Questions for Oral Answer

1. to the Minister of Finance: How did the Budget balance the Government’s programme of responsible fiscal management with extra support for vulnerable families?

In the first place, the Government supported New Zealanders through the recession by borrowing to maintain support programmes, because we were confident that even though we were borrowing, we could set a path back to surplus. The Budget also confirmed significant investment in programmes to support vulnerable families. This includes $189 million to assist people from welfare into work through work-focused case management and increased support for job readiness and job searching. The Government is also investing a record $2.9 billion in Housing New Zealand, including 2,000 extra bedrooms on existing houses, and insulating around 46,000 homes for low-income families. This week we announced the KickStart Breakfast programme, which will expand to five mornings a week in decile 1 to 4 schools. High-decile schools can opt in during 2014.

💬 Maggie Barry: What other measures were included in Budget 2013 for New Zealanders on lower incomes?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: The other measures include a combination of existing, proven programmes and new initiatives that are targeted. I want to acknowledge the work of the Hon Tariana Turia and the Māori Party in this area. This includes $100 million over 3 years for the Warm Up New Zealand programme, targeting low-income households; $21 million over 4 years for rheumatic fever prevention; $1.5 million for budgeting services, on top of the $9 million already provided; a trial in Housing New Zealand properties of a warrant of fitness programme for rental housing; and a whiteware procurement programme to enable beneficiaries to buy new appliances under warranty. The Government is also investigating microfinance.

💬 Maggie Barry: How is the Government investing to deliver better results in health and education?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well, too often in health and education more and more money is put in as if more money were an indication of success. In fact, what this Government is doing is focusing on achieving better results for the existing spending and, of course, for any new spending. So there is a total of $5.1 billion in new operating spending over the next 4 years, but the key to the use of that money is targets such as, in health, more elective surgery and better immunisation rates, and, in education, more young New Zealanders achieving National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 and achieving the national standards.

💬 Maggie Barry: What steps is the Government taking to further reduce crime and maintain law and order?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: This is another area where the amount of money spent is not a good measure of how safe our communities are. When the Government came into office, justice sector spending was the fastest-rising cost in the Government. So we have set targets for reduced crime rates, and there has been encouraging progress: a 9 percent reduction in total crime and a 7 percent reduction in violent crime. This is coming about from building on a sophisticated analysis of what causes crime in our community, and police, corrections, and the courts working together in an unprecedented manner to make our communities safer.

💬 Te Ururoa Flavell: Tēnā koe. Kia ora tātou. To what extent were Budget decisions to support vulnerable families influenced by the Ministerial Committee on Poverty, which was established as a result of the relationship accord between the Māori Party and the National Party?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Ministerial Committee on Poverty played a key role, and in particular the Māori Party played a key role, because the Māori Party brought to that committee a strong focus on getting change on the ground rather than more measuring and more strategies. That is reflected in the large number of practical initiatives designed to help those who suffer from the most persistent deprivation.

💬 Te Ururoa Flavell: Does he agree with the Māori Party that extending breakfasts in schools and investing in KidsCan are not the only solutions to address child poverty; if so, what other priorities does he consider worth exploring?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: I do agree with the Māori Party. In fact, children who are hungry at school is often—as school principals have pointed out to me—a symptom of deeper problems in the family circumstances, rather than simple negligence. The Government has proceeded with the programme because whatever the problems are at home, the children need to be able to learn. In respect of other methods for addressing poverty, we believe that the $189 million going into the active management of up to 40 percent of our beneficiary population will have a significant impact, because it will assist people to get back to work—people who just need a bit of support and guidance and some encouragement to achieve that.

💬 Hon David Parker: Is the Minister aware that both income and asset inequality are rising under National’s management of the economy?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: There are any number of measures of that particular phenomenon. What I am aware of is that a recession and a weak economy have the biggest impact on those on the lowest incomes and with the least assets. This Government has set out, in the face of very poor economic circumstances in 2008, 2009, and 2010—partly a legacy of the previous Government—to protect the most vulnerable as best we could, and, actually, we have had some success in doing so.

💬 Hon David Parker: Does he agree that spending $2 million per annum on food in schools while handing over an additional $40 million to private schools is an example of why inequality is widening in New Zealand?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: No, I do not. The Labour Party has never understood that every New Zealand child, by right of birth, has a right to a free education, and the money paid to private schools represents the cheapest free education that the Government can procure, because it pays only about 30 percent of the entitlement that every child has. Why does the Labour Party believe that some New Zealanders are not entitled to free education?

💬 Hon David Parker: Does he agree with the Prime Minister that the food in schools programme is “here to stay”; if so, does that mean that the high level of child poverty under this Government is set to become a permanent feature of New Zealand society?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: Yes, I do agree with the Prime Minister. With respect to levels of child poverty, the biggest puzzle on this issue in the last 15 years is how come it got so high, when the economy was apparently booming under the Labour Government. Despite the fact of the recession, this Government is wrestling with the complex issues of reducing child poverty and is having some success.

💬 Jacinda Ardern: How many children has Treasury estimated will be lifted out of poverty by this Budget?

💬 Hon BILL ENGLISH: I do not believe that Treasury has made that estimate directly, but I can tell the member that the $189 million committed to welfare will be spent on assisting, for instance, solo parent families off welfare and into work. And every single child who is in one of those families where the parent gains work will be lifted out of poverty.

Question time interrupted.