Ngaro Alfred: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: General Debate[Sitting date: 20 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3470. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National): It is an honour to take a call in this general debate. First of all it is my first time to speak since the passing away of our rangatira ĒrimaHēnare.He maumaharatanga ki te tino rangatira a Ērima Hēnare [a recollection to the great leader Ērima Hēnare]. Can I just acknowledge my respect for him. He was a great leader. He was on a number of boards. One in particular that I know that Pita Paraone will know is the Waitangi National Trust Board. He will be greatly missed because of his leadership up in the far north.I make mention of that leadership because leadership becomes critically important to this country and it is what our communities look for. I know that the Rt Hon Winston Peters talked about the far north and about a community looking for something different something new. Can I say that absolutely there was a sense of looking for more opportunities up there whether they be in employment whether they be in forestry whether they be in roading. So they were looking for that. Can I also add to the part of the picture that is not often talked about which the Rt Hon Winston Peters has not described and that is the handshake the deal that was done behind closed doors with the Labour Party. Andrew Little was up there and what happened actually was the fact that both the Greens and Labour conceded. They conceded and so that was the difference: a majority of 4000 which made New Zealand First win in the end. It did win. I will not take that away; it was a win.But can I also say that when you do those deals—and Labour members are used to that even though they talked about the deals that have been done on the National side. Yet they know that Jeanette Fitzsimons in Coromandel—the deal was done there with Labour voters. The gain was that Labour was able to stay in Government. Or whether it was with Jim Anderton and the Alliance—the deal was it was able to stay in Government. However in this case Labour has been the greatest loser because out of this what has happened? Absolutely nothing. In fact on day one after the election when asked about whether there would be some deals of working together this is what the Rt Hon Winston Peters said. He said there is no debt to be owed—there is no debt to be owed. That was classic of Winston. That is actually what was said.But what the country is looking for what the regions are looking for is leadership. When we look at this National Government tomorrow will be an important day because of the leadership of this Government and what it has been able to do. When we have the polls that go out what is the No. 1 issue that comes up? Constantly it is around the economy. It is around the economy it is around other issues—around housing education and health—but people ask whether we can fiscally manage ourselves in our economy. We have shown with the leadership of the Rt Hon John Key and also the Deputy Prime Minister Bill English that we have had steady sensible finances that are in order. In fact do not take our word for it. Let us talk about what has come out of the Dominion Post. This hurts the Opposition because now we have people like Shamubeel Eaqub for instance who has turned round and said that people have talked about the economy as a rock star economy but instead on this side we have talked about a rock solid economy. Here is what he says: “Before the recession”—prior to that time obviously when Labour was in Government—“we were … willing to borrow and spend.” Is that not a classic example of the Labour Government: “borrow and spend.”? “In comparison we’re being very careful now.” In fact he said that we are managing our economy and that in the long term it is an economy that is working ahead of other economies in the world for instance other traditional powerhouses like Japan like United States and even like Britain.Again we are seeing that confidence in the leadership financially pays a difference. How does that make a difference to our communities at large? It makes a difference because when we manage that economy well fiscally we can do the things that are important to our communities in regard to health housing and education. In fact we know that the total annual cost of new initiatives in the Government’s last six Budgets is less than $2.9 billion. By comparison the extra costs in the last six Budgets of the previous Government totalled $20 billion. That is the difference that we are making—$2.9 billion versus $20 billion—we are managing successfully. However despite the fact that we are managing we are reducing our costs we are also not renegeing on the things that are absolutely important to us.Quickly I want to talk about the KiwiSaver HomeStart package which is making a difference. That was launched on 15 April out of west Auckland—home of the west—out at Henderson Baptist Church. Over there over 150 people came because they wanted to hear about housing affordability. Here are the three things the three changes that are important: replacing the KiwiSaver FirstHome deposit subsidy with a grant doubling the support for buying a new home and increasing the housing pricing limits. So for instance for those who have been on the scheme for 3 years it will be $3000; for 4 years $6000; and $8000 if you have been on for 5 years. We will double that out from $5000 to $10000 for a new home. We believe that is making a difference. The second thing is that we are now able to enlarge the KiwiSaver FirstHome withdrawals and almost 95 percent of that can be used for your KiwiSaver HomeStart loans. I think—and I know—that we are doing a great thing to lead the country. We look forward to the Budget tomorrow.