Hobbs Marian: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Hobbs Marian: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1111] 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 When I heard Dr Brash’s speech today I wondered whether he had had the same wonderful summer that I had. He was still stuck 5 months back—all doom and gloom; pessimism not optimism—and was looking back to the good old 1990s when we had high unemployment and low low wages. The National Party has had long caucus retreats. Yet today’s speech from Dr Brash was light on a vision for New Zealand and heavy yet again on personal attack as was that last speech from our colleague Phil Heatley. 
The National Party has not learnt. We had such a great summer. Newspapers were free from political invective and personal attack. But school is back and National is back with the same old tired strategy which is to attack the person—ad hominem is what members will hear me call out; some members did not do any Latin—be negative and fudge the future. The National Party will never risk putting up any alternative. It will not risk that. All it can do is attack and spell doom and gloom. 
By contrast the Government as shown in the Prime Minister’s speech today has laid out concrete steps towards achieving a transformed economy and a renewed society. In the 10 minutes I have I shall focus on this Government’s support for families young and old. Let us look at the two very different philosophies that affect how families operate in New Zealand. This afternoon Dr Brash said—and I am paraphrasing it because I wrote it down—that New Zealand’s wealth depends on businesses and on individuals. I noted that down because it epitomised for me the National Party theme that it is individuals who are responsible for their own survival and that it is individuals acting alone who create wealth. Labour by contrast says that it is the community and the family that create wealth. It is the family that supports the individuals; it is not individuals alone. A focus on individuals alone means that many individuals will not meet their potential. 
Many in the House know that I was a teacher for 25 years. Individuals fall by the wayside. A child who is deaf will not get support individually. He or she will get support only from the community. But National believes that individuals acting alone are the cornerstone of wealth and that is why it tried the unsuccessful bribe of tax cuts that would have given much more money to the individually already wealthy. 
Labour however targeted tax relief to those with heavy community and family responsibilities. Families and communities support a whole range of individuals from toddlers to octogenarians from the fit to the ill. Everyone has a place in New Zealand society—particularly in the New Zealand society that Labour is working towards. We believe that we are in Government not to occupy these benches but to make a difference and a difference we will make for the better for all New Zealanders—not just for the wealthy and for individuals but for all New Zealanders. We want all our families young and old to enjoy more opportunity and more security and to share in the progress this country makes. For Labour it is not progress if the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It is progress when we all share in the benefits of a well-performing economy. 
 It was important to Labour members that we succeeded in reducing the unemployment rate. Unemployment and family violence are evil partners. Unemployment and crime are partners. Unemployment and suicide are partners. Labour wanted to reduce unemployment family violence and crime and it has. Over the last 6 years we have dropped the level of unemployment to the lowest level in the OECD and by heavens am I proud of that! We have invested strongly in health education and policing. 
But this is a journey and we have further to go. To have a strong economy we need healthy well-educated and—as a member opposite correctly quoted before—confident workers to solve the problems create the solutions and take us forward in an increasingly competitive world. We heard the Prime Minister talking about India and China and their increasing wealth increasing education and increasing ability to compete with us out there in the marketplace. But along with that we need the economy to be strong to deliver the living standards health care community safety and education that make New Zealand a special place to live. We do not need a strong economy to deliver tax cuts; we need a strong economy to deliver a healthy community and that is the difference. 
Beginning on 1 April this year we will see a big extension to Working for Families through the targeted tax cuts with 60000 more families becoming eligible. That is something I am particularly proud of. I see a member opposite shaking his head. He obviously does not care about those families who are struggling very hard with three or four kids and the costs that involves. 
We will also see because we are talking about families young and old an increase in the rate of New Zealand superannuation. That issue was debated with us challenged to us and got for us by New Zealand First. That is what an MMP Parliament is about—that kind of working together and joining together for a healthier better and stronger community. 
Then we have our students. I notice that Mr Phil Heatley was really worried about young people going over to Australia. Well they will not be. They will be staying here to work because that way they will not pay interest on their loans. That is the difference we will see because we need those young people in this country. On 1 April the manna drops from heaven for students. 
It is not only that though. On 1 July people will get a rates rebate. I live in an electorate where the house property prices have gone right through the roof. If a 70-year-old is on superannuation and lives in Wadestown and has lived there for 50 or 60 years that person pays enormous rates. That is not because the person has a great big flash three-storey house with everything that moves but because he or she has a cottage in one of the loveliest suburbs in New Zealand. This rates rebate will help exactly those people. We in this party do not distinguish between the very rich and the very poor. We say: “If you have a need we meet it.” 
In terms of the early years of schooling we are working towards a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:15. I do not know how many years I have spent in this House listening to people talk on forever about the importance of early childhood education and the importance of those first years. We are doing work that I remember was done very strongly by Trevor Mallard in relation to literacy and numeracy in the early years and now we have this move to a 1:15 ratio. And I do not forget and the community does not forget that we were the ones who resurrected apprenticeships. 
The message of National is always to accentuate the negative. My challenge—and it is a real challenge—to those in National who have enjoyed the support of certain church groups and who see themselves as practising Christians is to hear from them an accent on the community and on community support. I want to hear from them as practising Christians an end to personal attack and I want to hear from my colleagues opposite that it is not about the individual. No man is an island; no man stands alone.