Adams Amy: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Adams Amy: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
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AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 Budget 2011 and the Appropriation (2010/11 Supplementary Estimates) Bill are a continuation of the prudent and sensible economic management that the National-led Government has been rolling out in New Zealand since the 2008 election. When we took the reins of office the global financial crisis was at its peak. However New Zealand had gone into recession 3 years before anyone else. Our export sector was gasping its dying breaths after 9 years of a Labour Government that thought only Governments could create jobs that the private sector should be kept out of the way and shrunk down and that Government spending was the panacea for all ills. Labour delivered us lollies that we could not afford in a desperate bid to cling to power.  
When this Government took the reins in 2008 we started on a track of slowly turning round the large tanker that is this economy to a point where it is now on a growth track is sustainable and is in a phase of job creation income growth and a raise in the standard of living for all New Zealanders. That has not happened by accident. In fact not only have we had to contend with the situation as we inherited it and with the continuation of the global financial crisis but we have had to contend with some horrific unforeseen and—I am sorry to take it into fiscal terms—terribly expensive episodes in the history of New Zealand. Yet despite all of that we have continued with our plan. We have improved the tax system to change incentives so that New Zealanders are encouraged and rewarded for getting ahead under their own steam. They are supported if they want to make a better future for their family. The incentives are set up to discourage them from continuing in the consumption-led debt orgy that they were in during the 9 years of the previous Government.  
National has ensured that the Government parts of our economy are more efficient. We view every tax dollar we spend as like spending our own money. We think New Zealanders would want us to be just as careful with their money as we would be with our own. That is why we are insisting that our public services deliver faster better and smarter outcomes for New Zealanders and why we are insisting that they prioritise the front-line services that New Zealanders expect when they go to the doctor go to school or phone the police. When they look to the core Government services they see it is the people on the front line who matter not people in the back office in Wellington. Those are the parts of the public sector that we are continuing to support in this Budget and through these supplementary estimates and that we are continuing to ask our Government sector to roll out and to improve all the time.  
We have continued to reduce our reliance on foreign lenders. We have cut red tape in order to help the business sector continue to grow and create the sorts of jobs we want. We are continuing to improve the education system so that as our young New Zealanders grow up and head into the workforce they have the skills and confidence to get ahead and create a great life for them and their families. More important they will do it here in New Zealand and feel that it is a good place to stay and prosper in. They will feel that this is a place where they can get ahead and where they can create a safe and prosperous future for their families. That is the vision of this Government. That is what we have been continuing to roll out over the past 2½ years and this Government is certainly now taking another step on the path towards that.  
One of the things I want to focus on that has been specific to the particular legislation in front of us and to the particular time period is the rebuilding of Canterbury. As I mentioned in my opening comments this series of events could not have been anticipated by anyone. It seems almost shameful to even talk about it in monetary terms but of course we must. We must look at the dollar cost of rebuilding Canterbury. It is a task that cannot properly be described in this House. I think most members of the House have probably had a chance to visit the province since 4 September and to see the extent of the devastation. I remind this House and anyone listening that that devastation is an ongoing saga for us all; it is not a fixed amount. I know that when we last talked to the Reserve Bank in the Finance and Expenditure Committee about the estimates and certainly in relation to the estimates in this Budget there was talk of a $15 billion to $20 billion rebuild cost. Some later estimates have suggested that even that figure was conservative. Those numbers and estimates were before the latest round of pretty terrifying earthquakes on Monday 13 June when we had a 5.7 magnitude quake rip through the region at around 1 o’clock in the afternoon followed by one of 6.3 magnitude at half-past 2 which was as big as the deadly February quake. Those shakes alone have caused another 94 buildings in the central business district to be scheduled for demolition. They have caused untold further damage in the suburbs. They have caused continuing heartbreak for the people in the eastern suburbs who have had to dig out their homes once more.  
This Budget sets up a fund of $5.5 billion for the rebuilding of Canterbury. This Government is making a tangible statement to the people of Canterbury that no matter what the economic conditions are we will back the rebuilding of that province. We will be behind Canterbury and we will stay with Canterbury for as long as it takes whatever it takes because Christchurch is our second-biggest city. It is the home of our world-beating Crusaders—well they certainly will be soon. It is a part of New Zealand that we are indelibly committed to. On top of that $5.5 billion is the extra $3.3 billion—that is billion dollars in case I am saying it too quickly—that will be pumped out from the Government through the Earthquake Commission ACC and the like. Of course the Government contribution to the rebuild is one small part of what will happen there. That sort of spending in Canterbury will help to lift GDP. That is good news for my region and is what I want to touch on. Our region—as devastated exhausted and stressed as it is right now and where at times people are at their wits’ end—can have confidence in the future because the spending of $20 billion or more in that region over the upcoming years will create an economic boom time for that region that is rightfully deserved.  
This Budget will put more money than ever before into health and education—more money than ever before. An extra $2.2 billion will go into health. The Government has made changes to the health system in these tough economic times that have seen an extra 20000 elective surgeries an extra 1000 nurses an extra 500 doctors and $54.5 million more going into maternity support services. The funding for maternity support services is something I am very very proud to talk about on the streets of Selwyn and in my communities. That support for the maternity services and for the well child checks is something I think we can be very proud of. We should remember that one of this Government’s first actions on taking office was to ensure that Herceptin would be funded and paid for by the Government for every New Zealand woman who needed it and that families would not have to watch their loved ones die of breast cancer through a lack of Herceptin funding. I will continue to be very proud of that.  
I will also talk briefly about water because water is very very important to the economy in Canterbury and particularly to the region of Selwyn. I for one am not an apologist for the fact that New Zealand should make the most of its natural advantages if we do so well and sustainably. The $35 million that the Government has set aside for the investigation of irrigation projects is to be commended but there is a rider that we have to do it well. That is why it is important that we have also set aside a further $15 million for the Fresh Start for Fresh Water Clean-up fund taking that fund to well over $260 million. That is going into the clean-up of fresh water.  
I am very excited about the future for Canterbury I am very excited by the fact that this National-led Government is standing behind it and we have a very very bright future ahead of us while we have the Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English in charge. He has taken this economy from the cot-case that it was when we inherited it in 2008 and has put it back on a projection where we have 4 percent growth forecast for next year and in fact that is conservative. The Reserve Bank— 
Hon Member 
: More bullish. 
AMY ADAMS 
:—is more bullish in its projections. The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research is equally bullish. These forecasts have been borne out time and time again by the leading forecasting agencies—170000 new jobs over 4 years. That is what that sort of growth means. It means 170000 new jobs because this Government has delivered a strong sustainable trustworthy programme of economic growth that will see us build a better future for all New Zealanders where there is more prosperity where there are safer communities and where people have the chance to get ahead here in New Zealand and do not have to head off overseas or be indebted to our offshore lenders. It is a Budget that I am very proud to support.