RT HON JENNY SHIPLEY
PRIME MINISTER
PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT
COMMENCEMENT OF THE
1999 PARLIAMENTARY SESSION
2.00 pm Tuesday 16 February 1999 Mr Speaker
Welcome back. This Parliamentary session and this year, 1999, are going to be remarkable for New Zealand.
It is a year to be bold. We must lift New Zealand to new heights of achievement.
All of us who have hope in the future have to work together to make a difference. That is what our team is doing as a Government.
It is what I do every day - both as Prime Minister, as a New Zealander to the heart, and as a parent of children who will live and work in the tomorrow we are creating for them.
The New Zealand of yesterday, the 1980s, was a time when change was required and it was urgent.
We had high protection, high inflation, high interest rates, low growth and rigid regulation. All were strangling New Zealand business and hurting New Zealand families.
Change was undertaken.
In the New Zealand of today, the 1990s, we've worked hard to secure new prosperity and much better prospects.
We've beaten inflation. Interest rates are down. We've got modest levels of sustainable economic growth. We've secured a robust new business climate - quick on its feet, ready for the fast-moving world marketplace.
We've got New Zealanders working again. We've lowered their taxes, and we've invested more in our people - in children's education, the health of our people, the security of our community.
These are great achievements, but we must do more.
In the New Zealand of tomorrow, the first years of the new century, we have to build on our success.
If we are bold enough, wise enough, and determined, we can greatly increase the moderate growth rates we have averaged in the 1990s.
That way, and only that way, can New Zealanders' dreams become reality.
The Government's programme will work for New Zealand:
- To improve our prosperity through higher pay, higher productivity, lower taxes and better standards of living for all;
- To work for a smarter future - with world-beating education and research to build a knowledge-based economy for us all;
- To improve our security by taking actions that will deliver safety at home, strong social services and investment in our people and their the communities.
Our work in 1998 turned the corner. The Government worked hard. New Zealanders worked hard and together we've got ourselves back on the right footing. I'm proud of every single person who has helped.
SHARPENING THE FOCUS OF THE ECONOMY
New Zealand has become one of the best places in the world to do business. We're managing the economy well.
This year the Government will work with business on many fronts to assist in further improving performance and profitability and market opportunities.
Our programme will:
- Complete passing new legislation for the Resource Management Act, to ensure that compliance costs imposed by the RMA are reasonable, while protecting the environment.
- We are committed to protecting truly significant natural areas, but without imposing harsh or unfair costs on farmers or other businesses.
We will work to find the balance by establishing a National Policy Statement on how to protect significant natural areas. John Kneebone will lead an advisory group that will seek community views on the statement. The group will work closely with farming families, environmentalists and local government.
- The Government, producer boards and primary industries are aware that major challenges face agriculture. They remain important and valued industries. They face tough international competition as they seek to improve their competitiveness and performance.
We appreciate the way each of the producer boards are working with us as they plan for the future of the industry. These industries are now setting the pace. The Government will work with them to make progress.
- This year we will complete the implementation of the electricity reforms.
- We will complete the introduction of competition to the delivery of accident insurance in the workplace on 1 July.
- We will complete the sale of Contact Energy - and New Zealanders will have a chance to buy shares.
- The Government will continue to consider the sale of Crown companies, and in particular, we will investigate whether the market has recovered sufficiently to sell the coal company Solid Energy and Vehicle Testing New Zealand during 1999/2000.
- We will continue to plan for the long-term development and management of our nation-wide road network. This will be taken step by step as we work to find new ways to maintain and improve our country's roads. Progress on this programme is important in order to carry New Zealand's increasing traffic flows. We will make decisions on the next steps when consultation is finished at the end of April.
- We will pass the Animal Health Act that is so vital to our export industries. In doing so, we will generate more benefits and more wealth, as international markets are certain of our standards and quality control regime.
- We will pass legislation to open up the immigration system, so people with skills and investment can again flow in. Throughout our history, new New Zealanders have contributed their skills and their capital to our country. Our programme will allow for a moderate increase in immigration numbers.
- We're preparing the country to cope with the millennium bug. We have imposed on all Government departments and entities the tough discipline of reporting monthly on their Y2K preparedness.
That has been a tough wake-up call for many and some still have a lot of work to do. We're seeing they do it.
A KNOWLEDGE-BASED NEW ZEALAND
We will work closely with business in a new way.
Our five-point plan, which Enterprise and Commerce Minister Max Bradford announced last week, will keep New Zealand the best place to do business. It will promote innovation and create international competitiveness by:
- Lifting New Zealanders' skills and intellectual knowledge base, and leveraging off the success of the winners;
- Better focusing and directing the Government's effort in research and development;
- Improving access to capital - and especially international finance to lift investment in innovation;
- Ensuring regulations and laws support, and not frustrate, innovation and the knowledge-based economy;
- Actively promoting success and helping build a culture supportive of innovation and enterprise.
Between March and May, the Government will undertake a series of regional forums to build the partnership between business, Government and research and tertiary institutions, to drive the five-point plan.
We want to share new ideas and present some of the inspirational players in New Zealand business today. We want business, the tertiary sector and researchers to work together in designing the courses, programmes and actions needed for the future.
We will use their ideas to set clear goals, strategies and programmes that will bring increased growth and success.
The brilliant work of the Foresight project has shown what is possible when we are prepared to be innovative. This year it will bring results.
I challenge business and the creators of ideas and knowledge in New Zealand to rise to the challenge.
We must seek nothing short of a new attitude to business and knowledge, a new culture for New Zealand.
TERTIARY EDUCATION GEARED FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
We also need the leadership and support of tertiary institutions. They carry much of the responsibility for generating the intellectual firepower that will take the country into the future.
The Minister for Tertiary Education will work with universities, polytechs, Crown Research Institutes and private researchers to find new ways to co-operate and promote New Zealand's interests.
We are now considering the implementation of the recent White Paper on Tertiary Education and will act to ensure the health of tertiary institutions and their readiness for new demands.
We will not privatise our tertiary institutions or undermine their academic freedom. But we will ensure they operate on a sound financial footing. And we will see that all the high-level skills New Zealand needs are being nurtured.
A MAJOR YEAR OF INTERNATIONAL EFFORT
We will work hard for New Zealand's interests internationally. 1999 is a special year of opportunity which we will not miss.
We will use our term as chair of APEC to work actively within the Asia Pacific and worldwide for freer world trade rules.
Good progress is being made, but there is still much to be done.
Secondly and equally importantly this year, we will work to see that member nations share their knowledge of what tools can help manage their own economies more efficiently and openly.
The recent international financial crisis has made this work vital. Many countries have asked New Zealand, in collaboration with others, to use our year to help restore international investor confidence and strengthen the markets in our region.
Thirdly, APEC gives us a chance to help revive the free trade agenda in the much larger World Trade Organisation. We will support and promote a new, broad-based round being undertaken.
Fourthly, in our bilateral negotiations, both with existing markets such as the United States, and emerging markets such as Latin America, we will explore new arrangements and free trade agreements.
We will strongly oppose and take action against any moves that seek to bar New Zealand products from particular markets.
Finally, Environment Minister Simon Upton will continue to spearhead New Zealand's leading international role, particularly through his chairmanship of the Commission on Sustainable Development.
We will also work for progress on issues such as climate change, biodiversity and the integrity of Antarctica.
All these strategies will make a major long-term contribution to improve the prosperity of our people.
MORE PROSPERITY FOR INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES
Families get ahead when, if they work hard, they are rewarded.
Our programme supports New Zealanders, both when they are working hard to get ahead and when they need assistance.
We do this in many ways.
There is no more direct way for a Government to help working New Zealanders than by delivering higher disposable incomes. Tax reductions deliver this.
We have done this on two occasions in the last three years. At the same time, we've increased the amount invested in education, welfare and health. We're proud of this achievement.
We intend to continue this approach.
At the Budget in May, when we have assessed the state of the economy and the health of the Government's finances, we will make clear our future plans.
Tax reductions so families have more freedom and choice are important to us. Lower taxes also help businesses become more competitive internationally.
We balance that against our determination to maintain a world class social environment in New Zealand.
We are utterly committed to that. New Zealanders demand high quality health, education, housing and social services. These are social investments. They underpin our way of life, and the values that are important to us.
A HEALTHIER NEW ZEALAND
Increasing prosperity allows us to deliver in areas such as healthcare. It matters to New Zealanders.
We are making strong progress. Today, we are investing more than $300 extra a year, in real terms, in the health of every New Zealander than we were in 1989/90.
The best healthcare must be available to all, where and when it is required.
This year our programme will continue, and we will conclude some important decisions.
- Child health continues to be a high priority for my Government. Last year we launched the Child Health Strategy, which set out the direction of health care for our children for the next ten years.
- The Government is committed to implementing that strategy to face up to the important issues that need attention and improve the health of our children. We will take services to the children and families who are missing out, and whose health is suffering as a result.
- Our free healthcare for children aged under six is important and valued. It will continue.
- Every day, 144 babies are born in New Zealand, and we want every one of those babies and their mothers to get the best care, the best possible start.
Targeting care where it is needed is important. Acting to prevent illness is important.
- This year the Government is pleased to be extending our free flu injection programme. Two years ago we introduced this for all New Zealanders over 65. This year we will extend it to all adults and children with chronic conditions.
That means a free flu shot for up to 700,000 New Zealanders. We hope all of these people will take up this opportunity. March and April are key months in this programme. We want to see as many as possible stay well.
It helps them, their families and our hospitals, because less people become very ill requiring hospital admission. And that's important.
In recent years, we have undertaken a large renewal programme within our public hospitals. It includes:
- New wards;
- New theatres;
- New clinics;
- New facilities and maintenance.
This year, the programme will continue. The Government has agreed in principle to build new hospitals for Auckland and Wellington.
The details for Auckland will be announced shortly. In Wellington, we will consult further as we make the decision on the best location.
Having consulted, we must get going. If everyone involved commits themselves, big progress can be made this year.
Other hospitals which will see important investments include Nelson, Tauranga, Palmerston North and New Plymouth.
New Zealanders can be confident that the Government will remain the largest provider of hospital services in New Zealand.
HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION
Increasing prosperity allows us to deliver quality education for New Zealand children.
Education does not begin and end in the classroom. It must touch all aspects of children's lives - at home and in their communities.
Our intention to see all children read, write and do maths by age nine has inspired parents up and down the country. People are passionately keen to back this programme. They want to be involved.
Each year more than 58,000 New Zealand children pass through the nine-year milestone. We must nurture and teach them well. I call on every New Zealander to help do all they can to see that all our children can read, write and do maths at age nine.
This year, our Ministers responsible for education will foster many initiatives to give life to that aim. We will involve parents, grandparents, kaumatua on marae - all who care that our children are acquiring these most basic and necessary of skills.
The Government will help. Teachers can help. Parents can help. Grandparents and neighbours can help. Businesses can help - and all do. But we must do more and now is the time.
- We will also work for better educational standards.
- The Government will implement a number of initiatives to lift the quality of teaching. The adoption of a new set of professional standards by teachers is important in this process.
- Parents have the right to know how well their own children are progressing. To that end, we will announce a national assessment policy, including procedures for external measurement of student achievement at significant stages of compulsory education.
- We will continue to improve the curriculum. Teachers and parents will be consulted. The recent release of the Health curriculum was a great example of this. It will be put into action in New Zealand schools this year. We welcome this.
- We will continue to actively promote the choice that the Fully Funded Direct Resourcing Option provides for schools. We are very pleased with the number of schools taking up this option to date.
- We are committed to implementing the new national qualifications policy, the Special Education 2000 policy and the information and communications technology strategy for schools.
- We are committed to ensuring that the education system better meets the needs of at-risk students. We have invested heavily in this area, and this year will deliver results.
STRENGTHENING FAMILIES
We can improve the confidence and security of our people by working with them so that they can make decisions and move ahead.
Our housing initiatives of late last year are making good progress. More families in special areas are taking up home ownership. We will continue this work this year.
Throughout the community, we will continue to ensure that our welfare systems provide ladders and opportunities, rather than traps that lock people into failure.
- We will continue to work to strengthen families to improve their well-being. The Strengthening Families Strategy is set to become the pre-eminent form of social service delivery to break the cycles of disadvantage.
From small beginnings just 18 months ago involving Health, Education and Welfare, there are now 56 local management and steering groups involving Government agencies, local government, community groups and iwi. These agencies are collaborating to provide a seamless service to families who need encouragement, support and key services. They are making a big difference.
This is a ground-breaking initiative, aimed at refocusing the benefit system to encourage people of working age to work. There are strong similarities with the work being undertaken by the Blair and Howard governments. The response is encouraging. Most people want to work. We want to help them.
- The Government will continue to invest in Family Start, an early intervention service providing intensive-home based support to high-risk families in the early weeks of a child's life.
Four programmes underway in Whangarei, West Auckland, Rotorua and Christchurch are moving to cater for up to 850 of our most disadvantaged families a year.
We want to break the cycles that can deny them a future.
- We will look to progressively expand Family Start to other areas of the country where there is a need for intensive family support service.
- This year, we have asked all departments to renew their efforts to work together to streamline processes for funding and contracting with community organisations. Local solutions to local problems are invariably the best, whether in health, education, welfare, employment and other services.
We will try to get Wellington out of these services as much as possible.
DEVELOPMENT FOR MAORI
In 1999 we are determined to make progress in issues relating to Maori.
We are committed to dealing fairly and swiftly with outstanding historical Treaty grievances and disparity issues in relation to Maori.
By settling grievances, not only are we righting the wrongs of history, but putting the resources and tools for prosperity in Maori hands.
We will continue in our commitment to settle outstanding Article Two Treaty grievances. The recent announcements by the Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations make clear this Government's desire to accelerate this process. Sir Douglas Graham personally wishes to spend the last year of his political career making as much progress as possible.
Today I call on Maori to mandate their leaders and negotiators as swiftly as possible so that the progress that has so long been called for will be delivered. We are a willing Treaty partner, and we want to make progress in 1999.
We also want to make progress to close the gaps between Maori and the general population.
Terrific progress has been made in the last decade:
- Since 1990 the number of Maori at universities, polytechs and other tertiary institutions has grown by 103 percent - more than double.
- There has been substantial reduction in the number of Maori leaving school without qualifications.
- The number of Maori unemployed has dropped from 27 percent in 1992 to 19.5 percent at the end of last year.
- As reported by Statistics New Zealand last week, the percentage of Maori in the poorest section of the population has dropped from 34 percent to 28 percent.
We must do better, but people can feel encouraged that the trends are moving in the right direction.
Today I am announcing a further initiative to develop more Maori providers of services.
The standards and monitoring will be the same as for other service providers, but as we have proven in recent years, local people, far more than Wellington bureaucrats, can identify local needs and work with their communities to find solutions.
We've made good progress in health and education over the last 10 years. Now we want to make progress in other areas.
In co-operation with Maori, we aim to build the pool of skilled Maori providers. Their track record has been proven in health and we will extend it to areas such as employment and training, justice and family support. People working with people can make a real difference.
PLANNING FOR RETIREMENT
Planning for the future is the duty of all governments. Certainty of income in retirement is a vital part of this.
Last year the Super 2000 Taskforce was established. It is the opportunity to provide that security. It will report to the Government in November 2000.
This year I ask all political parties to meet New Zealanders' desire for certainty and consensus by participating in the Super 2000 Taskforce. This is the responsibility not only of Government, but all political parties.
New Zealanders want to see us work together on this matter, to come up with an agreed solution. My party will work with others without prejudice to achieve a result.
PORTABILITY OF SUPERANNUATION FOR PACIFIC ISLANDERS
We want fairness in retirement for those who have contributed significantly to our economy and society over their lifetime. This includes New Zealanders born here, and those who have chosen this country as their home.
New Zealand already has portability of superannuation with many nations, including special arrangements with some Pacific countries.
However, many Pacific Island people who have spent much of their working life here would love to be able to return to their homes in retirement.
Today the Government is announcing the introduction of a new scheme so that Pacific Islanders who qualify for superannuation in New Zealand will be able to return to the Pacific Islands and still receive their superannuation. The full superannuation will require 20 years of residence in New Zealand.
It's pro-family and it's good for both New Zealand and the Pacific Island countries. It acknowledges our special relationship with the Pacific.
The new measure will help Pacific Islanders from countries including American Samoa, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna.
This will mean a great deal to many New Zealanders and fulfils a promise I made last year - that when the economy recovered we would make this change. Legislation will be introduced to begin this portability of superannuation by 1 October 1999.
IMPROVING SECURITY FOR NEW ZEALANDERS
As New Zealanders feel increasingly confident about their future, they have a right also to feel safe. Safe at work. Safe on the streets. Safe in their homes.
Crime trends are moving in the right direction - downwards, except for violent crime. We have worked hard since 1990 to put 800 extra police on the streets.
Our efforts have made a difference. But a small group of violent criminals continue to cause huge offence.
Even though since 1990 we have increased rape sentences from 14 to 20 years, toughened anti-pornography laws, and got tougher in areas like gangs and drink driving, more action is clearly still required. v As a woman and a mother, it makes me angry that a few threaten the freedom of us all. We are going to address this.
Today we are taking seven key new steps.
We intend to get tough on criminals who break into the homes of New Zealanders and seriously hurt them.
If they do, and they murder, rape or assault any person in their own home, the full weight of the law will be brought down on them.
These crimes will not be tolerated. Over recent years, New Zealanders have been sickened by these increases in serious crimes.
The Government will introduce legislation in coming weeks to increase sentences for crimes associated with home invasion. Five to ten year sentences will be increased by up to three years. Violent crimes with sentences of ten to twenty years will be increased by a further five years.
In addition, crimes carrying life sentence penalties will have longer non-parole periods over and above the current law. This tougher provision will be available for all life sentence crimes, not just those associated with home invasion.
New Zealanders want the courts to respond to their strongly held views that there should be longer sentences for serious violent crimes.
Shocking crime must be reduced.
The Government will tighten current bail laws. Offending by people on bail has caused real disgust. The Government will introduce legislation to:
- Make it much harder for prisoners who re-offend on bail to be granted continuing bail. The onus of proof will be on them, not the police, to argue the case for bail.
- Improve the courts' bail decisions by making more information available to them about previous offences on bail and breaches of bail conditions.
Based on evidence internationally and in New Zealand, the Government agrees that far too much criminal activity is master-minded out of prisons.
Because of the need to be rehabilitated, and to talk with their lawyers, New Zealand prisoners have wide access to telephone calls.
The Government will legislate to ensure that prisoners' telephone calls can be monitored.
We will protect prisoners' rights to make calls, by using experienced people to do the monitoring. They will be bound by tight secrecy requirements.
But we will not tolerate prisoners using calls to organise crime. This will be stopped.
Increasingly, criminals should expect to be caught. This is because of the Government's commitment to increasing the number of police in New Zealand. As recently as October last year, I announced a further increase of 120 police, and these policemen and women are being recruited and trained right now.
The further measure the Government is announcing today will put more specially trained police into crime hotspots around New Zealand where crime has bucked the overall downward trend.
Eight new police teams with at least 10 officers will be established to address areas with serious criminal activity. They will work with others to sort problems out and bring crime down.
Another important new measure deals with young offenders.
Youth offending causes deep worry to many New Zealanders. It is a tragedy on every level - for the victims and the young criminals alike.
While we're putting a lot of effort into preventing criminals of the future, currently there are a number of serious young offenders in our communities who need to be imprisoned.
For too many of them, imprisonment becomes a fast-track to lives of more serious crime. Or, just as tragically, we have seen too many cases when young people in prison, confused and intimidated, have taken their own lives.
We know that when vulnerable youth are kept separate from hardened offenders, their prospects of turning away from crime are much increased, and rehabilitation is a genuine possibility.
The Government has decided to build specialist youth prisons in New Zealand.
By June this year the first youth prison will be in place. It will be established on the grounds of the Hawkes Bay Regional Prison at Mangaroa.
It will be followed by five more units for young offenders in Northland, Waikato, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. They will be opened progressively over the coming three years. We are considering the establishment of a special youth prison in Auckland.
Several of these measures get tough with criminals. But we must also work to rehabilitate offenders. The Government has agreed to the extension of Mahi Tahi, a successful initiative to provide specialist Maori programmmes within prisons to provide rehabilitation and support to Maori. It will be extended to ten new areas.
We will also provide modest additional support for Maori wardens who do terrific work in their communities
New Zealanders love their freedom. But they are also demanding a greater sense of security over their lives.
We believe these measures will send clear signals to criminals in New Zealand that they must change!
A TIME FOR OPTIMISM
The strength of our community, and the strength of our nation, stands or falls on whether we can feel hopeful and optimistic about our future.
The Government's programmes this year will genuinely improve New Zealanders' prospects.
1999 is a wonderful year filled with opportunities for New Zealanders. Let's make the best of every one of them, in every way possible.
As Prime Minister, I intend to promote New Zealand and the interests of New Zealanders at every chance I get.
I intend to work closely with people and parties in this Parliament and in the community to deliver political and economic stability for our country so we can all forge ahead.
I seek the support of this House for our programme as we recommit ourselves to take New Zealand forward to new heights of achievement.
ENDS
