Barnett Tim: Budget Debate 
Barnett Tim: Budget Debate 
[Volume:608;Page:5934] 
TIM BARNETT (NZ Labour—Christchurch Central) 
: 
 They say home is where the heart is and after such a watertight and progressive Budget I for one have been happy to return home to Christchurch Central to measure the Budget’s impact on the ground. Of course as many of my colleagues have observed this is an early Budget in what will be a long series. A measured approach is a virtue when it is driven by a coherent strategy and that is at the heart of this document. Saving for the future through the Superannuation Fund flagging major new spending from 2004 onwards to help low and middle-income families and focusing on growth innovation and education are classic investments for our future success as a nation as is driving down the gross debt as a percentage of gross domestic product. That is now at the lowest level since Treasury started collecting data in 1971. 
But what does all that mean to a person sipping a long black outside Le Cafe in the Arts Centre of Christchurch—which is the Christchurch Central equivalent of the archetypal man on the Clapham omnibus? Well I have drawn out 10 themes in this Budget that will bring particular pleasure to my electorate but first let me set the scene. Like any inner city electorate Christchurch Central is one of extremes. It contains the most expensive real estate and the poorest neighbourhoods in the South Island only three blocks apart from each other. It is increasingly multiracial. It is young. It contains more single-person dwellings than virtually any other electorate. My office caseload is dominated by work and income housing and immigration issues. 
For me theme one in the Budget is a growing recognition that investment in State education is an effective way to lessen some of the inequities in our society. There has been real growth in early childhood education with at least 15 new teachers being employed in my electorate and themoney for new buildings for Christchurch Central schools has grown by 25 percent to the equivalent of $7 million over the next year. On the visits that I make to local schools in my electorate an incessant theme is the need for more support for those young people who are failing in traditional education and for extra-curricular activity.The Budget includes spending for the vital Social Workers in Schools programme which started in Christchurch and also $11 million for additional sports coordinators in secondary schools. 
Theme two in the Budget is health. We all know that even to sustain current health standards will eat up an ever-greater percentage of Government spending worldwide. It is right and necessary that health spending has grown by 9 percent in this Budget but we are going further than that. The development of the primary health strategy has been fast efficient and inspirational to health providers on the ground. In its development it has drawn much from Pegasus Medical Group the primary health-care provider that includes nine out of 10 general practitioners in my area. Over the years I have written countless letters advocating funding for such agencies as the 198 Youth Health Centre which was the nation’s first dedicated health centre for young people and the Christchurch Union and Community Health Centre. Now that they are part of the city’s first primary health organisation such vital places will receive adequate reward for those years of struggle. In growing primary health we are realising a dream. We will be remembered for that in the years to come. 
The third theme is justice and I am happy to take as my text in this area the 1999 referendum on law and order which I opposed but which 85 percent of the people in my electorate supported. That vote showed that people wanted tough but tender justice policies: longer sentences for the very worst offenders but home detention for those who offer minimal threat more support for victims the expansion of restorative justice and accessible and affordable legal advice. This Budget develops all those themes. The money is there for the cost of those longer sentences. There is also $2 million more for victim support real growth in tenancy services and 4 years’ funding to cut the unacceptable waiting lists for the services of the Privacy Commissioner. I am also delighted that in the last year funds were freed to secure the future of community law centres which National is on record as wanting to close—even though they cost the taxpayer nothing. 
The fourth theme is the spending on social development. I am delighted about both the immediate interventions in the Budget such as $59 million to increase the childcare subsidies and to raise the income tax thresholds for family support and the child tax credit. There is also extra investment to help migrants to become work-ready and there is the promise of more fundamental changes in our welfare system to come. The benefit system which has been built piecemeal over many years has to be substantially reformed if money is to be used to best effect and if people are to able to access what they need and are entitled to. 
The fifth theme is housing. Christchurch has comparatively fewer State houses and more private rental housing than the average New Zealand community. It also has the country’s biggest local body housing stock which is expanding further under our enlightened city council. On the basis of the dollars and cents for housing in this Budget I look forward to an improvement in the growth of the city’s State housing stock and also to expanded partnership arrangements between the council and the Government. There is $63 million in the Budget for that partnership work nationwide. 
The sixth theme is economic development. Labour and the Progressives are steadily growing the spending in this area which mainly means grants training and advice to companies and entrepreneurs on the ground. That spending has increased from virtually zero when we were elected in 1999 to $192 million in 2003-04—with a 43 per cent increase just in the last year. Thanks to an interventionist local body Christchurch has had a long history of active support for innovation. The Canterbury Development Corporation has risen to the challenge of the new era and has an excellent cooperative relationship with Industry New Zealand in the city. The range of clusters it is addressing includes information technology and fashion and it is also leading the nation in the development of business incubators. 
The seventh theme is community. Christchurch contains over 3000 voluntary organisations that face common challenges including compliance costs management performance addressing the growing diversity of our society and the recruitment and retention of volunteers. One of the Government’s quieter success stories of the past 3 years has been in building its relationship with that voluntary sector in growing our understanding of those problems and also in improving our ability to solve them. It has been a triumph for consultation for partnership and for the development of whole-of-Government approaches. The Budget includes funds to establish an office for the community and voluntary sector in the Ministry of Social Development and continued support for volunteering including volunteer centres. More than in any other area of Government that is value-added work. 
The eighth theme is local government—an example of an area where the Government spends comparatively very little. It has also been one of the seminal issues of the past 12 months. The Local Government Act was a resounding answer to years of complaints from local bodies. It is visionary it is of constitutional importance and it marks a significant shift of power in our society towards the people. That Act was inspired in so many ways by the leadership role played by the Labour-influenced Christchurch City Council over the years. 
Theme nine is the arts. My electorate contains the Southern Hemisphere’s leading cultural precinct. Its shimmering jewel is our brand new art gallery its heart is our arts centre and its future is our museum which is soon to undergo major renovation. Over the last year the Government has invested in all those projects. 
For me theme ten is actually conscience matters which are currently dominating many MPs’ mailbags. Most of them are of minor influence on the Government’s Budget yet they are especially important matters in inner city areas. The next year will see decisions on prostitution law reform on whether to pursue the debate on euthanasia and on expanding the smoke-free law. Parliament should be looking at plans for civil union law and our Health Committee will be reporting on cannabis law. That is an unprecedented clumping of conscience matters and I guess it shows that this Parliament is properly focused on issues of human as well as of financial concern.