McClay Todd: Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McClay Todd: Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4558. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and speak in the third reading of the Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill. What a long time ago it seems since we had that fantastic Budget read out in this House by the Hon Bill English directed by our extremely hard-working intelligent Prime Minister—a man of the people he was and still is. 
As we have followed this debate over the months and here today one thing has become clear to almost every New Zealander who has tuned in. On this side of the House we are focused on the job at hand and on what matters. On the opposite side of the House at least with the main Opposition party the Labour Party and the Green Party its close close ally—I find it hard to tell them apart not from a philosophical point of view but in terms of who actually is the Leader of the Opposition and which is the No. 1 Opposition party. The reason that it is hard to tell is that there is a bit of intermingling of policy here. The things that Labour used to be so proud of now the Green Party is spouting as its own policy and the things that the Green Party used to talk about when it was dishevelled in all sorts of different directions and not sure of its leadership or the direction it should head in what it stood for and what it did not stand for the Labour Party has adopted all of that. We see it every week in this Chamber and in our media. 
What have we delivered as a Government in this Budget? Responsible management of Government finances— 
Gareth Hughes 
: Lowest growth in 50 years. Record unemployment. 
TODD McCLAY 
: —building a more competitive and productive economy delivering better public services and of course rebuilding Christchurch which is so very important. I want to touch briefly on each of these. But to my colleague from the Green Party who spoke earlier and is now interjecting from afar I want to—[ 
Interruption 
] No I am not pointing at Mr Goldsmith. Nobody would ever accuse him of being from the Green Party. 
What I wanted to say is that we hear from the Greens all the time that the Government has ruined the economy. The Greens are saying that we are doing things we did not tell New Zealanders about. Well last year in November there was an election. Every New Zealander who was eligible to vote had an opportunity to vote. Over the course of the 3 years that we were in our first Government and during 2011 we made a case to New Zealand on a number of issues to achieve what is in this Budget: responsible management of Government finances building a more competitive and productive economy delivering better public services and of course towards the end rebuilding Christchurch. 
The Greens have said that that is not the case that we did not make that case to New Zealanders and that we have pointed New Zealanders in a different direction. But I can say that in my electorate in Rotorua where I was re-elected and in many other electorates around the country Green Party activists—sanctioned by the Green Party leadership or not we are not sure—walked got out in their electric cars or got out on their pushbikes because they care about the environment got big hoardings and stickers and stuck them all over our signs and defaced them. They defaced them all over the country. What they were doing when they were doing that was saying to New Zealanders: “If you vote for these people this is what they are going to do.” What I say to the Green Party is that you can campaign as hard as you want at elections you can have your activists—sanctioned or otherwise we are not quite sure—go and deface all of our hoardings and vandalise our property telling people what will happen if they vote for us but then when we are re-elected you cannot turn round and say that people did not know that nobody knew about this and that we have misled New Zealanders. We have not. We are focused on the job at hand. We told New Zealanders what we would do. New Zealanders accepted that and they voted for us in the largest vote any party has received under MMP ever. 
I also before I get into the detail of this want to say to some of our friends in New Zealand First that we too share your concerns around seniors in New Zealand and I commend you for the work that you do in this area. I am very proud to be able to stand here and say that over the first 3 years we were in Government we increased superannuation payments to people on superannuation in New Zealand in pretty tough times. It was a very difficult time for New Zealand for our economy and certainly great pressure was on the Government books. But what I do want to say is that we did that. I am proud to be able to say that we increased support for senior New Zealanders and I hope that as our economy improves and the Government books get into better shape with other parties in the House we can find ways to do much more for our seniors. We owe them a lot. 
Responsibly managing Government finances—what does this mean? It does not mean spending more money on hopeless projects that the Greens and Labour are forever talking about in this House and in the media: spend spend spend borrow borrow borrow and put off the pain until the future. That is what we are hearing from the Green-Labour coalition. I am going to call it the Green-Labour coalition from now on. It is no longer a Labour-Green coalition; it is a Green-Labour coalition of Opposition parties. 
We have said that we are going to work as hard as we can to get the Government books back to surplus by 2014-15. It is going to take a lot of discipline. It is not going to be easy because we are a trading nation and we know that many of the countries we trade with have themselves gone through difficult issues with their economies. One needs only to cast one’s eye across the seas to Europe to see the great difficulties that they have over there. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Oh reread the notes again. Go back to the start and read them again. 
TODD McCLAY 
: Thank goodness we are not Greece. Our freshly shaven friend on the other side is back from Europe. I am waiting for his speech to tell us about all the doom and gloom he saw over there. Some of the countries I saw which not Goliath but one of the Davids on the other side of the House visited—one or two of those countries—have quite some problems with economic policy. I am sure that he and Labour will adopt those soon—not Greece I am not going that far but certainly some of the other countries he went to. 
Getting back to surplus by 2014-15 is important for us. It is important and the way that we will do this is by focusing on what we spend taxpayers’ resources and taxpayers’ money on by not being frivolous by making sure that there is a return for the taxpayer—better health care for the money that is being spent—by making sure that our borrowing is reducing and that we are focused on the job at hand. That is the job that New Zealanders have elected us and given us a second term to do. 
Budget 2012 forecast economic growth to average 3 percent a year over the next 4 years with 154000 jobs to be created on top of the 60000 new jobs that were created over the last 3 years of an extremely difficult time with our economy—the global financial crisis of the world. 
We have increased annual spending on science and innovation a very important part of our economy by $385 million as opposed to the hollow promises we hear from members opposite on a regular occasion. That means that by 2015-16 under this National-led Government spending on science and innovation will have increased to $1.3 billion a year. That is $1.3 billion a year that is not being just thrown around as the previous Labour Government did with some of its hare-brained schemes but focused specifically on things that are important for our economy on areas of the economy where we have an advantage where we must do much more in science and where in years to come great dividends will be paid to this country through this new innovation. 
You see New Zealanders are innovative if you get out of their lives leave them alone and allow them to get on. It is a shame that in the 9 years of a Labour Government it spent all its time trying to get into their lives and trying to be in the house with them. Do you remember how it tried to be in the bathroom—the bathroom on the side of the bedroom—and decide how much hot water they should have? Well those were policies of the past. They are polices that we are certainly glad are gone. Again I am reminding members opposite that although as list MPs they may not want to remember there was an election in November of last year New Zealanders had their opportunity to cast their vote to have their say and we got a larger vote than any party ever had before under MMP— 
Michael Woodhouse 
: Under almost any system actually. 
TODD McCLAY 
: Under almost any system our chief whip says to me. I have not checked that but he is an intelligent man and I accept fully what he would say in that. 
 What do I want to say? Delivering better public services. That is in health in education and in policing. I am going to touch briefly on health for a moment. Tony Ryall is an outstanding Minister of Health. On Friday of last week I had the great pleasure of going along and visiting the Lakes District Health Board in Rotorua a district health board I have visited on many occasions and standing there and presenting it with a certificate of gratitude on behalf of my community for the fantastic work it has done in all areas but particularly around elective surgeries over the last couple of years. What Tony Ryall has said is important to him and to this Government is not letters to people telling them they have to go back to their general practitioner at the back of a waiting list before they can be treated; he said it is important that we back doctors and nurses to treat these people and he has done an outstanding job. We have delivered more money in that area. 
I want to touch on policing because it is very very important. I have a bill before this Parliament that is halfway through its first reading at the moment and that we will get to focus on in a week or two. It focuses purely on law and order about holding to account those who seek to harm others and to intimidate others giving our community some powers to take back those parts of the communities they think are important to them but giving extra power and authority to our police to get amongst people— 
Hon Craig Foss 
: Labour caucus. 
TODD McCLAY 
: No no I am not talking about the Labour caucus; I am talking about others who cause great grief and harm in our community. But putting aside some of the things that have been in the newspaper of late what I would say is I hope the House can come together and have an adult reasonable and sensible debate on this. This was a fantastic Budget that I commend to the House. Thank you.