"\u003C!DOCTYPE html\u003E\u003Chtml xmlns:xlink=\u0022http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\u0022 xmlns:xsi=\u0022http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance\u0022 xmlns:mml=\u0022http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Chead\u003E\n    \u003CMETA http-equiv=\u0022Content-Type\u0022 content=\u0022text/html; charset=utf-16\u0022\u003E\n    \u003Cmeta name=\u0022viewport\u0022 content=\u0022width=device-width, initial-scale=1\u0022\u003E\n  \u003C/head\u003E\n  \u003Cbody style=\u0022font-family:sans-serif; font-size:100%;\u0022\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000001\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022dcec9eeef1b349c3b91841c19bd62a15\u0022\u003EThursday, 22 May 2008\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000003\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00221466cd4e0f5147f382003a9822e435f8\u0022\u003EThursday, 22 May 2008\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000002\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000004\u0022\u003EPrayers.\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000005\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002286d9530329e94fb4b869952d082aeac4\u0022\u003EAppropriation (2007/08 Supplementary Estimates) Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000006\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002200bd5b602a484ef8b36276045ab93d3e\u0022\u003EProcedure\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u0022b5fb42b21f1842cd93d3e357a1ce2ffe\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000007\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b5fb42b21f1842cd93d3e357a1ce2ffe\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E I hereby present the Supplementary Estimates of Appropriations for the Government of New Zealand for the year ending 30 June 2008, and supporting information (B.7). I move, That that paper be published.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000008\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMotion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000009\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022e484f8fa43db4155ae1e01129003585c\u0022\u003EAppropriation (2008/09 Estimates) Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000010\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00228fc8b7235588497f80ed2793631d0410\u0022\u003EFirst Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u0022b1a542ed495f42219bcd05ed3f97e5a8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000011\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b1a542ed495f42219bcd05ed3f97e5a8\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That the Appropriation (2008/09 Estimates) Bill be now read a first time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000012\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBill read a first time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000013\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022f2e0e5369e3f4c7791f8f8fcd26cb632\u0022\u003EBudget Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000014\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00226d820c9a480042618ec069798f27c123\u0022\u003EBudget Debate\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000016\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00220301e32660094d408ae613444b0b93bb\u0022\u003EBudget Debate\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u0022adbe852563834a38952e61192fab1355\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000015\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022adbe852563834a38952e61192fab1355\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That the Appropriation (2008/09 Estimates) Bill be now read a second time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000017\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 is about continuing to build a fair society and a strong economy against an economic background which is the most challenging New Zealand has faced in over a decade.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000018\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EA very large part of this challenge is generated by international forces which are well outside of our control.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000019\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe most obvious of these to the average Kiwi family is the continued increases in the prices of fuel and some foodstuffs.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000020\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EInternational oil prices have increased from $20 U.S. a barrel at the end of 2001 to $91 U.S. at the end of 2007 and over $125 U.S. a barrel recently. For us, that has translated into a petrol price of $1.02 a litre at the end of 2001, $1.71 a litre at the end of last year and close to $2 a litre now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000021\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe fact that we have the fifth lowest petrol prices in the OECD is no comfort to the motorist at the petrol pump.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ESome foodstuffs have seen comparable price rises. Wheat, rice, sugar, dairy and other products have seen unprecedented price rises internationally over the last couple of years or so. Global food prices have risen 83 per cent in the last three years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000023\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ESome countries have seen major food riots. Extreme hunger because of unaffordable food is now a serious international issue. Even in the U.S., rationing of rice has occurred at Wal-Mart.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000024\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe are not immune, and cannot be, to these international trends. Overall, food prices in New Zealand have risen about six per cent over the last year, but that masks much larger increases in some items.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000025\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EFamilies are looking for some relief from these twin pressures of food and fuel price increases.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000026\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EFor some, these pressures are made seriously worse by increases in mortgage interest rates. While fixed term mortgages have been a popular means of avoiding the effects of tightening monetary policy, sooner or later they come up for renewal.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000027\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EOver the last year many Kiwi families have faced just such an experience.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000028\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ETight monetary policy is not the only reason for this. The ongoing, widening effects of the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States are now biting, even in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000029\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWhat has happened here is the coming together of two malign influences. The first was the increasing tendency over the last few years for the level of risk to become separated from the level of return. In New Zealand this has contributed to the collapse of a number of finance companies.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000030\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe second malign influence was the increasingly complex creation by those in the U.S. financial markets of second, third or more, order derivatives from initially dodgy sub-prime mortgages. This has created a contagion effect which has spread far beyond the original source.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000031\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe result is an international credit crunch \u2013 low availability of capital and even then at high prices \u2013 which is now affecting New Zealand homes and businesses.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000032\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe three international influences of food prices, fuel prices, and the credit crunch, have added to pressures on the domestic front.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000033\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese, in large part, reflect the pressures which have built up over a long period of remarkable economic strength.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000034\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EEconomic growth in New Zealand since 1999 has been stronger than that of many of our key trading partners, including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the Euro area.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000035\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EUnemployment has been below four per cent for nearly four years, a prospect once dismissed as a \u201Ccruel hoax\u201D by some.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000036\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EHousehold incomes have risen by 25 per cent in real terms since 2000 \u2013 that is, after allowing for inflation \u2013 as a result of stronger employment growth and real wage growth.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000037\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis growth has led to, and been sustained by, substantial increases in the value of houses which, overall, has led to very strong growth in both gross and net average household wealth.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000038\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBut a tight labour market, a strong housing market, and strong net migration gains, especially over the period 2002-2004, created internal inflation pressures. This has led to a long tightening of monetary settings, including a high exchange rate which has disadvantaged exporters.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000039\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EOn top of all of this, 2008 has seen a serious drought in much of the country which has reduced dairy production in particular.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000040\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe internal and external factors have combined to lead to a significant slowing of the economy in 2008. Economic growth to March 2009 is expected to bottom out at 1.5 per cent and then take off again to 2.3 per cent in 2010 and 3.2 per cent in 2011.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000041\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 is delivered then at a time of considerable challenge and uncertainty. But it is also delivered from a position of strength by a Labour-Progressive Government that has managed the public purse responsibly and did not squander resources in times of greater optimism.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000042\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAnd it is delivered by a Labour-Progressive Government whose focus continues to be on a fair deal for all New Zealanders and planning for the strong, sustainable future we all deserve.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000043\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 has, therefore, to balance five imperatives:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000044\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eresponding to the needs of families for some early relief from price pressures\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000045\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Ea longer term tax reduction programme which reflects a fair deal for all\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000046\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Ethe maintenance of social services\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000047\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Esensible fiscal management to avoid worsening current pressures on the household budget and which is sustainable over the long term, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000048\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Ean integrated programme to continue to build a stronger, sustainable economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000049\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Government has been delivering a significant programme of tax reductions since 2004. The combination of Working for Families tax credits, business tax cuts, and cuts to taxes on savings will total some $4.6 billion a year excluding indexation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000050\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis has represented a considerable growth dividend to New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000051\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 builds on that growth dividend with a substantial programme of personal and family tax cuts beginning on 1 October this year, with second and third stages occurring on 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000052\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis programme consists of a combination of a cut in the bottom rate of income tax, threshold changes, a simplification of the structure of the income tax system, a bringing forward of indexation of Working for Families and a forecast second round of such indexation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000053\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn theory the current personal tax system has three rates: 19.5 per cent up to $38,000, 33 per cent from $38,001 to $60,000, and 39 per cent above $60,000 a year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000054\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn practice, the operation of the Low Income Rebate for earned income creates an effective four-step scale with the bottom step split into two: 15 per cent up to $9500 a year and 21 per cent from $9501 to $38,000.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000055\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis rebate penalises investment income where it is the sole source of income. In addition, the bottom threshold of $9500 has not moved since 1988.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000056\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAt the completion of the Budget 2008 tax-cut programme the rates will be 12.5 per cent on the first $20,000 of income, 21 per cent from $20,001 to $42,500, 33 per cent from $42,501 to $80,000, and 39 per cent above $80,000.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000057\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAt full implementation this will mean for individuals on a full-time income tax cuts of between $1130 and $2870 a year, or roughly $22 to $55 a week.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000058\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe intermediate stages will see the new rate of 12.5 per cent on income up to $14,000 from 1 October this year with the threshold lifting to $17,500 on 1 April 2010. The threshold for the 33 per cent will increase to $40,000 a year from 1 October. The top threshold will increase to $70,000 on 1 October and then to $75,000 from 1 April 2010.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000059\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe tax cuts on 1 October for individuals on full-time incomes will range between $620 and $1460 a year, or approximately $12 to $28 a week.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000060\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese personal tax cuts will, at full implementation, cut personal tax by roughly one quarter at the current level of the full-time minimum wage, one sixth at the current level of the full-time average wage and one eighth at $80,000 a year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000061\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAs a consequence of the tax changes, on 1 October superannuitants will receive an increase of $45.88 per fortnight for a married couple and $23.84 per fortnight for a single person living alone. Combined with the regular annual adjustments to take effect in 2009, these are the largest increases in New Zealand Superannuation rates since the Labour-led Government restored the floor of New Zealand Superannuation after the National Government\u2019s cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000062\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBenefits are set entirely in net inflation-adjusted terms. The importance of tax rates is therefore the tax paid on additional income. The cut in the bottom rate will assist many beneficiaries without dependent children who have or take up part-time employment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000063\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAll families with children, including beneficiary families, will gain from the other main feature of the package.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000064\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ETreasury forecasts that the indexation of Family Tax Credits and thresholds will be triggered at 1 April next year with a 5.22 per cent increase. The Government has decided to bring the increase forward to 1 October to provide a further boost to family incomes to assist in coping with current pressures.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000065\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe tax cut programme and the bringing forward of the Working for Families adjustments will be included in legislation to be introduced and passed later today.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000066\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EFurthermore, a second round of adjustments to Working for Families is forecast to occur at 1 April 2011.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000067\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EA single income family on one income of $40,000 with two young children will be better off by $1603 a year from 1 October rising to $2967 a year from 1 April 2011.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000068\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ETo take one final example. A couple on the current average household income of $72,000 (split say two thirds/one third) with two children aged 11 and 8 will be better off by $2223 a year from 1 October rising to $4397 a year from 1 April 2011.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000069\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe effect of the changes to the tax scales and the increases in Working for Families is that a couple with two children of those ages would need to have a combined household income of $52,700 a year before they are paying any income tax in net terms in the tax year 2009/10 and $57,200 a year in 2011/12.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000070\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000071\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese tax cuts and Working for Families enhancements will help families meet the pressures of international food and oil prices. Further relief has already been announced with the proposal to defer for two years the entry of liquid fossil fuels into the Emissions Trading Scheme and to phase in any regional petrol tax with a maximum two cents a litre in 2009.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000072\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EFor those with heavy mortgage obligations it is just as important to be reasonably well-assured that the impact of the tax cuts does not trigger a further round of interest rate rises which would more than wipe out the benefits of any tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000073\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe cost of this tax cut package is very substantial. In 2008/09 the net cost is $1.5 billion rising to $2.3 billion in 2009/10, $3.1 billion in 2010/11, and $3.8 billion in 2011/12.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000074\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn addition the cost of the indexation of Working for Families is $146 million in 2008/09 rising to $438 million in 2011/12.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000075\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe consequential fiscal impulse in 2008/09 is estimated at 2.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000076\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EHowever in the current climate of low growth, with downside risks coming from international influences, and an easing labour market, I am reasonably well-satisfied that the package will not lead to further rises in interest rates.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000077\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EClearly the package meets the test of fairness. Full analysis shows that the package does not add to inequality and that the standard measure of inequality is not affected by it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000078\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EI now turn to the test of the maintenance of social services.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000079\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000080\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EOver eight years the Labour-led Government has undertaken a major reinvestment in services and support for New Zealand families.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000081\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe floor of New Zealand Superannuation has been raised. With the changes to tax rates on 1 October a married couple will be getting $57 a week more than would have been the case under the policies we inherited.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000082\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe have thousands more doctors, nurses, teachers, and social workers caring for, educating, and helping our families. We have lifted tens of thousands of children out of poverty.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000083\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 contains major new investments to help further the Government\u2019s support for strong social services.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$750 million extra per annum is committed to the health sector or $3 billion over four years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000085\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe major initiatives in health are:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000086\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$2 billion for District Health Boards to cover the increased cost of goods and services\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$172.3 million to improve the efficiency of DHB services and make progress towards their Health Targets\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$160 million to boost elective surgery and reduce waiting lists\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000089\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$164.2 million over five years for Human Papillomavirus vaccine to protect against cervical cancer\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000090\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$60 million to build a better health workforce\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000091\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$79 million to improve child and adolescent oral health services, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000092\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$30 million to create healthier living environments.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000093\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Government has already announced that it is providing $446.5 million to improve our partnership with community-based social services.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000094\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis will help deliver essential services to support children and families.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000095\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Budget includes significant new investment in affordable housing which reflects the Labour-led Government\u2019s on-going commitment to helping more families buy their first homes and to improving the amount and quality of social housing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000096\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe major initiatives include the long term upgrade of Wellington City Council\u2019s social housing, the Hobsonville development, and the shared equity scheme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000097\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000098\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 commits further significant resources to improving our early childhood, primary, and secondary education systems.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000099\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EA total of $215.5 million will be dedicated to implementing our promise to reduce class sizes for new entrants to one teacher per 15 students.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000100\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ESchools\u2019 operating funding is increased by 5 per cent or $171.6 million, including $65.3 million for information and communication technology.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000101\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EOperating funding for the early childhood sector is increased by $63.6 million to increase funding rates to reflect cost increases.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn addition to the increased level of New Zealand Superannuation payments consequent upon the tax cuts, Budget 2008 provides for major enhancements to the SuperGold Card.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000103\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$72 million will be provided to fund free off-peak travel on all forms of public transport for cardholders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000104\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EA further $18 million is available over the next four years to boost the subsidy for hearing aids.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000105\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt has also been agreed with New Zealand First that an electricity rebate for cardholders will be developed to be introduced at the time of electricity entering the Emissions Trading Scheme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000106\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 continues investment in the broader justice sector with a range of initiatives aimed at strengthening a modern justice system that recognises that New Zealanders deserve to live in safe and responsive communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000107\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThere must be a cohesive approach across the sector to continue to build the sort of fair and safe society we all want. That is why Budget 2008 enhances capability in policing, in the prison system, in courts, in the probation service, and in terms of legal aid provision and victims\u2019 rights. The initiatives include:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000108\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$180 million in operating funding for the third and final tranche of the extra 1000 sworn police and 250 non-sworn committed to in the Government\u2019s confidence and supply agreement with New Zealand First\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000109\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$216.3 million capital for the replacement of the near obsolete Mt Eden Prison\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000110\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$91.7 million to recruit additional probation officers\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000111\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$6.3 million over two years to address the pressure on Auckland courts\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000112\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Ean extra $4.7 million in operating funding to meet the future requirements of the Independent Police Conduct Authority\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000113\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$5.8 million in operating funding over four years to establish the Sentencing Council\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000114\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$10 million to provide enhanced security infrastructure to maintain the integrity and credibility of Police data, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000115\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$11.2 million in operating funding in 2008/09 for legal aid remuneration, with an accompanying review of innovative ways of developing the legal aid system.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000116\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000117\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe development of New Zealand\u2019s unique national identity has been a major objective for this Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000118\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ESome $754.9 million of new spending is dedicated to this area.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000119\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe largest share goes to Foreign Affairs.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000120\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ENew Zealand\u2019s economic wellbeing is inextricably linked to our ability to remain internationally competitive.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000121\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn order to increase New Zealand\u2019s international presence the National Identity package provides $188.1 million to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This is part of the wider $621 million over the next five years for MFAT, announced by Rt Hon Winston Peters last month.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000122\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis money will allow us to take a major step forward in promoting our interests, particularly in the priority areas of Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, trade policy and negotiations, and the environment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000123\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000124\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAn extra $23.8 million is provided to increase the services of the M\u0101ori Trustee while an extra $5.3 million will assist the Office of Treaty Settlements to meet the 2020 settlement target.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000125\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe pace of Treaty settlements has recently accelerated. Excellent progress is being made on a wide range of settlements which will see further assets pass into or back to M\u0101ori ownership.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000126\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis progress will be enhanced by Budget 2008 setting aside $40.5 million of capital funding into M\u0101ori Business Aotearoa New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000127\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis will be used to establish services for M\u0101ori including business support, identifying opportunities for M\u0101ori economic development, and some facility to provide loans for M\u0101ori business.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWhen this Government took office the official M\u0101ori unemployment rate was 14.4 per cent. That has now fallen to 7.2 per cent. Budget 2008 seeks to lock in and further improve on these achievements. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000129\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EPacific people have made great advances under the Labour-led Government. Pacific unemployment has reduced from 12.2 per cent in December 1999 to 4.8 per cent in December 2007 and education and income levels are improving. The Government is focused on establishing a skilled and versatile Pacific workforce, ensuring that Pacific communities are fully equipped to contribute and share in the future success of New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EInvesting in the capability of the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs ensures that they are able to provide leadership and improved outcomes for Pacific peoples.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000131\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe major initiatives in arts, culture and heritage include $4.4 million extra for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; $27.8 million for a Screen Production Incentive Fund; $7 million for a Wharewaka on the Wellington waterfront; and $10.9 million to maintain services at Radio New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000132\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EConservation initiatives include $13 million to maintain DoC\u2019s capability; $5.3 million to control weeds and pests on Conservation and Crown land; and $5.6 million to fund an ocean survey in the Bay of Islands.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000133\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000134\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAs I indicated earlier, the New Zealand economy is facing considerable headwinds during 2008. Far from being an excuse to reduce our investment in the future it is a reason to continue to press ahead on the central elements of economic transformation: skills, innovation, infrastructure, international connections and sustainability. Budget 2008 invests $1.3 billion operating and $948.1 million capital in transforming the New Zealand economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000135\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EInnovation and skills funding in Budget 2008 signals a step change towards a high wage \u2013 high skill future for New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000136\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EA total investment of $1.1 billion operating and $747.3 million capital is designed to boost New Zealand\u2019s productivity through innovation involving research and development, a quality tertiary sector and practical support for globally competitive firms.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000137\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis includes earlier announcements such as the $700 million New Zealand Fast Forward Fund, R\u0026amp;D tax credits and export support.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000138\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe New Zealand Fast Forward commitment is the largest ever boost to research, development, and innovation funding in New Zealand\u2019s history and will help transform New Zealand\u2019s pastoral and food sectors to meet future challenges.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000139\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Government\u2019s upfront investment of $700 million is expected to grow to around $1 billion as it earns interest over the next ten to fifteen years. In addition, industries will be expected to match the Government\u2019s commitment on an annual basis, resulting in an expected total fund of around $2 billion to be fully expended over the next ten to fifteen years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000140\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe 15 per cent tax credit for research and development began on the first of April. It is designed to materially assist the 2500 firms who undertake R\u0026amp;D. It is also designed to help address the single most important shortcoming in New Zealand R\u0026amp;D, which is the relatively low level of private sector investment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000141\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis Budget takes the next step in research and development with investment totalling $205.4 million which includes the following initiatives:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000142\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Efunding of high-tech research platforms of $24 million will lead to new industries over the long term in areas such as high-tech manufacturing, ICT, new materials and sophisticated engineering\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000143\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eas we move to a sustainable energy future, some new and some existing alternatives will need to be underpinned by research. $32.5 million is set aside for this purpose\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000144\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Ehealth research is increased by $16 million, of which $4 million is dedicated to obesity research and the Marsden Fund is increased by $13 million, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000145\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Econsiderable science funding is earmarked for longer term environmental research, including biosecurity research.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000146\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ENew Zealand needs more globally competitive firms. This is of course one of the aims of New Zealand Fast Forward Fund.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000147\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn addition the Government\u2019s business tax package of over $1 billion per annum came into effect last month as did two new products from the Export Credit Office designed to assist New Zealand exporters who need extra temporary working capital to secure a large offshore contract.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000148\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EToday we build further on that. The venture investment fund has a seed capital investment fund, which this Budget supports. The very successful programme called Better By Design is being expanded to help more firms increase their international competitiveness by integrating design into all aspects of their business.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000149\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EOur offshore support for exporters is strengthened with funding of $138.9 million, including $8 million for the expansion of the Government\u2019s Beachheads programme that is now starting to show its value in many different global markets.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000150\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EQuality tertiary education is one of the engines of innovation. This Budget provides universities and polytechnics with $591 million operating funding over five and $15.5 million capital.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000151\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAs part of the funding for universities and polytechnics above, tertiary researchers will benefit by a $42.4 million boost (plus $4.3 million in 2007/08) to the tertiary education Performance Based Research Fund. The fund reaches $250 million per annum, meeting Labour\u2019s manifesto commitment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000152\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 strengthens the Government\u2019s investment in tertiary students, improving their lot with a student support package that totals $155 million. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000153\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EInitiatives are:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000154\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Ea 10 percent increase in the parental income threshold for a full student allowance from 1 January 2009\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000155\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Elowering the age limit for student allowances parental income testing to age 24, and lifting the maximum rate of student allowances for those aged 24 to the level for students aged 25 years and above to fulfil our obligations under the Labour-United Future confidence and supply agreement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000156\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eincreasing the student loan living cost component from $150 per week to $155 per week from 1 January 2009, and then adjusting it annually for inflation, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000157\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Ea 50 per cent expansion of the Bonded Merit Scholarship Scheme to 1500 scholarships per year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000158\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EOur tertiary institutions foster our future potential; our workplaces produce our daily bread. Productivity increases are being supported with $168 million in new funds to provide workers with the right skills for the complexities of the modern workplace.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000159\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe funding will be used to implement the Skills Strategy, a partnership between Government, Business New Zealand, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and the Industry Training Federation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000160\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe New Zealand Skills Strategy discussion document was launched on 29 April 2008.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000161\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe strategy will look across the entire skills spectrum \u2013 from increasing literacy and numeracy skills to how those skills are best used.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000162\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000163\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 continues this Government\u2019s massive investment in rebuilding New Zealand\u2019s transport infrastructure. New initiatives this year include:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000164\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Efunding of $33.5 million for the first stages of the Canterbury Transport Regional Implementation Plan, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000165\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$30 million over three years to continue transport funding for regional development initiatives in Northland and Tairawhiti.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000166\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Budget also contains a number of funding initiatives to strengthen transport regulatory agencies, recognising their vital role in ensuring the safety and security of New Zealanders and overseas visitors. The initiatives include:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000167\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$15 million in capital funding for aviation passenger safety and security infrastructure at airports\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000168\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$2 million operating funding for the Civil Aviation Authority to continue to meet international best practice obligations, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$5.7 million between 2007/08 and 2009/10 to strengthen Transport Accident Investigation Commission capability and expand services.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000170\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ETotal spending on land transport over the next four years is forecast to be over $10 billion.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000171\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn addition, Budget 2008 funds the purchase of the rail and ferry operations.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000172\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ESignificant expenditure will be needed to invest in new rolling stock as well as further upgrades of the track, stations, and other infrastructure.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000173\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EInvestment will also be needed to provide better integration of port and rail services, notably in Auckland and Whangarei.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000174\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ERail has made a big comeback as a preferred mode of transport in many developed countries over recent years. New Zealand now has the chance to catch up with the trend.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000175\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ENowhere is this truer than in Auckland. If a slowly phased in regional petrol tax is available then the current plans for electrification can proceed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000176\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBeyond that there is a need for a longer term vision stretching out over the next twenty years to build the Britomart loop line, to connect rail to the airport, and to consider dedicated rail tunnels to cross the Harbour so as to create a true electrified rail network which can then link to other transport modes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000177\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000178\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ERoading and rail are crucial means of communication. So too, and of growing importance in a modern economy, is telecommunications.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000179\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EFollowing the privatisation of Telecom, New Zealand\u2019s performance in this respect has been mediocre, not world-leading. Recent regulatory changes and subsequent agreements between the Government and Telecom provide a basis for shifting to a much higher level of performance, especially with respect to high speed broadband connection.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000180\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt is important that any further Government intervention in that respect bears in mind four criteria.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000181\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe first is to ensure that the priority is on the extension of such services to the business and the farm so as to underpin increasing productivity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000182\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe second is to ensure that a stronger competitive environment is encouraged, rather than entrenching an incumbent monopoly.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000183\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe third is to lever the maximum private sector investment in relation to any taxpayer investment or subsidy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000184\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAnd the fourth is to ensure any programme does not lock us into particular technological solutions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000185\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EOver recent months the Government has spent considerable time looking at various options to achieve the policy goals in a way which is consistent with those criteria.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000186\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn particular, the option was canvassed of a substantial capital investment. This was rejected as likely to lead to an inadequate level of private sector leverage and the chilling of competition.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000187\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EInstead, the Government has opted for a total package of over $500 million over five years as the first stage of a ten year programme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000188\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe largest part is the new Broadband Investment Fund which will be used to accelerate broadband investment in three critical areas:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000189\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Efacilitating high speed broadband to businesses and local authorities, universities, schools and hospitals in urban centres\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000190\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eextending the reach of broadband into underserved regions, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000191\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eimproving the resilience of New Zealand\u2019s international connections.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000192\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe fund will involve a contestable process designed to maximise competition in the sector. The criteria are based on open access and are neutral to technology. The fund should assist investor certainty and give the best possible leverage for the taxpayer\u0027s investment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Government will also spend at least $160 million over the next five years on connectivity in the health sector, the education sector through the KAREN network, and through the Government Shared Network. We will aggregate demand to speed deployment and ensure efficient use of broadband.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000194\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ELabour\u2019s vision is for a sustainable nation, and Budget 2008 builds on work already underway to help New Zealanders use our resources wisely, and protect our precious natural environment. Sustainability is at the heart of a range of policies, including the Fast Forward Fund, the water programme of action, the Emissions Trading Scheme, the renewal of rail and many others.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000195\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 allocates $45.7 million towards energy efficiency investments to assist businesses, households, motorists and consumers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000196\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWell-insulated homes are healthier and more comfortable to live in. It is an investment that pays us back through fewer hospital admissions, reduced respiratory illness, and lower electricity and gas bills.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000197\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAn energy efficiency programme for our state houses is already underway. Budget 2008 provides a boost of $22.4 million capital to fund insulation and clean heating retrofits of even more Housing New Zealand homes built before modern insulation standards were in place. Within five years all our state housing stock will meet acceptable energy efficiency standards.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000198\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn the private sector, we have already funded the retrofitting of more than 30,000 homes with the ENERGYWISE Home Grants scheme. Budget 2008 will provide $6 million over four years for a further 32,000 low-income families in poorly heated older homes to receive grants for insulation retrofits.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000199\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAs part of Budget 2007, the Government provided $23 million between 2007/08 and 2008/09 towards our target of providing insulation and clean heating for 70,000 households. In this Budget, the Electricity Commission will contribute a further $5 million towards this programme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000200\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 will also help New Zealand respond to climate change in other ways.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000201\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$43 million over five years goes towards delivering the Emissions Trading Scheme and linking it to international markets while $1 million will assist communities and local government to adapt to the physical impacts of climate change. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000202\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000203\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EApart from skills, research and development, and infrastructure many other factors underpin the development of a stronger economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000204\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe development of a stronger savings culture is clearly one of those. New Zealand has spent too long focussing only on attracting investment from offshore.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIf we are to lift our international economic rankings we need also to lift the level of capital generated from within New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000206\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EKiwiSaver is the Government\u2019s flagship policy in that regard. The numbers enrolled are now well past the 600,000 mark and continuing to climb.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000207\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe stunning success of KiwiSaver has, of course, had fiscal consequences. The numbers enrolled by the end of this fiscal year are likely to be about two and a half times what was projected a year ago.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000208\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWhile that means spending well above forecast it is one which is contributing to our future wellbeing, as individuals, as families, and as a nation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000209\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Government is moving on other fronts to strengthen the financial sector.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000210\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 provides a funding boost for initiatives to better protect investors, address barriers to economic growth and improve Government services to business.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000211\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Government will spend $9 million for the implementation of new laws to improve the supervision of financial advisers and institutions. Additional costs will be paid for by industry.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000212\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ETogether, the funding will allow financial service providers to be registered and set up dispute resolution schemes, and will enable the Securities Commission to undertake a role in the licensing of financial advisers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000213\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EFunding has also been allocated to a joint public/private sector initiative on how to remove impediments to the development of strong capital markets.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000214\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E$1 million is set aside for scoping the concept of a Trade Single Window which will enable parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000215\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe largest changes with respect to simplification are in the business tax area.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000216\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 provides for substantial increases to a range of business tax thresholds.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000217\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese threshold changes include:\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000218\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eincreasing the PAYE once a month filing and payment threshold from $100,000 to $250,000\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000219\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eincreasing the Fringe Benefit Tax annual return filing threshold from $100,000 to $250,000\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000220\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eincreasing the provisional tax use-of-money interest safe harbour threshold from $35,000 to $50,000\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000221\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eincreasing the low value trading stock threshold from $5000 to $10,000\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000222\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eincreasing the GST registration threshold from $40,000 to $50,000\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000223\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eincreasing the GST six-monthly return filing threshold from $250,000 to $500,000\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000224\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eallowing non-individuals, subject to certain thresholds, to return income tax for financial arrangements on a cash accounting basis, and\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003Eincreasing the threshold for allowing financial arrangements to be accounted for on a straight line basis from $1.5 million to $1.85 million (based on the total level of financial arrangements).\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000226\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn addition, work is underway on a second phase of initiatives that represent more significant departures from normal tax rules.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese include simplified rules for deducting legal and entertainment expenditure; introducing a single category of restricted private-use motor vehicles for small and medium-sized enterprises; simplifying record-keeping requirements for private use of motor vehicles by businesses; simplifying GST invoice disclosure requirements; allowing the correction of minor errors in subsequent returns; and other measures.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000228\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe biggest set of changes to business taxation that are being announced in this year\u2019s budget relate to the final decisions on the international tax regime.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000229\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EToday, the Government is announcing its final proposals in this area following on from the release of a discussion document in December 2006 and an update in May 2007.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000230\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese announcements confirm the introduction of an active income exemption for tax on earnings by New Zealand-based companies operating off shore.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000231\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe package will remove tax-based impediments to offshore investments while minimising compliance costs and maintaining a level of protection for the domestic tax base.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000232\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe final decisions respond to the concerns raised about certain issues.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000233\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt has been decided, in effect, to retain a grey list of one, Australia. That is consistent with the offshore tax regime for individuals. It will largely answer concerns about complexity for SMEs.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000234\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EA much more limited set of base company rules will be introduced, applying only to services performed in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000235\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EFinally, offshore controlled foreign companies in the insurance business will be able to apply for a determination from the Commissioner of Inland Revenue qualifying them for the active income exemption.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000236\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis new international tax regime will be a major support encouraging New Zealand firms to internationalise while retaining control, ownership, design and head office functions within New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000237\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000238\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ESustainable fiscal settings are a key plank of our fiscal policy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000239\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ESince 1999 the Government has made substantial progress towards strengthening the Crown\u2019s fiscal position through debt reduction as a percentage of GDP and by accumulating financial assets.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000240\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn 2006 the Crown moved into a net positive financial asset position for the first time in New Zealand history.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000241\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EGross sovereign issued debt, excluding Reserve Bank Settlement cash, has fallen from above 30 per cent of GDP to reach 18.2 per cent of GDP at June 2007.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000242\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe overall strengthening of the net financial position over the last eight years has been faster than planned due to economic and revenue growth consistently exceeding Treasury forecasts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe structural surplus has therefore been allowed to rise above the level required by our medium-term objectives as the Government has allowed the automatic stabilisers to operate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000244\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThis has, however, placed New Zealand in a very strong position to cope with the long term challenges of an ageing population compared with almost any other developed nation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000245\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMoreover, there are particular advantages to New Zealand maintaining a low level of debt because being a small, open economy means we are more susceptible to shocks than other countries.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000246\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EGoing forward we need to maintain this strong fiscal position. That means keeping Gross Sovereign Issued Debt around 20 per cent of GDP and continuing to build up the financial assets held by the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000247\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIn particular, a balance needs to be struck between intergenerational funding through debt of long term infrastructure investment and intergenerational equity of long term social commitments, such as universal New Zealand Superannuation and strong public health services.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000248\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EHaving met our long term debt objective and continuing to accumulate financial assets means that we are able to accommodate Budget 2008\u2019s substantial tax package without putting at risk our other priorities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000249\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBoth the overall and structural operating balances are forecast to decline, reflecting that some of the decline is due to a softening economy and some to new policy initiatives, notably tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000250\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese reductions would be significantly larger if the Government had maintained its previous outyear spending allowance. This is lowered to $1.75 billion from Budget 2009. This will be a hard target to meet, requiring significant reprioritisation efforts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000251\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe capital allowance moving forward will be maintained at $900 million.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000252\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBy staggering the tax reductions over three years we have spread the impact on demand to help minimise the impact on inflation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000253\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe projected path of the operating surplus is consistent with our objective to run operating surpluses on average over the economic cycle sufficient to meet the requirements for contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and ensure consistency with the debt objective.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000254\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EGross Sovereign Issued Debt remains below 20 per cent of GDP for the forecast period before a temporary rise in the early stages of the subsequent projection period.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000255\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe Operating Balance Excluding Gains and Losses will decline over the forecast period before bottoming out at just above zero around 2014 during the projection period.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000256\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese projections beyond 2012 depend substantially on assumptions which could well be overly conservative as they have already proven to be for many years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000257\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000258\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EI am conscious of the honour that I have in being the first Finance Minister since 1944 to present nine successive Budgets to Parliament.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000259\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe connecting thread throughout those nine Budgets has been the twin themes of security and opportunity, those ideals which lie at the heart of our national identity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000260\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 in building a fair economy and a strong future is no exception.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000261\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe have delivered a tax cut package which is both substantial and fair. It consciously rewards the many for their contribution to New Zealand\u2019s economic success, not just the few.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000262\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt helps the battlers in our society deal with the ill-winds blowing from offshore.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000263\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBudget 2008 funds the continued expansion of the hugely successful KiwiSaver scheme. It continues to invest in the New Zealand Superannuation Fund so building security for the future for all New Zealanders. The Fund is expected to reach $29 billion by 30 June 2012.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000264\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt continues our investment in quality early childhood education, stronger compulsory education, an integrated skills strategy and a strong quality tertiary education system. That means opportunities for all our young people.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000265\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt intensifies the rebuilding of our infrastructure with support for high speed broadband roll-out, public transport, better roads, and looks forward to a revitalisation of rail. That means a stronger economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000266\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt keeps Government debt low, while providing for the continuation of our social services, investment in our future, and a dividend for our families.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000267\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt delivers on the coalition agreement between the Labour and Progressive parties and on the confidence and supply agreements with New Zealand First and United Future and the cooperation agreement with the Greens.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000268\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIt is a Budget which builds on our past achievements, delivers real relief, and helps us towards a stronger future. As we move through this year of challenges and uncertainty we can look forward to a fairer, more prosperous, sustainable New Zealand which is secure in its own place in the world.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000269\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000270\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022e27d8275dde34ba8afa276a4cd58f166\u0022\u003EProcedure\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u0022635ebd221bba4691a37b0fce6b4108d3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000271\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022635ebd221bba4691a37b0fce6b4108d3\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E I hereby present the Budget 2008 Speech, the Executive Summary, the Fiscal Strategy Report 2008, the Economic and Fiscal Update 2008 (B.2 and B.3), the Estimates of Appropriations for the Government of New Zealand for the year ending 30 June 2009 (B.5), the compilations of information supporting the Estimates of Appropriations for the Government of New Zealand for the year ending 30 June 2009 (B.5A, Volumes 1-10), and the departmental statements of intent. I move, That those papers be published.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000272\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMotion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000273\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002235743577c6a245878d80fc5bd335c092\u0022\u003EBudget Debate\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000274\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022077cd02edddb4124bf1410303823ae50\u0022\u003EAppropriation (2008/09 Estimates) Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000275\u0022\u003EDebate resumed on the .\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022 data-id=\u0022ca62533ff0664457a801a5b5722604b2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ca62533ff0664457a801a5b5722604b2\u0022\u003EJOHN KEY (Leader of the Opposition):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That all the words after \u201CThat\u201D be omitted and the following words inserted: \u201Cthis House has no confidence in the Government led by Helen Clark, because New Zealanders have had to wait far too long to see any changes to personal tax thresholds or any lowering of personal tax rates, and over nine Budgets this Government has presided over a decline in New Zealand\u2019s standard of living compared to the rest of the world.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000277\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003ESo there we have it: Michael Cullen\u2019s ninth and final Budget. It may have been his election-year Budget, but it was also his valedictory. You see, he read the Budget speech but he did not believe one word of it. He did not believe one word of it. And did it not just smell of desperation? After 9 years of putting off tax cuts, it hurt him to read out the words. He did not believe them. But it was a giant acknowledgment of the failure of his Government\u2019s leadership when it comes to the economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000278\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhen it came to the tax cuts, it was far too little and it was far too late. It is pretty interesting that this is the finance Minister who has been telling New Zealanders for 9 years that they cannot have a tax cut. For 9 years he has been saying that they cannot have a tax cut. But guess what? In 4 or 5 months\u2019 time there will be an election, and 2 weeks beforehand Michael Cullen, after 9 years, will give a tax cut that he does not believe in. It will be the only chance of a tax cut.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000279\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EThe sad bit about the whole speech\u2014because it was pretty sad\u2014is when people start to reflect not just on the tax cut but on the price that New Zealanders are paying for the economic leadership shown by the Labour Government\u2014or lack of leadership, as the case may be. You see, they were led to believe by Michael Cullen that he would keep interest rates under control, and he has not. Interest rates have doubled under a Labour Government. There was no apology in the Budget this afternoon to the hard-working couple who borrowed $200,000 and now find themselves paying $150 a week more in interest\u2014no apology to that family. There was no apology to the families and other New Zealanders to whom he said: \u201CDon\u2019t worry, your wages will go up.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EBut he did not tell them that the cost of living under his leadership would rise faster than their wages. The same people reading his Budget tonight are the people who picked up the New Zealand Herald today and saw that cheese had gone up 112 percent, who had just gone to fill up their car and paid over $2 a litre for petrol, and who cannot afford to buy butter in the supermarkets of New Zealand because Michael Cullen has not managed to produce wages that can keep pace with those price rises.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000281\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EThere was no apology to the 1,700 people who have lost their jobs in the last 2 months, and to whom Ruth Dyson said: \u201CDon\u2019t worry about it, because we\u2019re all doing OK.\u201D There was no apology to those people, and no apology to the thousands of New Zealanders who every day go to a hospital and ask why, after 9 years in which spending on health has doubled, they still cannot get their operations, why they still have to go to Australia to get cancer drugs, and why, if they take Herceptin, they are funded for 9 weeks and not for 52 weeks. There were no apologies for all of that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000282\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EYou see, the interesting thing about this Budget is that it is ideologically opposed to everything that Michael Cullen believes in. He believes in taking people\u2019s money off them and spending it at a faster rate than they can. That has been the strategy. But let us be honest: we have heard over the last 9 years a lot of talk from Labour, but we do not hear so much of it these days.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000283\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EGone is the talk about New Zealand getting into the top half of the OECD. That was where Labour started 9 years ago: \u201CWe will be in the top half of the OECD.\u201D Michael Cullen does not tell New Zealanders that we are not 20th any more, which was the placing out of 30 that we had when Labour came to office; we are 22nd. The only OECD rating where we have literally gone up is for being more heavily taxed\u2014we have moved from 20th to 12th. So gone is that talk.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000284\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EAnd gone is the talk of closing the gaps. Do members remember that? That was in 2000, when the average M\u0101ori family earned an income equivalent to 82 percent of a P\u0101keh\u0101 family\u2019s income. Has that gap closed? No! It has widened; a M\u0101ori family earns only 73 percent of the income of a P\u0101keh\u0101 family. So gone is the talk of closing the gaps.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000285\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EThen there was talk of the knowledge wave. There was no talk about the knowledge wave in this year\u2019s Budget, and no talk about the hundred information technology companies that would have a turnover of $100 million. That has gone\u2014no talk of that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000286\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EDoes anyone remember the talk of economic transformation? I remember listening through speeches where we heard it about 30 times\u2014economic transformation. We are still waiting\u2014New Zealand is still waiting\u2014for economic transformation. What about growth and innovation? That was the talk.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000287\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EAnd last but not least was carbon neutrality. Did we hear that mentioned in the speech? No. You see, Helen Clark has finally worked out what carbon neutrality means, and that is that if we lead the world in it, we lead the world in costs, we lose jobs, we lose people, and we lose opportunities, and, most of all, all that we do is export carbon dioxide emissions around the world.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000288\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003ESo let us turn to the centrepiece of Michael Cullen\u2019s Budget\u2014tax cuts. Well, it has finally happened. It has been a long, long wait, but it has finally happened. I can only say that I hope they last longer than the ones he announced in 2005. They may not be supported by Michael Cullen, but that is OK\u2014we will come back to the legislation that will lock them in, in a minute. But do they not just reek of cynicism? They come in on 1 October. We can put a ring round the date for the election: 18 October. But, do not worry, Labour thinks it will have a revival before going to the polls, having given the average worker of New Zealand a family-size block of cheese. That is what the tax cut is worth. After 9 years of waiting, New Zealanders get a family-size block of cheese. They will get two blocks before the election and they are meant to be grateful. That is the message\u2014they are meant to be grateful.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000289\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhile they are being grateful, they should think about this: the next time they get a tax cut\u2014theoretically, under this Budget\u2014will not be for 2 years. It is a long time between toasted sandwiches. It is a long time between servings of macaroni cheese. People will wait 2 years. They will not get tax cuts in 2009. Do any members know why? It is not an election year! Actually, it is not within cooee of an election year, so in 2009 people are not allowed tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000290\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EThere we go; that was Michael Cullen\u2019s tax cuts Budget. It was motivated by one reason alone: not the belief of Michael Cullen in tax cuts, but his belief in electoral survival. That is the reason those tax cuts are there. The reason they have taken so long to get there is that Dr Cullen never wants to deliver them. He does not want to deliver them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000291\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhat will be interesting to New Zealanders, as they go home tonight and reflect on Michael Cullen\u2019s Budget, is the thought that they have waited for over 3,000 days under a Labour Government to get a tax cut\u20143,000 days. If they are paying the top personal tax rate, which kicks in at $60,000 and will eventually move up under today\u2019s Budget, they have to wait for only 125 days from go to whoa for their tax rate to go up. You see, under Labour, one waits 125 days and one\u2019s taxes go up, and one waits for over 3,000 days for one\u2019s taxes to go down.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000292\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EEarlier this week, Michael Cullen told us that tax cuts that delivered a reasonable amount to New Zealanders were reckless and unaffordable. Maybe Dr Cullen should have looked over the road, over the Tasman, to the Australians.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000293\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223b51115cfde641ae84e4d2eb9b512997\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: These are bigger than the Australian tax cuts\u2014miles bigger.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000294\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225490ee7469794fcaa3bd70ba900af708\u0022\u003EJOHN KEY\u003C/span\u003E: Then the design is terrible, I say to Dr Cullen. We will come back to that in a minute. Let us look at it. During the same period of time that Labour has been in office in New Zealand, people in Australia earning $47,000 a year have got a tax cut of $100 per week, whereas under Labour people in New Zealand have got zero, and, 2 weeks before the election, they will get their block of cheese. In Australia they get $100 a week, and in New Zealand they get zero until they are within 150 paces of a polling booth, when they will get $16. That is the difference. If anyone is wondering why 44,000 people left New Zealand last year and went to Australia, I can tell that person that it is because they were looking for economic leadership. It is coming, but not under a Labour Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000295\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhat else did we learn when we heard what was in the Budget? There will be an urgency motion tonight. The House will go into urgency. Why? To legislate for the tax cuts that will come in on 1 October. Actually, the real reason is that Michael Cullen\u2014and he admitted it earlier in the week\u2014does not trust himself to deliver his own tax cuts if he does not legislate for them. He is like a chocoholic who loves Caramello and has to hide it in a box on top of the wardrobe so that he cannot find it. He is legislating for his own tax cuts, because he does not trust himself. What is actually worse than that is that his own colleagues do not trust him. They want the House to go into urgency. What do Governments do? They change legislation. That is what Governments do. Beyond 2009, if New Zealanders trust Labour to give them a tax cut, Michael Cullen will be whipping it away.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000296\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWell, enough of Michael Cullen. [Interruption] Well, we will get to some policy, actually. I want to talk about National\u2019s plan. I tell the members opposite to listen up, because they may well be beneficiaries of it. This is the message to New Zealanders: under National, tax cuts are a priority; under National, personal tax cuts are a priority. It is a pretty simple message: under National, New Zealanders will do better. The plan will be better, the structure will be better, and the delivery will be better. Most of all, New Zealanders will be able to believe our tax cuts, they will be able to trust our tax cuts, and they will not wait 3,000 days to get them. They will not be doing that. Most of all, our tax cuts will not be just about putting dollars into the pockets of hard-working New Zealanders; they will actually be about delivering the right incentives in the economy. [Interruption] We know that Labour members do not believe in tax cuts, and they are admitting that. They may not like to hear it, but tax cuts deliver the right incentives. Tax cuts let New Zealanders get ahead in their lives. They encourage New Zealanders to work hard, to get extra responsibilities, to save, and to get further education. You see, we believe in tax cuts, we believe in the power of tax cuts, and we will deliver them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000297\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhat is more, we can afford to do it. I will tell New Zealanders how we can afford to do it. This year the Government will spend $60 billion, and not one of those dollars is being reviewed\u2014not one. The Labour Government has for 9 years wasted money hand-over-fist, and it does not care. One needs only to look at what is happening in Australia to know that tax cuts are possible. The Labor Government in Australia came in after 9 years of tax cuts and it still found savings and it still found the ability to do things.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000298\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EI want to make one last point about Michael Cullen. He has laboured on about interest rates, but this is the simple point: if Labour and Michael Cullen care so much about interest rates, why has he let them double under his watch? Let me say this very clearly: we have a plan for New Zealand. It involves tax, it involves infrastructure, it involves curbing the bureaucracy, it involves having proper planning legislation, and it involves having the right future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000299\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EBut, most of all, let us answer the real question. This is the difference between Labour and National: Labour is stuck in the past; it is the past. Helen Clark and Michael Cullen care more about the Viet Nam War and the Springbok Tour than they do about the big issues facing New Zealand today. They do not want to front up on a decent emissions trading scheme, they do not want to front up on the big issues of globalisation, they do not want to front up on the issue of why so many New Zealanders leave, and they do not want to front up on how to lift economic growth in New Zealand. What they want to do is meander around in the past.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003ENational will not do that. National will take New Zealand forward on a high-growth environment, where our young people know they have a future, where they know that we as a Government will back them to succeed, and where we will deliver them the tools they need. We will deliver fast broadband so that they can be connected to the world; a future-looking Government that knows where it is going; and a country that is not afraid of itself, where winning is part of the national conversation, where it is not just about participation but also about succeeding, and where there is aspiration, hope, opportunity, and ambition\u2014most of all, ambition.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000301\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003ENew Zealand deserves a lot better than what it has had in the last 9 years. New Zealanders deserve a National Government, and in 5 months\u2019 time and two blocks of cheese, that is exactly what they will get.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022 data-id=\u0022a11a133cedb04af999873d95f1060e82\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000302\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a11a133cedb04af999873d95f1060e82\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE (National\u2014Ilam):\u003C/span\u003E I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. It was very noticeable on this side of the House that throughout the speech delivered by Michael Cullen there was orderly behaviour within the House, and respect was shown to the Minister of Finance, who was reading a prepared speech. Some of us were moved to think that the Labour backbench was so unenthusiastic that those members looked more like people on death row than cheerleaders for the Government. But during the Leader of the Opposition\u2019s reply there was a considerable barrage, and there was a considerable change for the worse in the standard of behaviour. We hope that the same courtesy, if it is extended to the Prime Minister, will not bring your wrath.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022 data-id=\u0022f2efb71c83fe4f499f2fefcfeea182d9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000303\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022f2efb71c83fe4f499f2fefcfeea182d9\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I would point out to the member\u2014who has been in the House for some considerable time and will actually know\u2014that it is recognised in the Standing Orders and Speakers\u2019 rulings that when there is a prepared speech the convention is that there is no interruption, because there is no opportunity for the person giving the prepared speech to respond. After that, the debate commences. I did listen, and from all sides of the House from time to time there was robust and vigorous participation within the debate. That is what will continue. From my point of view, the most important thing is that people can be heard, and I thought that Mr Key could be heard.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022 data-id=\u0022ab1dce0f1ca94c759158e928ddce9379\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000304\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ab1dce0f1ca94c759158e928ddce9379\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister):\u003C/span\u003E Madam Speaker\u2014[Interruption]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000305\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022233c47ae55ff4472ae191b7693d4d57b\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I explained to members what the rule is. I understand the positioning here to get permission to be able to make sure that other speakers cannot be heard. But there is the right in this House for all members to be heard. There is also the recognition that there will be a robust and vigorous debate, particularly on matters of this order. There is not permission to be given for not being heard, otherwise members will be asked to leave the Chamber because they will be creating disorder. Of course there can be interjections, and of course people can express their views, but every member in this House has the right to be heard.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000306\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002254408637102a4397bad1fc9c9a08fa28\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I think the problem was that the Leader of the Opposition\u2019s notes ran out at least 15 minutes before the end of his 20-minute speech. I, for one, am not prepared to believe a single word he said\u2014not a single word. I read on Monday morning in the Dominion Post that he was promising every worker $50 a week, or north of $50 a week. By Wednesday morning, when Breakfast on Television One interrogated him for 10 minutes and asked, time after time: \u201CMr Key, will you confirm the $50?\u201D, he replied: \u201CNo, I can\u2019t confirm the $50.\u201D That man\u2019s promises cannot even last 48 hours. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000307\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EThe only thing John Key confirmed today was that any tax cut he gives will be funded by cuts in public spending. A vote for John Key is a vote for fewer teachers, not more; fewer nurses, not more; and more problems, not fewer. That is the man who in every speech complains about people leaving New Zealand. He was very happy to leave New Zealand himself, under a National Government\u2014very happy to leave his country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000308\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003ECan I say to the Leader of the Opposition that I did care about the Springbok Tour\u2014and I remember where I stood on it, as well\u2014just as I cared about the war in Iraq, and I remember where I stood on that, as well. I care about climate change. I have never said it was a hoax. I have never denied it. I have never then tried to say \u201CWell, I never said that.\u201D, and then gone back full circle to saying again that it was a hoax. Over here we believe in having a bit of consistency in policy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000309\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EThe Minister of Finance today delivered his ninth successive Budget. The last time a National Minister of Finance got close to doing that, it was Robert Muldoon. I sat here through his eight Budgets in the period of that National Government. He got in such a funk in 1984 that he could not write the Budget. He called an early election and ran away because he could not make the figures add up. That has been the story of the National Party, year after year. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000310\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EEverybody knows that this Budget has been drawn up against a background of a slowing international economy. I remember the last time that happened, as well. It was in 1998 and Jenny Shipley was there, with Bill English, Maurice Williamson, Nick Smith, Murray McCully, Tony Ryall, and Lockwood Smith. What was their response to a slowing economy? They cut New Zealand superannuation. They sold one of New Zealand\u2019s prime State assets. Contact Energy was sold, and they penny-pinched and under-invested across the board\u2014health, education, and the rest of it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000311\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003ELet us look at the contrast. Yes, the international economy is slowing. What is the Labour Government doing? Superannuitants are getting more money in their pockets, not less. We have not sold a State asset; we have bought one back\u2014New Zealand Rail\u2014and I am proud of it. We are investing properly in the future of our people\u2014in education, in health, and in other things. There is a stark difference between these two approaches. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000312\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EWe all know that Kiwis are paying record prices at the petrol pump. We all know that key items of food, like dairy products, are way up in price. Those prices are doing well for our dairy farmers but they hurt back home, at the supermarket checkout. Then there is the global credit crunch, and that has affected our households with mortgages, and it has affected our small to medium sized businesses. Alongside the slowing global growth there has also been a prolonged drought. Our farmers have had a very, very difficult few months, and that has affected our whole economy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000313\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003ENone of those things are the fault of the New Zealand Government\u2014not a single one. But it is our responsibility to manage through them and to keep the New Zealand economy well positioned for upturn, when it comes. That means not doing what Jenny Shipley, Bill English, Tony Ryall, Nick Smith, Lockwood Smith, Murray McCully, and Maurice Williamson did last time there was a slow-down, and slashing and burning. It means carrying on investing and giving our people some genuine relief. I believe that Kiwis want relief from the cost pressures. But ask Kiwis: \u201CDo you want that relief to come at the cost of less health care and less investment in education?\u201D, and they reply that no, they do not. They want things kept in balance, and that is what this Government does. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000314\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EIn this Budget married superannuitants get a 5.2 percent increase in their income on 1 October. That is over $45 a fortnight. Our single superannuitants get an increase. They are benefiting from the tax relief, and so they should. Society is judged on how its older people are treated, and this Labour-led Government, with support from our confidence and supply partners New Zealand First and United Future and with the support of the working and abstention agreement of the Greens, has managed to deliver to vulnerable people. We have managed to deliver to superannuitants, and I am proud of that. On 1 April next year we can add next year\u2019s projected increase of close to $30 a fortnight to the 1 October increase of $45.88 a fortnight for our married superannuitants. That means that over the course of a year our married superannuitants will have an increase in their pay of 8.6 percent. That is phenomenal. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000315\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003ELet us not forget the other things that matter to our older people. Let us not forget that this Labour-led Government, with support from its confidence and supply partners, is providing in this Budget for another 5,000 elective surgery operations on top of already record numbers. Let us remember also that with the support of our confidence and supply partners\u2014and this is a New Zealand First initiative\u2014those who require a hearing aid will see the subsidy go up from $198 to $500. Another New Zealand First initiative is that those with a SuperGold card can look forward to free travel on public transport at off-peak times. Is that not good for our older citizens as well? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000316\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EThe tax cut that is pushing up our superannuitants\u2019 pay forms part of the $10.6 billion tax package\u2014the $10.6 billion tax package\u2014that the Government is delivering over the next 4 years. That starts on 1 October, with a cut for every taxpayer. Those cuts are fair, because those who are the lowest earners benefit the most\u2014and that is the way it should be under any Government\u2014because the lowest tax rate falls to 12.5 percent. By 1 April 2011 that 12.5 percent rate will apply to the first $20,000 of earnings.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000317\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229dd997402d5a4ca590a844fb918e825d\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: What a cynical bill\u2014just cynical!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000318\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a20fc8cd932a4a7285ea6eb2691f1621\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I am starting to think that this must be a very good Budget, because I think Dr Nick Smith will have a heart attack if he gets much more upset. And although one cannot comment on the absence of members, I do note that some are very happy to shout at others and then, when they get their comeuppance, they are not around to hear the reply. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000319\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003ESo what do the tax cuts mean for our Kiwi families? They mean a lot, especially because the Government is also bringing forward the adjustments for inflation into the Working for Families payments. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000320\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003ELet us take our Kiwi family on the average household income of $72,000. Let us assume that the income is split, with two-thirds from one partner and one-third from the other. Let us assume that they have two children at primary school. The $45 extra they get in the pay packet on 1 October is equivalent to a 3.6 percent increase in their take-home pay. That is not bad. By the full implementation of the tax package on 1 April 2011, that Kiwi family will be $82 dollars a week better off. That is equivalent to a 7.5 percent increase in take-home pay on today\u2019s money. The one-earner family on $45,000 a year\u2014which is very close to our average wage\u2014again with two primary school - age children, will see the equivalent of a 3.7 percent increase in their take-home pay, and it will be 7.6 percent by 1 April 2011. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000321\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EThe tax relief in this Budget is important. So is the fact that this Labour-led Government is maintaining investment in the critical areas of health, education, housing, and infrastructure. We know that although people want tax relief\u2014and we are delivering it\u2014they do not want it at the expense of the basics, and we have to balance these things. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000322\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EFor our families, that 5 percent increase in school operations grants means a lot, because if we do not look after that, the schools come back to families for money they do not have to put into the school system. It might be the Tory way to keep putting that cost on to families, but it is not our way. Our parents and our schools have high expectations\u2014as they should have\u2014and we need to meet those expectations. This Budget also funds the teacher-pupil ratio of 1:15 for our new entrants in schools. What can be more important in the school system than looking after small children turning up at the age of 5 and needing to learn the basics? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000323\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EFor our families, the money that goes into heath care is absolutely critical. If any Government eases up on that, then Kiwi families pay the cost. They pay higher doctors\u2019 fees, they pay more for their drugs, and they wait longer for treatment. That may be the National Party way\u2014we all heard John Key talk about reviewing every area of public spending to try to squeeze out the money for the tax cuts. That is what he said. That is National\u2019s way, not our way. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000324\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E In this Budget we are funding new initiatives in health, like the new vaccine against cervical cancer. Over the years that vaccine will save the lives of thousands of New Zealanders. If we have a way of preventing a deadly cancer from developing, then we should take that way, and we have funded it in this Budget. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EThe investment the Budget makes in housing is also critical for our families. We have invested in retrofits for warm and healthy housing, saving people money on their power bill and improving their health. It was only a few weeks ago that, along with the Hon Mark Burton, I visited a lady in her home in Tokoroa. That home was being retrofitted. It had a heating system that was unhealthy and caused breathing respiratory problems. That lady, with the support of a Labour Government and others who work with us, is getting a clean, healthy heating system, and I am proud of that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000326\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EI am proud too that this Budget, for the first time, is coming up with investment for shared-equity loans for our first-home owners. That is a way for families on modest incomes to get into their own home in the big cities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000327\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a6f9b75d764444aa80a729705680b0fd\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s a joke! Twenty for Nelson? Don\u2019t make us laugh!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000328\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a31fbf2ad2bc42a2813aad72d62969ba\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: The city of Nelson is one that benefits, but Nick Smith opposes it. It is absolutely unbelievable that the local member for Nelson would try to stop people in his city getting a shared-equity loan. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000329\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EThere is a lot in this Budget that adds to New Zealand\u2019s economic capacity. The increase in operational spending on research, science, and technology is close to 6 percent. There is the huge investment in the Fast Forward fund so that our agriculture and food industries can earn more for their producers and for our country. There is the major investment in broadband. It is not a subsidy to a Telecom monopoly, which is the National Party way, but contestable funding that gets the maximum investment from the private sector. Under Maurice Williamson and a National Government, the National Party protected Telecom for years. It caused us all to pay a lot for poor services. That is its legacy to New Zealand and it is not something we want to be known for.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000330\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002274baea5aa7ec4be49833e7735ff45c5d\u0022\u003EHon Maurice Williamson\u003C/span\u003E: If it was all so bad why did you wait 8 years?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000331\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022de37319548694a22a75b9330105568b2\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I really am beginning to think this is a very good Budget, because I am getting such hysterical resistance from some members opposite. I can only feel encouraged in my efforts. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000332\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EI come back to saying that we have all seen Governments take different approaches to managing their way through economic difficulties. Some Governments cut the pension. Some Governments sell State assets to try to manage the books. Some Governments penny-pinch on health and education. But this Labour Government is putting up superannuitants\u2019 income. It is looking after our families. It is investing in health, education, and housing, and never, never, never is it selling our State assets. It is buying them back because we believe in that for the future of our country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000333\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003EI believe that this is a fair Budget that gives timely relief to our taxpayers. I believe that it invests in our future and it is able to manage through this current international downturn, because over the years when the international economy was in better shape we addressed the critical deficits\u2014the years of underspending in health and education, and on the police, the prisons, and the transport system. We are now in a position to give relief where it is needed, to maintain investment, and to position ourselves for the upturn that Treasury forecasts in these Budget papers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022 data-id=\u00221aaad6ecd4b54e87877b34898ae3c98d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000334\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221aaad6ecd4b54e87877b34898ae3c98d\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader\u2014NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E Budget 2008 contains some good elements and a few bad omissions, but, most important, New Zealand First is promising something better. The moving of tax thresholds in October of this year will provide relief for New Zealand workers, and New Zealand First will support these initiatives. But we make this point: much of the good in this Budget is found in the fine print, and a lot of it flows on from New Zealand First\u2019s confidence and supply agreement with the Government. New Zealand First\u2019s gains include assistance to superannuitants, such as free off-peak travel on public transport during the day\u2014not at night, as Television New Zealand said\u2014for SuperGold card holders; subsidies for hearing aids of $500 or more; advantageous tax effects for those who receive New Zealand superannuation; increased funding for M\u0101ori wardens; an ongoing funding boost for the elder-care sector; and\u2014more could have happened here\u2014a significant injection into the shipping industry, which has at last been rediscovered as being important for New Zealand. We have been saying it for years. Here comes climate change, and all of a sudden we have this. There is nothing so true as the saying \u201CWe told you so.\u201D, but we damn well did, and for a long, long time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000335\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223995a75c6c8a49a7bcffbd2e91431f65\u0022\u003EHon Annette King\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, well at least we listened.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000336\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002215552fe8259a4de4ae93c42402cbcaf4\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Well, better late than never. Our gains also include a lift for premier racing stakes, and, if we add in the substantial Budget boost for foreign affairs that will ensure that this country for the first time for a long time has the resources to confront the great challenges for the 21st century of diplomacy and trade, we can see that New Zealand First has delivered again. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000337\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E I want to give this warning: I was just told by a National Party member that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade does not expect to get it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000338\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ad003b0ba806446680f0f12ac9f00786\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: What?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000339\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bb527b577a7247da908c65971230b343\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade does not expect to get it. They can only be the only people who have talked to him and are foolish enough to think that National is going to win the next election, because the ministry is going to get it, and it is getting it now. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000340\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EBut there are other critical elements missing. For example, we are disappointed that the Budget does not include tax policies to promote export growth. Yes, subsidies, incentives, the kinds of which one will see in Ireland, in Singapore, in Japan, in Thailand, throughout the Nordic countries, and even in countries that used to be behind the Iron Curtain, do work. We do not have to reinvent the wheel here. We need to learn what an export-dependent economy needs by way of critical policy. We are an export-dependent economy and our policies should reflect that. Nor has the Government or its predecessor addressed the elephant in the room\u2014the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act, which is so loved by so many people in this Parliament. This is a failed economic experiment. It is inflation targeting. There is some belief in this Parliament that somehow we can deal to massive import inflation by damaging our domestic markets and our domestic consumers. Targeting import inflation using the blunt instrument of domestic interest rates can only create domestic pain, and it is. We heard nothing from Mr Key today about that. We have been saying this for 20 years, and only if we get back on track as an exporting nation can we grow our economy so that we can afford decent wages and social services. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000341\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EWe think there is a programme in respect of affordability and the rapidly rising prices of household basics, but it is still insufficient. Let us face it, times are tough, and a lot of people are finding it hard to make ends meet. But we have some questions for the National Party. Will it cut New Zealand superannuation?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000342\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022532f4a8db6a548639c6384b392d0479e\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Yes! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000343\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d8cb9dd1a039423788db48598406eee6\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: And the $45 windfall for married couples from this October? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000344\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002258954fd7951b4c14b6cca1dc412a7e3c\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Yes!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000345\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002268325b5fc16e4c7da591ef0fa2d6f869\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Give us an answer!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000346\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022427f56741e74488c853ad566669dc941\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Of course not.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000347\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b93250b1b2e04987802d7ee5716ab078\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: I am not taking it from Nick Smith. Excuse me! Will it torpedo KiwiSaver? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000348\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022eee6c9b9a3ac488484e5106199847228\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Yes!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000349\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022744a437f21874ab2a2a76469fe8a45db\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Will it cut the 1,000 extra police that we are putting on the streets? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000350\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f24b37a2a86d4cf8a174054bd0dc50d5\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Yes!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000351\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022886a6db12e5e47789545af17b23f1fea\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Will it slash extra funding for the elder-care sector?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000352\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dd4d9cf2c14e4ea69fbb9f6e16f23b05\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Yes!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000353\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022db23f5849af34d5fa028e7fd9db0837c\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Will it take hearing aids off the elderly? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000354\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002219bbe5ad2ad44985bfdc5585eb38b823\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Yes!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000355\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228d5bad2562fe4c1aa2c40080f2f371a6\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Will it take away their free transport? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000356\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002207bcab72b93441e1b494800c91e8708b\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Yes!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000357\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d44b6dfb15a34d069ec9a2a0c143e104\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Will it make them pay more to go to the doctor?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000358\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dbd4fbedb35f46d3af89582230b80046\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Yes!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000359\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002238703abf02304368bb36a1637d1bc211\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: We could go on, but, unlike National, New Zealand First has a solution. We are actually able to offer a real alternative, with real policies that have been tried and tested in nearly every other growing economy. We want to see a tax-free threshold of $5,200 introduced: a tax cut that everybody\u2014everybody\u2014benefits from. We also want GST reduced to 10 percent across the board. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000360\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EWhat was most noticeable about the theatre of Parliament today was that there in Parliament were Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble alongside National, indicating their support. Remember them? They said that GST at 10 percent was written in stone\u2014that it could not be changed. Then they changed it to 12.5 percent, and they have never explained why. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000361\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EThose two steps I have outlined are not enough on their own. We want 68 percent of the net average wage for superannuitants\u2014and we could afford it. So although we support this Budget, we are looking forward to the real alternative of tax relief and greater affordability in Budget 2009. And we mean to be here. And those who are following the polls will know we will be here\u2014just in case some people have some silly ideas. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000362\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EWe know that with a package of tax incentives for exporters, a rewrite of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act, and a more equitable tax policy we could put New Zealand\u2019s economy and its people back on the front foot. We are not going to go on with a Governor of the Reserve Bank, unelected, doing what he likes to the major part of the economy while those of us who are elected can do nothing, because of our own legislative frustration. We offer an alternative; National does not. An old National Party would have, Holyoake would have, and people like Holland would have, but not this crowd. Growth can come only through productive and non-consumptive wealth. Never has this been more urgent. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000363\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EThere were no solutions from the National Party today. I was amazed that Mr Key got to his last 5 minutes and said: \u201CNow to National\u2019s plan.\u201D I have just two questions: how much, and when? Come on, I say to Mr Smith, tell us now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000364\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e1db30f9fd8446bf872857485be8f1c2\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: We\u2019ll tell you in the election campaign.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000365\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220bee7d8c264e4d23bbb8b0f18c936a83\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, he will tell us in the election campaign! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000366\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221d7114863a30482096ec2e805a3ae740\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: He doesn\u2019t know.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000367\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002263c4fcecb52147c7a96a76ce448c75ea\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: He does not know. You know, there was a time when New Zealanders could expect to hear something uplifting and memorable from the National Party. I know; I used to belong to it. Frequently I was the cause of it; its members could expect that. We used to hear speeches about leadership, vision, ideas, answers, and solutions. Instead, all we got today were the words \u201Cthe National plan\u201D and no detail whatsoever. And when we look across at the inglorious line of wannabes, never-have-beens, and political seat-warmers, we realise the old saying is right: \u201CYou can\u2019t make a silk purse out of a sow\u2019s ear.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000368\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003ELook at that party\u2019s line-up. Mr David Carter is here only because he has some preference on selection, even though it has been to court three times. Mr Williamson believes in four private companies to run New Zealand roads. The next man? Need I mention Mr Smith? I do not think so. He is the top-up man\u2014Harpic. The next guy\u2014very inexperienced. The next one, well, frankly, he was the deputy leader and he got demoted. He jumped before he was pushed. Then we come to Mr Key. You know, I can recall the National Party leadership of recent times. One came out of a kindergarten and wanted to be the Prime Minister. It lasted 5 minutes, and she delivered the worst result in National\u2019s history. Then the next one turned up. He came out of Treasury. He delivered the worst result upon that. Then they got a guy who walked out of the Reserve Bank and thought \u201CI am qualified by this background to run the whole of New Zealand.\u201D And he lost the unloseable election. Then National got somebody from the stock markets of England\u2014no memory of this country whatsoever. And National members are telling us, with all their puffery, that he can do the job.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000369\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228b055b9c19484839a7a8bf262044e347\u0022\u003EBob Clarkson\u003C/span\u003E: You\u2019ve still got me.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000370\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ad486cc5dee345f780f0cdb57373584f\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, here comes \u201CBob the Quitter\u201D. That really tells us a massive amount about the National Party. When his stadium, much-vaunted, was in trouble, he socialised his losses. He got the people of Tauranga to buy it, and they will be paying for it forever. Typical! And he even made himself sound magnanimous when he did it. But when anybody inquired into the due diligence, the council would not release the information\u2014his council. We know that is true, do we not, I say to Bob? We will hear more about this. This guy was going to stand against me, and he was going to do this and he was going to do that. He was full of puffery and bovine scatology. He is all talk; he is the Blue Chip member. Tens of thousands of old people in Tauranga have lost all their money, and he is off\u2014going, finished. He did not jump. He was pushed. I say to him \u201CYou were pushed, sunshine, weren\u2019t you?\u201D. One cannot make a silk purse out of a sow\u2019s ear. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000371\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EBy the way, the National Party was talking about the cost of bureaucracy. National is going to pay for all the tax cuts by having a review of everything\u2014of every department. National has been talking about cutting the cost of bureaucracy. That is fair enough: National likes slash-and-burn policies. National did it in the 1990s when it slashed benefits and pensions. National cut police numbers and social services. National calls it market forces. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000372\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EMost of the culprits are still there, on the front bench. Their DNA and fingerprints are all over everything that went wrong. They even sent the economy into a recession in 1991. I was here. I saw them do it. And now we are being told that the soft face of capitalism from a State house in Christchurch is the answer. Like some of us do not know about poverty? Like some of us do not know what it smells, tastes, and feels like? Is there something special about that? But what we are not being shown is the cost of National putting its best, bland face forward. We are not being told about the gravy train that National is creating in the process. Do members know that John Key himself, in his Wellington parliamentary office, employs 36 people? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000373\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002226f32374b389489cac20d4ba191ed9c0\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: How many?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000374\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c628d6a8582a44e8a0f35e213f1ed0c7\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: He employs 36 people, just in his office, and that does not count the staff for MPs. Look at the pages. It is all here. There they are; they are all here\u201436 people, at great expense. Every year they cost the taxpayer over $7 million for their parliamentary operations. [Interruption] Yes, they do. That is what they do, and I am not even counting his secretary in the 36. There is someone called a web manager.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000375\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221e24040341014a5cb33516f242003af6\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: A what?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000376\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b12af590948748d0b256666cc3ef96df\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: A web manager. Maybe it is a duck\u2014or Charlotte the spider. There is an IT manager, and there is a graphic designer. What would a graphic designer do? Maybe he or she would try to dress up Nick Smith\u2014I do not know. Members will like this one. There is a programme and stakeholder relations manager. What would that person do? And, of course, there are teams of public relations people, spin doctors, and policy advisers. And what for? There is no policy. They are all feverishly out there creating the image of leadership, saying \u201CYou\u2019ve got to walk this way. You\u2019ve got to have your whole crowd around you.\u201D Look, John Key cannot get his advisers into one bus; he has to have an articulated bus to take his entourage with him! The John Key image that members see over there and on TV is one shaped by many hands and spun by many spin doctors. That is only the lot within Parliament. What about the blogsters, the webmasters, the David Farrah Rumplestiltskinites, the consultants, the ad agencies, and the even more public relations people outside of Parliament? Do members remember the so-called freedom fighting organisation called the Free Speech Coalition? It was going to give us all of the changes that we need to have for our electoral system, but in that time\u2014since 1993\u2014it has not given us one idea, at all. It just so happens, though, that its front man also works out of the National Party\u2019s headquarters. Are members beginning to smell a rat? I am. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000377\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EThe biggest increase in taxpayer spending in New Zealand today is going to the National Party. Why is the National Party not a separate item in the Budget? What about the people who are financed by big business on the outside? How can John Key go around the country and tell everyone that he is fiscally prudent, when he needs a fleet of buses to carry his entourage? You know, National has a bureaucracy that would boggle the minds of commissars in the old Kremlin. Even Joseph Stalin did not have 36 people in his own office. Even Joseph Stalin could not do that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000378\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EI actually worked out that National is bigger than some Pacific Island economies. It is actually bigger than some Government departments and ministries. But that may be what it is all about\u2014the creation of a new, big-spending, freeloading, free-lunching, perk-gathering \u201CMinistry of National Affairs\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000379\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002218d5912f057a434ab7027b7a9fb0544f\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: If this is your best, it\u2019s time you retired.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000380\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b92f4769d40c4ae4b173a24a5e59aa5a\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, really? That member should have never come here. He got in here only because I actually campaigned for him one night, and it brought us an audience wall to wall. Philip Burdon asked me to, and like a fool I went down and did it. Now, despite the efforts of all these people, assisted by a sympathetic, overseas-owned media, we still do not know what National stands for. So far all we have had is a succession of \u201CMe too!\u201D. The National Party has a duty to tell the public what it is that it intends to do. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000381\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EI remember it was Keith Holyoake, a real National Party leader\u2014one whom I was proud to work under\u2014who said: \u201CTell the people. Trust the people.\u201D That is National\u2019s problem: its members do not trust the people, so they will not tell them what National intends to do. There are all sorts of parties in this Parliament. We do not always agree with a lot of the things that they say, but at least they tell the public what they intend to do, and we respect that. But there is something about National that is not quite right. It seems to be a party with secrets kept under wraps, like a boil covered over by a sticking plaster. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000382\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EWhat has National tried to do since the election in 2005? What initiatives and policies has it launched since that election? Where does it stand on all of the big, burning issues of the day? What policies has it sought to support? National has spent 2\u00BD years waiting for a snap election that was never going to happen. I say \u201Cbad luck!\u201D. But that is no excuse for doing nothing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000383\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EThere is only one real alternative to this year\u2019s Budget, and it is being put forward by a party that is not afraid to tell the public its policies on the economy, socialism, social welfare, or capitalism in this country. New Zealand First is the party that has answers to questions that have been around for a long time. The answers are not something experimental or chosen by the paper-shufflers of Queen Street or of Main Street, Wellington; they are something to do with this country\u2019s long-running economic structure. There is still hope that we can get to the promised land, but we have to change our direction and head down the right path. That means creating a tax-free threshold, reducing GST to 10 percent, creating a tax regime for exporters, rewriting the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act to relieve interest rates, and creating a better deal for senior citizens. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000384\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EWe were once God\u2019s own country, controlling our own destiny, built by generations of hard-working and innovative people. We have seen what this country and its people can achieve. We in New Zealand First still believe in them, and we believe that we have the policies, the priorities, and the persistence to rebuild this country along lines that will work; not along lines of economic experimentation of the type that sadly we have seen over the last 23 years. In short, my message to New Zealanders in the next 4 months, if they have any idea that they want change, is that they should vote for change that they can believe in. In that respect, my message to them is to hang on because, as before, help is on its way.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022 data-id=\u00222cfe2399f9d2457da5859c83d5e53936\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000385\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222cfe2399f9d2457da5859c83d5e53936\u0022\u003EJEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader\u2014Green):\u003C/span\u003E We are living in a moment in history and in a generation where the people who have the power have a clear choice: either they face inconvenient truths that are very obviously around us, or they leave it to their grandchildren to face those truths when it may be too late. But the one thing that gets this Parliament excited is tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000386\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EWe are bumping up against the limits of growth. The atmosphere will absorb only so much carbon. There is a finite number of fish in the sea. The planet has only so much fresh water and only so much oil. Unless we recognise all of this, we will only create problems from Budget to Budget for our grandchildren and for the world. Those environmental limits are already feeding inflation in a way that just playing with the official cash rate is not able to control. We have to recognise that the environment is the economy, and that resource limits are driving our spiral of high inflation, high interest costs, and high exchange rates, which, again, raise the cost of imported resources. Oil, water, and climate limits are driving food prices up\u2014up 28 percent in a year for a basket of staples, the New Zealand Herald tells us\u2014which in turn are driving poverty.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000387\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EAddressing the problem at its cause will enable us to get monetary policy under control, but Parliament can see only tax cuts. Some days\u2014and this is one of them\u2014I feel like I am surrounded in this Chamber by people who have their heads in the sand. There is the opportunity here to propose an answer to the defining challenges of our time\u2014and, I say to Winston, it is not trade and diplomacy\u2014to unite us collectively as a people, sharing the costs of our carbon footprint equitably, and sharing both the effort and the resources. There is an opportunity to future-proof the quality of our lives in an uncertain world. But our Parliament is talking about tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000388\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThis is not a Budget, in total, that will be remembered and celebrated by my grandchildren\u2019s generation, or even in a couple of years from now. What this week will be remembered for is not this Budget but a turning point in the economic history of the world. The financial markets have finally recognised that we live in a time of diminishing resources bumping up against the limits of the planet. Yesterday, for the first time in history, the futures markets for oil put their money on continuous price increases from here on out. It is the first time in history that that has happened. I do not want to frighten members, but the bubble of limitless, mindless, and unfair economic expansion has burst. As I said, yesterday, for the first time in history, the futures market for oil put its money on continuous price increases from here on out. To ordinary, common-sense people, that might seem a no-brainer. Is that not what oil prices have been doing for years now? Well, the futures market does not think like that. Until now the market has been in a state known in the trade as backwardation. It means one looks in the rear-vision mirror to predict the future. I have shown the House the results of that before. Repeated oil price forecasts by Treasury, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand start each time from a higher real price, and predict it will fall; it never happens, and they never learn. But Parliament argues about tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000389\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003ENow that the futures market, on which Treasury says it bases its predictions, has moved out of backwardation, can we expect Treasury and the Government to stop backwardising too? Is it not about time they used a windscreen instead of a rear-vision mirror, got out of their backwardisation, and contangoed with the Greens? Contango is the other state, where the futures markets put their money on oil prices rising continuously. That is where we Greens would put our money if we were speculators. It is where we have been for years, now, ever since I pointed out in my 2004 Budget speech that, as Dr Cullen was delivering his speech, the price of oil was just over double Treasury\u2019s predictions on which that Budget was based.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000390\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003ESo, at this defining moment in history, what forecasts has Treasury used today to underpin this Budget? Well, it has forecast a drop to US$100 a barrel, which is higher than it has ever said before; it has forecast US$100 right out to 2012, but today it is US$133. It has forecast US$100 a barrel in defiance of the futures market. I am sorry, but this fiction has gone on long enough. It borders on negligence. True leadership requires that we admit that the economy is still, and always has been, subject to the laws of physics. True leadership requires that we acknowledge the challenges ahead, and that we take steps to safeguard our families and the planet that supports them. True leadership requires that we face facts and make hard decisions even when the information at hand is incomplete, and even when there is an election pending. It requires courage, and I do not see a lot of it here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000391\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003ESo we can agree as a starting point, then, that this Budget is not based on reality. We cannot trust its numbers. It is planning for the past, not for the future. That is the same lack of urgency that we see in climate change policy: \u201CLord, make me carbon neutral, but not just yet; in fact, not for a very long time, please, and don\u2019t make me take serious steps towards it for ages.\u201D Last week I quoted in the House Dr Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who said of the world\u2019s climate change efforts: \u201CIf there is no action before 2012, that\u2019s too late. What we do in the next 2 to 3 years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.\u201D Half our greenhouse emissions are not planned to face any price on carbon, even at the margin, till the year after Dr Pachauri says it is too late. But the New Zealand Parliament is arguing about tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000392\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EWe have a small window of opportunity, perhaps 3 to 5 years, to make New Zealand a more resilient nation that is able to withstand the shocks that lie ahead in oil, food, and climate. We have a small window to invest in the economic transition to reduce our dependence on oil with much more efficient transport options\u2014but we see again six times as much funding for motorways as for public transport\u2014with more energy-efficient, self-reliant homes; with businesses that make their money from resource-conserving activities; and with food supplies grown sustainably and locally. I have been calling for years for sector-based peak oil task forces of industry and Government leaders to analyse our vulnerability, and develop strategies for each sector to overcome it. Since I first called for that, other countries have been doing it, but New Zealand has not moved yet. Queensland\u2019s task force has just reported after a couple of years\u2019 work. It was set up in alarm when oil prices were predicted to reach\u2014wait for it\u2014US$115 by 2050. That was enough to trigger emergency action by the Queensland government. Today it is US$133. But the New Zealand Parliament is arguing about tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000393\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThe Greens welcome the fairness with which the tax cuts have been delivered through the economy\u2014provided that one is in work. For those on benefits, who are some of the most vulnerable in our communities, this Budget offers nothing, except maybe an incentive to have more children in order to qualify for Working for Families. It is a national shame that beneficiaries are worse off economically today than they were after the 1991 \u201Cmother of all Budgets\u201D\u2014and that is reported in the Government\u2019s own reports. This Budget does not help them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000394\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThe Government seems to have totally ignored the 61 percent of people who said just last month they would rather not have tax cuts if it meant cuts to spending on health, education, and benefits. Failing to fund those services to keep up with needs is a cut, even if the amount of money does not go down. Michael Cullen acknowledged that when he said that Budget 2009 will have lower spending and require \u201Csignificant reprioritisation efforts\u201D. \u201CSignificant reprioritisation efforts\u201D means things that should be funded will not be funded.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000395\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EOn the limited evidence available, this Budget is probably better than the alternative. It does not deny that climate change exists, and it does not drastically cut and privatise health and education services so as to provide more money for the wealthy. It does make some effort to ensure that tax cuts reach lower wage earners. We welcome the recognition of the need for investment in rail. We have been banging on about this for years, with campaigns to buy back the tracks and to save the Overlander, and we note that Dr Cullen now recognises its importance in the future. But we are concerned that there are no numbers in the Budget speech. The Budget speech is full of numbers, but we do not know what this investment in rail is going to amount to. We are glad to see $13 million to restore the Department of Conservation\u2019s capacity, after the huge expenses it had with firefighting. We are glad to see an increase in research and development, and in funding for tertiary education providers, although students are likely to be rather less than overwhelmed by getting another $5 a week. I guess it equals a can of beer a week, if one is a student\u2014if one gets it at all. The increase in the accessibility of the living allowance is not very great, either. We are glad to see the investment in broadband. We are glad to see shared-equity housing. It is very good small-picture stuff, but it misses the big picture.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000396\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThe 2008 Budget might not make a huge impact overall, but it will make a difference in some specific important areas that the Green Party has targeted and negotiated hard for. If this Budget is to be remembered for anything, it is for how much the Green Party\u2014six MPs and not part of the governing coalition\u2014has managed to achieve. We have added some $95 million of value to an otherwise lacklustre Budget. One would never know, of course, because there was not a single acknowledgment in Dr Cullen\u2019s speech of the things we have worked hard to achieve in this Budget. That shows the lack of value that he puts on the initiatives we have put forward.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000397\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThe Budget targets the much-neglected community sector\u2014that vital third sector of the economy where civil society organises in not-for-profit organisations to work for the common good. It promotes better health, not by waiting until people are sick and then treating them, but by keeping them healthy by preventing illness from cold, damp houses, antibiotic-resistant infections, and contaminated food. It promotes democracy by opening up the decision-making process to ordinary people outside of politics and Parliament. And it links key Green concerns about climate change and biodiversity conservation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000398\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003ELet us look a little more closely at some of what we have achieved. For a total of $53 million we will ensure that in 5 years\u2019 time no State house tenant lives in a cold, damp home. I acknowledge the support of two Ministers on this issue, particularly. It will mean that 21,000 homes have a package of renovations, including insulation, draft-proofing of windows and doors, wraps for hot-water cylinders, efficient showerheads, lagging of pipes, low-energy lights, and, in some cases, energy-efficient home heating. This, of course, helps with our climate change efforts in a small way, because insulated homes use about one-fifth less energy. But for the people who live in State houses, who are among our most needy, it is a huge move. Children who live in insulated houses have half the number of days off school from asthma and respiratory disease. Their education is improved, and their families save money on their power bills. This was the only Green initiative mentioned by Dr Cullen in his speech, and there was not a single word to acknowledge that it would not have happened unless the Green Party had fought very hard for it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000399\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EWe have gained more than $4 million for a citizens\u2019 jury to consider funding of elections and political parties. This important achievement lays to rest uninformed criticism of the Greens for supporting a less than perfect Electoral Finance Bill. We are passionate about everyone having a say in election campaigns, not just those with deep pockets who can back up their lobbying with big donations. We are equally passionate about allowing ordinary people, not just National and Labour, to have a say on how the whole election campaign system should be funded.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000400\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EI want to look also at the more than $10 million extra that my colleague Sue Bradford has secured over 4 years for the Community Organisations Grants Scheme. This will help provide essential support for non-profit, voluntary, and community organisations to help meet real needs. The Community Organisations Grants Scheme is the most devolved and accountable of all Government funding schemes, and it has been chronically underfunded since its inception. In my home area of Coromandel, for example, amounts of money went to groups like the Waih\u012B and Paeroa resource centres, the Restorative Justice Services Hauraki Trust, the Thames Budget Service, the Mercury Bay St John Ambulance, and the Coastguard Northern Region.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000401\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EEarlier I said that the Budget does nowhere near enough to address our Kyoto obligations. But Green MP Metiria Turei has at least convinced the Government to do more on climate change research. Funding of $8 million over 4 years will go to five major research projects on climate change on conservation land. Study will also be made of how increasing carbon storage can maximise biodiversity values, and of the impact of extreme weather events, such as floods, slippage, wind storms, tidal surges, avalanches, and rockfalls, on the management of huts, tracks, and campsites on Department of Conservation land. Meanwhile, in the conservation area, $4 million over 2 years will go to the new National Community Biodiversity Fund to support restoration projects on public and M\u0101ori land that protect indigenous biodiversity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000402\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThrough the efforts of Sue Kedgley, the Green Party has secured $4 million of funding over 4 years to establish a new and comprehensive antibiotic-resistant surveillance system to be administered by the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Food Safety Authority. The aim is to monitor not only prescriptions of antibiotics but also the levels of antibiotic resistance in our hospitals, our communities, our environment, and food-producing animals. Sue has also initiated $2.4 million to look much more closely at the safety of the food we import, which totals 2.5 million tonnes a year. At a time when this Government has decided on a preferential trade deal with China, and when there are numerous media stories about occasional pollutants in Chinese exports, we need to be much more vigilant at our borders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000403\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003ENandor Tanczos has secured $800,000 over 4 years for environment centres. These centres provide environmental information and education for communities, and promote recycling, alternative power sources, and energy efficiency. I have visited a number of these centres over the years, and they do a host of things, such as running seminars and training courses on environmental issues, helping people to understand how to use the Resource Management Act, and taking part in practical projects such as cleaning up waterways and restoring the biodiversity of bush reserves and wetlands.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003E Last but not least of the things I have time to talk about today, we have funding for people in our country who are among the most marginalised and the most needy\u2014refugees. The Green Party does not attack refugees, as some parties do, because they are unlucky enough to find themselves without a safe home. Keith Locke has, instead, secured $1 million of funding over 4 years to help them set up homes and jobs here. New Zealand has a proud record of doing its bit by accepting refugees, but in our view it does not do enough to help them settle once they are here. We will help them put the horrors that they have experienced behind them, live a quality lifestyle, and contribute in positive ways to our country. In looking at one of the causes of refugee suffering, we again promote the cause of preventing rather than fighting wars. Keith has secured $200,000 for a peacemaking feasibility study to look at the possibility of New Zealand furthering our work in resolving conflicts around the world beyond what we are already doing in places like Bougainville.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000405\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EI said earlier that this Budget is not based in reality. It is backwardising in that it expects the future to be like the past. It is ignoring the urgent need to respond to climate change, peak oil, and resource depletion. It is a long, long way behind, and the tragedy is that National is even further behind. I would like to devote the last little bit of my time to silence in order to recognise the dead hopes and perishing people who will be\u2014and in some countries already are\u2014the victims of Governments around the world that refuse to get serious about climate change, the end of cheap oil and abundant food, and the need to plan a different kind of future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022 data-id=\u0022a262780a313f4c0dadedb8c89cdbfe4b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000406\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a262780a313f4c0dadedb8c89cdbfe4b\u0022\u003EDr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader\u2014M\u0101ori Party):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. Budget day is the day when the members of one side of the House rise to their feet and applaud while the other side throws brickbats and dissects the dollars. The meaning of life does not feature much in that classic piece of political theatre. But for over 4 million New Zealanders the meaning of life is the quintessential conversation point of every significant discussion. It is the motivation that separates out those who live by their dreams from those who live in regret. It is the question not about whether we will die but about how we will live. So how will the great New Zealand public assess the difference this Budget will make to their lives? A $4 billion tax cut package is all well and good, but there is so much more to do to address inequalities and need. The tax cuts will relieve pressures on many families, but we really wanted to see a much greater emphasis on eliminating poverty. This Budget does not do that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000407\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EHow does this Budget affect the 1.8 million people on incomes under $25,000 whose hope is being extinguished by a Government that seems to ignore them? There are 1.8 million people who are struggling to make ends meet. We need to recall that it is not just the unemployed who need help with feeding their families but those in part-time work and those on low pay scales. Of these 1.8 million people 10 percent are children who the Child Poverty Action Group has revealed are living in severe and significant hardship. The Public Health Association describes these children as an underclass, with poverty and poor housing making them sick. And what is the meaning of life for the people who inhabit our dormitory suburbs\u2014those communities like T\u012Btahi Bay, \u014Ctara, M\u0101ngere, and Flaxmere\u2014where people may sleep but their working life is elsewhere? The meaning of life must be about a qualitative difference that brings our aspirations within reach.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000408\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EThe Minister referred to a vision for a sustainable nation. The trouble is that if we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always got. We need to be bold, and to make statements of faith to lift the quality of life for all. Some of that policy courage has been demonstrated in this Budget amongst the loads of lollies designed to reward lobby groups. We welcome the investment in rail and ferry infrastructure to deliver a better service, to reduce the number of cars on the roads, and to decrease our greenhouse gas emissions. We commend the initiative of the Greens in their work in achieving a State house insulation programme\u2014a programme that will improve the health of tenants and achieve energy cost savings. Of course, we are pleased at the investment of $450 million to improve partnerships with community-based social services, $80 million for child and adolescent oral health, and $30 million to create healthier environments. All are elements of progress, but are they enough?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000409\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EWe cannot be blind to the newsflash from Statistics New Zealand that the number of New Zealanders leaving for overseas in the past year\u2014some 48,000 of us\u2014has never been larger. It is even more shattering to learn that quality of life has displaced pay as the biggest single influence on finance professionals weighing up whether to leave New Zealand. Ironically, the factor that most attracts immigrants to our shores\u2014our quality of life\u2014is pushing us on to the first plane out of here. When we talk of quality of life, we think of traffic congestion, poor air quality, the management of waste, poor beach and stream quality, and the need to protect our biodiversity. We think about crime, violence, child abuse, white-collar corruption, and poverty. We think about the 29,000 workers who have lost their jobs, and we think about the fact that the unemployment rate for M\u0101ori has shot up to 8.6 percent and for Pacific peoples to 8.2 percent, compared with 3 percent for Europeans. It would seem that our pursuit of wealth as our saviour has sacrificed sustainability in Aotearoa as a place people want to live in.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000410\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EThe M\u0101ori Party has constantly raised the need for a genuine progress index to ensure we measure progress on all levels. If we do not set a baseline standard for what is acceptable, the nation will end up with a quality of life that is far below what we deserve. We need to pledge to end child poverty, in terms of all poverty measures, by 2020. One part of this is to designate an official poverty line at 60 percent of the median household disposable income after housing costs. How else will we know we have made the difference if we do not have a benchmark to begin with? The need to bring relief to the poor is urgent. Although the bringing forward of the Working for Families adjustments related to family tax credits is welcomed, we still believe there is much more to do to respond to what the Minister described as the twin pressures of food and fuel price increases. We need to adjust income support levels to maintain and improve their relativity with what the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has recommended to be required\u2014a new minimum wage of $15 per hour. If we were to increase benefits by wage movements rather than by the CPI, that would equate to an annual increase of little more than 1.1 percent, on average. Based on the current forecast for benefits in 2007-08 at $16.4 billion, the extra cost would be about $180 million\u2014not a great deal in the scale of things.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000411\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EAlthough the business tax regime has been simplified, we would have supported the introduction of business tax incentives for businesses to move to limited employment zone areas\u2014those regions that are economically underdeveloped. We want to turn our dormitory suburbs back into communities of hope and promise, where we know our neighbours, we enjoy sport and recreation together, and we rebuild our communities as sites of safety.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000412\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EWe want to see our world being a clean, green haven once more. We know that that means facing the costs of greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, which someone has to pay\u2014the polluter, the taxpayer, or future generations. We need a savings culture that is not just about living within our means but is about investing in our future. For tangata whenua, our quality of life is associated with our cultural values and customs, our responsibilities for our traditional lands, water, sites, w\u0101hi tapu and other taonga, and our capacity to live as M\u0101ori. Although the Government has announced that $750 million will go into developing our unique national identity, it appears to be focused on developing that identity only in Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America\u2014in fact, anywhere but Aotearoa. No matter how important it is, national identity is more than a wharewaka on the Wellington waterfront or the re-appropriation of funding to pay for waka umanga. When will we learn that our greatest opportunity for success is in upholding our indigenous values to ensure that our country maintains its natural beauty and is home for all New Zealanders?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000413\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EWe want to see an investment in diversity. Diversity should not be redefined as a way in which we understand the persistent disparities of the social and economic disadvantages associated with low levels of educational participation and attainment, and of those who are preyed upon by gambling lords and loan sharks. Diversity is about the strength of all our peoples in Aotearoa, the added value our nation achieves through valuing the importance of working together and living together, and our shared heritage\u2014our home. And, most important of all, our quality of life is about happiness, which is what we might call \u201Cwairua tau\u201D, \u201Cmauri tau\u201D\u2014that general sense of well-being.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000414\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EIf there is one thing that New Zealanders want now, it is to know that leadership is being provided by people with a purpose, by people who have the knowledge about what one needs, and by people with a burning desire to achieve that success. That leadership is being provided already in wh\u0101nau, hap\u016B, and iwi. It is being provided in families of the working poor, families in hardship, families in business and enterprise, and families enjoying success. The M\u0101ori Party respects that leadership, and our biggest job now is to ensure that the qualities displayed by that leadership are not hindered by structures and systems designed to undermine them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000415\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002219767ece-60f1-4014-9855-74afaa34e699\u0022\u003EThe M\u0101ori Party is committed to working together with those who are committed to staying in this country to make Aotearoa great once again. This Budget is but one reason that demands we do so.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022 data-id=\u0022df0cf4b36a9a4bb8a0c72f9f39801b8a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000416\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022df0cf4b36a9a4bb8a0c72f9f39801b8a\u0022\u003EHon PETER DUNNE (Leader\u2014United Future):\u003C/span\u003E For many New Zealanders this Budget was all about tax cuts. That was partly brought on by media hype that that was going to be the central theme of the Budget and partly also brought on by the fact that New Zealanders have had to wait 12 years since they last had a cut in their personal taxes. In the event, the calculation they will be making right now is whether those cuts have measured up to their expectations. I think that the moves announced this afternoon are a step in the right direction. They are a logical flow-on from the moves we made last year with the Business Tax Review. But with petrol having hit $2 a litre early this morning, and with the dollar having gone up this afternoon in the wake of the Budget\u2014thus suggesting that early relief from rising mortgage rates is unlikely\u2014it is more than likely that those many New Zealanders who are hanging out for this afternoon\u2019s tax cuts announcement will conclude that they are just a step in the right direction but that they have not, over the 3-year period, given them the type of relief they were expecting. And when they factor in, on top of that, that we still have the impact of the emissions trading scheme to come, and the likely boost to household living costs that that will bring on, without any clear indication in this Budget of compensation to households, they will be even more concerned.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000417\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EIt is interesting that when the emissions trading scheme was first postulated last year, the talk was that households would be compensated for the increase in costs. Over ensuing months that has become refined to \u201Cvulnerable\u201D households would be compensated for \u201Csome\u201D of the ensuing costs. And in this afternoon\u2019s Budget we heard that the SuperGold card provisions for the elderly in respect of electricity charges will take effect at the time that electricity enters the emissions trading scheme. I have no problem with that aspect, but I have a huge problem with the fact that those New Zealanders who have got a tax cut this afternoon may now be forced to view that not as the dividend for the economic good years but as the down payment on the cost of the emissions trading scheme to come. I do not think that New Zealanders will tolerate that for one moment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000418\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EWe take this Budget; United Future welcomes the positive steps in it towards addressing tax issues. They are a start, but there is a long way to go yet. We still have a tax system that requires fundamental adjustment to its basic integrity. We have long argued for, and will continue to support, the alignment of the top personal, business, and trust rates at 30c in the dollar. We have long argued for, and will continue to support, couples with dependent children having the right to split their incomes for tax purposes, to make it that little bit easier for them to get around their daily circumstances. The changes in this Budget do not go that far, but they enable us to hold on to the possibility of achieving those goals in the future, and we will certainly push all we can for that\u2014and we will get there. I am reminded of this fact.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000419\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EWe were part of the Government the last time personal taxes went down and it is no coincidence that we are supporting the Government this time when they go down. We just want to make sure that they go down that much further, and we will. But beyond that there is a fundamental lesson that is implicit in this Budget and implicit in any debate about New Zealand\u2019s economic performance in future\u2014that is, we have to boost incomes to boost our national prosperity and to boost our opportunity. That can come only through policies designed to boost productivity to make it easier for New Zealanders to go about their business, and for their businesses to prosper and succeed. In that respect, there are some good things in this Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000420\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EWe welcome the improvements in terms of the investment in physical and intellectual infrastructure\u2014I will come back to that in a moment. We also welcome the significant moves made in terms of softening business compliance, making it much easier for those in our small to medium sized enterprise sector to get on with the job they want to do, rather than being unemployed tax collectors, as so many of them feel they are these days. Those are good steps. The international tax review foreshadowed in 2006, which was announced in preliminary detail last year and is now to be introduced in legislation in the next month or so, is an extremely positive step forward. It aligns us with many of our trading partners. It makes it possible for New Zealand businesses to expand overseas but to retain their operating base in New Zealand. The introduction of the active/passive distinction in terms of investment and manufacturing income will be extremely positive and beneficial, and it will be welcomed by many.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000421\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI spoke before about physical and intellectual infrastructure. It is good to see the investment that is going into our transport system\u2014into road, into rail, into shipping, and into all modes\u2014because that is as much about helping us to be competitive economically as it is about meeting our obligations in terms of the Kyoto Protocol and other international commitments. We welcome, particularly, the adoption of United Future\u2019s policy regarding the reduction in the age at which the parental income test applies for student allowances. The reduction in age from 25 to 24 is a good step forward. As far as we are concerned, it is the first step along the way towards having a universal allowance system. That is something we will continue to push for, and we welcome the fact that we have been able to take that step in this year\u2019s Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000422\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EWe note that the Budget will provide for 5,000 more elective surgery procedures to be funded. That sounds good and, to those people who will benefit, I say \u201CGood luck, and well done.\u201D But it is a drop in the bucket. It is about 3 percent of the number of elective surgical procedures currently performed in the private sector. We need to do much, much more than that if we are to make a significant impact on waiting lists in New Zealand. The only way we can achieve that is by effectively utilising all of our resources, public and private, to best advantage. Five thousand is a drop in the bucket; a drop in the bucket that is beneficial, but it is not nearly enough to turn around the mounting waiting lists in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000423\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EWe also welcome the fact that the Budget makes provision for about $22 million of expenditure towards the implementation of various aspects of Medicines New Zealand, the national medicine strategy that we announced at the end of last year. As a result of this, we will now move towards the establishment of a national formulary for medicines in New Zealand. We will have a much more effective system for making sure that patients in hospital actually get the medicines that they are properly prescribed to be getting. Believe it or not, we have a big problem at the moment of patients not always getting the medicines that they are prescribed, for various reasons. We have put in place programmes that will ensure that happens, and that, in turn, is part of leading to a much healthier, much better, and much fitter society. That has to be a good and positive step, and it is also one of the critical goals of the Medicines New Zealand programme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000424\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EOverall, this Budget continues a trend that I think has been apparent through the life of this Government of a series of quite significant building block changes that have been made and often not noticed, because although the Government has been good, in my view, at putting the building blocks in place, it has fallen short in terms of its ability to articulate a vision for the future of New Zealand. I think that as we look back on this Budget, and at the eight previous Budgets introduced by this Minister of Finance, we can see what has been his underlying objective: an economic transformation of New Zealand. But one has to go sifting through all the bits of the jigsaw to find it. I think that where New Zealanders are at today\u2014and maybe this is why the approach of the Leader of the Opposition, which is all fluff and no substance, has some appeal\u2014is that they are looking for that vision, that sense of hope, and that sense of optimism.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000425\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThis Budget is full of detail. There are a lot of positive steps within it. The challenge that the Minister and his colleagues face over the next little while is to go out and sell that to New Zealanders as being a coherent, consistent, rational, and positive programme for the future. I think that in many steps, it is a step in the right direction. But in so many other steps, more work needs to be done, and that will be the preoccupation of whoever occupies the Treasury benches next year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022 data-id=\u002268a55558219a459a99aaaecbf35e63ac\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000426\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002268a55558219a459a99aaaecbf35e63ac\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE (Leader\u2014ACT):\u003C/span\u003E Let me say that the ACT party will be putting two votes behind Dr Cullen\u2019s tax cuts, so we will be voting for the legislation, but, sadly, we cannot bring ourselves to vote for the Budget. We view the tax cuts as a baby\u2019s steps, some faltering steps, in the right direction, but the Budget falls short. In fact, it is like every one of Dr Cullen\u2019s Budgets. It is all about carving up the cake rather than enabling Kiwis to bake a bigger one. We see the result of those policies today. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000427\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EThe forecast for economic growth next year is 1.5 percent. I remember that when Michael Cullen became the Minister of Finance he said\u2014I know that Michael does not remember this\u2014he would be judged by whether he achieved a 4 percent growth rate. Well, the judgment is in, I say to Dr Cullen, and the rate is 1.5 percent. We look at the forecast for inflation and we see it is knocking the top of the target band. It is over the target band for the entire forecast period. We look at interest rates and we see that they are high and are staying high. In fact, for any taxpayers with a mortgage\u2014a reasonable mortgage\u2014the high interest rates knock out everything they have received in terms of tax cuts. I have to say that that is a bit sad. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000428\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EIt was great to see Sir Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble were here earlier. I was reminded that when they read a Budget, everyone would tune in, and I was aware that when Dr Michael Cullen was giving his Budget speech, everyone had tuned out. It is a bit tough when Dr Cullen starts to get down to reading out that the Government is to grant $4 million to obesity research and that Budget item is deemed to be worthy of mention.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000429\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b0b1d768478b4052ad9cfef345dad43f\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: Well, you\u2019ve done all right.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000430\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222576716a1d7148a5981c9231c87a6d5d\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: Well, I agree with Dr Cullen. He could save his $4 million by having the Minister of Health come and talk to me. Dr Cullen could have come across here. He said in his Budget that he would spend $2 million\u2014imagine that announcement in a Budget speech\u2014on funding the Civil Aviation Authority to get the best practice. That shows how \u201CThink Small\u201D Michael Cullen has become in his ninth Budget. He has famously announced $1 million for local government to deal with climate change. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000431\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI have to say that I actually sympathise with Michael Cullen. He has put a Budget together, he has put it out there, and he has made the trade-offs. We hear everyone\u2014New Zealand First, Peter Dunne, the Greens, and the M\u0101ori Party\u2014complain about what is not in the Budget, but nowhere did I hear of an alternative plan. I heard John Key say that National had a plan, and I thought that was great. The National Party has 48 MPs, plus Taito Phillip Field, so I thought it was going to be great. I heard the House go quiet because we were going to hear the economic plan, but all I heard was silence. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000432\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI tell the House not to worry, because the ACT party, with just two MPs, has come up with an economic plan, which I am proud to present.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000433\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022604dacae8acc4c459633610a0746a3b9\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: This won\u2019t take long.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000434\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222918ad0eaeb74bd6bb0615c31496c5f4\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: I am happy to take Gerry Brownlee\u2019s slot and go right through the plan. First, we need to set a goal for New Zealand. I ask Mr Brownlee why we do not set the goal of beating Australia by 2020. Why is it that every political party in this House is content to be second-rate, behind Australia? Why is it that we were content to have 70,000 people leave New Zealand last year? Let us set the goal of beating Australia. We would not accept being second-rate in rugby, so why would we in respect of the economy?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000435\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225f7176a570c0431b8cb2e76676e4ac01\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: We are!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000436\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221880fde0f26f44f7a0ab78211428274a\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: Michael Cullen accepts that we are. But I can tell members that over here in the ACT party we do not accept that. We do not like being second-best. ACT asks, having set that goal\u2014and this is the difference between this goal and the successive goals that Michael Cullen and Helen Clark have set\u2014what then needs to be done to achieve it? I was actually surprised by the amount of agreement about what is needed. Everyone we spoke to\u2014and it was quite a diverse range of business leaders, community leaders, economists, and policy advisers\u2014was in rough agreement about what is needed. But what is lacking is the guts to do it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000437\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220b85b68ed88143789478902313a02faf\u0022\u003ERon Mark\u003C/span\u003E: Hear, hear!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000438\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dee5156d24d44205b00fe81d9340f9a3\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: That is what is lacking. That is what Ron Mark agrees with. We actually lack the guts in this Parliament to do what is needed to get this economy going, to get New Zealand moving forward. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000439\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EBut I tell members not to worry, because the ACT party has come up with a plan. We thought we would copy Helen Clark and put it on a pledge card. The card is not paid for by the taxpayer, I have to say; we rushed down and paid for it ourselves. We also found that when one puts an economic plan together for New Zealand in order to beat Australia, it cannot fit in a wallet. It requires some detail, and it requires some substance. No one can say the ACT party does not have an economic plan for New Zealand, no one can say the ACT party has not set a big goal for New Zealand, and no one can say the ACT party lacks policies. At present, we lack the MPs, but we are planning to change that, too. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000440\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI want to show members what we have done with this plan. We have had help from John Ansell, and it has been rather good. We have set the policies down here on the right-hand side.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000441\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227982b015b23c4115b066922c7bed0bbe\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: On the left.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002222bc6aaad4cd42b9913f1afc24ae324e\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: On the left, if one is looking at it. We have set down in the next column what the benefits are\u2014we are all good at doing that in politics. We have set down in the next column the other countries where it is done\u2014and we were amazed at how many countries around the world are following good practice policies. We have in this column the benefits, and we have along here what, at the best estimate, it would mean for economic growth. At present that is one thing we do not allow for. Sure, we can talk about money for things such as buying back the trains, having the emissions trading scheme, doing this, and doing that, but it all adds up to a smaller economy, to a smaller pay packet, and to more New Zealanders working, creating, and producing in Australia. So we have in this column here the best estimates we could get of what it would mean for economic growth, the trade-offs that we get for not having this policy, and what that would mean\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000443\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002206aa7aa774c64754aca26fa7919bf600\u0022\u003ERon Mark\u003C/span\u003E: Watch out that National doesn\u2019t steal it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000444\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fc1e36655d4046c2bfd3092176f1005f\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: Well, I would love National to steal it. That is fine. I would like New Zealand First to steal it, too. I would like Dr Cullen to steal it\u2014I say to Dr Cullen that it is not too late. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000445\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003ESo in this column we ask New Zealanders to say whether they agree with the plan. This is what this election will be about. It will be about which party people vote for. Will it be Labour, National, the Greens, or the M\u0101ori Party? But then there is the ACT party, which is the only party with the plan and with the big goal to grow the cake. We are sick of politicians just carving up an ever-dwindling cake. Thank you very much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022 data-id=\u0022dca8452bc3964c9b88c5f7e3d806eebc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000446\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022dca8452bc3964c9b88c5f7e3d806eebc\u0022\u003EHon DARREN HUGHES (Deputy Leader of the House):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That this debate be now adjourned. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000447\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EMotion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000448\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022a0fbdac69e764061a58a88ca32df779f\u0022\u003EUrgency\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000450\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00224860488177fb4fb3aae8fd2c279b0706\u0022\u003EUrgency\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u00222948ea332f8c428a80276ddbfbbe5d3f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000449\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222948ea332f8c428a80276ddbfbbe5d3f\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Leader of the House):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That urgency be accorded the introduction and passing of the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill. This motion is moved so that the Government\u2019s planned tax reductions can be put into law as quickly as possible, so that there is certainty for all involved.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000451\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMotion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000452\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022b4fbb2f20e1f4da3a16851ebbc135851\u0022\u003ETaxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000453\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00222c5ba345fd154109bcca937aee4bf26f\u0022\u003EFirst Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u00224841c820e193470c8e1c580ee8d78edb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000454\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224841c820e193470c8e1c580ee8d78edb\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill be now read a first time. This bill has three essential elements, and I will deal with them in ascending order of importance. One element is a series of relatively minor corrections to current tax laws\u2014largely corrections to the Income Tax Act. Since that large, expansive, omnibus legislation was passed, a few errors have been found that need correcting quickly. The second element, of somewhat greater importance, relates to the issue of charities. Two things are done in that respect. The first is to clarify that certain kinds of bodies are charities. This includes, for example, State schools and integrated schools. The second is to provide a transition element because\u2014sadly, I think\u2014the Charities Commission has been much slower than the Government anticipated in dealing with the applications for charitable status, and a number of charities would lose their tax-exempt status on 1 July if no remedial action were taken. This provides for any body that currently has a tax-exempt status and that has applied for that status under the new legislation to continue to exercise that status until the Charities Commission has made a ruling in that regard. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000455\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThirdly, of course, the most important part of the legislation is to implement the new tax rates announced in the Budget. This bill, therefore, provides for the implementation of a complete new tax scale system, which has within it the following elements. Firstly, there is the abolition of the low-income earner rebate, which has become more and more out of date in terms of the size of that rebate, and which simply adds complexity to the tax system. It therefore replaces the current effective bottom tax rate of 15 percent up to $9,500 with a new bottom rate of 12.5 percent, which on 1 April 2011 will reach $20,000, with the initial move, on 1 October this year, being $14,000 a year. The effective 21c rate will then move to a new threshold of $40,000 on 1 October, eventually rising to $42,500 on 1 April 2011, and the 33c rate will extend out to $70,000 on 1 October, going to $75,000 on 1 April 2010 and $80,000 in 2011. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000456\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese changes deliver significant tax cuts across the board. In the first stage they deliver tax cuts of $12 to $20 a week per individual taxpayer, rising to $22 to $55 a week for an individual taxpayer by 1 April 2011. These are the largest changes to individual taxes for a very long time within New Zealand. We are bringing forward the Working for Families adjustment to much longer than 1 October, in terms of actual tax rates, particularly at the bottom end because the $9,500 threshold has not been moved since 1988. Therefore, for people\u2014[Interruption] Yes, indeed. National never moved the $9,500 threshold. It never gave tax cuts to the lowest-income earners in the country\u2014never. National never gave tax cuts to the lowest-income earners in the country\u2014never ever. It never lowered the company tax rate\u2014never ever. It never lowered the tax on savings\u2014never ever. Only the Labour Government has done that. What we want to know is whether National will today vote for tax cuts for individuals.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000457\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225975f6aa067f41d2b3f6c04b514f2d58\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: No, they won\u2019t.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000458\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229079da6aac9045c7b52feb79cfbb7781\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: Well, they cannot make up their minds, indeed. We heard this afternoon from Mr Key, and I watched Mr English\u2019s mouth drop as he thought \u201CMy God! He\u2019s about to announce a much bigger tax cut.\u201D I could see him getting ready to grab his coat and pull him down at any moment. Bill English has read the Budget. He knows we are forecasting cash deficits of $3.5 billion a year. He knows, therefore, that the National Party cannot promise billions of dollars a year in additional tax cuts, over and above this Budget. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000459\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThe second time when he looked terrified, even more worried, was when Mr Key said: \u201CWe\u2019ll have to cut Government spending to fund any additional tax cuts.\u201D Bill almost grabbed him and said: \u201CDon\u2019t say that. That\u2019s not the game plan. That\u2019s not what we\u2019re saying. What we\u2019re saying is we\u2019ll cut out bureaucracy and we will save all this money in cutting out bureaucracy so we can have these huge tax cuts, so that every individual can buy an extra 20 large blocks of cheese a week.\u201D Why an individual would want an extra 20 large blocks of cheese a week is not apparent, but that is what the National Party was promising this afternoon in Mr Key\u2019s speech. Indeed, the whole speech of Mr Key was: \u201CI have a plan. I just can\u2019t remember what it is. I just hope that sometime between now and the election I will find that plan somewhere in Bill\u2019s back pocket, because Bill is responsible for writing the plan for the National Party.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000460\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThese tax cuts are spread across the board. Proportionately, people on modest incomes, around the minimum full-time average wage, get a bigger proportion of the tax cuts than people on an MP\u2019s salary or people on a Deputy Prime Minister\u2019s salary. I do not have to go back to Napier at the weekend and explain to people why I am getting proportionately a much bigger tax cut than people who often work at rotten jobs. Those are jobs where they work hard, jobs that are often dirty, jobs where they are not treated well, and the National Party has always said to those people: \u201CYou should get a measly tax cut, if anything, because we\u2019re all about giving tax cuts to those at the very top.\u201D Somehow or other, to quote Mr Key \u201CWe \u2018belieeve\u2019 in tax cuts.\u201D He sounded like the Rev. Wright in Washington. \u201CWe \u2018belieeve\u2019 in tax cuts. \u2018Halleluuja\u2019, brother!\u201D In America, every politician has to believe in God, and has to mention God after every three sentences, unless of course he or she really believes in God, in which case he or she does not have to keep saying it. But in New Zealand we have to \u201Cbelieeve\u201D in tax cuts\u2014halleluja, brother! It is a religious belief. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000461\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWhat we are about is helping families. We are about helping people who are facing pressures on the family budget. Does anybody really believe that anybody in this House is facing the pressure of higher petrol prices and the price of a bigger block of cheese? Really? Anybody in this House? No, not at all. The people who need relief from that are the people on below-average incomes, average incomes, and a bit above. We need to do something about that top tax threshold because we have people paying that rate now who were never intended to be in that top tax bracket. Senior teachers, nurses, and people like them are now finding themselves in the top tax threshold. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000462\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EBut let us get real. They are not going to work harder. I know a few teachers\u2014I know some quite intimately, to coin a phrase; well, one anyway. I know they are not going to work harder just because they are paying 33c in the dollar instead of 39c in the dollar. They already work hard, on behalf of the children of this country. We do not need these religious beliefs. We need a belief in fairness and in social justice, and that is what this tax reduction does. It says that all Kiwis should share in the dividend of growth to which they have been contributing over the last 8\u00BD years. We have grown faster than Australia, Britain, the US, Japan, and the European area, and it is time to stop condemning ourselves because of that success. Everybody should share in it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000463\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIf there is one thing I do not apologise for\u2014and it is no chip on the shoulder, because I am a highly paid person\u2014it is that people who work hard at low-paying jobs deserve as much respect as those who work hard at jobs that are highly fulfilling. The notion that we have to reward those who work in highly fulfilling jobs miles more than those who work in the jobs we cannot do without, who work hard in our society, is simply not right and not fair. I believe in social justice. I believe in every Kiwi having a fair go. I am moving a bill today that is doing that in the tax cut area, and we on this side of the House are proud of that fact.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022 data-id=\u0022ab6b3e49a37d4162910de28b7307c749\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000464\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ab6b3e49a37d4162910de28b7307c749\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Leader\u2014National):\u003C/span\u003E I think we all know why we are here, putting this bill through now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000465\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002200bb409b0aea43129b5f0087ed3f2453\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: Why?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000466\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002282bce173bdbc41bbba184d3ed3222e35\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH\u003C/span\u003E: It is because Dr Cullen does not trust himself, nor do his colleagues trust him, to execute tax cuts unless there is a law that compels him to do it. Why does he not trust himself? It is because the last time he promised tax cuts before an election, he cancelled them once he was re-elected. The reason why he cancelled them once he was re-elected was that Labour had big spending ideas and did not have enough money to pay for them. Well, I have to say that the forecasts past the 2005 election were much more promising and generous than the forecasts published today for past the 2008 election. That means there is a much greater probability that if Dr Cullen and Helen Clark are re-elected, they will do what they did before, which is to say, as they said in 2007, \u201CWe have other priorities, so we are going to cancel the tax cuts.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000467\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003EIt is all very well for Dr Cullen to shed crocodile tears for hard-working New Zealanders; what happened to hard-working New Zealanders before the 2005 election? They were promised tax cuts, with the same crocodile tears that are being exhibited today. What happened to those people on the average wage, paying tax of 33c in the dollar? After the election their tax cut was cancelled, so that Labour could create a lot more hundred-thousand-dollar jobs doing nice, fulfilling things around Wellington, like liaising, coordinating, going to workshops, launching strategies, and putting out miles of publications with fawning prose about a fantastic Minister, on behalf of a Government department.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003ESo Dr Cullen\u2019s new-found interest in people on the average wage is new-found, but it is not surprising. Why is it not surprising? Because it is election year. The tax cut will turn up 2 weeks before polling day, apparently. It will be enough to top up the gas tank so that people can get to the polling booth. I have to tell Dr Cullen that when they get there they will vote against cynicism, against mistrust, against limited ambition, against misuse of taxpayers\u2019 money, and against the arrogance that says the tax system is there for Labour politicians to take money off people so that they can spend it on what they want so that they can stay in power.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000469\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003ENational will support this piece of tax legislation, and I will tell members why.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000470\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223ff1347b83c74724912cdc004d8c883c\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: Cos you\u2019re too scared.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000471\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002295d5bdfe23d54d3a96648dc8a1617c3c\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH\u003C/span\u003E: No. That member should be pretty worried about his seat, and his place on the list.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000472\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f95284d4daea43189c98af56f63bd7fd\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: No, no, the pension increase is pretty good.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000473\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002246bf34ed4d944ba696540b25cf8f44d5\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH\u003C/span\u003E: The member may not know it, but the pension increase in compulsory. One cannot get around it without changing the law. If taxes on the average wage and on the lower tax brackets are cut, pensioners have to get an increase. We heard the Prime Minister carrying on as if the increase was the gracious gift of the most popular and competent Prime Minister we have ever had. The truth is that she has been forced to give pensioners an increase; she has been forced by the National Party campaigning on tax cuts, and by a public who have had enough and have said: \u201CIf you don\u2019t give it to us, none us will vote for you.\u201D That is what has happened, and the member for Otaki needs to know it. Labour has been forced to give superannuitants an increase. The increase today is their due right according to the law of New Zealand. That is what it is about. It is not about gifts and generosity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000474\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003EThe reason we are supporting this legislation is to keep faith with all those hard-working New Zealanders who have waited 9 long years, through the squandered opportunities of a growing economy, to get some recognition that they should have some of the benefits of a growing economy. And they have waited a long time. How many of them are there? Well, 1.6 million taxpayers at any one time do not qualify for the Working for Families package. Only 370,000 taxpayers qualify for Working for Families, and Labour tries to make it sound as though everyone has got a tax cut because of Working for Families. Well, I tell those members that the resentment among New Zealanders who are sick of being lectured about getting tax cuts when they did not get any is growing by the day. National has to keep faith with them, because they have waited for so long.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000475\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003EThis legislation is an admission of failure by Dr Cullen. He has tried to hold the line\u2014and he has done so up until now. He almost lost an election over it in 2005. He still did not get the message, mind you. Having almost lost an election on tax cuts that were pathetic, he then stuck it to the New Zealand public by cancelling those tax cuts. He is today doing everything he has argued against for the last 8 years\u2014everything. Whenever we said we would reduce the growth of Government spending, Dr Cullen, every Labour member, and Helen Clark said that that meant sacking teachers and doctors. What is Dr Cullen doing today? He is reducing the growth of Government spending. He also said that any kind of tax cut would require a Government to run cash deficits, that it would have to borrow to cover them, and that is bad. What is he doing today? He is running biggish cash deficits, and he will have to do some borrowing to cover them. And he will run down the little cash windfalls he has had sitting on the balance sheet, to help finance them. That is what he is doing today.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000476\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003EHe always said tax cuts meant spending cuts. He is giving tax cuts and he is cutting spending. He always said giving tax cuts would mean the Government would have to borrow some money, and he is giving tax cuts and he is borrowing some money.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000477\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224be268fa109c4e7f911eb04df1f40b84\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: But it\u2019s OK cos it\u2019s him.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000478\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228a2d12fd912e465cbaae91830ceb8b16\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH\u003C/span\u003E: Well, no. He is not totally self-obsessed about it. It is election year\u2014that is the other reason. It is not OK just because he is doing it; it is OK because it is election year. A lot of this bill is unsatisfactory. People get a tax cut 2 weeks before the election, then they have to wait 18 months. They get nothing in 2009. Why is that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000479\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022898bafde7dbf4030b900f7f7717953bb\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: Now, that\u2019s a programme!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000480\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223ffdf44e4fda4ac1970afe70aebf4eed\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH\u003C/span\u003E: That is the programme. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000481\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226294f8dae1884edebc8ae83265358378\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: Why?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000482\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221174ca54a3ed4620b02a74f8edb56152\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH\u003C/span\u003E: Well, it probably falls within the regulated period in the run-up to the election. Is it the Electoral Finance Act or something that is stopping the Government from giving people the next tranche in 2009?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000483\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221602098119994fbea6bf54939d0ec2eb\u0022\u003ENathan Guy\u003C/span\u003E: What sort of vision is that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000484\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002228cbb400230a4bc2a3c86be74a3ed1f4\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH\u003C/span\u003E: What sort of vision is that? This bill is an admission of failure by Dr Cullen. It is not the best that New Zealand can do. We can do much better. It is cynical because it is trying to buy people\u2019s votes 2 weeks before an election. But New Zealanders have waited for so long and are so deserving, and this Government is so undeserving, that National will support this bill in order to keep faith with those people whose concerns have been dismissed, year after year, with contempt, until election year, when they vote. In every other year, Labour has said to New Zealanders concerned that their after-tax wages are not enough: \u201CToo bad! You\u2019re greedy\u2014in fact, most of you are rich pricks\u2014and we want the money to spend on our little projects, because we know better.\u201D Well, finally, they will get some money, but do members know what the real tragedy is? Dr Cullen and Helen Clark still think they know better. All week Dr Cullen has been giving us long speeches about what an anguished and tortured process it is for him. He spat it out today, through the Budget speech, because he cannot stand the taste of tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022 data-id=\u0022864eb40488f643078f0b3e43300fb780\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000485\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022864eb40488f643078f0b3e43300fb780\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for the Environment):\u003C/span\u003E Those of us who were listening and watching noticed something really interesting today. It took Bill English 5\u00BD minutes of his 10-minute speech\u2014actually it was an 11-minute speech\u2014to tell us whether National members were for or against this Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill. What did he do during that entire period? He looked up to the gallery. He looked to the members of the Exclusive Brethren up there, asking for his instructions. \u201CDo I vote for it or against it?\u201D, he was asking. The Brethren were there. They were overseeing their investment in the National Party and they will be very, very disappointed with that speech.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000486\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EOne of the reasons the Exclusive Brethren invested in that man is that he is the pension cutter. It was Bill English who, as the Minister of Finance, oversaw the last cut in the pension for the oldest and most vulnerable New Zealanders. He is a person without a heart. He is the person who was shaking when he thought that John Key might promise not to do it. He was worried that John Key might make a commitment not to cut the pension, and he knows that is part of his plan. He criticised Labour for putting pensions up. He said it was inevitable and that we did not want to do it. Well, I tell that member that our party has a proud history in this area, whereas the National Party has a history of wrecking the lives of older people. It has a record of abolishing superannuation schemes that could have made this country rich, and of attacking the most vulnerable, through both Ruth Richardson\u2014whom Bill English supported\u2014and Bill English himself when he was the Minister of Finance.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000487\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EIt is also, I think, somewhat ironic that that member starts criticising public servants and their numbers. What was that member before he came into Parliament? He was a Treasury official.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000488\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f4112fc5-c53f-4aa9-bf6d-5a05ce6252cf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002280fcfbe538314a90a884daec0b395b9f\u0022\u003EEric Roy\u003C/span\u003E: A farmer.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000489\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002259dc3d8170224e6093042934bab06593\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: Oh no, he wandered back to the family farm occasionally, but he spent his time in Wellington as a Treasury official. I know what Eric Roy thinks of Bill English, and he knows that he is not a farmer\u2019s backside. Eric Roy knows that, and he has told people all over the place what a useless farmer Bill English was. It was for show that Bill English went down to Dipton when he was running for Clutha-Southland, not because he was ever a proper farmer, and we all know that. He was a public servant, and he is a person who not only hates the old and the young but does not like family tax credits, and he hates his former workmates. Everyone around Wellington knows that that is where he wants to attack. But I tell the member that that is not good enough.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000490\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EWhen one is in Government one has a look around at the relative cost of things. There is not a chance of getting the extra $2.5 billion over these tax cuts that was promised as recently as Sunday and Monday by his leader, John Key, without cutting the pension, without cutting health services, and without cutting into the education budget. We know that, and Bill English knows that, and that is why he was shaking as John Key was speaking. He was scared about what John Key was going to say\u2014not that anyone would expect John Key to say the same thing 2 days in a row, or even 2 hours in a row, or sometimes, within an interview, even 2 minutes in a row. Bill English was worried that in this debate John Key would commit National to something. But, of course, the investment worked, the speech was vacuous, he said nothing, and it was absolutely hopeless. John Key could not even say in his speech\u2014after dozens of briefing notes, after being on the phone for ages during the debate, after reading the speech and the Budget documents, and after having, I think, about a dozen of his officials involved in lock-ups\u2014whether he supported these tax cuts. Half an hour after the Minister of Finance had finished his speech, and an hour after he started it\u2014and an hour after he had all the information\u2014John Key could not say whether he supported the tax cuts. When one is running for Prime Minister, one needs to have more brains than that. One needs to have more instinct than that and to be able to react in a way that is proper and consistent\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000491\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227df975cd-93d2-4f55-9bc5-d2790e28e043\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221f5c20eaf1b14120abb7fb10d9bee0df\u0022\u003EHon Maryan Street\u003C/span\u003E: You actually need some backbone.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000492\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d7a093a18b724e5ab86d5a5120249b18\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: One does need backbone, but John Key does not have that. He has a flip-flop instead of a backbone. The approach that John Key has given us has been of a rubber-backed man.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000493\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EI will give one more example of a family. It fits fairly well with a family that I know\u2014a couple, both of whom are in their early 40s, with two children. The couple are called JJ and Kiri, and they have Maria who is 19 and Jade who is 12. JJ works as an electrician and he earns $65,000 a year, Kiri is not in paid employment, and Maria still lives at home while she is studying full-time at university. From October this year JJ will start paying $1,160 less per year in tax, and the family will receive an additional $588 per year of Working for Families tax credits. In year 1, JJ and Kiri are $1,748 a year better off as a result of the October changes. The family will continue to benefit as the credits are rolled out. In year 2, JJ will pay $1,438 less in tax; in year 3 the savings will reach nearly $2,000 a year, and the additional tax credits will be $1,260. As well as this, the 19-year-old, Maria, will get her student allowance increased by $22 to $52 a week. That is another $880 over the year for that family. National members say \u201CSo what?\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000494\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225f1453f8-c44e-4ce6-b699-64d600322276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022370bbdfc14b8456f81fcc9280150caad\u0022\u003EChester Borrows\u003C/span\u003E: It was our idea!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000495\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221a9e4a20c24a4800ae26d19f66f09839\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: It just shows how out of touch with ordinary Kiwis National is when members like Chester Borrows are saying \u201CSo what?\u201D. He should knock on a few doors in Wanganui and work out that $4,114 a year to a family will make an enormous difference. If he knew Wanganui better he would know that $4,114 a year makes an enormous difference. It means $80 a week to a family, but National members say \u201CSo what?\u201D. It might be that they are all as out of touch as John Key is. It might well be that they all roll out of a Manhattan bar instead of going to the Anzac Day celebrations in their electorates; it might be that they are out of touch and do not wander home often and do not knock on doors. But I know that a family\u2014a not unusual family\u2014in Hutt South that is getting an extra $80 a week will say that that is great.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022 data-id=\u0022705258c445d940679c399ae29865d0c4\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000496\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022705258c445d940679c399ae29865d0c4\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE (National\u2014Ilam):\u003C/span\u003E I am quite confident that the family in Hutt South said this Budget is great. I am quite confident that when Trevor Mallard rolled up in the 7-series BMW and got out of the car in his flash suit and his shiny shoes and said \u201CWe\u2019re giving you tuppence-ha\u2019penny after 9 years.\u201D, they said it was great. The word on the street already, after a very short time, is that Michael Cullen must be joking. After 9 years of claiming that the economy was under brilliant management, after 9 years of claiming that he knew what he was doing, that everything was going well and it has never been better, all he can do is to deliver $16 a week to the average worker in this country and hold out the hope that if people are silly enough to buy into his scheme, then in 18 months\u2019 time he will give them a little bit more. What can the family that Trevor Mallard was talking about buy for $16? They could perhaps buy a block of cheese. They cannot buy a kilogram of steak. They could barely buy some sausages. That amount of money will not fill up a quarter of a tank of petrol. It will not meet much of the increased cost of the mortgage. It will not pay the average increase on the monthly electricity bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000497\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EWhen the Prime Minister spoke after the Budget today she said the Labour Government knows that dairy prices have gone up, that petrol prices have gone up, that other food prices have gone up, that the cost of mortgages has gone up, and that the credit squeeze is making things harder for families, but she said none of that is the Government\u2019s fault. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000498\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022221ac987f7c547f58626f8c7a9a2912c\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, petrol prices are the Government\u2019s fault, are they?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000499\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002261e5ee6487e949d2bc1af55a35081e97\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: The puzzled little fellow on the other side of the House, Daren Hughes, says it is not. I can tell him that it is the Government\u2019s fault that people cannot afford to meet the increase in prices. It is directly the Government\u2019s fault. Why is it that those prices are rising? It is because other countries can afford those prices. They can afford to pay the prices of dairy products. They can afford to pay for petrol. They can afford to pay for rising food prices, but that is not so here in New Zealand\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000500\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220b742bf3d95c445ab9192cf784b2263f\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: And crude oil prices are set in New Zealand?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000501\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e0c29d1ddc8d4f15b23912697044b1cf\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014and I say to Darren Hughes that is the Government\u2019s fault. It is why people in the member\u2019s electorate think this Budget is a joke. It is why they are saying Michael Cullen must be joking.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000502\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c4a25683b5584d7ba58e7e8a2a4f8d06\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: The beneficiaries think it\u2019s great.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002217faf33a00a24c54a03877857de89183\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: Darren Hughes says he will survive the next election because of the pensioners. The pensioners will save the young white hope of the Labour Party, because he will be able to go back to the pensioners of \u014Ctaki and ask them whether they have read the Budget. He will ask the pensioners of \u014Ctaki whether they read the Budget and noticed that there was extra money for them in it. When he has to explain that it is six lousy dollars for every year his Government has been in office, they will join the other people and tell Darren Hughes he has to be joking. His time, like that of the rest of those members, is nearly over, because people will not tolerate this. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000504\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EThere is general anger in the community.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000505\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002277308f87da5b419199136d91667ec786\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: You\u2019re thicker than I thought.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000506\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c2b5fb25b1d04b3ba97f5c8626f0ddd4\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: He has just yelled out: \u201COh, but you\u2019re going to vote for him.\u201D I tell Darren Hughes we are like the rest of the country. We have woken up. We are not stupid, and we are not going to stop people from getting the 6 months or so of this tax cut that they deserve. I want to tell him one other thing: I hope that all the resources of the Government worked out that just those 2 weeks actually do line up with the pay cycles, so that enough of the voters will go along to the cash-flow machine and find that they are a little less down on the overdraft than they usually are. If they do, then one or two of them might say: \u201COh, that\u2019s Helen Clark\u2019s gift to me! Where\u2019s the polling booth? Get me there fast! I\u2019ve got to tick Darren Hughes.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000507\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220d378259a2f148aa949ef6abf061fc4d\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: That\u2019s right. They will.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000508\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ab102e3a763c48c7b5414a5aae32af6c\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: Well, I do not think that is going to happen. I think this measure will exacerbate the anger that New Zealanders have with this Government. It will make it a lot, lot worse. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000509\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EThe thing that really is galling is to have Michael Cullen come in here today and say he believes in social justice\u2014that somehow he has a calling to do this work, and that his principles of social justice have finally allowed him to give this tax cut. Well, people should get this straight: a tax cut is not giving anybody anything. A tax cut is not taking as much in the first place, because the money belongs to the worker. Michael Cullen talks about those people who do rough jobs, tough jobs, and dirty jobs, working long hours. Well, we care about them, but we are not so darned arrogant as to say that we are going to tax the hell out of them for 9 years and then give them a lousy $16 back at the last minute, just in the hope that they will vote for us. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000510\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EI think the decision that we have reached, that we should vote for this tax cut, is pretty obvious. We believe that New Zealanders\u2014and we have said so for at least the last 9 years\u2014should be keeping more of the money they earn in their pockets. That is a subtle difference from Labour\u2019s position, because Michael Cullen seems to think that he is keeping more of the money he should have, and was making a case over all those years that he could spend it better than they could.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000511\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226064ad7967ee463f9a1b65eae40a9e71\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: No wonder he hates English.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000512\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ffca7eabe4814c41b8f957f0c6ec9b18\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: I do not normally respond to hecklers, right? Normally I cannot see that particular heckler, but because he is so excited and red in the face, he has suddenly become visible. I just want to say to him that all of the protestations he might make, all of the little jokes he might make, and all of the screaming, yelling, laughing, waving, and everything else he does will not make a blind bit of difference to the vote that goes to the Labour Party, because what we will see out there is people doing exactly as I predicted. They will be saying: \u201CToo little, too late. Not on your nelly are we voting for you again.\u201D I know, Madam Assistant Speaker, that I have just breached the Standing Orders by referring to you. I apologise. You, fortunately, are not up for re-election, so you will not suffer the ignominy that the likes of poor old Darren here will suffer. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000513\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EI wanted to make a few comments about the extraordinary remarks from Winston Peters this afternoon, but, unfortunately, his remarks were so forgettable I am not able to respond to them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000514\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b0a258a03303494392a80d107b04e09c\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: Get back to the policy, Gerry.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000515\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226f109b973e0449e2ab4a9d4d81461dfb\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: I just want to say again to the member across the way that he has distracted me rather more than he might normally be able to do, only by the breathtaking arrogance demonstrated by him and his ilk thinking they can build an entire Budget around this pathetic tax cut and expect that New Zealanders will re-elect them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000516\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221f4fe395c161493fbc328993874693bd\u0022\u003EHon Darren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: Read the whole thing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000517\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002265739f86bcd348abb0221e0af6c3f71a\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: Look, it is a book full of tables. But there is quite a bit of space around the edges for the member to work his colour pencils on later on tonight. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000518\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EThe arrogance of coming into this House before an election with a Budget that is so blatantly determined to try to buy the way back into Government is a total disgrace. The National Party, as Bill English said, will support this measure, because we want New Zealanders to know that we are serious about tax cuts. But we also want them to know that this measure should be considered to be a bit of a start. Dr Cullen\u2019s 18-month gap in his multi-year promise\u2014which we believe is all about hoping, firstly, that $16 will be enough to get him back and, secondly, that 18 months will be enough time for everybody to forget about the next bit\u2014is just a start.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000519\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223c6ae10b581c4c73a37a7a4e4f7bade9\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Before I call the next speaker, Doug Woolerton, I remind the two major parties that we are now to have speakers from the other parties in the Chamber, and I would appreciate it if the level of noise came down. I may have to apply for a hearing aid under the new provisions in the Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022 data-id=\u002299ea55e30a524dc5be316c8248949ce7\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000520\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002299ea55e30a524dc5be316c8248949ce7\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE (National\u2014Ilam):\u003C/span\u003E I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Are you suggesting that Mr Woolerton should give his speech in silence?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000521\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022aa80ac81fc9f45568c78a06a98f9949a\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: No, I am not suggesting that; I am suggesting that the barrage that goes on between the two major parties can at least lower in volume so that the other parties can have a say.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022 data-id=\u002296cd6a1131a44865be7d8dcbf070e97a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000522\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002296cd6a1131a44865be7d8dcbf070e97a\u0022\u003ER DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E I am pleased, Madam Assistant Speaker, that you did not use the words you were going to use when you were talking about the other parties. I knew you were going to say \u201Cthose other fantastic parties\u201D, which would have been humiliating to National and Labour. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000523\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EToday we saw the start of the tax wars. We have heard a lot about them and we have had skirmishing for months. But today was the start of the tax wars, and we now know what the Labour-led Government is going to deliver. We know in detail, because we have the tables to support it, and we have thresholds and all of the tax credits lined up for Working for Families. But what we did not hear today was what the other side of the House would deliver, how much it would deliver, and when. On Monday we saw John Key resiling from the $50 per worker statement he had made, but at this point we do not know what National is offering in the tax cut debate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000524\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EIt is all very well for National members opposite to get up and go on about the tax changes in this bill, and I am surprised and delighted that they are supporting them, but it is the first time they have supported a tax cut in the 9 years of this Government. They have voted against every tax cut that has been put up by the Labour Government, and now they say they are going to support one. If that does not tell us that an election is coming up, nothing will. But we do not know how much National will put up. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000525\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EI do not for one minute think that National will win the next election, but I want to put this scenario out there for people to ponder. I want to look at what would happen the day and the week after the election if National were to win. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000526\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223374ab1586da4b239829653f17b1ff72\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Horrible thought.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000527\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ae36bdf3c9e7447ebb5741f97529522f\u0022\u003ER DOUG WOOLERTON\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, it is a horrible thought. It would go like this\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000528\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eaf79431-1033-44f1-a633-22633da52c0d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228aed9c99ebbb4db28df1c4c0656a1e0b\u0022\u003EDavid Bennett\u003C/span\u003E: Don\u2019t worry about it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000529\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a630fe99684241a6a0dcbed122b7053f\u0022\u003ER DOUG WOOLERTON\u003C/span\u003E: David Bennett would not even be asked, God bless his soul. An interviewer would say to Mr Key: \u201CYou promised at one stage before the election that you were going to deliver a $50-a-week reduction in tax for every worker in New Zealand. What\u2019s the story?\u201D. He would reply: \u201COh, well, Mr Interviewer, it\u2019s different now, because the books are not what we thought they were. There have been changes, we have to look to the future, and we have other things happening. We have some prime problems in America and we have a tightening economy. We can no longer deliver on those $50-a-week promises we made earlier.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000530\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EActually, I am wrong. That actually happened on Monday, so after the election it would be: \u201CNo, we can\u2019t deliver on $25 a week. No, we cannot agree on $16 a week.\u201D They would give nothing in tax cuts after the election if they were to win it. We know that because of the history of the National Party. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000531\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EThere was one thing that I was very, very pleased with today as the Budget was read out. New Zealand First was afraid, because we lived through the last hiccup in the international economy and had to stand by and see pensioners\u2019 pensions cut. I listened for that in this Budget, and pensions were increased\u2014as they should be. Even in America they understand that when an economy is starting to look at a recession, they need to prime the pumps to a degree. National does not believe that. That is what happened when Jenny Shipley was Prime Minister and forced us into more of a recession than we should have had at the time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000532\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EI have read with interest the comments of the Federal Reserve chairman in America, who said on several occasions that they have learnt something from 1929. That guy studied it; that is his bag of chips, if you like. He said that they cannot leave it just up to the financial markets in a recessionary situation. And they have primed the pumps big time. They have done everything they can to support the financial institutions in America, and by goodness they needed to because they have surely done some stupid things. That is where John Key came from, interestingly enough. I do not know whether he has learnt anything, but this is definitely not the time to be cutting pensioners\u2019 incomes. I am pleased to see, and New Zealand First is delighted to see, that that has not happened. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000533\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First would like to have seen the first $5,200 of people\u2019s incomes to be tax free. We would like to have seen that threshold put in there, and we will fight in subsequent years for that to happen. We think it would have made sense to reduce GST to 10 percent. That is easy to do and is something that would help people during this period, and we would like to have seen that happen, as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000534\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EWe would also like to see incentives in the taxation system in order to help exporters, and we will keep pursuing this issue. Mr David Carter can get up shortly to confirm this. We were in the Primary Production Committee this morning, as it happened, and\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000535\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022eed4191fe7534c1a8aff1141010347d2\u0022\u003EHon David Carter\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019m going to get up now, Doug.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000536\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022770911fa038b482881dc16ede55096a8\u0022\u003ER DOUG WOOLERTON\u003C/span\u003E: The member will get up in a minute to confirm this. We were in the Primary Production Committee meeting and were told that since 1990 productivity on farms has increased by 100 percent, while the rest of society\u2019s productivity has increased by only 50 percent. So farmers are facing a hard time right now. We believe, quite clearly, that farmers should have incentives to write down their plants and machinery, and all of those sorts of things, more quickly, because that is what is needed at this time. National does not believe in priming the pump in tough times. It believes in cutting, and worsening the situation. One would hope that in the future National members will take some lessons from the Federal Reserve in America and do something about it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000537\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EPeople may wonder why New Zealand First goes on about superannuitants and why it is so important that their position\u2014particularly their financial situation\u2014in society is protected. We go on about it because we know\u2014and other people in this Parliament should know\u2014that it is the pensioners, the people who are retired nowadays, who in many cases are paying for school uniforms, for school fees, and for children to go away on school programmes. It is the grandparents who in many cases are paying those fees for their children and grandchildren. We believe that money that is put into that sector of the economy has an immediate return, and therefore it is good for the whole economy, not just for superannuitants. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000538\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003ESo, as well as for reasons of dignity, we believe that there is a real and sensible reason for putting money into the hands of superannuitants, and that is that in most cases it goes right down two generations. Madam Assistant Speaker, you, like me, would know that not every parent thinks that their daughter-in-law or son-in-law is the greatest thing since sliced bread\u2014in fact, there has been many a television programme made about such things\u2014but there is no grandparent I know who does not love, unconditionally, his or her grandchildren. That is what superannuitants spend their money on, that is why their position in society should be protected, and that is why we fight for them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022 data-id=\u002250489ad06af24a7ea1e4ecb3bcbaa5d5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000539\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002250489ad06af24a7ea1e4ecb3bcbaa5d5\u0022\u003EJEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader\u2014Green):\u003C/span\u003E There is one fair way to give tax cuts, if we have a surplus in the economy and we want to redistribute it to people, and that is by having a tax-free income band at the bottom of the income scale\u2014and the higher the income is, the better. That means that all taxpayers get the same tax rebate, whether they are beneficiaries, low-income earners, waged workers, or the super wealthy. That has been the Green Party\u2019s policy since some time in the mid-1990s. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000540\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EI was very pleased tonight to hear that Winston Peters has now picked up a Green idea, despite saying in the same sentence that he does not much agree with us. He has picked up our policy on tax, and I say good on him. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000541\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EWhen we fiddle with tax thresholds, even if we do it as fairly as we possibly can, we still always end up giving those on higher incomes a lot more in actual dollars than we give to those on low incomes, and that increases the poverty gap in society. Michael Cullen has been quite clever in the way that he has devised this new taxation system. He has combined it with Working for Families, and he has ensured that those workers on the lowest incomes will get a quarter, that those on the medium wage will get a sixth, and that those on $80,000 and above will get an eighth. But those on $80,000 are still getting more than twice as much in the hand each week than those on $10,000\u2014$28 a week, as distinct from $12 in the first round. That shows that we have to be careful when we play with tax rates, because after these tax cuts, in terms of cash and real dollars, there will in fact be a bigger gap between those on the lowest wages and those on the highest incomes than there is at the moment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000542\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EBut the biggest anomaly here is what happens to invalids, the sick, those who can only work part-time because they are caring for elderly parents, and those who are trying to develop a career in the arts\u2014for which they do not get paid at the moment\u2014who are holding down a small, part-time job to keep body and soul together because they are trying to do other, creative things in their time. Those people will come off worst because they will get the least. Beneficiaries will, in fact, get nothing out of the tax cut system. They will get only a very, very small amount out of Working for Families, because it has always discriminated against the children of beneficiaries because they do not get the in-work tax credit. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000543\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThis tax legislation is probably not as bad as what National would have done, which sounds like it would have been to remove the 39c tax rate altogether, benefiting only those who earn over $60,000\u2014or, as is shortly to be the case, over $70,000\u2014but the fact is that this legislation will still not improve equity within our society. It still will not help the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society. Invalids without children will be particularly hard hit. They do not get any Working for Families benefits, as one would expect. They do not get any tax cuts either, and their benefits go up only in relation to CPI, while their costs go up in relation to the increased prices of food, housing, transport, and energy, all of which move much faster than the CPI. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000544\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThe Green Party, in accordance with its cooperation agreement with the Government, will be abstaining on this Budget and on the tax legislation that flows from it. But I have to say that we are not overwhelmed at the beneficence of these tax cuts, particularly when\u2014as I outlined in my speech on the Budget a short time ago\u2014there are some very major problems facing us as a society and as an economy that are not being addressed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000545\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EIn relation to the Budget speech, it is very obvious that the word \u201Csustainability\u201D has been dropped like a hot brick. We had a speech last year in which the Prime Minister used it 33 times. She did not use that word once today, and I think that Michael Cullen used it once. But more particularly, when one looks at the money in the Budget, one sees that the only initiatives that take us in the direction of sustainability, really, are the ones that the Green Party has put up. \u201CCarbon neutral\u201D does not appear anywhere in the Budget speeches or in the rhetoric around it. There is an emissions trading scheme, but we do not know whether it will go through; it keeps getting weakened and delayed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000546\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003EThe Budget does not show a great sense of urgency in dealing with the big matters that will have the biggest effect on our economy in the future\u2014that is, oil depletion and continuous oil-price rises, climate change, and resources that are limited. We are bumping up against those limits in everything we do at the moment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022 data-id=\u00222ba259c7406d4bc2947615e486ae256e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000547\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222ba259c7406d4bc2947615e486ae256e\u0022\u003EHon PETER DUNNE (Minister of Revenue):\u003C/span\u003E I want to speak, as one would expect, in support of this legislation. I want to put a few facts on the table that arise particularly in response to the last couple of speeches, and I also want to make some comments about the charities changes that are contained in the bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000548\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThe total cost of the tax package, in its third year, that is set out in this bill is just under $3.9 billion. One can debate whether that is good, bad, or indifferent, but that is a fact. I have heard suggestions from the two previous speakers that we should have some level of tax-free threshold. I want to tell the House that Dr Cullen and I looked at that very seriously in the early stages of the design of this package. To give a tax-free threshold for the first $10,000 would effectively cost $3.9 billion not over 3 years but over 1 year. So when one starts to talk about relative priorities one now has the cost of this package split, if one likes, three ways, if a tax-free threshold is to be delivered. My colleague to my right from New Zealand First says that they would go one step further and put GST down to 10 percent. On the figures contained in the Budget, that 2.5 percent reduction is another $2 billion each year, not over 3 years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000549\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EWhat one has, in effect, is the contrast between a package that is about $3.9 billion in 3 years versus some alternative policies that would be that amount and more, and in some cases almost double that in 1 year and certainly up to around an additional $12 billion over the 3-year period. So when we start to debate these things, let us put those figures on the table and let us have some debate about how sustainable that is. Would New Zealanders tolerate a tax-free threshold and no other tax reform? Would New Zealanders tolerate a reduction in the GST rate and other very minimal tax reform? Because that is what it comes down to in that particular debate. It is not a question, as some might suggest, of having one\u2019s cake and eating it as well, because the cake simply is not big enough. It is the perennial story in that regard.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000550\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI want to make some remarks about what is contained in Part 3 of the bill, the matters that relate to charities. Dr Cullen, in his introductory speech, made some overall reference to the situation that is being resolved. I want to put on record in just a little bit more detail precisely what the issues are and why it is important that we act at this time. The bill brings in tax changes to resolve tax uncertainties in the law relating to the continuing tax-exempt status of certain organisations. These uncertainties have emerged over recent months in the lead-up to the 1 July deadline for charities to register with the Charities Commission. From that date charitable entities will have to be registered with the Charities Commission to be entitled to the charity-related income tax exemption and for gifts to those charities to be exempt from gift duty. There is no particular problem with that. But the uncertainties arise when entities such as universities and schools ask whether they must also register with the Charities Commission in order to remain tax-exempt, and it is here that we find that some associated legislation in several differing pieces of legislation contains a number of grey areas. That is why the Minister of Finance and I announced a week or so ago that we would, via the earliest available vehicle, make changes to provide tax certainty for a range of those entities in these circumstances. That is why they have been included in the bill before the House at the moment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000551\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThe Income Tax Act and the Estate and Gift Duties Act are being amended to confirm that tertiary education institutions, as defined in the Education Act, are exempt from income tax and gift duty. That means they will not have to register with the Charities Commission to retain their tax-exempt status, although they may still chose to register if they want to, if they want to have access to other benefits that they perceive to come from registration. Further changes will ensure that tertiary education institutions automatically have Inland Revenue Department - approved donee status. That means that people who donate money to them will continue to qualify for tax rebates for their donations.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000552\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EFurther amendments to the same Acts will ensure that gifts to State and State-integrated schools are exempt from gift duty and that they have automatic Inland Revenue Department - approved donee status, as well. State and State-integrated schools do not need to register with the Charities Commission to be exempt from income tax, because they already have an explicit exemption in the Education Act.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000553\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EA further amendment in this group of changes relates to non-resident charities that cannot register with the Charities Commission because they are not established in New Zealand, although they may have investments here and be registered as a charity in their own country. An example of this would be an international charity that invests New Zealand donations in a New Zealand bank account. This bill protects their current tax-exempt status, subject to Inland Revenue Department approval, for both income tax and gift duty.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000554\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThe bill also introduces transitional measures to provide greater tax certainty to organisations that encounter difficulty in completing their application for registration with the Charities Commission within the deadline, owing to circumstances that may be beyond their control. Under the bill\u2019s provisions the Commissioner of Inland Revenue is being given a limited discretion to protect their tax status in the meantime, provided they can prove that they started the application process before 1 July and that they intend to complete it. I want to emphasise that these transitional measures are intended to be used on a limited basis. They are not intended for organisations that are merely late in applying for registration. We do not want to see a situation where organisations that have submitted their applications in good faith, and that, for reasons beyond their control, find that the registration process has not been completed by 1 July, then discover that their tax-exempt status is at risk.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000555\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThis legislative provision follows on from various announcements that the commissioner, the Minister of Finance, and I have made over recent months, in the hope that the rate of registration would accelerate so that the backlog we were likely to face would be of a relatively small nature. Sadly, that has not been the case, and we now face the potential of significant problems unless a provision of this type is passed. I emphasise to the House that both the measures relating to educational institutions and those relating to charities that have their registrations within the system do not in any way change the status quo. What they effectively do is reassure those bodies that the status quo that they thought applied will continue to apply. It would be the ultimate of ironies, surely, to suddenly discover, at a time when we were registering charities, that our educational institutions, which for a hundred and something years have been tax exempt, were now to be taxable. Once we became aware that that possibility existed, even before $1 of tax was assessed or sought, we have sought as quickly as possible to eliminate that and to return, via legislative fiat, to the status quo that everyone understood they were under.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000556\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003ESo I wanted to put those points on the record, because, in the rarefied atmosphere of the debate about tax rates\u2014it is perfectly understandable and of huge interest to people\u2014it is also important to note that some other significant changes are being made in this legislation that will be beneficial to another significant group of New Zealanders. In fact, when people benefit from the tax cuts they might find that they want to spend some of their money by donating to the charities that we are protecting by this legislation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022 data-id=\u002292c21bfcd34441b19baa685f0ddc80b4\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000557\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002292c21bfcd34441b19baa685f0ddc80b4\u0022\u003EHONE HARAWIRA (M\u0101ori Party\u2014Te Tai Tokerau):\u003C/span\u003E Kia ora, Madam Assistant Speaker. Kia ora t\u0101tou e te Whare. I do not often support the Employers and Manufacturers Association in this House, but when it comes up with the comment \u201CWas that it?\u201D about these tax cuts, I absolutely support that comment. The difference is that I am talking on behalf of the poorer people in this country. I am talking on behalf of organisations like the Child Poverty Action Group. I am talking on behalf of the Salvation Army. I am talking on behalf of all of those social service agencies that have been calling for some real, basic relief for people in need.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000558\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EThe fact that both ends of the scale can be screaming out for assistance and getting nothing suggests that this Budget is going nowhere for anyone. I am talking about food, for example, and the call for GST to be taken off food. The response of the Prime Minister is that it would be an administrative nightmare. Hello\u2014an administrative nightmare? We would be happier to have people starve than to bother to do the paperwork to take GST off food. That is insulting to the population of this country. I am surprised that the so-called Labour Party\u2014the so-called party of the working class, the party that is supposed to represent the interests of those in need\u2014could talk about an issue as important as reducing the price of food and say that the Government is not going to take GST off food simply because it will be an administrative nightmare. Then on top of that we find out that Australia has done it\u2014it is not too hard for Australia. Canada has done it\u2014it is not too hard for Canada. Why can we not do it? At a time when this Government admits that there is not a lot else that it can do for the poor, a simple step would have been to take GST off food. Sure, there are all kinds of arguments that we should be looking at non-processed food etc., but let us get there eventually. The simple call to take GST off food would have lifted a weight off the families in greatest need in this country. This Government had the opportunity to do it in this Budget, and it chose not to because that would have meant more paperwork. For anybody to assume we cannot do it because of too much paperwork is an insult to the people who have voted Labour for so long, an insult to the people most in need in this country, and an insult to the intelligence of New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000559\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EI am not a great fan of Labour, but I saw something from John Tamihere\u2014a former Labour Minister, apparently. He made a comment in the paper that if the Government wanted to connect with the voter, it could start with something as simple as saying that the first $5,000 of people\u2019s incomes would be tax-free. The M\u0101ori Party thinks it should actually be $10,000, but $5,000 is a start\u2014if the first $10,000 were tax-free it would be great. That does not mean anything to people in Parliament. I am probably the lowest-paid guy in Parliament and I am getting $125,000. That is bucket loads of money where I come from. That is more money than I could ever contemplate making; it is more than twice as much as I ever made before. Taking the tax off the first $10,000 is kind of meaningless to me. But for a family whose total income is $15,000 it is a hell of a change. It is a huge change.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000560\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EIt is an opportunity for them to actually do things for their kids at school, to buy their child a pair of pants instead of having their child come to the school\u2014I have seen this\u2014wearing pants that he or she must have had handed down from his or her grandad. It is really saddening when that child stops coming to school. When we track down that child\u2019s parents we find out that the reason the child cannot come is that he or she loves doing kapa haka but cannot afford to go away on the kapa haka trip, and the parents are embarrassed about it so they do not let their child go to school. It is simple stuff; it is not rocket science. If we take tax off the first $10,000 earned by every New Zealander we will create the opportunity for everybody to benefit, and most of all those in most need\u2014those at the bottom of the ladder.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000561\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EAt the moment those at the bottom of the ladder are in desperate need, not because I am saying so or because the M\u0101ori Party is saying so but because everybody is saying so. Every economic commentator in the country is talking about how dear the basics of life are, and, for example, how costly milk is. I do the shopping in my family, and I have watched it rocket up. When I came into Parliament, milk cost $2.05 at our local Pak \u2018N Save; now it is $4.15. It has gone up by more than 100 percent. Those are the basics of life that we should have been trying to address in this Budget, but they have been completely ignored. What happens to the people at the bottom? They will get $12 in their hands. Well, that is 2 litres of milk, a little tub of butter, and one loaf of bread. That will make a difference at the end of the week\u2014not! This Government had the opportunity to signal that even in times of genuine stress for the whole country it would make a genuine commitment to those at the bottom, but it has chosen not to do so.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000562\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EI congratulate the Green Party on winning that $50 million retrofit for all of the State houses. I know that heaps and heaps of my wh\u0101nau will benefit from that, and I congratulate the Greens on pushing that and on the fact that it has come up in the Budget. I also thank Labour for going ahead with that. That is a really cool one. I would also like to thank Labour for putting up that $12 million for the M\u0101ori nurses. I think that is amazing. That is awesome. That is fantastic.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000563\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EI was also going to congratulate Labour on putting $17 million into M\u0101ori wardens, until I did a bit of a check and found out that it stole $7 million from Te Puni K\u014Dkiri to pay for it. The other $10 million ain\u2019t coming next year; it is spread out over the next 4 years. Folks, Budgets should be based only on 1 year. We can have a projection, but let us be honest: will this Government be around to spend the rest of it? No, it will not. It is $2.5 million, and that is all it will be\u2014that is all that the M\u0101ori wardens will get. When I talk about k\u014Dhanga, I am talking about M\u0101ori-specific money here. How much will k\u014Dhanga get? Nothing. How much will kura kaupapa get? Nothing. How much will wharekura get? Nothing. How much will w\u0101nanga get? Nothing. I am a member of the M\u0101ori Party. It is our role to defend M\u0101ori rights and advance M\u0101ori interests for the benefit of the whole nation. This Budget destroys all of the things that we have wanted to achieve over a period of I do not know how many years. There is not a heck of a lot going on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000564\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EWe support absolutely a bottom-line philosophy of ending child poverty. We had the opportunity here to do it. This Labour Government had the opportunity here to do it. It chose not to do so, and at a time when it has been running surpluses of more than $6 billion for the last 5 or so years. The total tax cut is $1.5 billion. We could have done a lot better than that. This Labour Government has chosen not to do so, and I think this will rebound on it in the polls, when M\u0101ori people start looking at those issues. M\u0101ori wardens received only $2.5 million, nurses received $3 million, kura kaupapa received nothing, k\u014Dhanga received nothing, wharekura received nothing, w\u0101nanga received nothing\u2014M\u0101ori have received nothing. We are disgusted with what is being presented here and we will be taking this back to our people, because we do not accept that this Government, at any time\u2014neither this Government nor the next one\u2014should ever again be allowed to treat M\u0101ori so badly. T\u0113n\u0101 koe. Huri rauna kia ora t\u0101tou katoa.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022 data-id=\u002297baa4e483b04de6956881c2f2d85162\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000565\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002297baa4e483b04de6956881c2f2d85162\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE (Leader\u2014ACT):\u003C/span\u003E I have listened to the speeches on this tax legislation with some interest, and I should tell Mr Harawira that although I am no fan of this Budget either, and will not be voting for it\u2014it is not as good as Labour says it is\u2014I have to say I do not think that it is as bad as he paints it. But let us talk particularly about tax legislation, and reiterate that the ACT party will be supporting this tax cut. We see it as a faltering, baby step in the right direction. But I will pick up on the discussion that has been around the traps here, and just warn us, as parliamentarians, about a trap we are falling into. I am thinking of Mr Harawira in particular when thinking of tax design as to who gets what. That is how we are thinking about the Budget. If we are thinking about our country, and our young ones, we should actually be thinking about where we will be in 5 years\u2019 time, in 10 years\u2019 time, in 15 years\u2019 time, and in 20 years\u2019 time. That is what matters. Actually, a few dollars this week and a few dollars in October sort of pale into insignificance compared with what we can achieve over the next 5, 10, or 15 years. By that, in particular, I am focusing on economic growth, because that is what will provide the jobs, the incomes, the housing, the environment, the health service, and the educational service we all want. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000566\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EListening to the speech, I heard about everyone wanting the good things but not talking about how we build an economy to provide for them. I think that is how we should be thinking about tax cuts, too\u2014that we should be thinking about whether there is a way we can cut taxes that will make a bigger cake, rather than just carve up the one we have. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000567\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI also want to pick up on a point that the Greens made about what is fair. You know, fairness is in the eyes of the beholder, I guess, and let me just illustrate that with two points. Jeanette Fitzsimons\u2019 point was that the fairest tax cut we could have\u2014and I think Mr Harawira was saying this too\u2014is a tax cut that gives the same amount to everyone, and that is \u201Cfair\u201D. But I am not so sure that their policies would do that. Let me give members an example. I think we have created this with this tax policy, too. For example, the first $10,000 or the first $5,000 is tax-free. And one thinks \u201CWell, that\u2019s great, because everyone gets the same amount.\u201D\u2014but I can promise members that they will not. The people who overwhelmingly will benefit from that tax policy are the wealthy. Why? Because anyone with a business that is doing well will employ his or her children, spouse, mother, and mother-in-law and pay them all $10,000. They will pay them $10,000, and that $10,000 they pay them will no longer be taxed at 39c in the dollar; it will not be taxed, at all. And enormous income-splitting will be seen as a consequence. What is fair about that? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000568\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EIn a funny way, we have added to that problem with Mr Cullen\u2019s Budget by going to 12\u00BD percent and 39 percent, so there is a greater incentive. We have already seen it happening. We will see a greater employment of business people\u2019s family members in order to minimise those people\u2019s tax liabilities, and that is quite a significant thing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000569\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EThe other reason why I question fairness from Jeanette Fitsimons\u2019 point of view is that she says: \u201CWell, it should be the same so that somehow the way we are taxing people now is fair, and we should not adjust that process in any way, shape, or form.\u201D But how can that be? We set the tax policy, basically, back in December 1999, and it came into effect in the year 2000. Since then we have had inflation and bracket creep. So instead of, say, 5 percent of people being taxed at the top rate, we actually have, say, 12 percent. So all those relativities have changed. But somehow Jeanette Fitsimons is saying: \u201COK, what we are doing now should be the measure of whether it is fair.\u201D, but that would mean that what we were doing back in 2000 was not fair, because what we were doing back in 2000 was different. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000570\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI also think that when we think about tax cuts, we should be realistic. And here I want to chide New Zealand First members, because I think they want to make the first $5,200 tax-free. Well, we heard from the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Finance that to take the amount to $10,000 would cost\u2014I think, from memory\u2014$3.9 billion. It is a flat rate up to $9,500, so if we are to make $5,200 tax-free, it will cost exactly half of that. So we are talking of just on $2 billion for the tax cut, to make $5,200 tax-free\u2014$2 billion a year. I think New Zealand First also said that it would take the rate of GST from 12\u00BD percent to 10 percent. I would vote for that\u2014absolutely. It was promised to be 10 percent and it should be 10 percent. But I think I heard the Minister of Revenue\u2014and I am looking across at officials to see whether I have the numbers right\u2014say that on the current Budget that is about $2 billion, $2.5 billion, or something like that. So New Zealand First would actually have to cut Government spending by $4.5 billion. But all I heard from New Zealand First in its Budget speech was how much extra spending it had, through its good initiatives, and that it was disappointed in the Budget that there was not more spending. Well, we cannot have it both ways. We cannot cut $4 billion a year out of the Budget and spend more money, without cutting a huge amount.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000571\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225a277001c0294129ba9dfe0faef068a5\u0022\u003ESue Moroney\u003C/span\u003E: National thinks they can.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000572\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002269a2fd300ff7416eb87fc708906a7eab\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: Well, to be fair to National, it has not said what its tax cut plan is. It might be that Ron Mark\u2019s numbers do not add up, but at least he has put the numbers out. We have to be realistic. But the point I would make\u2014and this is probably why ACT is so low in the polls\u2014is different from everyone else\u2019s. I think that before we talk about fairness we should think about where we want to be in 5 years\u2019 time, or in 10 years\u2019 time, in terms of the economic pie. So instead of arguing about $10, $16, or $20 a week, we should ask whether we want to continue to be, say, $450 a week behind Australia in wages, on average. Do we want to be poorer than Tasmania? I do not think so, but I think that on the present course we will sink further behind. I think everyone, including the Government, is concerned about the number of New Zealanders who are leaving for Australia and further afield, and why they are doing that. A lot of M\u0101ori are going, I tell Mr Harawira\u2014probably an entire electorate. They are doing that because it is more creative and more entrepreneurial, it makes more money, and it gives more opportunities. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000573\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EIs that going to get better or worse? I think it will get worse. We can imagine hitting\u2014to coin a new phrase\u2014a tipping point, where so many of our young people will have left that it will actually become a cumulative flood of more and more people going. We have to ask ourselves whether these tax changes we are having will bring our kids home. Will they reverse the trend of young M\u0101ori and other young New Zealanders to head overseas? I do not think so. If we start thinking like that\u2014and I know that this might be offensive to people\u2019s ears\u2014we should say \u201CLet us have a tax policy that delivers growth.\u201D, and then we are actually talking about getting the top rates down. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000574\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EIt is absolutely true, I tell Mr Harawira, that if we go to a flat tax rate of 20c in the dollar, or of 15c in the dollar, that those on high incomes will pay proportionately less tax than they do now. But that is because they pay such a lot now. So those people on $80,000 compared with those on $20,000 do not pay four times as much tax; they pay 50 times as much tax, depending on where they fall with children, and whatever. So they are paying a lot of tax. It is true that people might say \u201COh, well, this is what an MP gets.\u201D If people are worried about what MPs get, then let us cut MPs\u2019 salaries. But let us not drive tax policy by what the Leader of the Opposition or the Deputy Prime Minister might get; let us drive tax policy by what is good for the country. I ask Mr Harawira to imagine us getting the tax rate down to 20c in the dollar. Then we would start growing the economy. Would that not be the best thing we could do for the young people of New Zealand! Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022 data-id=\u002294fc5bdbfe294ec189359173e848b36a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000575\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002294fc5bdbfe294ec189359173e848b36a\u0022\u003EHon RUTH DYSON (Minister for Social Development and Employment):\u003C/span\u003E At peak viewing time it gives me great pleasure to contribute to this, the first reading of the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill 2008. This bill primarily deals with two issues: tax rates and changes to the charities regime in relation to ensuring that the charities registration process and the tax process are better aligned. But, most important, this bill delivers a fair deal to New Zealanders. All those in paid work will benefit, as will those on a benefit with children, and superannuitants.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000576\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003ESitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000577\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002260d3fb7da46d4b60a77d1da325d09484\u0022\u003EHon RUTH DYSON\u003C/span\u003E: As I was saying, the Budget and the subsequent tax legislation deliver a fair economy and a strong future. I commend the Hon Dr Michael Cullen for the ninth Budget in a row in which he has made progress on both those fronts. I look forward to the next nine Budgets to be delivered by the Hon Dr Michael Cullen. Over the last 8 years the Labour-led Government has delivered major reinvestment in public services and infrastructure\u2014public services that were run down by National, and infrastructure that was neglected by National. We have delivered substantial tax relief to businesses, savers, and families with children. On every occasion when tax legislation has been before this House, the National Party has voted against tax relief. National members voted against tax relief for New Zealand businesses, for New Zealand savers, and for New Zealand families with children. The personal tax cuts in this legislation are the next step in our Government\u2019s programme to build a fair and strong economy and society, in which all New Zealanders have a strong stake.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000578\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EOur Government, through the leadership of our Minister of Finance, Michael Cullen, has managed our public purse responsibly. We have not squandered resources in times of great optimism; nowhere is that more obvious than in New Zealand, and at no better time than now, as we watch what is happening internationally. We see that even in these times, New Zealand can deliver a $10.6 billion personal tax package.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000579\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EOver the last 8\u00BD years we have seen 377,000 more jobs created in our economy, giving more families a stake in our future. The unemployment rate has fallen by more than half, and it has stayed below 4 percent for over 4 years. We are the only country in the OECD that has been able to achieve that record. We have had less than 4 percent unemployment for 15 straight quarters. We now have 140,000 fewer people on a benefit.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000580\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EOur child poverty rates have also fallen dramatically. Earlier today I heard National members talking about our OECD ratings. It is very interesting that they focus only on the areas that are of interest to them. The level of child poverty was a disgrace in New Zealand a decade ago. We were in the bottom quarter of the OECD in relation to child poverty, and by the middle of this year we will be in the top half. We have a way to go; we still have children living in comparative poverty in our country, and our goal is to work towards the elimination of that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000581\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EOf particular interest to me, as Minister for Senior Citizens, is the fact that we have ensured that those people who are dependent on superannuation are included in the benefits of this tax package. Superannuitants in New Zealand have had substantial financial support from the Labour-led Government. We restored the relative rate of superannuation for a married couple to 65 percent of the average weekly wage; it was 60 percent under the previous National Government. If National had continued in power after 1999 with the same level of superannuation, a married couple would be $34 a week worse off.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000582\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229211dcdc9ec3461fa433b953d0f5c394\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: How much?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000583\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222bbe5c4a6de945168ca6b9a588e7e587\u0022\u003EHon RUTH DYSON\u003C/span\u003E: They would be $34 a week worse off under National\u2014and that is before this tax package, not after it. We know that this package delivers substantially for superannuitants.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000584\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EWe have also been able to reduce the cost of visiting a doctor by, on average, $22 a visit. We have reduced the cost of prescription medicines from $15 an item to $3 an item. We have expanded access to health services, screening, and immunisation. These are the areas that make a difference to the most vulnerable people in our community\u2014those who are dependent on a benefit or superannuation, or who are on a low income. They are able to access those services that are critical to their health.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EWe have also provided 20 hours\u2019 free early childhood education. Again, the National Party opposed that policy day in and day out when it was debated in this House. National opposed access to free early childhood education for thousands and thousands of New Zealand children, many of whom would not have been able to access early childhood education had it not been made free for those 20 hours. We have also kept the cost of tertiary education under control. Every year we have improved access to tertiary education, and there has been another step forward in the Budget today. We have also built thousands of State houses while restoring income-related rents for those on the lowest incomes. Those substantial gains have been made in the last 8 years under a Labour-led Government, and I am looking forward to another decade so that we can continue on this path toward improving the lives of ordinary New Zealanders. We have begun a major assault on income inequality in retirement through KiwiSaver. Over 600,000 people are now part of the KiwiSaver regime.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000586\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EThe tax package to be delivered through this legislation is part of the overall contribution we have been able to make. I mention one other aspect of the tax legislation\u2014a point the Hon Peter Dunne referred to earlier. I refer to the provisions that deal with charities and tax. We have uncovered uncertainties in the law with regard to the continuing tax-exempt status of some organisations. It is really important that this be clarified, because the deadline for charities to register with the new Charities Commission is 1 July. From that date, charitable entities have to be registered with the Charities Commission to be entitled to the charity-related income tax exemption and for gifts to charities to be exempt from gift duty. Obviously, there are no difficulties with those principles, but uncertainties between the tax legislation and the charities legislation have arisen.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000587\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EIt has been unclear whether entities such as universities and schools also have to register with the Charities Commission in order to maintain their tax-exempt status. It is clear there has been uncertainty in the legislation, and it is better for us to use this opportunity to resolve that uncertainty. Legislative changes are being made to provide tax certainty for a range of entities in those circumstances. These involve changes to the Income Tax Act and the Estate and Gift Duties Act. Those Acts will be amended to confirm that tertiary education institutions, as defined in the Education Act, are exempt from income tax and gift duty. They will not have to register with the Charities Commission to remain tax-exempt. Of course, if they want to register in order to gain access to other benefits, they will be entitled to do so. However, they will not be required to register in order to retain their tax-exempt status.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000588\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EAnother provision in this legislation relates to a discretion given to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue. It is a very limited discretion, and it is very important that charitable organisations that are considering registering, or are in the process of registering, with the commission recognise that the discretion is very limited. The provision gives the Commissioner of Inland Revenue discretion to ensure that an organisation that has started the application process to register as a charitable organisation before 1 July, and that intends to complete the application but for reasons beyond its control has not been able to do so, will not have its tax-exempt status nullified. So it is a very limited discretion. It will be of assistance to organisations, but I repeat that it is a very limited discretion and should be applied only when there are exceptional circumstances and a charitable organisation has not been able to progress its registration to fruition. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000589\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003EIn conclusion, it is a privilege for me to speak in this debate on the Budget, which was released this afternoon. The Budget makes a huge $10.6 billion personal tax cut contribution but, more important\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000590\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002210e7ab7e26454aa8a9442c4e0f9f4ce3\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: That\u2019s the first time she has said it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000591\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cb2e2f4375f84a4c87bd9ee47fc50c90\u0022\u003EHon RUTH DYSON\u003C/span\u003E: That is the third time I have said it. But, more important, the Budget contributes to a fair economy and a strong future. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022 data-id=\u00221e371a5a202f4b02a87be70bfc7fa70f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000592\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221e371a5a202f4b02a87be70bfc7fa70f\u0022\u003ESIMON POWER (National\u2014Rangitikei):\u003C/span\u003E Well, that speech just says it all! There is a Minister of the Crown who wants to protect her own personal legacy in not standing up and endorsing tax cuts. There is a Minister from the left of the Labour Party, who wants no record in Hansard, whatsoever, that she supports tax cuts. I have to say there must be a huge amount of tension in the Labour caucus at the moment. When Michael Cullen introduced this bill prior to the dinner break, he essentially gave a speech about all the reasons why tax cuts were a bad idea and how he was having his arm wound right up his back to have to do this. Yet the Hon Ruth Dyson, somebody who would be regarded as one of the leaders of the left wing of the Labour Party, although probably not likely to vote for Phil Goff when the leadership spill comes, none the less could not get the words out\u2014\u201Ctax cut\u201D! Ms Dyson could not say \u201Ctax cut\u201D. That is what her Government is proposing; that is what is before the House at the moment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000593\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003EIf only I had a dollar for every single \u201Cmeet the candidates\u201D meeting I have been to with Labour candidates and Labour MPs over the last 10 years. I have sat on the stage with those people, and I have heard them stand up and say, year after year: \u201CTax cuts are not on the agenda for the Labour Party, and never will be.\u201D They said at those \u201Cmeet the candidates\u201D meetings: \u201CWe\u2019re a party that will not cut tax, because we\u2019re too concerned about social services.\u201D Well, what has changed from those 10, 15, 20 meetings a year that National Party members fronted up to with Labour candidates where they said that no tax cuts would come from Labour? What has changed? What has changed is that this is election year. Not only has that changed but Michael Cullen is so reluctant to drive this package through the House that he has even decided to do a bit before the election, reluctantly\u2014and then do nothing for 2 years after that. That is purely because he knows, in his heart of hearts, that he did not want to do this. He was interested in protecting his own legacy by doing as little as possible to initiate what all New Zealanders have known for a long time\u2014that is, that they deserve some of their own money back. It is not the Government\u2019s money to sort of wave about and hand down to the working folk of New Zealand. It is their money. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000594\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003EWhat I found most interesting about the Budget debate today was when we sat here reading through the Budget speech, and I waited for the applause after the paragraph where Michael Cullen announced the tax cuts, and do you know what? It did not come. There was not a whisper, not a clap, not even a \u201CHmm!\u201D or any sort of approval, at all. The first clap from the Labour Party came when Dr Cullen talked about superannuitants receiving a bit more, as a result of this legislation and the Budget today. But when the actual tax cut package was announced in the Budget, there was not a clap. Not one single Labour member of Parliament put his or her hands together to say that that was a job well done. Does that not just say it all! This is too little, too late; and the public will not fall for it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000595\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003EWas it not interesting that when the Prime Minister stood to speak, following John Key, she talked about the Springbok Tour, the Viet Nam War, and Rob Muldoon\u2019s Budget in 1984. Well, sorry, Prime Minister, but a whole lot of us out there in voter land are not having those debates any more. In fact, we have not had those debates for 24 years. So if the Labour Party wants to keep having those debates, wants to keep looking backwards, then that is where it will end up. Out there in voter land they are not having a discussion about the Viet Nam War. They are not having a discussion about the Springbok Tour. They are not having a discussion about Rob Muldoon\u2019s Budget in 1984. They are talking about the fact that under this Government, interest rates have doubled. They are talking about how under this Government, where petrol prices are $2 a litre and where cheese is $16 a kilogram, we do not want to have a discussion about the Springbok Tour in 1981, or the Viet Nam War in the 1960s or 1970s; we want to know, after 9 years, what those people on the other side of the House are going to do about relieving the pressure on household incomes. It has taken far too long for those people to realise that. People out there in voter land have had a gutsful of reliving those debates, which are 25 years old. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000596\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003EI want to talk about squeezing social services if tax cuts were introduced, as Labour candidates and MPs have been saying on the platform for the last 8 or 9 years. Well, how about we not overspend half a billion dollars building four prisons. Maybe that sort of dollar amount could have been put to better use in tax cuts over the last 7 or 8 years. Instead, what do we get? We get $16 a week for the average household wage earner\u2014enough to go out and buy that elusive block of cheese! The Prime Minister stands in this House on Budget day and says: \u201CI know where I stood on the Springbok Tour.\u201D Well, we do not care! We want relief to household incomes and we want to have a debate about where New Zealand is going, not where New Zealand has been. Too many Labour MPs are way, way back in history where Labour has been. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000597\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003EWhat we are seeing today is legislation being rushed through this House for those tax cuts to be introduced, for one reason and one reason only\u2014that is, the Prime Minister does not trust the Minister of Finance to do the business. After 2005\u2019s broken promise on the \u201Cchewing gum tax cuts\u201D the Prime Minister has said to the Minister of Finance: \u201CYou will legislate for those tax cuts to avoid us getting into a situation we got into in 2005.\u201D Back-downs are no longer acceptable, and that is why the National Party is here to keep them honest. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000598\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003EThe pressure this Government is feeling is in economic households. The problem is being solved only because that Government is feeling political pressure. That is the only reason this tax cut legislation has finally made it to the floor of the House. As Bill English and Gerry Brownlee have said tonight, we will vote for the tax cuts because we have consistently said that that is what New Zealand needs. We have not just turned on our tail in introducing those things 2 weeks before an election to try to save our own skins at the polls. We are going to keep talking about the future, while that party keeps talking about the past.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022 data-id=\u0022a69ce04d7d964ef4aacc51cba030c641\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000599\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a69ce04d7d964ef4aacc51cba030c641\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Before I call the next speaker, I advise the House that this 10-minute call will be divided between Labour and National, with 5 minutes each.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022 data-id=\u0022af828170177348feb37e54bdf4200660\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000600\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022af828170177348feb37e54bdf4200660\u0022\u003ECHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and may I begin by wishing you a happy birthday. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000601\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EI am really proud to speak in support of the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill, and I am very sad to have heard the previous speech. Let me tell the previous speaker, Mr Power, that one of the reasons why history matters, one of the reasons why it is important to know where one\u2019s country, one\u2019s party, and the economy have been in the past and what positions were taken in the past is so one does not relive any mistakes. I point that out to Mr Burrows, who is trying to interject. The problem with the speech we just heard from Mr Power is that it explains exactly why that member gave a speech some years ago saying: \u201CWhere Britain goes, we go. Where America goes, we go.\u201D He is the Young Fogey of the National Party. With speeches and positions like that, it is clear that he does not know his history; it is clear from the speeches on this side of the House that we do. We have learnt from our history and we make sure it informs our future actions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000602\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EI want to praise Dr Cullen for the Budget that has been delivered today. It is no wonder that he is the longest-serving Minister of Finance since Walter Nash in the 1940s, because he has delivered a successful economic record to this country and he continued to do exactly that today. I am very proud of the tax cuts that were announced in the Budget. I am very proud that they followed the four tests that Dr Cullen has been articulating consistently over the last year as part of the only coherent tax policy that is being articulated in this country at the moment. I am very proud that they are Labour policies. It is good just to measure these tax reductions against those four tests.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000603\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EThe first test is that the tax reductions will not lead to greater inequality in our society, and there are three reasons for that: they will be applied across the board, they will be proportionate to income, and they will benefit all households, regardless of whether they have children. Also, they will apply to all taxpayers\u2014including superannuitants\u2014regardless of whether they are in paid employment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000604\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EThe second test is that these tax cuts will not require cuts to public services. Having managed New Zealand\u2019s finances responsibly throughout its term in office, this Government can now afford both to offer tax relief to New Zealanders in need and to make new investments in the health, education, justice, public transport, roading, science and technology, and social services sectors. Those are great things, and these are balanced tax cuts for that reason.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000605\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EThe third test is that the reductions should not exacerbate inflationary pressures\u2014and they will not. Labour has been careful to introduce these tax reductions over 3 years to avoid extra pressure on mortgage interest rates. This cautious approach is particularly important in difficult economic times and it is a tribute, I think, to this Government that in an election year, when any other Government might have been tempted to offer full tax relief immediately, this Government put New Zealand\u2019s economic interest first with a phased-in tax reduction.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000606\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EThe final test is that the Government will not need to borrow to fund these cuts. New Zealand is currently in a net positive financial asset position. This is thanks to the Government having reduced the country\u2019s national debt significantly, from over 30 percent of GDP at the commencement of its term in office to its current level of around 20 percent. Also, having conserved resources, the Government can now afford to offer tax reductions to recognise the contribution that hard-working New Zealanders have made to our economy and continue to do so.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000607\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EThe bill\u2019s tax reductions build on existing tax relief, which this Government has not received a lot of credit for, frankly, and which is worth billions of dollars. Mr Carter, over the way, sneers in the way that he does in that little \u201Cborn to rule\u201D way; that will be National\u2019s downfall. Let me remind the House that the tax cuts delivered already by this Government via a systematic programme since 2004 amount to many billions of dollars\u2014[Interruption] They stand at $4.6 billion, as Mr Mallard points out. They stand in stark contrast to the policies of the National Party which, as we have seen, are just to promise tax cuts at any cost, no matter what the consequences\u2014that is, a return to run-down public services, higher debt, and runaway inflation. Anyone who compares the two approaches will see which one is better for New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022 data-id=\u0022f5fa43774a7746d09c8428f85e12ee8d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000608\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022f5fa43774a7746d09c8428f85e12ee8d\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CARTER (National):\u003C/span\u003E National will vote enthusiastically for this legislation because National, like the rest of New Zealand, has waited 9 long years for the chance to vote for personal tax cuts. If we listen to the contributions from the Labour members, starting with Dr Cullen\u2019s, we realise Dr Cullen could hardly bring himself to support his own legislation. He spent 10 minutes in the House giving every reason possible why he should not be delivering tax cuts and acknowledged in his own contribution that we have moved into urgency tonight to pass the legislation before he wakes up tomorrow morning and changes his mind, as he did in 2005. He said himself he could not be trusted to deliver these tax cuts unless they were enshrined in legislation immediately after the Budget that was read earlier. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000609\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EThe Labour members fundamentally do not want to do this tonight; they do not believe in these tax cuts. They have spent 9 years being philosophically opposed to tax cuts, and they are bringing them in for only one reason: it is a cynical, arrogant attempt to buy the votes they will need at the next election in order to get back to the Treasury benches. Tim Barnett nods his head and agrees. It will not work, because $16 is not enough; $16 is not enough to address the suffering that most New Zealand households are under. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000610\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EThe pressure that households are under may not be recognised by the Labour members as they drive their BMWs around and as they hand over their credit cards, supplied by the taxpayer, to the fuel attendant when they fill up their cars\u2014they probably do not even realise that petrol has reached $2 a litre tonight. Coupled with that sort of pressure is the fact that every time any mum goes into the supermarket to fill up the shopping basket, the price of food goes up\u2014it goes up every week. In addition to that, interest rates have doubled because of the reckless inflationary spending we have had from the Labour Government. That is why people are under pressure, and that is why tonight on TV every commentary I have seen is saying that the tax cuts are too little, too late. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000611\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EThe Government has had 9 years to do something about the tax rates and, as Mr Mallard, the Associate Minister of Finance, knows, it is with the greatest amount of reluctance that it has brought in a tax package today that has delivered, on average, $16 a week\u2014the price of two blocks of cheese. But let us wait for it; people will get the tax cut 2 weeks before the election. And then Mr Cullen talks about a programme of tax cuts! When is the next one? There is nothing for another 18 months. That is not a credible tax reduction policy, and it will not wash with the electors as we move towards the election. Media commentary has summed the situation up tonight. Commentators have consistently said that Mr Cullen has now delivered his last Budget; it has been called his \u201Cvaledictory Budget\u201D on TV tonight, and that is a fact. He had every opportunity to address the tax package issue in this country, and he has not taken the opportunity to do that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000612\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EI want to conclude by saying I was pleased to see one very good thing in this Budget. It is the fact that superannuitants have been recognised as a group that is under extreme pressure; they will benefit from the tax cuts. But for Helen Clark to go on TV tonight and to say in the House today that the Government has increased superannuation in recognition of that pressure is a con. Superannuitants would do better simply because of tax cuts. If we had had a tax cut programme over the last 8 or 9 years, which the surpluses would have allowed, we would have been able to deliver substantial payments to superannuitants now. Superannuitants will not buy it, I say to Mr Mallard. They will not buy it that they have been generously given a break tonight, which they will receive 2 weeks before the election, because they know that that opportunity was denied to them for years. Mr Mallard, you had your chance to deliver tax cuts\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000613\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002296706641034d4c36a7d5a9adc56ade51\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000614\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022748bcd9d3b764b47af856afd8fe55cd8\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CARTER\u003C/span\u003E: You are philosophically opposed to them. You have had your chance.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000615\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022413c83a618584d69a68f4adf0b54a69f\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000616\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022203da88ac89641e98d427ca80d42c3b2\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CARTER\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Mallard and the Government are doing it tonight for one thing, and that is to try to get hold of the next election. It will not wash with New Zealanders; they are wide awake to what his Government is up to, I say to Mr Mallard. It will not wash and it will not help him in the polls.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000617\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EBill read a first time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000618\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022384151582a3d4f8da049391e867c321b\u0022\u003ESecond Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022 data-id=\u00224616f0b841314453b15f215ee9c58d92\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000619\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224616f0b841314453b15f215ee9c58d92\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD (Associate Minister of Finance)\u003C/span\u003E on behalf of the Minister of Finance: I move, That the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill be now read a second time. I would like to refer to some comments that were made in the House earlier today. I refer in particular to the comments made by the Rt Hon Winston Peters on what I counted to be, I think, 16 image consultants or related people who are working in the office of John Key. The Prime Minister has three media staff, whereas John Key, apparently, has 16 image consultants. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000620\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EI do not challenge the right of the National Party to put its money into trying to build up John Key\u2019s image\u2014it is a challenge. But I have never seen such a spectacular failure as I saw on Campbell Live tonight, when John Key was quite rightly described by the host as being \u201Cas slippery as a snake in wet grass\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000621\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f4da5811-fb5a-4721-b57a-518446bd7796\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002235c5afe312634ccea0bd141ce6f8c322\u0022\u003EDail Jones\u003C/span\u003E: What did he say?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000622\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e292023ffdec469d86eb7eb1154f00ad\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: \u201CAs slippery as a snake in wet grass\u201D was the description of John Key. I do not think John Campbell went far enough.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000623\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f4296de8d7c04769a9533b77b207399e\u0022\u003EHon Shane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: He was too kind.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000624\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002226c18e8a35ca4bd68a0300d4b0915e32\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: He was particularly kind. I would suggest that the consultants be fired. Clearly they have not been doing their job. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000625\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EI want an absolute assurance in the House tonight from John Key that taxpayers are not paying for that. I want an assurance that the 16 image consultants, who are being paid to build John Key up, are not being paid for by the taxpayers of New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b407c1d804ef4df788c25f800a98d8ee\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: When is the Speaker going to bring him back to the bill?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000627\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c515eaa9c08249819a04be21eade4dcd\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: Clearly, if we were not paying 36 people in John Key\u2019s office, we would be able to reduce taxes further than we are doing. If we were not doing that, then the tax cuts could be bigger than they are now. If the member is so slow that he does not understand the links between Government expenditure and taxation, then Mr what\u2019s-his-name, Mr \u201CAuchin-something\u201D, from the West Coast is even sillier than I thought. He is even sillier than I thought if he does not understand\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000628\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bfa5b74-8933-458a-99d4-bbd75d9898d0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220ce394000138471c8ff2de3531c2626a\u0022\u003EChris Auchinvole\u003C/span\u003E: I didn\u2019t say anything!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000629\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fe3c3fa7a00e40428ae711db22ad7a5e\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: What? Dr Lockwood Smith would not have said that. He would not have said my speech is unrelated to the bill; he is much brighter than the member who sits next to him. Is Mr Auchinvole blaming Dr Smith? I do not really mind which of them it was; one of them interjected in that way. The point I am making is that if those image consultants are being paid by the taxpayer, it is a scandal, and if they are being paid by the taxpayer and doing a really bad job, it is a waste of taxpayers\u2019 funds. The tax cuts could have been bigger than they are if John Key were not wasting money in that way. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EBut do members know what is worse than that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022641e7b8ec9e640a6a48ff943b8c48b96\u0022\u003EHon Parekura Horomia\u003C/span\u003E: What?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000632\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a1ddcab8a1974841bb747a20820207f5\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: When asked, John Key could not tell us what he would do. It is actually a matter of relatively simple arithmetic. John Key tells us that National has a plan. He has a tax cut plan. He has one; he told us that on TV tonight. All that had to be done was a bit of basic, simple subtraction\u2014or perhaps addition; it might be the other way round. The National Party plan minus the Labour tax cuts\u2014that is the difference, and that is what National is promising. Could John Key do that on television tonight? He could not. One would think that with 36 advisers on this sort of matter, one of them could have got out a calculator. In fact, they probably could have done it with their fingers and toes. They could have worked out what the difference is, and John Key could have said what it is. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000633\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EI think I know what John Key\u2019s problem is.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000634\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022472f7d7cd72845dd991e9590f2e35abd\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: Spin doctors.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000635\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225b911c92919b40cab66b46d4ee5c6b56\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: Well, no, not spin doctors. I think he has a factual problem. I think National has a problem with its plan. The problem with its plan is that low-income people and people with families would get less from National\u2019s plan than they are to receive under Labour. John Key does not have the backbone to come into the House or to go on television, and to tell the public\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000636\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e73542b1e4c64adf888862430ec45d0f\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Members cannot refer to someone\u2019s lack of courage or use the words that the member did. The member will desist from doing that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000637\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002293140330ce104b8b8aa395f11ab52ea0\u0022\u003ENathan Guy\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I ask you, please, to rule that the member should be asked to withdraw and apologise for those remarks.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000638\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224c218096a3cc4e55a9159d1a4d34d8d7\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: Speaking to the point of order, Mr Assistant Speaker, I point out that you have ruled and, as you are aware, that is the end of the matter.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000639\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002273348ef26dc4475ba483c58da328d467\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you. I have ruled. I have asked the member to desist, and I will be listening to him with a great deal of attention.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000640\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f9f75b18c79149f7a7c9f97ea253972d\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: Any other former leader of the National Party would have been able to come to this House and tell us what his or her policy was. My memory does not go as far back as the 1950s on these matters, but I can remember Keith Holyoake. I can remember talking to Keith, and I can remember him living in Pipitea Street, and seeing him wander back and forth. Keith Holyoake would have been able to come into this House, whether he was in Government or in Opposition, and say what his policy was. Robert Muldoon would have been able to come into this House and tell us what National\u2019s policy was. Jim Bolger would have stridden in and ruled the place. If he were here now, he would be saying what the policy was. I think even Jenny Shipley would have been able to do that. Don Brash certainly would have been able to. The current deputy leader, who was at one stage the leader of the National Party, would be able to tell the House what the policy is. Why cannot John Key? Why cannot the National Party have a leader in the tradition of National Party leaders\u2014a leader who can tell the people what he is thinking, rather than what the 36 spin doctors tell him to say. That is a problem when one is a leader. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000641\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EWhat did John Key say when he was asked where the money would come from? He said it would come from attrition in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000642\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f4da5811-fb5a-4721-b57a-518446bd7796\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022518d8002798a4b3c9b078ca4313ac8db\u0022\u003EDail Jones\u003C/span\u003E: What?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000643\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f2a7bfdeb356498398b7728112800ce6\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, that is where the money would come from\u2014from attrition in the staffing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Do members know that the current spending is $307 million? Let us suppose that attrition in the ministry, which I think is a relatively stable ministry, is at 10 percent a year, and that it happens evenly across the year. That amounts to $15 million. Well, I tell John Key that he needs $2.5 billion or $3 billion to do what he told us earlier in the week he would do. So far he has shown us where he would get $15 million. One could probably fire his 36 spin doctors, or rather the 16 who are the image consultants, and get another million or two of taxpayers\u2019 dollars. But that is a long way short of what would be needed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000644\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EThis is a good Budget; these are fair tax cuts. I like to see the National Party squirming, and I agree with John Campbell that John Key is \u201Cas slippery as a snake in wet grass\u201D. I am sure Geoff Braybrooke would have had even more appropriate words to say, but with the prissy standards here these days, we are probably not allowed to use them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022 data-id=\u002265f324d2221246a283e12736891eddab\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000645\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002265f324d2221246a283e12736891eddab\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National\u2014Rodney):\u003C/span\u003E Any New Zealanders listening to this debate tonight would be disgusted at what they have just heard. When a New Zealand family has to spend more than 100 bucks to fill up the family car, when the cost goes up every time they get groceries to feed the children, and when they hear a senior Cabinet Minister make a speech like that, it is little wonder that New Zealanders are disgusted with this Labour Government. All they need to remember is that that member, Trevor Mallard, is the Labour Minister who thinks the way to solve problems is to punch someone. New Zealanders remember seeing him standing in the dock in disgrace. That is the standard of Labour Ministers today. They think the way to solve differences is to punch people.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000646\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002234c660278f924d75ab22a5700d97dc42\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The member to whom that member refers is not currently able to defend himself, but I take exception to the personal nature of those attacks by that member. He should know better.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000647\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225dbfd2868c794a57a78aecb0a2c60391\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Members must be here and do that themselves.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000648\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220a3d00caa63f4fc7bff5200a759bb9b6\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. I am only reciting the facts. Let me say to the member who has just intervened, David Cunliffe, that it is time he told this Parliament what Graham Fortune told him about the immigration scandals. We know what Graham Fortune told him, and we know he is not being forthcoming about the briefings he received, and it is time that New Zealanders know he is not being upfront about them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000649\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220a77a780d8c64704b846028c4b152b8a\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: Absolutely upfront.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000650\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022122a29b1bc5546bca73a2e8aed12aa39\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: We will get it out.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000651\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002222b6a5c422374a48b83a80e8076613a9\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. That member is clearly a slow learner, if his response to a comment about his not being allowed to pass personal reflections on one member is then to pass personal reflections on the integrity of another. In this case, I take offence. I value my integrity, and I tell nothing but the truth.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000652\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bd531223a17c4ceebddd781221d703e7\u0022\u003ERodney Hide\u003C/span\u003E: With due respect to the Minister, I say that he cannot possibly take exception to that. Well, he can, but it is certainly not something for the Speaker to rule on. To suggest that a Minister\u2019s integrity is not all that it should be, or that he may not have been entirely upfront with the House, is entirely within the Standing Orders and is a debatable point. If the Minister wants to debate it, that is fine, but I do not know what we would end up debating if it were ruled out of order.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000653\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223df541c617ea4a009705e7e1202d287d\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Can I just refer members to Standing Order 116, which is about personal reflections. It refers to \u201Can imputation of improper motives\u201D or \u201Can offensive reference to a member\u2019s private affairs\u201D. The member is getting fairly close to that, so I would just ask the member to be careful in the way in which he addresses the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000654\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e785b897925648f0ab25cf1f3e11bf7a\u0022\u003ERodney Hide\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000655\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cfbb833cebad45a08b6eff837126f9e2\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I have made a ruling, Mr Hide.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000656\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022da53b2d4065f4d60a1785c870f4f8ffb\u0022\u003ERodney Hide\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, I know. I just want to ask for your clarification. It is a mystery to me\u2014and I know that you know the Standing Orders very well\u2014as to how what Dr Lockwood Smith was saying in any way got close to offending against Standing Order 116.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000657\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223f07a25de7004105ba82c8b9643a4461\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I can only repeat my comment about the imputation of an improper motive, under Standing Order 116. I have asked Dr Smith to be careful; I have not ruled it out.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000658\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002269a721b8b3fa44758462a2048489d67c\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. Let me come back to this tax bill. Just a few years ago we had the \u201Cchewing gum\u201D tax cuts, which were such an insult to New Zealanders, but, worst of all, Labour then reneged on them. It broke its promise. Now, today, we have the \u201Cblock of cheese\u201D tax cuts. For the bill we are debating tonight, the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill, to deliver to New Zealanders 2 weeks before the election $16 a week, after 9 years of this Labour Government, is, frankly, an insult to New Zealanders. It is too little, too late, and it will not save this Labour Government. New Zealanders are sick of the kind of behaviour we have seen in this House tonight by the \u201CHonourable\u201D Trevor Mallard. They are also sick of the kinds of cover-ups we have had to witness recently by the \u201CHonourable\u201D David Cunliffe.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000659\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI ask this Government why it is necessary to pass this legislation under urgency. Nothing in this bill has to be passed under urgency. National is voting for this bill, so it is not that we are troubled by it because we disagree with it. That is not the problem. But I invite the \u201CHonourable\u201D Minister David Cunliffe to have a look at, for example, clause 33. Clause 33 deals with the family tax credit legislation. I would suggest to that member that the family tax credit legislation is some of the more complex legislation in our Income Tax Act. It is hugely complex legislation. The risk of clause 33 being not quite right is huge. Already in this bill we are amending matters that were passed through this House only a few weeks ago, and the bits of previous tax legislation that we are amending tonight actually went through the select committee process yet we still got them wrong. Tonight we are passing this bill without it having been referred to a select committee. We do not get the chance to question officials about the accuracy of all the measures in this bill, and we run the risk of this legislation having to come back again to be fixed up. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000660\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EThe only reason we can conclude for Labour to push this bill through the House under urgency is that Dr Cullen\u2019s own colleagues do not trust him. His colleagues are frightened that if these measures are not pushed through when the Budget is being debated, he will renege on his promise straight after the election\u2014if Labour gets the chance to run Treasury again. He reneged last time, and his colleagues are frightened he would renege again.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000661\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EWhat troubles me the most about this tax bill as I look at it is that nothing in it actually improves the dynamics of the New Zealand economy. Nothing in it improves our tax system. I think Rodney Hide mentioned in his Budget debate contribution that nothing in this bill improves the incentives for New Zealanders to be more productive, and I want to mention that before I finish tonight. Under this Labour Government of the last 9 years, New Zealand\u2019s productivity has collapsed. That is a serious issue. Productivity is one of the central issues to New Zealanders being able to achieve higher standards of living without inflation. I have searched this Budget document for anything that indicates that the Government has thought about how its measures might improve productivity. I would appreciate it if officials could tell me where this Budget 2008 document, which contains the Budget Speech, the Fiscal Strategy Report, and the Economic and Fiscal Update, shows how this Government\u2019s Budget measures will improve productivity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000662\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EEven if we put aside the issue of labour productivity\u2014because the Government has said that labour productivity has declined because employment has grown and there are fewer unemployed people; it says that that is why labour productivity has collapsed\u2014and look at multi-factor productivity, we see that during the 1990s it averaged 2 percent growth a year, and under Labour it is down to less than a third of that. It is down to a fifth of that, for the 9 years that Labour has been in Government. And we wonder why the economy is screwed! It cannot grow without inflation. It cannot grow without inflation, because Labour\u2019s policies have destroyed the productivity growth of our economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000663\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003ETaxation measures to improve productivity would have been hugely valuable, but the taxation measures in this bill do not do that. They do not deal with the high marginal tax rates that people face. After all the changes to the Working for Families package, and the change to the tax threshold from $42,500 to $100,000 of earned income, the lowest marginal tax rate that people with dependent children face is 50 percent. This bill does not change that. Sure, for people trying to work their way off a benefit, the reduction down to a 12.5 percent rate for the first $20,000 of income will eventually bring the effective marginal tax rate that some families face down from 91 percent to 82 percent or thereabouts. This bill has not solved the problem.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000664\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003ESo I put to the Labour members in the House tonight that this tax bill fails totally to improve the incentives, the dynamic impacts, of our tax system. It does nothing. Sadly, it could have done something to improve the productivity of our economy, but it does not. I simply say again to the Labour members: let whoever takes the next call for Labour explain seriously how concerned those members are about ordinary men and women, families and their children, in this country today who are struggling to make ends meet, instead of giving another of the pathetic political speeches we have heard in this House this evening. They should be ashamed of themselves.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022 data-id=\u002210b255929e17483a868951192ddc8109\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000665\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002210b255929e17483a868951192ddc8109\u0022\u003EHon SHANE JONES (Minister for Building and Construction):\u003C/span\u003E Kia ora an\u014D t\u0101tou, Mr Assistant Speaker. In contrast to what we have just heard, let me issue a mihi of best birthday health to you, as you sit in the adversity of silliness, rudeness, boredom, and frustration coming from the other side of the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000666\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EThere is constant carping from my whanaunga Tau Henare, who is a variant of the prodigal son. He is too ashamed to go back to his real home in New Zealand First, and he is too ashamed to go back to \u201CMatua Winston\u201D. I am actually glad that the M\u0101ori wardens are getting a new grant, because if there is anyone in this House in need of the protection of the M\u0101ori wardens, it is that whanaunga of ours, Tau Henare. Every time he opens his mouth he demonstrates that his rhetoric is inversely related to his intellect. Engari, kei te pai, Tau, t\u0113n\u0101 koe.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000667\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003ENow with $10.6 billion, and despite the best efforts from members on the Opposition side of the House, the grand old man of Parliament, the greatest Minister of Finance we have had for many a year, has delivered the goods. Today he stripped John Key of anything worthwhile to say. In fact, a number of people who sat in the gallery today commented on what a contrast John Key represented compared with Dr Cullen. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000668\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bfa5b74-8933-458a-99d4-bbd75d9898d0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223bbfdc1199134ea2b0ebfa6f22c188c2\u0022\u003EChris Auchinvole\u003C/span\u003E: Too right, he did! It was an excellent contrast.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000669\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229bbaa8baae2647cfbbd2cf5fb55b67a9\u0022\u003EHon SHANE JONES\u003C/span\u003E: OK, we hear from the man dreamt up by Kenneth Grahame in The Wind in the Willows\u2014Chris Auchinvole. If he is not reflecting the mannerisms of the toad, he reminds us of the relevance of the mole in The Wind in the Willows, so we will put him back to sleep. We heard a brilliant contribution from Dr Cullen today.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000670\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EWhat was it that John Key did not like? He disliked the fact that he has had both his ideas and his own ballast stripped from him. He was reduced to talking about electoral finance and treating the debate as if it were just another ordinary general debate. His speech lacked content and contained no vision, no ideas, and no grand narrative as to where he, as potentially the next Prime Minister, would take the country. He showed that he has no intellectual home. In fact, he is of no fixed abode intellectually. He will catch any tide and paddle his waka in any direction where he thinks he can capture lazy votes. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000671\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EBut voters will not be fooled. New Zealanders heard today that, firstly, there will be tax cuts. They will be beyond the $1.5 billion of tax cuts that we have delivered through business. They will be in excess of the $1 billion in terms of the Inland Revenue Department tax subsidy for savers. They will be beyond the $1.67 billion, in rough terms, in respect of our family tax and child tax policy. Cuts will be $10.6 billion, with the lowest personal tax rate down to 12.5 percent. The only way that John Key can match that, Tau, is by doing one of three things. He can sell assets\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000672\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022aa8b7f2c433b487faa25d2870195645b\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000673\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022928b9fc49065482b9524d035a01b009a\u0022\u003EHon SHANE JONES\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014Mr Henare; I apologise, Mr Assistant Speaker. But I must say to you, Mr Assistant Speaker, that the word \u201CTau\u201D is spelt t, a, u, and I ask you to please consult a M\u0101ori dictionary as to what it means when it is delivered in that fashion. It refers to a part of the anatomy that it would be too impolite for me to\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000674\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ec0b860c28044b01956b7bb1f172cc2b\u0022\u003EHon Tau Henare\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have a reasonably thick hide and I can usually\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000675\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002277f4964c2cba4ccb818906dfc9dd8ac9\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c5a24fbc67b144d8b4a8092ae50dd5e4\u0022\u003EHon Tau Henare\u003C/span\u003E: Hang on, it is a point of order. Goodness, gracious me!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000677\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cb1cefeae1054a3d975d93a0afed595a\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: The Minister will please be seated.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000678\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220e7c9e6cf3314430beb9b3489cbbad4f\u0022\u003EHon Tau Henare\u003C/span\u003E: I can usually take the barbs, but I take great offence at anybody pouring scorn on my great-grandfather\u2019s name and using that name in the way in which my whanaunga from the north, Shane Jones, has. I ask for him to withdraw and apologise, not to me, but to my great-grandfather.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000679\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223169dec116dc43feac5309b15c4b568c\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I refer the Minister to Standing Order 116, \u201CPersonal reflections\u201D. He will withdraw and apologise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000680\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e22e8998560c415fa47c270fae5730e4\u0022\u003EHon SHANE JONES\u003C/span\u003E: I apologise for and withdraw any offence caused. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000681\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EWe have heard from Nathan Guy, who showed what happens to the farming community when there is a shortage of veterinarians. Farmers get too close to the rear end of a cow and they end up resembling the habits of the senior National whip.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000682\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EHowever, I come back to the economic transformation brought about by nigh on $1 billion. It is regrettable that I should remind Dr Lockwood Smith that occasionally when I encounter many of our people in Northland, they are wont to refer to him as the Vince Martin of the National Party. He has that reputation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000683\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228e09813b81db4a77aecb005163716820\u0022\u003EHon Parekura Horomia\u003C/span\u003E: He\u2019s a bull breeder.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000684\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022861233515c644707868c826cee6d6b88\u0022\u003EHon SHANE JONES\u003C/span\u003E: I know that he is a bull breeder, and that the word \u201Cbull\u201D can be construed in a multiple number of ways, but on occasions he is said to give added meaning to the term \u201Cretread\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000685\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EHowever, let me come back to my contribution\u2014an economic transformation and $700 million: I tell Dr Smith that that is where we will get our productivity. That is what comes through clever financial stewardship, whereby we are able to offer relief to taxpayers and put investments deep in the well and reservoir of human capital through the entire scientific and technological infrastructure area.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000686\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003ELet us not forget about community organisations. Of course, Mr Clarkson\u2019s conception of the facts about community organisations makes them an enemy of the truth, so the less we hear from him, the better. There is $400 million - odd to enhance the ability of community organisations to deal firstly with families, and secondly with youth, sport, and culture, which is something that was completely stripped under the ideas of our friends in the Opposition.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000687\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003ELet us refer to the purchase of railways. Despite the idle gossip from Mr Key, the purchase of the railways has been widely accepted by people, and there will be another smile. It will not be the cheesy grin that we see from Mr Key when he talks about railway costings. Railways is a winner; people do not want to see our roads constantly clogged up. People are happy that the railways will be run professionally and will serve a public good. People are also happy that coastal freighters will be bobbing around the coastline, moving very efficiently and enhancing productivity in the goods and services of the country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000688\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EIn addition to that, of course, we are throwing in a fishing line. I must not miss this opportunity to mihi to Mr Anderton for turning down the application for a marine reserve at Great Barrier Island. The man has started to redeem himself in the eyes of Ng\u0101ti Wai. Of course, that may relate to the fact that Ng\u0101ti Wai is in charge of the party that Tau Henare refuses to go back to\u2014kei te pai, he take an\u014D t\u0113ra. Once again, it is a further variation on the very sad story of the prodigal son. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000689\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EProductivity has been raised by $700 million, and the only way in which the tax cuts can be bettered is through profligacy, the sale of assets, or the stripping of public services, so I say \u201CBring on the campaign.\u201D What exactly is John Key proposing to do? Does he propose to strip money from the social welfare budget or the health budget, or to privatise schools through some sort of voucher system? No, all we can see and hear are insults in the face of a great Budget. Kia ora t\u0101tou katoa. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022 data-id=\u00228197a3763354408ea5c968d73625a042\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000690\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228197a3763354408ea5c968d73625a042\u0022\u003ETIM GROSER (National):\u003C/span\u003E If there are New Zealanders who are actually listening to the so-called contributions of the last two Government speakers, both of whom are Ministers of the Crown, they must be wondering what is going on. They must be wondering why it is that in debating what is intended to be a central political event in the political calendar of this country, at a time when New Zealanders are, in a very real sense, under real pressure from real problems facing them and their families, two Ministers of the Crown can get up and make a series of jocular, irrelevant points as if this is some high school debating society that they represent. I think New Zealanders would say that if this Budget and the tax bill we are actually meant to be debating, which is the central part of the Budget strategy, were intended to be a circuit-breaker for this Government, then right around the country the political lights have just gone out for Labour. That is what I think they will conclude if they have had the misfortunate of listening to the last two Government Ministers speaking on this very important political day on this very important political matter that faces New Zealand families. And when reflecting on the fact that this is the ninth Budget, they will see that this is not like reading the final chapter in a book. They will see that this has to be looked at in relationship to the whole story of this Labour three-term Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000691\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EI just want to take members back to a central point. I have always held the belief\u2014I think many New Zealanders hold the belief\u2014that it is a privilege to be the Government, that it is a privilege to be voted in democratically by one\u2019s fellow countrymen and countrywomen, and that that implies a great duty of care. It implies, overriding all of this, a responsibility to take New Zealand forward. I think the test\u2014a fair test but a brutal test\u2014is to ask that if we look at this Budget in relationship to the last 9 years, has this Government taken this country forward on its watch? Has this Government addressed fundamental problems facing New Zealand? Has this Government actually addressed the real-world concerns? Or are Government members opposite completely lost, as were the last two Ministers of the Crown in making clever, irrelevant, and essentially high school debating speeches? Is that what their view of their responsibilities really is? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000692\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003ELet us just look at the tax bill and what it is intended to do in terms of the opportunity at the start of this saga. We had a Government coming in after 8 years of economic growth at an average rate of about 3.5 percent. The rate in the last year of that period, 1999, was over 4 percent in real terms. We had had stellar productivity growth in the previous 3 years. We had falling inflation and falling unemployment all set to continue during the new Government\u2019s first 4 or 5 years. The phrase \u201Cthe end of the golden weather\u201D is the phrase that keeps on coming back to mind, and I am sure it is coming back to the minds of many New Zealanders as they stare at this \u201Cbig cheese Budget\u201D\u2014the $16 a week tax cut! The Government has had the most favourable terms of trade for a generation or more. All of this was fuelling the largest Budget surpluses that any Government has had the unique fortune to inherit\u2014all of it allowing Government members the opportunity to build on wealth creation to make New Zealand a place where people could base their future on, to build on the productivity growth of the past, and to take this country forward, which is their ultimate responsibility. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000693\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EThis is not just about dollars in the pocket, as John Key has pointed out. For the most part we live in a market economy, and that means that incentives actually matter. It is not just a matter of dollars in one\u2019s pocket\u2014whether one can go out and pay the bills, or whether one can go out and fill the car up, important though those are to anyone\u2019s normal daily life\u2014it is also a matter of constructing an economy that can incentivise middle New Zealand to take this country forward. Members opposite have had 9 years to come to terms with this, and, just as in the case of the emissions trading scheme where they have rushed through an ill-considered response\u2014after doing absolutely nothing in their last 9 years other than spouting rhetoric\u2014so it is exactly the same when it comes to Budget strategy and tax strategy. They have had 9 years of doing nothing on income tax. Oh, I am sorry, I have forgotten one very important exception to that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000694\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bfa5b74-8933-458a-99d4-bbd75d9898d0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f16da106ad66447a97fbc981ad849f2c\u0022\u003EChris Auchinvole\u003C/span\u003E: What was that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000695\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b8897040cb4e4c68877752fde6d183db\u0022\u003ETIM GROSER\u003C/span\u003E: Well, the first action Dr Cullen took was to raise the marginal tax rate to 39c\u2014a completely futile and meaningless gesture, later revealed by his extremely impolite and inappropriate comment to John Key, which indicated his contempt for anyone with wealth; but we will not go there. So after all that, we get this $16 a week. If we divide that by 9 years we get $1.75 a year for all that Government\u2019s time with the stewardship of this country. New Zealanders, I think, have a right to expect a little more, and they will get more from a National Government. First of all, they can be guaranteed under a National Government to actually see the second tranche of these tax cuts. We know what the history of this is. We know what the phrase the \u201Cchewing gum Budget\u201D was all about. There is an old cynical phrase: \u201CYou mislead me once, shame on you\u201D\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000696\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fd635d0049664f37a0da20c44d95727d\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000697\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ebd669c22ac144acbb839c9a6e422293\u0022\u003ETIM GROSER\u003C/span\u003E: No, no, I am referring, Mr Assistant Speaker, to \u201Cyou\u201D in the general sense, not to you as Speaker here or any member here. It is a quote. \u201CIf you mislead me once, shame on you, but if you mislead me twice, shame on me.\u201D\u2014shame on me for being so gullible. That is what that old cynical phrase means, and I do not think New Zealanders are going to fall for it. I think New Zealanders know what the story is, and I think New Zealanders know that actually the only way they can be guaranteed these tax cuts, as a minimum, is by the election of a National Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000698\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EBut they will not just get a National Government that will validate this minimal movement forward; they will get a Government that understands what the real problem facing New Zealand is, which is that we are not on a sustainable trajectory. We suffer from a growth deficit. We need to invest in our future. We need a concerted programme of building up the country\u2019s infrastructure. We need a concerted programme that puts standards back at the back-end of our education system, at the primary and intermediate level\u2014standards for numeracy and for literacy. We need a Government that is not committed to a \u201Conce every 9 years\u201D process of re-incentivising middle New Zealanders, but one that will look for opportunities wherever they arise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022 data-id=\u0022bcd75183e4ec4272be85e895c74d671f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000699\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022bcd75183e4ec4272be85e895c74d671f\u0022\u003ER DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E In my Budget debate speech I mentioned that New Zealand First supports this Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill. I also mentioned that we would like to see some incentives in it for exporting, so I will not go over that matter again. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000700\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EIt is pretty rich for the previous speaker on his feet, Tim Groser, to be talking about cynicism, because I have to say that I have never heard a more cynical speech than the one he gave. The man who was speaking voted against Working for Families and against any other attempts at tax cuts brought in by this Government in the last 9 years. Now he talks about incentivising the system. He knows that National has no intentions to incentivise the system in the way he describes it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000701\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EWhat National would have done in this Budget\u2014so its members tell us\u2014is to give a percentage decrease in tax right across the board. It would not have attempted to attend to people who are worse off, to people who are suffering pain due to the economy right now; it would have given a 1 percentage tax cut right across the board. That is what National members opposite said, and that is what they would have done. We have no reason to disbelieve them. That is not incentivising the tax scheme; that is giving a tax cut to the wealthiest in society disproportionate to what others in society would get. It sounds simple, but that is the net effect of a scheme such as they are proposing. And I am sure middle-income New Zealanders understand that. I am sure they understand it absolutely. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EWe in New Zealand First were pleased to see in this Budget\u2014in fact, the Prime Minister made an issue of it\u2014that the Labour Government has come to the view that State assets should not be sold. We welcome that and applaud Labour for it, because we have been on about that issue for many, many years. We believe that operations essential to the infrastructure of this country should stay in the hands of the taxpayers and be administered as the Government sees fit. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000703\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EMuch criticism has come from the Opposition about the buy back of the railways business. We believe that if rail is run as Air New Zealand is run, then it will be a huge advantage to this country. We believe quite simply that it is wrong to give money to foreign owners so that they can carry on business in this country. We do not believe that we should be giving subsidies to people who own our infrastructure. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000704\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003ELikewise, we do not believe that $1.5 billion should be given to Telecom to upgrade broadband, as proposed by the National Party. If Telecom was doing the business as it promised this country it would, then it would have invested in broadband in this country because it is its responsibility to do so. But, no, it has chosen to pay its shareholders, who are mostly overseas, huge dividends running into many, many millions of dollars\u2014hundreds of millions\u2014over reinvesting. I do not think it is in anybody\u2019s interests for National to say it would give Telecom $1.5 billion to upgrade the broadband service. At least under Labour\u2019s proposal, which we heard today in the Budget statement, we are seeing a similar amount of money, but it is contestable. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000705\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EI would have thought that that proposal would come from the National members, quite frankly. They are the ones who go on about private enterprise. That money is contestable so we can have other people bidding for it. I applaud the Minister, who is in the House now, on that move, because I think it is the right one. I could not believe my ears when I heard that the National Party stated publicly\u2014[Interruption]; it is not in the past\u2014that it would just give $1.5 billion to Telecom to upgrade the broadband system. That is outrageous and it should not happen. That is not the free market at work, at all. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000706\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EWe are also happy to see in this Budget the tax credits for Working for Families coming forward into this year instead of waiting until April of next year, because we believe that they are needed now by people who are under pressure for a number of reasons. In many cases it is because of a slight downturn in the economy, which we are seeing as a flow-on effect from the United States economy. I say that anybody who would oppose such a move has simply not been out and about in the community and does not understand what is happening out there right now. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000707\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EAs I said, New Zealand First would have liked to see some tax incentives to correct what I believe are inequities in the market when it comes to our export sector. Exporters are suffering right now with the high dollar. They are suffering with internal costs that are not of their making, and I believe that it behoves the Government of the day, whichever Government it may be\u2014and right now it is a Labour-led Government\u2014to make those things right for exporters. We cannot lose these people. We cannot lose the manufacturing capacity, and we cannot lose the capacity of our pastoral and agricultural industries, be they forestry, fisheries, or whatever. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000708\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003ESo, with those qualifications, we support this tax bill. We support the reductions in taxation, not only because they are good for individuals but also because they are good for the economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022 data-id=\u002208607184a20d410e9a77f3ae7183d89e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000709\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002208607184a20d410e9a77f3ae7183d89e\u0022\u003ECRAIG FOSS (National\u2014Tukituki):\u003C/span\u003E It is an absolute pleasure to be speaking on and voting for the Taxation (Personal Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill\u2014an absolute pleasure. It feels good. I thought we would have to wait another 6 months or so to be voting for one of these bills, or to have a bill that cuts personal taxes before the House. Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, for the opportunity to vote on this particular bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000710\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EAs many speeches before mine have crossed into the Budget itself and this bill, I will follow suit. We are in urgency tonight. Maybe it is because Dr Cullen could not trust himself, but more likely it is because Mr Goff did not trust Dr Cullen. We are in urgency because it is urgent that there are personal tax cuts in New Zealand. It is as simple as that. It is desperate that there are personal tax cuts in New Zealand. It is overdue that there are personal tax cuts in New Zealand\u20149 years overdue, or, to be precise and quote John Key from his earlier speech, 3,000-odd days overdue. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000711\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EIn the second reading of this particular bill, and in the Budget, there is no apology whatsoever from the Government for doing nothing about personal tax rates and thresholds for 9 years of the best economic conditions that New Zealand has ever faced. There is no apology whatsoever in the Budget for the doubling of interest rates under the current regime. There is a commentary within the Budget itself where there are some very interesting graphs of the behaviour of Dr Cullen\u2019s spend-up over the last 9 years, and they basically go straight up as interest rates have increased under his watch. There is no apology in this Budget or this bill for inflation being north of 3 percent and eating away at our wealth. Members on the other side of the Chamber go on and on and talk about public assets, etc., but inflation eats away at our wealth and our future. There is no apology in this Budget or in this bill for the lack of productivity growth in New Zealand\u2014the only way out of the current bind that we are in. There is absolutely no apology to family, friends, and wh\u0101nau who have all given up and moved to Australia for brighter futures and better income streams. There is absolutely no apology whatsoever. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000712\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EEarlier speakers have spoken about borrowing. Mr Chauvel over there was saying there was no borrowing for tax cuts. Well, in this bill it is quantified at about $10 billion over 4 years. I refer members to page 104 of the Budget, which states there is net bond issuance over the next 4 years of $6.4 billion; $6.4 billion will be borrowed to help fund this Budget, and it is signed off by the Minister of Finance, who has raved on ad nauseam over the last 9 years about not borrowing for tax cuts. He does not explain how he will fund his tax cuts, other than with bonds, as it says here. He has been denying that for many years. Not only that but in the same Budget there is a $12.8 billion cash deficit forecast for 4 years down the track. How does one fund a cash deficit? The Minister says right here that this will be met by an increase in borrowing\u2014oh, please excuse me, I meant by domestic bond issuance. Bonds are borrowing. To fund $10 billion worth of tax cuts there is $6.4 billion of bond issuance. Hello! To quote a certain Minister of Finance, from what I think was his last Budget: \u201CWhat is the connection?\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000713\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EThe news is not good. New Zealanders\u2014and we saw it on TV tonight\u2014are suffering double interest rates, suffering mortgage rates, and suffering fixed-rate rollovers to double figures for their 2 and 3-year mortgages. Right here, on page 70 of the same Budget, the news is not good. In the Budget fiscal update the prediction is that the 90-day bill average rate for this coming year is 8.8 percent. That is predicted to plummet to 8.6 percent next year. So I ask Government members to show where the relief is in that. In his speech the Minister kept talking about relief from interest rates. Well, I have some ideas for the Minister of Finance about how we can start to attack those interest rates, and it is not just subprime. Subprime is a credit issue; it is all about where New Zealand\u2019s credit margin starts, and the next Government will be doing an awful lot to bring the base Government curve right down. The news is not good in this particular Budget. We have unemployment forecast to blow out to 4.5 percent at the same time that the Minister of Finance is borrowing. The current account is blowing out to 7.2 percent to 7.3 percent. It is not good news. There is one piece of good news: this particular bill. It is a pleasure to vote for a personal tax cut bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000714\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI will make another couple of quick points about things that are in the bill. I recall us being in urgency about KiwiSaver, the fair dividend rate, and the specified superannuation contribution withholding tax changes, etc. Right here in this bill\u2014once again, sadly, I need to say it\u2014there are further changes and amendments to the KiwiSaver legislation, to fix up some of the calculations that were not put into it correctly in the first instance when the bill was rushed through. Had a bit more time been spent on that bill it would not even have had to be here under urgency. There is also another fix up in here about the change to registered charities, which we will speak to during Committee stage, but again that was part of a bill rushed through. The process of this Parliament is about consideration\u2014let the people submit to a select committee\u2014and these mistakes will not have to reappear. The only difference this time is there is no Supplementary Order Paper. Normally there is a Supplementary Order Paper the Government races in under urgency to fix these things up. I will end my speech right there, but just again it is a pleasure to finally be voting for a personal tax cut bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022 data-id=\u0022dce5f9a753644433851eb30e48d0e7e5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000715\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022dce5f9a753644433851eb30e48d0e7e5\u0022\u003EHon PETER DUNNE (Minister of Revenue):\u003C/span\u003E Can I say to the member who has just resumed his seat that the changes on charities were hardly rushed. They began with a working party that was convened as long ago as 1988. That party then reported to the Government early in the new decade. The legislation setting up the Charities Commission was passed shortly thereafter, after full select committee consideration. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000716\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThe problem that has emerged has been with the process taken to register the charities and a subsequent determination along the way that there was a potential gap in the law in so far as tertiary institutions were concerned that could have rendered them liable for taxation in a way that no one right back to the 1860s or 1870s had ever intended. So I debunk the member\u2019s argument that these things were rushed through. These are consequences of changes, and perhaps one could argue that in the implementation of those changes not all was done that should have been done. But it was not the fault of the original legislation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000717\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI was not going to take a call in this debate, but I have been listening to it with some interest, because an ironic sense of d\u00E9j\u00E0 vu is emerging through all of the speeches we have heard this evening. Essentially, what we are hearing is a two-way argument about who is better at tax cuts than the other. The reality is that neither of the major parties has a particularly proud record in this area. I have been in this House long enough to see three rounds of personal tax cuts\u2014that is, in more than 2 decades, and that is the core of the problem\u2014the changes around the introduction of the goods and services tax in 1986, the changes that the National-United Government made in 1996, and now these changes. The ironic thing about them is that the 1996 changes were made in two stages and today\u2019s bill is a three-stage bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000718\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EIn 1997 the Government of the day, to fund some of the commitments it made to New Zealand First, repealed stage two of the tax bill it passed in 1996. Here we are today passing a bill that implements a three-phase tax cut. One side guarantees the sanctity of those cuts and the other is raising doubts. The irony is that that is the reverse position that both took in the 1996-97 debate, which, I guess, goes to prove that no matter what happens the one certainty in life is that the tax debate is an on-going one. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000719\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI think that there is a much more fundamental issue. Every decade we run up to the top of the cliff and have a huge cathartic experience about whether the country can afford personal tax cuts. The argument is always that the cost far outweighs the level of deliverable public expectation. The problem is not so much the size and timing of cuts themselves but the rarity with which they occur. If, in fact, we had a programme that saw more modest cuts being made on a more regular basis, a lot of the pent-up pressure that we are now seeking to deal with, and that we sought to deal with on the occasions of the 1996 and the 1986 cuts, could have been avoided. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000720\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThe lesson surely has to be, once this programme is put in place, that, firstly, we should let it remain and, secondly, that it should not be 10 years hence that a further programme of tax reductions is considered, because at that point all we will be doing is repeating the folly of the last 2-plus decades. That is what causes the debate, the dilemma, the argument, and the sense that no matter what amount is delivered, it will never be enough. It is simply because the expectation gap goes far beyond what is able to be delivered. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000721\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003ESo rather than throw these brickbats back and forward about who did what to whom and when, we ought to be focusing on how can we move to a programme that sees tax cuts as a normal part of economic management and not as something on which one builds oneself up to a peak and delivers once every now and then. That will never prove to be sustainable. That will never prove to be a position where we can say \u201Ca reasonable measure of public expectation has been met.\u201D We need to change our thinking. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000722\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EWe need to redesign our tax system in such a way that it does lend itself to smaller, more regular adjustments that are more affordable and that do enable Governments, of whatever complexion, to plan with some certainty and some integrity about the way they approach these issues in the future. Until we do that, the debate we are having this evening will continue at periodic intervals. The role players will simply reverse their roles depending on their political circumstances. We will not be that much better off. We may feel short-term enthusiasm, but nothing much will change. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000723\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003ESo I think that this Budget, this bill, does provide us with an opportunity to lock down a process of ongoing change, and that is important. The worst thing we can do now is introduce more uncertainty into a system that already has more than its fair measure. So I support this bill. I support its passage, and I support, too, the 1 October implementation date. New Zealanders should not have to wait for tax relief that is experienced once in a decade; probably two or three times in their working lives. We need to do much better than that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022 data-id=\u002296883aefa6dc42f3a17be9592e3d0824\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000724\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002296883aefa6dc42f3a17be9592e3d0824\u0022\u003EHon PAUL SWAIN (Labour\u2014Rimutaka):\u003C/span\u003E There are a number of key debates in a parliamentary life, and there are probably three major ones. The first one is the Speech from the Throne, which is the one at the start of every parliamentary term that sees the Government outlining its programme for the next 3 years. Another important speech is the Prime Minister\u2019s statement, which is given at the start of every year of a new Parliament and outlines what the priorities will be for the year, and usually gives a bit of a hint about what might happen in the Budget. But the critical debate in a parliamentary term and in the life of a Parliament is the Budget debate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000725\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EPeople might be wondering what all this is about when they are watching it at home\u2014mind you, they have probably turned over to something on TV2 by now\u2014but the critical point is that a Government has the same issues to face as a family, in the sense that a Government receives money by taxation and has to work out by Budget time how it is going to spend that money. Just like the family receiving an income, the Government also needs to set its priorities and try to live within its means. For a Labour-led Government the absolute \u201Cmust do\u2019s\u201D are the important ones like health and education, and things like that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000726\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EThere are lots of things that families would like to do with their money but cannot afford to, and so it is with Governments. In the end it is a process of trying to work out what is in the best interests of the nation, compared with the other things that everybody would like the Government to do. I have listened to 18 Budgets in my time in Parliament\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000727\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227e7abb7a4a8e4065b7af63e7ba299127\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: You are so young!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000728\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bfb99ef34ab246218af5fae4f1be4665\u0022\u003EHon PAUL SWAIN\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014yes, so young, but behind ticks a very old and tired brain\u2014and nine of them from National. Unfortunately the first one, in 1991, was the rudest one\u2014the \u201Cmother of all Budgets\u201D. Ruth Richardson was running around Evans Bay in a pink tracksuit, as I remember, going on about how this was going to be a \u201Cspine-tingling Budget\u201D. It certainly was spine-tingling for the people who were at the other end of it. There were benefit cuts, the asset sale programme, and the Employment Contracts Act. All those things happened at the start of that Budget period. Then we went into what one would call the drift Budgets, and none of them particularly memorable in the 9 years of the National Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000729\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EWe come then to 9 years of Dr Cullen\u2019s Budgets. I think it is fair to say that as Dr Cullen delivers more Budgets, the better they get. He is probably like an old, good red wine\u2014the older he gets the better he gets.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000730\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002211326c7c0b6a435fbfbc3c31bba4eb3d\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: Hear, hear!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000731\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228e135707b05d4100b9a96e5bf89da3e5\u0022\u003EHon PAUL SWAIN\u003C/span\u003E: Dr Cullen says \u201CHear, hear!\u201D, and why would he not say that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000732\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9a94bf3-a948-4410-8413-403a7454114b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022146e75c9628940c58904fd767ee916ce\u0022\u003ETim Barnett\u003C/span\u003E: More like a single malt.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000733\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002267502e56e77740f19a6111b00f50b28c\u0022\u003EHon PAUL SWAIN\u003C/span\u003E: I see. I see him more as a good pinot noir or a shiraz, personally.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000734\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EBut I do not want to be distracted; I always get distracted by interruptions from the Hon Dr Cullen. I want to box on and say that after 18 Budgets this is the only one I can remember being supported by all parties. All parties in this House are voting for it. After 18 Budgets I can remember only one such occasion, and this is the one. So one would think that after 9 years Dr Cullen has got it about right. Finally people have recognised that what Dr Cullen did in the first few Budgets was to get New Zealand back on track again, by trying to sort out the mess that was left by the previous Government in education, health, housing, defence, superannuation, and all those matters. The Government squirrelled some funds away in the good times in order to deal with the times we knew were coming, which were when things were going to get tough. As Dr Cullen outlined in the first part of his Budget speech, we are heading into those times now. What a good thing it is that some funds are available in order to help people and give them some relief. I congratulate Dr Cullen, because he has delivered in a very, very difficult time in New Zealand\u2019s history. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000735\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EAlthough I want to talk about the tax cuts, I think it is important to recognise that this Budget is not only about tax cuts. That has somehow been the fixation of everybody. There are a lot of things in here that\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000736\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d4ccb0ab2c7c4e84bf599e8b88aad274\u0022\u003ER Doug Woolerton\u003C/span\u003E: They have probably got a fixation on talking about the bill; that is probably the problem.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000737\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022da025f168fad4806a6a33dd3e0e5e431\u0022\u003EHon PAUL SWAIN\u003C/span\u003E: Possibly, yes, but I think one has to give some context to the bill, which is what I am attempting to do. Dr Cullen has always said that tax cuts have to be measured against four criteria. The first criterion is that tax cuts will not lead to greater inequality. A number of speakers have said that, yes, the bill will not lead to greater inequality\u2014the tax cuts are across the board\u2014and, by the way, there is also a top-up for Working for Families. Secondly, tax cuts will not require cuts to public services, and we have already heard that that will not happen as a result of these tax cuts. The tax cuts have been designed not to exacerbate inflationary pressure\u2014and the Governor of the Reserve Bank will be watching this Budget very, very carefully\u2014and I note, for those who have not quite got the point, that this is a three-step process. The final criterion is that the tax cuts will not require borrowing to fund them. So there are four criteria. In the little box that I have, which was given to me by Dr Cullen, those boxes are all ticked\u2014surprise, surprise! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000738\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EWhat would have happened if that measure had been applied to the National Party? Well, in respect of the first criterion, about tax cuts not leading to greater inequality in our society, we know that John Key and all his mates would have done extraordinarily well out of their Budget, and that the person at the lowest level would have got sod all. So inequality in New Zealand would have been exacerbated, and that is not the way to run a tax cuts programme. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000739\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EIn respect of the criterion about tax cuts not requiring cuts to public services, we heard John Key say that a ruler would be run over every Government department and every Government agency. So every Government agency must be quivering, thinking about what that means. We know that the only way a National Government will be able to do this is with some big cuts. One does not try to fund billions of dollars of tax cuts by removing the odd adviser in a Government department. John Key could make quite a lot of headway by reducing the 36 people employed in his office.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000740\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b5daad81aba64e68afa5624c4af9b580\u0022\u003ER Doug Woolerton\u003C/span\u003E: That would be a start.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000741\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f3d7d0e60a9d4dc1a102728fdccc7b36\u0022\u003EHon PAUL SWAIN\u003C/span\u003E: That would be a start, I suppose.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000742\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EBut the point is that one does not get the billions of dollars that are required at the margins by fiddling around with the odd policy adviser. There is no doubt that public services will be cut. Why? Because we know that a National Government has done it before. Do people remember that under National people started to pay to go to hospital? It was called the bed-night charge. It sounded like people were going to a motel. It was the motel people went to that they did not want to go to but had to go to, and as they left they had to pay a bill. This was a most bizarre way to run a health system. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000743\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EThe third criterion is that tax cuts should be designed not to exacerbate inflationary pressure. If a National Government dumped its 50-plus tax cuts in one hit, what would happen? People would get them on the one hand, and on the other hand the Reserve Bank would have to adjust the interest rate regime, and money would be taken back through increased costs on people\u2019s mortgage charges. So National\u2019s tax cuts cannot possibly be sensible and sound, as far as inflation is concerned. As far as not being required to borrow for tax cuts is concerned, well, of course, Mr Key has already said National will be borrowing for tax cuts. As I recall, one of National\u2019s members said that National would not borrow but just get the money from overseas. We are still scratching our heads on this side of the Chamber, trying to work that out. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000744\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EOf course, there are lots of other things in the Budget. There are lots and lots of things in the Budget about transport, health, education, defence, skills training, and innovation. So this is not just about tax cuts. We are talking about tax cuts because this is what the bill is about, but it is important for people at home to remember that this Budget is not just about tax cuts; it is about a whole lot of things. I congratulate Dr Cullen. This is a Budget for this particular time, for this particular year, and it does two important things. It gives a tax break to those who need it, at a time when the cost of living is rising. It does so without putting on extra inflationary pressure, which means that people will not lose it back through their mortgage, while at the same time it continues the programme of continuing to fund the things that New Zealanders actually want us to fund\u2014health, education, superannuation, housing, transport, police, and defence. This is another fabulous Budget from Dr Cullen. I applaud him for it, and I certainly support the second reading of this bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022 data-id=\u0022b574e0ae1c9c44b1b8d69001da7d6443\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000745\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b574e0ae1c9c44b1b8d69001da7d6443\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN (National\u2014Napier):\u003C/span\u003E It is always a pleasure to follow the Hon Paul Swain in any debate in this House. As he quite rightly points out, he has been here for 18 years\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000746\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e9fbfeb10969413aba277fdf89c9f5f6\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: He\u2019s a cheerful member.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000747\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022559dd0ab28804d2286787ca708825c28\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: He is a cheerful member. I have enjoyed his company on the Finance and Expenditure Committee, and he has taught me more than a thing or two in my time there. But I have to say that after 18 years he has fallen into the same trap as his leader fell in today of regurgitating the memories, the policies, and the issues of the past. Once again we heard him drag up the asset sales of the past. I might add that Michael Cullen was an Associate Minister of Finance at the time of a number of asset sales. Paul Swain dragged up the bed-night charge, which I think goes back to the days of Florence Nightingale. Like his leader he slipped into the habit of bringing up the past in respect of a whole lot of issues. Quite frankly, they are issues of a bygone era. They are issues of another century. For members of this House who were aged 10, 12, or 13 then, those days are history.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000748\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EThis Budget, this Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill, is too little, too late. That is the phrase that is ringing out around the country. That phrase is ringing out from Doug Woolerton\u2019s part of the country up north, from Mark Gosche\u2019s area of Auckland, from Mr Swain\u2019s electorate of Rimutaka, and even from Dr Cullen\u2019s home area of Napier in Hawke\u2019s Bay. That is what people are saying around the country\u2014that it is too little, too late. That is the phrase that is ringing out from over 1.6 million hard-working Kiwis from Napier, Taradale, Hastings, Puketapu\u2014from all around the country. Those 1.6 million hard-working taxpayers have not had a tax break in over 9 years under this Labour Government. We have had 9 years of the best economic conditions that any Treasurer of any nation in the OECD could expect. We have had 9 long years when the tax take has risen from $32 billion to nearly $60 billion. We have had 9 years when hard-working Kiwis have been taxed harder and longer than people in most other countries in the OECD.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000749\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EAnd after 9 long years, we have achieved the remarkable feat\u2014and it is a remarkable feat\u2014of having 79,000 Kiwis leave our country per annum for a brighter future, with 40,000 of them going to Australia alone. Just this week, Helen Clark said that that is not a problem, because we have got net positive migration. She does not care that 79,000 hard-working Kiwis are leaving this nation, because they are being replaced with people from overseas. But she forgets that we have invested millions and millions of dollars in those Kiwis over the years, in their education and in all sorts of things to get them to a level where they can contribute back to New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000750\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EUnder this bill, we see a change in personal tax rates. National has been calling for that for years, and it is a step in the right direction, but it is a timid step. National will support the legislation, because we believe that we need to return dollars to hard-working Kiwis\u2019 pockets, regardless of the size of the tax cut offered under this Budget\u2014regardless of its size. We believe that Kiwis know better than the Government how to spend their money, and any acknowledgment of that should be welcomed, and that is why we are supporting this bill. But I should remind Mr Swain that it is this bill that we are supporting, not the Budget. We are supporting this bill, not the Budget\u2014which is not what he pointed out to members tonight. You see, these tax cuts will deliver between $12 and $28 per week to hard-working Kiwis, and in 3 years\u2019 time, in April 2011, they will deliver a total of between $22 and $55 per week. That is an increase of between $5 and $13.50 per week in 2010 and in 2011. What are Kiwis around the country saying about that? They are saying it is too little, too late.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000751\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EI am a relatively new boy to this House. I am from a generation of people who are not interested in the political battles of the 1980s and 1990s\u2014the debates over the Viet Nam War or the Springbok Tour. I think I was 12 at the time of the Springbok Tour, and I watched a couple of the All Black games with my family, which was part of the rugby community at that time. But who cares about those debates of the 1980s and 1990s? We are here to look to the future, to where we are taking this country. As members know, not just Generation X and Generation Y but most Kiwis want to look forward. Only the tired old Labour Party members sitting across the House want to continue to dwell in the cellar of the past.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000752\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EOur generation is interested in the future. We are interested in putting Treaty settlements behind us, and that is why Kiwis support National\u2019s policy of settling all Treaty settlements by 2014. We are interested in getting our kids educated and improving the tail end\u2014the 25 percent of kids at National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 1 who cannot read properly. We know that we are in an increasingly global community, and that educational skills are gold. That is why Kiwis are listening to National\u2019s policy about introducing national education standards and focusing on trade training at schools. They are good policies that we have rolled out. We are interested in how we can connect with the world, and that is why National\u2019s policy of a $1.5 billion investment in broadband has got Kiwis excited about the future under a National Government. It is another policy that takes us forward into the future. We are interested in ensuring that the rate of violent crime comes down, and that New Zealand is a safe place to live. That is why Kiwis are listening to National\u2019s policy to strengthen the bail laws and to make it illegal to be a member of a criminal organisation. That is why Kiwis support the stand taken recently by Judge Tony Adeane in Napier.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000753\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EMany of my generation are living overseas, where they have great-paying jobs, but, quite seriously, they want to come home, and they want to come home to different cities around New Zealand, to the places where they were born. They are actually looking for excuses to come home. That is why my generation believes in a programme of ongoing personal tax cuts. We want a Government that is serious about curbing its spending, that will rein in the burgeoning bureaucracy, and that will invest in our infrastructure. We want to know where this nation is heading over the next 10 years, not just the next 2 or 3 years with a $6 tax break in 2 years\u2019 time. We are looking for a leader who is not immersed in the ideology of the 1980s, who has a strong vision for New Zealand, and who has the capacity to deliver that vision. That is why New Zealanders are looking to John Key for the future, and that is why they are looking to a National Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022 data-id=\u002232237613f87c4055a8cc3818e3711f8f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000754\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002232237613f87c4055a8cc3818e3711f8f\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE (Leader\u2014ACT):\u003C/span\u003E I have been reflecting on the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill that we are debating, which is a bill to cut taxes, and I was thinking how marvellous it is that a bill to cut taxes in New Zealand is passing through the House with no dissent. It is quite extraordinary, if we think about it, that such is the overwhelming support for people to keep more of the money they earn that the parties in Opposition or sitting on the cross benches are joining with the Government to vote for a tax cut, and, indeed, that Labour members, one after another, are standing up and praising a tax cut measure. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000755\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI remember first coming to Parliament and calling on parties to see the need for tax cuts, and ACT was the only party to do that. I do not think that we are responsible for Dr Cullen\u2019s tax cuts, but I do recall calling for tax cuts in the 1990s and being shut down by every political party in the House as if it was nonsense and we could not have tax cuts. But now we fast forward a few years and find that every political party here today is voting for Dr Cullen\u2019s tax cuts. I cannot really count the Greens, because they are not voting for a tax cut, but to give them their due they are not voting against it. The only thing that is a bit disappointing is the fact that the tax cuts are a bit small, but it is a long way for Dr Cullen to come, in order to give us a tax cut. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000756\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI will pick up on a point that Dr Cullen made and that the Prime Minister referred to. It was that when times were getting tough, the previous National Government sold assets, but now this Labour Government\u2014apparently, this is a good thing\u2014has bought back assets. That is to say, it has taken assets held in private hands and brought them in to be owned by the Government. The example that we have here is rail. We heard Dr Cullen say that buying back rail was great because Kiwis wanted to use rail. Well, the interesting thing is that if that is the test of what the Government should buy back, then what would we leave to be run by the private sector? If the fact that people wanted to use a service is the justification for State ownership, then we should perhaps buy McDonald\u2019s, Woolworths, and Foodstuffs. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000757\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EOf course, if Kiwis want to use rail, and pay the price, then how come the Government has had to step in and buy it? I ask Dr Cullen how smart it is to take\u2014what was it\u2014$665 million of taxpayers\u2019 money and give it to Australians. How does that make New Zealand richer? By taking $665 million from Kiwis and giving it to Australians, the only thing that has changed is that the railway now supposedly belongs to the Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000758\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EMichael Cullen\u2019s answer will be that we have the advantage that the Government will be able to operate the rail more efficiently. Well, when has that ever been the case? When has the Government ever run anything more efficiently than the private sector? Even when the private sector is losing money, it does not actually run things badly. But what we know about having the Government sector running a business is that it runs it poorly whether it is making money, losing money, or doing nothing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000759\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EThen Dr Cullen said that we have to pour more money into rail, so the poor taxpayer will be hit year after year, and he is telling us we need to do that because \u201CKiwis want to use rail\u201D. But clearly we are not prepared to use rail for what it costs, so that is a loss of resources. Clearly, we are backing a loser. We actually had the Australians owning a loser. They are now $665 million better off, and the economic wizard is saying that this is somehow a victory for New Zealand. I do not get it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000760\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI will tell members another thing. If I were an old-style Labour Minister or MP, I could understand the Government\u2019s wanting to own and run things, because that is the ideology of the Labour Party\u2014the ownership of the means of production. But people around the world can see, everywhere they look, that any country that is half decent is divesting itself of enterprises. Why? Because those countries find that the private sector does the better job. Why? Because there is competition and choice. But we in New Zealand cannot even mention the word \u201Cprivatisation\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000761\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EI put it on record that ACT believes wholeheartedly in privatisation and private enterprise. We believe that we need more privatisation and that New Zealand is out of step. Governments around the world are all privatising, except, as far as I can tell, for these countries: North Korea, Cuba, Burma, and New Zealand under either a Labour or a National Government. Why is that? Do we not believe in private enterprise? Do we not believe in competition and choice? Have we not learnt the lessons of Government ownership and control? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EHow is it such a great victory for New Zealand taxpayers to have given $665 million to Australian investors, and in the process to have given them for free the largest trucking company in New Zealand? We have given them rent-free all the depots in the railway yards, and given them preferential pricing on rail. I thought that Mr Woolerton cared about provincial New Zealand. Provincial trucking companies, owned and built by Kiwis, are now competing against an Australian company that has $665 million of taxpayers\u2019 money. It has obtained the trucking company for free, with something like 430 trucks.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000763\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bfa5b74-8933-458a-99d4-bbd75d9898d0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002247691015404f428084f687e25c2b69c5\u0022\u003EChris Auchinvole\u003C/span\u003E: Biggest in the country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000764\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022009d791b038945b1ac32d783dfb4a090\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: It is the biggest in the country. The company has access to the depots for free for 6 years and has preferential pricing on New Zealand Rail\u2014which the New Zealand taxpayer will prop up from now until eternity\u2014and New Zealand First is saying that it is a good idea for New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000765\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ed413208498e4ccdbf66cbf04dca571c\u0022\u003ER Doug Woolerton\u003C/span\u003E: Yeah, it is.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000766\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221751fbc5bf4a4506b7c4775e8ff8ee72\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE\u003C/span\u003E: Well, I would love it to be explained, because the Australians are laughing all the way to the bank. Look at their share price! New Zealand First and the Labour-led Government stopped Canadians from buying into an airport\u2014which is already privately owned because Mr Peters sold it\u2014but it is OK to give to Australians the largest trucking company in New Zealand. I am sorry; it does not compute. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022 data-id=\u002274326bfdd833463b9a120277c9f3b9a9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000767\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002274326bfdd833463b9a120277c9f3b9a9\u0022\u003EHon MARK GOSCHE (Labour\u2014Maungakiekie):\u003C/span\u003E I watched the Budget debate and the debate on the first reading of this Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill, and it was interesting to see the look of horror upon National members\u2019 faces. They had to sit with Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble, who were like a couple of old crows beside them. Their presence reminded New Zealanders of the bad times. Rodney Hide can rewrite history all he likes, but the ACT party, if it had had its way on policy, would have seen no railway system in New Zealand. It would have allowed the system to collapse. So I tell Mr Hide not to rewrite history. Rail was under threat of utter collapse\u2014so was Air New Zealand\u2014but this Government stepped in. We had the prudent financial management of Dr Michael Cullen, who was able to rescue New Zealand from a fate that ACT would have supported\u2014no international airline and no railway. Can members tell me of any modern economy in the world that could sustain that, particularly one at the bottom of the South Pacific? We are completely dependent on having an airline owned by this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000768\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003EComing to this bill and looking at the personal tax package, I can relate a very interesting example I was given about what this means to real people. Let us call this couple Lisa and Paul. They are in their late 30s and have one child who is 4 years of age. This is a pretty typical sort of family in my electorate of Maungakiekie. Let us say that Lisa works as a hospital cleaner. What will she get out of this Budget and this bill in terms of changes to her tax? First of all, let us look at what she might earn\u2014$29,640 a year. For a start, how is she earning that? It just so happens that this year the Government put a significant amount of money into the public health system, which allowed Lisa, the hospital cleaner, to earn $29,000. Under the 9 long years of the previous National Government, her wages had gone backwards. First of all, she is now earning $29,000, up from the pitiful amount she would have earned under a National Government. In those days, she would have earned a minimum wage if she were lucky. She will be better off by $620 per year from 1 October. As well, she will receive $588 from Working for Families.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000769\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003EHer husband\u2014let us call him Paul\u2014is a labourer on the minimum wage. Let us remember that the minimum wage was $7 an hour when Labour came into power just over 8\u00BD years ago, because National had not moved the minimum wage for such a long time. It moved about 60-odd cents in 9 years, so nobody noticed. Let us say that Paul is on the minimum wage, which is now $12 an hour, not $7. He will get a tax cut as well, so the family will be $1,800 a year better off on 1 October because of this bill and the changes to Working for Families. In fact, by the time this process is completed in 2011, that family, just from this tax package and the Working for Families package, will be $3,500 a year, or 68 bucks a week, better off.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000770\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003ENational members scoff at that. Some people out there say that that amount is nothing. Well, I tell them that when people are earning $12 an hour\u2014or $14.25 as these people would be\u2014that is a lot of money. National members scoff at that and say that it will not make any real difference. Well, I tell them that people in my electorate on that sort of money\u2014often people in the normal family situation\u2014will thank us very much and say that it is of great use to them and they appreciate it. National members and members of other parties like ACT denigrate this package, but to real people who earn real wages and do real work, it is significant. It will make a significant difference to them when they go to the supermarket, pay the rent or mortgage, fill up the petrol tank, and do all the other things they have to cope with in an economy that is changing because the world is changing. Oil prices are going up through the roof in a way we have not seen in our lifetime. When the products we sell overseas, like cheese, butter, milk, and those sorts of things, are suddenly in huge demand in growing economies like China, we have to pay those prices in the supermarkets. It is getting tough for people, but this Government listens to them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000771\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003EI also think about the 4-year-old child in my sample family. The child will go off next year to a school in my electorate. When Labour came into Government and did away with bulk funding, Maungakiekie schools received an extra $2 million in their operations grants in 1 year. We took money that National had sat on and refused to give out because it could not get its way on bulk funding, and we put it into schools in my electorate. We put in an extra $2 million. In this Budget, as well as Paul and Lisa getting an individual tax cut and extra money through Working for Families, their kid will go to a school next year that has an extra 5 percent in its operations grant. Extra money has been given to primary and secondary schools, and it will pay for teacher aides, people who work in schools, computers, and all of the things that local schools now take for granted but that were not there in the 1990s. Those things were cut. In my electorate the schools did not have the money to do the sorts of things they do in their schools now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000772\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003EOf course, expectations have gone up. I chaired a board of trustees. We were always looking to improve the school\u2014looking for more computers, better property, and more people to work with the teachers to cover the extra duties that are now expected in schools. They will also be able to take that child to the doctor for free. They will be able to pay for the prescription and not wait till pay day before they can fill it, as so many families had to do under National\u2014when they had to get a mortgage to fill the prescription, even if they could actually get to the doctor in the first place. Our memories are not short, and our working-class people understand that this is real money, that it sits alongside an improvement in the public health system, and an improvement in the education system and in their local schools. My local schools do not have a big pile of international students coming in to prop up the budget; they rely on the Government and the operations grant, and some money from the community. This tax cut will actually give the people in our community a chance to be able to buy things that have gone up in price, to be able to make sure their local schools get donations when they ask for them, and to be able to send their kids to school with lunch, and all those sorts of things. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000773\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003EI shall look at a few other examples\u2014that is, of real money, going to real people, who are in our electorates and who earn this sort of money. I will just grab another couple of examples. First, a one-earner couple with two children under the age of 13 are earning 45 grand, which is a pretty normal wage for a lot of people in the ordinary sorts of jobs where they work hard and struggle along. What will they be better off by, come 1 October, as a result of this bill? They will be better off by $30.83, as a result of the personal tax cut and the Working for Families package. They will not turn their noses up at that and say that it is meaningless. They know how much milk costs. They know how much bread costs. They go and do the shopping every week, as I do in Countdown at Mount Wellington. I have seen the prices go up. I can afford them on my wage; I am an MP. People on 45 grand need this sort of money. That is why they will get a real tax cut, and the wealthiest people will get one, too, but they will not get the sort of tax cut that National would give them. National would give them big fat tax cuts but leave the people in my electorate scrabbling about on a few cents. That is what National has done in the past when it has tried to redistribute through the taxation system.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000774\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003EI will finish off by talking about a part of the speech from the Prime Minister. We are in tough times, economically, in the world, but this is not a Government that has said: \u201CAw! We have to cut back, so who do we hit first?\u201D. If it were National, it would be the pensioners. That is what National did last time, and that is what it would do again. Look at what the pensioners in our electorates are getting; the people who actually live on the pension.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000775\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221fb8d8db-3e96-49c7-ab1c-b7916a50e30e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002279939daa369643e494ac11c9034f6513\u0022\u003EHon Steve Chadwick\u003C/span\u003E: Hearing aids. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000776\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221b2691620ecb4328aabec856204371f3\u0022\u003EHon MARK GOSCHE\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, they will be able to get hearing aids. Yes, they will be able to get that money\u2014the rates rebate, and all of those things\u2014in this Budget. They will be helped by the fact that we have sensible, affordable, sustainable tax cuts in this bill, plus spending on things like hearing aids and increases in the pension.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000777\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003EWe did not do the National Party trick of saying: \u201COh well, we\u2019ve got to save money somewhere. Whack those old people over. Damn them\u2014we couldn\u2019t care less.\u201D We actually put the pension up. We look back at National and see that it sold the family silver to pay for its tax cuts. National hocked off rail to their mates, who completely wrecked it. Talk about the private sector doing things better! They were selling off the rails, the sleepers, the trains, and anything they could lay their hands on. And then they shifted off to Switzerland. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000778\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022590c9e54f1f84333977a33bf8636a0a1\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: Who sold it to them?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000779\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022409e420460ad4be695d59d62b466b18e\u0022\u003EHon MARK GOSCHE\u003C/span\u003E: The National Government sold it to them. That is how it paid for tax cuts. We do not do that. We have had sound economic management. That is why we can have this bill and we can spend more on health, education, and the elderly.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000780\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002262b662096eb640d8970e50453ddcc7c9\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: This is the last call. There will be a bell at 4 minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022 data-id=\u00227eea69a9f29c42cd892be1f1c43484ed\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000781\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227eea69a9f29c42cd892be1f1c43484ed\u0022\u003ESU\u2019A WILLIAM SIO (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E I rise to take this short call to speak in support of the Budget. Being the newest MP in the House, I am proud to be associated with the ninth Budget by Dr Michael Cullen. It has been a privilege to listen to Dr Michael Cullen present this Budget. It has seen quite a bit of expectation and quite a bit of anticipation from the wider community.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000782\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EThis Budget provides more than just tax cuts. It continues the work of this Government with regard to providing the health care services that many people throughout this nation of ours really, really need. There is a young man in his 60s, going on 70, by the name of Bill Wiki, of Ng\u0101puhi descent, lying in Middlemore Hospital, where he has undergone surgery on his hip. He texted me recently in support of this Labour Government, and congratulated it on the way that it continues to provide investment in the health sector. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000783\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EThis Budget reminds me of the biblical story of Joseph, which some members of this House may be familiar with. Joseph had been sold into slavery in Egypt, where he was eventually put in charge of the wealth of Egypt because he was able to interpret a dream that the Pharaoh had had. The dream showed 7 years of boom and wealth, followed by 7 years of famine. In those 7 years of boom and wealth, Egypt collected food in preparation for the bad times. After 8 years of boom, wealth, and high employment, and in the face of rising global food and petrol prices, this Budget recognises the need not only to provide tax relief that helps buffer the assault of global events, but also to continue to provide essential health services and to invest in our schools. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000784\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EThat is significant because if we truly care about increasing the skill level of our community and developing the skills of our young people to prepare them for the future and to prepare them for leadership roles, then the investment that this Government is making in our schools, the investment that this Government is making in tertiary education, and the investment that this Government is making with its skills package are things that people ought to sit up and recognise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000785\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EIt is sad that I earlier heard members on the other side of this House criticising this Budget, yet all the time they were not able to present anything else. They talk about tax cuts being the priority, but they have not been able to reveal their policy on that. When ordinary people who listened to their speeches earlier, and who are listening to this particular debate, hear National members, they will surely hold up the Tui sign that says \u201CYeah, right!\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022 data-id=\u002212b84c8bcd214137931a07ba3f4a7083\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000786\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002212b84c8bcd214137931a07ba3f4a7083\u0022\u003EMARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour\u2014Hamilton West):\u003C/span\u003E I rise with great pleasure to support and speak to this Budget. I want to make just two observations. Rodney Hide talked about buying back the rail in typical cynical terms. The real cost to this country\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000787\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f9f548f67ed74b01848f8032bfefabe3\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: What a dork!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000788\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ea61960b9e1a44768b8c6ea7488660c8\u0022\u003EMARTIN GALLAGHER\u003C/span\u003E: The dorks are on the other side of the House. It has taken 9 long years for them to support any tax relief for the people of this country. They are the ones who opposed corporate tax cuts. They are the ones who opposed KiwiSaver. They are the ones who opposed the Working for Families package. It has taken them 9 long years to support tax relief. If I were to use that vulgar and rather lowlife term, \u201Cdork\u201D\u2014it is beneath my dignity\u2014then I would apply it to members on the other side of the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000789\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003ELet me talk about rail. I am proud this Government has bought back rail. Shame on those members opposite who sold it off in the first place! Shame! Shame! Shame! Thank goodness we have a Government that has reinvested, and will continue to reinvest, in our infrastructure. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000790\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EI want to make mention, just briefly, of Simon Power, who actually, believe it or not, in spite of his politics, is quite a nice man. He is a genuine man. He said earlier that no one cares about the debates of 25 and 30 years ago in terms of the Springbok Tour. I give a more recent example. One of the issues we do care about\u2014and we will deal with it in another debate\u2014is Iraq. When Simon Power was National\u2019s spokesperson on defence or foreign affairs he said that where America goes, we should go. The implication was that he was criticising us because we did not join the great mission in Iraq. A more recent debate, and something we care about, was about the body bags that would, by implication, come back from that country. That is a far more recent debate that many New Zealanders do actually give a damn about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000791\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003ELet us look at the record of this Government. There has been a 25 percent real increase in household income from 2000 to 2007. Debt is down from 30 percent to 20 percent of GDP under our Government. Labour has delivered $4.6 billion, in effect, in tax relief so far. It has done so through Working for Families, KiwiSaver, and corporate tax reductions\u2014all things that members opposite voted against. It has taken them 9 long years to support tax relief for the people of this country. One wonders about the genuineness of their support at this particular moment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000792\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EOver the next 4 years this Government will deliver $10 billion of extra relief to working families and older people in this country. Indeed, by 2011 half of all households will be $50 better off. Who said his party\u2019s tax cuts would be \u201Cnorth of $50\u201D? Actually, now it is more than $50. It is changing. Is it going backwards or forwards? I do not know. But if members had looked at Bill English on Agenda, they would have seen a \u201Chum\u201D and a \u201Cha\u201D and an \u201Cum\u201D and a \u201Cwe don\u2019t know\u201D. What is the real, straight answer? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000793\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EFrom 1 October this year superannuation is effectively up $45 a fortnight for a couple. We talk about these economically challenging times, but 1,000 new jobs have been created per week since 1999. That is not bad. I want to look at the record and the context of this Budget in relation to very difficult international times economically. Members have only to turn on Fox Television, CNN, or BBC World Service to know that these are very challenging times. When we see reports about rice farmers in Thailand guarding the rice crop, we know some of the pressure on the world in terms of food prices. We certainly know the pressures in terms of international oil prices. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000794\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EHere are the figures. I can tell members that 377,000 more jobs have been created, giving more families a stake in our economy. Unemployment has fallen by more than half, and it has stayed below 4 percent for 4 years. A thousand jobs a week have been created and fewer people are relying on a working-age benefit. Child poverty rates are falling dramatically, and inequalities in health outcomes are finally starting to narrow. I am proud of a Government that did not take 9 long years to vote for tax relief for the people of this country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000795\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EBill read a second time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000796\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022f8a071a3139f48919d36d8732a0e43e5\u0022\u003EIn Committee\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000797\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022800ca9b4e5fc436b9d7c6bd107946637\u0022\u003EPart 1  Personal tax cuts and Working for Families tax credit increase: 2008-09 start\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022 data-id=\u0022a0aeb9e7e25e40c59bd61520ae7ad6a3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000798\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a0aeb9e7e25e40c59bd61520ae7ad6a3\u0022\u003EHon TONY RYALL (National\u2014Bay of Plenty):\u003C/span\u003E What an incredible day! After 9 long years of endless reasons why the people of New Zealand did not deserve a tax cut, the Labour Government in its last dying moments brings forward legislation to provide tax cuts for New Zealanders. Sure, the tax cuts will not make the difference that those of a National Government would offer, but they are still tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000799\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EI am not afraid to say the phrase \u201Ctax cuts\u201D, unlike the people opposite. Did members notice how quickly Michael Cullen spoke when giving the Budget speech earlier today? As Bill English said, he spat out his speech because he could not stand the taste of tax cuts. He did not want to give those tax cuts. This Budget should not be called the 2008 Budget; it should be called the 2008 \u201CBegrudge It\u201D, because Cullen and Clark did not want to give a tax cut to the hard-working people of New Zealand. Neither do the lefties in the Labour Party who, in the debate earlier, could not bring themselves to say \u201Ctax cuts\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000800\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228c528980338c42cbab635c15e635bf2b\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: Because they believed Dr Cullen.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000801\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223c2e106eae72412192d6a95b448ae6c2\u0022\u003EHon TONY RYALL\u003C/span\u003E: Ruth Dyson believed Dr Cullen, yes. She spoke for 9\u00BE minutes without saying \u201Ctax cuts\u201D, and it was only when National chipped in that she, in the last few seconds, actually said it very quickly. That is what Ruth Dyson did, and we have seen it from leftie member after leftie member opposite. They do not believe in these tax cuts. They are a cynical political ploy from a Government that told the country for 9 years that it could not afford tax cuts. But when the Government saw the oblivion that comes from ignoring the people for 9 years, all of a sudden there were tax cuts. The Government did not want to give those tax cuts; it is giving them grudgingly. This is the 2008 \u201CBegrudge It\u201D from Michael Cullen.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000802\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EWhat an incredible speech from Michael Cullen. Did members hear it? He talked about the fact that he was the longest-serving Minister of Finance, that he has been the Minister of Finance for 9 years, and that no one else has given as many Budgets as he has, except for Peter Fraser. I say to Mr Cullen that when he starts talking about his place in history, he is history. I will tell members what Michael Cullen\u2019s history will show. He is the guy who mucked up the rescue of Air New Zealand and actually had to have the Government buy it back. He is the guy who almost lost Labour the 2005 election. He is such a good political strategist that he almost lost Labour the 2005 election. He is such a good Minister of Finance that every time he goes on television the Labour Party dips in the polls. Every time he goes on television Labour dips in the polls, because he has become the symbol of Labour\u2019s arrogance and disregard for the needs of New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000803\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EDid Michael Cullen front one television talk show on the Budget tonight? He did not front one. Labour knows that Michael Cullen is now the most disliked politician in this country. Every time he is on television Labour\u2019s poll rating drops. Every time he is on television its support drops. Michael Cullen has spent 9 years taxing the life out of New Zealanders and telling them that this country cannot afford tax cuts. He said that if there were tax cuts of $1 billion or $2 billion, doctors and nurses would have to be sacked.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000804\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022629be75547f9441a806d6f7a14aa04d7\u0022\u003EChris Tremain\u003C/span\u003E: Police.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000805\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022762227dda37e40f28123fb74a0693460\u0022\u003EHon TONY RYALL\u003C/span\u003E: The police\u2014everything. Well, I ask Dr Cullen who is getting the chop tomorrow. None of those doctors, nurses, or police officers are getting the chop, because what he was saying was rubbish. New Zealanders knew that Michael Cullen was talking a whole lot of rubbish when he said they could not have tax cuts. That is what New Zealanders around New Zealand are saying tonight about this Labour Party opposite.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022 data-id=\u002238e408f743e84b14af33123863b82ca3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000806\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002238e408f743e84b14af33123863b82ca3\u0022\u003ECHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E It is a delight to rise to speak on Part 1 of the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill, which makes the necessary amendments to the Income Tax Act 2007. The bill implements tax cuts, which everybody on this side of the House is delighted about. The important thing to note is that this Budget and the bill are in two major parts. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000807\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EThe first major part is Part 1, which deals with the tax cuts, and I will speak to those in a moment. But, secondly, a major programme of investment is carried on by this Budget. That is the important thing to stress to members opposite. It is not about just tax cuts. New Zealanders do not want just tax cuts. They want a Government that delivers social services of high quality. They want continued investment in public services. They want us to continue doing what we have been doing since we were elected; things such as increasing investment in public transport by 1,000 percent over the figures we inherited in 1999. That is a huge level of investment. It is a doubling of spending every year on average. That is what we delivered to New Zealanders tonight; that is what is delivered through this Budget. It is all very well to go on about tax cuts\u2014and I am very proud of the tax cuts that are delivered by this Budget\u2014but they are only half the story. There is responsible investment going on here too, and that is what distinguishes Labour from the party of the members opposite.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000808\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EPart 1 introduces the tax cuts I foreshadowed by amending the relevant income brackets in the legislation, so that there will be a new low tax rate of 12.5 percent for the first $20,000 of income. The 33 percent threshold is lifted by $4,500 to $42,500, and the 39 percent threshold is lifted by $20,000 to $80,000. That is a major achievement. The legislation establishes a staged implementation process. It is very responsible. It has regard to the need not to spike inflation, so the proposed tax relief comes into effect over a 4-year period from 2008 to 2012. Part 1 also introduces the Working for Families tax credit increase by amending the relevant figures in the legislation to allow for inflation. That targeted policy, that programme of delivering to families who need a bit of a hand up, continues and is enhanced by this legislation. So, again, it is not just a tax cut that we are talking about, even though the tax cuts are a very good thing. A responsible enhancement of targeted assistance is provided by this legislation, recognising the particular strains experienced by low and medium-income families with young children at the moment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000809\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003EPart 1 goes on to make consequential amendments to the Tax Administration Act 1994 to adjust the requirement to file income tax returns to reflect the new income thresholds. As I said in my first reading speech, this bill\u2019s tax reductions build on an existing tax relief programme that\u2014since 2004\u2014is already worth billions of dollars. They stand in stark contrast to the policies of members opposite, and I look forward to the debate on them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022 data-id=\u002246e5182c357840aa833d792d15d38ca8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000810\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002246e5182c357840aa833d792d15d38ca8\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CARTER (National):\u003C/span\u003E After 9 long years we finally get a chance to vote in this Parliament for tax cuts for hard-working New Zealanders. We have just listened to another contribution from another Labour member who will begrudgingly vote for this legislation\u2014because Mr Chauvel, like Dr Cullen, does not actually want to do that. He does not actually want to deliver tax cuts. As Helen Clark said in her contribution, it is case of the Government giving something back to people. Never mind that Helen Clark does not realise that it is the workers\u2019 money in the first place, and it has been taken off them at a time when it did not need to be. The issue is not about the Government giving back taxpayers\u2019 money; it is about leaving taxpayers with some of their own hard-earned cash. Charles Chauvel does not believe in tax cuts. Mark Gosche does not believe in tax cuts. Michael Cullen does not believe in tax cuts. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000811\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EWhen was the last time that a Budget was presented in this House and we did not see the Minister of Finance on television that night, trying to sell it? But Dr Cullen does not believe in his Budget. He was not prepared to go on Campbell Live or Close Up tonight, because he did not want to have to talk about tax cuts. Dr Cullen went so far as to say that the only way he could be sure he would deliver them was for the House to be put into urgency so they can be enshrined in legislation. He knows that otherwise when he woke up in the morning he would do what he did in 2005: have second thoughts, and take the promise away. So that is why we are in urgency. It is because there is no Labour member who fundamentally believes in what Labour is doing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000812\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EIt would be interesting to know what Mr Goff says. Mr Goff has not taken a call in this debate. He might well be on the right side of the debate. He might be the only one in Labour who actually supports a tax cut. In fact, we should challenge Mr Goff to take a call and to come out and say whether the cuts are enough. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000813\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002259e9efe2-6dea-4eeb-869a-ef5b3e48a5b5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228121af80c10b42e5a885143ba8c87c1a\u0022\u003ECharles Chauvel\u003C/span\u003E: We thought you were better than this, David.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000814\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227641f5fbb90b407b87ae89761103b180\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CARTER\u003C/span\u003E: Charles Chauvel is not backing Mr Goff; he is still in Helen Clark\u2019s camp. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000815\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003ETonight we are seeing Dr Cullen\u2019s last Budget. His legacy will be one of failure, because he is the man who developed the Working for Families package. At the time he sold it as being social assistance for those who needed it. As times have changed, New Zealanders have become more demanding of tax cuts. Dr Cullen, Helen Clark, and every other Labour member now talk about Working for Families as being tax relief. That is the euphemism for social assistance\u2014it has become tax relief. Yet at times Labour members have the audacity to claim in the House that it is a tax cut. I say to Mr Chauvel that Working for Families has never been a tax cut. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000816\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003ETonight is the first time in 9 long years that Parliament has actually had the chance to debate tax cuts, and that is why National has no difficulty in supporting this measure. National is in tune with New Zealanders. We know how much they are hurting out there. It is all right for someone like Mr Chauvel to jump into a Government-funded car. He probably does not know that petrol has gone up to $2 a litre tonight, but his constituents do. If he got in touch with his own constituents, he would know they are hurting. Mortgage rates have doubled. The cost of food goes up every time one goes into a supermarket. Petrol costs $2 a litre, and the Labour members laugh. That shows their arrogance. They have completely lost touch with their constituency. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000817\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022263be082-dd01-4ef1-9c19-d546d0174793\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bd4b3ade0b2d4dd09df38c84cac751dd\u0022\u003EHon Mark Gosche\u003C/span\u003E: The only one in the race, and he lost.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000818\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dfcdf65fe70b4ce7a93ae42e1cf0d0e1\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CARTER\u003C/span\u003E: It is not surprising that a guy like Mark Gosche is so out of touch. I say to Mr Gosche that when urgency is finished and we finally lock in these tax cuts so that Michael Cullen cannot change his mind, he should get back to South Auckland, get in touch with his people, and find out how much they are hurting. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000819\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EAll the talk about building a programme of tax cuts and delivering $16 a week, 2 weeks\u2019 out from an election, will not be enough to win the Labour members the game. I ask members to mark my words; it will not be enough. People know that they have been grossly overtaxed for years. There have been significant Budget surpluses\u2014more than were needed\u2014yet Dr Cullen has always argued against tax cuts and said it was not the right time to deliver them. In actual fact, with the economy contracting, his argument has more validity today than it did the last time he refused to deliver tax cuts. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000820\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EBut at last, after 9 long years, National has its first chance to vote for tax cuts. We do it with pleasure. It is a small step in the right direction. As the media summed up things tonight, it is just too little, too late. New Zealanders deserve to have their own money put back in their pockets, because they will spend it far more wisely than Dr Cullen would. They will not rush out and buy train sets and other wasted operations such as that. They will not buy liabilities. They will spend their money wisely and, as everybody knows, they need the opportunity to do so and they need it now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000821\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id200805220a31c4fba1c54dd7992d2ec80c672cfd000822\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003ESitting suspended from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. (Friday)\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000001\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022015f668c8bc444028739e1530433ebad\u0022\u003EThursday, 22 May 2008\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000002\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00228d79c725e11c48a596a6277acea7d293\u0022\u003E(continued on Friday, 23 May 2008)\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000003\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022598d5e54767d4e34997dbb9fdc351675\u0022\u003ETaxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000004\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002290d3886ef64d49d79bba7c406fde6fb6\u0022\u003EIn Committee\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000005\u0022\u003EDebate resumed.\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000006\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022ea1ba670293347e4a01bfa8f85538059\u0022\u003EPart 1  Personal tax cuts and Working for Families tax credit increase: 2008-09 start (continued)\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022 data-id=\u00220c7014408b094b99876c6fa3857108dc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000007\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220c7014408b094b99876c6fa3857108dc\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National\u2014Rodney):\u003C/span\u003E During the debate last night, National members raised concerns about this tax cut legislation, the cynicism of it bringing in cuts just 2 weeks before what we now presume will be the election, and the lack of real help to families when an average person gets only $16 a week, which is only the price of a family block of cheese. But with Dr Cullen being the Minister in the chair, I would like to take the opportunity to focus on the particular issues in Part 1, which is the part we are now debating. The danger with putting legislation on tax through all stages in the way we are doing is the risk of error, and I think we need to examine this bill to make sure we understand exactly what it is doing. Because it is amending some quite complex parts of our tax law, we need to understand it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000008\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EThe point I would like to raise first with the Minister relates to what he said in his speech yesterday when he said that the legislation\u2014or the Budget and this legislation\u2014will be a bringing forward of indexation of Working for Families and a forecast second round of such indexation. I would like to check with the Minister exactly what he is indexing in this legislation, because, as I understand it, Part 1 handles those issues. If we look at the clauses in Part 1, we see that the particular clauses that affect both the personal income tax schedules and the Working for Families payments are clause 5 in the case of Working for Families, and clause 7 in the case of the income tax schedules. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000009\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EClause 5 makes amendments to section MD 3 of the Income Tax Act 2007. Section MD 3 in the Income Tax Act covers family support. It seems to make sense that the changes to section MD 3(4) spelt out in clause 5 appear to be consistent with what the Minister has said, and if we look at subclauses (1) and (2), we see that the changes there would apply to this indexation and the one that the Minister has forecast will come ahead. Then we see that clause 6 indexes the abatement threshold and amends section MD 13. If we look at the principal Act, we see that section MD 13 appears to be doing what the Minister says. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000010\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EWhile we have the Minister in the chair, I would like to ask him whether this Budget policy indexes all the Working for Families payments, because he gave the impression in the Budget that all Working for Families payments would be indexed. So I ask him which clause indexes the issues covered in section MD 4, because section MD 4, of course, covers the in-work payments provisions. It is a crucial part of Working for Families. In fact, it has been the flagship part of the Government\u2019s Working for Families policy. The Government claims that the in-work payments section is where the incentive is provided for people to get into work. I might be missing something here, but as I scan the provisions in Part 1 and look at the various clauses, I cannot see where the matters covered in section MD 4 are indexed, yet they are very crucial parts of the system. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000011\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EIf we look at not just section MD 4 itself but the whole group of MD sections\u2014section MD 4 through to section MD 10\u2014we see that section MD 10, for example, in the principal Act has some figures actually spelt out, so it is not as if they are percentages that automatically adjust or abatement rates that automatically adjust; it has some actual figures. I would appreciate the Minister\u2019s advice as to where the amendments for indexation to the figures spelt out in section MD 10(3) are covered in the bill, because I just cannot see them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000012\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI imagine the Minister would have tried to be accurate in his Budget speech. If they were not meant to be amended by the legislation, I am sure he would have told us which bits of the Working for Families tax package the Government plans to index. I am sure the Minister would have wanted to be very straightforward with this and not indicate that the whole package was being indexed if in fact parts of Working for Families were not being indexed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000013\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI stress that I could well be missing something in the legislation here, but I just cannot see where the actual payments that are a crucial part of Working for Families covered in the principal Act in section MD 10(3) are amended in the bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u0022151ca27df0e943d0b6654ab97ccaf3e7\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000014\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022151ca27df0e943d0b6654ab97ccaf3e7\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E After 5\u00BD years of the National Party saying that tax cuts are the only important thing in life, the only thing it can find to criticise in this bill is something that was in the original legislation\u2014that is, the in-work payment is reviewed on a regular basis, not automatically indexed. That was in the original legislation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000015\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002283dd66e8aa944b8cb7c300d965b060b5\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Why didn\u2019t you tell us?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000016\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c6fffeec55d8495f8d8e34f053ca6446\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: Because it is in the original legislation. This is no change. It has always been there, and it is required to be reviewed by the end of June this year. This is all National members opposite can find to criticise. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000017\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EI want to tell the Committee that this morning the leader of the National Party has finally told us what National\u2019s tax policy is. It is that National does not have one. He said that National had always had one, but actually it was still developing it, that actually it had not got it yet, and that it would not be announced until 4 weeks out from the election. Then he told us two other things. He told us that Working for Families would not change\u2014not at all. He said that it was structured badly but that it would not change under a National Government. Then he said that a National Government would have bigger tax cuts but they would not necessarily be more expensive. Those who got through arithmetic at school should try that one on for size: National would have bigger tax cuts but they would not be more expensive! You know, loose lips sink ships, and that ship is starting to look very, very dodgy, with a pair of loose lips out there that cannot stick to a single line. But best of all, on Radio New Zealand National this morning Mr John Key announced that tax cuts are not the only thing that matter in life. Having said yesterday: \u201CI believe in tax cuts.\u201D, he said today: \u201CActually it\u2019s not very important. A lot of other things are important.\u201D Then he told us, in terms of the offset for increased tax cuts, that Government spending is nice but that sometimes it is a luxury. A luxury for whom? Is it a luxury for those who depend on the support in the education and health systems? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000018\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe are going to see a National Party programme that depends upon cutting social spending to fund smaller tax cuts for those on low incomes, because Mr Key did not commit himself to the second and third stages of this programme. He said that what happens on 1 October will not be changed, but then he said: \u201CWe won\u2019t commit to what happens after 1 October.\u201D That is code for cutting the tax cuts for those on low incomes to increase the tax cuts for those on big incomes. That is how we can have bigger tax cuts that do not cost more money, because those tax cuts are redistributed upwards. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000019\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThat is why Dr Lockwood Smith, a man who spends a lot of his life thinking deeply\u2014it shows on his brow, which is furrowed so deeply with that deep thinking\u2014can find only one thing in this bill to criticise: that is, it does not change the existing legislation, which does not provide for indexation for the in-work tax payment. It provides for a regular review of the in-work tax payment. The family tax credits and the abatement threshold are subject to automatic, statutory-based indexation. This part brings forward that indexation from 1 April next year to 1 October this year so that families in New Zealand will get some compensation for the increase in food prices and fuel prices. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000020\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EIf the National Party really thinks this is all bad, then its members should vote against it. They should vote against this bill, but of course they do not have the bottle to do that, so they will vote for it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022 data-id=\u00223ac629c13be04b0a99dfc4f6aff9e3dc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000021\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00223ac629c13be04b0a99dfc4f6aff9e3dc\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE (National\u2014Ilam):\u003C/span\u003E How many people in the Chamber heard the news commentators this morning talking about some of the email traffic they have had through their wires concerning the Budget? Some of the questions raised in those emails may well be answered if Dr Cullen can answer some questions about Part 1.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EThe email that struck me most poignantly was the one from some fellow who said: \u201CThanks, mum. You\u2019ve abused me for 9 years, and now when I\u2019m just about to leave home you want to give me a lollipop.\u201D That encapsulates the whole deal, does it not? We seem to be in some sort of parallel universe this morning, where everything is somehow, for Labour at least, switching round the other way. After 9 years of Dr Cullen not being able to give tax relief to working New Zealanders, suddenly he is challenging the National Party as to why we do not want to give them bigger tax cuts. He has got it all wrong. We do. That is exactly why we are voting for his legislation today. New Zealanders should consider it a down payment. It is just a start. At a later point in the year, in our time, not in his time and not in anyone else\u2019s time, we will make our intention exactly clear.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000023\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EI think it is extraordinary that Labour, after spending years and years talking about the social wage, if you like, the Working for Families programme\u2014how it was a great benefit from the Government that topped up the needs of New Zealand families\u2014is suddenly repackaging it as years and years of tax cuts. I say to Dr Cullen that it does not work like that, because people know that only those with families are affected by that package; many, many people are not. Although we do want families in this country to do better, to have more in their pockets, National sees another reason to vote for this legislation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000024\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022656f7b1466a44dfe8330dbc820ceb1ff\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: You\u2019re against it but for it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000025\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b2c731e8cc284dc9b69cf659da4f7cb6\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: Dr Cullen says: \u201CSo you were against it before.\u201D The interesting thing is that in 9 years we have never seen a bill like this on the floor of the House\u2014not once. [Interruption] They are at it again. The paint strippers in the back row are screaming out \u201CWhat about Working for Families?\u201D. Well, Working for Families is not a tax cut. That those members have the kind of mentality that allows them to scream out \u201CWhat about Working for Families? It\u2019s a tax cut.\u201D shows how far out of touch the current Government is with working New Zealanders. The No. 1 point is that all the money that the Government dishes out belongs to the people. Those members have gone quiet. This is a revelation. All that the Government is actually doing with this tax cut is saying: \u201CWe\u2019re not going to stick our hand as far into your pocket as we would like.\u201D [Interruption] Listen to them! Tax money apparently grows on trees. I cannot believe that sort of mentality. All the money the Government gets belongs to the people. The only thing we can say about these tax cuts is that the Government is going to take less of their money. Somehow, Labour members are saying that that is a virtuous thing, that the Government is marvellous. There have been 9 years of their going deep in there, 9 years of their feathering all sorts of programmes that have had little effect on New Zealanders\u2019 lives, and they are suddenly saying they are going to take a little bit less, and are wondering why people are not more grateful. That is the subtext of it all.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000026\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EIt has to be cruel luck that a Government, after 9 years in office, offers tax cuts that New Zealanders have been wanting for all of that time, and suddenly it is knocked off the first 15 minutes of the news by the complete failure of our system to protect children in this country. I do not think New Zealanders will miss the point. All they want to say about Working for Families is that a lot of families are under stress, and that is why\u2014[Interruption] It is all connected. The fact is that in 2007 there was an extraordinary number of child murders, and last night we saw the effect from families that do not have a lot of purpose. One of the interesting things is that this Budget has not lifted the spirits of New Zealanders one little bit.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u0022510c236037e44853b103510381ea76aa\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000027\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022510c236037e44853b103510381ea76aa\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E I am loving this! Now we have learnt why National members voted against Working for Families: because it was not a tax cut, they say! Although it put more money into people\u2019s pockets, they voted against it because it was not a tax cut. Now we can see the National Party mentality. It is a kind of Animal Farm mentality: tax cuts, good; bigger tax cuts, better; putting money into people\u2019s pockets, bad. Working for Families equals tax credits for those in employment. In any case, even if it did not, why would the National Party have voted against it, when Mr Brownlee now tries to claim that it is actually a good idea for families to be helped? Indeed, National is voting for it this morning\u2014but voted against it previously.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000028\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe also learnt from that speech and from the speech made by Mr Key on Morning Report why the National Party manages to have both Gerry Brownlee and Lindsay Tisch in the same caucus. The tax cuts are both too big and too small, simultaneously\u2014that is what the National members say. The tax cuts are both Gerry Brownlee and Lindsay Tisch, simultaneously. They are so big that I heard previously we might have to borrow, but they are so small that they do not make any difference. The National Party will have bigger tax cuts, but they will cost less money and it will not have to do anything. This is wonderful! The National Party has spent 9 years in Opposition, and it can still come out with that kind of rubbish and expect people to vote for it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000029\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMr Brownlee clearly did not hear Mr Key on Morning Report this morning. He said that tax cuts are not very important any longer\u2014because Labour has introduced tax cuts, they are no longer as important as other things\u2014but National will be announcing a big tax cut programme. He says it will not cost any more money\u2014or it might; we do not know. It will be 4 weeks before the election, and by then we would have had a pre-election fiscal update; I will be interested to see then whether the National Party believes that it can afford larger tax cuts without large-scale borrowing or without cutting social services. And National will not cut social services, but Government spending is sometimes a luxury, says Mr Key on the front page of the New Zealand Herald.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000030\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThat party thinks that it will go into a coalition agreement with Mr Peters, that, as part of that coalition agreement, Mr Peters will be Minister of Foreign Affairs, and that it will cut Vote Foreign Affairs and Trade. Well, if National thinks that, it had better think again. I can tell National members that it does not work like that, and it will not work like that for them. It is no good National picking on the poor old Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade people on the cocktail circuit; it will have to find social services to cut. [Interruption] That is right. Mr Hayes agrees. Yes, indeed, because that is where the big spending is.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000031\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EMr Key said that National might find $500 million over 3 years by slashing the bureaucracy. Well, $500 million will not add up to anything much by way of tax cuts. It will not deliver large tax cuts to the people earning over $60,000 a year. That \u201Cdinky\u201D couple on the radio this morning who are renting in Remuera and finding it hard to make ends meet could move to Glen Eden. It is cheaper out there. It is where my sister lives. They could move there. They would get a cut in their rent there. They are finding it hard. They are saying that two tax cuts of $110 a week will not make much difference to them. I can tell them that it will make a hell of a lot of difference to the people living in \u014Ctara, in Glen Eden, in South Dunedin, and in Pirimai, in Napier. National is saying that it will give smaller tax cuts to those people, it will claw back stages two and three from those people, in order to give more money to the people who already have a great deal more. That is called helping families in the National Party guise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000032\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ELabour will fight an election on those grounds, with the greatest of joy. We know, and National members know from reading the front page of the newspaper, that I have not merely stolen their fox but eviscerated it, strangled it, and thrown it back into their back garden, and they do not know what to do about it at that particular point. They do not know where to go, and they are praying that something will turn up between now and 4 weeks out from the election. I say \u201CGood luck!\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022 data-id=\u0022199c62c743cb4d34ac107ecbcff91d84\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000033\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022199c62c743cb4d34ac107ecbcff91d84\u0022\u003EDr WAYNE MAPP (National\u2014North Shore):\u003C/span\u003E Well, I guess it was very disappointing for Dr Cullen to find out last night that National is actually voting for this tax cut. That is the truth. He said: \u201COf course National\u2019s going to roll it back.\u201D Why would we do that? I tell Dr Cullen that we are actually voting for it. So Dr Cullen will not be able to run that line out on the hustings any time soon, because we have shown that his game is up. It is just a down payment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000034\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EDo members know that Dr Cullen and, indeed, the Prime Minister went around the last few days saying: \u201COf course National is going to slash doctors, slash nurses, and slash teachers.\u201D? They just conveniently forgot to tell the country that the Government will be spending $47 million on Government House. That is the Government\u2019s priority. Dr Cullen should ask the people in Porirua and Glendene how important they think that is, as a priority for Government expenditure. Dr Cullen should tell the people how important it is to build a new embassy in Stockholm, for heaven\u2019s sake! I can understand that there might be some priorities in foreign affairs, but Stockholm? It is simply not that important, and shows up this Government\u2019s priorities, does it not; Government House, Stockholm, 10,000 extra bureaucrats in Wellington, and nothing to do with doctors, nothing to do with nurses, and nothing to do with teachers. The Government\u2019s preference is the bureaucracy in Wellington and, frankly, I tell Dr Cullen, wasteful Government expenditure. So do not let me hear from any members of the Government that there is no space for an additional tax cut. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000035\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EOne of the features of Part 1 is that the real tax cut is delayed. People have to wait 3 full years to get a reasonable level of tax reduction\u2014$55 in 2011. That is why the public is saying that it is too little, too late. One cannot expect them to wait another 3 years, after 9 years of waiting, to get a decent tax cut. Of course they will get a tax cut, I guess, in 2009, just enough to buy a block of cheese, but I tell Dr Cullen that that will not cut it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000036\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EI guess it is disappointing for the Government to find out that it will have to wait for National to announce its programme. So what? Why should National wait on the Government\u2019s agenda to meet its needs to announce its package now? The public will know in enough time what National\u2019s programme will be and they will judge it. The truth is, and it is completely clear from this Budget, that there is space for a better tax cut; one simply has to reprioritise expenditure.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000037\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227cd94218fdbb427697c570bc7b950ccf\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: Really?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000038\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002268f190bf1c30420e9db6bf528a5c77fd\u0022\u003EDr WAYNE MAPP\u003C/span\u003E: Yes. We are not going to spend $620 million extra on foreign affairs. We will make a different choice on that precise issue. We will not open an embassy in Stockholm. We do not see any necessity to spend $47 million on Government House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000039\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c1ed82bcb5db4fa5979fca37d8f2c652\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: Oh!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000040\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226b2525716a1c437ca9c94c8c18bbb81a\u0022\u003EDr WAYNE MAPP\u003C/span\u003E: Look, Dr Cullen is shocked. He is absolutely shocked to see that we are saying no to $47 million being spent on Government House. Sure there might be some repairs needed, but $47 million of repairs? Get real! It is simply fatuous for this Government to come along and say there are no choices other than the ones it has made. There are different choices\u2014reasonable choices\u2014that can be made that will deliver a better tax cut for all New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000041\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EOne of the interesting things, I must say, is the change from the low-income earner rebate to a scheduler rate. Actually that has some merit, and I tell Dr Cullen that National members will be voting for it. We can see some merit in changing from a low-income earner rebate to a scheduler rate. National is the party for tax cuts, and that is why we tell the Government we are happy to vote for this bill. We say that this is a first instalment, and we say to the public of New Zealand that they can bank on this tax cut, but they can also bank on more, because National will have different priorities and different expenditure, and will not waste $620 million on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Minister\u2019s response to that was: \u201COh, well, you\u2019ll have to get the permission of Winston Peters.\u201D Yeah, right! Are we going to say to Mr Peters: \u201CWe\u2019ve got to have your money for a tax cut.\u201D? Hardly, no.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022 data-id=\u0022345d2ccd30f94519a9acf6ceeca5b125\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000042\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022345d2ccd30f94519a9acf6ceeca5b125\u0022\u003EJOHN HAYES (National\u2014Wairarapa):\u003C/span\u003E I rise to support this bill because it is a down payment on future tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000043\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221fb8d8db-3e96-49c7-ab1c-b7916a50e30e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002233d83afd21e64cb4aadb1ba2b96eb4d7\u0022\u003EHon Steve Chadwick\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, that\u2019s a good line.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000044\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002223ba9cc439704ba6b9ae1534f7ee0828\u0022\u003EJOHN HAYES\u003C/span\u003E: But I want to explain to \u201CMs Raucous\u201D in the back row that she will get no tax from most of my hill and sheep country farmers, because they are not earning sufficient money to pay taxes this year. I had an email from a farmer stating: \u201CI spent $50,000 buying in feed for my farm. I\u2019ve had to sell all my cows and my calves, I\u2019m going to have no winter income, I\u2019ve worked my arse off\u201D\u2014that is what he said\u2014\u201Cand where am I? Worse off than I was a year ago.\u201D He stated: \u201CI\u2019ve got no money and I\u2019ve got a huge overdraft of $300,000.\u201D Why are we in this situation? Because this Government is spending far too much money. It is taking too much money from the community and spending it on unproductive programmes like the $600 million for the foreign ministry. Labour should go and campaign on that; it will give Labour lots of votes, I am quite sure.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000045\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022\u003EI find it very disappointing that in this bill there is no long-term framework. There is no coherence about what these cuts will feed into. It is astonishing that the 33c tax rate is not changing, and even more astonishing that the 39 percent rate is not changing. There needs to be a vision whereby these cuts feed into a long-term programme that is coherent. There needs to be a 5 or 10-year programme of tax cuts, and our country and our community need goals to aspire to. They need to know where we are going. It is critically important that we have buy-in from our communities for a programme of coherent tax cuts. I welcome this bill in so far as it provides a down payment, but it does not fit into anything bigger. It is a total adhockery intended to buy votes in this next election.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000046\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022\u003EWhat does this bill articulate about what the Government is trying to achieve? Nothing! Tax should be about taking just enough money from the community to drive this country\u2014to provide for our collective self-administration. But this Government is trying to use the tax system to reduce poverty, it is trying to use it to reduce income inequality, and it is trying to provide compensation for rampant rises of petrol\u2014$2 a barrel now\u2014and blocks of cheese at $18. It is trying to compensate for increasing power prices, and it is trying to incentivise savings. Those members need a reality check.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000047\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203bc0052-6dd8-4807-998a-4768a4732e0b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022baee6396318548d1be032c159d03dd41\u0022\u003EHon Rick Barker\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s $200 a barrel.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000048\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228e7dcd457b434413a47865c5de3ab3da\u0022\u003EJOHN HAYES\u003C/span\u003E: Sorry, $2 a litre. This Government needs a reality check. The tax system in this country cannot deliver all of these things, and nor should it. I think there is no fairness in this system that the Government is imposing on our community. Why should a family on $80,000 a year with two children pay 14 times the amount of tax as a similar family on $45,000? Where is the fairness in that? Why should the family on $80,000 pay 14 times the tax to this Government that a family with two children on $45,000 does? There is no fairness there\u2014no fairness whatsoever. This is a very poorly thought-out bill. It is total adhockery.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000049\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022\u003EThis country is in trouble because this Government has relied on taxing heavily the incomes of a few mobile people, and what are those people doing? They are marching with their feet to Australia. Day by day we have never had such a big outflow in this country\u201479,000 people in the past year. They are voting with their feet. Why are they doing that? Because they are paying too much tax.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000050\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022\u003EI have to say that this bill is a start. It is a down payment, but it is not a coherent programme of long-term tax cuts, and that is what a National Government will deliver to the people of this country. We need to cap Government spending; it is outrageous that we are going to take $600 million and spend it in the foreign ministry area.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022 data-id=\u0022686c8fd7e43a47f9b2bb2d7ab326facd\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000051\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022686c8fd7e43a47f9b2bb2d7ab326facd\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN (National\u2014Napier):\u003C/span\u003E I rise to speak to Part 1 of the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill 2008. The bill is part of a Budget that Dr Cullen is keen to take on to the hustings and to fight in the 2008 election. I say today that those words are small, in that he had the opportunity to genuinely take that fight on to the hustings. In 2007 I challenged Dr Cullen to stand on the hustings against me in the seat of Napier and to take his tax policies to the hard-working people of New Zealand. I challenged him to stand on the hustings in Napier and to take up that challenge to genuinely get out there amongst hard-working people.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000052\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ee27068114914e29b0d77ee2619d2545\u0022\u003ENathan Guy\u003C/span\u003E: What did he say?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000053\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c2d225da0b8e4e33b844b7cc5d96dff2\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: When I put that challenge to him he said that, no, he would not take it on. He had a clear opportunity to stand in Napier and to take up the challenge, but he did not. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000054\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EWe are sitting here today, under urgency, to take this bill through the House and to write it into law. The people of New Zealand may be asking why we are doing this under urgency.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000055\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022de4f615acc8141a58fcb465c1be358e8\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Can I have people out of the corridors and into their seats, please. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000056\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e309881ffe4f4f7196dd0b6858b14eee\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: New Zealanders will be interested to know that that was the future leader of the Labour Government in the corridors, taking up time by discussing his own future tax policy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000057\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EI come back to the debate. I ask why we are here under urgency to pass this bill. We are here to ensure that it becomes law. We need to make sure that it becomes law. And why is that? It is because we cannot trust Dr Cullen to actually put tax cuts into place. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000058\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EOne might ask why anyone would take that line of attack. Well, the proof is in the Cabinet papers. In the 2005 election Dr Cullen promised that there would be tax threshold cuts, which is what we are now seeing in Part 1. He promised there would be those cuts. But, very quickly, the reality of that got washed down the tube. I have here a Cabinet paper from 2007. Rick Barker would have been at that Cabinet meeting, and I guess the potential new leader of the Labour Party would have been there too and would have agreed to this Cabinet paper. Dr Cullen\u2019s Cabinet paper recommends that \u201Cwe do not adjust tax thresholds in the medium term thereby retaining fiscal drag and potentially allowing tax to GDP ratios to rise slightly. Accordingly, this paper seeks Cabinet\u2019s agreement to rescind our previous decision to adjust income tax thresholds on a three-yearly basis. Within the projection period \u2026 we will adjust the tax thresholds for inflation, but some portion of fiscal drag might need to be retained to finance our decisions.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000059\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EThat was the paper that rescinded the initial decision to change the tax thresholds, and that is why we are rushing this bill through under urgency. Those members, and the potential leader of the Labour Party, Mr Phil Goff, do not trust Dr Cullen on the tax threshold issue, because he said tax thresholds would not be adjusted in the medium term. The medium term here would have been 2008, 2009, 2010, so that is why we are under urgency, making these adjustments to the tax threshold levels. In that regard it is a good bill, and National is supporting it today because it is taking us forward and starting to deliver some of the money of hard-working Kiwi taxpayers back into their pockets. On this side of the Chamber we believe, funnily enough, that hard-working taxpayers know how to spend their money best. They know how to make decisions about where to educate their children; they do not need this Government to tell them that. They know how to make decisions about their health; they do not need this Government to tell them that. They know how to make their own decisions, and that is why we are supporting the changes to the tax threshold levels. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022 data-id=\u002299dcea18294647ba9d4d4456f545996d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000060\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002299dcea18294647ba9d4d4456f545996d\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE (National):\u003C/span\u003E I will tell members who likes this Budget. One person really, really likes this Budget, and his name will become apparent very soon.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000061\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c243ee9cfdcc459c84d5577f45e8be49\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Phil Goff.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000062\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cdb6a1d80ed54be19940cda59b50ee8a\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: That is exactly right. Phil Goff loves this Budget, and do members know why? It is because of the tax cuts of 12 bucks a week. That is a packet of smokes a week\u2014a packet of 25s.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000063\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224d95fda103cb4a1980f5a543ed20a026\u0022\u003EHon Phil Goff\u003C/span\u003E: That shows your priorities!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000064\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226b97604f430343e4b3ce847cda91de2c\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: The holier-than-thou Phil Goff thinks it is terrible that I am talking about smokes, but what about the people in South Auckland and the people in west Auckland? The leader of the coven over there talks about people in \u014Ctara, and she talks about people in west Auckland, but she has never ever lived like the people in west Auckland or even South Auckland. I can tell members now that for the brothers and sisters on the streets of South Auckland, west Auckland, and, I might add, Wainui\u014Dmata, 12 bucks or 16 bucks a week\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000065\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226f989e6f04a94724b8bafe08978bfdc4\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: You\u2019re welcome to visit any time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000066\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228045094892294a1c93b59223f44ad0a7\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014not a problem; I will\u2014will not cut it. We have gone from chewing gum to a block of cheese. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000067\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003ELabour members talk about Working for Families and how that was a tax cut. Well, it was not a tax cut; it treated good, decent, hard-working Kiwis as just another welfare recipient. So mum and dad, with four kids, have to trot off to the Work and Income office every week or so in order to get their benefit. That is what Labour made the people do. There is nothing in this bill that says otherwise. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000068\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EI say kia ora to giving a $16-a-week tax cut; it is a start. The Government should be patted on the back for giving back any money that it can to working people in this country. But I tell members that after 9 years, all it can give back is 12 bucks or 16 bucks.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000069\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221fb8d8db-3e96-49c7-ab1c-b7916a50e30e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022580e313c475f4571be7472f77279016c\u0022\u003EHon Steve Chadwick\u003C/span\u003E: Tell us about Working for Families.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000070\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d8013c1831804cc08024a8b52e622d89\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: That is the head witch of the coven over there\u2014the leader of the coven. She asks me to talk about Working for Families. Well, let us talk about the $690 million - odd that the Government paid for a clapped out railway that does not even run. There are no trains in Rotorua, there are no trains in Gisborne, and there are no trains up north. Where are the trains?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000071\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002294d9f5bc945344c2ba3984690ae21b8c\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: There\u2019s one a week.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000072\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226f430cd5aa2f41bfa0d1718af82366aa\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, sorry, there is one a week. And the Government says that this is a great taxation bill! The Government bought the little train set\u2014the little Tonka toys; I wonder who the Fat Controller was\u2014and earmarked new embassies in Switzerland, and all over the place. Just those two things add up to a billion dollars.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000073\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225926c02260644048817137702f3cc23c\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: What do we need, then?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000074\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002298d64d49e217419aba5d959a745d3253\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: Well, why does the Government not give it back to the workers? But that is all right, because Lynne Pillay comes from a union background, the Service and Food Workers Union, which is about to steal $200,000 off its own members. Why? It is to employ a political organiser to run around the country and talk about the tax cuts that this Government has given. What a rort, and what a pack of thieves the Service and Food Workers Union is. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000075\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EThere is nothing in this bill other than to say: \u201COops, we are running out of time. Here is 12 bucks. Can you please, please, on election day, vote for the Labour Party?\u201D. And the answer is, absolutely not.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000076\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bde7d38356d64778b2e1d90de86cc19a\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Before I call Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith, I ask members to do three things. Firstly, can we actually start to address Part 1? I have let a general debate go for quite a while. I would like to be addressing Part 1.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000077\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022adab7760c618407e9b8e2ff18a1ea3a4\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: I did that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000078\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002204c0c7d92f5b4a2e8ab3b08fb414ff01\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, I do accept that. Secondly, the level of noise is pretty high, and could the interjections be on the bill and not on other extraneous things? The debate has gone fairly wide; can we now focus on Part 1. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022 data-id=\u002294d9dad07819417d8aafb86aa18ff409\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000079\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002294d9dad07819417d8aafb86aa18ff409\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National\u2014Rodney):\u003C/span\u003E Indeed\u2014and I did that when I opened the debate this morning. All we got from the Minister of Finance was just a political rant in response to the serious questions I asked. That shows with what little seriousness he takes his own tax law. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000080\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI would like to come back to Part 1 and ask some questions of the Government again. The Budget speech said that Working for Families would be indexed. I accept now, and we have established it in the legislation, that certain components of Working for Families have to be indexed. Other components of Working for Families can be indexed via Orders in Council. OK, let us now ask the Government clearly what is to happen from here. The Government said that Working for Families will be indexed. This bill provides for just the family support bit, which is about only a third of the payments, or fewer, of the Working for Families payments and that one-third is to be indexed by this legislation. Clause 5 does that, and clause 6 indexes the abatement. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000081\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EThe Government should make it very clear to hard-working New Zealand families what it is doing about the in-work payment and the parental tax credit. They can be indexed by Order in Council, but will they be? I tell the Minister in the chair, Mr Mallard, that I am prepared to take my seat again if he is prepared to tell New Zealanders whether the Government\u2019s statement in the Budget speech that Working for Families\u2014as distinct from family support\u2014is to be indexed, because this legislation deals with family support. This legislation, which amends sections MD 3 and MD 13 of the Income Tax Act 2007, deals with family support and its abatement. Sections MD 4 and MD 11 deal with parental tax credits. This bill does not deal with them. We have established why. It is because they can be done by Order in Council; I accept that. The Government, though, in the Budget speech, made a promise that Working for Families would be indexed. People think that that means adjusted for inflation, but the Budget speech did not say \u201Cfamily support\u201D; the Budget speech said \u201CWorking for Families\u201D. Working for Families includes in-work payments and parental tax credits, and nothing in this legislation alters those. Yet they are a significant part of the whole Working for Families package. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000082\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003ESome of my colleagues have criticised, quite rightly, the Working for Families package. There are all sorts of problems with it, and I agree with that criticism. There are some dreadful problems with it\u2014high effective marginal tax rates, the locking of people into poverty, and all that kind of thing. But for this Part 1 that we are focused on right now, I believe that New Zealanders have a right to know whether Dr Michael Cullen meant what he said in the Budget speech. Will the Government adjust those other components of Working for Families? It can be done by Order in Council\u2014I accept that, absolutely\u2014under section MD 10 of the Income Tax Act 2007. Orders in Council can provide for in-work payments to be increased, and likewise, under section MD 11, the parental tax credits can be increased. Let us hear whether the Government will do that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000083\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e4fdd09c9e144287bdc65fcdaaa9d158\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Those matters are the subject of a report back to Cabinet by the end of June, and a decision will be made at that time around the use of Orders in Council.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002228ae8d70867b4c5696fbbde9e247c326\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: I thank the Minister for the clarification that these matters will now be dealt with by a further report to Cabinet. I appreciate that; New Zealanders at least now know that much. The timing was towards June?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000085\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022402a1a6cc8834df395e117615b9307f4\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: End of June.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000086\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225db89567aecf4e18856758ec3db3798b\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: OK. I want now to pursue that what we have established the Minister of Finance said in the Budget speech was not factually correct; it was not factually correct. The Government, so far, has announced that it will index family support, not Working for Families. The full Working for Families indexation issue is to be addressed by Cabinet later on. We have established that bit, and that is a significant bit of the Budget speech because so much of the Budget focused on tax. It focused also on the Working for Families package, but there we have found that Michael Cullen was not actually correct in what he said. How much of the rest of what Michael Cullen said in the Budget speech was not strictly correct? I think we need to dig quite deeply into some of the things surrounding this Budget to see what else is not actually correct and upfront in what he said. I will quote him. Dr Cullen said \u201Ca bringing forward of indexation of Working for Families, and a forecast second round of such indexation.\u201D If he were being upfront and honest, that should have read as \u201Can indexation of family support\u201D, because that is what he is doing here. That seems to be the only decision, and where that is misleading is in the fact that the Government has not even decided whether it will index the in-work payments and the parental tax credits. I do not think it is good enough for the Minister of Finance to make statements in the Budget speech that are not correct. Whatever way one looks at that, that is simply not correct. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227823bfed2a5b43e3978d1d77405a47cc\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: The member does not understand. I am happy to further clarify.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a61b106ea09945daba904cc604c9e157\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: If the Minister is happy to clarify it further, I will give him the opportunity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000089\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223d812adb6351496eb8dc652683335525\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Just to make it absolutely clear to the member, I tell him that in the Budget and in the bill we are dealing with now, the Budget indexed the family tax credit and the abatement threshold. That brought forward something that was due to happen on 1 April; it will now happen on 1 October. The minimum family tax credit is reviewed annually. It was last reviewed late last year. And the third and fourth components\u2014the in-work payment and the parental tax credit\u2014are reviewed periodically. The first review is due to be done by 1 June this year. That will be reported to Cabinet during June and dealt with then.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000090\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221615e9de65c046d4865c8f476f1726ab\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith, before you resume your call, I tell you that I will regard that last intervention as your having yielded, so you have 3 minutes left.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000091\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225a2afe7a44ea44aab2154756cc515de5\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: I appreciate that, Madam Chair; I realise that I was running a risk of that not being accepted. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000092\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI ask the Minister one further thing. He has made it clear that there are still two components of Working for Families\u2014that is, the in-work payment and the parental tax credit\u2014that are not dealt with in this legislation. The Budget speech said they would be indexed, so I ask the Minister right now whether the fiscal figures in the Budget provide for any significant increase in those payments. They could amount to quite a lot of money. If the Government is going to index the in-work payments and the parental tax credits, that could amount to quite a significant sum of money. Do the figures in the Budget allow for that, or has the Government made no provision for that, at all? If no provision has been made for it, then the honest thing to tell the people of New Zealand is that the Government does not intend\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000093\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223d262afa9a134064a4dce95532a781fe\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: The Government hasn\u2019t received the review. It\u2019s not due to receive it till 30 June, and it takes decisions after that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000094\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a92f02cfc6d548bb9a9bcfecdc146eda\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: I tell the Minister that this Budget goes from 1 July through to 30 June next year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000095\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002217419b037a0447b084a9cb86e055e082\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: But how can you adjust something for results you haven\u2019t got?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000096\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022175eda3fa2a6489281a7f5950d02c353\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Well, in preparing a Budget, where Working for Families is one of the Government\u2019s big claims\u2014that the Budget is addressing Working for Families and indexing Working for Families\u2014I am asking the Minister now whether the fiscal projections in the Budget include an increase in the in-work payments and the parental tax credits. I accept that the Government may not have received\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000097\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002269837667c1f94731a22141677e5cfb75\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Page 144.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000098\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002228d20a93b8004f0a9c42b0c3eae952e3\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: And what does it say, I ask the Minister? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000099\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223e1e3b34401240138657a968cc32f8ca\u0022\u003EJohn Carter\u003C/span\u003E: He\u2019s yielded again.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000100\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221cef7c6682024dfd83b3a48a43cc9141\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Are you yielding again, with another 1\u00BD minutes left after this?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000101\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d2317eaed1ab466783f97a796efa4364\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: It gets a little sad when someone has a PhD and the Budget has to be read to that person. But he has asked me to\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002294abf1cf6b5e4dfa84116675decbdca2\u0022\u003EJohn Carter\u003C/span\u003E: Stop being a dork and get on with it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000103\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222948bbb9827c47d190de9ead00a0e76c\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Does the member want me to, or not? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000104\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022278f39bfad9848debb540e6555d52e2a\u0022\u003EJohn Carter\u003C/span\u003E: Yes\u2014get on with it. Stop being a dork. Come on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000105\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022178fb1179e5c447694e3b5b5f081be96\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Please go on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000106\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225d6f60ca4adf499384e97602fd074e05\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Well, Madam Chair, is that appropriate language? I do object.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000107\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220425cd4472b84a3d98848fa654e163be\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: I ask\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000108\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a461a6ef740745fd837ef059c7853b63\u0022\u003EJohn Carter\u003C/span\u003E: I withdraw and apologise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000109\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002216067db87f2f416394aefe80ca449d13\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: I turn to page 144 of the Statement of Fiscal Risks in the Budget, and the section headed \u201CRevenue\u2014Working for Families Review of Rates (unchanged, unquantified risk)\u201D. So the risk is the same as it was last time. It states: Working for Families legislation requires a review of the amounts of the In-Work Tax Credit and Parental Tax Credits to be undertaken no later than June 2008. This review is to assess whether the current rates still meet the policy objectives behind Working for Families. This policy cannot be quantified until the review is completed.\u201D That statement was in the half-year update; it is also here and it is unchanged. That member probably has about the same number of years\u2019 experience in the House as I have, yet he cannot read a Budget, despite having been an Associate Minister of Finance. That is a very, very sad situation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000110\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022553ff756beb1491d895dc5768173107d\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith, you have 1 minute and 37 seconds left. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000111\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d9ab16e14a5f43ccb64bd4f449dd8ef4\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Let me make it clear why I asked the question. Last time that member was a Minister in a Labour Government that was on its way out\u2014in 1989\u2014we had a Budget like this and there were issues, like these tax credits, that were not covered in the Budget. The Budget was false, and when National came in as a Government it had to make legal some of the illegal spending of those Ministers\u2014like Phil Goff and Michael Cullen\u2014prior to the 1990 election. The Minister in the chair, Trevor Mallard, was part of that Government that provided, in supplementary estimates, for expenditure that it far exceeded in the run-up to the election. He knows it, and the Labour members who were there when that Labour Government was on its way out, know it. They spent money that was not in the Budget, and the incoming Government had to make it legal. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000112\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EPart 1 agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000113\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022943fbea78a7044bea51f5361029df030\u0022\u003EPart 2  Personal tax cuts: 1 October 2008 start\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022 data-id=\u002291679f6f41914986a87b41ec43638626\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000114\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002291679f6f41914986a87b41ec43638626\u0022\u003ECRAIG FOSS (National\u2014Tukituki):\u003C/span\u003E As I noted last night, it is an absolute pleasure to be voting, finally, for a bill that brings in personal tax cuts. I thought we would have to wait another 6 months or so for that, but I suppose that after 9-odd years, it was always going to come sometime. Perhaps Part 2 could also be called the \u201CRoad to Damascus section\u201D or the \u201CContradiction part of the bill\u201D, because it deals with changes to the Income Tax Act 2007\u2014the tome sitting there on the Table. Part 2 changes the particular notional amounts, etc.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000115\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI note that this bill has had to cross a threshold first, because in the last Budget, and on numerous times after that, the finance Minister has set himself four tests before he would even consider tax cuts. I will address those tests, because that is very relevant to this part of the bill, which is supposedly about how those changes will be funded. Those tests supposedly were, firstly, that tax cuts would not lead to greater inequality; secondly, would not lead to inflationary pressures; thirdly, would not require borrowing to fund them; and, fourthly, would not require cuts to public services. I will come back to the first test, because there will be probably be plenty of time for that one next week. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000116\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EIn relation to the fourth test, though, I make the point that Dr Cullen is playing silly word games again when he says that the tax cuts will not require cuts to public services. I think that in the Budget he used the word \u201Creprioritisation\u201D, or something like that. In answer to questions leading up to the Budget in the House the other day, he gave all sorts of bureaucratic nonsense and silly answers to what actually looks like his hidden agenda.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000117\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI will address tests two and three, because Part 2 relies on them. Test two was that tax cuts would not lead to inflationary pressures. Right there on page 70 of the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update, from which this bill arises, we see annual CPI forecasts for the next 4 or 5 years. A forecast of 2.7 percent was predicted at the half-yearly update\u2014now it is 2.9 percent on average. Members should remember that it is virtually illegal for inflation to go north of 3 percent, but the forecast for 2009-09 is for 3.2 percent inflation. The Minister has failed to test two\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000118\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227afa180559714984b5ed1eb0189c39a5\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Chairperson. Although Part 1 was a relatively broad part of the bill, Part 2 is about as narrow as we can get. There are some numerical changes there, and some consequentials flow from them. The Committee stage is certainly not the place for a broad-ranging Budget debate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000119\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002286c49577456b4488bda2ae959cb61d1f\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Is the member replying to the point of order, or does he want to continue?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000120\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002215fab471e4534815908db590f0857f33\u0022\u003ECRAIG FOSS\u003C/span\u003E: I will continue, and will refer straight back to the part.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000121\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c3060fa8693d41deb4b161da5184366a\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: I just want to think about the point of order that has been called\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000122\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220297fd48a10342bfb98269203e3016ec\u0022\u003ECRAIG FOSS\u003C/span\u003E: Madam Chairperson, I point out that Part 2 has tables that include changes\u2014for example, from $60,000 to $70,000\u2014and it refers to section CS of the Act. When we look through pages 13 and onwards we can see changes to resident withholding tax, etc., that all change the underlying rates. I am questioning this bill and how it will be funded\u2014for example, how changing the threshold from $60,000 to $70,000 will be funded. If it cannot be funded, it is therefore inaccurate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000123\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222665c73f9d32445ea1adc84ec2b07a38\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, you may continue. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000124\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220917026b846246c6b80fe9f063eb4bf9\u0022\u003ECRAIG FOSS\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you very much, Madam Chairperson. The changes in Part 2 will show that as inflation gets further out of control, the real impact of these changes to New Zealand taxpayers will be diminished. Of course, over the last 8 or 9 years inflation has been driven up by the current profligately spending Minister.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000125\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EIt is also quite relevant to Part 2 to question how these changes will be funded. How will the $70,000 change to $75,000 in clause 13(2) be funded, because one of the Minister\u2019s tests is that we will not borrow to fund cuts? Yet page 104 of the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update shows us there will be $6.4 billion of extra funding/borrowing to fund the current Budget. That will lead to a $12.8 billion cash deficit in year 4, I believe. If that is not borrowing, I certainly do not know what is. There is also a very interesting table on page 102 of the update that Part 2 is very much linked to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000126\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EAgain, it is a pleasure to be voting for this bill, but I am just asking for more clarification, more honesty, and more transparency, because the same Minister who delivered this Budget and this bill has for many, many years argued the total opposite to what is contained in the bill. Even on the hustings at the last election, many Labour members opposite constantly argued against the merits of tax cuts. The Minister himself gave a speech, pretty much through gritted teeth, and we could tell that Labour really did not want to endorse what was in the Budget. Part 2 will be talked about a lot during the campaign\u2014a lot of numbers, and what is good for a family of three, a family with two kids, etc. But I say \u201CGive me truth, give me transparency, be upfront.\u201D, and if the Government is borrowing to fund these tax cuts, then I would like to see that, and see that very, very quickly. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022 data-id=\u00229bf177d16eed4815bf730e8a07cff8da\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000127\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00229bf177d16eed4815bf730e8a07cff8da\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD (Associate Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E I have a question: where is the amendment? Where is the amendment from the National Party? National has spent years saying it has a better tax package than the Labour Party has. National members go around the country day after day to say that they have a tax package that is better for the country than Labour\u2019s. There is one part of the bill where an amendment should be moved, and it is Part 2. I ask John Key: \u201CWhere is your package, mate? Why don\u2019t you front up with your package and tell us what you want to do?\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EI know why John Key has not put an amendment on the Table. The reason is that this Budget is more generous to low and middle income people than what the National Party had in its plan. Why can John Key not be big enough to stand up in the Chamber and admit that? Why can he not say the reason he has failed to put an amendment on the Table is that his amendment would not have cut taxes for low and middle income people; it would have put them up\u2014again. I ask John Key where his amendment is. This is the part. I know he is a relatively young and new member, but someone like Lockwood Smith could have briefed him on the point when he should put his amendment in. John Key is not putting in an amendment. That just shows how hopeless and disorganised the National Party Opposition is.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022 data-id=\u002261e3bccb65114f71b35bdc230a65902e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000129\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002261e3bccb65114f71b35bdc230a65902e\u0022\u003EPHIL HEATLEY (National\u2014Whangarei):\u003C/span\u003E Here we have \u201CTricky Trevor\u201D. \u201CTricky Trevor\u201D is asking why the National Party does not put up an amendment. Has he told the public and Parliament that he has a power to veto an amendment? No, he has not. Has he told the public and Parliament that he will waive that power to veto the amendment? I say to \u201CTricky Trevor\u201D that we have called his bluff. Why does he not waive the power to veto our amendment? No, \u201CTricky Trevor\u201D has been caught out. He is back-pedalling. I have seen cyclists in my time\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002296480ef93da84126bdfe019ea414ebb6\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Could you refer to members by their proper names and not by a\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000131\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223865eb0e664a4346a78e9638bd7a8dc8\u0022\u003EPHIL HEATLEY\u003C/span\u003E: Their common name.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000132\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002295d37e1f7fce496d928ce46c284c92b9\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: No\u2014by their proper names, as they are called in the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000133\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a5b68ec47acd48a7ace535e383df5654\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Chairperson. You may not have noticed but during your ruling Phil Heatley interjected on you very, very directly. I ask that he at least be asked to withdraw and apologise. Most Chairs in the history of this House would send someone out for that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000134\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d9c915e5d65b4a5b872ad573a44dcab3\u0022\u003EPHIL HEATLEY\u003C/span\u003E: I happily withdraw and apologise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000135\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022011f30f708074353b6ec3ce5e56af971\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000136\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fe48b22b0b53455b90085fd14f8c1275\u0022\u003EPHIL HEATLEY\u003C/span\u003E: I have seen cyclists going forward but I have never seen anyone back-pedal as quickly as Trevor Mallard just then. He called for National\u2019s amendment but he was not prepared to waive his power of veto over that amendment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000137\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003EWe are here in this Parliament debating Part 2, which is all about the personal tax cuts. Here we are, legislating for them to go through. Why? Because Michael Cullen does not trust himself not to reverse his position on these changes to tax rates\u2014which are a start and which National members say we will support\u2014and certainly his Labour Party colleagues do not trust him not to. So we have to pass this legislation through Parliament. Interestingly Lockwood Smith has clearly identified that necessity. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000138\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003EAs Lockwood Smith said in speaking to Part 1, the Government is not legislating the indexing of the tax credits\u2014we know that it will perhaps not keep that promise\u2014and it is not legislating the indexing of the in-work payments in respect of Working for Families, because it knows it may end up not keeping that promise. But it is legislating for the personal tax cuts because it has been caught out on that before, and it has caught itself reversing that decision before. So the Government is legislating for the tax cuts. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000139\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003EI also put to the Minister the question: \u201CAre you or are you not indexing the parental tax credits? Are you or are you not indexing the in-work payments?\u201D I guess will be a pre-election announcement. We are debating Part, which is all about the tax cuts that have come in Michael Cullen\u2019s ninth Budget. Did Michael Cullen give personal tax cuts 5 years ago when he had a surplus of somewhere between $5 billion and $7 billion? No. Did Michael Cullen give tax cuts 4 years ago when he had a surplus of somewhere between $6 billion and $8 billion of taxpayers\u2019 money?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000140\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221df3c6aca9d8436ba6467d5dbb851529\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: No.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000141\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e88e7a8a58a94be9b40e125b85da034a\u0022\u003EPHIL HEATLEY\u003C/span\u003E: Did Michael Cullen, 3 years, or 2 years, or even 1 year ago give personal tax cuts when he had surpluses of $9 billion, $10 billion, or $11 billion? No.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000142\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e0fdf8197d774afd9f1b9bdc1d18f540\u0022\u003EChris Tremain\u003C/span\u003E: He promised them and then reneged.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000143\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a73209adfc564570973c36919a8a037a\u0022\u003EPHIL HEATLEY\u003C/span\u003E: He did promise chewing gum tax cuts\u201D, but he reneged on them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000144\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003ESo what is the difference between this year, when we have troublesome economic growth, and the last 5 years\u2014up to 1 year ago\u2014when we had good economic growth? Why did he not give tax cuts in that environment when he is giving tax cuts in this environment? There is only one difference, and that is this year\u2019s general election and the threat of Phil Goff taking over the Labour Party and dumping him as Minister of Finance. Leader-in-waiting Phil Goff knows that Michael Cullen is the worst advertisement for the Labour Party going into this election, and he would not have him as his Minister of Finance. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000145\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003EI know Trevor Mallard was looking at the job of Minister of Finance. I know Trevor Mallard would have put up a different tax cut regime if he was the Minister of Finance. But because of his brawling and general bully-boy antics, he has lost that opportunity into the future. So here we are, looking at Part 2, on the personal tax cuts that could have come 4 or 5 years ago.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000146\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221583b5cb-f4e0-4981-97ba-193c338ff404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c2dd9f73cf6445c3ba0b7ef7479b3755\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs)\u003C/span\u003E: Just before I call the next speaker\u2014and it will be John Carter\u2014can I ask people to stick to Part 2. It is not enough to say: \u201CI am talking about Part 2.\u201D, and then take off on a broad pattern. Let us stick to Part 2. Let us set a new record.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022 data-id=\u0022ba70b570b3774d558dc04410428e6bc4\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000147\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ba70b570b3774d558dc04410428e6bc4\u0022\u003EJOHN CARTER (National\u2014Northland):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you for the challenge, Madam Chair. Obviously, though, we still have the convention of being allowed a wide-ranging 30 seconds. Let me just start off, because I would not want to do anything, if we are setting records, that actually changed them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000148\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022809a82bf36fc4931980a61ca069c2858\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Fifteen seconds left!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000149\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d2751a344a1f4befa9acc04d26172aee\u0022\u003EJOHN CARTER\u003C/span\u003E: No, that is the start of the start. This debate is all about honesty. It is about credibility. It is about this Government actually being credible or not. The first thing we found is that this Minister asked National to put an amendment on the Table and show what we have got. So we asked him to tell the public that he has the right to veto, and what did he do? He back-pedalled. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000150\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003EPart 2, which we are debating here and which the National Party supports, is all about tax rates and that sort of issue. What we need to know is whether there is credibility that this Minister and this Government are going to stick by the legislation. I remember being in here in 1989 when the past Labour Government came down to the House and said it had balanced the Budget\u2014the first time for years. It said it had a $89 billion surplus, and what did we find? We found there was a $1.5 billion deficit. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000151\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003EWe want to ask this Minister whether, when we are considering these tables in Part 2, they are actually credible. Can the Minister confirm for us that the Government is going to stick by them because they are based on honesty and credibility? I wonder whether the Minister can confirm that point. Quite honestly, I doubt it, given Labour\u2019s history. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000152\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003EI also say this: we have been in this House for nine of Michael Cullen\u2019s Budgets, and this is the first time we have had the opportunity to have this debate\u2014with one exception. We had a debate about the fact there were some promised tax cuts in 2005. I am sure the Chair may recall that. The fact is there was no bill, unfortunately\u2014unlike today where we have the schedules and the tables that we are debating. The fact is that a promise was made that was not kept, and that is the very point that this debate is all about and why we have to have this bill. If anybody wants to ask why we have this legislation, it is because it is making the Minister stand by what he told the House would happen in this budget. That is what this whole issue is about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000153\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003EI want to ask this question: if these tables are implemented as the bill says, then what impact does it have on people who are struggling in areas such as local government rates?\u201D. Will it actually help us in that regard at all? Will it help those people who are on fixed incomes? Will it help them meet the pressures that this Government has put on them in the way of increased bureaucracy in both central and local government? Will it mean that they will get some relief? I say that it will not. In fact, if we have a look at the whole issue that is being debated right now, none of it is actually going to help those sorts of people who have been struggling. The Government asked for, and got, an inquiry, the Shand inquiry into local government rates, and it has not responded to that at all.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000154\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003EI ask the Minister in the chair, the Hon Trevor Mallard, what impact these tables and the debate we are having today will have on the income of those people who are on fixed incomes and how it will help them to address their rates. I bet that the Minister cannot answer that question, because he knows what the answer will be. The answer is that it will have such a small impact that it will have no impact at all.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000155\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c5de66838e324586b5a9b217db8b8559\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s not related to the rates in Part 2 of this bill. It\u2019s different rates. This is about tax rates, not rates for local authorities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000156\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226984d661-9f65-4ed6-b29c-3285b598582d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f067706bc3084119accfcdebaa66caec\u0022\u003EJOHN CARTER\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, I understand that, but the question is whether this bill will have an impact on the people who are struggling. Will it have an impact on the people who are meeting constant demands from this Government because of increased bureaucracy? Will it have an impact on the people who are struggling because they have increased rates, because of the pressure this Government has put on local government? The simple answer is\u2014and the Minister does not have an answer to this\u2014no, it will not. It will not affect one diddly-squat the cost that local government is meeting. It will not affect one diddly-squat the people who are on a fixed income and who are struggling to meet their rates. I say to the Minister that it will not help them at all.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022 data-id=\u00221a39173385ec40fb9a115e47264fbf2b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000157\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221a39173385ec40fb9a115e47264fbf2b\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE (National):\u003C/span\u003E I want to ask a couple of questions on Part 2, but before I do so I will comment on what the Minister in the chair, the Hon Trevor Mallard, said\u2014about why the National Party does not have an amendment to the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill. It is pretty obvious. The reason is that the Minister has a financial veto, and unless he stands up and seeks leave to suspend that financial veto, then we should not talk about it any more. We should not talk about some sort of proposed amendment that National should be putting up; this is the Government\u2019s bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000158\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EThis is a Government bill. I want to ask the Minister whether the Government will borrow in terms of the tax rates set out in Part 2, and whether will it stick by them. In hard times will the Government stick by the rates that have been set out in Part 2? If, in 12 months from today oil is US$200 a barrel, will the Government stick to these rates? Is there any money left in the coffers for these rates? We have seen before that this Government has not been too forthcoming about the surpluses it has had. People are, as my colleague John Carter mentioned, facing tough times; people in Waitakere City are now facing a 7.4 percent increase in their rates. Where will their $12 go? Will it be enough for them to pay not only the extras out there but also, on top of that, for people in the Waitakere City area, the increase in rates? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000159\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EI want to take just a brief call, and I suppose there are three questions. Will we borrow for the tax cuts\u2014the tax rates\u2014in Part 2? Will the Government stick by them? National will certainly stick by them\u2014in fact, we will increase them, most probably. And what about some relief for those who are facing hard times in the city of Waitakere? It is all well and good to talk about the rates in this bill and about how they will help a lot of people, but how will the public and the community of places like \u014Cringi cope? How will they fare in terms of the tax rates before us? I suggest that these rates are not going to do a hell of a lot for the 29,000 people who have lost their jobs in the last quarter, because to get tax relief, surely, one must be working and, unfortunately, those people are not working at the moment. So I ask whether this Government will borrow, whether it will stick by these rates, and what relief there is for people such as those who live in Waitakere City, who are facing a 7.4 percent increase in their rates.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022 data-id=\u0022b773c61021e941bfa6807631aaeee75a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000160\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b773c61021e941bfa6807631aaeee75a\u0022\u003ETIM GROSER (National):\u003C/span\u003E Part 2 of the bill contains only a few words, but they are very important words. Essentially, they represent the Government\u2019s final response to a question that I think not only National, as the Opposition, has been asking but also New Zealanders have been asking now for 9 years. The question is, when will middle New Zealand share in the good times? When will middle New Zealand, which produced better results in at least the first 5 years of this Government\u2014the roots of those results, of course, predate this Government\u2014get an economic return on that? This legislation is the answer, 9 years on. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000161\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EI am searching for adjectives to describe yesterday. I could say \u201Cunusual\u201D, or perhaps \u201Cirresponsible\u201D, when I think about the Government\u2019s response. Actually, I think that the word I would choose would be \u201Cbizarre\u201D. I found it absolutely bizarre, when I thought about the importance of the message in Part 2 of this bill. We had Dr Cullen finally gritting his teeth and spitting out the figures that we see in Part 2. I thought that an extraordinarily clever cartoon that appeared in the Listener a few months ago said it all politically. It had the Prime Minister wearing a sheriff\u2019s hat and holding up a Colt .45 that was still smoking. Dr Cullen was lying on the ground, muttering the words: \u201COver my dead body.\u201D, and the Prime Minister was asking her caucus: \u201CHas anyone else got any objections to tax cuts?\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000162\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EYesterday, we had the strange spectacle of Dr Cullen spitting out tax cuts, which unfortunately, given his ideological conceptions, had to include some relief for the people he calls, what is it, the rich\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000163\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c58e8ee1eab745cabfe307870826387d\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Pricks.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000164\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002207a840f793fc4230be4c02653da1763e\u0022\u003ETIM GROSER\u003C/span\u003E: No, no; the word in the expression \u201CHe is a jolly good brick.\u201D\u2014is that the word I am searching for? Unfortunately, Dr Cullen had to swallow hard. He had to deliver at least something, for political reasons, after 9 years of denying the people of middle New Zealand a share in the good times that they have produced. It is not Governments that create wealth; it is the people out there in New Zealand who create wealth, and the Government can either facilitate or get in the way of that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000165\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EThen we had the Prime Minister\u2014and this is truly bizarre\u2014talking to New Zealand about her glory days, during the Springbok Tour and the Viet Nam War. Last night we had the Minister talking about, what was it, 16 image consultants that he thought he had found in the Opposition third-floor wing, and Minister Shane Jones was talking about some meaning in te reo of Mr Henare\u2019s first name, involving some informal slang. If I was sitting in the pub and not in Parliament, then I might have had a bit of a laugh with them. But I find it utterly bizarre that yesterday, which is the most important day in the political calendar barring election day itself, we had Ministers of the Crown and the Prime Minister not talking about the substance that we are addressing here in Part 2 of this bill but, essentially, either making jokes or irrelevant observations. It just raises the question of whether they have lived so long in their hermetically sealed zone of silence that they have completely excluded from their attention what is actually going on out there. When they give a $16-a-week tax cut to the average New Zealander, I wonder whether they realise that the cost of filling up a Toyota Corolla has doubled in the last 12 months. The $16 does not even cover that. Do they realise what it means to have had a $26 billion increase in spending in the last few years? Do they realise how much pressure is going on middle New Zealand as a result of having the second-highest interest rates in the developed world, and what that means for people in the mortgage belt of our country? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000166\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003ENew Zealanders have been told for 8 years that they could not have tax cuts, because it would mean higher interest rates, and then we have\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022 data-id=\u0022978f73d80a79498486d786acbd5fc3f8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000167\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022978f73d80a79498486d786acbd5fc3f8\u0022\u003ESUE MORONEY (Junior Whip\u2014Labour):\u003C/span\u003E I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. We are debating Part 2 of the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill. Part 1 was indeed a wide-ranging debate, but this part is quite clear. I wonder whether the member could stick to Part 2.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000168\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a93677a867184d06814ec3841f43627d\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: It does not matter anyway, because the member\u2019s time has expired. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003EPart 2 agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000170\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022c3ce8556bdad47489edf90c0ca3ffcde\u0022\u003EPart 3  Annual rates, consequential personal tax cuts amendments, and remedial matters\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000171\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ea7f7ed6d4084cb8b6db1083f9eb53d1\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Before I call the next speaker, I note that in this part, clause 61 includes a subclause setting out the annual provision that fixes rates of taxation, and that it is \u201Ccustomary to have a wide-ranging debate, at least over the field of taxation,\u201D in this context. That is covered by Speaker\u2019s ruling 103/4.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022 data-id=\u00220b96fb81bc8c4936b17ce4e1ce555491\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000172\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220b96fb81bc8c4936b17ce4e1ce555491\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National\u2014Rodney):\u003C/span\u003E Part 3 covers a very wide range of issues. I am sure members will be struggling to understand exactly what all the clauses in Part 3 do. I will leave it to some of my colleagues to address some of those wider tax issues that clause 61 will obviously enable, because I am particularly interested in making sure I understand what is going on here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000173\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003ENaturally, National supports the clarifications around charities. We support clause 20 and a number of the other clauses relating to charitable bequests and that sort of thing, and the clarifications around tertiary institutions and schools with regard to their charitable status. But I would particularly like the Minister to clarify for me the issues dealt with in clause 24. Clause 24 deals with the LC 1 section of the principal Act, and the LC sections involve tax credits for persons on low incomes. I understand why there will probably be a need for amendments to some of the LC sections, because the Government proposes with this legislation to lower the bottom tax rate from a rebate system on the first $9,500 to a statutory rate of 12.5 percent at varying stages\u2014initially at $14,000 and rising to $20,000. So I can understand the need to address some of the tax credits for persons on low incomes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000174\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EBut so that we know exactly what is happening here, I would particularly like the Minister to advise us on clause 26, \u201CChild\u2019s income\u201D, which amends section LC 3. Clause 26(1)(a), for example, which amends section LC 3, reduces the threshold figure from $351 to $321.75, and that affects the amount of credit that a child may get. Clause 26(2) further modifies section LC 3 in that the percentage is adjusted, naturally, from 15 percent\u2014the figure given in the formula in subsection (4) of section LC 3\u2014to 13.75 percent, and then to 12.5 percent. I would like the Minister to tell us what this actually does to the child\u2019s tax outcome. It has been quite difficult in the short space of time in which we have had the legislation to calculate the combined impact of those changes to tax credits for children. On the one hand I can see that the amount of money allowed is reduced, but on the other hand I can see that the percentage applied in the formula is also reduced. So it is possible that they will offset each other. Given that we do not have the opportunity to refer the bill to a select committee and question officials about exactly what the impact will be, I would appreciate the Minister making clear for us\u2014and it is important that the Government makes it very clear\u2014what these changes will do to a child\u2019s after-tax income. I accept they could be making no change, at all.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000175\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002241800ee10e754640888978ceac993226\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: That is the effect.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000176\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229d1d3978dc1449a4be190805f2e51569\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: If that is the case, I think that should be made very clear. It is very difficult to discern that from the series of changes that the legislation makes. But I take it from the Minister\u2019s interjection that with regard to a child\u2019s income, the combined effect of clauses 26(1) and (2) is that\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000177\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022426e2044bf8540f083ae9bd41e5daa34\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: You can still earn up to $45 a week, or $2,340 per annum, tax-free. That is effectively unchanged.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000178\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002276028d4140cd42099238f2ebf0d16783\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: So the situation for a child is that the reduction in the bottom tax rate does not actually reduce the amount of tax taken from a child at those income levels.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000179\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c9cdf3efee56411e98fdebac05195a07\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: It doesn\u2019t reduce the amount of tax\u2014kids end up not paying tax up to $45 a week, anyway.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000180\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229b8505fd026f4e5ab7923284465d0009\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: The Minister has just said that the effect of that is to make sure that the child pays no tax on income up to that level. If that is all it is doing, I am a little curious as to why clause 26(2) is involved. It changes a tax rate and not just a threshold. It seems to me that if it were a matter simply of making sure the child paid no income tax on a certain level of income, it would be easy to make that clear on the face of the bill. But because the subclause changes a percentage amount, it is hard to accept that that is all it is doing. That is why I am seeking further clarification.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000181\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b636bdd3a2c642489877f57708bdc78f\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Currently the tax rate is 13.75 percent. It drops to 12.5 percent next year, and this recognises that change, in order to maintain the status quo as to the effective level of the rebate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000182\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002211068b094f9143ae8fb7b50a8f0ab529\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: So it maintains the status quo as the effective level of the rebate that would apply.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000183\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022692a76e63ad94fb8b431df9449cada8a\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, that\u2019s right.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000184\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002222400cc4d63547fe92f7a00579798df2\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: OK, I accept that, and I thank the Minister for making that clarification to the issue around a child\u2019s income.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000185\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI ask him also whether there are any other changes, because a number of provisions in the LC section are repealed. Section LC 1, \u201CWhen net income under low income amount\u201D, is repealed by clause 24, and section LC 2 is repealed by clause 25. This is the kind of thing that we have to take the Minister\u2019s word on, because we do not have the chance to satisfy ourselves at a select committee. Section LC 2 covers the whole issue of the low income earner rebate\u2014the $9,500 limit and the 15 percent tax rate applying up to that level. We can only take the Minister\u2019s word that the repealing of section LC 2 covers only that. Even though section LC 2(4) goes to some specific issues that appear to go just beyond the $9,500 limit and the 15 percent rate, I trust that the repealing of the entire section LC 2 will leave us with no gaps. The point I am making is that the changes being made here are the kinds of things that a select committee should be able to look at, and the fact that this legislation is being forced through under urgency, when there is no need for it, means we have to ask some quite mundane questions to make sure that what is on the face of the legislation is in fact not producing any unexpected outcomes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000186\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EIf we go through some of the other significant changes in Part 3, we note that in clause 33 the fact that the Government has decided to bring forward the indexing of the family support payments into the middle of an income tax year now pushes pages of new legislation into our tax legislation. I put it to the Minister that clause 33, \u201CNew sections MF 4B and MF 4C\u201D, with all those pages of new legislation, is required because the Government has panicked and brought forward the indexing of the family support payments. I take it that that is what clause 33 concerns, and that all those pages are necessary in our legislation simply to allow the adjustments to family tax credits to happen in the middle of the year. I think the Minister is nodding that all those pages are required in order to do so.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000187\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cfa526e264bf4cfda17f6df45eeba981\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: And to make sure that we don\u2019t under-collect so that people have to pay back later.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000188\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227518598974ab485e88c56157af72de7b\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: I accept that point, too, because with the Government\u2019s Working for Families package, this has become a real problem. Families are being over-collected from and are having to pay back. Even before these changes are made, that is an inherent problem with the Working for Families tax credit system.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000189\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI intend to give my colleagues a chance to raise further issues, because as we go on through Part 3 we see that a number of amendments are made to the principal Act that relates to GST ratio methods for tax payments, and provisional tax payments. There are a number of changes there. And, again, the dilemma is that these are quite technical changes\u2014some of which, I assume, are fixing up problems in the old Act. I think the Minister owes it to the Committee to explain in more detail some of the large number of changes that Part 3 makes. We have had only a few hours to look at this legislation, including time overnight, and it is extraordinarily difficult to actually sort out exactly what these changes are making. I think the Minister should give us a greater explanation of some of them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022 data-id=\u00227dc2c36033e443e3a64f2bf877773d21\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000190\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227dc2c36033e443e3a64f2bf877773d21\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD (Associate Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E I accept some of the points that the member, Lockwood Smith, makes. There is some volume, and some formulae in the bill do take a little bit of working through in order to make sure they are right but I give the member the assurance that a lot of thought has gone into this. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000191\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EI accept that having these extra pages of legislation is a result of bringing in changes for half a tax year rather than for a full tax year. The Government made the decision, and, I might say, it was finally tuned\u2014not on the basis of need; need was pretty clearly established. Anyone who looks at petrol prices and the prices of some items of food\u2014the cost of some items of food has dropped\u2014knew that it did have to come in on 1 October if it was practically possible. The approach that is taken here, in our opinion, makes sure that that is the case. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000192\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EIn order to be clear in response to the questions that Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith was making about sections LC1 and LC2, I point out that these are the low-income rebate arrangements, which create an effective tax rate of 15c and 21c. They have been replaced by new statutory rates of 12.5c and 21c, as, I think, members are becoming increasingly aware.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022 data-id=\u0022021054026b7148f08e0e67340c1e46d2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022021054026b7148f08e0e67340c1e46d2\u0022\u003ECRAIG FOSS (National\u2014Tukituki):\u003C/span\u003E As I rise to speak on Part 3, I note that we are allowed to have a wide-ranging discussion, and I will do a mix of both talking widely and talking about specific matters. First of all, it is a bit of a tradition and a simple courtesy in the Committee stage to thank the officials for all the hard work they have done around the select committee inquiries, and in giving us advice on a bill as a robust select committee process examines and investigates the bill. Sadly, I cannot thank the officials for that in this instance, because this bill is going through the House under urgency and has never been seen by a select committee. But I do heartily congratulate Treasury officials, because obviously their ideological burping has finally been heard. Perhaps it is no longer ideological burping, at least in the eyes of the Minister of Finance, who, through gritted teeth, delivered this Budget yesterday. He has finally taken Treasury advice, which, when I first came into this Parliament, was robustly included in its briefing to the incoming Minister. I think that that advice was in the Reserve Bank\u2019s briefing as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000194\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EAlso, a select committee has not had the opportunity to ask for and get further advice on this bill. As we glance at the bill, we know we have really had it for only about 3 or 4 hours, in terms of parliamentary time. Normally we would ask the officials to tell us about, say, clause 59 or clause 60. I suggest that the Minister get up and explain the clauses in this part, because they are all cross-referenced to the various income tax Acts on the Table there\u2014great doorstops that they are. We are not able to cross-reference every clause here, and the provisions here are massively wide, ranging from fix-ups to the changes announced in the Budget. Who quite knows what might be lying between the lines here? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000195\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EOne thing that was missing from the Minister\u2019s comments on the bill, even when he spoke on this part\u2014and someone introduced this point earlier, in the debate on Part 1\u2014was passion. There was no passion. There was no vision. The Minister talked about what is written in the bill, but it is actually what is between the lines that is important. As New Zealanders know, this bill was introduced with incredible reluctance, and if any one doubts that he or she needs only to read any speech make by the Minister of Finance and his associates over the past 8 or 9 years. I will come back to that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000196\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI refer now to clause 54, \u201CPortfolio tax rate entity to give statement to investors and request information\u201D. I will just touch on the basics and ask the Minister whether he would like to clarify that clause. I presume that it relates to portfolio investment entities, etc. After the last Budget I had a chat to the Minister of Revenue. I know that his nirvana is \u201C30, 30, 30\u201D\u2014a top corporate rate of 30c in the dollar, a top personal rate of 30c in the dollar, and a top trust rate of 30c in the dollar. Well, actually, this bill goes nowhere near to addressing the complexity of the legislation on taxation, or the need to spend more than would otherwise be necessary on accountants and officials in order to find the most efficient tax position for individuals, companies, and trusts. So the \u201C30, 30, 30\u201D issue has not even been addressed here. As I said, I recall that after the last Budget we had quite a discussion. Obviously, the Minister of Revenue has got some wins in the bill. His speech yesterday about the intent of taxation was very good, but he obviously has not won on this one. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000197\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI would also like to touch on clause 58, \u201CKiwiSaver Act 2006\u201D. The KiwiSaver Bill was rushed through under urgency\u2014I am sure there was urgency\u2014and then various amendments and changes came through, again, under urgency. As corporates out there were struggling to adjust their payrolls in order to account for KiwiSaver\u2014to take account of the contribution rates; 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent, and 4 percent, etc\u2014issues and problems came about simply because the legislation had been rushed though under urgency and had not been thought through. Yes, we did have officials here, but the issues slipped past them at that time. There is a lot of complexity in the system; it has various rates, some of which are half-yearly. I appreciate what the Minister said about smoothing it out come 1 April next year. Yes, further trees have been lost for the sake of this bill, but, perhaps, for the benefit of personal tax cuts, that is a small price to pay. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000198\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI turn to clause 44, \u201CResident passive income\u201D. The clause talks about dividends, but I cannot quite find it at the moment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000199\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022326efc0e90684cdc9b5d423f1ea43e2a\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Which clause?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000200\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e54cac70643c4184acc733c37ae19695\u0022\u003ECRAIG FOSS\u003C/span\u003E: Well, let us go to clause 39, \u201CMethods for calculating provisional tax liability\u201D. Again, I wonder whether the Minister could expand on that a bit further. Perhaps it synchronises with GST provisional tax dates, etc. Again, we do not have the luxury of asking officials and advisers for further in-depth information about these various clauses. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000201\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EIt is very important to note that, yes, the Ministers may be going around the traps and talking up that alignment there, but what is being lost sight of in this debate is the fact that provisional tax payments for this year are down by some 10 or 15 percent, from what I have seen. Sorry\u2014the payments are up, but the estimations of profit and loss, at least up in Hawke\u2019s Bay, are down by about 10 or 15 percent. That is a shocker. Fair enough, it is mentioned in the Budget that revenue is tracking down and the economy is tracking down. That does not quite align with the GDP growth going up to about 2.8 percent, which I think the Budget says somewhere will occur. I guess my point is that this measure, again, does not really deal with the hard side of things; it deals with one side of the equation. The key part of the equation here is the ability of companies and New Zealanders to pay\u2014their ability to manage and to fund their way through the commodity booms, etc. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000202\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI will make just a couple of other points. I refer to clause 29, \u201CAdjustment when person is non-resident for part of tax year\u201D. I ask the Minister or the officials to clarify that. Does that include, for example, the 70,000-odd Kiwis who have left New Zealand this year? How does it apply to them? I presume that most of them will be in that position. Once the Kiwis who left to join the other 500,000 Kiwis in Australia get their adjustment back for part of a tax year here, plus the benefits of an income in Australia that is one-third higher than here, their New Zealand tax return for this year, subject to clause 29, will be very interesting. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000203\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI can see that your finger is on the button, Mr Chairperson, but I have a final question. I would like the Minister to expand a wee bit on clause 31, \u201CMeaning of charitable or other public benefit gift\u201D. The brief talks about schools, etc., but would it include things such as an interest-free loan? Is it tightly tied in with tertiary education institutions or, in fact, is there the ability for someone to arbitrage that and provide, say, an interest-free loan outside the tax net? I do not know whether that is the case. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000204\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EThis speech may be going all over the show, but that is simply because we have not had the democratic process involving Treasury officials at the select committee, an independent adviser, and the Eichelbaum process being followed, so that we can address these issues and have robust taxation legislation in New Zealand. Thanks, Mr Chair.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022 data-id=\u0022557b9f9a8c364b1caa167e8efa4d5252\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022557b9f9a8c364b1caa167e8efa4d5252\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN (National\u2014Napier):\u003C/span\u003E It is always a pleasure to speak after the member for Tukituki, Craig Foss. We work together pretty hard to back the Bay\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000206\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fda624d580a54314a488a4f6fb38ddeb\u0022\u003EHon Shane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: What about the health board?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000207\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d36f16ff07154ef895df551e5f6fc6f8\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: I can tell the member that we backed the health board, too. Its members were unjustifiably dismissed, as the member well knows. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000208\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003EI am here this morning to talk about Part 3, and I want to focus on three clauses in particular\u2014clauses 21, 22, and 61. I would like the Minister in the chair, the Hon Trevor Mallard, to take a call on clauses 21 and 22. We are rushing this bill through the House under urgency without its going through the select committee process. I would like the Minister to take a call on these clauses because I have not had the opportunity to have them fully explained to me. Clause 21 deals with charities and business income, and clause 22\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000209\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022601050f545ab47f6b889ef39b4366685\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. Has there been a change to the Standing Orders or to Speakers\u2019 Rulings to suggest that we cannot sit all the way through tonight, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon on this issue? Unless that is the case, why are members getting up and saying that we are rushing things through today? We would have all tomorrow to consider it, as well, if they were not so work-shy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000210\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d9e412592a584c5ba0435d1926e2b1c6\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Peters, you have been here a long time and you know the rules.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000211\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a1d97bb9c7ea48b0a0728cb2142ab654\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: Some would say that the member has been here far too long.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000212\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f0656664f24648d29d01cbaed9cd97f0\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: Will he stand in Tauranga?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000213\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c92ae285d9cf4ec4b6bd6a37981170e4\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, will he stand in Tauranga? That is what we want to know. Will you stand in Tauranga?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000214\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fb0bbdba6eed4f89912c5a691dce1cca\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: Ask Bob.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000215\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227d85a33a5940409eb8999d8795646a7b\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: No, no, Bob has decided not to stand in Tauranga. We are asking you the question.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000216\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f1c3ea315b1245e1a77975358ea5dd86\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000217\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223c40cc1e749844cd969d58e21b0f6ac0\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: It is a wide-ranging debate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000218\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022457c9f7776124f53991761321dec6286\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. I think it is relatively important that when one is sitting in the whip\u2019s chair one does not refer to the Chair in that way. I am absolutely certain that Mr Robertson is not going to run in Tauranga.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000219\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a2d13c9219e94264902b277fb1073490\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000220\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ba00f07985f44683a68c91bd0d532e6c\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. You have allowed a reasonably wide-ranging debate, but it must focus on the legislation before the Committee. More particularly, these members have a fair degree of effrontery. They do not have a candidate for Tauranga themselves, because \u201CBob the Builder\u201D became \u201CBob the Quitter\u201D\u2014he jumped before he was pushed\u2014but they have the audacity to ask where our candidate is. What a cheek that is. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000221\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a924bd9a8f794208b15587317465f21c\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Peters.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000222\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002200340cfb88f349848f609f54ddc9fc2b\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. You know very well, Mr Chairperson, that it is inappropriate for Mr Peters to refer to Bob as \u201CBob the Quitter\u201D. Of course, I am not raising a point of order on that\u2014I think the public can draw their own conclusions because the member, as I have said before, has become \u201CWinston the Bitter\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000223\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c61fff90f0cf4d588cce6e8b978e484f\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: No, no.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000224\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022da1ee8d95f3c4fcaa8d2019317ee8739\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: My real point of order is this, Mr Chairperson. Mr Mallard intervened and suggested that you would not be standing in Tauranga. I do not think that was the right thing to do, because no one should suggest that you would be standing anywhere other than in the seat that you have held for a very, very long time\u2014I understand that it is approaching 25 years. But what I would like to know is whether it is true that the Labour Party is trying to move you on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002272bb8cba475c4500bd8d79c6e99001fa\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: This is a wide-ranging debate, at least over the field of taxation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000226\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b13803ca6b0944dcaab149350e282b4c\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: The point is that if the member were actually standing in Tauranga he would be able to speak about this bill in relation to\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c524a14cfe1a4b74aa0779d03362440a\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. There have been three points of order on this matter, and one attempt at a point of order by Gerry Brownlee. That said, the member should know what your restriction is, Mr Chairperson, which is that he gets back to the bill. But in his first sentence he started up again. I know that his party is filled with a bunch of slow learners, but four warnings should be enough.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000228\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022185665ac1741440cb4cee652a45d757b\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I remind members of Speaker\u2019s ruling 103/4. It is a wide-ranging debate but it is over the field of taxation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000229\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c40913f8f5494d41a8a5d6272fee5712\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: I get back to the bill, and in particular to clause 21, \u201CCharities: business income\u201D, and clause 22, \u201CCharitable bequests\u201D, and if the member was standing in Tauranga, he would be able to take a call on those clauses on behalf of the people of Tauranga, and he would be able to ask the question that I am about to ask the Minister\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000230\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f713958e4e744385a3aa522757fac7c4\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. I may have been a bit presumptuous in thinking the member was just slow. He is now being downright obtuse. You have told him five times that he cannot do that, and he is back doing it again. If he cannot focus on the legislation before him, or get a colleague to explain it to him, then perhaps he should pass his speaking time to someone who can.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000231\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227a13a2fd78c742309bf6528533bd62eb\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Peters. I can see that if this continues it will lead to disorder. I ask the member to desist.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000232\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022280c9cf1fd834f6a96b588b25259e9d0\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: I am speaking on clauses 21 and 22, in relation to how they will work in Hawke\u2019s Bay. I represent the Napier electorate, and I am going to ask some questions on behalf of my constituents from Napier and the constituents of Mr Craig Foss in Tukituki. I refer to the likes of the Napier Community House, DOVE Hawke\u2019s Bay Inc. , the Disability Information Trust, the Red Cross Society, the Stroke Foundation of New Zealand, the Multiple Sclerosis Society (HB) Inc, and Presbyterian Support. Can the Minister explain exactly how clauses 21 and 22 will affect them? Without the opportunity for submissions to be considered at a select committee hearing, I am interested to know how these two clauses will impact upon those charities in Napier and Tukituki. I think we will be all the better if the Minister can explain that. Unfortunately, in this situation there will not be the opportunity for those organisations to make a submission on the provisions, which will have a major impact on them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000233\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225a9fd30b9c3c4a378dd9fd632f5d1b48\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: I am happy to. Shall I do that now?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000234\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222d2e92ac6db14aaeaf1a8d879df8929e\u0022\u003ECHRIS TREMAIN\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, that would be good.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022 data-id=\u002257edfd3bb0de458cbd65dc0b2c51311c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000235\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002257edfd3bb0de458cbd65dc0b2c51311c\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD (Associate Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E Very briefly, I think that many members are aware that the Charities Commission has been slower than all of us would have liked in doing registrations. We were concerned that its slowness might stop some organisations that would otherwise be registered as a charitable entity from being able to avail themselves of the benefits of being so registered. So we have created a new category called \u201Ctax charity\u201D, which effectively says that these organisations have taken reasonable steps, that they are in the process of registering, and will therefore qualify on that basis after a period of time. It will not harm any organisation in the Hawke\u2019s Bay and it will help those who have been caught up in the slow process.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000236\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EPart 3 agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000237\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022c5df7007d90543bbb02cced3ae251705\u0022\u003EClauses 1 and 2\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022 data-id=\u00228effb55eccac432ab3da2e54693888f4\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000238\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228effb55eccac432ab3da2e54693888f4\u0022\u003ENATHAN GUY (National):\u003C/span\u003E We are in urgency today talking about the title of the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill. I think there could be several options for a title. The bill could be called the \u201CCatch-up Budget that Doesn\u2019t Catch up\u201D. Michael Cullen has delivered a catch-up Budget\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000239\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221368ba6c-25be-40f6-a2a0-8f81e1f78b79\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227ff90e1b0f954a93bfc65005ae73e38e\u0022\u003EChris Tremain\u003C/span\u003E: Begrudgingly.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000240\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002211b6c50648e74b319155cc132de63589\u0022\u003ENATHAN GUY\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, begrudgingly. It is a catch-up bill that does not catch up. There is a second possible title for this bill: the \u201CWait 9 Long Years and Get a Jerrycan Full of Petrol on 1 October Bill\u201D. The title of the bill could refer to the fact that people have waited 9 long years for a tax cut on 1 October that for the average wage earner will be 16 bucks. I worked out that that is about a jerrycan full of petrol. That could be another title for this bill. The third option I thought about was the \u201CElection Bribe Tax Cut Just a Couple of Weeks Before the Polling Booth Bill\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000241\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EThis bill is too little too late. New Zealanders are now screaming about the domestic costs they have to meet in their household budgets. Dr Cullen, after 9 years, has delivered this bill into Parliament against the wishes of a whole lot of his caucus colleagues. When he announced the tax cuts yesterday\u2014for those who were not listening\u2014he did not get any applause from any of his caucus colleagues, because a whole lot of them do not believe in them. Michael Cullen does not believe in them. His track record is that when he came into office in 2000, he lifted taxes. In 2005 he promised the \u201Cchewing gum tax\u201D cuts and he could not deliver them. He reneged on his promise. That is why we are in urgency now. We have to get legislation in place, because, with Michael Cullen\u2019s track record, no one believes him. He has been led screaming and kicking by a chunk of his caucus to deliver tax cuts. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000242\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EMichael Cullen is ideologically opposed to these tax cuts. Let us look at Michael Cullen\u2019s four tests for tax cuts: there has to be enough fiscal headroom; there has to be no borrowing\u2014we know he is borrowing for these; they have to be non-inflationary\u2014we do not know whether they will push up inflation; and they must not lead to inequalities\u2014and we do not know that, as well. National is saying that Michael Cullen\u2019s and Labour\u2019s track record on this is pathetic. Labour has been led screaming and kicking, after 9 years, to deliver a tax cut that will enable someone in the spring to mow the lawns with a jerrycan of fuel. People will be able to go down to the service station in October and fill up their jerrycans with about 6 litres of fuel. By then the forecast is that it will cost them about 16 bucks, which is their tax cut. It is absolutely pathetic. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EWe see the waste in this Government\u2019s spending, where it is spending $600 million through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to do something with an embassy building in Stockholm. There is a whole lot of waste, which we believe New Zealanders should focus on, and we are going to do a lot better. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000244\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EThe history of this Government is pathetic. People are showing that by voting with their feet. In the last 12 months, 44,000 people have left New Zealand to go to Australia indefinitely\u201444,000. That is the whole number of voters in the Kapiti and Horowhenua area combined. Our youngest and brightest have gone to Australia in the last 12 months. [Interruption] Does Mr Jones know why they have gone? They have gone because they are getting one-third higher wages, their pay packets are better by a third, and they are paying less tax. This Budget will not turn those people around, because they do not believe that Labour can deliver. They do not believe that $16 for the average hard-working New Zealander is enough. Is that going to be enough to keep them in New Zealand? We need to re-incentivise people in this country. We need to tell them that it is fantastic here. We need to create the right incentives in education, to grow our wages, and to have a longer-term tax package.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022 data-id=\u002267d0f9c19c1d45eb952ae113b5231f8b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000245\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002267d0f9c19c1d45eb952ae113b5231f8b\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader\u2014NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E I have to say how astonished I am to hear the party that has spent its last 20 years preaching the value of globalism, internationalism, getting offshore investment\u2014whether or not it is a corporate raid on any company in New Zealand\u2014that is allowing in all sorts of immigrants in their tens and tens of thousands, and that has argued for everything to do with the international world, now has its members get up and say they want to retreat. They do not want to be part of the real world, when it comes to diplomacy and trade. If their idea is that they are going to go out on the campaign trail and win the campaign of tax cuts on the basis of stopping there being an embassy in Sweden, then they have lost the plot entirely. Worse still, they are the very worst specimens of what used to be a great political party. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000246\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EI can recall Brian Talboys\u2014as can Dail Jones\u201430 years ago making this very speech. When the isolationists in the National Party who wanted to retreat from the real world got up at a conference and were starting to argue about why we were involved here, there, and everywhere else, he said: \u201CIf we want to retreat to New Zealand, wrap our blanket up around our heads, and hide in the dark, that would be a disaster.\u201D That is what they are saying right now. The National Party members\u2019 idea of how they are going to ply their trade, our identity, and our reputation around the world is by putting no money into it. All I have done is restore the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to have the level of personnel it used to have when National once had a decent leader. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000247\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EThe National Government started the cuts in 1992, and when it had finished the ministry had declined in real terms by 40 percent. No wonder our trade is not what it should be. No wonder we are not exporting what we should be exporting. The reason is that we do not have people on the ground where we should have them. Some of the successful countries are Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. They are the five parts of the most successful regional economy in the world. They are our size, and we could learn a lot from them. We should have been there a long, long time ago. That is why we are making the investment. But if John Key, fresh out of plying junk bonds on the London stock market, thinks he can talk about this country\u2019s international reputation and engagement, then that is an outrage. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000248\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EI thought that people like Lockwood Smith, who pretends to know something about trade, might have been in support of this. Oh, no, he would like us to be in the Philippines with all those millions of people, with but two people on the ground. If one gets sick, there is one person left. If one has to go out of town, there is nobody in the embassy. That is exactly what the National Party had in mind. So if its members think they are going to win this debate on this issue of the value of these tax cuts, on the basis of being able to deliver more on making massive savings in the area of foreign affairs and trade, then, firstly, they are betraying their country; secondly, they are destroying this country\u2019s potential in the future; and, thirdly, we will spend decades trying to turn the situation back towards New Zealand\u2019s improvement. Brian Talboys knew that. Holyoake knew that. Marshall knew that. But then, of course, that was a time when there was a party that was led by real leaders and had a fine front bench, comprising people who were stand-out characters. Look at the front bench today\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000249\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f4da5811-fb5a-4721-b57a-518446bd7796\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222d39706571e547e8ab635170818c745a\u0022\u003EDail Jones\u003C/span\u003E: Where are they?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000250\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223c41f338c09f4f32ad571c9d7d08a698\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: It would not matter whether or not they were there. It would still be the same value. But there is no one of calibre, ability, or experience. In fact, it is a disgrace that with all that money\u2014$7 million of taxpayers\u2019 funds and all the Business Roundtable funding, and all the capital markets money\u2014those members are the best they can produce. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000251\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EIt is a disgrace that with all that resource they have now produced a party with people who are so bereft of imagination and so lacking in understanding of the economy that they think that if they can somehow touch enough greed and avarice out there amongst people who think they can get tax cuts, whether or not they are affordable, then they are not going to win the next election. Mind you, I always knew that. I always knew they never had the ability to win the next election, and I will tell every pollster right now that the talent that is required to win the next election does not lie on the National Party front benches. That is why they will not make it. They can display all the cock-a-hoop feelings they have now, but as time unfolds, month on month to the election, just watch the polls close. We shall see the kind of extremism they will go to, even to the extent that they now agree with my immigration policy\u2014do they not? I was a racist 10 years ago. Now it is their policy. On M\u0101ori affairs and equality of law, I was anti-M\u0101ori. I was a M\u0101ori basher. Now it is their policy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022 data-id=\u0022b55bc5c8ee474d8c87ccfabb18d7c90e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000252\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b55bc5c8ee474d8c87ccfabb18d7c90e\u0022\u003EDr WAYNE MAPP (National\u2014North Shore):\u003C/span\u003E I have to say to the Minister of Foreign Affairs that he has supped at Helen\u2019s cup altogether too long. If he thinks that Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and Finland are the best examples for New Zealand, then he is simply wrong. If he thinks that the best thing that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade can do is to build an embassy in Stockholm as a solution for our trading problems, he is simply wrong. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000253\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EWhat is demonstrated by this is that that party, New Zealand First, is voting against the China - New Zealand free-trade agreement\u2014the agreement that actually promises the most for New Zealand\u2019s trade, with the fastest-growing economy in the world. And what is he doing? He is voting against it. It is the prize of his ministry, and what is he doing? He is voting against it. I say to Mr Peters not to tell us what we think about wise expenditure in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I say to Mr Peters to go and ask the voters of Tauranga whether they think the highest priority for New Zealand Government expenditure is a new embassy in Stockholm. How many of them will say: \u201COh yes, Mr Peters, you are absolutely right. We clearly have to vote for you on that basis.\u201D? I say to Mr Peters that he is welcome to try that line and see how far he gets. The truth is that Mr Peters has spent too much time on the ninth floor and obviously has been seduced. That is all I can say. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000254\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EThis bill is clearly at the very heart of Labour\u2019s Budget. Actually, in truth there was not much else in the Budget, except wasteful expenditure. I would have to nominate Stockholm as being at the top of the list. The second one I would nominate is the $47 million spent on rebuilding Government House in Wellington. I have been up there a couple of times. It does not seem very bad to me. Quite a bit of money has been spent on it over the last few years. Yet this Government has issued a press release, saying that this is a really important, Government House is part of New Zealand\u2019s cultural heritage.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000255\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002287cc9d3f86ed48e7bb53a9165b5ce35b\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Extravagance!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000256\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223ec8a2a254004a1d81465a365e1cbe51\u0022\u003EDr WAYNE MAPP\u003C/span\u003E: That is exactly what it is. It is extravagance, and the public will see right through that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000257\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003ENew Zealanders can make a different set of choices about sensible Government expenditure. The choice is not between Labour and all its $47 million, and this is the tax cut; or National and no more doctors, no nurses, and tax cuts. That is not the choice that New Zealanders will be facing. We can sensibly reprioritise expenditure and do better than this tax cut. For National, this is but the first instalment. We will announce, in our own good time, when we will have our tax cut package, and New Zealanders will have an absolutely clear choice on that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000258\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EOne of the interesting things about this Budget is the choice that Labour made on broadband. It is much more interested in 19th century technology and spending $620 million on that, plus, apparently, hundreds of millions of dollars more, than spending $1 billion on broadband. Broadband is National\u2019s choice. We have said clearly to the public of New Zealand that National will spend $1.5 billion on broadband. What has Labour said? It will spend $300 million to $500 million. That is the interesting issue. I listened to the speeches made by Mr Key and Helen Clark. Helen Clark spent her time reminiscing about the Springbok Tour, about the Viet Nam War, and about Sir Robert Muldoon\u2019s numerous Budgets. She is very much mired in the past, so it is not surprising that she would spend her time focusing on 19th century technology. What will National do instead? National is looking forward to 21st century technology, and that is why it is prepared to spend $1.5 billion on broadband to power this country ahead. That is the symbol of the Budget: Labour, 19th century technology; New Zealand First, embassies in Stockholm; National, broadband technology for the 21st century. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000259\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EA very clear issue in this election will be how we deal with the next decade, rather than the 19th century. New Zealanders will have a very easy choice to make\u2014a bigger tax cut than Labour will deliver, a bigger tax cut than New Zealand First will deliver, and 21st century broadband technology.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022 data-id=\u002246edef53152c4af3a5cf8a3a9de92964\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000260\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002246edef53152c4af3a5cf8a3a9de92964\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN (National\u2014Northcote):\u003C/span\u003E If Dr Cullen were really being honest about this Budget, if he were telling us what he really thinks, he would be calling this the \u201Ctax cuts are largely offered as a political bribe, not because of beneficial economic or social effects Budget\u201D. That is what he has said in the past. He has been on record many, many times, noting his aversion to tax cuts. I can tell members that there will not be anyone happier about this Budget than Shane Jones. He knows that Labour is going down the drain, and this is its last gasp. Shane Jones will be very, very well positioned, perhaps with his friend Annette King, to launch a coup straight after the election. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000261\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EMark Burton, of course, will not be quite so happy. He knows he is toast. He will be out of here. He will not be here. We can look at the Taupo electorate and say that it will not be a Labour seat after the next election. He will be getting out the retirement plan and calculating his parliamentary superannuation. He will be very concerned. Of course, there will not be much room for people like Louisa Wall to get back into the Labour caucus, as a result of this bill. She is the promising future of the Labour Party but, on the back of this Budget, she probably will not be returned. We knew long ago that Jill Pettis would be going. Sue Moroney, who is a Labour whip, is supposed to be coming back into Parliament, on the back of this bill. But I say that things will be looking pretty shaky for her, too. She has the big smile, but it is with gritted teeth.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000262\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222cbed10f7dd041f28743417eeb6532e4\u0022\u003ESue Moroney\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. One of the National members complained previously that he did not want to be here, because he felt the bill was being rushed through. We now have a member on his feet who is not even talking to the bill. Can he please speak to the bill?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000263\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224eb6d157439741e1a60fde1a1e72b444\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I say to the member that although this is a wide-ranging debate, one always has to be careful it does not lead to disorder.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000264\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d3662067e4324607959477e4441290bf\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN\u003C/span\u003E: Members can tell that what I was saying was hitting the nail right on the head, because Sue Moroney immediately rose to take a point of order. It shows that we are right on the button. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000265\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EWe heard a wide-ranging speech from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was talking about embassies in Stockholm and what happened in the 1990s, but I can tell members that the people of New Zealand are concerned about what is happening in New Zealand today. They are worried about the real concerns of real New Zealanders, such as filling up the gas tank at the petrol station. [Interruption] These interjections from the Minister of Foreign Affairs are the best reason I have heard yet for us to install breathalysers in the lobbies. We heard all this stuff. He had his head in the wine box during that speech. [Interruption] Here we go. I knew this would happen.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000266\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bdeaf040f1a341cb98dbcb080bdeb41d\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. I tell that member that I want an apology right now, and if I do not get it I will nail about four of his colleagues. If that is the kind of conversation\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000267\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022628a9aaeee0a4c7292b8bae514fb5f11\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000268\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022851d8858dd134584847c25254befb24d\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: The member cannot make that sort of comment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000269\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225568d9ca0e394c239dbcbe1197f97354\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Is the member raising a point of order?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000270\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dbb237a3e68048bf9058edbbd0f5d839\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: That man said something totally defamatory that if it were said outside this Chamber would be slanderous. He is not going to get away with it. I tell him that either he apologises now, fulsomely, or I will nail four or five of his colleagues and he will be responsible. If he wants to throw that sort of dirt, he is going to get it back and in double measure.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000271\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220ea5e8e5756547a5b24316f348ac89dc\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: If the member made any defamatory remarks and exception has been taken, then he should withdraw and apologise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000272\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002253fc57996216468a9236e55b420037ac\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN\u003C/span\u003E: I withdraw and apologise. We have to sit here all the time and hear stuff about cigars and cigar smoke, but when we give a little bit of dirt back to a member who has been sitting here for 30 years, he is on his feet, whingeing and complaining, and crying to the Chair. Is it not amazing? I would have thought that after 30 years a member could sit there and grin and bear it, and take what comes his or her way in a robust debate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000273\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ded8030ba7ed43a1a1a7d92f167121fe\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: But can you?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000274\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222ff02454db9447fd84448444d996bea0\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN\u003C/span\u003E: Exactly! Can I? The record will show it. I come back to the tax cuts. Of course David Benson-Pope will not be here, but for totally different reasons.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000275\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022289e821235a24cc0a09af2215d6f3df7\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002276cbcfcb7bb948f29e72702c340db13a\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN\u003C/span\u003E: I said I was coming back to the tax cuts. I have another word on the title. How about this as a quote from the 2000 Labour Party conference: \u201CTax cuts are a path to inequality. They are the promises of a visionless and intellectually bankrupt people.\u201D I say that that pretty much sums up the Labour Party. Annette King is sitting in the chair. She has her arms folded. She is not very happy, because she knows that this is a Budget that shows how desperate and down on its luck Labour is. It has thrown the kitchen sink at this Budget. Its members know that there was nothing left for Labour but to put absolutely everything it could in this Budget. They know, in the bottom of their hearts, that this will not be enough to win the next election. They know that the phone is off, in middle New Zealand; the phone is off amongst their core Labour supporters\u2014in fact, it has been ripped out of the wall and thrown into the swimming pool. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000277\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EPeople have had enough of this crowd. When I go out door-knocking in Northcote, the mood now is completely different from what it was in 2005. People are saying \u201CYou\u2019ve got to get rid of this mob.\u201D They are also saying \u201CI\u2019ve voted Labour for the last seven elections. Never again! I have been let down by this crowd.\u201D We can see that the heads are down now. Labour members are looking in their newspapers. They know that it is true.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022 data-id=\u002228baafd888b6449586ac06a97b7bdf79\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000278\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002228baafd888b6449586ac06a97b7bdf79\u0022\u003EHon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National):\u003C/span\u003E In speaking to the title of this bill, I ask whether the title should be the \u201CLast Chance Saloon (Tax Reduction) Bill\u201D?. That title would suit the bill better, particularly given the cartoon on the front of the Dominon Post this morning entitled \u201CLast Chance Saloon\u201D, because that is about all it is. This is the last chance saloon and the New Zealand public have closed the door on that Government, and do members wonder that they have done that? No, absolutely not. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000279\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EFor 9 years Dr Cullen has sat on that side of the Chamber and enjoyed all the perks of Government, and he has actually treated his fellow citizens with absolute disdain. I say shame on him, shame on Helen Clark, and shame on the Labour Government. Arguably, the people he is trying to help now are the people who, for years and years, have given that Government their support, and that includes M\u0101ori. It would not be so bad if Parekura Horomia had come forward with something directly for M\u0101ori, but the most he had in his announcement yesterday was $40.5 million for the Earth Building Association of New Zealand, a new M\u0101ori incorporation\u2014but with no money voted for it and no appropriation, and Shane Jones might like to answer that but he will not. There was no money appropriated to it, just money to be set aside. So if one takes that out, there is absolutely nothing in the Budget for M\u0101ori. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EIf one thinks about the $12 a week that most of the working M\u0101ori families are going to get, I ask Dr Cullen where that is going to go. Why does he not take a call and tell us how that helps our struggling families\u2014all New Zealanders who are struggling, but particularly M\u0101ori families, on low wages. After 9 years he is basically giving them $12, which will not buy even a block of cheese. Again, it is a shameful tenure and a shameful stewardship by a Government that has enjoyed the support of those very people for 9 years, and previously, but who will not have it this time. The number of people who say to me, and I am sure they say it to all my colleagues: \u201CI\u2019ve voted Labour for years and years, but I won\u2019t be doing that again.\u201D, is why this bill should be called the \u201CLast Chance Saloon Tax Bill\u201D because, actually, the chances have gone. They have absolutely run out. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000281\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EWhen one thinks about the Minister of Foreign Affairs saying he is going to \u201Cflashen up\u201D all the overseas posts and stuff, it sounds good, but what about his people up north? What is in this Budget for them? There is absolutely nothing, because a lot of them are not working, they are unemployed, they are on benefits, and they are struggling. There is nothing in this Budget for them. Working for Families does not even impact on them\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000282\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225e1ee86fee4846c3bb7ae4e1ceab73a9\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: What about the old people?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000283\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002294d97bbbe3284c92b505a7a318e7e35d\u0022\u003EHon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU\u003C/span\u003E: OK, there is help for a few of our old people, which is good, and I do not for a minute begrudge help for our elderly. They deserve it. It was on their backs that this country was built, and it is on the backs of members of the Labour Government that this country is now broken. Labour members have the gall, after 9 years on those benches, to bring tax cuts, which we know that Dr Cullen hates. If he had believed in tax cuts he would have brought them in long ago in 2003-04. We had good economic conditions then. Now when the economy is in a slump, in a downturn, he brings the tax cuts forward. So what will that do? It will leave a mess for National, because that is what Labour always does. That is what it absolutely does, it leaves a mess for National and we always have to spend the first few years of our stewardship fixing up the mess. That is what we will be doing shortly. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000284\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EI suppose if there is a party that is capable of fixing up the mess it has to be the National Party. It is only the National Party that can fix and manage the mess that Labour Governments always leave the country in when they go out of power. That group of MPs over there is gone.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022 data-id=\u00227962760eeec1454cb0f8a99725792ab2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000285\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227962760eeec1454cb0f8a99725792ab2\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National\u2014Rodney):\u003C/span\u003E As we now debate the title and the commencement of this bill, it is little wonder that the headlines running around the country today are saying \u201CToo little, too late\u201D. When one comes into the Chamber with a Budget like this, after 9 years of refusing even to consider\u2014[Interruption] Well, when I say \u201Cconsider\u201D, that is not true. Dr Cullen and Labour did consider personal tax cuts. That was in 2005, was it not, the \u201Cchewing gum\u201D tax cuts, and, of course, Labour reneged on its promise. But after 9 years of no personal tax cuts, for the average working New Zealander to be given a tax cut equivalent to the cost of a family block of cheese is an insult. It is an insult to New Zealanders, and that is the way New Zealanders are seeing it, because what difference will it make to their lives? As it now costs them more and more to fill the car with petrol\u2014well over 100 bucks to fill the family car\u2014and as it costs them more and more every time they go to the supermarket, is that block of cheese going to make any real difference? Of course it will not, and they find that insulting. But what is more insulting\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000286\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002242efa2455b2c4f79969620377fea7116\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: You\u2019re the only guy in this House who could eat a block of cheese sideways.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000287\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dbb0076baae24f26b4644b0d8f26cc7e\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: I guess that member would know because he always told this Parliament that all he wanted to be was the MP for Tauranga. Well, I can tell my colleagues that Winston never told the truth about that. He wanted to be the MP for Kaipara.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000288\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002235c3856d78e04655bd7e5af8008cf1bf\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. There are some people around this country who are not known, and never will be known, and some who are known by his or her first name. I happen to be one of them, but he cannot use it in this Chamber.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000289\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c3a5941231ed4ca19f85b47c780289e4\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Peters. All I can say is that there has been a good exchange between both sides.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000290\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225c83243e3e2d48ba9d6df8ade0cece88\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Let me call him the Rt Hon Winston Peters. He always told New Zealand he only ever wanted to be the MP for Tauranga. What a lie. In 1983 he\u2014[Interruption] I said that statement was a lie. In 1983 he went for the nomination for selection for Kaipara and\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000291\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225eb9140b1c3c486eadc053c6f0a65a31\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Chairperson. Just so the public might know, there is a bill before the Committee. That is the subject being discussed. But the member has lost the plot entirely just because of an interjection that he is the only one in this Chamber who can eat a block of cheese sideways. He got all upset and now he is running through my brilliant political career. Now I know it is scintillating but it is not part of the debate in this Chamber.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000292\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002286d146b7bd1e4d45aa54fca3dff2f19b\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I think we have had our fun for the morning.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000293\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d787fd0ab71e4d4da3a8152875872234\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Let me just finish the story, to make sure the Rt Hon Winston Peters does not miss out any bit of it. Of course, he got thrashed in the selection for Kaipara, he did not even take me to a final ballot, and with his tail between his legs he limped off to Tauranga and tried to con the people there that all he wanted to be was the member for Tauranga. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000294\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003ELet me come back to the title and commencement of this bill. What is so insulting about it is that New Zealanders get the block of cheese this year and then, if one looks at the provisions in the commencement clause, it is 18 months before they get any more from these tax cuts; 18 long months. So we have had 9 years of Labour, New Zealanders get a block of cheese, and then it is another year and a half, which will take it to 10\u00BD years. Do members know how much more the average\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000295\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022faddb27f79ae48d7a8dfd01355e201a5\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Half a block!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000296\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022420f6c12dc5e4e22a46c46db76aa09e1\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: The average worker gets half a block, because they get $6, I think, in that second tranche. So after 9 years we get the block of cheese, and after another 18 months we get half a block of cheese. What an insult! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000297\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EDo members know why students are also angry? This is a Government that cares so much about low-income earners, like students. Under the provisions of the Budget, the tax changes, and all that sort of thing, students can borrow an extra 5 bucks a week. Instead of $150 they can borrow $155. Five bucks will not buy half a block of cheese. But, even worse, the age at which the means test on parental incomes no longer applies has been dropped by 1 year, from 25 to 24. No wonder the students up and down the country feel absolutely betrayed by this Labour Government, just as the average worker does, because after 9 years it is an insult to give them just the equivalent of the cost of a block of cheese.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000298\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI see that Dr Cullen is back in the chair. Last time he was a member of a Government that was going out of office, in 1990, his Government ignored the Budget totally. Dr Cullen was the Minister of Social Welfare at the time; he had been the Associate Minister of Finance. The Government ignored the Budget totally. Dr Cullen and the Department of Social Welfare just spent money, as he tried desperately to hang on in 1990. He spent money with no appropriation to spend it, way beyond the supplementary estimates. Members can ask Jenny Shipley about it; she had to make legal Dr Cullen\u2019s illegal spending in 1990. I bet he will do the same thing again. Labour will take no notice of the fiscal projections in this Budget. There are unquantified risks around this Budget, and Labour will just spend it. I bet that Labour will do this if it stays behind in the polls. Annette King remembers; she was not so guilty. Her mate Phil Goff was guilty, though. In 1990 he spent money willy-nilly leading up to the election\u2014totally illegally.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022 data-id=\u002203db48574283446d9b2fe58f0b67e3f0\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000299\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002203db48574283446d9b2fe58f0b67e3f0\u0022\u003ECOLIN KING (National\u2014Kaikoura):\u003C/span\u003E It is certainly a privilege to speak to the title of the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill 2008. It is worth mentioning at the outset of this little presentation that when National becomes the Government, this bill will be merely the first instalment of what will turn into a very ambitious future. When we stop and look at the Labour Government in relation to the long period of time when it said that tax cuts were impossible to deliver, we see that there will be tax cuts for New Zealanders with just 2 weeks to go before the election in mid-October. Unfortunately, when we hear the arguments that are rolled out around what is doable by this Labour Government, we find that the public are certainly saying that the Government has been crying wolf for far too long. It has been crying about what is doable, and what good management is, and the public has totally switched off. Labour has cried wolf far too much; the public is telling the Government that it has missed too many opportunities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003EIt was quite interesting to go to the XTRA website this morning and see what the public is saying. Eighty percent of respondents to the news poll rated the Government\u2019s performance as inadequate. When 80 percent of the country is calling the performance of the Labour Government inadequate, we know that even though tax cuts are on the way, they, too, will be inadequate. When we look at the tax cuts that we are facing, we can start to see why this country needs an ambitious leader like John Key and a National Government. We have got ourselves into a terrible spot under this Labour Government. The cake has been getting progressively smaller, so the opportunities, and the pieces that the cake is divided into, have become so small they are not worth measuring. When we look at the tax take for people earning $14,000, it is great to see that 2 weeks out from the election they will be paying only $1,750-odd in tax. But a person earning from $40,000 to $70,000 will be paying $23,000 worth of tax. We do not have to be rocket scientists to realise that if we can grow this nation\u2019s economy, we will be able to have a lot better time than what the present Labour Government considers to be the best time in 30 years, economically. It is OK for former Minister David Benson-Pope to shake his head, but it is a shame that we have missed out on the opportunity. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000301\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003EWe can measure the opportunities by the number of people who are leaving the country. Twenty-five percent of our tertiary-educated people have cashed up and left this country. When we compare that figure with Australia\u2019s, we find that only 2.5 percent of Australia\u2019s people are outside that country. \u201CToo little, too late\u201D\u2014that should be the title of this bill. The tax cuts amount to only the cost of a block of cheese, which is a damned insult to all working New Zealanders. We should not miss the point that there has been a chilling effect towards the Labour Government, because under Dr Cullen we have missed the greatest opportunities in a generation. Wastage over 8 years has meant that at the end of it all, we will have only a block of cheese before this election, and it would have been 18 months before Labour intended to give any more, to honest, hard-working New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000302\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003ESo we are talking about tax cuts. We are very pleased about them, but I would hope that those listening to this debate will understand that under a National Government those tax cuts would be only an instalment. If we want our children and our younger generations to go forward, we have to have the ambitious leadership of a John Key, National-led Government. All hard-working New Zealanders are sick and tired of Labour members crying wolf and saying that the cupboard is bare, and that there is no better way for people to manage their money. I tell the Labour Government that the honest truth is that the general public know more about how to spend their money than it does. Those Labour members have failed New Zealand many, many times. They have driven our best and our finest overseas to seek opportunities. They have wasted money in so many areas that the cake has become so small, it is impossible to divide it up. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000303\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003EClause 1 agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000304\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003EClause 2 agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000305\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003EBill reported without amendment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000306\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003EReport adopted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000307\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00226601ae3a5abf4aceb42f3e4746fec157\u0022\u003EThird Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u0022707581e752b54314be953d584274b8e0\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000308\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022707581e752b54314be953d584274b8e0\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E It is with great pleasure that I move, That the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill be now read a third time. What a fun time we have had in the House since about 5 o\u2019clock yesterday! The National Party started off looking like a bunch of rabbits that had just been rolled over. Mr English told National members not to promise anything, because Dr Cullen had actually spent up to the limit. That line was held to very strictly by National Party members for at least 10 to 15 minutes of the debate; they could talk about anything else, but they could not make promises. But then Lockwood Smith PhD took over the running of the campaign, and, suddenly, National Party members were fiscally camping it up all over the place as the debate proceeded from then on. He is the man who staunchly opposed the Working for Families package, saying it was a terrible insult to New Zealand families. Now, it is pretty good, and the National Party is supporting the enhancements in this particular bill. Before we had this bill, he said that Working for Families was an insult to the average working New Zealander\u2014an insult, a terrible thing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000309\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe have learnt that National Party members have an obsession with cheese. I get the impression\u2014I thought it was only Gerry Brownlee, but apparently it is all of them\u2014that their every spare penny is spent on cheese. And they eat it! That party over there is the \u201CBigger Block Party\u201D. When something goes up in price, people should buy more of it. That is the attitude of those members towards family budgets. People should not buy chicken, fruit, veges, or something else that has not gone up in price; they should buy more cheese. That is those members\u2019 approach to life.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000310\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThroughout this debate, we have learnt some wonderful things. While National Party members have been arguing away in here, and, indeed, have been fighting to the death a bill they support, right down to the final moment\u2014and they will be gone by lunchtime today; they will go off to explain to people that, in fact, they support this bill to the death, and will continue to do so\u2014Mr Key has been out there giving interviews. Mr Key giving an interview is always an exercise in watching the changing picture as it moves along. In the immortal words of John Campbell, he is \u201Cas slippery as a snake in wet grass.\u201D, unable to give a clear answer on anything. Mr Key has given quite different answers from the answers that Dr Lockwood Smith is giving. Dr Lockwood Smith tells us that this tax package is nothing like big enough. It has to be much bigger to satisfy Dr Lockwood Smith; at least three blocks of cheese have to be in this tax package, for Dr Lockwood Smith to be satisfied. But the economists are saying that the fiscal package is a bit too stimulatory.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000311\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dc8fac273f6a45dbbe5e280812b2a1cc\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Really.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000312\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227cf8250d14be40f2b46ef11ebc4f9278\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: \u201CReally.\u201D, he says. Yes! That is the trouble with his standing in front of the mirror, practising his poses for the House\u2014he forgets to listen to what people are saying out there. When he promises huge blocks of cheese for everybody on 1 April next year, he had better understand that they cannot be paid for. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000313\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EHow will National Party members pay for all of that? They said, firstly, that they will not rebuild Government House. Well, that is fine, but it will fall down around their ears if they do not rebuild it. Secondly\u2014and Mr Peters was not here for this\u2014the other great offer-up to pay for much bigger tax cuts is to cancel the increased funding for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000314\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d5761b1ac2344d3ba5df057523b75c04\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: In Sweden.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000315\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225bb3fda56d194c5a881ec36f1886f4c4\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: Well, as soon as National Party members become the Government\u2014if they become the Government\u2014that is the plan. I thought that Winston Peters\u2014in case he had some plans about possible arrangements with other political parties\u2014might want to be forewarned, in order to have ready the arguments necessary to support his stance on that. Dr Lockwood Smith is happy for Winston Peters to be just the member for Tauranga, but he might have other ideas in that regard.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000316\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe learnt more from Mr Key today. We learnt today that Mr Key is now saying he will not change one bit of the Working for Families package. Did Dr Lockwood Smith know that Mr Key had said that? He would not change it one bit. He says that it is badly structured, but he will not change it. That is a man with ambition. He is surrounded with things he thinks are badly structured, and he says: \u201CI will not change them. I am firm in my resolve to make no impact upon this country, moving forward.\u201D That is our friend the Leader of the Opposition.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000317\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EAnd he said clearly that he will not repeal the first tranche of tax cuts. That is brave. They will be in force on 1 October; it is a bit hard to repeal them. What he did not say was that he would keep the second and third tranches. What he did say was: \u201CWell, we may have bigger tax cuts, but they may not be more expensive.\u201D He said that on the radio this morning: \u201CWell, we may have bigger tax cuts, but they may not be more expensive.\u201D I can see Mr Tremain trying hard to understand that; he is working out how to get his 4 percent on that particular statement\u2014if he is ever in a National Government. Well, it does not add up, except if one changes the second and third tranches of this package, takes away the increase in the bottom threshold, and redistributes it upwards; then there can be a bigger tax cut at the top end that is not more expensive. So the workers will not get more cheese, at all\u2014no, not even enough for a mousetrap. There will be no more cheese at all, but the big cheeses will get all the blocks that are going. That will be the National Party programme running into the election.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000318\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EOf course, National Party members have also said they will not announce their programme until 4 weeks out from the election. By then there will have been a pre-election fiscal update. They had better be careful about what that might say to them, as well, about the forward fiscal position. I think it is time for National to start listening to Bill English\u2019s caution, rather than following the gambling instincts of Mr Key in this respect.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000319\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe also learnt from Mr Key in the New Zealand Herald this morning that Government spending is nice, but it is sometimes a luxury. What does that mean? In respect of early childhood education, is it 20 hours\u2019 free education? Is it support for KiwiSaver? Is it the money to reduce class sizes for new entrants? Is it the money for the cancer vaccine for women? Is it the money for the oral health of children and adolescents? Is it the money that the district health boards require to continue to maintain their services? You see, there is not much point in people having an extra half a block of cheese if they cannot afford to go to the doctor to discuss their obesity problems. There is not much point in it, at all.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000320\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EThat is where the National Party is getting it all wrong. Those members do not understand the importance to ordinary families of not being able to afford to go to the doctor, of worrying about it costing too much, with the result that they do not go and the kids\u2019 illnesses get worse; of worrying about the cost of prescriptions, with the result that they do not have scripts filled and they do not take the medicines that they need to take; and of worrying about the cost of sending their kids to early childhood education, with the result that their kids do not go, and they do not get a good start in life compared with kids from more affluent backgrounds. All of those things matter. Ordinary families do not want to worry about their future retirement income; they do not want to feel unable to afford to save, with the result that in retirement they do not have as good a standard of living as other people do.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000321\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003EWe learnt also, from Mr Tremain, that the National Party does not oppose these tax cuts; it just opposes the Budget. Well, what else in the Budget do National Party members oppose? Which bit of this Budget do they oppose, apart from the tax cuts? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000322\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225e229b76807546e8b88c087d423141cb\u0022\u003EDr Wayne Mapp\u003C/span\u003E: Broadband.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000323\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002225a8506cfb774ea085620d547f8ac703\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, they oppose the broadband roll-out. They oppose a much more efficient way of leveraging broadband growth than throwing $1.5 billion at Telecom New Zealand. They always were the political wing of Telecom, and they still are the political wing of Telecom within Parliament. Maurice Williamson has always been the bought and paid for \u201CMP for Telecom\u201D within this House. Our programme of broadband will\u2014for much less money\u2014leverage a result that is just as good, in a more competitive environment, and that is more technology neutral. So those members should not say that they oppose that one. And they are proposing to spend over a billion dollars more on broadband than the Labour-led Government is planning to spend.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000324\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003ESo is it the money for health? Is it the money for education? Is it the money to improve the lives of superannuitants? What in this Budget do the National Party members oppose? When we know that, we will know what they will take off the great bulk of families in New Zealand to make life worse for them, then say: \u201CPlease be grateful; we have bought you another block of cheese.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022 data-id=\u00224656d5315f4d4862af11991a8edaa45a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224656d5315f4d4862af11991a8edaa45a\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National\u2014Rodney):\u003C/span\u003E We would have thought that in that 10-minute third reading speech on the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill, Dr Cullen may have just said something in defence of his tax cut package. Did he say anything, at all, to defend his package? Not a thing! He just gave personal abuse. You know, it shows that he does not actually believe in it, at all. In fact, if Labour were not so far behind in the polls, we would not be seeing this tax cut package, because Dr Cullen does not believe in it. If he believed in it for one minute, he would have defended it and explained why the structure of the tax cut package made sense\u2014why it was the best way to restructure income tax in New Zealand. We would have thought, if he believed it, that we might have heard something like that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000326\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EThere was not one word defending that tax package, because we all know that personal income tax cuts cause Dr Cullen to choke. He can hardly say the words, and we know why: Dr Cullen genuinely\u2014and I do not say this unfairly\u2014believes that he knows far better how to spend our money, New Zealanders\u2019 money, than we do. Ordinary New Zealand people are far too stupid, according to Dr Cullen, to be trusted with their own money. Dr Cullen knows far better how to spend it! Of course, the Rt Hon Helen Clark takes the \u201CLabour Government knows best\u201D approach. I think Labour members genuinely believe this; they think they know how to spend our money so much better. All I can say is that New Zealanders are sick of it. They are heartily sick of this Government telling them how to run their lives, how to raise their children, and what to have in the school tuck shop\u2014all those things. New Zealanders are sick of this Government telling them how to lead their lives. Taxes have a lot to do with it, because people do not have the freedom to lead their lives the way they want to when they are overtaxed. Right at the heart of freedom is the issue of excessive taxation\u2014not enough money being left in people\u2019s own hands for them to actually enjoy freedom in their lives. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000327\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EPeople find it an insult, after 9 years of a Labour Government, to have a tax cut package, just a few months before an election, that gives them the equivalent of a block of cheese. That is just so insulting, because New Zealanders are seeing\u2014if they look at these Budget documents\u2014a Government that has taken money from ordinary New Zealanders, to the point where ordinary New Zealanders struggle to fill the car with petrol, struggle to pay for the groceries at the supermarket, struggle to get on with finding the money to buy the clothes, the uniforms for the kids for sports teams, and that sort of thing, to enable the children to take part in weekend sport. They struggle with all those things, while Labour has been lining its own pockets\u2014the Government\u2019s pockets. If we look at the Budget documents we see the Government has been taking money from New Zealanders and putting it in the Government\u2019s coffers over these last few years, in a way that will make New Zealanders angry. The Government has been lining its own pockets, at the expense of ordinary New Zealanders and they are totally sick of it. It is little wonder that so many New Zealanders will be angry when we get a block of cheese in October this year and have to wait 18 months to get any more tax relief from this Government, and that will be just half a block of cheese. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000328\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EIt is interesting that the current Minister of Finance, Dr Michael Cullen, was an Associate Minister of Finance when Labour was last in trouble in 1990 and going out of office. He was also Minister of Social Welfare in 1990. Those of us who were around at that time remember the Budget in 1990, when Dr Cullen and his colleague David Caygill, the Minister of Finance, came into this House and presented a Budget that claimed there was an $89 million surplus. From memory, they had in their supplementary estimates something like $160 million. Before that election in 1990, Dr Cullen, who is the current Minister of Finance, had, without appropriation from this Parliament, far exceeded the provisions in that Budget for supplementary estimates. He and Phil Goff, who at the time was Minister of Education, simply spent money, illegally, to try to win that 1990 election. I say that, without any sort of hesitation. I can say that without hesitation because I took over as Minister of Education from Phil Goff, and I had to make legal his illegal spending as Labour desperately tried to win the 1990 election. The very first contact I had with the Ministry of Education was with its financial controller. Within 2 or 3 days of becoming Minister of Education he came to my office and told me there was stuff I just had to know. He laid out in front of me the spending by Phil Goff, for which he had no authority whatsoever, to try to win votes heading into the election. Dr Michael Cullen did the same thing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000329\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EThat is why I was so interested, in this tax bill, to examine whether it covered the Government\u2019s full promises around Working for Families, and what we discovered was it does not. Working for Families has four basic tax credits; this bill indexes only two of them, and it does not address the in-work tax credit and theparental tax credit. We discovered during the Committee stage on the bill that the Government currently has a review, and that review reports before the end of June. This matter will be in front of Cabinet before the end of June. Does this Budget provide for any increase in in-work payments or parental tax credits under the Government\u2019s flagship Working for Families policy? It says, in fact, on page 144 in respect of Working for Families that the review of rates is an \u201Cunquantified risk\u201D. In other words, there are no provisions in here for it. It is an unquantified risk. This Government, I will bet, if it is behind in the polls after this Budget and heading towards the end of June as the review of the Working for Families tax credits\u2014the in-work payments and the parental tax credits\u2014comes up, will take no notice of the fiscal provisions in this Budget. The Government will just spend the money, if it is behind in the polls. We have seen it before. Dr Cullen and Phil Goff, in 1990, when Labour was last on its way out, just spent the money without legal authority. I bet the Government will do it again, if it is desperate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000330\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EThat is why New Zealanders cannot trust this Government. They are sick to death of this \u201CBig Government knows best\u201D approach from Labour. They are sick to death of being told how to run their lives. They want some financial freedom to get on with their own lives, and that will not happen under this Labour Government because this Labour Government will always tax them far more than is necessary, to enable these politicians opposite us to do what they want to do. It is time New Zealanders had the chance to be treated with respect\u2014to be treated by a political party that values freedom and understands the value that New Zealanders put on their freedom. Come this next election, if National can win that election, New Zealanders will once again have the chance to enjoy the privileges of freedom from excessive taxation. It will be the last of the \u201Cblock of cheese\u201D insults.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022 data-id=\u00228f503e87c5cc4728ad74cc6eaf623644\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000331\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228f503e87c5cc4728ad74cc6eaf623644\u0022\u003EHon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of M\u0101ori Affairs):\u003C/span\u003E Well, well, well! It was very interesting to listen to the previous speaker, Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith, talking about going back on pledges, because in that same year\u20141990\u2014he made a promise to students that if he did not get rid of interest rates on student loans and halve them, he would resign. Did he? No, he did not. He had to climb out of a window to escape the students. He is still here now. That is what the National Party is known for in the sense of the claptrap summary we heard yesterday by its leader. It was insincere, and that member in his speedos does not want to remember that. That is the truth. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000332\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EThis Budget will go down as one of the finest time-breaking, platform-setting Budgets in this country\u2019s history. Why? It is at the top of what this Government has done well in the last 8 years. One just has to understand basic financial ideology to understand that it is full of wisdom and carefully crafted. We have made sure the country does well, going forward. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000333\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EMr Chris Tremain talked yesterday of his fear when people keep talking about the past. I want to make this a \u201CDo you remember?\u201D speech. I want Mr Tremain to understand. Does anyone remember by how much the previous National Government, in its 9-year reign, increased the minimum wage?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000334\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002291e43a85fee6473ebfa17c009ac89352\u0022\u003EHon Annette King\u003C/span\u003E: Zero.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000335\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e2626e9cde5447a4ba87dcad0d32fd92\u0022\u003EHon PAREKURA HOROMIA\u003C/span\u003E: No; it raised it by 58c an hour. We have raised it nine or 10 times, and lifted it up to $12 an hour, so working-class people understand where they are at. That is one thing this Government needs to be commended for. That is one thing that Michael Cullen has made sure about, and is consistent about in going forward. He has been very clear, and he will be recognised as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, financial administrators of any Government or party in power. That is what we have done to make sure that it goes forward. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000336\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EWe heard from Dr Lockwood Smith. I am thankful to Dr Smith for raising the matters he did, as people are thankful to those who discuss health issues. I will not talk on obesity\u2014and members know why not\u2014but we are sure and safe when we visit our medical doctor. This Government has done more for the health movement than has been done at any other time by any other Government in this country\u2019s history. It has done that in Hawke\u2019s Bay. It has made decisions in Hawke\u2019s Bay and the community is thankful that those decisions were made. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000337\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EMichael Cullen has shown clear courage in producing something that can be sustained. When Mr Key was asked yesterday \u201CHow much?\u201D with regard to the tax cuts, we just heard that member say: \u201CThat will be only a deposit or a first instalment.\u201D It is fascinating to wonder where National will get the rest of that from. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000338\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EWhat is so bad about this Budget? Is it that it has built on 14 weeks\u2019 parental leave? That is what working-class people want. That is what families want. Is it about under-6-year-olds getting free health services? Is that what is so bad about this\u2014that more funds have been available made for the health sector? Is it about progress in early childhood education? We have said for a period of time that what is done for youth and for preschool children, in whatever forum, goes well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000339\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EIs it about the global tenacity that Winston Peters has shown? National members pooh-poohed that. They pooh-poohed the fact that we have to address the impacts from the global world at the moment. They pooh-poohed the fact that we should strengthen the forum for exporters. Dr Lockwood Smith is a farmer. He breeds bulls\u2014blue bulls. It is a bit weird, but he breeds these bulls. What is really important is that this Budget sets up a great avenue on to the global stage to make sure that future Budgets can be paid for. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000340\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EJohn Campbell\u2019s quote about a certain leader being as slippery as a snake on wet grass is something we have to take cognisance of. The grass does not even have to be wet for half of that crew in the Opposition to be slippery; they are slippery all of the time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000341\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EI want to tell people about the tax cuts for superannuitants\u2014the strengthening of superannuation. At least superannuitants in this country are guaranteed that they will be looked after and they will be cared for, like the people on benefits. They will be looked after. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000342\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EI hear crocodile tears from members opposite, who are saying: \u201CBoo hoo hoo, I care for the working class. Boo hoo hoo, it is unfair that you have given tax support to those most in need rather than giving it based on principles of greed.\u201D That is what they are saying. That is what they are saying clearly. We understand that if those members rifle up and exercise with the big corporates, and they overplay, then the purchasers and owners of newspapers and the media in this country can carry on their dastardly game of deceit, but, on the ground, New Zealanders know what this Government has done for them. They know that this Budget is about going forward. They know that this Budget is futuristic. They know, most certainly, that this party in Government is a caring and sharing party, not one that flip-flops whenever it wants to. It is not one that says it will give more tax cuts and, by the way, it will borrow the money from overseas. People already know that, so the Opposition is making rash promises. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000343\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EMembers opposite want to talk about broadband and the advent of taking our place into the future. They want to talk about Telecom. Maurice Williamson narrowed it so much that he is stuck with just a single band in relation to the initial band with Telecom. And National wants to narrow the market again. What sort of honesty is that? What sort of financial nous is that? If you grow up being a price-taker, if you go about sabotaging the small people and picking the pickings and the profits out of the top, closed-eyes earnings, then you bring that practice into Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000344\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EThat is what that leadership is doing on the Opposition side of the House. You attack the frail and the weak, you attack those people most in need, and you give it all up to these people\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000345\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223119514824724e79b4e60b0defae342e\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000346\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022af61337eeed7419697c69cd7ce41d29c\u0022\u003EHon PAREKURA HOROMIA\u003C/span\u003E: I am sorry, Mr Deputy Speaker. Those members attack everybody else, and we can hear the first initial stage of them knocking over the bureaucracy, knocking over the Public Service, and knocking over all those fine organisations that support the communities in their hour of need rather than greed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000347\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EWe certainly feel the hypocrisy when we hear there are 36 to 38 people in John Key\u2019s office and half a dozen of them are there in relation to image correction. What is that about? Those members should not try to re-image themselves and make out that they care about the working class. Those members should not try to re-image themselves and make statements that M\u0101ori families are worse off than they were before. That is what that earlier speech from John Key was about. I am not too sure how he works his sums out, because when we came into Government one out of three to four M\u0101ori families were unemployed and we have taken them off the unemployment list. The percentages were in double points\u201420 percent to 21 percent. We have put two-thirds of those people into work. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000348\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u2019s mathematics, or that of the 36 advisers, has told him that M\u0101ori families are worse off because they get less income in the household, but the advisers have not said that, by the way, two-thirds of those who were unemployed before have been added to the workforce. That is how the sums are done. So we trust nothing that the Opposition is putting forward about the Budget. There are more M\u0101oris in work and more M\u0101oris in tertiary participation. There are struggles for Kiwis in this country, but certainly this Budget has been very, very good for this nation. It has been very good. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000349\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d52e59e3-2195-4c95-a654-665c11b39b63\u0022\u003EI would be more than interested to see how National members will counter the Budget and whether somebody has the gumption and the nicety to tell us how much his or her tax cut will be. Dr Lockwood Smith has recognised that it has been a great Budget. He has accepted that. I say to Dr Smith that I am very, very thankful for his support. I am very, very thankful that he has recognised the greatness of Working for Families\u2014something that was much needed. I am very, very thankful to Dr Smith because Working for Families, KiwiSaver, early childcare funding, free health costs for children under the age of 6 and all of those issues are real things that families want. They are real things that families feel the need for in this country. We will see those members at the next Budget, and they will be over on the Opposition benches, listening to us talk about what we are doing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022 data-id=\u002281ed286db6f143cb9ff4950aa89a278d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000350\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002281ed286db6f143cb9ff4950aa89a278d\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS (National\u2014Clevedon):\u003C/span\u003E There leaves Parekura Horomia, one of Labour\u2019s best members. Next time I will ask for his speech to be delivered in M\u0101ori so that we can understand it; I could hardly understand a word he said.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000351\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EOne of the most disappointing things about this Budget is that it will not address any of the issues that New Zealanders think are really important. National members will, of course, vote for the tax cuts today, because we do not believe that Labour will go ahead with them unless we do. That is one of the really important things that New Zealanders want to talk about. This Budget has been called the \u201Cblock of cheese Budget\u201D, but in the good old days when Norm Kirk led the Labour Party and when Labour said it represented workers\u2014and it did in those days\u2014this would have been called the \u201Ccheddar cheese Budget\u201D. Nowadays, under the current Labour Government of Helen Clark and Michael Cullen, we have the \u201CBudget of gruy\u00E8re cheese\u201D. That is really all it is\u2014full of holes and pretty stinky. That is about it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000352\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003ENowadays, Labour members only ever want to talk about the arts and things like that. They want to tell people how to live their lives and how to bring up their children. Labour members want to tell people what they can eat, what they can do, and what they can watch. They say that they will fight obesity by telling people not to eat, and that they will fight child abuse by telling people not to abuse their children, as if somehow that is going to matter.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000353\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EUnfortunately, there is nothing in this Budget and nothing in the tax package that will do anything about child poverty. Once upon a time in the 1990s the Labour Party in Opposition talked constantly about child poverty. It talked about it up hill and down dale. Labour members said they would do something about the benefit cuts that happened in 1991. And did they? They did not. We can hear the absolute sound of silence from the Labour benches. Those members did nothing. They just talked and talked.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000354\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EWhat did Ruth Dyson say 2 weeks ago, when she was told that this year we had had the biggest drop in employment in one quarter in the last 19 years? She said: \u201COh well, I don\u2019t think that this is bad news at all, actually.\u201D That is what she said. That is what the Labour Minister of Social Development and Employment, which is what the Labour Government now calls it\u2014or social welfare; I will put it into plain language\u2014said about our having the highest drop in employment in one quarter in 19 years, this year. That is what she said. When I asked her whether she stood by that statement, hoping that she might say she should not have said it, that it was a silly thing to say, or that she was misrepresented, she said yes. She said that she stood by that statement. A couple of days later I asked her again and she still said that she stood by it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000355\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EDid Ruth Dyson care about the people who have lost their jobs at the meatworks recently? No, she did not care about that, either. She told them that they could go on a benefit. That is what she said. Did she go down to see the 300 Sealord workers who have been told that they are losing their jobs? No, she did not.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000356\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222a849ed4-a817-45a7-8b86-dbc9dd210193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225d6ff5236faa4fdb9dd0daeddb893700\u0022\u003EJill Pettis\u003C/span\u003E: That member is not telling the truth. I have the Minister\u2019s statement right here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000357\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c02d2d06c5b14a20a3b26aa7f52e47ab\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: The member Jill Pettis, who is taking herself out of a job\u2014she was actually sacked by the Labour Party; that is the awful thing\u2014should be quiet for a little bit and listen, because she would be interested to hear that there has been a loss of 11,000 jobs in the construction industry. What did Ruth Dyson say about that? Well, she did not think there was much wrong with that, either. What did she say about the 6,000 jobs that have been lost in the manufacturing industry alone in the past year? That did not seem to be really important, either.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000358\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EI ask what is in this tax cut bill for those people. There is absolutely nothing. When Labour members talk about this bill, they say that it is all about spending every cent that the taxpayers have given them\u2014every single cent\u2014so that there is nothing there for National to spend. That is what this is all about.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000359\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EOne of the things my colleague Dr Lockwood Smith said was very, very pertinent. He said that when the previous Labour Government went out in 1990, in a massive landslide, it said that there was an $89 million surplus. That is what it said. That was the previous Labour Government of Michael Cullen and Phil Goff, and that is what it said. It said there was an $89 million surplus. The members opposite have gone very quiet; they do not like hearing that. But what was the truth? The truth was that National came in in a landslide victory in 1990 and it found that there was a $1.5 billion deficit\u2014a $1.5 billion deficit. The previous Labour Government had not just spent everything that was there but also spent everything that would be there for years to come. That $1.5 billion deficit went out to $3 billion over the spending that the previous Labour Government had made. It spent money that it did not have the authority of Parliament to spend. That is what the previous Labour Government of Michael Cullen and Phil Goff did, and, by the way, it was also the previous Labour Government of Helen Clark, because, as I recall, she was the Deputy Prime Minister at the time. That is what those members did. The fact is that Labour cannot be trusted with people\u2019s money.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000360\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EIn looking at some of the things that National will not be spending money on, should we be privileged enough to lead the next Government, I promise people that we will not spend $96,000 for a study on \u201Cboganology\u201D. We will not do that, but this Labour Government has. We will not, I promise people, spend $795,000 of taxpayer money on an interesting little number entitled More than Bricks and Mortar, which is a study of social networks. Of course it would be a social networking study, would it not? That study cost almost $1 million. We will not, I promise, spend $600,000 of taxpayer money on a little study called The Impact of Economic Shocks on the Well-being of New Zealanders. I can tell members opposite, who have gone so silent, that those of us who live and work in South Auckland have seen the impact of economic shocks on the well-being of New Zealanders. We see it in mortgagee sales all over Auckland. We are seeing that now. That is the economic shock that has happened to New Zealanders. Why has it happened? The reason is that the cost of borrowing has gone through the roof.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000361\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EThis Labour Government, supported by New Zealand First and others, has spent money like it is water. It has spent money as though it will always be there. It has not given money back to the people who earned it. It has not given money back to the very people who get up every day, go to work, do an honest job, and look after their children without having to be told to do it\u2014the very good people of New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000362\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221772e9f5-5379-4bfe-9d9b-eaffb4c61b02\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f8edc27bfdd84b5685c55560ae3ec919\u0022\u003EHon Harry Duynhoven\u003C/span\u003E: This speech is total gibberish, and you know it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000363\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002237546b37fee14772b58b9cf35d080d2f\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: It is good to hear something from Harry Duynhoven, because I know that the Labour Party is trying to get him out of his New Plymouth seat. I know that. It is not fair; he has done a good job. But it is trying to get him out. All that those members can say to people after 9 years is that they will give them a block of cheese\u2014a big, holey one that smells a lot. That is all they will do.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000364\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003ELabour members are beside themselves because they know that the people of New Zealand have switched off from them. People do not want to know about the personal insults that Labour members throw at members on this side of the House. They do want to know why, after 9 years of very good economic times in terms of our international prices, beneficiary debt is $730 million under a Labour Government. Why are the poor poorer than they have ever been? Why do 185,000 New Zealand children live in poverty after 9 years of a Labour Government? Why is it that every time this issue is raised Labour members scream their little hearts out and turn to personal insults?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000365\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EWhy do we need an embassy in Stockholm? I have to tell Labour members that a lot of New Zealanders are asking themselves where Stockholm is. Well, I tell them that it is in Sweden. The Prime Minister likes Sweden better than she likes New Zealand, and we know that because we know about her travel plans. We know that people are wondering why we have spent tens of millions of dollars on the single core benefit policy. Do members remember that? We have been having that discussion since 1989. Those members have wasted taxpayer money like never before. They have wasted it and wasted it. Whatever happened to the single core benefit? Whatever happened to that? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000366\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222a849ed4-a817-45a7-8b86-dbc9dd210193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022829f799406304093be604ebcedee8d1b\u0022\u003EJill Pettis\u003C/span\u003E: What about the 37 people in John Key\u2019s office?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000367\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226df45857e2d64681bea3384f76fad228\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: But we do know that the good thing about the next election will be that at least people like Jill Pettis will not be pretending to represent the people of Wanganui. Chester Borrows already got rid of her last time, and he will continue to do that. I say to Mrs Pettis that she will never represent those people, because they have moved on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022 data-id=\u00226d447fe7897c4226a5006ee8492c7f4b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000368\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226d447fe7897c4226a5006ee8492c7f4b\u0022\u003ER DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E I was looking forward to the delivery of the Budget and, more than that, I was looking forward to the debate afterwards. I thought we would see something that has become a bit of a tradition in this House, and it is something that we subscribe to. We said what we would like to see in the Budget. We put out our wish list, and I thought it would be interesting to see the alternative Budget from the National Party. I honestly and truly believed that would happen, because that is what has traditionally happened in this House in an election year. The Opposition has come forward and, to its best endeavours, put out an alternative Budget. If we had had that, then we would have had a truly interesting and meaningful debate that would have filled the whole of this Friday. But we have not had that from the National Party, and I think it is sad. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000369\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EHowever, I am pleased, and New Zealand First is pleased, to see that National has at last backed a tax bill that has been put forward by the Labour Government. That is a first in 9 years and I think it is great. I hope those members keep on doing that, because New Zealand First has said on the record many times that we will support tax cuts from whomever proposes them\u2014and we have done so.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000370\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EObviously, we have said we would have liked to see some incentive for our exporters. Everybody knows that following the problems in America and around the world, things are in a bit of a slow-down mode. We believe that the people who can get us out of that situation are exporters, who in this country are mainly farmers. We believe we should have seen incentives provided through the taxation system to assist them to get up and help us. We would have liked to see that, and we said so. We would have liked to see the first $5,200 of taxpayers\u2019 salaries be tax-free, and we will be pursuing that in future years. We put those things forward, hoping that we would be able to compare proposals from the various parties, but we have not been able to do that. We also said we would have liked to see, and we will be pursuing this also, a reduction in the rate of GST to 10 percent\u20142.5 percent being taken off. We think that would be fair, would not be costly, and would not be administratively difficult. We would have liked to see that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000371\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EHowever, we have seen some things that we are very happy with. We have seen the relativity of superannuation for our seniors retained. We have had promises that it will be increased, and that is fantastic. We have also seen, and we applaud this because it is our initiative, an undertaking be given that if the price of electricity goes up because of the emissions trading scheme\u2014and we will see whether that gets through, in the fullness of time\u2014there will be some support for those people who find themselves in difficulty. We think that is the way we should go throughout this economy. Nobody should be disadvantaged, and the producers, the people who go out and get our markets and earn our money, should be looked after. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000372\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EWe have not heard about any of that from the National Party, either. That is tragic, because what we needed to know today, and last night, from the National Party is how much it would give in tax cuts to the earner on the average weekly wage. If this Budget is as bad as the National Party says it is\u2014and almost every one of its speakers on this issue has said the tax cuts are too little, too late\u2014then I ask how much it would give. Is it not fair that the public should be able to assess a group of people who put themselves up as Her Majesty\u2019s main Opposition\u2014that is what those members say they are\u2014and who say they are looking forward to an election? I ask why they are afraid to tell us the extent of their tax cuts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000373\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c444ae3e28d3494d88c40eb167af4f76\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Timing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000374\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a49aef351b6749eab29966954eab4e2e\u0022\u003ER DOUG WOOLERTON\u003C/span\u003E: I will tell members what timing is. Timing is political. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000375\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EAll through this debate I have heard National members raving on about Labour\u2019s tax cuts being political. They say the cuts are about expediency. But now the National members say they will not tell the public about National\u2019s plan. They will not be upfront with the public, and they will not be honest with the public and allow them to compare National\u2019s tax cuts with those of the Labour Government. This is the day to do it, so that it is a fair comparison. While people are looking at this Budget, it is traditional that they also look at the alternative Budget of the Opposition, compare the two documents, and make a decision. Sadly, they have not been able to do that. I am told by way of an interjection that it is because of political timing. Political expediency is what that is. We understand that, but National has been railing against it, and I think that is double-talk.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000376\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002220c5d424e88d4b0a885827d40bdcccbb\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Your time\u2019s up, mate!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000377\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022392daa289f8249988e5e9ada781ee1f5\u0022\u003ER DOUG WOOLERTON\u003C/span\u003E: My time is not up yet; I have a few more minutes to speak. Sadly, I think it shows a lack of moral fortitude on the part of Her Majesty\u2019s Opposition to be dodging those issues at this point. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000378\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EI have said what New Zealand First would have liked to see in this Budget. New Zealand First gives notice that we will pursue those things in future years, and that we will do so unashamedly and with vigour. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000379\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003EWe are also pleased to see that the Labour Government, at least, has come on board when it comes to what we call strategic assets. Those are mainly assets that the Americans describe as utilities\u2014things that people in our society cannot avoid using, such as electricity companies, transport companies, etc. We believe that instead of hocking those things off to private enterprise\u2014in many cases, to overseas private enterprise\u2014we should manage them within this country and reap the rewards of good management in that instance. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000380\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003ETherefore, we are pleased to see in this Budget the purchase of Toll\u2019s rail and ferry operations, which was announced before the Budget but allowed for in the Budget. We understand that there will be a further infrastructural cost in order to maintain and further develop the rail structure in New Zealand, and we do not have a problem with that. We would have had a big problem if we were just giving subsidies to the tune of $100 million per year, rising, to a foreign-owned company that was managing our rail network. Even then there was some talk that Toll would have needed assistance to redo the rolling stock. New Zealand First would have had problems with that, and we would have been talking about that from the rooftops. We are more than happy for those things to be pursued in future years under the ownership of New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000381\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b63935ee-d78b-43a8-a3bc-996e7951fb9b\u0022\u003ETo all of those who compare the purchase of Toll\u2019s rail operations with the old days of New Zealand Rail, we say they should look at Air New Zealand. The Government of New Zealand had to put $800 million into it. Air New Zealand is now a shining example of success. It has slimmed down, has a sensible business strategy, and is thriving in a very, very difficult economy. We in New Zealand First look forward to the rail operation becoming of a similar nature to that, and returning benefits to New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022 data-id=\u00229731959725f241c79f590fa274e1198e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000382\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00229731959725f241c79f590fa274e1198e\u0022\u003ETE URUROA FLAVELL (M\u0101ori Party\u2014Waiariki):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe Mr Deputy Speaker; kia ora t\u0101tou katoa. The tax cuts programme is apparently all about fairness and social justice, according to the Minister in his speech earlier. So the question is: what does nearly $11 billion worth of personal tax cuts mean for the wallets of most New Zealanders?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000383\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EWe know in dollar terms that high-income earners will get back 2\u00BD times more tax dollars than those working full-time on the minimum wage, and around 3\u00BD times more tax dollars back than families supported by benefits. So although someone living in poverty will get an extra $12 or $15 or so per week, someone earning $80,000 will receive around $55. I suggest that many New Zealanders would say \u201CBig deal!\u201D to that. With price rises and so on, these days $12 will disappear pretty fast. You see, every day of the week newspapers have headlines describing the scourge of poverty affecting an increasing number of New Zealanders. Insufficient disposable income, substandard housing, inadequately nutritious food, and unequal access to health care all contribute to an increasingly desperate state of health.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000384\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EThis Budget has been a long time coming, and the drive for personal tax cuts has pretty much dominated public discussion for years. So the question is: who gains the most from the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill 2008? Where will the bulk of the $10.6 billion go? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000385\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EThe Minister has been upfront about the fact that personal tax cuts have been specifically designed not to exacerbate inflationary pressures in the economy. Those are flash words, but what do they actually mean? I think they mean that the money has been directed more to those who will be able to save money rather than to those who will spend it, given that consumer spending causes inflation to increase. We know that this Budget is a sweetener for Generation Y. The bulk of the $10.6 billion will also go to those middle-income earners\u2014those classic swinging voters\u2014on the flawed assumption that they will be more likely to save than to spend, and that giving money to the poor is pointless as they will just waste it. In fact, the poor are far more likely to repay debt than to go on a consumption blowout.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000386\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EThe question that everyone has been asking is: where is the relief for the poor, for M\u0101ori, and for Pasifika in this great tax cut package? Where is the tax cut package that will mean that M\u0101ori and Pacific Island women whose lives are currently tied up in gambling will have another pathway forward? Where is the real and meaningful tax relief to confront all the other social hazards that are symptoms of poverty, such as the fact that M\u0101ori and Pasifika people are especially vulnerable to unethical lending practices? Where is the genuine tax relief that will make a difference to M\u0101ori and Pasifika families who are disproportionately affected by reduced housing affordability and, as a consequence, are most likely to live in inadequate, overcrowded housing? Does this tax bill do anything to make a difference to the demands on the Auckland City Mission, where 50 percent of the users of the food banks are M\u0101ori, with Pasifika making up another 25 percent?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000387\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EThe tax changes announced today will not eliminate this poverty. We in the M\u0101ori Party really do want to see this tax cut programme come in and start to make the difference we urgently need in our personal tax system. But we are genuinely torn by our knowledge that it will not make a tangible difference to those who suffer\u2014those we may refer to as te pani me te rawakore, those who are the most vulnerable members of our community. It is because of what appears to be crumbs from the tables of those of us in this House who are privileged, that we abstain on the basis of principle. We are referring to those whose lives were changed for the worse by the \u201Cmother of all Budgets\u201D in 1991. This House will remember that Budget as one that reduced the income of beneficiaries by 24 percent. It was a Budget in which the economy suffered, and the social impact on New Zealanders was immediately felt in health, education, and social services. For the last 17 years, this group of New Zealanders have been struggling to get back on their feet.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000388\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EWe know that this group of New Zealanders were looking for a break, yet just weeks ago the Minister of Social Development and Employment announced in the now infamous Pockets of significant hardship and poverty that beneficiaries are now comparatively worse off than in 1991. We now have a situation where the Budget legislation that was passed by this House in 1991, which slashed benefit levels and forced New Zealanders into recession, has still not been rectified in 2008. What is the big relief in store for those who are most in need? When we really drill down into the detail of the 2008 Budget and look at the breakdown, we find benefit reductions: the unemployment and emergency benefits by $39 million, the sickness benefit by $13 million, the widows benefit by $3.5 million, and special circumstances assistance by about $635,000.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000389\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EIt has been disappointing that much of this Budget debate has been reduced to some comments of ridicule about a bigger block of cheese. As boring as they may be for the purposes of debate, bread, butter, milk, and cheese are vital elements of the daily budget for far too many people. It is in the absence of such basic provisions, for instance, that people are forced to ask for help when they are in severe and significant hardship. It is in the absence of such provisions that people may be catered for through special circumstances assistance\u2014assistance that has now been cut. That appropriation is to assist people in financial difficulty: with clothing allowances, domestic violence and witness protection relocation, home help, civil defence payments, civilian amputees assistance, and other forms of welfare assistance. But all have been cut, reduced, diminished. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000390\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EIt is probably no wonder that cerebral palsy sufferer Helen Capel thinks that beneficiaries are the forgotten people. It is no wonder the Salvation Army has come out and said that there is nothing to support the hard-end group of people who are really suffering. It is no wonder that economist Susan St John has described people who cannot do paid work because of a disability or family responsibilities as being \u201Ctotally invisible\u201D. The 2008 Budget could have introduced a tax change to restore benefit levels to what they were before the \u201Cmother of all Budgets\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000391\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003ESome of the speakers in this debate have asked what some of the solutions are. Here are a few, and there are more on the way. The M\u0101ori Party believes that lower-income people should carry less of the burden proportionately than those on higher incomes. We know that 1.8 million taxpayers are on incomes of $25,000 or less. It is this group that should have benefited from tax cuts, not the other way around. We need to pledge to end child poverty in terms of all poverty measures by 2020, and one part of this is to introduce an official poverty line so we actually know where we are. We could follow the lead of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and introduce a new minimum wage of $15 an hour. Food could be exempt from GST on the grounds that it hits low-income people struggling to buy food with the same burden, per dollar, as rich people. It makes the difference at the checkout and the petrol pump. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000392\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EWe need to address M\u0101ori unemployment. The fact that unemployment rates for M\u0101ori have shot up to 8.6 percent, and for Pasifika peoples to 8.2 percent, compared with 3 percent for Europeans, is really a national shame. One way we could achieve our objective is by encouraging M\u0101ori enterprise and encouraging M\u0101ori iwi economic development, not just by setting up another Crown agency to call the shots. Why not give us a break? M\u0101ori innovation could be a major contributor. Let us determine the solutions; this House might well be surprised.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000393\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ec266512-9fe8-47da-883e-48f046ee5059\u0022\u003EThis is just the start; there is much more to come. The Government could have done this\u2014it could have been bold, and it could have made a difference. Instead, as others have said already, its tax cut package has won some favours and perhaps gained some ground, but for some New Zealanders it has been merely more of the same. This is a Budget where they are forgotten, where they are invisible, and where they continue to suffer.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022 data-id=\u00221fc6f3a4859f4cdd981bdac8d6e26ab7\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000394\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221fc6f3a4859f4cdd981bdac8d6e26ab7\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The Labour call is split; there will be 5 minutes for each member, with a bell at 4 minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022 data-id=\u0022e7e6fe72f9164295930a0af709a04e9a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000395\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e7e6fe72f9164295930a0af709a04e9a\u0022\u003EHon DARREN HUGHES (Deputy Leader of the House):\u003C/span\u003E I am pleased to rise in support of the third reading of this bill, which clearly sets out the plan for the future that the Helen Clark Labour-led Government has, starting with a 3-year tax programme going forward, starting on 1 October this year. It is a significant package that the Minister of Finance has outlined to the House. There is one thing I have been thinking about, though, as we have been debating this issue of tax cuts over the past day. It is that after the last general election Labour came to office with some very clear priorities to try to change New Zealand for the better. We said we wanted to make KiwiSaver a priority in this term. We said we wanted to make a priority of lowering the cost of going to the doctor and of picking up prescriptions for ordinary people in our country. We said we wanted to take the interest off student loans for our young people starting out, so that they had the best start in life. We also said we wanted our babies\u2014our young 3 and 4-year-olds\u2014to get 20 free hours of early childhood education, and that has been the biggest single expansion in the public education system in many, many decades. They were the priorities that Labour brought to the Treasury benches. They were the priorities we campaigned on, wrote in our manifesto, and have delivered through this term of Parliament. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000396\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EIf we look through the Labour Party manifesto, we will not find this bill anywhere in it. The Labour Party did not campaign on a programme of personal tax cuts. But today we have brought to Parliament a bill that delivers in that area, on top of all the other things we have said to the people of this country that we would achieve for them and with them\u2014together. I am proud of that. I am proud we have kept our word on those key social issues and on top of that we bring a tax cut programme to Parliament. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000397\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003ENational members, throughout the debate, have not got that simple point. They are obsessed with one policy, and one policy only. None of it fits together, there is no theme, and there is no philosophy. There is nothing to tell us what it is they want to do. All they want to do is cut taxes, for no obvious reason, and no plan has been put forward for it. We heard Dr Smith say that New Zealanders need the freedom to spend their own money, as though somehow the National Party does not plan to charge any taxes at all.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000398\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EIf tax is so terrible, if it is much better for people to spend their own money and not have Governments in the way, let us have no taxes. But, of course, that is not National\u2019s policy. If we take National\u2019s argument and expand it through, it is just a different shade of Labour\u2019s policy. We will have different income thresholds cutting in, and National might have a different rate here and there, but it will still take money off hard-working New Zealanders and spend it on their behalf. As a Government it would still take out about a third of the economy and spend it. These debates that National members are having are absolutely academic, puerile, and silly in trying to argue in that regard. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000399\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003ELabour is putting in a tax cut plan that will cost $10.6 billion over 3 years. That is about the size of the education budget. This Labour-led Government is taking about the same amount that we spend on education for our kids and our young people starting out and returning it to New Zealanders by way of tax cuts. This is a significant tax cut package on top of those key social and economic justice issues that Labour campaigned on and has worked on with other parties in this Parliament in order to achieve. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000400\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003ENational members were asked many times what their plan would be. Mr Woolerton from New Zealand First made an excellent point. The Government has put up its programme and it has been voted on by Parliament. Why does the Opposition not put up the mirror of that so that we can have a proper debate on it?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000401\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022585a4fb9ffc64d3a89213d1dbcc9bb35\u0022\u003EHon Dover Samuels\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s timing!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000402\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220f03b64d94d74a09b0180b84e23b1867\u0022\u003EHon DARREN HUGHES\u003C/span\u003E: The Hon Dover Samuels says that timing is the problem. We had to put up with Nick Smith, the Opposition front-bench strategist, sitting in Parliament yesterday and screaming at the top of his voice \u201CCynical! Cynical!\u201D. He said that the whole thing was just cynical. Yet National members say that the reason they cannot tell us about their plan is simply timing. Let us have a little bit of honesty in this debate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000403\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EThere is another thing we need to hear about from National members. The only savings they were able to identify were things like closing one or two embassies and not running one or two arts programmes. They found an arts programme somewhere that they did not like, costing $600,000 or $700,000, and they tried to say they would have tax cuts on the back of that. It is not as simple as that. The people of this country deserve a proper campaign where two sides put their arguments together and fight it, hammer and tongs, on the facts, not on the kind of silliness we heard from the Opposition in that regard. National members cannot say they are not going to have an embassy in Sweden, and that that will deliver a massive tax cut bigger than what Labour has done. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EFinally, the area that I think we have not spent enough time talking about is the fantastic win in the Budget, and in this particular bill, for New Zealand superannuitants. On 1 April this year, married superannuitants received an extra $27 a fortnight in their pension pay packet, and single people received $17. That happened last month, on 1 April. That is money already in the bank for our old people. But now, on top of that, through this Budget, an extra $45 a fortnight will go to married couples, and $23 a fortnight extra will go to single people. That is about a $73 and a $40-a-fortnight increase to our pensioners this year alone, on top of KiwiSaver, on top of interest-free student loans, on top of 20 free hours of early childhood education, and on top of lower doctors\u2019 fees and prescription charges. This is a balanced programme from a party leading a Government that has a plan for the future, that cares about ordinary people, and that will be honest with them until the very last day, because we know what we can do working together with the community to make our country a better place for our people. This bill includes everybody, and I am proud to put the vote of the people of \u014Ctaki behind its third reading.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022 data-id=\u00222d5976c18055458e8ebd89e093111bd6\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000405\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222d5976c18055458e8ebd89e093111bd6\u0022\u003EMOANA MACKEY (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E Like my colleague Darren Hughes, I too am proud to stand to support this bill in the House. This bill is one of a package of tax cuts that the Labour-led Government has delivered over the 9 years it has been in Government. National members have tried to forget that. They are trying to say that this is it and it is not enough. If we put these tax cuts on top of the Working for Families package, on top of business tax cuts, and on top of the research and development tax credits that this Labour-led Government has delivered, we see that it is significant. We have already delivered $4.6 billion worth of tax cuts. This bill adds $10.6 billion over the next 3 years. That is significant. Have National members ever voted for a business tax cut when they were in Government?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000406\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002242419044c1224a20b1fb392bcb7efb7a\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: No.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000407\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227e1dc41686c8434b99677e16f7cde292\u0022\u003EMOANA MACKEY\u003C/span\u003E: No, they have not. Did National members vote for Working for Families? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000408\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022611c0586163546a7b6bf4a14c91e3a85\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: No.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000409\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002270838d111d7a42b8a9932e07a25b0e64\u0022\u003EMOANA MACKEY\u003C/span\u003E: No, they did not. It is interesting that those families around the country that are benefiting significantly, by hundreds of dollars a week, from Working for Families are saying: \u201CWe want to know from the National Party whether it will touch it, because if it does, it is history. If National does that, we do not want a bar of it.\u201D But, of course, the National Party will not tell us that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000410\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003EI point out that in 1999, 6 months before the election, at the time of the Budget, Labour put out an alternative Budget and told the country what it would do, so that people could compare. Labour did this so that people could look at what National was delivering in Government and at what Labour would do in the same position, so that people could make a choice\u2014and they did. In 1999 they voted Labour in so that it could deliver on the promises it said it would deliver on, but National is refusing to do that. It is refusing to tell us what it would deliver. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000411\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003EOne of the extraordinary things about this bill and this Budget is that we are in uncertain economic times internationally. We have record high oil prices and record high food prices. Also, there is the credit crunch coming out of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. It has put enormous pressure on the international economy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000412\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003EWhen we have seen conditions like this in the past in New Zealand we have had slash-and-burn Budgets from National. In 1998, when National faced uncertain economic times, it cut superannuation, it sold State assets, and it stopped investing in health and education. What has this Labour-led Government done? We have increased the amount of money going to superannuitants. In fact, we have increased the amount of money across the board. We have continued to invest in health, in education, and in infrastructure development, and we have bought back a State asset\u2014New Zealand rail. That is the choice that New Zealanders have at the coming election. It is the stark difference between a Labour Government and a National Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000413\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003EWhen we had big surpluses and the National Party was screaming at us to squander them away\u2014there were cartoons of Michael Cullen sitting on huge piles of money\u2014we said no, because we knew that one day we might need that money so that when the tough times came we would not have to take away cheaper doctors\u2019 visits and cheaper prescriptions from the people who need them the most, and we would not have to take away free education in our schools. We will not put charges on our public hospitals, like National did the last time it got to the Treasury benches. We will not do that because we are a Government that believes that when times get tough and people need us the most, that is when the Government should be here. That is when a Government should plan ahead, prepare for the future, step in, and continue to provide all the services that New Zealanders, particularly those at the bottom, need. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000414\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003EI want to talk about the crocodile tears for working people that we have seen from the National Party. This Labour Government has delivered 1,000 extra jobs a week. We have introduced legislation that has stopped the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia from widening. When National was in Government that gap widened by 50 percent because it brought in legislation that meant that workers could not bargain for a fair wage. Australian workers shot ahead; our workers fell behind. Yet National members have the gall to say in this House that they would be a Government that would do well for workers. It would not. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000415\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003EJudith Collins talked about unemployment. We have had unemployment at under 4 percent for 4 years. In 1998 in Gisborne, unemployment hit 21 percent under a National Government. What did National members say? They said that the invisible hand of the market would deliver for places like Gisborne and the East Coast. Well, it does not. I am happy to see $30 million in this Budget to continue the support for Tai R\u0101whiti and Northland, for roading infrastructure that our council has struggled to continue funding. I know that our council and our community are grateful for that. They are also grateful for the buy-back of rail and for the money going into coastal shipping, because that is important to our region, as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000416\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003EIn relation to broadband, I can tell members that people in provincial regions do not believe that a Telecom monopoly that National will set up, and pay $1.5 billion to, will deliver for rural New Zealand. It will not. Telecom has not delivered so far. It has been an abysmal failure. It says that it will reach 75 percent of New Zealand with its package. I can tell members where the 25 percent that will not get it will be. It will be rural and provincial New Zealand, just as it always has been. Our tax package of $500 million will deliver more for taxpayers, more bang for the buck, and it will do it quicker. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022 data-id=\u0022a3eb62ccb7f44ea5aa115d272c64e3b6\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000417\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a3eb62ccb7f44ea5aa115d272c64e3b6\u0022\u003ECRAIG FOSS (National\u2014Tukituki):\u003C/span\u003E It is a pleasure to follow the previous speaker, Moana Mackey, who is well known for singing \u201CThe Gambler\u201D at the Labour Party conference. Perhaps she will rewrite the song, because the headline on the front page of today\u2019s Dominion Post is \u201CI bet the bank\u201D, and the gambler is Dr Cullen. I thought I should note that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000418\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EOne thing seems to be lost on members opposite. In the last half-hour or so Government members have started to speak, on the third reading of this bill and on the Budget in general. I do not think any Government member spoke in the Committee stage of this bill, and Government speakers were few and far between during its other stages\u2014except for the Ministers, of course. The key speakers, Dr Cullen and Mr Mallard, have implied that it is all locked in, that it is about absolute power, and that the numbers are so tight that there is no room for any movement\u2014no room for John Key, no room for Bill English, and no room for the Nats to improve upon it. I will let members into a secret: there is a lot of room. But they seem to have missed the obvious. If we are to believe those speeches from Dr Cullen and Mr Mallard, they have poll-axed Mr Goff. If it is true that this Budget leaves the next Minister of Finance with no room to do anything, then if, by some absolute tragedy, Labour wins the next election\u2014a tragic, tragic event\u2014the next Labour Minister of Finance, whoever that might be, will have absolutely no room to move. Dr Cullen has poll-axed Mr Goff, or Mr Cunliffe, who we know has ambitions, or Mr Jones, who is lining up quietly amongst the undergrowth. He has poll-axed his own caucus.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000419\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EObviously, his caucus colleagues are sick and tired of being bullied by him year after year about tax cuts, etc. Now he has finally caved into them. Talk about swallowing rats! These tax cuts have to be the biggest, spikiest, dirtiest, ugliest rat that a Minister of Finance has ever swallowed. The rat that Dr Cullen has swallowed to produce this particular bill is of elephantine proportions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000420\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI note that the name of this bill\u2014Labour does not miss an opportunity; I have to give its communications unit credit for that\u2014is the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill. Was the 1999 bill that hiked taxes called the \u201CTaxation (Personal Tax Hikes) Bill\u201D? Have any of the measures introduced by Labour all the way through its terms been called the \u201CInterest Rate Increase Bill\u201D because of the effect of the prolific and unproductive spending of Labour and its taxation grab? Labour does not miss a trick. One has to give it the nod there\u2014although I wonder whether this bill has been referred to the Electoral Commission because of its blatant advertising.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000421\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EAs I have said in every single speech on this bill, it is an absolute pleasure to be voting, finally, for a personal tax cut bill. It is a bit of a road to Damascus Budget from Dr Cullen, in view of the big, big rat he is swallowing. But it is all about trust. Quite simply, if I do a quick search of Hansard and have a quick look at the old pamphlets and brochures from the 2005 election and at previous Labour Budgets, then contrast them with the Minister\u2019s Budget speech, I realise that he did not write it. He read it out, and he read it well, but I do not think he wrote it. Someone else wrote it. Perhaps it was Mike Williams, or perhaps it was Helen Clark. At least she is reading the political tea leaves in public.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000422\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EThe previous speaker talked about the railways. A member from New Zealand First\u2014the party of contradictions\u2014also spoke about assets and railways. I will give members yet another reason why National will be voting against the Budget\u2014the Budget, not this bill. I refer them to page 153 of the main Budget document, under the heading \u201CPurchase of Rail and Ferry Network from Toll Holding Limited\u201D. I will read out the last paragraph, and members should remember that the Government has put $690 million of taxpayers\u2019 funds into the railways: \u201CThere is a risk that if any differential in the purchase price and the value of Toll New Zealand\u2019s rail and ferry assets and liabilities cannot be recovered through rail operations, a write-down in the Government Financial Statements will be required.\u201D We should remember that this Budget is supposed to be produced under New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards, so everything is supposed to be market to market. Translated, that paragraph means we paid about $290 million too much, and we have seen that reflected in the share price of Toll Holdings.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000423\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EThis part is blatant. I cannot recall it being mentioned in the Minister\u2019s speech yesterday. The paragraph quoted refers to a \u201Cwrite-down\u201D. It does not state \u201Cwrite-up\u201D. That is an admission right there that we paid too much and the taxpayers have been gouged. At what value will the railways etc. that have been bought from Toll Holdings go on the books? What contingent liabilities are about to hit the books? We know all about the subsidisation of the trucking firm, the leases, etc., and the $50 million that taxpayers have granted, essentially, so that Toll Holdings can buy another trucking company. The document states right there\u2014and this is not a Treasury ideological burp; it has stopped burping now; its Minister has taken on board tax cuts, apparently\u2014that Dr Cullen paid too much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000424\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EI will tell members another reason for not supporting the Budget. Between the Budget and today, the 3-year interest rate has gone up 50 basis points. In the Budget speech, time after time the Government tried to show its heartfelt feelings for people suffering because of high mortgage rates. It blamed it on the subprime issue. The previous speaker tried to do that, as well. It is more than the subprime issue, because the starting point for New Zealand interest rates is higher than that of interest rates anywhere else. What a change! From before the Budget to after the Budget, 3-year interest rates went up 50 points, the Kiwi dollar went up 1c, and short-term interest rates went up again.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000425\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EWhat else is going on? How is this Budget going to be funded? Well, page 102 of the main Budget document talks about $6.4 billion of additional borrowing\u2014additional borrowing. Dr Cullen is failing miserably his third test in respect of tax cuts. Also, the assets that the Debt Management Office has been looking after\u2014basically, the cash stash; where the Minister has been keeping it all\u2014will be sold, or matured. What will the effect of that be? Billions of dollars of assets coming on to the short-term market will hold, at the very least, interest rates, or send them up\u2014that is, 90-day rates, 60-day rates, 12-month mortgages, rolling mortgages, etc., will stay up and stay up for longer.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000426\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EIf colleagues still do not believe me, they should look at the forecast in the Budget itself and at the numbers that are relied upon to produce those forecasts. The Budget Economic and Fiscal Update refers on page 70 to the 90-day bank bill rate. It was guesstimated at the last update to be 8.6 percent, on average, this year; it is now 8.8 percent. It is expected that it will plummet post this Budget to 8.6 percent. That is miles above that of any other OECD country. And those members shed crocodile tears on TV. It is absolutely absurd. The 10-year rate is staying up. It is not even moving around.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000427\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003EMembers should look at the current account and the CPI\u2014the cancer on the future of our economy. It is the result of unproductive spending by this crowd for the last 8 years. The CPI is nudging the top of 3 percent. What does that mean? It means that short-term interest rates will be higher for longer. It means that the New Zealand dollar will be higher for longer\u2014higher than necessary. The Labour Government premium\u2014the Cullen premium on New Zealand interest rates\u2014and the discount on our future growth have been embedded in this Budget. Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022 data-id=\u0022fa4763dc9fc54a3a8ca0f9160fad3460\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000428\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022fa4763dc9fc54a3a8ca0f9160fad3460\u0022\u003EHon DARREN HUGHES (Deputy Leader of the House):\u003C/span\u003E The debate has almost concluded. We have heard from almost all the speakers who want to participate in it, but we are due to break at 1 p.m. for lunch. I seek the leave of the House to continue the sitting of the House beyond 1 p.m., until we can conclude the third reading of the debate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000429\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bcc67df7f460446c94e89f01c74009e1\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Leave has been sought for that course to be followed. Is there any objection? There appears to be none. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022 data-id=\u0022e68ac64f86a8409fa2e65747ee79b60d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000430\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e68ac64f86a8409fa2e65747ee79b60d\u0022\u003EHon LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN (Minister of Pacific Island Affairs):\u003C/span\u003E Kia ora, talofa lava, and warm Pacific greetings. I stand with pride to support the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Bill. I am very proud to be part of this Labour Government, which is delivering for all Kiwis. I am proud of all the achievements that our Government has made and very excited about our vision and our plan for the future. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000431\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022\u003EI am particularly excited about what this legislation means for Pacific Island peoples. Our people have made great advances under the Labour Government, with unemployment reducing from 12.2 percent in December 1999 to 4.7 percent in December 2007, and our education and income levels are improving. Pacific people in full-time employment are increasing their hourly earnings at a faster rate than those of any other group, and Pacific children are also increasingly taking part in early childhood education, which is critical for future success. Their increase in enrolments is more than twice that for other ethnicities. The number of our students who leave school with National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 2 or above is increasing. Nearly a third of our young Kiwi Pacific people aged between 18 and 24 are taking part in tertiary education, and their degrees and PhDs have improved hugely. That is all good news, and there is also a lot more. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000432\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022\u003EWhat is fantastic about our Government is that we are continuing to deliver for Pacific peoples and for all New Zealanders with this bill. We know that households have come under considerable pressure. That is happening in New Zealand and across the world, as nations cope with rising food and petrol prices and with higher mortgage repayments driven up by the credit crunch. Those problems are not of New Zealand\u2019s making, but Labour is committed to managing the economy through these challenges. Because of this Government\u2019s responsible economic management, putting aside money in the good years, we are able to deliver relief when it is needed. Labour is helping Kiwis to cope with rising living costs, without driving the public accounts deep into debt or slashing public services in order to do so. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000433\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022\u003EThese tax cuts are responsible. They are providing relief, while there is also continued investment in public services like better hospitals, modern classrooms, cheaper doctors\u2019 visits and prescriptions, and more nurses, doctors, teachers, and police officers. The Prime Minister has also recently announced expenditure of $18.5 million to rebuild Porirua College, which is a decile 1 college and is one of the leading schools in terms of its NCEA results in our electorate. Tax cuts will benefit people across the board, and especially those on lower incomes, our families, and our superannuitants. The lowering of the bottom tax rate will benefit those on the lowest incomes and people in part-time work. The people on middle and higher incomes will also be able to earn more before going into higher tax brackets. Families will also receive even more support through a boost to the Working for Families family tax credit. That investment in our families and in our children is critical, because it is an investment in the nation\u2019s future success. It is critical for people to understand those links in order to understand how important this legislation is. This legislation will make a difference, and we will see evidence of that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000434\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022\u003EFor our Pacific people, this legislation will also mean they will have more money in their pockets. Census 2006 showed that 77 percent of Pacific people earn an income of less than $50,000 a year, so our people have a lot to gain from this legislation. A full-time Pacific worker on the average wage will now receive an additional $16.54 a week, and that is great. It is an improvement, and it is really appreciated. Our tax cuts and our Working for Families increases mean that a Pacific family with a husband who earns $35,000 per annum, with a wife who works part-time and earns $10,000 per annum, and with four children aged 4, 6, 12, and 14 will be better off by an additional $1,975 per year. That will increase to $2,273 per year in 2010 and $3,719 in 2011. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000435\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022\u003EThe tax cuts will also mean significant increases in the amount paid every fortnight to older New Zealanders. For our superannuitants, our Pacific elderly whom we love very much, the tax cuts will mean an increase from 1 October this year of $45.88 a fortnight for a married couple and of $23.84 a fortnight for a single person who lives alone. There will be even more in 2010 and 2011. This is extremely good news for New Zealand. All members of our families will benefit. I am extremely pleased and happy that during these times, when our elderly will have found the recent increases in the cost of living difficult to manage, we are in a position to support them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000436\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022\u003ELet us not forget that the last time economic turbulence hit our shores, the National Government cut superannuation and public services. The misery and the violation of Kiwi values and the Kiwi heart caused much misery and anxiety for many of our families. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000437\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279f87abf-aaab-44ff-96db-2e33d763670a\u0022\u003EOur Labour Government has looked at the costs at the petrol pump and at the supermarket checkout, and it has looked at rents and mortgages. It has decided that this support for New Zealanders, which would have been given on 1 April 2009, will now be given on 1 October 2008. We are supporting our people when they need it the most. I would particularly like to acknowledge and thank Dr Michael Cullen for bringing this bill to the House. Under his leadership the public purse has been managed responsibly, which means we are now able to support Kiwis who are dealing with the pressures of today. I am very proud to be part of a Labour Government that is ensuring the people in my Mana electorate, our Pacific peoples, and all New Zealanders and Kiwis have a strong and sustainable future. Thank you, fa\u2019afetai, tele lava, malo aupito, meitaki maata, malo ni.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022 data-id=\u0022a69e7150e23a4a3abfa8eaf34d32e298\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000438\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a69e7150e23a4a3abfa8eaf34d32e298\u0022\u003ETIM GROSER (National):\u003C/span\u003E I shall take just a brief call. Obviously I want to leave the next leader of the Labour Party the final word. I recall about an hour ago a Minister of the Crown literally saying that this was the finest Budget in New Zealand\u2019s recent history and describing the author of the Budget, Dr Michael Cullen, as the finest financial administrator New Zealand has seen in recent times. I think we have to agree that in politics a little bit of exaggeration is fair. A little bit of hyperbole is part of the game, and we all understand that. But it reminds me of a very cynical political statement that comes out of the Russian school of politics, which is about as cynical as one can get. Obviously I know only the English version, so I will change it slightly, to keep the language within parliamentary language rules. It states: \u201CYou can mislead the people and you can mislead them often, but know when to stop. Know the point where you have completely lost your credibility. You should stop at that point.\u201D A Minister of the Crown is using such language, to describe what is not just one Budget\u2014let us be plain about this. What we are debating today, and what New Zealanders will be debating in their living rooms, is not one Budget; it is a Budget in a sequence of nine. We are debating the legacy of this three-term Labour Government, in terms of economic management. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000439\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003ETo use another clich\u00E9: \u201COne swallow does not make a summer\u2019s day.\u201D One Budget out of nine is not what we are debating today. We are debating a legacy of 9 years of a definite set of political choices. One thing I absolutely agree with Mr Darren Hughes on is that there is a choice. He is absolutely right. There is a choice to be made. New Zealanders are to be given that choice, as they should be. That choice is between two completely different sets of priorities. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000440\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003ELet us look at this outrageous claim in the context of some facts, rather than just pure rhetoric. Labour inherited an economy that grew, in the last year before it took office, by 4 percent in real terms, and that averaged 3.5 percent real growth in the preceding 8 years. Labour has now delivered us an economy in which everything is going south. Labour inherited an economy in which inflation\u2014by the way, several times this morning we heard some absolutely ludicrously wrong figures from the Government\u2014peaked at about 14 percent, and it was tracking down to about 2 percent when Labour took office. For the last 4 years it has been about 3.5 percent and trending up to 4 percent. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000441\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EOf course, although I do not have the time to develop the analysis of the difference between tradable and non-tradable contributions to it, people who have looked at the facts know that the fundamental problem here, in terms of inflation peaking upwards on Labour\u2019s watch, has been in the non-tradable sector. What is the gorilla in the room, in the non-tradable sector? It is Government spending, which has increased from $32 billion to $60 billion in this 9-year period. This is the legacy of the finest economic manager New Zealand has ever seen? Labour had unemployment that had peaked at around 11.1 percent in 1991, and from memory the M\u0101ori rate of unemployment had peaked at an atrocious 21 or 22 percent in 1991. It had tracked down progressively throughout the 1990s, down to 6 percent unemployment generally, with the M\u0101ori rate still unacceptably above that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003ESince the roots of good economic performance are of course laid in years, in terms of the past, there was almost nothing short of a Mugabe-style approach to government\u2014which is not the expression I would use personally, because of the same issue about credibility\u2014but there was nothing this Labour Government could do, or did do, that was going to dramatically alter the first 5 years of its term in office. Labour came in with all this favourable wind behind it. What do we have now? We have a very significant, large loss in employment in the last quarter. Unemployment is tracking up. We had interest rates at a little more than half the level 9 years ago of what they are today. That is the legacy we are debating today.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000443\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ae815431ac6d4e1d892098fa059c02dc\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: And the 90-day bill rate is going north.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000444\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d93719238f724834bf0a7741a17c543b\u0022\u003ETIM GROSER\u003C/span\u003E: Absolutely right. We had massive surpluses built in by responsible fiscal management and we are now heading south. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000445\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EThe tragedy in all this is that the centrepiece of this ninth debate, if one likes, on this legacy, is about tax; and tax, as many other people have pointed out quite correctly, is not just a matter of putting money in people\u2019s pockets. That is a very important aspect of it when people are under pressure, but it is also fundamentally about incentives. Had Dr Cullen, and this Government, used the good years to put in place 9, 8, or 7 years ago tax structures that would have incentivised New Zealand\u2019s middle class, one can bet one\u2019s bottom dollar we would be seeing real economic consequences of that, right now, in a very positive way. We would have seen productivity, which has tanked in the life of this Government. Total factor productivity growth, which averaged 3.2 percent in the 3 years before it took office, is now 0.4 percent; labour productivity growth, which was around that level, is now 0.5 percent\u2014another aspect of the legacy of the \u201Cfinest financial administrator\u201D of the generation, as described by a Minister. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000446\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EWe would have seen real economic returns from those decisions, and from those investments in New Zealanders. In fact, we have all seen the estimates from economists that if productivity had actually held up at the rates Labour inherited, New Zealand would not have an inflation problem. If we did not have an inflation problem, we would not have had an interest rate problem; and if we did not have an interest rate problem, we would not have seen exporters\u2014at least they have had some relief in the last few months\u2014buckling under the pressure of an exchange rate that puts them under an enormous competitive disadvantage. So that is the real legacy we are debating. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000447\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EWe have had ambitious words from the Government in this 9-year period, but very little action to back them up. We have had the words: \u201Cknowledge wave conference\u201D, \u201Cgrowth and innovation framework\u201D, \u201Ceconomic transformation\u201D, and \u201Csustainability\u201D, in every sentence in every Minister\u2019s speech. We have had this force-fed down our throats for 9 years, but where has been the delivery? When we look at the facts, we are looking at a slowing economy, rising unemployment, high interest rates that are putting New Zealanders under pressure, and drastically reduced productivity gains. Where does this evidence lead? I tell members that it leads to a conclusion that is so radically different from the Minister\u2019s words I quoted at the beginning of my comments. It leads us to the conclusion that New Zealand fundamentally now needs a change of Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022 data-id=\u0022108c3cf7e86e477482d4ee9f1fb524fd\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000448\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022108c3cf7e86e477482d4ee9f1fb524fd\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence):\u003C/span\u003E Let me start where Tim Groser, the member who has just resumed his seat, left off. He talked about a legacy. I remember the legacy of 1999. I remember that 161,000 people were registered as unemployed. What is that figure today? It is 19,000. As the Minister of Defence, I remember the legacy of that Government in terms of defence. We had a defence force that had been run down year after year, and sent to places like Bosnia with equipment dating back to Viet Nam that was not safe to put our troops in to do the job that we expected of them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000449\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EI remember the legacy\u2014the legacy of broken promises. Lockwood Smith said that he would abolish student fees and he doubled them. Lockwood Smith promised that he would resign as Minister of Education if he did not eliminate student fees, and he stayed on for 6 years. I remember the legacy of lies about superannuation right from the beginning. \u201CNo ifs no buts, no maybes\u201D\u2014National said that it would get rid of the surtax. It increased the surtax. And Bill English, one of the new-generation National people, was the Minister who, in 1998, pushed down the rates of New Zealand superannuation. The same guy, by the way, today says that superannuitants are handled too generously. That is the same man who said that decile 1 schools were paid too much. That is equity from the National Party. That is what those members believe in. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000450\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EI say to Mr Groser that we both remember how well National managed governing under MMP. The previous National Government failed to govern this country with stability, because it failed to work with other parties. That Government relied on the vote of Alamein Kopu. We remember that. If New Zealanders can remember that, then why would they want this \u201Cnew\u201D team that includes Dr Smith\u2014both of them; Nick and Lockwood\u2014Mr English, and Mr Williamson? It is the same failed group. It has no ideas and no vision. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000451\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EI sat and listened when the Leader of the Opposition was speaking. I took out a blank piece of paper, picked up my pen, and thought that I would take down the substantive points he made. Twenty-five minutes later I had nothing written on that piece of paper. That is exactly what the National Party has offered the House in this debate\u2014nothing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000452\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003ENational members are like stunned mullets. They read about the $10 billion in tax cuts. They have read that the average New Zealand family would be $42 a week better off by 1 October, and they thought: \u201CWhere does this leave us? Where have we to go?\u201D. That accounts for the utter failure of the National Party in this debate to be critical of what this Budget does. It is an exceptionally good Budget and this bill is very good legislation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000453\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003ENational members have learnt one thing: they have voted against every tax cut this Government has brought in. They voted against Working for Families, they voted against KiwiSaver, and, I say to Mr Groser, they even voted against bringing down corporate tax rates. You know, National is meant to be the party that supports the business sector. National had 9 years in Government, and did it cut taxes for the business sector? Did National try to lift research and development funding in order for the business sector to go out and do its job? No, it did not. National failed where the Labour Government has succeeded. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000454\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThis Budget gives tax relief to all New Zealanders. Not only does it give tax relief to all New Zealanders but also it acknowledges the fundamental point that where families have young, dependent children, the Government has to give more support to those families. We have to give help to those families, and that is why we brought in Working for Families. A family on $35,000\u2014a low income\u2014with two kids would not have got more than $10 or $20 in simple tax cuts, but out of Working for Families they will get $190 a week. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000455\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EI will tell members what I am proud of about this Government. I am proud that we have lifted tens of thousands of kids out of poverty, because we have recognised the cost of raising a family and have done something about it. That is something to be proud of. When I think of people who are working in the social sector, I think of Major Campbell Roberts of the Salvation Army, who has worked for people on low incomes for all of his life. What was his verdict on this Budget? He said that this is a fair Budget because somebody on the lowest income gets more than a 5 percent tax cut.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000456\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ae94eea7-ba5f-4303-bf71-49e708bc9888\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223eb3740a7b5c47bdb30390020da884c1\u0022\u003EJohn Hayes\u003C/span\u003E: 1.4 percent.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000457\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bff0396d5c7940bd93d5c566233ad5b1\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF\u003C/span\u003E: The member John Hayes, who is making so much noise from his chair, got only a 1.4 percent tax cut. I am very sorry about that, I say to the member, but the truth is that he did not need more than a 1.4 percent tax cut, while a family on a low income needs all of the help it is getting. This Government, which is always good for social justice and builds on the traditions of Michael Joseph Savage, continues to give social justice for working families in this country. That is why I am so proud of this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000458\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThis is a good Budget because it delivers tax cuts at the same time that it continues to give for our social services. There is a huge investment in the health sector to make sure that we have a public health system that does not ask for somebody\u2019s health insurance card or ask to see the width of people\u2019s wallets before they get treatment. That is another thing that I am proud about with regard to this Labour Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000459\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003ESometimes the older folk in our community get a little grumpy about things and think that things could get better and should be better. There was a couple in the news who said that they had voted for Labour all of their lives, and they thought that maybe they should give the other crowd a go\u2014there is a sense of fairness amongst New Zealanders. They thought: \u201CThis group has done pretty well over 9 years. Maybe we should give the other group a go.\u201D Well, I was glad to see when I picked up this morning\u2019s Dominion Post that that couple looked at what this Budget offered them and said: \u201CNo, no; we are doing pretty well with this group.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000460\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EI even saw that the vice-president of Grey Power said that older New Zealanders would be very pleased with this Budget. People should be very pleased with this Budget. If we calculate what elderly people were getting each fortnight, we find that they were getting $27 extra a fortnight as at 1 April. On 1 October they will get another $45 extra. That is an extra $72 a fortnight that our elderly people will get to help meet the cost of living. That is not bad going. Even National members know that it is not bad going, and that is why they have been so dejected and so pathetic during this debate. They have nowhere to go. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000461\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThis is a responsible Budget that looks after the elderly, looks after our families, and looks after all New Zealand taxpayers. The Budget was done in a way that did not push this economy so far that we had to think about whether we could sustain social services or whether it would have an inflationary effect. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000462\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EYou see, this Budget gives people money at the time they need it because of the cost pressures that Mr Groser talked about. Mr Groser, when he was in Tokyo, blamed those cost pressures on international inflation, but when he got home he said it was the Government\u2019s fault. Well, I do not know how it could be the Government\u2019s fault that we were paying US$20 a barrel for oil a few years ago and now we are paying US$133 a barrel. When Mr Groser was in Tokyo he said that food price inflation is a worldwide phenomenon that has a crushing effect on people in developing countries, and he was right. But I would ask him why, when he came back to New Zealand, did he say that it is something that the Government has caused? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000463\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EOf course, the Government is not responsible for that inflation, but this Government has responded by recognising people\u2019s needs and giving them help when they need it. We are able to give them that help, because we have managed this economy responsibly for 8 years and we have the money there. I say to Mr Groser that we have lowered the debt legacy of 35 percent of GDP that the previous National Government left us to less than 20 percent of GDP. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000464\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EBy good management we have created the money that can help New Zealanders when they need it, at a time when the international economy is in some trouble. This is a responsible Budget from a good Government, as opposed to what we have heard from the failed people who sit on the National benches, and this Budget is an election winner.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000465\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EBill read a third time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000466\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThe House adjourned at 1.13 p.m. (Friday)\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20080522a6708ec44de0484dbd16b3188ca4aef8000467\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n  \u003C/body\u003E\n\u003C/html\u003E"