Williams Andrew: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Williams Andrew: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
[Sitting date: 13 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8488. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First) 
: 
 I take a call on behalf of New Zealand First. Is it not interesting to speak after the person who will be the next member of Parliament for Epsom when the National Government finally pulls the plug on the ACT Party and sends it off into political oblivion? That particular member of Parliament might stop interviewing his typewriter and might stop looking in the mirror for his answers. He might actually go out and not just interview people like the Gallaghers whom he wrote a book for but as we have in Opposition sit in the likes of Christchurch Dunedin Wellington and Auckland and listen to real manufacturers and real companies that are having a real problem in this economy trying to survive and trying to keep their workers in jobs—not the Gallaghers of this world who basically pretty well have the market all to themselves. 
Is it not interesting that this Budget Policy Statement—it is not about what is in the policy statement but it is more about what is not in the policy statement. Is the Novopay shambles the omnishambles of the Novopay debacle in the statement? No way. It is not in the statement. Is it as the honourable Todd McClay would say as he is leaving the House— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: —delivering better public services within tight financial constraints? Is the Novopay system delivering better public services within tight financial constraints? I do not think anyone in New Zealand would think this is a Government that is delivering that. 
How does the manufacturing sector in decline contribute to building a more productive and competitive economy which this Government continues to talk about? The manufacturing inquiry has revealed in stark detail the crisis in the manufacturing sector. What has been left unsaid also is the stealthy tax hikes that are planned in order to achieve the miserable $66 million surplus in 2014-15—$66 million which is almost below the smallest margin of error. In an economy turning over some $200 billion a year a GDP of $200 billion $66 million could literally go in a quarter of an hour if the wrong button is pressed. But that is what this Government is hinging itself on. 
It is hinging itself on finding money little scraps of money wherever it can such as was announced this week. It is looking at imposing a fringe benefit tax on company car-parks in Auckland and Wellington and on iPads for goodness’ sake. It is starting to try to tax the fringe benefit of having an iPad. What an absolute nonsense. We hear that it is going to cost companies perhaps up to $30 million in compliance costs in order to pay the Government something like $17 million or $18 million in the car-park tax. It is just a complete nonsense and again like the schoolboy and schoolgirl pocket money tax last year it really is showing a desperate Government that is grasping at straws. 
There is the latest Solid Energy debacle—what a debacle—of hundreds of millions of dollars. Where is that all being factored into the Government’s books for 2014 in this Budget Policy Statement? Certainly when Bill English drew it up some time ago they had overlooked what was happening in the likes of that State-owned enterprise. 
New Zealand has not had a balance of payments surplus in nearly 40 years. What a disgrace that this country has not had a balance of payments surplus in 40 years. Given the current policies of this Government when will we ever return to a real surplus in our balance of payments? What is missing is any real indication of the progress if any that has been made in reducing the level of New Zealand’s net international indebtedness. 
The Government relies on things such as the Christchurch earthquake. We heard today at the Finance and Expenditure Committee Treasury saying that a third of the small growth in the New Zealand economy was as a result of the Christchurch earthquake. Well just imagine if this Government had not been let off the hook and there had not been an earthquake how much worse off it would be in terms of the books if it did not have the Christchurch rebuild to assist its fiscal position. 
At the end of 2012 almost 90000 New Zealanders under the age of 30 were not in work and not in training—almost 90000 New Zealanders. The number of people receiving the unemployment benefit has gone up a staggering 74 percent in the past 4 years. If it were not for the 50000 people leaving each year and going to Australia to live imagine what the unemployment figures would be today. Again a bit like with the Christchurch earthquake this Government is thanking its lucky stars that so many New Zealanders are leaving to go to Australia otherwise the unemployment figures would be really really really grim. 
New Zealand First is looking at new measures and we will do this by ensuring that New Zealand companies are first in the queue for Government contracts. Our New Zealand First “Buy New Zealand” Government procurement policy will create a legal requirement for all Government departments all State-owned enterprises and all local authorities in New Zealand to give first preference to New Zealand companies when they tender for supply based on the overall financial impact report that is given in terms of that tender. Why should there be a situation where the New Zealand Transport Agency gives a $2.5 million steel contract to China to build the new steel bridges for the Waitaki River—a tender price that was only 5 percent cheaper than tenders from local New Zealand steel contractors and no consideration was given to the amount of tax the Government would get from that contract the amount of PAYE that the workers would pay the number of people it would employ and the number of subcontractors who would be employed? No consideration was given by the New Zealand Transport Agency to all of that. All it did was take a price 5 percent cheaper than those of the New Zealand suppliers and all that money—$2.5 million—that could have been spent in the Canterbury area and the North Otago area all disappeared off overseas. 
Why did the Government not step into KiwiRail and look at ways of keeping the Hillside railway workshops open? It is the largest foundry in New Zealand the largest workshop in New Zealand and was keeping the capability the expertise and the knowledge of heavy heavy engineering in this country going. Why did it not look into as was suggested again—and members over there would have heard it had they been at the manufacturing inquiry in Dunedin on Monday—that for instance there could have been a joint venture with the Chinese suppliers and it could have been done in a flat-pack arrangement as was done on the old days in New Zealand with CKD—complete knock-down—construction of cars. The heavy steel could have been produced in China. It could have been produced in such a way as to be sent to the Hillside rail workshops for them to then physically put the carriages together and put them on the tracks commission them weld them and send them out. That was not done. The total tender went offshore. We have discovered this week at the manufacturing inquiry that the steel welding of many of these railway wagons is insufficient—apparently a lot of the welding looks like bubble pack—and the brake system on these railway wagons is technology from the 1970s that they stopped putting on railway wagons in the 1970s in this country but that is turning up on the Chinese wagons. All this sort of nonsense is going on. 
We also heard at the manufacturing inquiry that the broadband roll-out in this country is being supplied out of Sweden and all the cabling—including even the plastic outside cabling which can be produced in this country—is coming from Sweden. So these billions of dollars that have been rolled out to put broadband through New Zealand by this Government spending all this money are all disappearing offshore. 
The Inland Revenue Department is spending up to $2 billion on a computer system to update the antiquated inland revenue system. Again it is all going to France. The whole contract is going to France when we have some of the smartest IT people in New Zealand and they are missing out. It goes on and on and on. 
I can assure members that when New Zealand First returns to the Government benches or is in a position to influence the Government we will bring in measures to look at all these aspects including overhauling the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act which has not been looked at in 26 years. 
David Bennett 
: Remember all those pamphlets you got done in China? 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: In 26 years Mr Bennett—your Government has not looked at the Reserve Bank in 26 years. That will be reviewed so that the New Zealand dollar can be looked at in terms of making it more competitive for New Zealand exporters to operate around the world so that New Zealand companies can get back on a proper footing and get jobs back into this economy get proper growth back into this economy and get New Zealand moving again. New Zealand First has policies that will work in this area. This Government does not.