Speech notes for an address at the Budget 2007 Social Sector Lock Up, Ministry of Social Development, Wellington

Hon Steve Maharey
Lead Minister for Families Young and Old

Introduction: Investing in a bright, secure future for families

Good morning everyone. My colleagues and I are pleased to present the Government’s programme of investment in New Zealand Families Young and Old for 2007 and 2008.

Budget 2007 is very much about consolidating and further building on our work so far. After seven years, the Labour-led government has brought about a major paradigm shift in social and economic policy. Our investment over those seven years has seen major improvements in the lives of New Zealanders.

This is a world away from the 80s and 90s, dark times in New Zealand history, marred by economic failure, social breakdown and personal isolation. It was a time of cutbacks in government spending, and restructuring of labour and financial markets. The legacy left to New Zealanders was one of high unemployment and increasing poverty.

Before 1999, the government of the time focussed on economic policy. Social policy was neglected. Government departments focused on delivering outputs, rather than addressing the big picture issues that faced New Zealanders in their everyday lives.

The society we inherited in our first term in office was deeply fractured, where many had little hope of success. Inheriting this legacy of poverty in 1999 meant Labour had to focus on a programme of restoration, on giving all New Zealanders their rightful stake in society, and ensuring that the benefits of economic growth could be more widely shared.

In 1999, the Labour-led government kicked straight into action, with our first two budgets reforming employment law, announcing a Superannuation Fund, and putting large investments into health, education and policing – it was time to put our families back at the heart of social policy.

To build a strong society, our focus has been to generate the wealth required to fund opportunity and security for our people, protect our environment and develop our culture.

The investments we have made in social success continually reinforce our nation's ability to build a strong economy – investments in education and skills, health and housing, support for families young and old, and giving workers a stimulus to ongoing economic transformation.

There's no question that the New Zealand we have built today is a stronger, fairer, and more confident nation than it was seven years ago. And there are many successes.

• Working for Families is lifting 70 thousand children out of poverty, and today helps three out of four New Zealand families.

• Education is being transformed to meet the needs of 21st century learners. Total school funding will be $5.8 billion this year, up 47 per cent from 1999.

• More Mâori are participating in education and the workforce than ever before.

• Health spending has increased by 99 per cent since 1999, delivering 5,000 extra doctors and nurses, new hospitals from Kaitaia to Invercargill, and cutting the cost of seeing the family doctor in half.

• We have invested heavily in childcare, giving women more options in the workforce. Since 1999, we've increased early childhood education funding by 174 per cent, and investment in the childcare subsidy has more than doubled.
• Child Youth and Family has increased its ability to respond to child abuse, just as societies intolerance to the issue has grown.
• We have improved the financial stability for older New Zealanders with a $260 million boost to superannuation over the next four years as a result of raising the rate to 66 per cent of the average wage.

Integral to all our policies has been a family-friendly focus – from education, health, housing, and family services to savings and industrial relations.

Families Young and Old is one of three priority themes guiding the continued transformation of New Zealand over the next decade. It sets out the Government’s social policy agenda and provides a framework for us to work together to achieve sustainable improvements in the long term well-being of New Zealanders.

Transformative social policy requires leadership across all government sectors. It requires whole-of-government solutions to the complex issues that persist in our society today such as family violence. It also requires a common commitment to agreed priorities. And that’s where Families Young and Old provides the navigation chart for ongoing change.

Today’s Budget provides rich fuel for our progress. I’ll briefly outline what that means in education before handing over to my colleagues to reflect on their portfolios.

Hon Steve Maharey
Minister of Education

Transforming Education – Personalising Learning

The Labour-led government is committed to giving our young people the best possible start in life as a key part of the drive to improve the position of New Zealand families, young and old. Building a world-class education system is the basis for transforming New Zealand's economy and society, and Budget 2007 gives schools even more resources to progress towards personalising learning in the 21st century.

Education is changing. Under Labour, the education system is being transformed to adapt and meet the needs of young New Zealanders today. Under this government, total funding for New Zealand schools has increased from $3.9 billion a year in 1999/00 to more than $5.8 billion this year – a massive increase of 48 per cent.

Budget 2007 represents an investment of more than half a billion dollars over four years to continue the Labour-led government's mission to further adapt and strengthen the education system, to make sure it remains among the best in the world. Personalising learning is a phrase that best captures this transformation, and it has eight key targets: effective teaching, assessment for learning, a curriculum that allows for the professional input of teachers, strong partnerships with parents and whanau, professional leadership and appropriate resourcing.

Budget 2007 continues our commitment to lay the best possible foundation for our youngest learners by delivering quality, affordable early childhood education (ECE). The latest figures show that 95 per cent of our young people are benefiting from ECE, and Budget 2007 brings our total investment in ECE to $770 million in 2007/08.

We are now at the half-way point of the 10 year ECE strategic plan. It has already delivered 50 percent more qualified teachers, and overall funding has more than doubled since 1999. The roll out of 20 Hours Free ECE from July this year, for three and four year olds in teacher-led centres, will further build on that work, and more is to come.

Our time in government has also seen a transformation of education at primary and secondary schools. Personalising Learning means that teachers now adapt the way they teach to how our students learn, pupils can show off their talents in a variety of ways, both practical and theoretical, and we're enhancing our school leaders through support programmes like Aspiring and Potential Principals and First-Time Principals.

The Labour-led government has delivered more than 4000 more teachers to educate our children than in 1999, including an extra 702 Year 1 primary school teachers this year. Budget 2007 will also fund further work to create learning environments to mirror our 21st century education system, including building 14 new schools, 180 new classrooms, 10 new school gyms, as well as modernising existing schools.

Operational funding for schools will be boosted by 4 per cent, to target pressures identified in the review of operational funding, and other initiatives such as providing relief teachers and sharing information technology expertise. That represents an investment of nearly $140 million over the next four years, bringing the total spend on operational funding to $4.5 billion over that time.

Minister Benson Pope will now reflect on the gains achieved for Families Young and Old in employment and social development.

Hon David Benson-Pope
Minister for Social Development and Employment

A platform for wellbeing

It’s this Government’s view that getting more working age people into paid employment is the most secure path to economic independence for New Zealand families, young and old. Budget 2007 continues our investment in giving children the best possible start in life by ensuring co-ordinated, targeted services reach the families who need them.

Our efforts have had a considerable effect. Today 132,000 fewer New Zealanders are unemployed than in 1999. While total benefit numbers have declined significantly, the proportions have changed both in terms of benefit type and the people receiving them. The circumstances of this changed benefit population are complex and require new ways of providing support.

Working New Zealand is one of the ways we are changing our approach.

Working New Zealand seeks to improve support and focus on work from the first contact with a person. A person’s circumstances and needs drive the support they get, rather than the benefit they might be eligible for. Job seekers getting more opportunities and support to find work, and people with temporary or long-term needs still receiving the financial support they need.

As more and more New Zealanders have moved into sustainable employment, we are able to invest what would have been spent on benefits on getting yet more people into paid work.

For this reason Working New Zealand will require no additional Budget 2007 funding. This is despite the fact that an additional $100 million is being spent to implement the initiative in the five years from 2006/07, with ongoing costs of around $18.5 million per year.

Providing options for parents to meet childcare responsibilities is another of the ways we are applying new thinking to reduce barriers to employment.

Out of school services play a vital role here. $17.4 million of Budget 2007 will continue and extend services over the next five years. The allocation will help realise improvements we’re making to out of school services under the Five Year Action Plan, which we will release in early June.

Today’s funding will establish 12 activity-based out of school programmes for 5 to 14-year olds that include extra activities to build children’s skills. The funding will also lift quality standards of services and increase the pool of funding available.

To secure positive outcomes for Families Young and Old, this Government relies heavily on the efforts of New Zealand communities. Budget 2007 acknowledges this with the injection of $20.4 million over the next two years to boost the capability of community organisations supporting New Zealand’s children and families.

Pathways to Partnership is a medium-term plan currently under joint development with the child and family services sector. It seeks to reshape and strengthen child and family services by improving coverage, capability and sustainability. Budget 2007 funding will see the plan’s first stages implemented.

Budget 2007 is also investing $2.5 million over the next two years to improve the accessibility and co-ordination of core health, education and social services. This will see a further six Early Years Service Hubs established to deliver those support services to children and families.

Overall, the path we’ve created in the last seven years has been one of steady improvement. Budget 2007 will ensure those gains will continue.

I’ll now hand over to Minister Anderton to explain the work being done to build healthy families.

Hon Jim Anderton
Associate Minister of Health

Healthy New Zealand families

Health is one of the core aspects determining the wellbeing of New Zealand Families Young and Old. New Zealanders of all ages need to be healthy if they are to participate and contribute to a dynamic and prosperous nation.

And that’s why this Government continues to invest in the health of all New Zealanders, ensuring they have fair access to quality services and equal opportunity to enjoy good health.

Specific Budget 2007 initiatives range from our investment in children as we offer another proven vaccine to fight against pneumococcal meningitis, right through to the investment in our older citizens to support them in their homes or in residential care. They are expressed in investment in primary mental health services; work to reduce our suicide rates, work to help our children adopt healthy approaches to food and exercise, and work to help those of us who still smoke, stop smoking.

$158 million is allocated to help disabled New Zealanders. Our words around being a more inclusive society must be backed up with investment. That is why the initiatives in this health Budget are so wide.

In each budget since 1999, we have invested heavily in health. In fact we had little choice. What preceded us was years of underinvestment. What confronted us was a highly depleted dysfunctional system.

While increased funding was patently vital it was clear that to deliver a fully functioning health service we had to change the face of health-care in New Zealand.

And we have.

We’ve entered the largest public hospital building programme in this country’s history - with new hospitals built from Kaitaia to Invercargill.

We continue to invest in health infrastructure and are now looking to upgrade key health information systems.

Visiting the doctor is now cheaper for an increasing number of New Zealanders. The final roll out of more highly subsidised care – for 25–44 year olds – starts 1 July.

We have invested significantly in elective services to ensure all District Health Boards meet their agreed targets for providing an appropriate level of service for their communities.

Communities are now back in charge of how health dollars are spent.

In work to improve the health of New Zealand’s children, we’ll soon realise the benefits over the next few years of our efforts to reverse the deterioration of oral health from the 1990s. Allocations from Budget 2007 will include $68 million to include a pneumococcal vaccine in New Zealand’s childhood vaccines. From next year every baby born in New Zealand will be eligible for the free vaccine to fight against pneumococcal meningitis.

There has been considerable investment in services which allow older New Zealanders to remain in their own homes. And we have invested strongly in aged residential care for those older people who can no longer live in their own homes.

Building on last year’s budget, Budget 2007 will see the largest-ever investment in the care and support of the elderly. $150 million over four years is being invested in residential care and $81 million in helping those who wish to stay in their own homes to do so. This year's Budget is designed to continue efforts to raise pay levels in the aged care sector while providing quality care and positive choices for older people.

The country’s obesity epidemic is in our sights. The Healthy Eating, Healthy Action campaign is targeting schools, primary health care deliverers, social agencies and industry bodies. $51 million is being allocated from Budget 2007 to keep the campaign rolling

$13 million from Budget 2007 is funding an expansion of the Get Checked Diabetes programme to include cardiovascular disease. Get Checked is an important preventative tool which is part of a number of initiatives tackling chronic disease.

As Progressive Leader, I am also delighted that there has been progress in work on suicide prevention and reducing drug abuse.

Budget 2007 invests $23.1 million over four years to support suicide prevention initiatives as part of the New Zealand Suicide Prevention Strategy. We are beefing up the training of primary care professionals on depression management, completing the roll-out of emergency department suicide prevention guidelines to all hospitals, and establishing pilot positions in DHBs for regional coordination of the suicide prevention strategy.

To improve people's understanding of mental health issues, a new community-based education programme is being developed, with further funding going toward extending the successful 'Travellers' support programme in schools, and the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training programme that provides people in the community with the skills to better respond to people who may be suicidal.

Budget 2007 also invests $5.9 million over four years in raising awareness of the risks of taking drugs and an online drug evidence database that will back it up.

With a $750 million increase to Vote Health, Budget 2007 provides a strong platform for continuing the gains we’ve already made in improving the wellbeing of New Zealand Families Young and Old.

My colleague Minister Burton will tell you about the efforts of the Justice sector’s complementary efforts to build a safer nation.

Hon Mark Burton
Minister of Justice

A safer nation

Thank you Minister Anderton.

Having strong and safe communities where New Zealanders can prosper and participate in all the activities a thriving society offers is essential to successfully transforming New Zealand.

Since 1999, this Government has delivered on its commitment to get tough on crime and protect the rights of victims.

Today there are more police in our communities – with steady increases in numbers over the last seven years.

As well as increased numbers we have invested in policing technology, including improvements to the Police 111 emergency system.

We are stepping in early with New Zealand young people to encourage them to stay within the law and steer them away from ‘graduating’ into adult crime. More recently, effective Interventions, is one policy package that is helping to tilt the balance earlier to prevent crime and to reduce youth offending.

These policies are having an impact. Crime rates generally in this country have been trending down over the last decade – by 13%. This is despite a growth in our population of 19%.

Even as the crime rate has been falling, however, there has been a sharp rise in the prison population. To deal with this growth, the Government has spent close to $1 billion on building four new prisons and on adding capacity at existing prisons. But the Criminal Justice Reform Bill, which will implement much of the Effective Interventions initiatives, seeks to provide other solutions - like new forms of non-custodial and community based sentences - to address the growing prison population.

The Effective Interventions package also includes a focus on making better use of prison resources and improving the ability of former prisoners to reintegrate into the community.

These initiatives include the establishment of two more prison-based drug and alcohol units and improving the volume and quality of employment and education available to prisoners.

Of the more persistent social issues confronting this country, the most shaming, is New Zealand’s record of child safety.

This Government is committed to ending this cycle of violence. As part of the Taskforce for Action on Violence, around $13.8 million is being invested over four years in a national campaign to change attitudes and behaviours around family violence that will include a mass media campaign that will reinforce the message that family violence is not okay but that seeking help is, and a range of community resources.

Living in a democracy, New Zealanders enjoy extensive civil and democratic rights. The efforts of this government over the last seven years have reinforced and strengthened those rights. Budget 2007 will see strengthened resourcing of the Human Rights Commission's core functions.

This also includes building the service capacity of agencies such as the Privacy Commissioner, the Legal Services Agency, the Ministry of Justice and the Police Complaints Authority. We’ve also increased resources allocated to the Crown prosecution service and the Serious Fraud Office.

Funding from Budget 2007 will ensure the Justice sector continues to improve the safety of our communities. It will deliver yet more police on the streets of New Zealand.

At a practical safety level, more than $6.7 million in additional funding is being invested in Civil Defence and Emergency Management. This will fund an enhanced information management system that will improve the flow of information and allow better coordination of response.

The Budget also invests in improvements to the National Warning System. These improvements will increase the speed and reliability of warnings to emergency and civil defence groups for events such as tsunamis.

I’ll now hand over to Minister Dyson to talk about a more inclusive New Zealand.

Hon Ruth Dyson
Minister for ACC, Minister for Disability Issues, Minister for Senior Citizens, Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (Child Youth and Family Services)

A more inclusive New Zealand

Thank you Minister Burton.

The Families theme also recognises the importance of individuals retaining their independence to enable them to participate fully in society. I am proud to be part of a Government that has made the building of an inclusive society a priority since it took office seven years ago.

And today we have a more inclusive New Zealand.

The New Zealand Disability Strategy is ensuring the government sector is taking more account of disabled New Zealanders in policies, programmes and services.

We have seen the last of large institutionalised living and are breaking down New Zealanders’ perceptions around mental illness.

And many more disabled New Zealanders are now enjoying the benefits of paid work thanks to the Pathways to Inclusion strategy.

Budget 2007 provides the means for us to continue our progress, particularly in regards to supporting care and rehabilitation services.

Carers of people with health and disability support needs play a valuable role in the lives of the people they care for. They enable them to live at home with dignity, independence and security. Some provide vital rehabilitation support which helps people achieve greater independence and return to work.

For ACC claimants, getting high quality rehabilitation support services at home at the right time can make all the difference to the level of independence achieved following an injury. Budget 2007 is allocating $24.4 million to help recruit and retain home-based rehabilitation support workers for ACC claimants unable to participate in paid work.

We are also increasing funding, through levies, for home-based rehabilitation support services for other ACC claimants, and access and quality of these services is being reviewed.

Older New Zealanders are an important part of our communities and ever more so given this country’s ageing population. This Government has introduced a range of polices, under the umbrella of the New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy, that recognise the unique needs of this growing group.

As a priority we have improved financial security of older New Zealanders.
On April 1 this year New Zealand Superannuation and the Veterans Pension increased by 5%, more than our commitment to match the CPI. More than 500,000 older New Zealanders are now receiving up to $13 a week extra as a result.

Rates rebates, the progressive removal of asset testing for the Residential Care Subsidy and increased asset threshold level has further bolstered older New Zealanders’ financial security. In August we will be launching the SuperGold card which will provide older people access to a range of discounts and concessions.

Particular groups of older New Zealanders have very specialised needs. Budget 2007 will provide for the comprehensive and wide ranging package agreed with veterans’ groups to address the health of Viet Nam veterans and their families.

Budget 2007 is investing in ensuring all young people have those opportunities including through catching early at-risk young people. A total of $50 million is being invested in strengthening our Youth Justice System.

$1.4 million will be invested in intensive intervention programmes over the next year as part of the Reducing Youth Offending Programme. These seek to address early the causes of criminal behaviour and halt the progression into further persistent and serious offending.

$1.3 million is being invested over the next year in the Supported Bail Programme for young people on remand from the Youth Court to ensure they comply with their bail conditions. The programme’s one-on-one case management will help reduce offending and keep young people out of police cells.

$13 million over the next two years will be used to expand and upgrade the Lower North youth justice facility in Palmerston North to a similar standard to the highly successful Youth Justice South facility.

Our efforts to catch young people at high risk of offending early in their lives will be further supported by a $2.6 million investment over the next year in social support services in low decile secondary schools. Pilots in nine schools shows that this support leads to improved educational achievement.

Minister Horomia will now reflect on developments for Mäori.

Hon Parekura Horomia
Minister of Mâori Affairs, Associate Minister for Social Development

None should be left out, none left behind

Thank you Minister Dyson.

Mâori were among those New Zealanders hardest hit by the market driven reforms of the 80s and 90s. The legacy of the 1990s was high unemployment, a surge in poverty, and a sense of social exclusion. That era left us as a divided society where many, especially Mâori, had little hope of success.

The last seven years of this Labour-led Government have been about building the opportunity for Mâori to create a new legacy, one based on achievement. The Families agenda will take us even further forward.

There are many indicators that suggest we are having considerable success. Education and employment are perhaps two of the most telling markers.

Since 1999, Mâori participation in education has boomed. More Mâori children are taking part in early childhood education – enrolments have increased by nearly 10 percent since 2000.

We’re looking to build on these positive results by allocating a further $14 million from Budget 2007 for kôhanga reo over the next four years.

There have also been significant improvements in Mâori school students’ achievement. Despite sensationalist headlines you may have seen, the number of Mâori school leavers with few or no formal qualifications has been reducing at a much faster rate than that of European/Pakeha students. And Mâori learners are taking part in tertiary education at a greater rate than learners from any other group.

In addition to the work of the Taskforce outlined by Minister Burton, the Government is investing $2 million over the next year in the training and support of people working to prevent family violence in Mâori whânau and communities.

Budget 2007 also increases the capacity and capability of Mâori Wardens through enhanced training; improved resources; as well as working towards an improved governance structure for the wardens. Budget 2007 allocates $2.5 million to strengthen Mâori Wardens in the coming year.

As I said earlier, employment is a key marker of our success in building achievement for Mâori. And since 1999, the number of Mâori in paid work has sky-rocketed, with corresponding reductions of those on welfare benefits.

Forty-four thousand Mâori were on the Unemployment Benefit in December 1999. By this March that number dropped to 9,900 - a 78 percent decrease!

The Working New Zealand package detailed by Minister Benson-Pope will ensure we maintain these positive outcomes.

As I travel New Zealand and visit communities I’m particularly pleased by the visible decline in the number of young unemployed Mâori. The March figures revealed a 90 per cent reduction in the number of Mâori 18 and 19-year olds on an unemployment benefit.

Youth Transition services have been a key, particularly the joint effort made by central and local government in the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs. The Taskforce’s goal is to have all 15 to 19-year-olds in work, education, training or other activities that contribute to their long-term economic independence and wellbeing by December 2007.

And we’re well on track. The number of young people on Unemployment Benefit for longer than 13 weeks has dropped from 9,520 in March 2000 to just 596 as at March 2007. A drop of 94 percent!

There’s no better time for us to be continuing to invest in the potential of Mâori; building the economic platform for progress; and supporting all whânau to have security and opportunity.

This Labour Government makes no excuses for doing much to help those at the bottom and those in the middle. That is because we understand that, unlike the 1990s, none should be left out, no one should be left behind.

Minister Carter will outline the progress being made in Housing

Hon Chris Carter
Minister for Housing

Access to good quality, affordable housing is fundamental to a family's wellbeing, and a properly functioning society. Housing is associated with better outcomes in health, education, employment and wealth.

Sadly, the social experiments of the 80s and 90s seriously eroded housing for tens of thousands of New Zealand families. Market rents for state houses forced many families to live in dangerously overcrowded conditions.

Over the past seven years, the Labour-led Government has focused on restoring confidence in the quality of housing; the availability and affordability of state housing; the effectiveness of the law governing the rental market; and the opportunities families have for homeownership.

Today nearly 59,000 families in state houses enjoy income-related rents, in marked contrast to the misery of market rents in the 1990s and there are 10% more state houses than in 1999.

Budget 2007 seeks to make still more gains by extending two highly successful housing initiatives – the Health Housing programme and the Housing Innovation Fund.

The Healthy Housing programme works with at-risk households to tackle health-related housing issues, such as overcrowding.

Budget 2007 sets aside $21 million capital and $2.8 million in operating funding to extend the Healthy Housing programme for a further three years, and introduce it to Wellington for the first time.

The Housing Innovation Fund provides government assistance to stimulate the development of more affordable housing. It is to be extended with $12 million of capital funding for 2008/09, and $7.8 million of operating funding over 2007/08 through to 2010/11.

Since it was established, the Fund has supported the construction of 208 new social housing units, and the refurbishment of a further 301 units and leveraged some $21.4m from philanthropic or private investors.

The Government recognises that as the number of New Zealanders renting grows, the law governing tenancies, and the services available to tenants and landlords, will become more important.

As a result, we have improved the advice and mediation services provided through Tenancy Services. There are now 85 locations offering mediation and advice.

The government is also reviewing the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 to ensure a fairer rental market for both landlords and tenants.

While renting is important part of housing in New Zealand, homeownership is equally important, if not more so.

Already the Government has assisted thousands of New Zealanders to overcome that challenge through the Welcome Home Loan scheme, which underwrites households on the margins of traditional lending criteria.

In Budget 2007 we are investing $1.4 million in the design of a new Shared Equity scheme to help households in higher priced metropolitan areas. Shared Equity would see the Crown take equity stakes in houses as a way of lowering their cost to families.

This initiative, like the measures that precede it, will continue to help ensure New Zealand families have the opportunity of enjoying a safe, secure and affordable place to live.

Now back to you Minister Maharey for the conclusion.

Minister Maharey
Lead Minister for Families Young and Old

Conclusion

Thank you Minister Carter, and thanks to all my Families Young and Old colleagues for outlining the journey to date and ahead in their respective portfolios.

The journey this Government began in 1999 focused on moving New Zealand away from the old economy to a new one; on improving the health, education levels, and living standards of all our people – and the services which support our needs.

The experience of the last seven years shows that today this country is on a strong and steady course toward greater affluence and dynamism, towards more opportunity, more security.

What the experience of the last seven years also tells us is that New Zealanders can continue to rely on the Labour-led government to put in place the policies that will deliver the future we want for our children and our children’s children.

And to conclude - you will have heard talk of budget surplus and be wondering where this has gone. You will shortly hear the Budget speech. One of the platform initiatives within the budget is the KiwiSaver initiative which will provide help for individuals to save through a government top up, and encouragement for employers to contribute through a tax credit. This initiative, together with the remainder of the Budget, means there is no surplus.

Looking ahead, we know that meeting the challenges New Zealand Families Young and Old face in the 21st century requires substance. We know our future is dependent on long-term sustainable strategies for our economy, society, environment, culture and way of life.

That is the course we have been steering. And that is the course the initiatives included in Budget 2007 that we’ve outlined today continue to take.

Thank you.