GEORGINA BEYER (Labour-Wairarapa): Thank you for allowing me a call in the debate on Vote Social Development. I would watch out for that cold ill wind of change that came across the floor before. Where have we heard it before? Mrs Collins was so Shipley-esque in her delivery. What happened in that era? It was a grave ill wind. It was nipping—it was more than nipping, it was savaging. Tatters is what was left of social development in this country under that National-led Government. One cannot trust a National-led Government to support and invest in New Zealanders who need most help. It has proved that in the past.

This Government has delivered. We have the lowest unemployment rate in decades—not just in terms of the general statistics of unemployment, but also in terms of the Māori statistics. It is all about social cohesion—about getting all the bits of the puzzle coming together, and forming and working well in various areas. This debate might be about social development, but our investment as a Labour-led Government has been in New Zealanders.

What I heard before from the member Judith Collins was not about us investing in all New Zealanders as fairly and inclusively as possible. The figures in this Budget that we are talking about tell us that benefit numbers are declining. People are finding jobs through the initiatives that this Government has employed over the last 6 years, and has given strong and positive indication that it will employ in the coming 3 years. That is most definitely a defining issue in terms of the difference between us and the cruel, cool wind that could blow in from that icy blue National Party over there.

I advise New Zealanders to be wary, and to think very, very carefully before they make that vital decision on September 17 about who delivers and who they can trust to deliver. So far, the Rt Hon Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of this country, who has led us well; Minister Maharey, in reference to the debate on social development that we are addressing at this point; and the inclusive policies of the Government in general have added to the social cohesion and the nature of a far more happy nation. We are happy to be proud of who we are—we are not talking ourselves down at every opportunity, which does not add value to New Zealand. We on this side of the House actually think of the future, as evidenced by the announcement today by our Prime Minister and Mr Mallard. What a wonderful announcement it was for the grandparents and parents of this country to contemplate, and, most certainly, for the greatest beneficiaries of it at the moment, the students of this country. They have some hope—

Hon Member: Graduates.

GEORGINA BEYER: Indeed, graduates. There are many more reasons to stay in New Zealand or return to New Zealand apart from those announced today. That is already obvious to the country, if one cares to look. Indeed, I really do believe that the Opposition should take great note of what has been achieved.

I heard Judith Collins slag off the work that, I have to say, the Ministry of Social Development—its chief executive and all its staff—has had to do to restore the tattered infrastructure of human resource that was eaten away in the 1990s. When I heard that ill wind coming from Judith Collins, I thought it was so Shipley-esque. It was under Mrs Shipley’s leadership that so much of the vital infrastructure that helped all New Zealanders and those most in need anywhere and everywhere—in the provinces and in cities—was lost. I can tell members that what this Government has been able to deliver in the last 6 years has been nothing short of a miracle. It has come back and recovered from the tatters left by the National-led Government of the 1990s.

I am very, very wary of the decisions that will be made in the future. So I ask New Zealanders, as they listen to this debate tonight, to analyse for themselves what is of greatest benefit. We in the Labour Party invest in New Zealanders. We in the Labour Party are proud of what New Zealand has to offer and of what it exports internationally, and we show it by our positive policies.