Speech: English - National’s Annual Conference
New Zealand National Party
Rt Hon Bill
English
Prime
Minister &
National Party
Leader
Speech to
National’s Annual Conference
Thank you for
that generous welcome.
I quite liked that video. I was
particularly pleased they left out the spaghetti and
pineapple pizza.
Delegates, Cabinet colleagues, MPs,
fellow National Party members.
Isn’t New Zealand a
great place to live?
We’ve got a strong economy. More
New Zealanders are staying home to build their lives here.
And we’re confident about our place in the world.
Few
countries have such a positive outlook.
All of you in the
National Party have contributed to that success.
You’ve
worked hard in the interests of New Zealand through the good
times and the bad.
And on the threshold of election year,
you’ve seamlessly installed a new leadership
team.
Thank you.
Thank you for your support. Thank you
for your confidence. And thank you for the honour.
I want
to thank someone who keeps it real and has a talent for
connecting with New Zealanders – my deputy Paula
Bennett.
Before the last election, I was campaigning in
Hamilton and a woman stopped me in a shopping mall.
This
woman told me that, like Paula, her daughter had been a
teenage solo mother and had lost her way a bit.
Somehow,
the daughter ended up going along to one of Paula’s
speeches.
That young woman was so inspired that she left
that speech and enrolled at teachers’ college and is now
doing really well.
Paula – that’s what I call making
a difference.
After the Budget last month, one
commentator said some Budgets focus on infrastructure, some
on public services and some on raising incomes.
I want to
thank the first Finance Minister to pull off all three at
once – my friend and colleague, the talented Steven
Joyce.
Steven sure is better than the last finance
guy.
And his discipline and focus on issues that matter
are at the core of National’s success.
But he is
following the previous Finance Minister’s advice –
don’t take too much notice of the Prime Minister.
I’m
proud of our other senior ministers Gerry Brownlee, Simon
Bridges, Amy Adams and Jonathan Coleman.
Together we lead
a united Cabinet, and a Caucus that’s connected to our
communities and focused on what matters.
We lead a
Government that delivers for all New Zealanders.
But
we’re only Members of Parliament because of you, the
National Party.
I want to thank our fantastic President
Peter Goodfellow.
My thanks to our Board, electorate
chairs, all our volunteers and the professional team at
National Party HQ.
You are the backbone of our
party.
Your efforts will be crucial in the upcoming
election campaign.
It will be tough. It will be tight.
But we are united, we are energised and we are ready.
I
also want to thank someone who at times might have felt she
was a solo mother raising six children – the love of my
life, Mary.
Mary, and Luke, Tom, Maria, Rory, Bart and
Xavier, thanks for all your advice and support.
Your
sacrifice is our privilege.
Delegates, at the end of last
year, we farewelled a man who gave so much to this
party.
He was a great Prime Minister and a fantastic
leader. We are a more confident country because of him –
the incomparable Sir John Key.
Back in December we wished
John well and then got straight back on with the
job.
Because we understand that being in Government is
not about us. It’s about what we do for people – making
a difference to their lives.
Because National is a party
that cares about people and gets things done.
We are
upfront about the challenges, and we are practical about the
solutions.
And we listen, because others care too and
have insights we can learn from.
This party’s
principles are our anchor.
A belief in the empowering
nature of free enterprise, individual freedom and personal
responsibility.
Principles that are the foundation of
success for New Zealand.
But none of them is more
important than the Kiwi belief in a fair go and our
willingness to give a hand up to those less
fortunate.
They are equally deserving of an opportunity
to contribute to society and to set off down their own path
to independence.
I strongly believe that if we can build
on our current success, we can offer everyone better
opportunities.
On Thursday I met 25 recovering drug
addicts, and I admired their quiet courage to change their
lives.
That day I also spoke at the World Class New
Zealand Awards, where I met Kiwis whose brilliance is
changing lives around the world.
And this week we will
beat the Lions again, win back the America’s Cup and
Lorde’s new album will be number one in the
charts.
Delegates, that’s why I’m optimistic about
New Zealand’s future and why I back all New Zealanders to
succeed.
Their hard work over many years, backed by
National’s strong economic plan, has created one of the
fastest growing economies in the developed world.
We’re
creating 10,000 jobs a month.
The books are in surplus
and debt is falling.
Exports are growing.
And remember
those long debates about why so many Kiwis were
leaving?
Well, now they’re staying.
Five years ago a
net 40,000 people were leaving for Australia every
year.
This year, a net 800 came home.
So 150,000 more
Kiwis now live and work here, instead of on the other side
of the Tasman.
That really is success.
Some don’t
see it that way. They see it as too many people, too many
houses, too many problems.
But if that pressure is driven
by a generation of New Zealanders staying home because they
see better opportunities here, then I embrace it.
It’s
a choice.
We either decide we’re up for it, or we’re
not.
The opposition have certainly made their view of New
Zealand clear.
And after nine long years, their policies
are just like them – worse than when they started.
They
think more projects like the Waterview Tunnel are too much
for us, that trade is to be feared and housing developments
opposed.
They’re too negative to welcome
opportunity.
The Labour leader says it’s time for a
breather.
He hasn’t done anything, and he’s already
out of breath.
Their bleak and lazy view of our country
smacks of a lack of confidence in New Zealanders – that
somehow it’s all too hard to be successful.
Well,
National is up for it. And New Zealanders are
too.
National will take the path of growth and openness
– and govern with the ambition New Zealanders have
earned.
Because that’s the attitude that has delivered
a strong economy and strong government finances.
It’s
delivered more jobs, more apprenticeships and more
police.
Better roads, better classrooms and better
broadband.
Higher wages, higher school pass rates and
higher benefits for struggling families.
Less crime, less
tax and less unemployment.
Fewer regulations, fewer
rheumatic fever cases, and one I’m particularly proud of,
60,000 fewer kids in benefit-dependent
households.
That’s what National’s delivering for New
Zealanders.
And families get some of the biggest
benefits.
Let me tell you how.
Last year, I met a
group of young mums in West Auckland.
I listened to their
stories of grappling with the pressures of family and
finances, paying for housing and putting aside for the
future.
National is improving their lives.
They’ll
find it easier to get their children into early childhood
education, thanks to a significant extra taxpayer
investment.
It’s cheaper for them to go to the doctor
and get prescriptions, with free doctors’ visits for under
13s.
Their older children are now more likely to get
NCEA.
In April last year, those families on a benefit
received an extra $25 a week – the first increase in over
40 years.
They may have moved into work, given well over
200,000 jobs have been created in the last three
years.
And if one of those women is a care and support
worker, she will get a significant pay boost from next week
– $200 more a fortnight for a full-time worker on the
minimum wage.
That’s on top of normal pay
increases.
Since we came into office, the average wage
has increased by around $12,000 – twice the rate of
inflation.
These are the opportunities that come from
growth and National embraces them.
But we know we must
keep investing to support that growth.
And we know we can
– because we’re doing it already.
By building the
Waterview Tunnel to help complete the Auckland motorway
network.
By investing in other significant roads, so four
lanes will stretch from Cambridge to Whangarei and from
Levin to Wellington.
By rolling out ultra-fast broadband
so that by 2020 we will be one of the world’s most
connected countries.
All at the same time as rebuilding
Christchurch and Kaikoura.
We can all be proud of what
we’ve achieved, but it’s not enough.
It’s not
enough for people whose businesses are just taking off, or
whose lives are just turning around.
It’s not enough
for first home buyers waiting for more houses to be
built.
It’s not enough for people who haven’t yet
seen the benefits of growth.
We need to do
more.
Already this year we’ve announced significant
steps in our plan to ensure all New Zealanders share the
benefits of growth.
Next month we’ll see the first
group of the extra 1125 police staff arrive at the Porirua
Police College.
From April, the Family Incomes Package
– which Labour opposed – will boost the incomes of 1.3
million New Zealand families by an average of $26 a
week.
For one of those West Auckland families I mentioned
earlier, if they are earning $48,000 a year with two
children, their income will rise by $35 per week from 1
April.
And depending on their housing costs, they could
be eligible for an additional $100 per week in Accommodation
Supplement.
By June next year, we’ll have delivered
nearly 3000 of the 34,000 houses we will build in Auckland
over the next 10 years – adding to the 10,000 a year
already being built
And we’re working at making New
Zealand predator free.
You see, these are the positive
choices that a growing economy and growing surpluses give
us.
And we’re just getting started.
So many New
Zealanders have potential yet to be realised and aspirations
yet to be fulfilled.
We will keep working hard for
them.
Today, I’m setting out my vision to take New
Zealand into the 2020s.
We’ll work for a New Zealand
where innovation and hard work is recognised and
rewarded.
We’ll work for a New Zealand that embraces
trade and growth, and the opportunities they
bring.
We’ll work for a New Zealand that looks after
the most vulnerable, and helps them change their
lives.
And we will work with any New Zealanders who share
our sense of purpose.
That’s National’s New Zealand.
And that’s my New Zealand.
We’re doing so well as a
country, but we must grasp this rare opportunity to do so
much more.
So here’s what we plan to do next if we have
the privilege of leading New Zealand for the next three
years.
We will deliver the economy, the environment, the
infrastructure, the incomes and the public services to take
New Zealand into the 2020s.
Before anything else,
National will keep the economy front and centre of
everything we do.
Because we know we have to keep the
economy growing before everyone can share in the
benefits.
Our economy is becoming more dynamic and
diversified.
Traditional strengths, such as meat and
dairy, continue to grow.
And we’re seeing fantastic
developments in new service industries like ICT, tourism,
education and high-tech manufacturing.
National will
continue to support that growth.
Another priority will be
protecting the environment for future generations, and
growing the value of New Zealand’s clean green brand –
our strategic advantage in a competitive world.
With a
strong economy we can have high environmental
standards.
So we’ll work with local government and
farmers to invest extensively to improve the quality of our
rivers and lakes.
We’ll work to resolve the challenging
infrastructure requirements for urban water.
And we will
ensure that the quality of every significant waterway across
our country is regularly measured, to make sure they
improve.
Next, we’ll build the roads, schools,
hospitals, housing, rail and broadband to support growth
through our ambitious $32 billion infrastructure programme
– the biggest in New Zealand’s history.
I tell you,
it’s a good time to have shares in an orange cone
company!
The next stage is to allocate the $1 billion
Housing Infrastructure Fund, which will help to build tens
of thousands of new homes sooner and faster.
We will have
more to stay about that in the next few weeks.
We’ll
partner with local government and the private sector, and
use all available financing and funding mechanisms to get
more things done, rather than get hung up on who does
it.
And we’ll continue to seek more worthy projects to
add to that programme.
Another priority will be further
raising take-home incomes and reducing taxes.
National
wants to do more to put more money in people’s pockets and
reduce the pressure on those families most in need.
We
believe that taxpayers make better use of their own money
than politicians.
A strong economy on its own lifts
incomes.
But of course the Government can also help. The
Budget’s Family Incomes Package was an excellent step
forward.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could do it
again?
Well, we can.
If we are able to keep lifting
growth and carefully manage the public finances, we will be
able to further reduce taxes and lift incomes.
Finally,
National will push government agencies to provide even
better public services for their customers – all New
Zealanders.
We will keep investing in core services like
health and education – with an increasing focus on
tailoring services to the individual needs of your
family.
I’ll give you some examples.
Some of our
children aren’t doing as well in maths as they should
be.
That’s a stumbling block towards further study and
careers in science and technology.
So we’ll focus on
ensuring our young people have the maths and digital skills
to set them up for the 2030s, not the 1980s.
And in
health, too many of our young children end up in hospital
for avoidable illnesses like asthma, pneumonia, eczema and
dental conditions.
So we’ll work hard to resolve this
and ensure all our kids have a healthy start to
life.
Changing how government works is difficult and
takes time, but it’s worth it for the lives we can
change.
We’ll continue to focus on keeping our
communities safe.
As well as the extra police staff I
announced earlier this year, we want to roll out programmes
to target gangs, organised crime and drugs, to reduce the
harm they cause.
In other areas we’ll aim to have fewer
people who rely on government services.
By rolling out
the tools of social investment for all government social
services, we will massively improve the lives of our most
vulnerable citizens.
Our opponents think caring is
promising more money.
But the need for more spending is
often a sign of failure, not success.
I call it servicing
misery.
Our aim is simple – to change
lives.
Changing lives means delivering less crime, less
welfare dependence, less drug abuse, less self-harm, less
family violence, and fewer people unable to fend for
themselves.
Changing lives means caring enough to dig
into the nitty gritty and help someone become more
independent.
And I can tell you, this is a government
that really cares.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Over the next
three months, we will campaign hard to earn the privilege of
leading this great country for another term.
The choice
is stark.
You can choose a New Zealand which is open to
trade, open to investment, happy to have Kiwis stay home and
embraces the challenges of growth.
Or you can choose an
unruly alliance of Labour, the Greens and New Zealand
First.
A miserable group that finds growth frightening,
that wants to shut down investment, shut down trade, shut
down growth and shut down opportunity.
They would rather
New Zealand slowed down to their pace.
Well, we’re
going with ambition, success and opportunity.
Only one
party will go in to this election proud of getting the
Government's books back in black – National.
Only one
party knows what it takes to create new jobs and
opportunities – National.
Only one party will listen
and work with communities and families to change lives and
reduce dependency – National.
And only one party wants
to lead a successful, proud and confident country into the
2020s – it's National.
National is the party that will
drive New Zealand’s prosperity.
So let’s get out
there and tell New Zealanders – on September the 23rd,
give your party vote to National.
Thank you.