Horomia Parekura: Appropriation (2007/08 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Horomia Parekura: Appropriation (2007/08 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:641;Page:11079] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 If anybody could understand about discharge that last member who spoke would know well about it—the verbal rubbish that came out is really really lowering the essence of this great bastion of cooperation. 
I went to the great Otaki electorate the other day and saw Nathan Guy playing rugby with Shane Jones. He was sloshing through the mud in a tigerish example of going forward. I thought: “When that boy gets into Government in about 15 or 20 years’ time he will do well.” But he was charging forward leaderless and going forward with the support of everybody else. 
I have listened to all this tirade of innocence on how great the National Party has been. So let us just reflect on some of those issues. Remember National in the 1990s? It increased the surcharge and that member talked about a lot of these issues. Let us talk about trade training. Who got rid of trade training? 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: They did. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: And who brought in Modern Apprenticeships? 
Darren Hughes 
: Labour. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: And who can tell us that 27000 people are participating in that scheme at the moment? This Government can. It is very very interesting. Those members talked about housing today. There was a question in the House about housing. Well let us talk about National’s housing policy in the 1990s which it had 9 years to work out. National took everything up to market rents sold all the State houses in Wairarapa and other areas and now it is coming back with some churlish spin saying that it will give State houses to the occupants knowing full well— 
Judith Collins 
: No they didn’t. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: That is what was said in the House today. National knows full well that the increased number that that member put out are on a median wage and need support. This Government’s Budget has been about supporting those who are in need not the greedy. 
There are two fundamental paradigms in any fiscal programme or financial strategy for any Government—two parts. The Labour Party’s financial strategy—and the Budget espouses it—is quite clearly about catering for those who are in need and spreading the wealth to ensure like the $1 billion business that there is a balanced stack. The National Party’s financial policy in my mind—and I am not an accountant or a financier but I certainly understand it—is about tossing big breaks to the big corporate mates and having tax discounts and all of that which go overseas to a lot of foreign people and just helps this lot up here. The fundamental arithmetic is that if we spend that money we have to take it from somewhere. 
 Yet we have had somebody standing up here saying that they will increase the health vote. They do not know anything. In the health area I think that people enjoy having $3 prescriptions. I think that people enjoy having the cost of doctors’ visits halved. I think that people enjoy knowing they will get their knees and hips improved and fixed up when once that was not even on the register. The last National Government got rid of dental technician assistants and a lot of the shortages created now in those specialist areas was through that Government’s efforts in being negative. 
Let us talk about the Charities Commission and this great policy of the National Party. Peter Dunne let out the information. He talked about it before National announced its policy. The National leader went along and listened and woke up and thought: “Geez I’ve got a policy now—to help non-governmental organisations and communities. But then National members tried to make out that Labour had stolen it off them. By crikey that is incredible—it really really is. 
We have quality education with 20 hours’ free childcare and rates rebates. The minimum wage has gone up eight times—eight times. Let us talk about helping those people who need help. During the period when the last National Government was in office—I have said this three times in this House but I want to say it again—it did not even lift up the average wage by a dollar. It did not do that but what Michael Cullen has created in this country is a strong strong level— 
Judith Collins 
: It’s a travel industry going one way to Australia. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: And we will talk about Australia after I tell members about the macro and the micro. The macro in this country is very stable. The dairy farmers are not going “boo hoo hoo!” and that is not just because of international impacts. They have so much income they do not know what to do with it. At the end of the day I am proud of the Maori assets that are starting to click in because collectively Maori are the single biggest owners in that shareholding. What about that! 
I want to talk about the unemployment rate because when we came in it was 16.6 percent for Maori and it is tracking towards 5 percent now. When we came in after the National Government the unemployment rate overall was between 7 to 8 percent. It is just on 3 percent now. That is how we develop people and trade opportunities for them. That is the sort of thing we do. The issue— 
Judith Collins 
: So what about the sickness rate? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: No that is not quite true. That is not true. And what about this great story about everybody going to Australia eh—everybody going to Australia? There are nearly just as many people coming back—not as many but quite a few are coming back. So that member is leaving out one part of the story. She is leaving out one part of the story. Nearly 70 percent are coming back to New Zealand in the same week that other people are leaving. What do members think about that? You know Maoris did not know what OE was 10 years ago. So they have the passion and the sense of roaming the globe— 
Nathan Guy 
: What is it? What is OE? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: It is not about overeating for which the Minister of Maori Affairs is a good candidate. But this Government recognises obesity and all those things and we front up to correct it. So why should people not go and have a look at the other side of the world? It is a bit of a natural Kiwi inquisitiveness. That member went to London. He went overseas I know. Is that right? 
Nathan Guy 
: Yes. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Yes that is right. And he came back just as a lot of these people are coming back. A lot of them have been away on their OE so at the end of the day we need to get things right. 
This great leader said he was the first leader since Sir Apirana Ngata to go to visit Tuhoe. It is amazing that someone would say that when nearly 50 other politicians since that time have been there. I have been there 20 times. 
Darren Hughes 
: The Prime Minister has been there. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: The Prime Minister has been there. Tariana Turia has been there. A whole lot of people have been there. So on what sort of basis is this policy design being made by that party in relation to that party? 
You know the last National Government scrapped the tax rebate. It actually got rid of it. 
Judith Collins 
: What! What did we do? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: The last National Government scrapped that. This person who winces in horror and pain and who thinks that everybody is so bad they cannot be helped sends me into orbit. This Government has delivered one of the best Budgets this country has seen for a long time. It is about sustainability and it is about going forward. In relation to KiwiSaver everybody loves it. In relation to early childhood care there is help. In relation to maternity leave there is assistance for those mums who want to take time out and then be capable of going back to work; we have made space for that. There are a whole lot of issues. Working for Families is a great addition. It is something that is important for those who cannot quite make ends meet. So at the end of the day people need to have a good look at the Budget and appreciate and understand that it is one of the best Budgets pencilled for a long long time. 
I will be very interested in the future to see what other people will do with it—what they would add to it. The reason National has no policy is that it has literally done it all. The reason that that party has no policy is that it is struggling. It is in disarray it is wobbling and it does not know where it is going. We saw Bill English leave the House the other day and leave Mr Key stranded. In the summaries and editorials of recent times we have heard of National’s struggle. We have seen the dressing up for the types of people envisaged by those members who try to talk like them just to impress them. Some people around here have been in this House long enough to understand that the one thing people look at is the truth. This Government quite truthfully has delivered a great Budget.