Kaye Nikki: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 28 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:271. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NIKKI KAYE (Minister for ACC):It is a privilege to be back in this House. I think that the election was a referendum on the general direction of this Government and what we saw was nearly 50 percent of New Zealanders backing the direction of this Government. The speech that we just heard is actually part of the reason why. We have a Prime Minister that our caucus backs. We have a united caucus. We have 14 talented new members. This side of the House has itself in order.The other side of the House is focused on ideological battles. What I heard when I was doorknocking in Auckland Central—and I am very pleased to be the member for Auckland Central for the third time—and I knocked on over 9500 doors were a number of things that people said to me. Firstly they acknowledged the work that we had done in terms of the economy. We came back from the largest hit to GDP of any developed nation in the world to have some outstanding economic figures and we have to acknowledge our economic team—in particular the Hon Bill English who has done an outstanding job in terms of the New Zealand economy.Here are some of the figures. The economy grew by 3.9 percent in the year to 30 June. Average wages are up by $2500 in the last 2 years. The figures are outstanding given what we have been through. As the Minister of Civil Defence I am personally very aware of the situation in Canterbury the level of destruction. From an economic and social perspective what our Government has invested is huge so it is significant to acknowledge the general economic direction that we are currently under.But I want to talk today about some of my priorities as a Minister. In particular I want to focus on my Associate Minister of Education role. It is very important to acknowledge as well the Hon Hekia Parata who is in the House today and the outstanding job that she is doing as the Minister of Education. What we constantly hear from the other side is that this side does not have a heart. I believe the reason we commanded nearly 50 percent of the vote of New Zealanders is that that is just blatant claptrap. Look at the results and what we have done for our most disadvantaged: 100000 houses insulated more money in terms of rheumatic fever prevention more young people in early childhood education more young Māori and Pacific students in early childhood education National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results up and NCEA results up for Māori and Pacific students.What the other side will tell you is that we do not care. The reason that we have people voting for us from many diverse communities over the country and the reason we have members of Parliament on this side of the House who came from pretty disadvantaged backgrounds is that they believe in our policies. They actually believe that it is wrong not to know where those children are who are not achieving. That is why we have national standards. They actually believe in the policy.As the Associate Minister of Education I am very proud that we have invested more than $700 million to enable young people to have access to fast reliable uncapped connections funded by the Government because at the heart of that policy is equity. I was really pleased to be in Te Aroha to have the 1000th connection for Network for Learning. I acknowledge the local MP Scott Simpson. What we can see happening in these schools is not just about today; it is actually about investing in New Zealand for a long period of time. Some of these children are involved in robotics and they even had a television and radio station.What we are offering as part of our Government’s investment is a real investment for the future. That includes not just ultra-fast broadband but also our School Network Upgrade Programme. It is an investment in the managed network but it is an investment in wireless technology. We also fund laptops for teachers and we fund professional development in this area. That is a significant achievement of this Government and it shows that those issues of equity are our priority. I am very proud to be the Associate Minister working alongside the Hon Hekia Parata to deliver for some of our most disadvantaged students.As the Minister for ACC again what it is about is results. When I was on the doorstep people were really clear. They could see real policies from National and also real results compared with some of the ideological battles that are still being fought in the Labour Party. We were handed a very difficult situation in terms of ACC. At a fiscal level I was very proud to announce in the last week as well that the surplus is at $2.1 billion. That is $300 million more than what was expected. What we have committed to as a Government is that there will be $480 million in levy reductions going back to households and families in New Zealand. The reason that we have been able to do that is we have taken some very hard decisions and we have ensured that there is fiscal responsibility here.I do want to acknowledge that there is a long way to go in terms of the corporation. It is an organisation in transition and it has a number of plans to deal with the issues in terms of privacy. But as long as I am the Minister I will be focused on ensuring that we treat some of our most disadvantaged and vulnerable better through the system whether it is through working on that claims process or whether it is through some of the issues in terms of entitlement. But at a fiscal level the corporation and the Government can be very proud of where we have taken that organisation in the last few years.As the Minister of Civil Defence as I said before we have been incredibly focused on ensuring that we are better prepared as a nation for an event like the Canterbury earthquakes. What does that mean? It means ensuring that we are better equipping our local authorities to deal with some of the smaller events that occur. As the Minister of Civil Defence in the last term I was there up in Northland helping out with the Northland floods but we also had the Wellington earthquakes. We are the Shaky Isles. We have many threats to this nation and I think it is pleasing that we are doing things around young people getting them involved in emergency services.We are reviewing our National Civil Defence and Emergency Management Plan. We have shifted the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management into the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. That is a really important move because it is saying that not only can we ensure that all of Government is better prepared but also we have a greater focus and greater sense of preparedness at the highest levels in terms of New Zealand.I do also want to acknowledge that in the area of civil defence we are seen as world leading and I am very proud that Minister McCully and I signed a new partnership agreement that is about helping some of our Pacific neighbours. We have been helping countries like Samoa with their siren warning systems. I want to acknowledge at this point the Hon Murray McCully because I think it is an extraordinary achievement. We know that members like David Shearer have been involved in that Security Council campaign but it is a huge achievement for a small nation to win that seat at the table. I think in part it is because we have programmes in areas like civil defence where we play our part we are there on the ground actually helping deliver real systems that may one day save lives in countries like Samoa.I am also the Minister for Youth and I do say to people—and I am sure I will fight with many of my ministerial colleagues on this—that I do believe that I have one of the greatest jobs in New Zealand. I get paid to go and meet a whole lot of amazing young New Zealanders. I often say that you will not always see on the front page of the paper the stories of some of the young people who are doing amazing things. But I can tell you that we have young people in New Zealand who through our school system are developing new apps around processing blood samples quicker developing things for conservation and doing some extraordinary things in New Zealand. In part it is because of the investment that we make in areas like information and communications technology and it is because of the amazing teachers we have in our classrooms.But there is still more to do. One of the areas that I am passionate about is the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project. I think it is significant that our Prime Minister has chosen to lead that area. We still do have too many young people dying and taking their own lives. Part of that is about issues like bullying. Part of that is about mental health issues. There are a number of initiatives and over $60 million being invested in that Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project. It is a really important project.I do want to put on record that as the Minister for Youth Affairs I am looking at some new priorities. One of them is around the prevention of sexual violence. In particular in my ACC portfolio I can see there is a huge amount to do in that area but I also think there is a huge amount more that we can do in terms of young people with disabilities and I look forward to working on those areas.It is a privilege to be in this caucus. It is a privilege to be the member for Auckland Central and a member of John Key’s Cabinet. I do think this is the best that I have seen our party. We have a leader we have a united caucus and we also have a number of really really good policies and I want to leave you with a couple of them that are pretty dear to my heart. I want to acknowledge the Hon Hekia Parata. One of the policies that we have campaigned on but that really has not got a lot of media attention is very important to me personally and also in my capacity as Associate Minister of Education. That policy is the 800000 hours that we have committed to in order to help some of our students in special education. My little sister has severe autism. I have met with many parents across New Zealand and I know that is an area we want to do more in. I think the fact that the Hon Hekia Parata secured that as part of our election policy is a tribute to her and her leadership but it is also going to be very important to help some of those students who need further support so thank you very much.