Goudie Sandra: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Goudie Sandra: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3800] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 I am delighted to follow the excellent Minister the Hon Paula Bennett. She is absolutely right. Right now our superannuitants want certainty; they do not want scaremongering from Labour. They do not need Labour members of Parliament going out and telling people that things are not as they are. National is standing by superannuitants and people should not listen to the scaremongering of Labour members of Parliament. All those members do is undermine people’s sense of well-being by scaremongering. The Minister is absolutely right that we need to give people the certainty and the surety that they are supported during these tough times. That is why she is such a great Minister. 
She is absolutely right when she talks about the website www.sorted.org.nz. That has been a huge success on the part of the Retirement Commissioner—absolutely huge. So many more people are visiting that website now. Last year more than 1.2 million people visited it and more than 220000 booklets have been distributed throughout New Zealand as well. Diana Crossan the Retirement Commissioner says that people are not taking just a cursory look at this website but are taking a really close look at it and using the calculation provision on it. 
It is all about improving people’s financial literacy and that is really really important as well. That is why the Retirement Commissioner is working not just with the over 65s but with our young people in primary schools and with high schools and the tertiary sector. It is about financial education and financial literacy for the whole spectrum of our society. It is about instilling some financial literacy in our generation and in future generations—future adults—to keep that literacy going. It is such a huge step forward in the way the Retirement Commissioner has been operating and I applaud all her efforts in that regard. This is a very big part of the focus of the Retirement Commission. 
The Retirement Commission’s national strategy for financial literacy has a vision about personal financial well-being for all New Zealanders. The sooner we can start educating our young people about the importance of managing money and managing it well the better. There has been a huge disconnect in that regard for a generation and we need to pick up on that improve it and make such a difference in people’s lives as they plan for their future and their retirement security. This is not just about people who are over 65 but it is about our young people as well—getting them to plan and plan ahead for their own retirement. The mission statement states: “New Zealanders are financially well educated and can make informed financial decisions throughout their lives.” 
That is one thing National is really good at—managing money. I have to say that Labour members have never managed money. Mother Hubbard stripped the cupboard—it was bare. 
The Labour Government knew how to spend that money ahead. So if anyone ever wants financial advice I would say: “Never go to a Labour member of Parliament.” They just cannot cut the mustard when it comes to money. That has been proven time and time again. When we took office when the New Zealand public decided they needed a Government that could actually look after them particularly in regard to their money we opened up the books and saw that the cupboard was absolutely bare and then some. Labour spent ahead and spent more than it had. I take as an example the Nature Heritage Fund. Labour spent the next 4 years— 
Hon David Carter 
: They’re laughing! 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: They think it is funny. I would not put the Labour Opposition in charge of a piggy bank. 
Let us get back to the Retirement Commissioner as we are wont to do and in particular to www.sorted.org.nz. I think it is so important that we build the financial literacy of all New Zealanders.