Anderton Jim: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Anderton Jim: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:623;Page:18179] 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 Since 1999 the progressive Labour-led coalition Government has overseen a transformation of the New Zealand economy. Anyone who does not acknowledge that either has no idea of the facts or just wants to make cheap political capital. The Progressives are also working inside the Government—and have been doing so in all those years—for a transformation of our communities not only in terms of economic development in the regions of the country and in terms of industry development but also in the social and environmental areas. Our objectives put simply are universal public education from pre-school to tertiary level universal access to quality public health care and the opportunity for every New Zealand family to have a home of their own. That in our view is social justice. 
The work we have done on the economy which has been spectacular and will continue is a means to achieving higher levels of social equity. Programmes to promote industry and regional development along with increased investment in research and development have helped to upgrade the quality and the quantity of our industrial development base as well as of course our exports into global markets. New Zealand is now less vulnerable to things outside our control—like wild swings in global foreign exchange markets or even the weather—than it has ever been in my lifetime. In simple terms that means New Zealand is making significant strides towards having a more productive independent high-skill and high-value economy. That is why the Reserve Bank recently upgraded its assessment of our potential sustainable growth rate from 2.5 percent in 1999 to around 3.7 percent per annum. That is also why we have started to climb up the OECD economic ladder rather than fall down it which was the propensity over the 30 years up until 1999. Winston Peters was not correct when he said that it was the late 1980s and 1990s when this fall first started; it was the 1970s. 
Since 1999 this coalition has increased public investment in our education and health systems. It has introduced far-sighted laws on paid parental leave and a minimum of 4 weeks’ paid annual leave for workers and so on. These are programmes that both enhance the productivity of our economy and at the same time help working families to meet their employment as well as family commitments. 
The Progressive Party and its predecessors have of course been leading players in all these key coalition Government initiatives since 1999. It is instructive for smaller parties in this Parliament to realise that being part of a coalition means that one’s own policy agenda can be progressed. This year we will be campaigning for representation in a historic third-term Labour-led coalition Government. We plan to continue to contribute to making New Zealand an even better place to live work and bring up a family. 
The Progressive Party will work with all parties that have contributed constructively to the Government’s programme so far. I acknowledge the work of the United Future party New Zealand First and the Greens with the Labour-led coalition. Those parties have all played a part in the success of the Labour-Progressive Government’s constructive policy programme. 
The Progressive Party stands for a New Zealand with growing opportunities for all New Zealanders regardless of family background inherited wealth or privilege. We stand for social justice and we believe that the time for the policy spotlight to fall on social justice is now. When was the last election year when social justice dominated the election debate? It certainly was not in 2002 when genetic engineering was the controversial issue of the day. It was not in 1999 when the election was dominated by the collapse of the National-led coalition. It was not in 1996 when immigration and MMP dominated the election campaign. It was certainly not in 1993 when the nation’s anger with the betrayals of the National Party was the key issue. It was certainly not in 1990 either when the electorate was sick of the political betrayals of the Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble era. 
It has been a long time since the foremost election issues were access to education affordable high-quality health-care and homeownership for all New Zealanders. It is time in our view that we put these issues back on the political agenda. We have unprecedented economic success to build on and I congratulate my colleague the Minister of Finance on his extraordinarily wise and far-sighted oversight of the economic development and fiscal position of New Zealand. We are well hedged for any event that happens in a way that we have not been for many many years in this country. The issue for New Zealand now is how we build on that success. 
In spite of all the work that I have been involved in with my Cabinet and Government colleagues in economic development I have never believed that economic development and growth are ends in themselves. We need economic success to produce jobs. We need innovation and creativity to increase the incomes of New Zealanders and to give us positive choices. The point of increasing our nation’s wealth is to ensure that all New Zealanders have the opportunity to share in the success of the economy. 
As our economy becomes stronger we need to apply our success to our social problems. We have to work harder for example on cutting student debt and de facto school fees on helping every New Zealand family to buy their own home on guaranteeing access to quality public health-care on improving productivity through higher investment in economic development and particularly in research and development and on reducing alcohol and drug abuse particularly by young people. That is what social justice means to me. It is an opportunity presented to us by the economic success that this Government has overseen. 
The moment for social justice to take centre stage in my view is now. But we have not heard a peep about these issues from the Opposition. Don Brash has given major speeches about the treaty and about law and order—the last refuge of those politicians who have no other ideas on life—and now he wants to take babies from women on the domestic purposes benefit and hand them over for adoption. This seems to be his idea of the future for this country. His potential coalition partners seem interested only in keeping the doors shut to new New Zealanders and giving tax cuts to the wealthy. That is the full bankruptcy of the Opposition’s policy platforms and we did not hear any more than that today from the leader of the National Party. 
We need an ambition for a socially just New Zealand and this Government stands for that in my view. We have an economic goal of returning New Zealand to the top half of the OECD but that needs to be matched by a vision for a healthy thriving sustainable New Zealand society. New Zealand needs a vision of a socially just society and that is the role that the party I lead the Progressives plays as an unashamedly pro business development party with a social conscience. We have devoted our energies to economic development because we know that the pathway to social development is built on the opportunities of economic development. 
There can be no First World health system in any country nor a First World environmental system nor a First World education system without a First World economy. The two go together—it is not one or the other. The pathway that we are following leads to a place where any young New Zealand family can expect to own their own home and we have proposed to help them do that by capitalising family income support. Our vision for New Zealand is one where we can celebrate young New Zealanders gaining new skills without the burden of a lifetime of debt. I have to say speaking as one of the generation that had a free education—I was paid to train as a teacher and I had a very low-interest loan and a capitalisation of family benefit to get into the housing market—that I am eternally grateful for the softness in the New Zealand society that looked after me and virtually put me in the position I am in now. My lifetime in politics has been spent trying to repay the opportunities that a benevolent State gave to me. Other New Zealanders of my ilk feel exactly the same. 
We have a lot of work to do in the health system. This Government has put almost half of all the discretionary income it has had into the health system. It always seems like a bottomless pit but nevertheless we will keep doing our best and we have more to do. For the Progressives this year will be a year of challenging issues to which we will propose ambitious solutions. We are committed to making 2005 a year for social justice. As this Parliament opens for business for the year I assure the House that this will be the top priority for the Progressive MPs in our work in this place.