King Colin: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Colin: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 21 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18238. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]COLIN KING (National—Kaikōura): It was certainly a blue-letter day for all provinces in New Zealand on 15 May because of the consistent reliable and good management of this nation’s economy. Low interest rates can never be undervaluedwhen you are in the primary industry nor can low inflation be minimised. Those are the two evils that were left as a legacy from the Labour-Greens Government. In fact when we look at it 2014 is a very good time for the provinces. It is a very good time for theKaikōura electorate. I am proud to say that this Friday we will turn the sod on our third new hospital in 6 years. So the provinces are certainly being looked after well by this Government.Hon Simon Bridges: Only three?COLIN KING: Only three. However it is all good news from there and it gets better.When you look across at the Australian economy one gets a very clear understanding of what a Labour-Greens Government leaves as a legacy. What did we see as a legacy from the last Labour Government? We hear a lot about it. Labour’s last Budget left this nation with a $4 billion deficit. The last Labour Budget left this nation with a $4 billion deficit and deficits for the next decade. So from that point of view it was pretty good to be on this side of the House seeing Bill English as the Minister of Finance give his sixth Budget and having the country back in the black.One of the standout points was the $500 million that put families at the very heart of this Budget. When we stop and look at that it means that effectively 400000 New Zealanders will benefit from that family package. I am very proud to see that we have been able to do that. You get to that space economically only when you have good fiscal management. So 400000 people—how is it going to be dished up? There is $171 million to boost the paid parental leave scheme. That is excellent. There is $42.3 million as far as the parental tax credit is concerned. That is something that National introduced way back in 1999 and it has increased it by effectively 50 percent to $220 a week and extended it to 10 weeks to really balance the equation with regard to parental leave.Then there is the crowning glory of that Budget—the $90 million to enable general practitioners to offer free medical visits and free prescriptions. Can you believe it? There will be free medical attention and free prescriptions for people under the age of 13. That has got to be something that we can all be very proud of. It shows you that families are at the very heart of this Government—families. There is $155.7 million to make sure that we keep working towards those goals of getting 98 percent—98 percent—early childhood education participation by our youngsters. Then of course we have got to lookat the Ministry of Social Development. It has really got to grips with some of the very challenging situations that we see and is trying to bridge those gaps that obviously from time to time appear with the eight extra Children’s Teams which will really start focusing on that. It is my expectation that we will have one of those in Blenheim because we are ready and willing to go.This Government has really set Marlborough up. It has setKaikōura up. It has set North Canterbury up. We are in particularly good shape and we have got to thank Bill English and the National-led Government for that under the stellar leadership of John Key. There is a lot more I could say about this Budget but time has got away on me and I must yield to my fellow member. I look forward to his speech. Thank you.