Peachey Allan: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Peachey Allan: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:655;Page:4519] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 In this opportunity to contribute to the Appropriation (2008/09 Supplementary Estimates) Bill I begin by referring to the Labour member who has just resumed her seat Ms Dyson. She described the 2009 Budget as a wasted opportunity but let me tell this House what the 2009 Budget was. It was a brave attempt to rescue this country from the wasted opportunities of 9 years of socialist rule. It was 9 years of some of the most sustained prosperity this country has seen being wasted. That crowd over there the Labour Party was more interested in taking that prosperity built up on the backs and the shoulders of decent hard-working New Zealanders through the 1980s and the 1990s to build up a sum of money to buy the 2005 election. The tragedy was not just the buying of an election but also that we then had to put up with 3 years of a Government that had lost its moral compass. That contributed even further to the difficulties that this Government is dealing with in the Budget. 
Members might like to reflect on the Thursday afternoon when the Budget was delivered in this House and on the offerings from the Leader of the Opposition. There was huffing and puffing and puffing and huffing but nobody was listening. Certainly on this side of the House we were not listening. There was pathos in seeing members on the other side of the House not listening but most important of all the people of New Zealand were not listening. The people of New Zealand wanted a very simple speech from the Leader of the Opposition and it needed to comprise only three words: “I am sorry.” He could have said that he was sorry for the mess that the previous Labour Government left the economy in. That is all the New Zealand people wanted to hear: “I am sorry.” Instead we have heard speech after speech from members opposite demonstrating that firstly they do not understand the damage they did to the New Zealand economy during their time in Government and secondly they are totally bereft of ideas. When the Opposition’s finance spokesperson Mr Cunliffe was asked on Radio New Zealand National when Labour would offer an alternative plan the best he could do was to say it would be sometime before the next election. That spokesperson knows that he is bereft of ideas and has not got a clue about how to get New Zealand out of the mess the previous Labour Government left. 
At least the National Government understands the importance of a credit rating. One of this Budget’s many successes was protecting New Zealand’s international credit rating. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Don’t worry about the people. Just worry about the credit rating. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: When listening to the interjections coming from the other side of the House and thinking about some of the contributions and speeches from Labour members it becomes clear that they do not care. It does not matter whether it is Mr Cunliffe Mr Goff or any of them. They do not care do not understand and do not know. Well let me tell them something that they should understand. If New Zealand’s credit rating had been downgraded according to the Treasury it would have pushed up interest rates by about 1.5 percent. “So what?” members opposite might ask. Let me tell those members that on a $175000 mortgage that means another $50 a week that a household has to find. I suggest that the next Labour member who gets on his or her feet explains to the people of New Zealand why the Labour Party would be happy to have New Zealanders spend another $50 a week on their mortgage simply because Labour members do not understand and do not care what credit ratings mean. 
Labour is a party bereft of any sort of economic ideas. What has the Government had to deal with? One could probably speak until we rise at 10 p.m. tonight listing the difficulties that the Labour Party left for the new Government to deal with. They include a bloated bureaucracy loaded with unnecessary costs and $2 billion of deferred maintenance of Housing New Zealand Corporation properties. There was an accident compensation shortfall of $1.5 billion. It is not looking very impressive and it gets worse. KiwiRail was valued at half of what the previous Government paid for it. There was also falling economic growth rising unemployment higher inflation a rising current account deficit a deteriorating fiscal deficit and sharply rising Crown debt which was all the legacy of the previous Labour Government. 
Hon Members 
: Oh! 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Members opposite might like to listen to this one: annual productivity growth was an appalling 1.1 percent between 2000 and 2008. I do not think that any New Zealander needs reminding that in those years we had a socialist Labour Government a Government that was more interested in building a chest to buy an election than in doing what was right for New Zealand. The Department of Corrections was in need of major overhaul and the Immigration Service was dysfunctional. We could just go on and on. That is the legacy of the previous Labour Government that this Budget is attempting to deal with and that is why the New Zealand people wanted one thing from Phil Goff: “I am sorry.” For a long time the New Zealand public will remember the heroic efforts that went into the 2009 Budget and the failure of the Labour Party to take responsibility. 
In my remaining few moments I will turn to the education provisions of the Budget because there is something quite significant that has by and large not had any attention drawn to it. The Government has allocated $36 million to help students meet national standards of literacy and numeracy. That represents an end to the notion that academic achievement is not for all students. The Labour Party thinks it is not for all students but finally a New Zealand Government has made the statement in a Budget that academic standards and achievement are for all students. For the first time in the history of New Zealand schooling proficiency is being put at the core of education. Thank you.