Dean Jacqui: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDean Jacqui: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10436. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): Under the National Government New Zealand is on the right track. This Government is doing exactly what we said we would do and we are delivering in areas that matter to New Zealanders. This Budget is a Budget that delivers for New Zealanders.After-tax wages have risen by 22 percent since September 2008 when we became the Government. Economic growth rose by 3 percent last year. That is a significant rise against a global financial crisis where other countries around the world are literally floundering. Here in New Zealand we achieved 3 percent growth in the last financial year forecasting around 2.5 percent in difficult economic times. The cost of living in New Zealand has experienced the lowest rises since 1999 and mortgage interest rates are the lowest since 1965. The New Zealand economy is in good shape under Bill English and John Key.This Government has got four priorities for our economy: responsibly managing the Government’s finances building a more competitive and a more productive economy delivering better public services and arguably to a South Island member of Parliament the fourth imperative is rebuilding Christchurch. I want to spend a bit of time talking about that but first of all I want to put some stakes in the ground refuting some of the rather unwise comments made by some members across the House. Clare Curran that luminary from Dunedin said that there are no jobs in the regions. Well come on. That kind of language might work in South Dunedin but this is Parliament. This is where we want to have some reasoned debate and I am going to tell thatmember exactly why comments like that do not help her cause and do not help her party’s cause.Under the Better Public Services initiative the Ministerial Committee on Poverty has endorsed a number of important initiatives to help low-income families. Those include $100 million over 3 years for the Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart healthy homes programme. That programme targets low-income households particularly those with children with health needs for home insulation. What did Labour do in the 9 years it was in power? Phil Goff just spent 8 of his 10 minutes taking credit for the state that the New Zealand economy is in in 2013. Well the news is Phil Goff that those guys went out of Government 5 years ago. You cannot keep taking credit for stuff you did way back in history. That is so last century.This Government has put more than $21 million aside over the next 4 years for rheumatic fever prevention. That is significant for the health and welfare of our children. There is an extra $1.5 million for budgeting services in 2013-14 in addition it has to be said to the $8.9 million that was provided for in the previous financial year. This next one is good. There is a whiteware procurement programme that will enable people on benefits to purchase new appliances under warranty using repayable Ministry of Social Development payments. That is a significant help. It is just a small portion of the Budget but it is a significant help to low-income families and people on benefit.The trial on Housing New Zealand properties for a warrant of fitness programme for rental housing—where was Labour? Where was Labour in its 9 years of surplus that it keeps talking about? Where was Labour in helping low-income families? Where were those members with the insulation programme? They were absolutely nowhere. Labour was content for low-income households to live in cold damp social housing and what did it do about it? It did nothing.I want to go on to some welfare measures. There will be $188 million over the next 4 years for the next stage of welfare reform to help more New Zealanders off benefit and into work. Of course this follows a $287 million investment in last year’s Budget so it is increases year on year. You see Labour members are yelling because they do not actually care about this stuff. What they care about is going back to the glory days—they think—of the 9 years under Helen Clark when they squandered the economic opportunities they had. They do not actually care about the fact that here is a Government that is providing assistance to low-income New Zealanders and providing assistance to people on a benefit and that has a very strong focus on getting those people who are on a benefit off that benefit and into jobs.There will be 354 extra Work and Income staff to provide intensive help and support. I know from recent history in my own home town of Ōāmaru that when the Summit Wool Spinners mill closed Work and Income did a magnificent job. It rallied around those people who were made redundant from a regional response—Clare Curran: Have they got jobs?JACQUI DEAN: And I am happy to say to Clare Curran who asks “Have they got jobs?” that yes they have. Most of those people have got jobs—60 of them—Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: Oh she’s so disappointed.JACQUI DEAN: I know she does not like to hear it. It does not suit that member’s agenda. But I can tell that member that 60 of those workers at Summit Wool Spinners have been re-engaged by Canterbury Spinners and that a significant proportion of the other workers have found work either by themselves or through the assistance of Work and Income. That is not good news to the other side of the House because those members do not like to hear this stuff but actually Government agencies such as Work and Income are providing a magnificent job in supporting the workers back into jobs. Labour members do not like to hear it because they love shouting they love pulling thiscountry down and they love people being poor and downtrodden but when they see a Government that is actually prepared to put a stake in the ground and do something about it they simply do not like it because it does not suit their purposes.I am going to go on now to talk a little bit about health because that is something that is quite important to people obviously not only in my electorate but all over New Zealand. There will be a further $1.6 billion for new health initiatives. Again Labour members when they are not yelling have gone quiet. They do not like this initiative because it is there to actually help people.I will tell the House how this new initiative this $106 billion—I wish—this $1.6 billion is going to be allocated. Over the next 4 years there will be $70 million for aged-care and dementia services. We know that New Zealand has an ageing population. We know that it is incredibly difficult for the State to provide services and so that $70 million will go a long way particularly in the area of dementia services. There will be $35.5 million for diabetes and heart disease. We know very well that we have a problem in New Zealand with growing rates of diabetes and growing rates of heart disease. There will be $100 million in this Budget over the next 4 years to meet population changes and cost pressures in disability support services. I do hope some of that money will be allocated into my part of New Zealand. I certainly will be advocating for that to happen. There will be $48 million for more elective operations such as for hip replacements and cataracts. This is real assistance for New Zealanders. This should be celebrated across the House. This is extra cataract surgeries in south and north Dunedin. This is more hip operations in south and north Dunedin. Gosh you would think those members might be quite pleased about that.I just want to talk a little bit in my final moments about the strong focus that this Government has got on the recovery for Christchurch. There is going to be an additional $2.1 billion for Christchurch’s recovery. We know that Christchurch has been through a terrible event. We know also that the people of Christchurch are incredibly resilient and are getting on with life and rebuilding Christchurch. This Government is committed to assisting those people in Christchurch in rebuilding their lives and rebuilding the economy of the second-largest city in New Zealand and the largest city in the South Island and the tourism gateway to other parts of New Zealand such as Wānaka and Southland.I want to finish my speech with just a couple of figures. I am reading from a document from Invest Christchurch which is the Christchurch Central Development Unit. I just want to say that Canterbury is attracting business from around the rest of New Zealand. I quote from this document: “Inland Revenue data at April 2013 show a ‘positive net internal migration of business’.” and also: “Canterbury is attracting employees to job opportunities.” So I go back to Clare Curran who said—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. Her time has expired.