Labour 1996 opening Announcer: “And a very good afternoon everybody. 7 minutes past midday, welcome to democracy. The dictionary, in fact, describes democracy as government by the people, the form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by the people, or by their elected agents, under a free electoral system. And our guest today is the Rt Hon Helen Clark. Helen was first elected to parliament in 1981. Helen is a former deputy leader of the Opposition, opposition spokesman on health…” Music: “It is about people, it is about people, people of New Zealand. 1938, Social Security Act, Walter Nash; 1940, Peter Fraser, war-time leader, international statesman, education. Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the Rt. Hon Helen Clark, leader of the Labour Party and her husband Dr Peter Davis. New Zealand, new heart, new hope, New Zealand. Clark: “I believe in the Labour Party because I think it has done a tremendous amount for this country. I know that it put social security in place, I know it delivered free public health and education, I know it put this country on its feet after the Great Depression, and I know that at each opportunity it has served the people of New Zealand, its done a lot that has been good. Sure, it has made mistakes, nobody who tried anything didn’t make mistakes, but overall its record is a tremendous one for this country. Interviewer: What changes do you see the party playing now, what is the role you play.” Clark: “Labour has stood for the ordinary working person who has aspires to have their house and their car and a decent life for their kids. And that means we focus very much in on the basic issues of health, education, housing, the level of superannuation, is accident compensation adequate, work and training for young people, very basic issues that we are talking about. And we feel that, actually, the last few years the baby has been thrown out with the bath water when it comes to change in New Zealand. It has just gone too far and people feel they’ve lost something fundamental. And, as for economic recovery, the ordinary person is saying when am I going to see some of it, because it hasn’t helped me yet. Man: “The main thing around here is tourism and the balance between how far do you go to develop a town like this, and do you finally kill what people come to see.” Clark: “The goose that lays the golden egg. Well look, what I think is distinctive about what Labour has got to offer is that we are talking local economic development. And I think the economic development strategy that Queenstown has, has to be compatible with local wishes. And when I visited before I’ve often sensed a feeling, often quite explicitly expressed, that people often feel the development of this town is determined by the way the Tourism Board decides to promote New Zealand.” Man: “We had a sort of a summit here last year, and with friends of yours as in Mr Cooper and… Clark: “And they came down and shouted at people” Man: “Right, and their idea was take it as it is or leave it.” Clark: “Well I don’t agree with them. National Party politicians come back and say but it is good for the town this development. Well, they need to say what is it doing for me, my rates have gone through the roof, my quality of life is different, this isn’t the peaceful town I retired to, you know there are a whole pile of issues for those folk.” Woman: “Another thing: rent and the accommodation subsidy for the beneficiary is hopeless down here, $55 maximum and I don’t know anyone $55.” Clark: And you are on Auckland rates, right, in terms of rents.” Woman: “So please plug that Helen because I have people in here that are absolutely desperate, paying enormous rents for grotty places.” Clark: “Doug Graham has written to me on an issue which I understand Whetu has been assiduously promoting, and that is a lengthened period for the Maori option, Whetu. Out to four months. The law reform miscellaneous bill, and is that to go through next week? (Background discussion). I want to make some progress on key policies today and so the ones that I am most keen to see through this morning are health, our draft Maori policy, which is largely unchanged from the December ‘94 framework, but we need to point out to you where the changes are proposed, and also I’m keen to see the broadcasting policy go through this morning, what are you mouthing at me Graham?” Lianne Dalziel: “The new public health structure, this obviously will be a particular focus of the launch of the health policy because it is the area where those who have an interest in health services, those who work within our hospitals and different areas, will be particularly interested in seeing what we are going to do. We’ve basically said that the experiment has failed, and that therefore we will remove the unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, and again that is the language I’ve been using over the last few months, and we will now deliver on that by disbanding the four Regional Health authorities. Clark: The health system is indeed a disaster because irresponsible people thought you could make a business out of it, not a service. So the patients become a profit centre, the wards become a business unit, it is nuts. And we’ve got to put the heart back into it, and say this is about people, it is about service, it is about responding to the health needs of the community. Don’t try and make money out of it, that is not what it is for.” “Mr Speaker, my question is to the Prime Minister and asks “Given the Prime Minister’s statement that he really cares, does he consider it acceptable for one nurse and an enrolled nurse to be left to cope with 23 patients in a ward at Waikato hospital, 12 needing intravenous injections overnight, three who were confused, six who required one-on-one nursing, and four who were incontinent. If he considers that a caring health system, after five years of so-called reform, I’d like to hear his definition of caring. Annette King: “If we are really going to turn the health system round to one that focusses on people, we’ve really got to address that waiting list problem. If we don’t do it now, quite frankly, I don’t hold out much hope for the future of the health system. Oh, that is the big thing, I get a lot of people saying to me, I want to be a patient, I don’t want to be a client. Clark: “The changes the National Party made brought in a lot more bureaucrats, accountants, lawyers, managers, contract people, and none of it ends up in a single extra service for the patient down the end of the line. And that’s what people feel. They feel the money is being gobbled up in all these overheads. We’ve got to simplify the system, get the money down to the patient, and to health promotion.” Topp Twin: “It is the Labour Party launch. What electorate are you from Jean?” Jean: “Helen Clark’s”. Top Twin: “I feel a song coming on. I think we’ll do a song for the Labour Party and for Helen Clark. What do you reckon? There is a land across the ocean, it seems to be calling my name…” Clark: “And if we can get in a little bit earlier by plane I hope to meet some of the locals and...” Clark: “People are fed up with politicians promising things they can’t do and deep down they know they won’t do. That is why the wish list people won’t be taken very seriously. It is not real. What Labour is saying is real and it is moderate, it does what can be afforded, it sets priorities. Priority number one, get rid of poverty, get rid of these terrible state house rentals, give people the dignity of buying their own food at the supermarket, not queuing at the foodbank, that is priority number one for me. Along with ensuring that people can get an operation without bankrupting themselves, get an education without going into this terrible debt, these are basic practical things our people have got a right to ask for.” Clark: “Yip, we met on the way in, yep. What are all those bits. Oh the beltlets. Don’t lose a minute (Laughter).” Clark: “The question really is whether you’ll let the National party go ahead with cutting taxes, which helps better off people all the time, or whether you’ll go for reinvesting back into the basics. And we’re going for the basics.” Man: “So few have had the benefits, reaping the benefits of the country for far too long. And it is the younger people who are suffering, and they are, the ordinary family. Not the older ones, the older ones are, but the younger ones are really getting hit hard.” Clark: “Families have had it hard these last few years. Families are under a lot of pressure. They are paying out a lot more, they pay more for health, they pay more for education, told to save for their super, mortgage rates haven’t been easy, property booms in some centres have made it tough. So family’s concerns have to be at the centre of what we do. Go out and talk to the Plunket mothers as I did in New Plymouth, where the Plunket family centre has been closed, and hear them talk about what the Plunket family centre did for them when they had postnatal depression, or their kids wouldn’t feed or sleep, or the kids shrieked all night. Then you’ll know why Plunket funding is an issue. Woman: “Every time I’ve rung someone up and said this is what is happening to parents…” Clark: “I said get out of parliament and go and talk to some real people. And then you might come back, fired up as I am, and say, hey, things could be so much better, you know, we could really change this place for better. So that is what keeps you going. Clark: “I think families are about security, love, enough food on the table, and supporting each other. And what we choose to do. I’d like every family to be able to offer that opportunity.” Clark: “People don’t want pie in the sky. I think most people’s aspirations are very modest. I think that National is looking at everything in terms of dollars and cents. People know that is how they look at the health system, how they look at education. They are obsessed with money and profit and the bottom line. Accountants do very well in this system, but the ordinary person knows the heart is missing from it. That is what we have got to put back.” Annette King: “If we can’t fund adequate income for the poorest in our community, then we can’t fund anything. Basic income for people to live on, basic care and protection for our children are the call on the state and we believe, Labour believes, we can fund them.” Clark: “The state house rents are a terrible problem in my electorate, which is inner city Auckland, and people are being rack rented out of the homes they’ve had for years. These are traditional working people’s suburbs, they happen now to be in the middle of a major city which has been through a property boom, apply the market rental and people can’t afford to live there, that is a terrible thing. People are being pushed out to the fringes of our city into the mobile home camps, into caravans, into shacks. Murray McCully is known in Auckland as the Minister of tents, caravans and shacks, not the Minister of housing. He is the Minister of no housing. That is one of the major issues that comes to me as an electorate MP in Auckland.” Clark: “Well it has to change, but it won’t change unless there is a change in government. We have to get ourselves in a position where we come out of the election leading a government, and with the support of the Alliance and I hope from NZF for changing the Employment Contracts Act.” Man: “What is Labour’s attitude towards the Employment Contracts Act?” Clark: “The Employment Contracts Act is about the only legislation in the western world which doesn’t recognize unions.” Man: “The worst in the western world.” Clark: “It is the worst in the western world, by far the worst, worse than anything the British have got.” Clark (to protestors): “What the hell is Shell doing?” Clark: “The employment contracts act is very bad law. It has affected a lot of workers badly. To deny working people, really the right to get together, for their better wages and conditions. We want people to be able to do that freely. And we want them to be able to contribute to building better companies, more profitable industries, and a stronger economy. Workers have got a stake in this economy and they’ve got to be able to express it through their organisations.” Man: “You’ve got a lot more compassion than a lot of these Ministers and that is sad, if you don’t have compassion in Parliament you got nothing. All you’ve got is a brick wall.” Michael Cullen: “Well the Employment Contracts Act is fundamentally unfair, it is biased in one direction. Both in its general approach and in detail it is weighted towards the employer side of the argument. Now we don’t want to go back to the old system of rigid national awards and automatic coverage by unions, workers should be able to choose who is going to represent them, but employers should then have to recognize that choice, which they don’t have to do under present law. And bargaining should occur in good faith. If all employers were good, and all workers responsible, we wouldn’t need any industrial relations law at all. But we do need law which is fair and balanced on both sides and moves us towards a more cooperative partnership in business, as we want to see between government and business.” Man: “Now in the polls, I know you hate talking about polls, you are actually holding your own now and in fact are showing an increase.” Clark: “Even a modest increase.” Man: “Does that mean you think your policies are getting through?” Clark: “Well I think so. We’ve been batting away at it for a long time. For a while people didn’t want to listen, you know they said you are the party of Roger Douglas. I’ve been saying, look, he has gone, Prebble has gone, those sort of people have gone, we are getting this show back on track, we are the old Labour Party, right.” Clark: Labour has had to come to terms with its past, some of it good, some of it bad. Problems in the eighties, some good things in the eighties. What we’ve had to do is chuck away the things that were bad, the people who cause the problem have gone, and we move on, we’ve listened to people and we’ve changed the policies which hurt people, we are back on track. And that is a very positive process. Not an easy one, but a positive one. Music and pictures including David Lange. Clark: “Look yes, I understand older people being very, very concerned about the future of superannuation and the surtax, but once you’ve left work you are not going to earn any more money and you’ve got a huge interest in what any government does with the super, and whether or not it taxes your savings and investments in a discriminatory way as the surtax has, now Labour’s policy clearly is to ensure that all retired New Zealanders, sixty-five years and older have the super. If they retire at 65 and older they will not be surcharged, in any way at all, and that is the message I think people will find very welcome.” Protestors: “Filthy Tory out, out, out. Free education now. We want Wyatt x5. We want Wyatt Creech because his government has absolutely destroyed the tertiary education system.” Trevor Mallard: “Realistically it is going to be a National led government or a Labour led government. Or a Winston led government that is going to keep fees at the same level. Your call.” Steve Maharey: “The policies of National are based on the principles of competition and so-called choice. What that really means is the end of the public education system, so New Zealanders under National will end up paying for kindergarten, compulsory schooling, for university, and they will pay in very large dollars. We are already seeing fees as high as $17,000 for a dentist, in the future, I think, if a National government is there, that will become commonplace. If you are rich you will buy yourself a good education, if you are anybody else you will just have to take what you can get. Clark: “Where is your lunch then?” Child: “I don’t have any yet.” Mallard: “Education is the future. Education provides a skilled workforce, it provides the thinkers for the future. We are not going to develop as a nation anymore on the basis, entirely, of primary produce or tourism, we are going to develop because we’re thinkers. We’ve had a good education system, we can have one again.” Clark: “What we are saying basically is that fees have got too high and students all should be getting some kind of allowance. You might know that 61% of all students don’t get any allowance at all at the moment.” “I think that the government’s refusal to fund further education has been the most limiting thing they have done. What could be more depressing than hearing young people who say no to Polytechnic courses, or nursing, or teaching or any form of study because they haven’t got the money. Who is the loser? Well, they are the loser, but so are we. We need those people. We need their skills, we need their vocation and their commitment, and for a government to stand in the way, as the National Party has, is criminal, it is letting people down, it is letting our entire country down. Girl: “How are you going to get lower fees?” Labour politician: “By cutting my tax cuts.” Girl: “Cutting your tax cuts, making your tax cuts less?” “Making the tax cuts less for high income people.” Cullen: “We’ve carefully calculated our programme over a three-year period on the basis of the latest fiscal forecasts, and we plan to run a lower rate of debt reduction than National is planning, we are quite clear about that. We think they are running an excessively fast rate of debt reduction. But we will continue to run government surpluses through-out that three year period, and pay for a carefully staged programme of social improvement.” Clark: Labour’s strength is that it knows what works. We put in place social security, we put in place state housing, we put in place decent health and education systems, so we know these things can be done. There is nothing about modern society that stops those things being done again. They can and will be done, they can and will be financed.” Cullen: “There is a need to improve our economic performance, and that can be done by a carefully staged process of strategic planning for New Zealand, for improving our exports, bringing in business, trade unions and others into a partnership for growth and development. National doesn’t have all the answers on the economy, and it has none of the answers on social policy.” Clark: If we get the fundamentals right in New Zealand, decent healthcare, housing, education, security, we’ll have a country again where the child of a factory worker can become a neurosurgeon. We’ll have a country where anything is possible for a person who strives, who works, who studies, who puts the effort in. That is what people ask for: opportunity to do these things. I want a government that is in tune with what ordinary people are thinking and feeling and wanting. I want a government that doesn’t throw the country back into debt. I want a government that is going to set very clear priorities. They will be around housing and health and education and living standards, very basic practical things. That is what I want to achieve. Democracies like ours haven’t thrown up a lot of women. And the general image of a Prime Minister has been of a middle aged or elderly bloke in a suit. Well that isn’t me. And all the characteristics you have to show to be effective in politics somehow work back against women. You see if you are strong, well you are tough, tough is not nice is it? Not nice in women. Everything is turned around. If you are determined you are somehow self-centred. And if you are forceful you are nagging, everything gets turned around. And then they think of women as somewhat emotional, you can never show emotion, but then if you don’t show emotion you are cold. You’ve got it. Because I’ve found men are incredibly emotional in politics, and when they have a good old cry in parliament everyone says isn’t that lovely.” Man: “Helen Clark is a person of incredible integrity. What she says she means. And what she says she’ll carry out.” Young woman: “Partially I guess I’m behind her because she is a woman, that is a factor. I also think she is very good personally, person to person, she is a good negotiator.” Young man: “She respects people who have different views, but she has a very clear direction and she knows what she wants to achieve.” Man in suit: “I think that Helen brings qualities such as firmness and a compassion for people and leadership.” Indian man: “She is a great leader, but she has got a heart of gold, she comes across well, and she feels for people.” Woman: “She is a trier, you can’t knock people for trying, and she is willing to get in there and give it a go, you can’t ask for anymore than that.” Balding man: “She would be the main reason I’m unconditionally voting Labour without really thinking really very much about the other parties. I just think she is brilliant.” Woman with shoulder length hair: “What she said really impressed me about women in politics and seeing a woman who had made it.” Man: “There is only one, I mean give that woman a job. We are all going to be so proud of her.” Music: “Aotearoa, Aotearoa. We can share the night, spend the day together as one, have your say, , you are never too young and never too old, ain’t going to leave you standing out in the cold. It is about people, it is about people, it is about people, people of New Zealand. Aotearoa, Aotearoa.” Announcer: “If you believe that health is about people not money, that education is a right not a privilege, and that families really do matter, if you believe in the dignity of old age, if you just feel it has all gone too far, so do we. Labour will make doctors’ visits cheaper, put patients first and cut waiting times, Labour will invest in education at all levels. Labour will increase family support, and help those most in need. Labour will abolish the surcharge on super, and stop asset testing, and still keep firm control of the economy. And that is just part of our plan.” Text: Labour: New heart. New hope. New Zealand.