Moroney Sue: General Debate 
Moroney Sue: General Debate 
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SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 The speech made by the member who has just resumed his seat Paul Quinn is evidence that the Government is clearly struggling. Not only has it put up Paul Quinn for the general debate but it is talking about a personal vote and how the Opposition voted on a personal vote. The Government is clearly struggling and that was evidenced by Paul Quinn who suffers from being two inches shorter that he needed to be to become an All Black according to the rugby fraternity. But I think that sad speech he made is just more evidence that he is suffering from short man’s legacy. 
I want to focus on the poll that is coming up and we will see whether the Government is struggling. I refer to the poll that is about to happen in Mana. We know that it will be a poll on the Government’s policies. It has to be because Hekia Parata said she does not do second place. So if she comes second in that by-election it must be a commentary on the Government’s policies. John Key knows this. 
Hekia Parata 
: It’s a highly aspirational electorate that’s been held for 60 years by a low-ambition Government. 
SUE MORONEY 
: She is very loud here in the House but we will see how she gets on in the electorate. 
John Key knows that the Mana by-election will be about the Government’s policies. The  
New Zealand Herald  
of 24 September said we should not blame him for chasing every potential voter in Porirua and Whitby. Then it went on to state: “It was reminiscent of a scene in  
The Simpsons 
 movie where the US Government having lost its credibility gets super-nice-guy and actor Tom Hanks to announce the destruction of the town of Springfield while gently rustling a boy’s hair.” That is what the  
New Zealand Herald  
had to say about John Key and his campaign style out in the electorate of Mana. 
Of course John Key has gone to a few early childhood education centres. He was very brave to do that because we all know that the National Government has cut funding to early childhood education thereby increasing costs to families and making it extremely difficult for the parents of Mana to have their children participating in early childhood education. John Key visited Mana Montessori a centre that has 60 children and yes the quality of education for those children is in doubt because it is one of the centres where funding has been cut by John Key. He cut the funding in the Budget then he visited the early childhood centres and stroked a small boy’s hair just like Tom Hanks in  
The Simpsons 
. But it did not work very well. The school head Nicola Dickie said she wished there had been no funding cuts to early childhood education and that the school was likely to introduce a fee increase for parents. What will that do for the young children of Mana and their future? We know that families really struggle when fees go up. 
What about First Five Community Childhood Centre? I do not know whether Hekia Parata has been there but I know that Kris Fa’afoi has. He is an excellent candidate for Labour and he has been to visit the centre. That centre has 34 children and it will also face a funding cut. In May its treasurer David Conwell said there was no choice but to increase fees for care over the 20 hours scheme. He said that parents using that centre would be facing increases of $40 to $50 per week per child. He said that the parents were shocked but they understood. 
One of the parents actually knows about this because she is also on the management committee and her name is Niki Alefosio. She has two children at the centre and she knows that she now has to find $100 extra per week to keep sending her two children to that centre. She is part of the centre’s cooperative management group and says that if she takes into account other factors like rising GST—another National Government policy—she is looking at an extra $10 per day per child. She says she may need to look at cutting back on family outings or savings. That is the sort of impact that this Government’s policies are having on the families of Mana. Mrs Alefosio works 30 hours a week but she said part-time work may not now be viable. She said she may now need to look at going to full-time work or looking at another form of childcare just to make ends meet. 
Then there is Jane Wild who also has two children at the same centre. She said that the funding cuts were “really stink”—that is what she had to say about it. Her son Max receives 20 free hours of childcare and she pays for an extra 4 hours. She also has a 1-year-old by the name of Cameron and he goes to that centre for 16 hours. She will have to pay extra for him. That is the effect of the Government’s policies in Mana.