GEORGINA BEYER (Labour-Wairarapa): It is a privilege to stand in this new year of 2003 to speak to the Prime Minister’s statement, which was delivered yesterday. To begin with, I wish all members of the House a very happy New Year, and a profitable one as far as work is concerned. Welcome back everybody!
The Prime Minister’s statement was clear and concise, and can leave the country feeling confident that the hand is very solidly on the tiller, and that we are guiding this country in the right direction in almost all the most important areas that we can think of. There will always be debate in this House over issues on which others might disagree. The achievements this Government has implemented to date are many and varied, and have to be seen against the background of 9 long years of a National-led Government. In one way or another, it was a difficult period, and it takes time to repair the significant damage that was caused during that time. So as much as we would like to be as speedy as possible in implementing what a majority in this country sees as good, stable government and leadership, perhaps others might want to think about any urgency that Dr Cullen might require in the near future to progress the legislative programme that was endorsed by the results of the last election—resoundingly and deafeningly so, I would say.
I understand that quite a number of United Future, New Zealand First, and Green Party members have decided that the Wairarapa is a wonderful place to visit. I thank them for going and sharing some time in that wonderful part of the world. They are welcome to come back again, and just disappear for election year! As they travelled through my electorate of Wairarapa, I hope they noticed that there is a certain vibrancy about the place that has encouraged me to progress what the community in general wants. The Wairarapa electorate is geographically large and quite diverse, but let us consider the lower part of it from Masterton south, including Featherston and the Palliser Bay coastal areas, and, of course, Martinborough, which many members will be familiar with. There has been an increase in tourism, and in what is available in arts, culture and heritage. Those areas are buoyant. Building consents are certainly up, property sales are up, and unemployment in some areas is down quite significantly. In Masterton, for example, unemployment has reduced from 1,347 to 1,125 in the most recently reported period. That is positive for us. We have had a Business and Economic Research Ltd report, which, together with local mayors and Go Wairarapa—the economic strategy organisation we have in the Wairarapa—is forecasting that we can look forward to some really positive economic growth. Yes, it has been the result of some good rural returns, and rightly so. To put it diplomatically, after a period of great discomfort—extending particularly from the 1980s through the 1990s—the recovery is coming.
We do have areas of concern, which I am pleased this Government is addressing. Most recently, members will have noticed that the Wellington-based Labour MPs, including United Future’s leader Peter Dunne, have met the mayors of the Wellington region—including the Wairarapa mayors—and Wellington Regional Council representatives. That meeting was to help us all sing from the same songbook regarding transport issues, in particular, but we also noted that there are much wider issues involving the whole region on which we should be communicating. This response between local and central government in the Wellington region is similar to what occurs in Auckland. Transport and Tranz Rail issues have been most topical in recent times, and I am glad to say that we will address those issues.
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.
GEORGINA BEYER: I have mentioned a few of the good things that have happened in Wairarapa, and certainly since 1999, when the Labour Government came into office. But I am pleased to inform the House that there is more that has helped to enhance positive progress for the Wairarapa electorate. For example, the Government’s Regional Partnerships Programme helps regions to identify local opportunities and respond to them. The Wairarapa has been allocated $82,500 under the programme. The Wairarapa also received a grant of $11,250 to facilitate a regional economic summit, which was very successful indeed.
The Wairarapa is one of six areas chosen for pilot schemes to provide high-speed, two-way Internet connections in regional New Zealand. The Government sees access to broadband services by all Kiwi communities as being crucial to New Zealand’s economic and social development. The pilot schemes will focus on finding ways to make broadband commercially viable in the regions. The Wairarapa was also one of the first areas to be granted funding under the regional museums policy with a $320,000 grant toward the construction of the Museum of Art and History in Masterton, known as Aratoi. The new gallery space means that cultural and historical material that has been stored away, such as taonga Ma-ori, will now be on display to the public.
A 3-year funding package of $3.2 billion means that health is the big winner under the Labour-led Government, and the district health boards can plan health and disability services with certainty. In the Wairarapa, the funding package has helped to reduce waiting-list times. For example, the Wairarapa District Health Board has completely retired its residual waiting list, ensuring that all patients have a plan of care and certainty of treatment. Twenty-seven schools in the Wairarapa electorate will benefit from extra staffing for small rural schools. Children and families will benefit from additional Government funding to community social services this financial year—the Wairarapa will get $402,000. While I am touching on the subject of the concern we all have for children and families—particularly in relation to violent crime and child abuse—I again congratulate the Wairarapa electorate on getting behind the “Rise Above It” campaign. Again, I thank the Ministers and ministries involved in social development—the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Service etc.—for their immense input into helping our region deal with that particular issue.
There is so much more that we can talk about in relation to the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday. For example, we will continue to provide a stable Government with strong leadership. There is no reason for complacency or self-satisfaction. We have set ourselves tough goals to achieve over the next 3 years, and into the longer-term future—as confirmed by the Leader of the Opposition, who seems to think that this Government already looks like a third-term Government. I could not agree more. Our aim is to build and sustain solid levels of economic growth, and to fund good public services and infrastructure sustainability. We have rejected the discredited direction of the 1990s, and we will work to offer more opportunity and security, and a better quality of life, to all New Zealanders.
An example of a better quality of life for New Zealanders is the implementation of the victims’ rights legislation, which was released recently and will give much relief to many people around the country, and also the legislation on tougher sentences. Since the last election, sentences handed down for the worst crimes make it absolutely clear that the new sentencing legislation that came into force on 1 July 2002 imposes a tougher regime on serious offenders. For example, from my own area, Bruce Howse, the convicted murderer of the Aplin sisters, whom members may remember—a terrible event in the Wairarapa—received a life sentence with a non-parole period of 28 years. That is the longest non-parole period ever handed down in New Zealand. Although Mark Lundy was not sentenced under the new law, the Court of the Appeal took the intent of the Act into account when it increased his non-parole period from 17 to 20 years.
Yes, this Government does listen. It does care. It does communicate and consult with the New Zealand public. I commend the Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament.
