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Speech to the ACT Conference, 15 March 2008

Ladies and gentlemen, our goal is not just to change the Government - our goal is to change the direction of our country; not just to replace the captain and crew of the ship of State, but to change where that ship is headed.

And the good news is that we don't have to get our hands on the wheel to change course - we just have to control the rudder. 

On a big ship's rudder, there's a mini-rudder called a trim tab.  That little trim tab is very powerful, because with only the tiniest tweak it builds up pressure on the rudder and pulls it round.  And that turns the entire ship.

So ACT is going to be the trim tab on the rudder that steers New Zealand on a new and exciting course!  Because change course we must.

Since Helen Clark came to power, more than 400,000 Kiwis have voted with their feet; they've left New Zealand, and they've left for good.  Last year's departures alone wouldn't fit in Eden Park – they would when it gets its World Cup makeover, but on our present course, even the 60,000-seater won't hold them.

Even those with the strongest ties to this land have left in droves, with one in six Maori now living in Australia.

We can't sustain that loss of our best and brightest.

We're here today because we want to build a country in which our young, our talented and our skilled want to stay.  Stay here at home and contribute, not flee to greener pastures - especially green and gold ones.  We want our grandchildren to be cheering for the ABs, not the Wallabies; we want to bring our children home.

That means building a world class economy that provides our best and brightest with opportunity and reward.  It means building a world class education system that prepares our children for the real world – for a life of creativity and energy and accomplishment; a life in which they can realise their potential.

We can do it.  That's why we're here today.

ACT is stronger, leaner, smarter, and better than ever.  We've worked to refresh, recommit and reposition ACT as the Party with the vision and ideas to take New Zealand forward – and, as you can see from this conference, it's paying off.

We can also offer voters a guarantee that we've never been able to offer before: that each and every party vote for ACT will count.  Gone is the fear that a vote for ACT will be wasted.

My wonderful constituents in Epsom understand MMP.  They ensure that all Party votes for ACT from Cape Reinga to Stewart Island will count towards the overall election result.  You can reassure your neighbours, friends and family that this year they can vote for what they truly believe in, secure that their belief will be rewarded.

Kiwis want change.  They want a change of government.  That's true.  But they want more.  They want a fair go.  They want more money in their pockets.  They want more say about their country's direction, and more say over their own lives.  They want more opportunity and more reward for their efforts.

John Key is promising a change of government – but no change of direction.  That's smart politics – but not smart for the country i t won't bring our children home.

To bring our children home, we need to chart a course for bold new horizons.  To adopt bold new policies, and to vote for the only party with the guts to do what's right for every New Zealander.

That Party is the ACT Party.  A party vote for ACT is not only going to count this election, it's going to count more than a vote for any other Party.  That's because only a vote for ACT is a vote for change; it's a vote to force the new government to take down the ‘business as usual' sign.  There's the clear message I want you to take from our conference here today: "You want real change?  Then Party Vote ACT!"

John Key knows he must win votes from Labour.  To do that, he's adopted Labour Party policy.  He's banking on New Zealanders growing tired of Labour and Helen Clark, and is promising to put a bright new cover on the same old book.

That opens up a huge opportunity for ACT.  It's our job to stand up for and win the vote for a change of policy direction.  The change of direction that New Zealanders so desperately want and need is up to us ... and how well ACT does at this election.

It's a great opportunity; it's a huge responsibility; it's our job to succeed.

It's great to have Sir Roger actively involved again.  Roger, on behalf of all of us here and many thousands of New Zealanders outside of this room, a most sincere welcome back.  I've never seen Roger so fired up.  He knows this is a critical election and he knows ACT is critical to the result.

Roger's not a man who sits back and lets his name and reputation do the work.  Roger's all over the country rounding up candidates, members and supporters.  Roger's straightened our backs and put even more fire in our bellies.  Thank you so much for that, Roger.

At a time when our country's crying out for politicians of principle and vision, with the guts to do what's right, Sir Roger Douglas has again answered the call.  He remains our role model of principle, vision and courage.  That's why I asked him at our January hui to stand again.  That's why I want to work to elect Roger to our Parliament.  I want Roger in Cabinet by the end of this year, and I want you all to help me to make that happen.

In 2005 we got a drubbing.  Since those dark days, we've worked hard to re-think and re-work ACT's role under MMP and our political strategy.  It's paid off: we're refreshed and renewed; we've rededicated ourselves to our principles and our vision for New Zealand.

ACT is the Party of change.  We're not a conservative Party – a conservative is someone who believes nothing should ever be done for the first time.  So it's no surprise that the other Parties promise more of the same.  We promise something different.

This election campaign will be different from our past campaigns: we'll be promising less than before, but we'll be delivering more.

We'll have a full manifesto – not just a pledge card, but a plan.  A plan driven by a clear vision, anchored by SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Right and Time-bound goals for New Zealand - and backed by a programme of policies designed to achieve those SMART goals. 

Our manifesto will be based on our principles.  It'll outline ACT's vision for a free and prosperous New Zealand, and apply the principle of choice over monopoly for smart green policies and high-performance government.

It'll be about the future, not the past.

But our campaign will be built around our bottom-line policies.  These are the two, three or four polices that we'll deliver.  These are the policies that'll be the condition of our support for confidence and supply.  Voters, members and our supporters will know what ACT stands for.  Before they vote, they'll know what they're going to get in return for that vote.  We'll make those conditions crystal clear.

ACT's support for any future government will be based on policy.  A vote for ACT is a clear vote for our bottom line policies.  It's also a vote to put ACT ideas into government, and into action.

There's never been a more urgent need for ACT to succeed.

Remember when we led the world and the Irish were thick?  Well Kiwis can no longer afford to tell Irish jokes.  The Irish can now tell kiwi jokes.  The joke is on us.  But we're not laughing.

Now I want to talk about Michael Cullen.  What can you say about Michael Cullen?  He's one of the great Growthbusters of New Zealand history.  Michael Cullen has managed to halve our labour productivity growth back to levels we haven't seen since the gloom and doom of Rob Muldoon.

And what does his shameful growth record mean?  It means a gloomy outlook for wages, incomes, and the wealth of our people.

It means the gap between Australia and New Zealand is getting wider and wider.  In human terms, the Tasman Sea is fast becoming the Tasman Gulf.  The massive loss of people, skill and potential is heading to a point of no return where one day we won't even be a viable country. 

And John Key is promising to keep on Cullen's course.  That's not good enough.  We need to bring our children home.

We need to boost investment and entrepreneurship.  We need to lift our educational attainment.  Only ACT has a plan to do that.

To boost productivity, we need to cut taxes and slash mindless red-tape.  How do you get taxes down?  By getting government spending under control.  Government spending has spiralled out of control under Labour.  The harder we work, the more Michael Cullen gets.  And the more he wastes.

We need tougher and smarter budgeting in government.  Politicians should have to budget just like the rest of us.  We need taxpayers to have a say about how their money gets spent.

That's what ACT's Taxpayer Rights Bill does.  It puts taxpayers in the driver's seat.   Tax hikes would be subject to winning a referendum.   It's taxpayers' money after all.  It's only right that politicians should ask their consent before taking even more money from them.

The Taxpayer Rights Bill would cap taxes and force politicians to live within existing spending limits. No budgets would be cut, but nor would they mindlessly expand.  Total government spending would be capped in real terms.

The impact of this would be huge.  If we'd just held government spending to where it was in 1999, it would now be $9 billion a year less.  And what does that $9 billion mean?
It means every New Zealander and every New Zealand company would be paying no more than 20 percent in tax.  20 percent, tops.  Many would be paying less.

ACT will cap taxes, cap politicians and cap government spending. We'll put government spending under the blowtorch, set proper priorities, and make disciplined decisions to benefit the whole country.

We'll also rein in the red tape. That's what ACT's Regulatory Responsibility Bill will do – a bill now before the Commerce Committee.

For the last nine years, our parliament and our government have taken to passing outrageous and intrusive laws and regulations at the drop of a hat.  They do this without good reason, for no good purpose, and without regard for consequence. 

They ride roughshod over New Zealanders' basic rights.

ACT's bill reasserts our rights.  It sets out clear criteria for judging new and existing law. It puts ordinary Kiwis in the box seat when new laws are being considered.
A bonfire of red-tape.  Lower taxes.  Better government spending habits.  These are vital for our future prosperity.  But there's one other critical element.

Education is the key to our long-term prosperity.  We need our next generation to have the skills and the creativity to thrive in the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth.  Right now we're failing our kids.

Without doubt, the greatest experience I've had as an MP was to visit the Corelli School of the Arts.  I had tears of joy and wonder in my eyes when I saw the students at this wonderful school.  Their enthusiasm.  Their love of learning.  Their love of art, creativity, dance and music.

It's the greatest school I've ever seen.

We are privileged later today to hear from Corelli head David Selfe.

I fervently wished that every New Zealand child could have a Corelli school experience.  Sadly, they can't.  Not now.  Not under present school policy.
Well guess what?  Under ACT, they will.

I was at dinner with some friends from El Salvador.  Wonderful people.  They were asking me about ACT's education policy.

I was doing my best to explain it.  I was saying it was about choice.  Of greater diversity and opportunity.  Of lifting performance.  And about the funding following the child – no matter whether the school was a state school or a private school.

They couldn't understand it.

I needed to come up with another way to explain it.  I struggled.  And then I told them that under ACT's policy, we'd award a scholarship to every child.  Well, they got that in a flash.  Their son is fabulous at soccer and he'd just been offered a scholarship to a prestigious school. They understood that a scholarship is a very special thing.

And that really is ACT's policy.  Always has been.  A scholarship for every child.  Not just those who are great at soccer or rugby.  Every child.  As of right.
The Labour government spends $8,000 on average for each high school student in the state system.  For primary schools, it's $5,500.

ACT would make that money available to every child as a scholarship.  If they want to stay at the school they're at now, that's fine and good. 

But they may choose to go to another school.  An independent school.  An integrated school.  A kura kaupapa school.  In which case the full amount that would otherwise be spent at a state school will go with them.

That's only fair.  It's only right.

Chris Carter tells me that Labour pays only $1,500 on average for every private school pupil.  On average, private school parents are short-changed $6,500. 
We say they should get their full entitlement.  Why should they have to pay twice – once through their taxes, and again through school fees?

Here's how ACT's education policy will work.

It'll be universal.  All school students will get state funding.  All schools will be held to account for the success of their students through an assessment system that's objective and transparent. 

There'll be choice.  Parents will be free to choose a school that best fits the needs of their children.  It won't matter whether the school is public or private. ACT's policy will allow diversity in education.  It'll encourage different kinds of schools and new kinds of teaching.  

The funding will be in two parts: 
1. A base amount.  This will be higher for secondary school than primary school students.
2. Top-ups.  These would be for students who are genuinely disadvantaged by income, distance and other difficulties. 
The key point is that funding levels will be equal across all types of schools – public and private, religious and secular, and so on.  All funding will follow the student to the school of their choice.

We'll abolish the excessively bureaucratic system of classifying and funding schools according to their character and who owns them. We'll fund all schools on the same formula and we'll give them greater freedom to develop special characteristics. We believe in diversity and reject the one-size-fits-all approach to education. The Corelli School is not for every child. Just like Auckland Grammar isn't for everyone. The wonderful school in Epsom Mind Alive is not for everyone but boy does it work for the students lucky enough to attend.

Our critics prefer state monopoly and state control to parental choice and diversity.  They'll label ACT's policy as ‘vouchers' and ‘the McDonald's approach to education'. 

Now I'm not about to bag McDonald's.  After all, I used to be one of their biggest customers.  But when we choose a restaurant, they're only one option.  Yes, we can go to McDonald's.  But we can also go to Pizza Hut or Burger King.  Or then again, we can go Thai, Japanese, French, Italian or Mongolian.

All have to perform or we take our custom elsewhere, and they go broke.  This need to compete or die ensures that they give us good and reliable service.

If choice works so well with our restaurants, why shouldn't it also be the norm for something as crucial as where our children are educated?

The critics need to explain what's wrong with choice and why they so fear it.  They need to tell us why it's okay for the lucky few to have a scholarship – and what's wrong with every child having a scholarship.

ACT's policy is not radical.  What's radical is demanding that our children be schooled in government institutions.  And what's radically unfair is forcing parents who save the government the job of educating their kids to pay for it anyway in their taxes – and then to pay their independent school fees on top of that.

In Denmark parents have the right to set up their own school and to receive state funding set out in their constitution. The Dutch education system has been decentralized and demand-driven since 1917.  Almost 70 percent of schools in the Netherlands are administered and governed by private school boards. The Swedish reforms occurred in 1992, when municipalities were obliged to give 85 per cent of the calculated average cost per student in the state schools to any school of parent choice – for all students. Across the Tasman, one third of Australian children attend a federally funded, but privately owned and operated school.

A scholarship for every child makes each child special and important.  It empowers parents.  It creates opportunities for excellent teachers and teaching systems. 

Our aim – as in Sweden, Denmark and Holland – should not be state schools.  Our aim should be great schools – whoever owns them.  Our purpose should always be what's best for the student.  Not ideology and politics.

It's great to be in election year.  This is our year.  It's our year to make a difference.  It's our year to put our policies into action.  It's our year to put our ideas into government.  It's our year to put our people into Parliament and into government and into Cabinet.  Peo ple with principle, vision and guts.

People like Sir Roger Douglas.

So let's do it.  Let's make New Zealand the truly great and proud country we all know it can be, a country in which more and more of us will want to stay and work and raise our families.

Let's commit ourselves to achieving the great goal on this banner.  Let's ACT to bring our children home.

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