Welcome to the 2011 National Party Mainland Regional Conference.

I’d like to thank you all for being here today.

You are loyal National Party members and you make this Party strong.

It is because of you that we are in government, building a brighter future for New Zealand.

It’s great to have this show of force here in Christchurch despite the devastation that has been brought upon the city.

I have been visiting Christchurch regularly since the September 4 earthquake, and even more frequently since the major event on February 22. 

I have witnessed a city that has been dealt the harshest blows, but that has pulled itself together and shown great heart and resilience. 

I know life is still very tough here for many and I appreciate how hard people are working to rebuild their livelihoods and their communities.

You have embarked on a long journey and, as I said on February 23, it is a journey this Government, and indeed all New Zealanders are determined to walk with you.

I will talk a little more about the Government’s plan to rebuild Christchurch soon, but first I want to thank some of the special people here today.

Let me express my thanks to our Party President, Peter Goodfellow.

As you will have seen during this conference, under Peter’s leadership the National Party has vibrant and organised electorate organisations and a head office that it geared up and ready for campaigning.

Let me also thank your Regional Chairs: for Canterbury Westland, Roger Bridge, and for the Southern Region, Ele Ludemann.

The South Island has long been National Party heartland and your team down here does a great job of keeping up that tradition. 

I’m sure you will all join me in thanking the Ministers and Members of Parliament from your region.

You’ve had the chance to see some of their energy and enthusiasm during the sessions this weekend and you can be sure that’s reflected in the work they do in Wellington. 

In particular I say thank you to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the man who delivered this week’s excellent Budget, the Honourable Bill English.

What a great job he’s doing. Bill’s third budget will help to rebuild this great city.  It commits $5.5 billion to a new Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Fund.

Not only that, but it does so while pulling this country’s books into order.  Because any government can promise to spend more money, but paying down debt is much harder.  This Budget does those hard yards and promises to bring New Zealand’s accounts out of the red within three years. A remarkable achievement.

Let me also make a special thank you to the Minister for Earthquake Recovery, the Honourable Gerry Brownlee.  From the day the first earthquake struck this city, Gerry has committed his heart and soul to helping Christchurch get back on its feet. 

He is the man who is making things happen for this city, by doing what needs to be done, by cutting red tape that gets in the way, by bringing contractors together, by applying funds where they are needed.

Gerry is doing a great job and Christchurch is fortunate to have his leadership.

Let me thank the other Ministers from this region.

The Honourable Dr Nick Smith. He is our blue-green Minister, bringing practicality and fairness to climate change issues, balancing our economic opportunities with our environmental responsibilities and ensuring the ACC system is affordable and enduring.  And he gets all this done while continuing to serve the good people of Nelson. Thank you, Nick. 

The Honourable David Carter. The Minister of Agriculture, biosecurity, forestry and economic development. He knows our farmers, he knows what drives them, he knows what they need and he delivers for them.  He’s helping to keep the backbone of our economy thriving and for that we say thank you.

The Honourable Kate Wilkinson, Minister for Conservation, Food Safety, Labour and Immigration.  Kate is the Minister you can find in gumboots one day, and poring over the technical detail of labour law the next, she’s a great all-rounder and the people of Waimakariri would do well to make her their MP at this election. 

Thanks to our hard-working electorate representatives and the region’s equally hard-working List MPs. 

Let me make special mention of three MPs who together with their Christchurch-based Ministerial colleagues are doing such tireless work to help the people of Canterbury recover from the earthquakes. 

Amy Adams in Selwyn.

And Nicky Wagner and Aaron Gilmore here in Christchurch. 

Thanks also to Chris Auchinvole in West-Coast Tasman. We continue to mourn for the men of the Pike River Mine tragedy and we are grateful that the affected families, friends and communities of the West Coast are being supported by such a compassionate MP as Chris.

Thanks to our junior whip, Jo Goodhew, helping to keep our caucus in order and delivering for the people of Rangitata.

Jacqui Dean in Waitaki.

Colin King in Kaikoura.

Eric Roy in Invercargill.

And, of course, List MP Michael Woodhouse.

You all do a great job and the National Party is proud to have you representing us. Thanks to you we’re in great shape to fight and win this year’s election. 

I’d also like to say a special thanks to your families and friends who make what we Parliamentarians do possible.  We value your support and the sacrifices you make for us.

I want to turn now to last week’s Budget.

In the Budget, National set out the economic plan that we will take to the election. It’s a balanced, fair and affordable Budget, and it shows that we are the responsible economic managers for the times.

The Budget is the next step in our plan to rebalance the New Zealand economy towards savings, exports and productive investment, and away from debt, consumption and government spending.  

It gets this country’s books out of the red within four years, while at the same time boosting crucial public services and helping to rebuild Christchurch.

It’s a crucial part of our economic plan for ensuring New Zealand has an internationally-competitive economy that provides Kiwis the jobs, incomes and living standards they aspire to and deserve. 

It’s a Budget that I for one will be proud to campaign on and that you can be proud to campaign on, too. 

Let me cover some of the highlights.

First, this is a Budget that funds the government’s share of rebuilding Christchurch.

It establishes a $5.5 billion Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Fund to cover the government’s share of the costs of rebuilding this great city.

So here in Christchurch today I say this Budget proves that your Government is committed to you.  We believe in you, we care about your future and we are putting our money on the line for this city.

Second, this is the Budget that gets the government’s finances in order, despite the challenges that have been thrown at us.

This Budget will see the government’s books get out of the red within three years, so that we can begin to pay down debt. 

It ensures debt will peak at less than 30 per cent of GDP, and in four years’ time will start to come down quickly. 

The National Party knows that New Zealand can’t afford to keep borrowing its way to the future. We don’t want this country to be built on one big Ponzi scheme. That’s Labour’s prescription; it’s not ours. 

I am simply not prepared to leave our children and grandchildren with a ticking time-bomb of debt. So this Budget does the hard yards of getting our books in order.

Third, this is a Budget that delivers 170,000 new jobs and rising wages for New Zealanders while keeping interest rates and tax rates low.

A family with a mortgage now pays a floating interest rate around five percentage points lower than they did in Labour’s last year in office.

For a family with a $200,000 mortgage, for example, that means $200 a week more in their pocket.

That makes a huge difference to such a family, and it makes home ownership affordable for many more New Zealanders.

Interest rates matter for everyday Kiwis and that’s why this Government is focused on keeping them lower than Labour.

And unlike Labour, this Government won’t be raising taxes and it won’t be imposing a new capital gains tax.

We are proud that as a result of our tax reforms last year, three-quarters of income earners now have a top tax rate of 17.5 per cent or less.

That says to New Zealanders that if they want to get ahead, if they want to do better for themselves and their family, and if they work hard and save hard, then this Government will support them. 

We want you to keep more of what you earn. We want you to have choice.  Labour doesn’t like choice; they don’t like people to spend their own money, they like to leave them with pocket money.

Well, pocket money ends in my household when one is about 16.  So I’m proud to lead a Government that ensures people can make their own money and their own choices.

Fourth, this Budget invests in public services and infrastructure for our future. 

It clearly demonstrates National’s priorities, $1.4 billion more for education, $1.7 billion more for health and more money to improve law and order in our communities.

And unashamedly we’ve done some trimming. Less money for bureaucracy, less money for backroom administration, less money for Wellington waste.

It continues our investment in the building blocks of future growth, including an injection of hundreds of millions of dollars into an ultra-fast broadband network, so Kiwis can make the most of future technology.  That’s on top of our ongoing investment in New Zealand’s growth arteries – our highways and public transport networks.

Finally, it’s a Budget that ensures the Working for Families, KiwiSaver, and Interest Free Student Loan schemes will continue to deliver for the thousands of people that rely on them.

We’ve listened to New Zealanders who say they want these schemes to last in good weather and bad and we’ve made the changes to ensure they can. 

The changes we’ve made mean our country will be able to afford Working for Families, KiwiSaver and Interest Free Student loans for many years to come.

National Party members, it’s a Budget to be proud of.

It builds on our Government’s record of responsible economic management and it makes me optimistic about the future of this country.

The National Party campaigned on being the best managers of the economy, and we are delivering.

We also campaigned on bringing much needed improvements to this country’s education, health, and law and order systems.

We’re delivering there as well. Today I want to take you through some of our achievements in these crucial areas. 

National campaigned on a plan to improve our education system and we have invested wisely to achieve that. 

We’re not prepared to stand by and accept the situation Labour tolerated, where as many as one in five young people left school without even the most basic qualification needed to get them into an apprenticeship.

Those one in five young people are important to my Government and me. Over the three years of our term we’ve been fighting for them by changing the education system so that it delivers for every child.

Under the leadership of Anne Tolley in education and Steven Joyce in tertiary education, we’ve made changes to our education system to ensure more young people get the skills and qualifications they need to succeed. 

We’ve implemented National Standards in reading, writing and maths in our primary and intermediate schools.

These are ensuring that children who are falling behind are identified early, and that parents receive plain-language updates on their child’s progress in critical areas.

We’ve boosted trades and skills training in schools so that more young people get the hands-on learning opportunities they need. 

This year, 2,500 16- and 17-year-olds, who might otherwise have left school, are instead taking up a free Youth Guarantee place at a local tertiary provider.

That’s a win for them and it’s a win for the employers who will get a skilled work-ready employee at the end of their training.

This year the Government is opening eight Trades Academies, giving young people in their final years at secondary school the chance to rip apart engines, learn carpentry skills and generally take part in learning that is relevant to them.

We’ve getting better value out of our tertiary education system, with record numbers of places being made available in our universities, creating a smart workforce for the future.

We’re providing good opportunities for young people who are struggling to find work, with hundreds of new places in the Limited Service Volunteers (LSV) army-based training programmes, training subsidies for employers taking on youth in high-demand industries and $5000 Job Ops subsidies available for employers willing to employ and train young people. 

And we’re ensuring that more of the children who are missing out on early childhood education, but who would have so much to gain from it, have the opportunity to access it.  We’ve put an additional $550 million into early childhood education in this Budget alone. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, National campaigned on improving New Zealand’s education system and we have delivered.

And we have remained steadfast in our commitment to protect and grow the public health service.

We have simplified and streamlined the health bureaucracy and have refocused resources on the frontline.

There are now 1000 more nurses and 500 more doctors working in our health service.

New Zealanders who have cancer wait no more than four weeks for treatment under a National Government; under a Labour Government they needed a passport – they needed to go to Australia. 

We’ve set clear targets and driven performance so that 20,000 more people each year are now receiving elective surgery. 

That’s 400 more people a week getting the surgery they need for things like hip replacements, cataracts and gall bladder removals.

We’ve made healthcare more accessible by ensuring Kiwis get better access to the medicines they need, with an extra 1.8 million prescriptions made available.

More children than ever before are being immunised, meaning we’re preventing illness and death for some of our most vulnerable New Zealanders.

As we look to the future the Government plans to continue our investment in the public health system while improving the results we get for that investment. 

We have a proven track-record of achieving better bang for your health dollars and we will be campaigning to continue this progress.  

National has also delivered on our promises to take action on violent crime. 

We’ve passed 18 new laws to help make families safer in their homes and communities.

We’ve made sentences tougher and strengthened bail laws.  We’ve removed parole for the worst repeat violent offenders and worked with the Act Party to pass a Three Strikes law. 

We’ve boosted the number of Police on the streets and given them new tools to tackle crime, including tasers, increased use of DNA sampling and new Police Safety Orders to help prevent domestic violence.

By the end of this year there will be 600 more frontline Police across New Zealand, including an overdue boost of 300 additional Police for Counties-Manukau.  

We’ve launched a full-on assault on the vicious trade in P, with new anti-drug forces at the border, improved police powers and intelligence to crack-down on the gangs that produce and distribute P and more addiction treatment for P users. 

I’ve led the work the Government is doing in this area and I’m pleased to report we’ve got some great results.  Our latest data shows P is getting less affordable as gangs struggle to evade law enforcement agencies.

We are seizing the assets of criminals under a tough new forfeiture law.

We’ve improved services for victims.

We’ve implemented our Fresh Start programme which is taking young offenders off the street and putting them in a range of programmes designed to nip their offending in the bud, including Military Activity Camps, compulsory supervised activity programmes, addiction treatment and mentoring programmes. 

We’d prefer young offenders were on boot-camp than a prison fast-track.

We are confident that the steps we have taken, together with our ongoing work to address the drivers of crime, will help New Zealanders feel safer in their communities.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this Government has delivered on our promises and we have done what we said we would do.

I am proud to say that we have achieved all this while taking people with us.

We have not left large groups of New Zealanders behind, or conducted a slash and burn exercise that could have alienated large sections of the community. 

Ours has been a moderate and inclusive approach, and that’s the approach we will continue into a second term of Government. 

And there’s still a lot more that we can do.  

This year’s election will be about which party has a realistic plan to achieve faster growth for New Zealanders – growth that will deliver the jobs, higher incomes, and better living standards New Zealanders aspire to and deserve.

National will be campaigning on the things that matter to all New Zealanders.

The economy.

Education.

Health.

And law and order.

The National Party, together with our confidence and supply partners, has provided stable, effective government for the past three years.  We have made good progress towards the brighter future we promised New Zealanders and we are full of enthusiasm for the work ahead.

Our first term in Government has been undeniably challenging.

New Zealand has been tested by some huge events beyond our control.

The international financial crisis and a global economic recession. 

The impact of the retail deposit guarantee scheme, in particular from South Canterbury Finance. 

The Pike River mine tragedy.

Two devastating earthquakes.

These events have made life difficult for many Kiwis.  Our hearts have gone out to the families who have lost loved ones, or who have had their livelihoods taken away and their daily lives turned upside down.   

New Zealanders have come together as a country to show support to those in hardship and I’ve been really impressed by the resiliency they have shown.

The Government has also risen to these challenges.  We have done everything we can to stand by those affected and to provide them the leadership and support they need.   

We will continue to do so. 

We will go to the polls on November 26 promising a continuation of the positive, aspirational and inclusive approach that we’ve shown so far. We will stick to the fair, responsible course that New Zealanders have come to expect from us.

We are optimistic about the future.

This country is set for great things. The world is paying more for our exports than ever before. Our people are getting out of debt and investing productively. Our personal tax rates are the lowest they have been in decades. Our schools are more focused on lifting student achievement than ever before. Our hospitals are performing more operations and our law and order system is better across the board. 

On 26 November this year, voters will be presented with a clear choice.

By voting National, New Zealanders will be voting for forward-looking policies that will take us that next step towards a brighter future.

They will be voting for a team that has been tried and tested.

They will be voting for a team that can deliver on its promises. 

The National-led Government has a proven track record.  With the help of you, the Party faithful, National will be able to continue its hard work to build the brighter future that New Zealanders aspire to and deserve.

Thank you for your hard work, and your efforts on behalf of the people of the South Island. 

Now, let’s go out and win that election.