Calder Cam: General Debate 
Calder Cam: General Debate 
[Volume:655;Page:5036] 
Dr CAM CALDER (National) 
: 
 The last 3 days of mistakes miscues muddling and mugwumpery by the honourable Leader of the Opposition suggest that he runs the risk of becoming known as “Phil Gaffe” rather than Phil Goff. But I prefer to celebrate National’s success— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know the member is fond of clichés but he cannot refer to a member in this House by anything other than his or her name and I think he should get off to a good start in that regard. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I thank the member. The member is correct. Members should address members respectfully by their proper and correct name. 
Dr CAM CALDER 
: Thank you for the correction. I prefer to celebrate National’s success rather than to dwell on the dismal spectre of continuing Labour failure. 
The National-led Government is actively working on many fronts to improve the lot of all New Zealanders. This is of course in the face of the most challenging economic times since the Great Depression. As I have mentioned before as well as a fiscal crisis we have a crisis of confidence and globally no one knows how deep the hole is. John Key’s National-led Government is principled and pragmatic and committed to cushioning New Zealand from the worst effects of the financial turmoil. Not only are we facing a current world economic downturn as we all know we are also having to cope with the ravages of 9 long years of supervised neglect by the last Labour Government. 
The scars of this neglect were all too easy to see in South Auckland when I had the privilege to campaign there last year. The people of the colourful vibrant and diverse Manurewa and Manukau communities are hard-working and ambitious for themselves and their children. Their communities’ concerns were clear. Many houses have screen doors with multiple locks. Behind this is the main door often with two or three locks also. I remember when we were at a public meeting to discuss the issue of law and order and there was an armed robbery a mere 500 yards down the road. 
On a more pleasant note I visited many early childhood education facilities. All of the ones I visited were doing an excellent job of nurturing and stimulating the young minds of the children they had charge of. Significantly all the centres had a large waiting list. 
Let us look at what has happened in the first 8 months of this principled inclusive National-led Government. One of the Government’s top educational priorities is ensuring that every child can take part in high-quality early childhood education. New Zealand’s early childhood participation rates are high overall by international standards but some groups particularly Maori and Pacific Island communities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds have very low participation rates. 
We have announced three new early childhood education centres in Manukau and these will be in the Manurewa area in Weymouth Primary School and Homai Primary School and in the Papakura area in Mansell Senior School. All three will be funded through the education ministry’s Counties Manukau Participation Project targeting areas with a traditionally low uptake of early childhood education. This Counties Manukau Participation Project brings communities and local and central government together to find solutions. 
Increasing participation is not just about the number of vacancies available. It is also about providing the services that particular communities want and that suit those communities. It is about encouraging families and whanau to use those services. These new services that the Minister of Education alluded to earlier will be placed in the schools that have asked for them. The Ministry of Education will be working with boards of trustees to develop the sites. We expect the work to start in the next 3 months and more are on the books. 
We believe that it is a fundamental duty of the Government to protect. A society is judged by how we treat our most vulnerable as I mentioned before. In the Manukau and Manurewa communities many are vulnerable—too many in fact. Too many residents have suffered the consequences of violent crime. More police and more effective policing is just part of the solution but it is a part of the solution. National is keeping yet another election promise. The National Government has committed to increasing the number of police in the Counties-Manukau area by 300 front-line officers by the end of 2010. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: How many? 
Dr CAM CALDER 
: It is 300 and a further 300 for the rest of the country by the end of 2011. Already 64 of the 300 extra Counties-Manukau officers have been recruited and deployed. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.