibility; it is the parents’ responsibility as well. When parents understand that their child has an issue they can ask what they can do to help. Do members know what that teacher’s answer was? It was that she should not worry about it as it was a problem across the whole school. 
National standards in literacy and numeracy will make sure that we understand where there are issues in literacy and numeracy across a whole school and they will allow head teachers and teachers to be accountable in that regard so we can address those issues. That for me is critical. Parents are not saying that they do not want anything to do with it; they want to put their hands up. It is a partnership in learning and that is what I am passionate about. This $36 million for literacy and numeracy standards will go a long way towards that partnership. It will start to improve the 25 percent of children in the education system who are not making the grade. I think it is wonderful. It adds to what this Government is doing with the cycleway. It adds to what we are doing with the infrastructure spending. I could stand and speak for another 10 minutes on the $1.5 billion that has been set aside for the broadband fund. I think that is absolutely wonderful. 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 I regret that the time of the previous speaker Chris Tremain from Napier has expired. He is a great speaker and a man who knows what is going on. Mr Tremain is in touch with what is happening on the ground. He has been talking about jobs jobs and jobs and that is what this Budget is largely about. What else is this Budget about? It is about police education health and the front line: all the things on which this Government was elected last year to deliver for New Zealanders. That is what this is all about. 
We have heard from Opposition members whose benches are almost as vacant as the gaps in their logic at the moment. They have been standing there telling us that these things are not important and saying that the people of New Zealand do not want more police out on the beat. Those members are happy with the crime statistics that this Government was left with. That matter is not important to them. They are saying that what we want to do in education is not good enough that everything was fine and that we should not spend money on that. 
All members opposite want to talk about is tax cuts. Well soon after the Budget Mr Goff said that Labour would not have delivered tax cuts either. Those members cannot have it both ways. They cannot be “whacking it on the bill Phil” and at the same time saying: “You have to get your feet out of the trough Goff.” I say to the Leader of the Opposition and to all of his very strong supporters who have rushed down to the House to defend him today that they cannot have it both ways. Health and education are at the front line. 
The good times are over and New Zealand is saying: “Thank goodness we rejected that previous fair-weather Government at the election last year.” Our Government and Bill English have delivered a Budget for New Zealand that is about fiscal responsibility and getting New Zealand through the downturn. 
Do members opposite know what their problem is? They have no ideas. They have lots of excuses they do lots of complaining— 
Paul Quinn 
: Exactly yes! 
TODD McCLAY 
: I say to Paul Quinn that members opposite do lots and lots of whinging but they have no ideas. The Budget is about improving growth and productivity and getting New Zealand through the downturn so that when we do get through it we are stronger for it. 
All we have to do is to ask people in the street or to pick up local newspapers. In my home town of Rotorua one can read the  
Daily Post 
. Its reporters went out and asked people in the street what they thought about the Budget and the tax cuts that were not delivered. In those street interviews not a single person mentioned— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Maisie did. 
TODD McCLAY 
: Maisie in Rotorua is a wonderful wonderful woman and her husband is a fantastic singer. She said that she was concerned about all the scaremongering over the pension being taken away. Bill English delivered for her and said that her pension was fine and that it would not be touched and I am happy to give her that assurance today. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Her husband can go back to singing. 
TODD McCLAY 
: That is right her husband will be singing now. He is a fantastic singer. 
Members opposite should stop scaring the most vulnerable people in our community. John Key promised Bill English delivered and we have kept the rate of superannuation at 66 percent of the average wage for people aged 65 years and over. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Tell us about the funding for construction trade training. 
TODD McCLAY 
: I do not want to argue with the member. We are talking about fiscal responsibility. 
The focus is on the areas that are important to New Zealanders. It is about creating jobs. The honourable intelligent and smart member from Napier is right: Governments do not create jobs; business and industry do. This Government is about supporting business and industry. How will we do that? Since this Government came into office about 6 months ago its sole focus has been on removing unnecessary regulation so that businesses in New Zealand can thrive. We are in the deepest recession in 60 years. With this great Budget we will work our way through this recession and at the end of that businesses will be in a better position not only to re-employ people but also to keep them in their jobs. 
We are investing in lifting the literacy and numeracy skills of our young people. What does that have to do with jobs? It is so that when our young people come out of schools they have the skills to get better jobs and be more productive members of society. It creates a more productive public sector. I am yet to meet anybody in my electorate who says: “Please Todd when you are down in Wellington go and tell that great Prime Minister of yours that we do not want a more productive public sector.” Not a single person has told me that. People are saying that but they are not coming to my office; they are speaking only to the newspapers. 
What about law and order? An extra $900 million has been allocated to justice. That is money well spent. There will be 600 more police: 300 in South Auckland and 300 in other parts of the country. The message that this Budget delivers to New Zealand is that it is time to get tough on crime. It is not time for excuses any more. We had 9 years of excuses; it is time to get tough on crime. 
What did the Minister of Police Judith Collins say after the Budget? She is a great great Minister who is delivering for the people of Rotorua and the people of New Zealand. She said that there is no better deterrent to crime than having police officers out on the beat and on patrol in our communities. Well in Rotorua we agree with the Minister and we welcome that announcement. We need more police to tackle violence to maintain order and to ensure that all New Zealanders can feel safe in their homes on their streets and in their communities. What do we hear from members opposite? They say that they do not think it is a good idea. They say that they do not want New Zealanders to be safer. They do not want New Zealanders to be safe in their homes or on their streets. Those members should be ashamed of themselves for coming to this House and saying that. Over the next 4 years another $162.5 million of operating funds will be allocated to the police. That is a commitment to the police and to everyday mum and dad Kiwi battlers—New Zealanders. 
What about parole? We know that under the last Government far too many people were getting out on parole or at least the wrong types of people were let out on parole and were committing crimes again far too quickly. This Budget delivers 246 more probation officers. There is more money for parole for home detention and 1000 extra beds in prisons. 
Hon David Parker 
: There’s too much parole? How does that work? 
TODD McCLAY 
: Absolutely there is too much parole. Under the previous Government everyone could come out of prison. The previous Government said: “It is your right to spend a little bit of time there and we will not police you. You have spent a third of your time in prison you are good people again we know you have had a horrible upbringing and we do not care at all about the victim. It is all about you the criminal and we will let you back out and will not pay attention to you when you are out there.” Members opposite should go and say that to the mums and dads in New Zealand whose children have been hurt by people let out of jail too quickly because there were not enough parole officers. So yes let us get tough on crime. Let us put more money into home detention and parole. Let us have more probation officers and more police on the street. Let us have much more law and order because that is what this country has asked for and it is what this Government is delivering. 
Education is a pet topic for every member in this House. The biggest problem is that most of those members want to focus on their pets rather than on thinking about their children. There is more money for education and schools in the Budget. There is an extra $1.6 billion for better schools that deliver more for our children. Again all we hear from members opposite is complaints. They think there is a better way. New Zealand did not agree with them last year but they still think they know what is best for New Zealand. 
There is $34 million allocated for school Internet services. That will do wonderful things in all parts of New Zealand. The rural parts of my community are looking forward to this extra funding. In some of our rural areas where the Internet is not as good as it should be after 9 years of a Government that talked so much about these things kids will get better services from the Internet. 
I said that an extra $1.6 billion had been allocated for education. This Budget is all about children. We should do everything we can for them. Where do we start? We start with the youngest people in society with early childhood education. Any minute now members opposite will start yelling about “free” but this Government has delivered on another promise. There will be 20 hours’ education for young children in kindergartens playcentres and kohanga reo— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: That was Labour’s policy. Labour did that. 
TODD McCLAY 
: Mrs Chadwick knows as well as I do that many many young people in Rotorua attend playcentres and kohanga reo. There was no subsidy or support for them at all under the last Government. This Budget is about every single child in New Zealand having opportunities and it is about delivering to them and to their mums and dads. We can do no better than to make sure that our youngest children are given every opportunity. 
What about health? It is another great topic that we speak about a lot in Rotorua. There is an extra $750 million for health services. Where will all that money go? It will not go on managers and on people doing reports to justify their existence as they did under the previous Government but it will be delivered in the areas where New Zealand wants it delivered: the front line for doctors nurses and operations. We will do that rather than having lots of bureaucrats writing letters saying: “We know you are on the waiting list; we are really sorry. By the way the Labour Government does not think there is a waiting list. We will tell you some time in the future when you will get into hospital to be treated.” That will not happen under this Government because there is $3 billion for district health boards over the next 4 years funding for the long term and $116 million for front-line health services. They are very important. 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) 
: 
 This Budget proves that the pretence is over and the scales are lifting from the eyes of New Zealanders. They now understand that there is a difference between Labour and National. There are a number of differences; perhaps the most important difference is one that relates to integrity. Over the 9 years Labour was in Government it made affordable promises. What Labour said it would do it did. It did not do what it said it would not do. Labour kept its promises. The difference between that and the current Government is already clear. The Government has no integrity. National made unaffordable promises at the election in order to win the Treasury benches—promises it knew it could not keep. National has been forced to break its promises. That is the difference between John Key’s Government and the previous Helen Clark Government. That is the difference between John Key and Phil Goff and Annette King. The integrity of Phil Goff and Annette King is their most important trait. They will never trade their integrity for the baubles of office and they will never make promises they cannot keep unlike the National Party. 
Why did the National Party do this? Why did National members make so many unaffordable promises in order to bribe their way into office despite the fact that the international turmoil had already begun that the IMF had already warned of a very significant slow-down in the international economy and that Lehman Brothers had already gone into liquidation? Despite that reality why did National tell journalists who at the time asked “How can you make these tax promises in light of that?” that it could? National still persisted in the myth that that was affordable because it wanted to get the Treasury benches. 
Most New Zealanders were pretty happy with what the previous Government had delivered to them. We delivered the third-lowest Government debt in the world. That would not have been achieved by a National Government because every time the Labour Government ran a Budget surplus National said that that was wrong and that there should have been more tax cuts. Had it not been for those responsible surpluses in a time of plenty the National Government would not have inherited the third-lowest Government debt in the world and have the room to move that it has now. Neither would the Government have inherited the lowest unemployment in the world an honour we shared with South Korea; we flipped from lowest to second-lowest from quarter to quarter. 
The previous Labour Government cut taxes to companies from 33 percent to 30 percent. We had very substantial tax cuts—over $100 per week—for families with children in the process lifting 130000 children out of poverty. We established the Superannuation Fund to secure the future of superannuation for people as they age in the knowledge that an increasing proportion of the population will be reliant on superannuation. In order to secure superannuation for them in the future it was necessary to pre-fund from the current generation who will receive that superannuation in retirement rather than forcing cuts in the future or unreasonable costs on following generations. 
It was that legacy that the National Government tried to claim as its own. It tried to say that New Zealanders could have all of that plus tax cuts. National said there was no difference between itself and Labour except for tax cuts. Well that has been exposed as the lie it always was. Within 6 months of the new National Government passing those tax cuts under urgency it was here under urgency again last week throwing them away. But it went further than that; it also cut contributions to the Superannuation Fund. 
A lot of commentators are asking: “Where to from here for New Zealand?” and that is a wise question not only in respect of superannuation which is now at risk—and my colleague the Hon Clayton Cosgrove has just traversed that recently so I will not go into that again—but also there is the broader question of where New Zealand goes in the future in terms of our economic welfare the state of our environment the fairness that we have between generations and the wealth of our poorer people. Where do we go? 
The reality is that for New Zealand to be better off we have to address some of the fundamentals in our economy that are left unchanged by the Government in this Budget. What has the Government done to improve the productivity of the economy? The answer is virtually nothing. It has done nothing for skills training of any significance; in fact there are more cuts than there are gains in real terms. The Government persisted with its cuts to research and development. In order for us to get wealthier as a country we have to sell more overseas; we have to sell more higher-value products. So what has the Government done towards that end? Nothing. The Government has done nothing. It persisted with its very significant cuts to the research and development tax credit and to research and development in the agriculture sector. Fast Forward was having matched funding from the pastoral sector. It was funded and the money was sitting in a bank account but that money has been withdrawn by the current National Government and replaced by a much smaller fund. How does that increase productivity and grow our exports? It does not; neither does the abolition of the research and development tax credit. 
New Zealand has a problem with private sector savings. Private sector savings are too low. We need to save better so we can afford to invest in plant to invest in the decent wages we all want in our economy and to improve the product mix that we sell overseas. On the savings front National has persisted with its cuts to KiwiSaver. Savings will be worse relative to what they would have been not better. How is this a vision for the future? How does this address New Zealand’s current account deficit? It does not. Year by year our current account deficit makes us poorer as a country. We own less and less of ourselves every year and more and more of it is owned by overseas corporations. 
How does this Budget make that better? It does not. What does it do to reclaim ownership of our financial institutions? What does it do to improve the savings of those who invest in institutions be they New Zealand-owned or overseas-owned? It does nothing. This Budget does not take New Zealand forward. It cements in intergenerational inequities in respect of superannuation. Superannuation will not be secure. It is a mark of disrespect to the intelligence of New Zealanders that National has cut contributions to the Superannuation Fund and has then tried to pretend that future entitlements are not at risk. No one other than National thinks that. National is not honest enough to confront the reality because Mr Key made another promise in the election and that is that superannuation would not be cut. He has breached his promise for his unaffordable tax cuts so he does not want to be seen to be cutting superannuation. But in reality the effect of the cuts to the contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund make that almost inevitable. 
Those cuts will be maintained for more than a decade. National has said that the cuts to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund will not be restored until at least a decade away. What will National do before then? Will it prioritise the funding of Government superannuation or tax cuts? I suggest that tax cuts will come back on to National’s agenda. National will try to bribe its way through another election with more promises of tax cuts. It will strip money out of the State-owned enterprises by increasing indebtedness on the balance sheets of energy-related State-owned enterprises in order to hide the terrible reality that it is creating for New Zealand. National will try to fund future tax cuts before it restores the funding of the Superannuation Fund. That is irresponsible; that is cynical politics. It creates intergenerational inequity. In addition to that National is not doing anything in this Budget to grow our economy. 
I will say one positive thing: the insulation fund is a good idea and I thank National and the Greens. I also make the point that the insulation fund was already in place at the last election and had National not canned it since the election it would not have had to reinstate it. But it is a good policy and I know that because I helped to design a lot of the details of it. It is somewhat ironic that I am here supporting what was going to happen anyway. But the fundamentals of this Budget are poor. The Budget does not lift New Zealand’s productivity it does not address savings and it does address export earnings. 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 Is it not good to listen to Labour members talk about how much they care for superannuitants and poor people? We have just come out of 9 years of surplus upon surplus. 
Hon David Parker 
: Which that member opposed every year. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh here we go! I hear the crocodile crying again. In a nutshell this Budget documents the appalling economic legacy of mismanagement during the last 9 years. That is the first thing it does. Every economic commentator from the top of the North Island to the southernmost tip of the South Island across to the Chatham Islands and back again to Taranaki says that it is a documentation of mismanagement and poor economic literacy on the part of the previous Labour Government. 
I start by making the point that there is a difference—I point this out to the former Minister who just resumed his seat—between superannuation and the Superannuation Fund. I rode in a taxi last night and the woman asked me about her super and whether she would still get it at 65. I said that absolutely she would be paid her superannuation at 65. She asked about what the Labour Party has been saying over the last week about the Government not putting money into the Superannuation Fund any more. I said to the taxi driver that that had nothing to do with superannuation; they were two separate things. She was over the moon that somebody had actually explained it to her. She also said that Labour members were a pack of mongrels for scaring the community. She said they were a pack of mongrels for going out amongst old people in our communities and saying that the National Government had cut superannuation. 
I have seen campaigns of misinformation before but this takes the cake. I tell members why it takes the cake. No one can jump on the superannuation wagon like Winston can but even he would not have had the temerity to go out and put fear and worry amongst the people in our community. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Are you sure? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well I am pretty sure. Here are some facts for David Parker and Clayton Cosgrove. Between 2000 and 2008—I just want to do some maths—labour productivity grew on average by about 1.3 percent a year. Let us now add that fact to the fact that Government spending grew by nearly 50 percent. Then let us put that alongside the current account deficit which was near record levels. What do we get? New Zealand being left dangerously exposed to the overseas financial markets. Without a very hard Budget in very hard times the IMF would have been knocking on our door. We would not have been have been knocking on the IMF’s door; the IMF would have been camped outside. They would have been knocking on our door if Labour had come anywhere near the Treasury benches for a fourth time. 
David Parker said the pretence was over. I have to agree with him. The pretence of the last 9 years is finally over. Labour dined out on its third way theory for 9 years. But that third way put us in a perilous situation. All it needed was the world economy to start failing and we would be in a serious situation. We are. I congratulate Bill English on what is not a slash-and-burn Budget. Many people accuse him of having a slash-and-burn mentality and many people out in our communities requested a slash-and-burn Budget. He and Cabinet were able to deliver a middle-of-the-road “steady as she goes” “tighten your belt” Budget. It did not have everything for everybody but it did have things that will set us on the road to recovery. 
Here are just three little policy points as a diversion. The first is the cycleway. Instead of seeing it as some sort of individual programme I see the cycleway as an opportunity for small provincial areas and Maori communities to get into the tourism market and as an opportunity to build businesses around their communities rather than leaving those small communities for the bright lights of Auckland Wellington Christchurch and maybe Dunedin. The 9-day working fortnight should not be seen as just some sort of gimmick. It should actually be seen as an opportunity—certainly in Maori quarters—to use the 10th day of the fortnight to learn the Maori language. The boot camp idea should not be seen as a punitive measure against young people. Instead it should be seen as an opportunity to rekindle the service and sacrifice of the 28th Battalion. The premise is changed in the way these policies are done and I think we are on the road to recovery as Mr English said. 
Clayton Cosgrove said that the last 10 years—he pinched an extra year; Labour was in power for only 9 years—were 10 years of certainty. The funny thing is that Labour railed against the Hon Pita Sharples about how he was not delivering anything for Maori. Let me tell the House that at least he made a Budget bid. When we had lots of money when there was surplus after surplus the former Minister of Maori Affairs did not even bother to turn up. He did not even bother to turn up to the office of the Minister of Finance and ask him for some money. He spent all of his time down at McDonald’s. How dare Labour members say that there is nothing in the Budget for Maori! The previous Labour Government did not even bother. It was not that its Minister of Maori Affairs forgot; he did not even bother to make a Budget bid. Yet he and Labour have the gall to get up and have a crack at the new Minister of Maori Affairs who is only 6 months into the job and has delivered a package as best he could given the appalling economic situation that faces this country. 
I turn very quickly to congratulate my friend from the Green Party Metiria Turei on her elevation to the party co-leadership. I also want to send my commiserations to a very very good friend and I know a true working-class hero Sue Bradford. 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 A few weeks ago employees at the Ministry of Health were being hailed as the stalwarts of our health system as they were paper-shuffling heroes who were keeping us safe from swine flu. But now those same employees are facing job cuts. I heard that officials have been given mere days to prepare plans for restructuring departments like the Ministry of Health so it is almost certain that we will have yet another round of job cuts in the ministry. While the officials who are giving the Government advice are being purged and cut the front lines of preventive health care are also being attacked. Well-functioning health prevention initiatives are being thrown into the bin with this Budget. 
Of course there are some things to praise in the Budget. We are pleased to see the increased funding going to those who work in hospices the increased funding for insulating homes and a small increase for aged care. But other parts of the Budget relating to health seem to be bizarre. Indeed I am left wondering whether the Minister of Health hired Lindsay Perigo as one of his secret purchase advisors—I think those advisors are getting around $2000 a day—to give him a few tips on how to sabotage preventive health because that is what this budget has done just as the Greens predicted it would weeks ago. This Budget has sabotaged initiatives in preventive health nutrition and obesity. It has effectively switched the whole focus of the ministry away from trying to tackle the root causes of ill health such as poor nutrition and obesity or from trying to prevent people from becoming ill in the first place. That is why I predict the Budget will be known as the Budget that purged very good nutrition obesity and preventive health programmes and literally expunged nutrition and obesity from the Ministry of Health’s priorities. 
For example the Government has axed the $16 million Mission-On programme. It was a package of initiatives that was aimed at improving the lifestyles of young New Zealanders by improving their nutrition and getting them more involved in physical activity which included a whole lot of positive initiatives aimed at improving nutrition within the school and early childhood environments. The Budget has also axed the regional coordinators of the Healthy Eating - Healthy Action programme who were working very effectively in schools and axed the budget of the nutritional social marketing campaign Feeding our Futures the Green Party’s $3 million a year nutrition fund that was set up to help schools with healthy eating and edible garden initiatives. Its funding has been reallocated into something called the Community Response Fund whatever that means. I have not been able to figure that out. Then there is a reduction in the Healthy Eating - Healthy Action budget and a vague reference in the Budget to the fact that the whole work programme for Healthy Eating - Healthy Action is being revised to reflect the Government’s priority areas of work. I take that as code for saying that funding will be switched away from healthy eating and focused instead on physical activity. The sector has been waiting for some great announcement about some new physical activity measures but it has not yet come. 
In the back of the Budget we have the statement of corporate intent from the Minister for the next 3 years. If one looks at the statement of corporate intent one finds that there is no mention of the word “nutrition”. There is only one very vague and oblique reference to obesity. These things have been expunged from the Ministry of Health and are no longer priorities for the ministry nor is there any funding for them. The Budget has also axed funding for the Obesity Action Coalition. This was probably about 0.0001 percent of the health budget. In fact I may have even left off a zero in that quick calculation. The funding was infinitesimally small in the grand scheme of things but the Obesity Action Coalition was doing great work in trying to improve nutrition and reduce obesity in New Zealand. Axing its funding seems to be a particularly petty political unfortunate and short-sighted decision. 
All of the decisions I have just referred to are purely political and astonishingly short-sighted. Presumably those decisions were made as a result of sustained lobbying from the food industry. I predict they will cost the nation dearly in terms of poor health and increased expenditure of the health budget because the reality is that poor nutrition is the leading cause of premature death and disease in New Zealand. It contributes to more than 8000 preventable deaths a year. If people do not believe that they need only to look at the Ministry of Health statistical chart I have here. It shows poor diet accounting for 8000 to 9000 preventable deaths. The Government is ignoring the single largest cause of preventable death and disease in New Zealand. The reality is that we are spending almost $1 billion a year on treating obesity and type 2 diabetes etc. but the Government is ignoring those problems. They are no longer its priority. We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic. A third of our children are obese. A lot of experts are saying that unless we get serious about the problem obesity-related illnesses will skyrocket and overwhelm our health system. But the Government is ignoring them. The Government is just sweeping this under the carpet presumably because of food industry lobbying. Until we reduce the numbers of people with preventable illnesses in our hospitals and the amount of resources being spent treating preventable illnesses the health system will remain in crisis. But instead of tackling the root causes of ill-health the Government is putting its head in the sand and is heading in exactly the opposite direction. It is rolling back public health initiatives removing nutrition and obesity as priorities for the Ministry of Health throwing out very important initiatives and saying it will leave it all to individuals instead. What a cop-out! 
The Government’s axing of nutrition and obesity initiatives from the Budget follows a consistent pattern that we have seen ever since this Government took office. In February this year out of the blue the Minister of Education axed the school food nutritional guidelines which the Ministry of Health had spent more than 4 years and about $4.5 million of taxpayers’ money developing. Papers obtained under the Official Information Act reveal that the Minister did this without seeking any advice from school principals or the Ministry of Health officials who had been working on the guidelines for many years. She did it without any justification for purely political reasons presumably to placate the food industry lobbyists. Although she sought no advice from officials about whether the guidelines were working she asked the Ministry of Education officials whether there were any risks to axing the guidelines and they said “Numerous studies have shown poor nutrition and health adversely affects educational achievement and Pacific and Maori students are especially vulnerable in this respect”. They went on to report that tuck shops are the primary source of lunch for around half of students and account for up to 30 percent of their diet. But the Minister ignored that advice and the growing body of research that shows that children who eat well are better able to concentrate and learn in class. 
Instead of investing in initiatives to improve the food our children eat the Minister of Education has spent $30 million on independent schools. Perhaps that will allow tennis courts at Christ’s College and other private schools to be upgraded to Olympic standards. Did the Minister not think that some of that money could have been spent on trying to get all Kiwi kids in New Zealand healthier perhaps with a nationwide investment in school gardens in primary schools? Imagine just $1 million going into setting up school gardens where kids could learn about planting harvesting and cooking vegetables. That would have been a visionary initiative. 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa e te Whare. This Budget talks about the road to recovery. It is a road that Maori have travelled on many an occasion to have been often diverted sometimes stonewalled and many times turned back. But it is a road we travel constantly in the search for justice and in the promise of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in our everyday lives. I am reminded today of the great Maori Land March of 1975 which led to the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Treaty settlement process and I am reminded of the foreshore and seabed hikoi of 2004 which gave birth to the mighty Maori Party and the review—and hopefully the repeal—of the filthy racist legislation that is the Foreshore and Seabed Act— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member cannot use the word “racist”. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Even in respect of legislation? 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I ask the member to withdraw that comment. 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I note having had this debate myself to some extent in previous years that the rule as I understand it is that a member may not call another person a racist person but is entitled to describe events or as in this case legislation as racist. On that basis the Standing Orders and the Speakers’ rulings are concerned about calling people racist—quite rightly—but not things. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The word “racist” applies not only to a particular member but also to parties and members of this House. I am sure there is another word the member can use. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: If I might— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No I have ruled. I ask the member to continue with his speech. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Very well but I am happy to have used the word and happy to have used it in reference to the Foreshore and Seabed Act. I am also reminded of the march for Maori representation in Auckland just over a week ago. All these events were challenges to the nation that the commitment our tupuna made to the promises of Te Tiriti o Waitangi are challenges we take seriously today tomorrow and until such time as those promises have been honoured. We turn to this legislation with the same outlook the same commitment and the same desire to see the Treaty promise honoured—and I do not mind admitting here today that that road ahead does not look as if it is getting any shorter or any easier to travel. 
While we are on the subject of roads I note that there has been an increase of $1 billion in highway construction projects each year for the next 3 years with a long-term plan of $10 billion over the next 10 years. For those who think that $1 billion is a lot of money to spend on roads each year let me put that figure into perspective. One billion dollars is a little more than the Government gets every year to turn a blind eye to the deaths of 4700 New Zealanders killed every year by the murderers masquerading as tobacco companies. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Ban cigarette displays. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: After 9 years it is a bit rich to hear that member saying that now! It is the total amount offered for the theft of 60 million acres of Maori land over the last 170 years and it is about what it will cost to build the “Waterview Criminal Bypass” which my good friend Melissa Lee sees as an important investment in the security of Mount Albert. But given how keen New Zealanders have been to take up a more carbon-conscious future and their growing understanding of the perils of peak oil we have to wonder why so much money is being spent on roads and how little is being spent on public transport. Spending $50 million on a national cycleway is a great idea but it hardly signals a genuine investment in alternative transport. 
We see a Budget allocation of $172 million for 600 new police officers and $10 million for Tasers even though the recorded crime rate has gone down by 8 percent and as if either of those measures will turn around the levels of crime which are determined not by police numbers or by police brutality but by the level of poverty that this country is willing to inflict on its own population. For the same strange reason it is difficult to understand why we will be spending an extra $385 million to increase prison capacity when every intelligent criminologist tells us that building more prisons leads to neither a decrease in crime nor an increase in rehabilitation. Then we find that of the $385 million $24 million has been set aside for the planning and design of more prisons as if after 200 years of the criminal insanity that masquerades as corrections policy in this country the Government does not yet know how to build the mind-numbing soul-destroying blocks of concrete that we call jails. 
On top of that we also find that $145 million is to be spent on double bunks in cells. I am sad to have to report in advance that double-bunking may ease the prison population crush but it will also substantially increase the number of rapes fights stabbings maimings murders suicides and attacks on prison officers which will be a natural outcome of this policy of simplistic sadism and senseless stupidity. I know this because it is already the experience of every Western nation in the world. In fact the  
Dominion Post  
last week reported the alarming comments of the president of New Zealand’s own Corrections Association Beven Hanlon who stated that overseas evidence confirmed the fact that double-bunking will lead to overcrowding and that overcrowding will most likely result in “a dramatic increase in assaults suicides rapes and escapes and increased psychopathic behaviour among inmates.” 
On the upside we are glad that even though the squeeze is on we are able to get agreement on substantial new money for Maori initiatives. We are glad that the Budget of 2009 more than doubles the allocation for Maori that we saw just a year ago. In 2008 although $53 million was allocated for Maori most of that was re-routed refashioned and re-badged money already allocated to Te Puni Kokiri. However in 2009 thanks to a new National Government and a breath of fresh air from the Maori Party we now have more than $120 million set aside specifically for Maori in housing education social development Maori affairs and Treaty negotiations. We are glad of the million dollars being spent to straighten out the last Government’s policy which actually prevented kohanga reo and playcentres from accessing the early childhood education entitlement and we look forward to seeing more Maori children in kohanga reo puna reo and preschool education. 
While I am talking about kohanga reo I want to pay tribute to the newly honoured Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi who was a pioneer of the kohanga reo movement and who will no doubt take as great a delight in seeing her mokopuna benefit from the 20 hours’ free early childhood education scheme as she will from the Queen’s Birthday honour for which she will be teased mercilessly for months to come. 
We are glad of the extra $22 million of new money to streamline the process of Treaty negotiations between iwi hapu and the Crown and to reduce the time required to settle claims. We are glad of the extra $20 million of new money to help reduce the underachievement of Maori students in mainstream schools. We are glad of the extra $16 million of new money to settle several Maori aquaculture claims. We are glad of the extra $12 million of new money to help Maori build homes in rural communities—communities that are the backbone of Maori culture. We are glad of the extra $3 million of new money for a programme to help whanau learn and use te reo in the home. We are particularly glad of and thankful to the Green Party for getting a Government commitment to home insulation which will benefit many many Maori families. Of course I am personally very very glad of the extra $1.2 million of new money to help iwi radio with operational costs. 
We know that the most important issue facing us is how we prepare ourselves as catalysts for recovery. We know we must put the effort into helping our people to face a new future; we know that future depends on our being able to respond intelligibly and effectively to the changing political and economic climate and to those challenges that lie before us all. Could Maori have done better? Yes we probably could have but we are not crying about what we got at all. In fact given the current economic climate and the fact that we have been in the job for only a few months what we got is a bloody great start and heaps more than those miserable buggers in the last Government gave to Maori even with all that Government’s massive surpluses. We look forward to getting on with doing whatever it takes to ensure that the money we have been able to secure thanks to the National Government is used to help Maori to become more and more independent and more and more positive in the years ahead. Kia ora tatou. 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to speak in this Budget debate and my first port of call is a quotation from the Minister of Education who said in question time yesterday that the education budget would ensure that “… New Zealand is positioned to take advantage of the economic recovery as it happens.” 
At the beginning of the year and with much fanfare we heard of the Job Summit. We in the Labour Opposition only heard of it—not being invited to it—and we heard the promise that it would bring New Zealand quickly and early out of this recession. One of the main planks of the Job Summit was to do with upskilling the workforce. It was to do with taking existing and future workers young people and people already in employment and improving their skills their literacy and numeracy their trade skills and the kinds of skills that young people—young men in particular—acquire through trades training. Yet what we have in this Budget is exactly the opposite. We have cuts made to education in a way that will impede the development of young people the development of our labour force and the rapid recovery of New Zealand from this recession. 
Earlier this year the Minister of Education took an expensive helicopter ride to get an overview of the problems with education in the Auckland region; that action earned her the nickname of “Chopper Tolley”. In the wake of this Budget brought down last week “Chopper Tolley” takes on a whole new meaning. We see cuts being made to those areas of education that are often the areas that deliver quick and enduring skills acquisition to the widest possible range of our population. Surely that is what we need to do in a time of recession. This is the moment for a Government to invest in education and skills training to accelerate the country out of a very hard landing and out of having additional people on the dole queue. 
I want to begin with the universities and the approach to the universities that this Government has taken. First of all we see the vice-chancellors’ response and it is damning. It is not often that the vice-chancellors actually move in a bloc but when they do they are formidable. This is one of those moments and the Minister of Education would be wise to listen to them. Apart from simply disagreeing with them— 
Hon Member 
: Does she know what they do yet? 
Hon MARYAN STREET 
: I am not sure whether she knows what they do but she has probably been told by now. Instead of simply disagreeing with them she needs to listen to them because they have said—and they are not known for extravagant language; they are known for accurate and temperate language—that this Budget deals a body blow to the universities and that it represents lost opportunities. More than that they said it makes the future of universities and the Government’s contribution to universities doubtful. It makes the contribution from the Government and any commitment the Government has to universities uncertain. How can that be when the universities are the peak of training and education for people in this country? The higher-skilled people are the better they should be paid and that is where a high-skills economy should take its workforce. 
Somebody from one of the universities commented: “Yes this is a bleak Budget indeed. Does this cut in funding to our sector”—that is the university sector—“mean we will be forced to turn potential students away or increase fees so education becomes the plaything of the rich?”. Those are real possibilities for the university sector. There is much more to be said about the cuts to the tertiary education sector and as the students association said the brighter future of the National Party is now a distant glimmer. 
I want to move to the area of adult and community education. That is the area in which the Budget made the most savage chopping. Mrs Tolley who will go down in history as “Chopper Tolley” and not just for the helicopter ride has taken to the adult and community education sector with a vengeance. In fact newspaper reports that I have in my hand straddle responses from the length and breadth of the country. They describe the uproar that is happening in communities around this country as they register the 80 percent cut in Budget funding for this quiet community-based and effective delivery mechanism of tertiary education and skills acquisition to thousands of Kiwis. 
We could start with the  
Ashburton Guardian 
 editorial yesterday which gets it in one: “If ever the future literacy levels of New Zealand were placed in jeopardy it will be through such short-sighted cut-backs to community education funding as announced in last week’s Key Budget.” It goes on to state: “The Menorlue adult and community education centre at Ashburton College which caters for around 2000 people a year”—2000—“through 150 courses are anxious that they are going to be closed. They cannot see how they can remain in place with an 80 percent cut in their funding.” Fairfield College in the Waikato runs about 50 night classes each term. The five schools in the Hamilton area and Cambridge High School as well as Mr Deputy Speaker will know intimately cater to thousands of adult learners each year. They say that they are unlikely to be able to sustain these programmes for adults in the future. 
The list goes on: Kaikorai Valley College Logan Park High School Bayfield High School and Taieri College. They employ about 200 tutors. They offer affordable education to over 7000 adults a year. They will not be able to continue to do so. In the Manawatu 955 people are enrolled in 76 courses at Queen Elizabeth College. And on it goes. Whakatane High School is anxious about its programme aimed at a largely Maori population. The  
Westport News 
 says the local school is anxious about its ability to sustain its contribution to upskilling the workforce. 
But more than that we go also to industry training funding in the Budget. That funding supports skills acquisition on the job. The Budget has cut the CPI adjustment for 2010; that is $9 million gone. It talks about reducing growth in funding for—guess what—embedded literacy programmes so $2.6 million has gone from there. It talks about reducing the Industry Training Organisation strategic leadership fund; $3.5 million has gone from there. A total of $15 million has gone from industry training funding. But they are the people who have been strategically contributing to the Skills Strategy which was developed by the previous Government and has been junked by this short-sighted National Government. This is a travesty. This is the moment when there should be additional funding for skills training yet we are seeing a cut across all of those areas. Skills training could give us quick wins and quick gains by upskilling members of the workforce. This is a travesty. 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 This debate on the Budget has been extremely interesting. It has been absolutely fascinating because it has highlighted the spendthrift nature of the previous Labour Government; its “spend spend spend; we’ll be right” attitude. Labour members just do not seem to get the fact that the world is in recession and that we need to focus on quality spending not quantity. This debate just reinforces the need for the change of Government. Thank goodness the people of New Zealand the smart people of New Zealand as identified by Clayton Cosgrove just a few minutes ago voted National last November. Thank goodness they voted National so decisively because after 9 long years of a Labour Government our Government can now get on with building a new stronger and better New Zealand We had 9 long years of mediocrity 9 long years of lack of aspiration and 9 long years of a downward trend economically. It is absolutely time for change and with this Budget we are on the road to recovery. At last New Zealand is picking itself up dusting itself off and getting on with the job of building a better nation for New Zealanders. 
And what a pity about the global economic conditions. National is coming into Government at a time of the worst international financial crisis in decades—maybe ever—and with the cupboard bare. There was nothing left for a rainy day after Labour had squandered the opportunities of the very best economic times for decades. Once again National has to pick up the pieces after another loose-spending unproductive Labour Government. So many of the things we would like to do to develop and grow our people and our country have to be put on hold while we firefight for all New Zealanders. The problem is that Labour just does not understand wise money management. It never has and it never will and this debate echoes that. 
Bill English’s Budget does all the right things to cushion New Zealanders from the worst depths of the world recession. It does all the right things to support and create jobs. It is absolutely focused on keeping as many people in work as possible and that is exactly what it should be doing. That is the priority. The Budget has provided a multimillion-dollar infrastructure boost. Of course that will increase productivity in the economy but essentially that multimillion-dollar infrastructure boost is to create hundreds maybe thousands of new jobs. The Budget has created a $323 million home insulation and clean heating fund. Of course that is to conserve electricity of course that is to create healthy homes but essentially it is to create hundreds maybe thousands of new jobs. The Budget has funded $50 million for a national cycleway network and even though the Labour Party does not seem to like it of course that cycleway will attract tourists of course it will provide health and recreation benefits but essentially it is to create hundreds maybe even thousands of new jobs because all these things are about keeping New Zealand working. 
This Budget in the face of the world’s worst depression also safeguards all the entitlements that New Zealanders expect and enjoy. It maintains all benefits student support and Working for Families at current levels. It also—and this is the debate of the day—locks in national superannuation at 66 percent of the average wage at age 65. I will say that again; Labour members do not seem to understand it: the Budget locks in national superannuation at 66 percent of the average wage at age 65. Labour in its typical scaremongering fashion is trying to frighten the most vulnerable and the elderly by speculating on the future of superannuation entitlements. There should be no speculation. For the third time I say that the Budget locks in national superannuation at 66 percent of the average wage at age 65. We know that Labour does not understand wise money management. Its members think that because we have deferred payments into the Superannuation Fund the world will fall on Chicken Licken’s head. They want National to put money away for superannuation now when it is not even due until 2030 when we are broke and when our credit rating is at risk. That is not smart. No individuals in their right mind would borrow—would borrow—to play the overseas stock market when the world economy is so depressed. So why oh why would Labour members think that the Government should do that? 
Luckily Bill English has a few more financial smarts than the Opposition. He has focused on reducing debt and we have avoided the credit rating downturn that would have cost New Zealanders $600 million a year—$600 million dollars a year—when right now we need every single cent to grow jobs and to help to cushion New Zealanders from the effects of the recession. None of us wants to be paying extra interest charges for nothing. Interest charges do not create jobs; interest charges do not provide social services. Why does Labour not understand that? The best way to ensure there is funding for superannuation in the future is to stimulate and have a healthy growing and productive economy with new businesses new jobs and a better quality of life for everyone. Thank goodness that the shonky financial management of “Whack-it-on-the-bill-Phil” Goff has gone! 
The Budget also improves public services. It focuses on the things that matter most to New Zealanders. It focuses on health it focuses on education and it focuses on the police. There is a $3 billion boost for health over the next 4 years which is focused on front-line services. The thing that is of most interest to me and that I am particularly pleased to see is the allocation of $103 million extra—that is $103 million on top of the usual funding—for maternity services. This money will allow more young mothers to spend more time in hospital with their babies and it will provide for more continuity of care for mothers and their babies by providing more funding for general practitioners for lead maternity carers and for mothers and babies to work together to keep these children healthy in the long term. There is more funding for the Well Child programme and more funding for the Plunket hotline. 
All of these projects are enormously valuable but I will also look at education. We all know that young people are our future but it is educated young people who are so important for us. What we are doing in education is adding an extra billion dollars of new spending. That money will improve facilities and lift educational achievement. As an ex-teacher myself I am really keen on the focus on literacy and numeracy for young children. There is absolutely no doubt that the building blocks of literacy and numeracy allow children to develop and learn so that they can go on to extra education. Finally I say that Bill English has produced a good Budget. It is a good Budget because it is a balanced Budget and it is a Budget that will put us on the road to recovery. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Labour—Christchurch East) 
: 
 This Budget was apparently signed off by a Government whose front-man had publicly proclaimed that he was ambitious for New Zealand. I ask members whether they remember anyone saying that. I spent the last week traversing my way through different aspects of the Budget in an attempt to find anything that even remotely resembles that ambition given that New Zealand entered the difficult times with the kinds of books that—despite the comments of the previous speaker Nicky Wagner—most nations could have only dreamt of entering a recession with. The unemployment rate was the lowest in the OECD and Government debt was at 17 or 18 percent. The National Government would have preferred to give tax cuts rather than deal with the debt which actually enabled us to enter the recession in better shape than many other countries were. We have a well-regulated banking sector to boot with no need to find the level of bail-out funding that overseas jurisdictions have needed to find. So New Zealand was in pretty good shape to enter into the recession. 
Did the previous Labour Government know we were moving towards difficult times? Well yes we did. During the last election campaign we told New Zealanders that National would never be able to afford the types of tax cuts it signalled would occur if it was elected—and that did not take into account National’s decision to allocate 30 percent of its first round of tax cuts to a mere 3 percent of the top income earners in this country. We said that National was irresponsible in making promises that we knew it could not keep. We backed off from making some commitments that we wanted to make during the election campaign last year because we knew that we could not afford to deliver on them. We thought it would be dishonest to go ahead with those promises. We backed off from making those commitments because we wanted to keep the promises we made. 
Mr Key was not so circumspect; he was given the National Party leadership in order to win the election. That was his job and he would say anything or do anything. He acted on Crosby/Textor advice in order to be elected. It is all very well for that experienced money-market bond trader to say that his experience in the market is one of his credentials for becoming Prime Minister but then he said that he did not know that the recession was going to be as bad as this. Well how bad did he think it was going to be? Was it better or worse than he thought it would be when National passed the tax cuts under urgency before Christmas? Was it better or worse? Or were the tax cuts designed just to be written up by the media as part of National’s 100 days of action? Were they undone by the passing of legislation under urgency on Budget night so that the breach of faith would be removed from the agenda as quickly as possible? 
My message to Mr Key is simply this: he cannot have it both ways. What occurred internationally was already having a flow-on effect on the New Zealand economy. This effect was reflected well before the last election. It was also reflected in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update. There was no damning opening of the books as we saw in 1984 and indeed in 1990. The Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update was designed to prevent that from happening. It was aimed at stopping a political party from making promises that other parties knew it could not keep. 
All of the information was on the table but that did not stop Mr Key. The people who voted for him do not deserve this Budget. It represents a betrayal of Mr Key’s personal guarantees on several counts but most of all it puts paid to the idea that he was ever ambitious for New Zealand. I think he was just ambitious. Apparently Mr Key has a new persona in the Back Bencher: the “Blue Baron”. I have not been over to see it yet. When I first heard it described I thought the name was spelt “barren” because this Budget is barren. It is bereft of the ideas that one would expect from somebody who put his personal guarantee behind the promises that he made. 
One area that I want to focus on in this Budget response is the impact that this National Government has had on this nation’s fledgling efforts to grapple finally with our lack of savings. This issue has not been addressed since another National Government riding high on a major electoral victory destroyed the last superannuation scheme that a Labour Government had put in place in 1974. I honestly thought that the days of members’ using superannuation as a political football were finally over. I seriously thought we had achieved final agreement. Everyone had signed up. 
My entire political career and even my life before that is tied up with the superannuation issue—the promises the parties’ outbidding of each other and all those things. In 1974 New Zealand had Labour’s superannuation fund and in 1975 we had the famous dancing Cossacks ads. I remember having to ask my parents what that was all about; of course it was an attack on the superannuation policy. I did not get to vote in the 1975 election but a lot of people did and they voted to get their money back. Was that a good thing? No. 
Then in 1984 Labour promised not to introduce means testing as a kind of counter to the Muldoon attack on the Labour Opposition. Muldoon had said that Labour would introduce means testing because he knew that the Government could not sustain universal entitlement at 60 years of age. It was known that it could not be sustained. So Labour promised that it would not introduce means testing. How did Labour get round that when we could not afford universal entitlement at age 60? We introduced the surtax. In my view that was not the right thing to do. When we make a statement that we will not go down one track to then go down it but call it something else does not take away from the fact that we are not doing the right thing. The right thing was not to make the promise. Getting rid of the surtax was actually the right thing to do. That was a core promise made in the 1990 election campaign. Does anyone remember the speech made by Mr Bolger at the time? He said “no ifs no buts no maybes”; he gave a cast-iron guarantee that the surtax would be removed but of course the surtax was not removed until 1997. 
In 1999 we had the cutting of the threshold for superannuation from 65 percent of the average wage—below which it could not fall—down to 60 percent. That was a dishonourable action taken by a very dishonourable Government which paid for its tax cuts by cutting the base threshold for the pension. In 2000 the incoming Labour-led Government restored the threshold to 65 percent. 
Finally we brought together the last two elements of the jigsaw: the Cullen fund which partially pre-funded the cost of superannuation into the future and KiwiSaver. What do we have now? Here we go; it is happening all over again. I think it is important that we think about what this means. 
In 2031 when withdrawals are expected to commence the fund will be short by $35 billion. It is ludicrous for the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance to say that investing in the fund is borrowing to save when the detailed analysis shows that we will be much worse off if we do not take the opportunity to continue to invest in the fund. By 2031 if we continue to contribute to the fund $124 billion will be in the fund including the tax revenue generated from earnings. With a contribution holiday of 11 years the amount will be $86.5 billion and we will have $14 billion less debt. I can add. We will be $23.5 billion worse off as a result of the decision not to invest in the Superannuation Fund. 
The Government says that people would not have a mortgage at the same time as a superannuation scheme. It says that anyone would pay off his or her mortgage before saving. That is what the Government says. It is rather ironic that this is the Government that decided to cut the mortgage diversion component of KiwiSaver; that shows that it does not believe its own rhetoric. 
I think the National Government has to front up on this issue. It has given up on a mechanism that enables political parties to commit long term to the current superannuation thresholds: 65 years of age universal entitlement non - means-tested with 65 to 72 percent being the range of the proportion of the average wage that the payment represents—the married rate. The decade of deferrals is irresponsible in the extreme. The obvious consequences will not be felt until we have all left this place. The reason that Mr Key will not need to honour his promise to resign when superannuation is cut—and it will be cut—is that he will not be here to resign. 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 How out of touch was the speech that we have just heard! If any of the members opposite bothered to go out and speak to the public they would understand that the public gets it. The public have been spoken to as if they are stupid for far too many years now but when we present them with transparency with choices and with a Budget that is making responsible decisions in these dire economic times the public understand. When we give people a long-term focus on turning this situation around for the betterment of New Zealand they understand it. However when we scaremonger and try to tell New Zealanders facts and figures that are not true they understand. They are responsible and they understand that they have the best people as the servants of their money and of them. That is what we have seen with this Budget. 
No Budget is easy to pull together and this one has been especially difficult. This is the first chance I have had to speak in the Budget debate. I want to acknowledge the work done by Bill English. It has been an interesting process to go through when we know that the need and the demand are out there but there is less money in the till and we have to think about how that is spent and where those priorities are. The Government has had to do more with less but we have managed to achieve that. In the middle of the biggest global economic downturn in generations this Government has managed to deliver on its promises. 
I am especially pleased about that when it comes to social services spending. Today I want to talk a bit about that social services spending and what it means for New Zealanders. We are at a stage where more people are going on the unemployment benefit. The number of those going on to the domestic purposes benefit the sickness benefit and the invalids benefit has increased as well. The reality is that jobs are harder to find. They are not out there in the same capacity. We are making sure that we deal with that which we have stepped out to do in this Budget. As members heard in question time today there is more money in the Estimates of Appropriations so that we can pay out those benefits in a timely manner. When we compare where our country is with Ireland it is an interesting comparison. Ireland is at a stage where it cannot help people into work; there simply are not the jobs there. Its biggest focus is just on paying out benefits within 28 days. 
How lucky we are to be in New Zealand and have the sort of system we have via Work and Income whereby when people first walk in they are talked to about how they will get a job where those jobs are and whether they have a CV and they are then put on a Straight 2 Work programme which the previous Government set up. We always said that we would back what works and that we did not have to come in change everything and put everyone into turmoil. We said that it was about putting our own priorities there and backing what works. A lot of what the previous Government put in as far as the job focus within Work and Income is working. We have had to put more resources behind it. We have had to put more people on the front line. We have had to put more of a focus on why employers should come to Work and Income and put their jobs there first so that we can put in those people who are most desperately looking for work—those who are on a benefit. A lot of work is going into that. 
There is a change of focus in that sort of direction as far as making those sorts of opportunities available. Last week I spoke to my counterpart in the UK who was here for just a day and he said he had trouble recognising that we talk to people about work first then talk to them about putting them on a benefit how that works and what would work for them. We have heard so much scaremongering from the opposite side of the House and about how those opportunities have not been picked up or continued by the community and voluntary sector but that sector understands that the Pathways to Partnership money is staying. We have moved some of that money forward from out-years because the need is now and we needed to step up and recognise that. 
Right from day one when we became the Government it was hugely concerning to us that we saw a sector that would have increased demand and decreased funding from non-governmental money. Those social service agencies out there that are working in the not-for-profit sector were finding that the trusts were drying up the philanthropy was not the same and the donations that they had come to expect to present their services were no longer there. That story was not happening once or twice; it was happening all of the time. We wanted to step up and say that we would play a role in this short-term need and that is what we have done. 
We have continued Pathways to Partnership as it has been in previous years. The previous Government spent about $59 million on Pathways to Partnership and that $59 million was obviously rolled over into the next year so none of that funding was cut. It has continued and the sector can rely on it and that was important to us. We made a CPI adjustment to that money so that it was guaranteed. On top of that was just $20 million that we had to think about how to spend. We did not want to think about it on our own. 
The difference with this Government is that we will not stand around and say that we know what is best for New Zealand. We want to give communities a say because we know that they know what is best for them. We got those people around a table and we asked them: “If you had this amount of money what would that mean and how could we best utilise it to keep those essential social services running in these dire times?”. We came up with the Community Response Fund. We decided that we would bring some of that $20 million forward for this coming year because it is needed now. Equally we think that things may be still tougher next year—certainly the trusts and philanthropy will not be getting the same returns on their investments next year—so we have brought a bit more of that money forward. I am hugely proud to say that there will be another $64 million there for those agencies to work out how they keep those essential social services running. 
I will be clear one more time: the money from Pathways to Partnership stays. It is quite funny because we heard last week the uproar from Labour asking where the line in the Budget for Pathways to Partnership was and whether we had taken it away. If those members had known anything they would understand that under their Government there was no line in the Budget for Pathways to Partnership. The money for Pathways to Partnership comes from a number of different votes and it is how those are added up in the Budget that determines those amounts. There was a little bit of thinking that had to go on by the Opposition but it seems that those members finally grasped that yes the money is there and it is just being spent in a different way in these different economic times. 
While I am talking about community organisations I will talk about Enterprising Communities. There are a few myths going round at the moment that we are cutting those organisations that are currently working and doing a good job. I have a quote from the Hon Darren Hughes who in August last year said about Enterprising Communities: “organisations and groups develop initiatives that will lead to economic growth local job opportunities and long-term sustainability. Community projects are supported financially by the MSD for a maximum of three years and are expected to achieve long-term sustainability from here on.” and that is exactly it. With Enterprising Communities what is happening is what happened under Labour. Organisations thought they could generate employment they were given a lump of money in the first year and that lump of money went down in the second year because members should remember they are trying to get sustainable so they can run themselves. It is a short-term 3-year funding project and in the third year the funding was considerably less again because they were building themselves up into being sustainable and running themselves. All of those that are currently in that 3-year cycle will stay in that cycle and we will support them to get out of it. They have my complete backing to see them get to a place where they are sustainable. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Just wait until they apply to the contestable fund! 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: The member on the other side the little snappy turtle has her head up and is trying to bark something out. Let me make it clear: the previous Government was the one that said the funding went for 3 years and the organisations had to make themselves sustainable. I want to be quite clear about Enterprising Communities and where it is at. It is true we are not taking on new contracts under Enterprising Communities; we have other priorities and have made different decisions. 
That member was also yelling across the House in her most dulcet tones about health camps. I think it is time that she stood up and recognised that for 9 years the previous Government did nothing. For 9 years the previous Government did nothing with health camps and those camps became run down. They did not get the sorts of things they needed and for 9 years nothing happened with health camps. I think us taking 9 months to make sure they are OK is a good thing and we are in very positive discussions with those health camps. Thank you. 
CHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour) 
: 
 During the election campaign John Key Bill English and other National members spoke at length about the need to make sure that our economic priorities as a nation are not overshadowed by environmental considerations. Well unlike National we on this side of the House believe that promoting economic growth and sound environmental outcomes are not mutually exclusive. Here in New Zealand we trade literally and physically on our clean and green image. In the global market place demonstrating that a product is environmentally sustainable is increasingly a key issue for New Zealand goods and services. 
This Budget was a chance to solidify New Zealand’s reputation by promoting growth encouraging investment and creating new jobs while maintaining leadership on environmental and climate change policy. The tragedy of this Budget is that it truly is one of lost opportunities. Bill English John Key and National failed to provide a plan for a sustainable future. All around the globe Governments are using opportunities presented by the economic crisis to invest in what we all know is the necessary and inevitable transition to a lower-pollution economy. Governments are doing so in Australia Britain and the United States but these sorts of measures are completely absent from Bill English’s Budget. Where is the investment in improved fuel efficiency increased public transport renewable electricity generation or the other essential initiatives to achieving long-term low-pollution economic growth? They are all missing. Since taking office in November National has simply walked away from a strategy for long-term low-pollution economic growth. 
Debate interrupted.