Goodhew Jo: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goodhew Jo: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 07 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:102. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon JO GOODHEW (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector) 
: 
 I begin my address this afternoon by saying that I am heartened to hear some words from the other side of the House that in fact are words that—[ 
Interruption 
] There are some common ideas here about protecting the vulnerable—that is what we did during the recession—and in fact about improving the ability of those who are vulnerable to actually get a good education. That is what this Government is actually doing. An export-led recovery—we heard that several times. It is just that here in this Parliament this Government is delivering it in a totally different style from the style that was under the Clark Government where I believe that member was a Minister. So on 26 November the people of New Zealand spoke and as in all elections the mood of the day in the months leading up to the election was reflected in the vote. The people of New Zealand voted an increased percentage for this the National Government led by John Key. You know in elections in times gone by it was most unusual for a second-term Government to have an increased percentage of the vote—most unusual indeed. But that in fact is what the people of New Zealand delivered on election day last year. I would like to spend a bit of time rehearsing why I think that happened.  
As a nation we have had a pretty tough time of it. In fact you know the vulnerable of this nation have had the toughest time of it. Unfortunately New Zealand actually beat the gun into recession and that was again because of the policies of the Clark Government. So having settled into the realms of recession with job losses occurring and youth unemployment getting higher and higher and given the fact that the tradable sector had not actually started to shrink since the recession but had started that very early back in 2004 I believe way before the recession the State sector had been allowed—no not allowed perhaps; nay encouraged—to gobble through the healthy surpluses as if there was no tomorrow. But then of course hang on there was no tomorrow for the Clark Government come November 2008. So we added to that toxic mix of tax and spend devastating earthquakes and a raft of other challenges. New Zealand was facing down the barrel of many gloomy tomorrows.  
But John Key his Ministers and MPs were up to the challenge. Really was there a choice? They had to step up to the mark and they did. So after years of tax and spend this Government certainly set out knowing that was not the way to a brighter future in New Zealand. We had the sobering responsibility of managing the economy and the country through tough times protecting those who were the most vulnerable and all the while there were additional vulnerable people being added to that group. That is what happens in a recession. The trust and the goodwill that the public of New Zealand conferred upon us on election day—26 November—was in fact a solemn challenge. Our status as a First World nation has come under threat from the policies of old the policies of the last Government under Clark. Now in order to further protect vulnerable New Zealanders we have to challenge the policy settings. We have to change those policy settings to enduring and sustainable policies so in fact we lessen our vulnerability. Strong continued and stable Government is the way forward but the stability has to be with a purpose—the purpose to grow our economy so we all have a brighter future.  
The plan is a comprehensive one and that action plan was announced in policy prior to the election. It is not a one-liner. It is not about tax and spend; it is about a brighter future. There is a fair heap of work in there that needs to be done. But it is worth working hard for; it is worth striving for. We have four priorities and those priorities lay down the challenges that we must achieve to have a brighter future.  
The finance Minister spoke in the House today about New Zealand earning an income not borrowing it. There has never been a truer word spoken. New Zealand families who are making ends meet at this part of the year when it is so tough for families in the post-Christmas and getting-into-school time are making ends meet with their finances so they are very pleased to hear that our No. 1 priority is to responsibly manage the Government’s finances. You see as I often reassure my constituents it is not the Government’s money. That is the way the Clark Government treated it but it is not the Government’s money. It is taxpayers’ money. They worked hard to earn it and they want us to make very good use of it. Our second priority is about building a more productive and competitive economy and that is a pathway to a brighter future. The third priority is about examining public services under this tight fiscal setting and making our public services better. Lastly and one that resonates very much with me and with the other Canterbury MPs is our priority to rebuild our second-largest city Christchurch. I will say something I have said in speeches over the last year or so: you know I just do not think the majority of New Zealanders even knew it was our second-largest city until we started describing it as that as we identified the magnitude of the task ahead. So I am heartened that the rebuild is amongst the top four. As Canterbury MPs we respect the work that has already been done by the Government. We are very very pleased that there is money in the bank for that rebuild.  
New Zealand’s future economic stability is going to be best served by our being returned to surplus by 2014-15 but it needs a firm and steady hand on the tiller to achieve that. Well there are lots of analogies around the place about making the boat go faster and I would like to remind the House of the spectre of a combination of the parties opposite steering our boat  
“New Zealand” 
. With their combined policies I believe we were looking at a potential  
Costa Concordia 
. Being fiscally responsible is not just about balancing the Government’s books; the flow-on to the people of New Zealand will also mean it will be keeping pressure off interest rates which is the single-biggest cost to our households. We need to reverse as a nation the downward spiral that the Clark Government thrust New Zealand into when the tradable sector was not growing. New Zealand was always going to be living beyond its means and its productive capacity under settings such as that. We want to see an export-focused economy built on a solid base of innovation selling more of what the world wants at a competitive price. That is actually quite a big ask; that is quite a comprehensive goal to be setting.  
Our economic action plan will follow through on the progress we have actually made in the last 3 years. We have prioritised better public services and we have made some good progress already. We have found the phantom trainees in the industry training organisation sector; we have actually found them and we know that money was going to waste. We are reforming Government purchasing of supplies such as vehicles and information technology hardware and you know the first four joint procurement projects alone are expected to save around $115 million over the next 5 years. There are many more examples. The programme of action is comprehensive. Now we are also looking at the State sector right across it at how it is organised. We need to streamline and improve the way it works for New Zealand’s sake.  
Lastly I want to touch again on that fourth priority of rebuilding Christchurch. We are getting on with the challenge. It is a monstrously big challenge. Much of the demolition has taken place and I want to pay tribute to the former Timaru District Council chief executive Warwick Isaacs who is handling some of the overseeing of the demolition projects. Empty spaces create opportunities for rebuilding. There will be grief and there will be loss at what those empty spaces mean—the memories. But Christchurch deserves a Government that is purposefully going to commit to rebuilding it. The people of Canterbury deserve that. We have put in 4500 places for construction-related training in Canterbury and around the country and we have also put a temporary 17000-seat stadium in there for the Cantabrians who love sport. It is a bit like saying “Is the Pope Catholic?”—of course they love sport down in Canterbury. So it is very much one of our high priorities: $5.5 billion committed to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Fund. That is this Government’s share of that money—that is this Government’s share of rebuilding local infrastructure—and to repair Crown-owned assets.  
We have a big challenge ahead of us as a Government. Those four priorities say it all. They are part of a wider economic development plan that will build a stronger economy for New Zealand. It is a big challenge but this Government is up to it.