Duncan Helen: Financial Review Debate 
Duncan Helen: Financial Review Debate 
[Volume:607;Page:4173] 
HELEN DUNCAN (NZ Labour) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to speak in this appropriation debate. I cannot help but respond to some of the things that my colleague from Auckland had to say. I thought it was really interesting that he was complaining that the Government was spending taxpayers’ money. That is actually what Governments do and that is why this Government collects taxes—so that it can spend that money for the benefit of the people of New Zealand. If the member is going to continue in Parliament then it would be a good idea to get that fairly clear. 
I was also very interested to see that the National Party now has one clear policy which that member was articulating loudly and clearly for the House and for the benefit of the people of New Zealand—he is going to sell Air New Zealand. Well at last we know. Unfortunately I do not think that that policy will be all that popular because even when Air New Zealand was totally privately owned the people of New Zealand still thought of it as “our” airline—our Air New Zealand. When they saw it going down the tubes they were not all that happy and they were almost universally in favour of the Government bailing it out. I am not sure that they are ready to see it sold off again so that private enterprise can muck it up again. In fact I think there has been a little bit of a sea change in the minds of the people of New Zealand in terms of selling off State assets. They are looking very carefully at what has happened since the railways were sold and they are not feeling terribly happy about that either. So I would have to say to my colleague from the Auckland region Mr Key that there are two views here and I do not think that the National Party has cottoned on to the right one. If it had it would be running at a little higher than 20-odd percent in the polls—depending on which poll one listens to. So National members should take things quietly. I think it was Rob Muldoon who said: “Breathe through your nose for a while.” but there we go. 
I was quite interested when one of the previous speakers—either Don Brash or Lockwood Smith I think—talked about the debate being all over the place. I would have to agree that as far as the Opposition parties are concerned the debate has been pretty much all over the place. Every Government speaker has proudly articulated the fact that this Government has built a strong foundation for growth. We have provided and will continue to provide a stable Government with strong leadership. Our aim is to build and sustain solid levels of economic growth to fund good public services and to fund our infrastructure sustainably. I have heard a lot of Government speakers talk on those lines and I think it is absolutely the key to why this Government is so popular. It is consistently polling at about 50 percent which is pretty phenomenal at this stage in a Government’s life. Government members have achievements to show to the country and that is why the Government is maintaining its popularity. We have a positive programme that is moving our country forward. We are prepared to invest in New Zealanders in every way—in our country and in the people of this country—and that is why such good things are happening. 
I was interested in the fact that Don Brash spent quite some time talking about education. It seems to be something that he is very interested in. He was talking about a school that has a sign up that states: “One in five New Zealanders can’t read this” and he was hugely disparaging about the quality of our schools. Well one does not turn round the school system in 3 years. The reality is that it was under 9 years of National-led Government — 
Rodney Hide 
: How many? 
HELEN DUNCAN 
: —9 long years of National-led Government that most of those people were educated. The reality of our education system is that it does an extraordinarily good job with 80 percent of students. Eighty percent of the students in our education system are doing extremely well. But that I know is not good enough. That figure needs to be 100 percent but I would have to say that the fact that 80 percent of our students are doing extraordinarily well shows that we are doing better than most other countries in the world. That shows out in every international survey of education that takes place. We do have a tail of students who are not doing well but of course there are a lot of reasons that students do not do particularly well at school. Some students come from homes where there is unemployment deprivation poverty and poor nutrition. They may be in poor housing. The list goes on and on—there are all sorts of reasons. Some have never been able to feel a part of society and they are alienated. Those sorts of factors can contribute hugely to whether they do well in school. Teachers and a good school system can do only so much. In every country where a significant number of people are living in situations of poverty and deprivation there will be poor school performance. 
This Government has also improved the employment rate. Unemployment is now at its lowest level for 15 years. In the time that this Government has been in power since 1999 it has created over 120000 new jobs. The reality is that that economic improvement in the lives of ordinary New Zealanders will be reflected over time in the performance of that tail in our schools. Members should make no mistake about it: the underachievers in our schools are not in decile 10 schools. They are not coming from the better-off areas of New Zealand. In the main they are in our decile 1 2 and 3 schools. Maori and Pacific Island children as well as children from other ethnic minorities are overrepresented in that tail. So the best thing that this Government can do to improve the education standards for New Zealand is to improve our economy and the economic life of the people of New Zealand and that is what we are doing. We have a good story to tell and we are happy to talk about it. 
Over the last 3 years we have improved access to primary health-care. One of the things everybody knows is that families and children will do better in every way if they have good health. We are making an effort to prevent illness and to tackle health problems early so that there are not huge waiting lists for conditions that could have been prevented if they had been treated early enough. Already primary health organisations are providing a broad range of health-care services to over 500000 New Zealanders and a further 25 are due to start up by 1 April when it is estimated that 1.4 million New Zealanders will be enrolled in public health organisations. That will lead to a huge improvement in public health. 
There has been an increase in economic activity of 3.9 percent in the year ended September last year. That growth was driven mainly by the household sector and by tourism and it continues the solid economic performance of the last few years. We have more people in real jobs and we have more people in real education. This Government has put a great deal of effort and a great deal of money into improving our education system. It has done a lot of work in the areas of early childhood primary and secondary education and of course it has cut the cost of tertiary education for students. The Government has made the student loan scheme fairer and it has made sure by freezing fees and now by introducing fees maxima that students can be certain of their fee levels from year to year. If we had not halted those fee increases which were rife and happened every year during the 1990s then students would be paying on average $1000 more a year and they would be facing further increases this year. As well the Government has funded more than 700 teaching positions over and above those that would have been required for roll growth so we are making a huge difference. We are strengthening and expanding the opportunities for people to learn in the workplace and by the end of the year we intend to have 6000 young people in Modern Apprenticeships. Believe me the people of New Zealand appreciate the work that we are doing in Modern Apprenticeships and in training.