Green Party. Finding the right balance between sound
environmental protection. Regional
protection. Regional economic development,
development, putting a billion dollars a year to grow and support
the populations that are driving the
economy of this Government. They
are a sad, sad case
blues and the longer they stay there the better. The honourable member's
has expired. The Hon Maggie Barry.
You may remember the song Another
Day Older And Deeper Debt. We've
gone deeper into debt. We left them
awash with tax. What have
gone deeper into debt. We left them
They've taxed and spent and borrowed. This is typical
Labour core values. When we look at
roll call for dubious achievements, it
makes for fearful reading. Is it the
rise fuel
makes for fearful reading. Is it the
through policies driving up the cost of living for
hardsworking Kiwi families. These things are bad
enough but let's be fair to the
Government for just a moment. There
have been a number of
dramatic increasing under their watch. Thest
rents are higher, there has been a 9,000 increase in the number
of people on benefits. Aren't
these remarkable
people on benefits. Aren't these
grave dependsy, keep them on the benefit, take away their mana
and their
benefit, take away their mana and
voting for you. I think that was the old logic used to be become in the
day and it doesn't seem to have
changed the remain of
this Government. Working groups
up though, 185 to date. 185. At around a million dollars each,
around
around a million dollars each, better spent on making life better
for New Zealanders, creating work,
making jobs, making the economy
more stable. But instead of
that, they continue on to spend. I guess
that when you look at the number of
people on strike, that is another
thing that's really biting hard. So
in Auckland there
was chaos yesterday and in Hamilton. Tomorrow
is Wellington's turn. So
the bus drivers are out on strike. The
transport unions are
having a lovely old time of it. Again, harking back
to the day when there were rage
rows. In the
to the day when there were rage
presenter on Morning Report Jeff Robertson is and I
would toss the coin to see who was the
lucky round to get the wage
union strife interview for that day. The cycle
is repeating itself. The
same old
for the government. With Iain
they're happy people are going on strike. So there
is a growing momentum
momentum around all of this. Apparently, we New
Zealanders just need the get used to
it. The reality is that more people are going
on strikes this year than at any
time other time in the last 30 years.
You have to go back to 1989 to
find a bumper selection of strikes like the
ones we have
been experiencing. So the unions are clearly running
the show over there. It's
payback time and they're gearing up for a
bumper year next year. We
are spoilt for choice, but which one of the
very many taxes and the very many
increases that this
Government has brought in should we
highlight the
the North shore has it to be the few tax. We've seen petrol prices
for the past year. In most parts of the country it has gone up 10c a
litre, has petrol. In
Auckland, that's 20c a litre and climbing.
People come into my
Takapuna electorate office and say how are we
going to keep
vehicles on the road. You could ask them to do a catch bus
but, oh, dear, the buses are on
strike. No use for that. And
the poor seniors who can't
afford to fill their tanks to visit families
on the weekend. I was in Taranaki
in New Plymouth On on
on the weekend. I was in Taranaki in
New Plymouth on Monday and they were absolutely astonished. We no from
our OIAs there was no advice on this
oil and gas ban. Who knows about the
motivation. They just
went and did it. All I know is the
reality of what's happening in the regions
and what people are saying to us. All
of our National MPs are hearing the
do business and keep their local and regional and community
economies working. It is just too
hard under this Government. When we look at
job creation, which we did very well
at, up to 10,000 a month, it is now down
to 4,000 and decreasing. These are
dark days for New
Zealand. One year on we're deeper in debt, more
derespondent than ever
despondent than ever and there needs to be hope. That side
of the House is not giving it to
anybody... The member's time has expired.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. What a grim speech
to follow. It is
completely in contrast to the mood last year
when many got together to celebrate our
one year in Government because it's
been a stunning
year absolutely full of brilliant achievements...
Order! Someone asked me to reflect back as a new MP on what
surprised me the most in our first year
of government. The key thing was,
one, escaping Groundhog Day
government. The key thing was, one,
how quickly a Government can move on things they describe as important. I
got into Parliament because I
was interested in addressing the issues
around child poverty. We were seeing
high child porter
around child poverty. We were seeing
child poverty rates, thousands of kids going into hospital
with
global financial crisis hit in 2008, we
global financial crisis hit in 2008, we were thinking we would
have huge rises in unemployment and we setup
the child wellbeing monitor. What
came to pass is something a
bit like Groundhog
came to pass is something a bit like
would update that monitor and every year, the findings would
be exactly the same. So we had high
child poverty rates. We had thousands of
sick kids coming into hospital
for
of child health advocates we got together and advocated
for exactly the same three things. We wanted
measures to improve
family incomes, we wanted to improve cold,
cracking housing and we wanted better access
for child health care. Every
year we would say those three things
and every year there would be a
huge public outcry. But every year once
the media
public outcry. But every year once the media coverage abated,
the same old same old continued. Nothing
changed. What surprised me
as how quickly the new Government
acted on measures to address child
poverty. We got into Government in
October and by Christmas, sitting in the
House, we passed that
legislation in the families package. That
House, we passed that legislation in
a week into the pockets of families of newborn babies. That
extended right out into the third year for
families of benefits we gave them this winter energy
payment so they could turn the heater on
and kids in winter would be warm and not
get respiratory infections. Extended
paid parental leave so parents could
stay home and care
for their kids that little bit longer. For
me, it was quite an emotional moment. I
remember sitting
remember sitting over there after the families package passed
and thinking about the all the stuff we
had been
thinking about the all the stuff we
had been advocating for over the past 10 years and realising
how simple it was. It had passed.
simple it was. It had passed. Sitting in the
Parliament listens to debates about
Sitting in the Parliament listens to
debates about child poverty, within 100 days we said we would
monitor child poverty and we will
make sure strategies and plans are in
place to address it. For me,
thinking through, as an advocate it seems to
hard and we fought, so many of us,
for so long, yet coming in,
when a new Government made up its mind
to do those things to move on
those things, it was so simple. The
problem is that I
actually also live in a community I'm also
very aware that some things are
easy to legislate for but others will
take time. Down our way we 'sold off
so many of our state houses it
will take time to rebuild them. We
have this huge shortage in emergency and
social housing. It will
take harm to rebuild.
Many of our families have been living on low incomes for many,
many years. Their reserves
are gone. They're in debt. As those
incomes rise it will take time for those
back up. We've put massive investment into health and
education but it will take time to filter
through so those workforce
pressures will ease. But I'm proud
of this Government and for our first year
and what we've achieved. Thank you.
Matt Doocey. That last speaker
typifies this Government. It's
all about slogans. Yes, talking
about child poverty. Talking about
it doesn't address it. How
child poverty. Talking about it doesn't address it. How about
the 9,000 extra people who are
on a