National 1993 Text: The Recovery “I think that the country is on the right track and I think that it will improve dramatically in the next ten years.” “Over 20% down to six and a half percent. Is that success or isn’t it.” “Families want stability, and this is what it is all about.” “It is not easy to do the right things, and I think in some, in many cases this is what the government has done, they’ve bit the bullet and we’ve all had to bite it with them.” “Everybody needs a plan and a path and a goal to follow and if you keep on changing the rules you can’t maintain that stability.” “From a student point of view, someone just emerging, it has had the effect that perhaps more students and more people coming out of university are starting to pick up jobs faster than they did, say, just a few years ago.” “Well I feel over the last few years, and under the National government, it hasn’t always been easy, there have been some very tough and unpopular policy decisions to be made, but most of these have been really necessary to set New Zealand on the path to recovery.” “Probably for the first time, I would say, in seven or eight years, we are looking at the opportunity of having the kind of growth we need.” Woman: “We had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 1990s, and I think now we’ve got there a period of stability is called for. The changes have been good, say maybe a bit fast, but now I want for my family stability, so I know their future is secure; I don’t want to see too much chopping and changing again so I don’t want a change of government.” Man: “We are on track, we are in the ninth consecutive quarter of recovery, that is historically a very high figure, a very long-standing recovery by New Zealand standards. We haven’t seen anything like it since the 1970s.” “The recovery has really started. So, unemployment will continue to drop.” “I don’t want to pay more taxes.” Music. There is a feel in my heart like a feel of the land. Picking up growing. We are not looking back, moving ahead because we are on the right track. In the heartland, from the heartland, from my land, New Zealand. We are making the country strong, we are well on our way, never look back, we are picking up pace and on the right track, in the heartland, from the heartland, from my land, New Zealand, New Zealand. Bolger: “Thank you everybody for a great welcome. And as a son of Taranaki, it is great to be home here to launch this campaign for the 1993 election here in New Plymouth, in Taranaki. If you like it is a bit like family, it is a bit like home. And thinking of family, I’m delighted to see my 91-year old mother, down here in the front row, thank you Gran for coming. Thank you very much, thank you. Great to see Joan’s parents over here with her too, thank you also for coming, thank you, thank you very much. “On the banner behind me, you see the legend: National, the spirit of recovery. That is what it is all about, the spirit of recovery, it is the platform. It is the platform from which we will fight the 1993 general election campaign. So we choose it with some care. It captures the essence of the recovery, which was made possible by the spirit shown by New Zealanders across the land. In the economic arena, the achievements of New Zealand are manifest. Indeed, the world is looking in awe at the remarkable turnaround the last three years have witnessed. But the theme we have chosen, the spirit of recovery, talks of more than just that recovery. It speaks loudly of that spirit, that Kiwi spirit, that made it all possible. You, and thousands like you, across the land that made it possible. Unleashing the energy of New Zealanders in education, in health, in the sciences, the arts, as well as in the economic arena have been the successes of our first term in office. Applying that same spirit, that same effort, that same energy to solving other challenges, the most important of which is unemployment, will be the focal point of our second term. We will not allow any group of New Zealanders to be consigned to a state of permanent disadvantage. “It is the spirit of recovery that will propel New Zealand forward along the path to the decent society we all seek. 1994 is the international year of the family. Let it be an occasion when we recognize what is often unstated. And that is the role of women in shaping the values of the nation. When I go home from my office to my family, my concerns are the same as any other parent. Joan and I want a good education for our children, and a job for them when they finish their training. We want to know that the public health system is there if we need it, and that they’ll be safe in our home or on the street. Our concerns are the same as all other parents. Looking back over the last three years I believe we can claim to be a government of common sense, and uncommon courage. It was such an approach that lead us to pass the Employment Contracts Act. We have not shied away from the tough challenges. We look for the right answers, not the easy ones. We are reforming the management of the public health system that was in danger of spending more money on administration than on making people well. We are revitalizing the education system so that it will provide the skills New Zealanders need in the twenty-first century. We have made more progress in settling claims under the Treaty of Waitangi in the past three years, than were made in the previous sixty. None of these things were easy. But at no time, and this is the important point, at no time did our courage fail us, we stayed with the task. Which is the reason why, we can now go to the country with our heads held high and seek a second-term in office, in fair anticipation that it will be granted. It is interesting to note that those at the back want to pay more taxes. That is what they want to do under Labour. That is what they want to do. It is interesting to note, that in those countries with which we have strong traditional links, they are debating the recession, while here in New Zealand we are debating the recovery. What a stark contrast in favour of New Zealand. That recovery came from a surge in our nation’s exports. Up from 15 billion three years ago to over 19 billion dollars today. An extra $4 billion, as they say, is big bickies. Our remarkable export performance was made possible because the government had the courage to pass the Employment Contracts Act, bringing sanity to the workplace. And because we were prepared to contain our own spending. Labour’s policy, listen to this back there, Labour’s policy of repealing the act is economic vandalism of the worst order. Inflation came down from 5% when we took office to 1.3%, about the lowest in the developed world. When inflation came down the cost of borrowing money came down also, with the 90-day bill rate dropping from 14.3% to only 5.5% today. Great news. It is not just those who are involved in the export sector who have benefitted from the process, in one way or another all New Zealanders have benefitted. If you have a mortgage on your own home, you are the biggest winners of all. The cost of servicing your borrowing, I am sure they are interested in it up the back, the cost of servicing your borrowing has halved in the past three years. Putting an extra $325 each month into the coffers of a family with a sixty thousand-dollar mortgage. That is like a four thousand-dollar tax free wage increase. Don’t let Labour take that away. And underpinning the recovery, is an even better piece of good news. Real growth has returned to the New Zealand economy. And this has occurred at the time when exactly the opposite is happening internationally. In 1990, with a Labour government, New Zealand had the lowest growth rate among the twenty-four OECD nations, the developed nations. We now have the second highest growth rate, we achieved that with your help in three years. And the growth dividend is jobs and more jobs, that is the growth dividend. With growth this year of around three percent, we are doing better than Australia, Britain, the miracle economies of Germany and Japan and the great economy of the United States. And what is better, it is predicted we will do even better again next year. Can I say to the gentleman now is not the time for turning back, for changing course, for seeking wild new direction, for people are sick of change, they want continuity, they want certainty, and that is what they will get from a re-elected National government. In the next four weeks, in the next four weeks, it is critical that the country come to realise that all that has been so painfully won, could be even more painfully lost. With Labour the spirit of recovery would become the ghost of the recovery, because Labour would tax the life out of it. That is what this election will be fought on. That is what this election will be fought on. National’s recovery versus Labour’s higher taxes. That is what it will be fought on. You do not need me to remind you of the colossal fraud they perpetrated on the New Zealand public, at the time of the last election, when Labour campaigned on the claim they had balanced the books. And what did we find when we opened them? We found a deficit of two thousand, six hundred, million dollars. And the Bank of New Zealand, the country’s largest bank, about to go belly up and the Labour cabinet had known about that for months, that is what we found. That will never happen again. We have introduced a law into parliament to stop that happening again, a law that says in future the books must be open before the elections, not after. Before not after. You don’t need me to remind you that the Labour members who deceived you in 1990 are still there. Moore, Moore, Clark, Caygill, Prebble is still there, Cullen, and even David Lange and he wants to come back. You didn’t trust them in 1990, why should you trust them in 1993. They can never, that group can never escape their past, they should never, ever lead a New Zealand government again. Never! Listen to this my friends up the back. When they tell you, when they tell you, they can achieve four percent growth, remember that they averaged zero point one, a tenth of one percent, in their last three years. Zero point one. When they talk of new jobs, remember Labour destroyed 100,000 jobs in their last four years. The only thing you could trust Labour to do is put up taxes and they will if they are elected. Last time they lifted the GST from 10% to 12.5%. This time they would have to lift GST to 17.5% just to cover their major promises. That is what they would have to do. Such a tax would put a huge unfair burden on families across the length and breadth of New Zealand. I’ll give you a bit of advice. Don’t let Labour put your money where their mouth is. The only way of stopping Labour make you pay higher taxes is to vote National. If you ask New Zealanders what is the major concern in our country today, they will tell you it is the number of people unemployed, and I agree with them. I do not underestimate the problem, but there are somethings that should be said which are positive. I address these remarks in particular to parents who are worried about jobs for their children. The first is that the problem is no longer getting worse, it is no longer getting worse as it was in 1990, it is getting better. There are more people employed now than there were in 1990, and the number of unemployed has fallen every month this year bar one. Over the past year over 17 thousand new jobs have been added. And the Institute of Economic Research has predicted that over one hundred thousand jobs will be created over the next four to five years. About the same number as Labour lost in their last five years. All this is encouraging, all this is encouraging, but like the rest of New Zealand I want to do more. It is therefore my intention to establish a special Prime Minister’s taskforce on unemployment to explore what further initiatives can be undertaken. I give full recognition to the fact that the original suggestion was made by the leader of the Alliance coalition. It was Mr Anderton who said, if we can do it on retirement income why can’t we do it on employment. I agree, we not only can, we should pull the ideas of all political parties. One of the advantages, of a stronger economy and a much lower forecast deficit, is that we will be able to put more emphasis on assisting communities with their initiatives to create jobs. I can confirm that Employment Minister Bill Birch will be diverting five million dollars of his Taskforce Green programme to assist long-term unemployed upgrade tourist related projects. For example, by improving walking tracks. That is sensible. That is sensible because growth in tourist numbers will create a huge number of new jobs. What worries me is that some of our unemployed may not have the skills to take up jobs when they arise. This is why my government has put heavy emphasis on producing a seamless education system to ensure that every New Zealander gets the skills he or she needs to secure a job. That is why the National government in just three years has invested an extra three hundred and sixty-two million dollars in education. It is a good investment. That extra spending has enabled us to increase early childhood institutions by 605, including 302 new childcare centres. That is why, in the same period, the number of students in tertiary education in New Zealand has increased by nearly 80,000. In addition, we plan to raise the school leaving age to 17 years. The other issue of concern to many New Zealanders is health. And health is another area where we have increased funding, up one hundred and twenty-eight million dollars this year. That gives the lie to Labour’s claim that we’ve reduced funding. When National came to office, New Zealand had a health management system in which too much was being spent on inefficient administration and too little on making people well. We were not getting good value for the four billion dollars we spent on public health care. And I repeat yet again, that the health reforms are not about Americanising the health system, the Americans are more likely to adopt our health system than we are to adopt theirs. The reforms are not about saving money. They are about spending money better. If you want an example, I’m sure they do, if you want an example of that process at work there is no better example than Middlemore hospital in South Auckland. Two weeks ago, it was announced that 30 management positions are going to be axed and replaced by, as one newspaper put it, the kinds of people you like to see in hospitals: nurses and doctors. The drama, this will interest them won’t it, this is where their ideology comes from, the drama that unfolded in Moscow earlier this week, makes all of us realise how fortunate we are to live in New Zealand. How blessed we are to live in a stable democracy. Throughout our history we have been willing to play our part in the world. New Zealanders, our defence forces, are servicing with United Nations peacekeeping forces in many of the world’s trouble spots. We can be proud of the work that they are doing on your behalf, and on behalf of world peace. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that not all New Zealanders working to reduce suffering are there in an official capacity. Let me tell you this true story of kiwi spirit. A group of young kiwis, I think you should listen, a group of young kiwis based in London are driving into the warzone of Sarajevo to take in food, aid and medical supplies and bring out the suffering. There work is something quite extraordinary. Their aid effort has already raised more than nine million dollars. And its title the serious road trip seriously understates the case. I’d like to pause to recognize these young men and women and the job they are doing. On the international front, we are recognized as a front-line advocate of opening up international trade. Especially trade in agricultural commodities. Something of great importance to New Zealand. A four-year joint study by the World Bank and the OECD, estimates that a successful world GATT round, would add 387 billion dollars to world prosperity. I said a week ago, and I repeat today, it is too ludicrous to contemplate, that all that could be lost because a few hundred French farmers drive their tractors onto the road. France must be left in no doubt, as to the anger of the world, if they prevent the GATT round being concluded successfully this side of Christmas. In the pursuit of world trade, I’ve traveled the world and met the leaders of many nations. But it is not the travels to the capitals of the world that has given me the greatest satisfaction, but rather the travelling within New Zealand. I believe I can claim to have in the past 12 months, taken the Prime Minister’s ship of this country back to the people. The recover of the New Zealand spirit which all now acknowledge, has its genesis in the New Zealand heartland in the middle of 1991. In recognition of that, I began the first of what would come to be known as the Prime Minister’s good will tours to the heartland. Trips, trips where I could go out and meet and thank the New Zealanders who are making the difference, and discuss with them what others were doing in other parts of the country. Everywhere I go, I’ve met ordinary kiwis doing extraordinary things. If you like, the goodwill tours have given me the opportunity to feel the pulse beat of our nation’s revival. The issue of the Queen’s chain has caused much debate recently, much of it based on slogans not facts. Let me give you one clear commitment, my instructions to the Minister of Conservation, Dennis Marshall, is that I will now allow the legislation to precede unless it improves access for New Zealanders to the Queen’s chain. That is my commitment. I turn now to the most important issue of superannuation. For too long retired New Zealanders, the income of retired New Zealanders, was used as a political football. That had to stop. We told the people of New Zealand that we would attempt to solve the problem of uncertainty in retirement in a different way, by seeking a bipartisan agreement. Many people thought that could not be done, but we did it. Six weeks ago, I sat down with the leaders of the Labour and the Alliance parties to announce a binding agreement that will guarantee New Zealanders’ financial security in their later years. And in doing so we collectively demonstrated that decency in politics is not dead. It was, I like to think, an example of the type of cooperative approach we will see more of. Let us hope we can now get the same type of cooperation as we launch our campaign against unemployment. This election will determine the future of our country for a generation. I mentioned at the beginning that we had done something that no New Zealand government has done before. We’ve actually written and published our version of where we plan, and with your help, to take this country. The document is called The Path to 2010. It covers a twenty-year time span, the three years we have already traversed, and the 17 that lie before us. It puts all of this into a perspective of New Zealand’s place in the world, so today I ask New Zealanders everywhere, the young and not so young alike, to join me, to keep the spirit alive, to keep the momentum and the recovery moving strongly forward, so that we can build an education system that ensures the skills we have are equal to the best. So that we can have a world-class health system, to improve the peace of mind and the quality of life of our people. We will launch an all-out assault on unemployment. We must integrate Maori more completely into the community. We must ensure that law and order is maintained, both in the street and in the board rooms. These programmes and much more will happen under a re-elected National government. Where our opponents offer you more upheaval, we offer consistency. Where they offer a return to an imperfect past, we offer you a better future. Where they seek electoral favour by attacking our integrity, we are winning it by giving the nation hope. Where they talk of problems we talk of solutions. Where they plan higher taxes we say no. And where they have no direction, we have a clear vision of our nation’s future. This is the message we will be taking to the country over the next four weeks. These are the issues upon which the nation will vote on November sixth. And I am confident that when the votes are counted, we will be given that mandate to govern, a mandate to keep the spirit of recovery going. Thank you, thank you very much. Heartland music.