Carter Chris: Appropriation (2009/10 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Carter Chris: Appropriation (2009/10 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:656;Page:5936] 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Labour—Te Atatu) 
: 
 I proudly rise on behalf of the Labour Party to speak in this appropriation debate. Before I begin to comment on things that were in the Budget I will comment on the speech made by the previous speaker Hone Harawira. I listened with keen interest to his presentation. I say that the Labour Party will be supporting the Maori Party amendment. I concur with all the things he said. I am not sure about the condition of Rodney’s hair but the rest of his speech made a lot of sense. It is about participation and it is about recognition of the special role that iwi play in this country as recognised by the Treaty and as represented in our Parliament by Maori seats. It is given a good example in the Bay of Plenty where there is iwi participation as of right on the regional council where it is working very successfully. The Labour Party believes that in Auckland City which has the largest Maori population in the world and with Maori the indigenous people of our land participation in the governance of that city by Maori is critical to successful local governance in Auckland. 
I have sat through I guess 12 Budgets in this Chamber. I have to say that for 9 years under the previous Labour Government that left office in October last year Budget time was a time of excitement in New Zealand. It was a time to be proud to be a Kiwi. Amazing things were announced in this Chamber over those 9 years. I could spend all night talking about the initiatives that came through in Labour Budgets everything from KiwiSaver the Cullen fund saving our national airline and saving our railways to creating the most amazing initiatives in education in health in housing in conservation and so it goes on. 
I think of education in which I held my last ministerial portfolio. Amazing things were announced in previous Budgets for education such as Schools Plus the programme that Labour was bringing in. I can hear Mrs Tolley the present Minister of Education chuckling. I say thank you to Mrs Tolley for being here. This woman is known throughout New Zealand as the invisible Minister. Indeed  
Craccum 
 the Auckland University Students Association newspaper ran a weekly column called “The Great Craccum Tolley Hunt”. The students wanted to know whether she actually existed. Sadly for New Zealanders she does as does the Government that she is part of. This Government has done the most astonishing things in education. 
First of all this Budget put $35 million into private schools. It put $35 million into the schools attended by the children of the wealthiest New Zealanders. Private schools are not part of our State system. The Government put $35 million into private schools but it cut out special education funding for some 23 schools. The programmes for children with cerebral palsy and other children with special needs were cut. Of course there was such a hue and cry about that that she did a flip-flop. New Zealanders were so outraged that $35 million went into private schools and 23 schools with physically disabled students had their funding cut. Of course there are all sorts of other funding cuts going on in education. Fruit in Schools—that is out. That came from the woman who had a stomach stapling operation to deal with her own obesity and she cut fruit out of schools. She also reintroduced junk food into school canteens. Was that not a wonderful message to all New Zealanders! Junk food is back into schools and fruit is out. And this comes from the Minister who has had a stomach stapling operation. What sort of message is that to New Zealand education? It is actually incredibly shameful. 
Hon Judith Collins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was the most outrageous personal attack by the former Minister. I would ask—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon Judith Collins 
: I would ask that he withdraw and apologise to the Minister. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The Minister who is referred to is in the House. If she has taken exception I ask her whether she wishes to take a point of order. 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I found that personal attack to be offensive. I ask the member to apologise. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I ask the member to apologise and withdraw the comment. 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I apologise Mr Speaker. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member must also withdraw the comment. 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I withdraw the comment. Obesity is a very serious issue in our schools. Around 40 percent of young New Zealanders suffer from obesity with enormous implications for our health system and for the well-being of New Zealanders. To cut fruit out of schools and to reintroduce junk food into our school canteens sends a terrible message about the Government’s priorities in education. 
We heard today about some initiatives to deal with youth offending. The only way we can deal with youth offending is through a systemic approach. We must deal with early childhood and in previous Budgets in this Chamber under a Labour Government enormous sums of money went into first of all giving 20 free hours for early childhood education. 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: It did nothing! 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: The present Minister of Education Anne Tolley says it was nothing that 20 free hours for every 4-year-old in New Zealand is nothing. I tell members that it was a large amount of money and it was an effective intervention to open up education opportunities for young Kiwis. All research shows that all children who have an effective quality early childhood education do better in their lifelong journey through education. Something like $100 million went into enhancing early childhood education physical facilities. Through a funding process in Labour Budgets we established a new curriculum which we modernised and which became a world quality document that overseas educationalists came to this country to look at. We developed a systemic approach to underachievement which was about building education opportunities facilities and resources right from the start. 
Where are the resources in this Budget for that sort of approach to deal with underachievement and lifting up skills? There was enough money to put $35 million into private education but there was not enough money to do any meaningful expansion of early childhood education. I got the Minister of Education to look at South Auckland schools to see which schools wanted early childhood education facilities on their properties. Of course land is the greatest expense in building early childhood education facilities. South Auckland—Manukau City—has the smallest number of early childhood education facilities anywhere in the country. 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: That’s right. 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I can hear Ms Tolley saying that is right. As soon as National was elected it immediately cut out that opportunity. We went down from something like 16 schools ready to go to a handful. That is absolutely cutting. 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: They didn’t want it. You decided they were going to have it. 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I hear the member opposite bleating that the schools did not want them. Every school initiated the facilities with the Ministry of Education. They wanted the facility on their school site so that local children could get into those facilities and begin a successful lifelong education journey. But that is not good enough for the new Government. 
This Budget is a “Sheriff of Nottingham” Budget. It rips off the poorest New Zealanders and complements the resources of the wealthiest. We see it in the $35 million for private schools. We see it in the cut to adult and community education which I know my colleague Maryan Street will talk about shortly. We see it in the tax regime which was announced before the Budget but was part of that process and that was all about taking resources from the poor and giving it to the rich. You know 3 percent of New Zealanders got 33 percent of that tax money. Something like 71 percent of New Zealanders got no money whatsoever from those tax cuts. Is that not incredibly shameful? Elsewhere in the world Governments are stimulating their economies so that people have purchasing power. Now who will go out and buy things? Families who are not so well off will use any extra resources they get like Working for Families which was an incredible initiative that came through under a Labour Government or income-related rents in State houses. That was all about giving more purchasing power to people who are not so well off. It was not only good for them because it increased their quality of life and gave more opportunity to their families but also it stimulated consumption at a time of recession. 
In Australia enormous sums of money have gone into stimulating the economy. In China where I recently visited 4 trillion renminbi is going into stimulating the economy to get consumption moving. We are one of the very few developed countries in the world if not the only one that is actually retracting spending instead of expanding it to try to stimulate consumption and economic growth. Two thousand New Zealanders are losing their jobs every week. We now have a higher unemployment rate than Australia. This comes from a Government that spent 9 years in this Chamber saying it wanted to be ambitious for New Zealand and to catch up with Australia; we now have more unemployed per head of population than Australia. How shameful.