King Annette: General Debate 
King Annette: General Debate 
[Volume:653;Page:2299] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 We have just heard a speech on Twitter from Parliament’s biggest twit. His speech ended with just a tweet. I have to say that it was one of the weakest speeches I have ever heard from that member. The only thing he could say was “Look at our big broadband.” Well I invite him to say that to the people of the West Coast. Mr Joyce said that people who live up the end of a long road—the farmers—will have to wait some time. I tell the National Government that actually there are people on the West Coast who live in towns. Quite a few thousand of them actually live in towns. They are asking where the broadband is for them. 
We learnt today on 1 April April Fool’s Day that the National Government’s tax cuts are the “more is less” tax cuts because the people who get the most get more and those who get the least get nothing. That is what these tax cuts are. They are the “more is less” tax cuts. It is probably a red-letter day and a black-letter day for New Zealanders. It is a red-letter day for those who are lucky enough to get the tax cuts and I say good on them. People will welcome those tax cuts. When people are struggling they will be happy to get a few extra dollars in their pockets. I am pleased for them. I say that for those who do not get the tax cuts it is a black-letter day indeed. It is a black-letter day for many many New Zealanders. 
Let us look at my own electorate where 62 percent of the people do not get the tax cuts that were announced today. It is an ordinary electorate. I know that people there vote Labour and probably do not deserve to have a tax cut under a National Government but 62 percent of people in my electorate get no tax cuts. In fact right across New Zealand 71 percent of people do not get these tax cuts. 
We know that the 3 percent who get most of the money in New Zealand will get a third of the cash in their pockets. Is that fair? Is that what these tax cuts are about? I have to tell members that I believe this is a defining moment for National. I hope that the Maori Party is listening to this speech. These tax cuts define National’s idea of fairness. National believes that fairness is giving the most to those who already have it. We are not saying there should not be tax cuts; we are saying that the Government should give tax cuts to those who need them. Why would they want to give more to the chief executive officer of Telecom who is already earning over a million dollars— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: $5 million. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: It is $5 million. Well he will get $500 a week more from these tax cuts but the family that is on under $40000 a year—the struggling family with kids—will not get anything. It is also a black-letter day for all those people who have just lost their jobs because they will not get a tax cut. They will not get anything with these tax cuts. We know that the number of people losing their jobs is accelerating by the day. Almost 2000 people signed up for the unemployment benefit in just 1 month. We know that the number of people going to Work and Income for assistance is climbing rapidly. There is little assistance for those people unless they meet a very narrow range of criteria. 
There is nothing new from the Minister for Social Development and Employment. In fact Paula Bennett has spent 5 months as Minister working out what she will do for the non-governmental organisation sector. Today we know that the tax cuts ought to be given to charity according to Mr John Key the Prime Minister. I suppose charity will give the money to the non-governmental organisation sector because it is not getting any joy out of that Minister. She crows that she called in people from the non-governmental organisation sector for a meeting to talk about it but we know that those people are talking about what they are not going to get in this Budget. The Pathways to Partnership programme is on the skids. It is on the skids because the Minister cannot provide funding for the non-governmental organisations to be able to continue to provide the absolutely crucial services that New Zealanders need at this time. It is a black-letter day for them and it is a black-letter day for thousands and thousands of taxpayers in this country.