will be two irrigation schemes looking very closely at that, the
Flaxbourne irrigation
Flaxbourne irrigation scheme and another water project. So with that
I commend this fantastic
bill to the House.
I commend this fantastic bill to the
you, Mr Speaker. I listened very, very carefully to the contribution
made by Jono Naylor, and what
I was listening for was one
made by Jono Naylor, and what I was
statement about how this National Party Budget was going to make life
better for
better for people in Palmerston North. Just
North. Just one would have been good. And I didn't hear a thing.
He had five minutes, and he didn't
say one thing about how
this Budget is going to make life better for
people in Palmerston North. And that
surprised me. That
surprised me, because I want
to say, Jono Naylor because
because I want to say, Jono Naylor has always been a strong
advocate for people in
Palmerston North and of the four candidates that the
National Party has put up against
me in Palmerston North, Jono
Naylor was
strongest one that they've put up against me. But surprisingly he is
not standing at this election
against me. But surprisingly he is
I think I know why. It's because what Jono discovered is,
despited fact he is a loud and proud advocate
for Palmerston North, despite the
fact that as a former mayor he knows
the community better than any of
the other candidates that the National
Party have
Party have thrown at parliamenterston north,
parliamenterston north, he discovered that being in the
National Party, even
when they are in Government, isn't a place to get
progress for Palmerston North
and that's why there wasn't one thing in
Jono Naylor's contribution about
what this Budget is going to do
for Palmerston North. So let's look
at the challenges that Palmerston
North faces right now. We have a housing
crisis in Palmerston North. I know
that everybody focuses on
the housing crisis
housing crisis in Auckland, but just like many other
provincial centres around the country, we have our own
housing crisis. OK, housing
has always been
always been affordable in Palmerston North, it has been one of
our strengths, but house
prices are growing faster now than they are
in Auckland. House prices are growing
faster in Palmerston North
than they are in Auckland. It takes more
of the household Budget now
than it has ever before to service a mortgage or
pay the rent in Palmerston North.
We have nearly 200
families who are in need of a state house. That
means they are
they are in urgent and desperate need. It is almost impossible to
get on the waiting list for a
state house these days, and yet in a city
of 87,000 people, we have
nearly 200 families who urgently need a
state house. So where was the statement in
this budget about how this
Government was going to
build the houses that we need in Palmerston
Palmerston North, because this National Government has torn down
houses in
National Government has torn down
hasn't built them, it has torn them down, and what's worse is it has
left that land empty for year after
year after year after year. The
very least they could have done was
sold it off to a private developer who
would build houses. I would not have
been happy with that,
but it would have been an awful lot better than
leaving a Government asset
completely unutilised at a time when
we desperately and urgently need
houses. Where was the statement
in this budget that
the Government would build houses on land which
the Government already owns,
which had houses on it before, which is
zoned appropriately, which is ready
There was nothing. Nothing, because there is no vision, no hope,
in this Budget for people who
need an affordable home to rent or to buy.
What
affordable home to rent or to buy.
the accommodation supplement. Now, that might sound good. I understand,
if you're on incredibly
because, let's face it, this Government has done
everything they can to stifle wage
growth in New Zealand. If you are on low
wages, getting a boost to
the accommodation supplement might sound
quite good. But this is the
fuel demand. And, at the same time, this Government is doing nothing to
address supply. And I ask the
economic geniuses on the other
side of the House, what happens when you
fuel demand but you
National Party tell me what happens when there isn't enough supply and
you. Prices go up. Everybody on this side of the House knows it. It's
economics 101 and yet the
economic geniuses over there can't
even answer that question. Prices
go up. So the National Party is pouring
fuel on the fire and
who gets
trying to pay their rent or trying to put enough aside to afford their
own home. The
accommodation supplement will simply drive prices
up. People won't have any
more money in their back pocket
it will be money in, money out. And who
it will be money in, money out. And
tenants. In Palmerston North, we have a mental health
crisis. It has been going on for a number of
years. I'm sad to say, and this isn't news
but I'm sad to say,
that there have been suicides in the mental health
ward at the hospital, we have
yesterday, there was an article about how it's taking teenagers
eight weeks to access the mental
health services that they need
have a problem with our mental health services in Palmerston North.
Where was the initiative
to address that in this
Where was the initiative to address
that the health Budget is missing
is that every single year this National Government has been
in power, they have failed to
give health enough money to address
population growth and inflation.
So in real terms, every
single year, the health system has had
less and less money to do what
it needs to do to provide the treatment and support
that New Zealanders need. That's
what we mean when we say it's
billion short, and this year was deja vu all over again, because
once again, the National Party has not
put enough money into health to deal
with population growth
or inflation. That means, in real terms,
the health system has less. The
education system
health system has less. The
Palmerston North as it is everywhere else in the country. Our
schools are bursting at the seams because of
population growth. Yet,
does this Government provide
Government provide enough money to deal
Government provide enough money to
paying more in donations than they ever have before. I can say
as a parent of three children
at school, it seems like every single week
we get another bill in the emails for
more money, just
to provide what ought to be the
basics for every child at every school. Now,
my family can afford that, but for so
many families that
demand to pay more and more money, week after week
after week, out of the household
Budget just so their kids can get a
basic education, that is too much.
And the
And the pittance that this Government
And the pittance that this
people and tax cuts will be blown away by the additional costs for
indication and for health. In
Palmerston North, we are facing
a spate of burglaries in dairies, like
many other parts of the country. We
have had our community police
station in Roslin close. We
think it's very likely
that the communities police
communities police station in Highbury is on the chopping block,
as well. And as the
police are withdrawing from good,
as well. And as the police are
community policing, where they're embedded in their
community, where they know who
embedded in their community, where
are, they know the families, they know how to prevent crime as
well as respond to it
quickly, this National Party is making it harder and
harder and harder for the police
to do their job and what do you
and harder for the police to do
Crime rates are going up as a result.
result.
Dairy owners in my city are living in fear for themselves and for
their families because this
National Party is failing
is failing to provide the resources we need to keep our city
and our community safe.
we need to keep our city and our community safe. The National
Party have made a lot about how this
Budget is going to make
ordinary Kiwi families better off. They
say on average people are going to
get
truth is the people at the top, the people like Simon Bridges, like
Jono Naylor, like Jacqui Dean,
like myself, we get the bulk of the
tax cuts. So I will be able to use
my enormous tax cut to pay
those school fees and the camp fees and
to be able to pay
for the additional health costs that come along, to pay
for the scans and what have you that
my family need from
time to time, we will be able to pay for
all of that. But those families at the bottom,
who already have the least,
who already struggle with all
of those costs, are not getting enough out
of this Budget to cover
the additional costs that they will face because
of this Government's failure
to invest in public services. So do not
do not have the wool pulled over your eyes. That's what I say
to everybody in New Zealand. Do not
have the wool pulled over your eyes
by this National Government. They
give with one hand and
they snatch away with the other hand and the
true is,
away with the other hand and the
back pockets will be emptier as a result of this Budget. And that's
the shame of
result of this Budget. And that's
of it, that they stand up in this House and claim to be putting
money in the pockets of
working people, when the truth is they are making
life more and more
unaffordable and people will be worse off as
a result. It's
result. It's time for a fresh approach
result. It's time for a fresh
Labour Government can offer. The Honourable Anne Tolley. I
move that this debate be now adjourned. The
question is that the motion be
agreed to. Those of that
opinion will say Aye. To the
contrary, No. The Ayes have it. This debate
is adjourned, and
adjourned, and set down for resumption next sitting day. I call
on Government Order of the Day
No. 2. Outer
on Government Order of the Day No.
Activities Bill, second reading.
The Honourable Simon Bridges. I move that the
that the Outer Space and
read a second time. The bill establishes a new law to govern
space activities conducted from New
Zealand,