Upston Louise: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Upston Louise: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
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LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupo) 
: 
 Today the Prime Minister John Key talked in his speech about opportunity and outlined this Government’s priorities for 2011. Just last week the Prime Minister announced the date of the general election 10 months ahead of the date which is 26 November. It is pretty clear to those who have been watching or listening to the debate today that there is a clear divide between those over there and those of us on this side of the House. I think it is also fair to say that listeners have probably heard that the gloves are off. 
If we look at the National side in the blue corner we see a clear focus on spending less and borrowing less and a focus on building the foundations for a stronger economy and for building better results from public services. If we look at the Labour side in the red corner we see that the focus is on spending more and more and borrowing and creating debt not just for our generation but for the next generation and the one after that. Labour has already idly promised to spend another $5 billion and I am sure that that amount will go up as the months creep towards the election. But it has not told us how it will pay for that extra spending. We have heard—even from the previous speaker Lianne Dalziel—criticism of the Government’s tax switch. But Labour is not promising to reverse the tax cuts or to reduce GST. I am looking forward to hearing that from that side of the House: if those members hate the tax switch they should make a promise to reverse it. 
Tonight I will look at the priorities that this Government has laid out today through the eyes of my constituents whether they be a chef in Cambridge a plumber in Putaruru a labourer at Kinleith or perhaps someone who owns a shop in Taupo. Those are the people I am listening to every day. Those are the hard-working New Zealanders who although they may be doing it tough today because we have been in a global economic recession hope for and aspire to a better tomorrow. 
Let us look at that small-business owner; there is a large number of them in my electorate. I am sure many of us deal with these constituents every day. Do members know what they are telling me? Do members know what they are actually saying? They know that if they are in business they have to do better business. They have to work smarter they have to be more efficient and they have to look at ways that they can streamline and improve the performance of their business. 
Earlier today we heard Prime Minister John Key talk about the fact that the Government needs to look at reforms that will streamline and improve the performance of the Government bureaucracy. It is not rocket science. Small businesses are doing it so why would we expect that the Government would not do it? John Key says that by international standards New Zealand’s Public Service is bloated and inefficient. We need to be lean quick and nimble. We believe that it is possible to have a public sector like that. Small businesses medium-sized businesses and large businesses up and down this country have been forced to do that in the economic recession that this country has faced. The Government sector is no different. We will not let it grow at the rate that it grew under the Labour Government of 9 years. We need to make sure we have a high performing public sector. 
It is interesting that when I talk to people in Taupo they are quite clear about what they expect the Government to provide. They expect a world-class health service not a Third World one. They expect an education service that provides for every single New Zealand child not four out of five. They expect a strong and effective justice system and social services that protect the most vulnerable. 
Just last night I was in Hamilton at the launch of the Regional Business Partners initiative which is TechNZ’s regional technology partner working with Waikato Innovation Park. The whole conversation was about supporting businesses to grow through using research and development. The presentation covered things like our technology transfer vouchers for small companies and the technology development grants which give more research and development investment to research-intensive industries. We all know that Kiwis are great at inventing things but we are actually not as great at turning those ideas into opportunities that raise money for companies and more important turning them into export dollars for our country. Growing businesses is how we create jobs and that is how we are able to increase our wages. We know that this is what improves the lifestyles of hard-working New Zealanders. 
I will now focus on education. We on this side of the House know that improving education and skills is critical to lifting the standard of living for every single New Zealander. As a mother of three young children I want my children to be well prepared and to be able to take the most from every opportunity that is before them. I believe that every New Zealand child should have the opportunities in life that come from a great education. 
I will start very deliberately with the early childhood sector and set the record straight. National is spending $1.4 billion this year on this sector. That is the largest amount of money ever spent in early childhood education. So when that side of the House tells us that we are cutting the funding I say that that is absolute rot. We are spending $1.4 billion. That is right—members opposite can look up. That is three times as much as the Labour Government was spending 5 years ago. 
Let us look at this sector in a bit more detail. We have tripled spending so one might think that we would be getting a bit more for what we are spending. Actually the number participating has not increased by even 1 percent. On this side of the House we believe that young children should be able to access early childhood education regardless of race or income. That is why our priority is to lift participation. In some areas 40 percent of 5-year-olds start school having had no early childhood education whatsoever. I have talked to teachers who have faced those 5-year-olds in schools and it is incredibly difficult for those children because they are already behind. We need to target Maori Pasifika and children from low-income backgrounds and that is exactly what we are doing with our investment of $91.8 million into these targeted spaces providing 3500 extra spaces. 
I will also touch on national standards because it would not be a good day in the House if I did not stand here and mention national standards. I think they are absolutely stunning. After 9 years under Labour four out of five children left school without sufficient skills in reading writing and maths. If we think about the number of children who started school last week—60000 five-year-old kids started school last week—we see that 12000 of them would spend 10 years at school and not be able read write or do maths. I say that that is just an absolute disgrace. With national standards if parents have a report come home they will find it a damn sight easier to understand and their children can understand it as well. I think that is a really important part of the learning journey: the parent the child and the teacher all working together to improve the child’s outcomes at school. 
With National it is pretty clear. We get a Government committed to building a better future and we get responsible economic managers creating the conditions for growth which leads to better lifestyles for every single one of us.