do absolutely nothing for people in Bay of Plenty or Hawks Bray or
any other rural province you care to
look at. The Hon Hekia Parata. This
afternoon's debate, in terms
of the speakers that have spoken so far
really manifest the
difference between those of us here on the
government benches and those in
opposition. The anger the pessimism
that is just coming off
in waves from the opposition is not what
New Zealanders are interested in. They
do want people who are ambitious and
aspirational, positive and
optimistic, construction and
productive on their behalf and who
are focused all the time on refresh
and refresh. Mr Speaker, this
government, because, you know, the
member keeps asking why am I
cenicure because I can't get another job. I have been privileged to be
the Minister of Education and I am
working right up until the
time I will stand down. I stand down in
a time of my choosing. I do so on
behalf of a government with a strong
Caucasus, full of
potential, any one of which can willingly and ably fill
the footsteps of someone such as
myself, but Mr Speaker,
I want tyke the opportunity of
this general debate to talk about this small,
smart sassy nation of New
Zealand. This government absolutely believes
in the possibilities of our country
and has invested in those being
realised. In terms of the
economy, we know for the past eight years
that this government year on
year has built the strength in this
economy that realises the
expectation of New Zealanders that
backs small business people
to be successful, that backs employers
to employ more people, that sees
New Zealanders keeping more of their
that those that they entrust to us as a government in tax is going to
be spent as prudently
as possible. It is in the interests of
this fabulous nation that all of
us work, Mr Speaker. The previous speaker
on this side
Mr Speaker. The previous speaker on this side of the House,
ToddMcClay as Minister of Trade supported
the PM in Trade 2030,
our agenda, which is all about how do we continue to
to trade in order to be able to ard the
to trade in order to be able to ard
for ourselves. We have to have relationships with export
markets
successfully, we need to make sure that we have New
Zealanders capable of
that we have New Zealanders capable all
of understanding the particular interests of those countries. We are
outward looking, unlike
the opposition who are very inward
looking, very downward looking. We
have our eyes raised to the
horizon and beyond and we know the potential
and, as Minister of Education,
I completely understand that a great
education is the cornerstone of
young people being able to realise
their owns a pir rations and
their own dreams. That is why we have
been prepared to be publicly
accountable. As we have said, we want
all
qualification. It is why we put in place vocational pathways
so our young people can be participants in
the opposition leader celebrates in the increase in Pasifika students
having more qualifications than
ever before. It is a pity that the
member doesn't celebrate the number
of Maori who are doing better than they
ever have before because the
member instead wants to wrings his hands
and take character attacks on
ministers who work extremely hard to
support communities, whether in
terms of law and order,
their safety and security, therethe
increase in placing, whether there the
expansion of UFC to make sure
we are a connected country, whether in terms
of the freshness of our
water, the backing of our
primary resource base, this government understands
that it is not a
binary proposition of either we have farming or
we have clean water. We are devoted to both.
But we completely
understand that it is the skills and qualificationings
is the skills and qualificationings
of young New Zealanders
that will secure our future and that is why,
as Minister of Education, with the
complete backing of
this ambitious government, with have invested
in every young person
being as successful as they possibly can.
That is why the provisional
results for 2016
That is why the provisional results
because we will give you a chance to be
because we will give you a chance to
qualification. So the opposition can go on and on about what
is wrong, what they wouldn't do. We
are all about what we will do, what we
have done and what we will continue to
promise this country!
I
I call James Sure. Mr Speaker, we need to talk about the
weather because so far in 2017 it has
been wild. Last week, Cyclone Debbie tore
through the North Island
and today another cyclone is tearing
down upon us. Mr Speaker, there always have