NZSAS Gallantry in Afghanistan recognised

Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday that she was delighted that the Queen has approved the award of the Victoria Cross to a member of the New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) for his actions in saving the life of a comrade under heavy fire from opposing forces.  Three other gallantry decorations are also being awarded to members of the NZSAS. All four decorations have been awarded for actions in Afghanistan in 2004.

"The Victoria Cross for New Zealand is the supreme military award for valour. This is the first Victoria Cross for New Zealand to be awarded since it was instituted in 1999. This decoration continues the tradition of the Victoria Cross previously awarded under a British Royal Warrant to members of the New Zealand military since 1860, the last of which was awarded in 1946," Helen Clark said.
 
"Corporal Bill (Willy) Apiata of the NZSAS has been awarded the Victoria Cross for New Zealand for his actions in saving the life of a comrade under heavy fire from opposing forces.
 
"Corporal Apiata carried a severely wounded fellow soldier across open ground while coming under intense attack. He did this despite the extreme danger to himself.  This brave action saved his comrade's life."

Celebrate the start of 20 Hours free education for 3 and 4 year olds

Prime Minister Helen Clark said this week that the take-up rate of the Labour-led Government's 20 hours free Early Childhood Education policy is a vote of confidence in the initiative. More than 65,000 three and four year olds are benefiting from the policy.
 
"More than two thirds, or 70 per cent, of three and four year olds currently enrolled at teacher-led centres will be the first to benefit from this visionary and historic policy," Helen Clark said.  "20 Hours Free ECE is the most significant expansion of the education system since the rollout of free secondary education by the First Labour Government in the 1930s.
 
"We firmly believe that cost should not stand in the way of providing access to quality early childhood education. That is why the Labour-led government will now pay for 20 Hours Free ECE a week."
 
You can watch a short video of Education Minister Steve Maharey's visit to a Wellington early childhood education centre offering 20 hours free here.

Making easy work of saving -- KiwiSaver takes off

From this week New Zealanders have the best chance in a generation to start securing the retirement they deserve, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said today.  "The official launch of KiwiSaver on 1 July means more New Zealanders will now have the chance to build a substantial pool of their own savings to call on when they retire," Dr Cullen said.

"More New Zealanders will share in the wealth we create, more capital will be available to help Kiwi businesses expand with Kiwi savings.

"KiwiSaver makes easy work of saving. The government is supporting saving with a $1000 kickstart and a $20 a week tax credit for savers -- or $1040 each year.  Employers will have to match contributions (phased in over four years), offset by a $20 a week tax credit. This means you can save far more than on your own.

"KiwiSaver will be good for families, good for businesses, good for our future prosperity."

Government delivers on Primary Health promise

A major milestone in the delivery of healthcare to all New Zealanders was reached this week with the universal roll out of cheaper doctor visits and cheaper prescription charges.

"This is an achievement I am immensely proud of, and an achievement worth celebrating," Health Minister Pete Hodgson says. "This final roll out for the 25-44 aged group means another roughly one million New Zealanders now have access to affordable primary healthcare."

For a young family, the annual cost of going to a general practitioner has fallen from about $940 a year on average to around $440 while for an older couple who on average paid about $780 year, the cost is now around $340 a year. The price of GP visits had already fallen by around half for New Zealanders aged 45 and over and those aged 24 years and younger.

The cost of prescriptions has also fallen with the standard charge decreasing from around $15 to $3.

Major climate change initiative on conservation land

Six pilot projects to store carbon on about 40,000 hectares of public conservation land are to be tendered to commercial investors in a major new climate change initiative announced by Conservation Minister Chris Carter this week.
 
"A unique opportunity exists to significantly increase the level of investment in the conservation of New Zealand’s native forests and species while at the same time offering New Zealand companies a way of offsetting the carbon emissions of their business," Mr Carter said.
 

"To capitalise on this opportunity, the government has agreed to permit the development of six pilot projects on public conservation land, which will be offered to commercial investors in a competitive tender run by the Department of Conservation (DOC)."
 
Details of the projects are still being developed but they are likely to be of two types. The first will set aside specific areas of conservation land for either replanting or natural regeneration of forests on land which was not in forest prior to 1989, thus making these measures Kyoto compliant. The second type of project, likely to be the largest of the two, will involve major pest control initiatives on conservation land to measure and assess increases in carbon storage, both through the removal of pests which may emit methane and through increased growth in shrubs and trees with the pests gone.