Mallard Trevor: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mallard Trevor: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 24 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2429. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) 
: 
 This is an interesting debate on the Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill. I think we have just had a leader—or someone who aspires to be the leader of a party—make a speech pretending that he was a leader speaking on the Appropriation Bill which was the previous legislation rather than on the bill that we are currently debating. The member has been here for 4 years now and I would have thought that at some stage he would know that the leaders speak on the Budget and then we deal with other legislation. He totally missed— 
Hon Member 
: It’s called the Budget measures bill. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It might relate to Budget measures but there is enough— 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: I’ll take a call.  
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well if the member wants to have a general wide-ranging debate and keep it going for days well then I am quite willing to do it. But I am telling the “member for Vodafone” that he should at least read the bill that is being debated rather than having a very wide-ranging debate on things that do not even come close to it.  
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.  
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I want to work backwards through the bill and start off with the student loan repeal— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! A point of order has been raised.  
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am happy to take that member’s call if he is— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No that is not a point of order. The member will sit down.  
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Thank you very much Mr Deputy Speaker. I am not going to refer to a point of order but I did notice that the member could not even get to the bill himself. He could not even get to the bill himself. Maybe Vodafone did not give him the notes. Maybe the deputy chair of the Commerce Committee at the time who was dealing with regulatory matters should have thought twice about accepting a trip from Vodafone. Absolutely— 
Maggie Barry 
: So says the scalper! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Sorry? He is a scumbag? I agree with the member. 
Maggie Barry 
: Scalper. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: He is a scumbag says Maggie Barry. I absolutely agree that that was a terrible thing to do but I am surprised that Maggie Barry said it to start with.  
Let us go back to the repeal of the 10 percent voluntary repayment bonus in respect of student loans. We told the Government this was nuts. We told the Government that this scheme was a sign of absolute educational failure. Anyone who was not in the last 18 months of their repayment period who did this was nuts. It would have been an indication that the tertiary education system—at least in the numeracy and accounting area—had failed because it was better to stick the money in the bank to collect the interest on the money and to pay it back once someone got close to the end of the loan rather than use the scheme. We told the Government that. Now I am told actually that there were a few students who used it and that is a bit sad. But it is an indication of the quality of our tertiary education system. I probably take some responsibility for that over time. That is sad. But what is also not made clear now is that that actually was doing the Government good. The Government is claiming that it is saving money by abolishing this scheme. But that is actually not true. That is actually not true because if people were paying the money back early then in fact the bonus was going to the Government and not to the student. But it was nuts. It should not have been introduced and Part 3 is something that we will support. 
I think it is fair to say that Part 1 of the bill is a bit of a mixture. I think that David Parker made some comments about things that both you Mr Deputy Speaker and Mr Speaker who comes down from up north know pretty well and that is that farmers are good at rorting the livestock system. They move their valuations around to take advantage of the tax loopholes that are available. I can see from the wry smile on the face of Mr Deputy Speaker he understands exactly what I mean. It is a loophole that David Parker called for to be closed at one stage in the past. Members opposite said it was ridiculous at the time and we should not do it. But I am glad to see that someone has learnt something over the years about closing loopholes. On this particular occasion it will not hurt for this rort to be closed although there are plenty of others that farmers take advantage of that are still open. 
The reason that the Labour Party is voting against this bill is the mean attack on the kids who deliver newspapers around New Zealand. It is a mean attack on the kids who earn under $45 a week and previously got a tax credit—like a way of saving. Either they get it directly or they could leave it with the Inland Revenue Department and at the end of the year get a tax credit. For some of them it was $50 or $60 a year. Sometimes they got $50 or $60 a year back. That was a good thing and a fair thing. They got all of their tax back if they earned under $45 a week and they were kids. I want to make it clear that that was earned income. It is not the farmers putting the assets in the kid’s name and the interest being paid to the kid as a way of minimising the parents’ tax. This is earned income. When it is earned income under $45 a week the kids used to get it back and that was fair. What has happened here? Bill English and John Key have put one hand each into the kids’ pockets and taken the money away. They have taken the money away.  
The worst thing is they have done it retrospectively. We have had these kids since 1 April this year accumulating $1 or $1.50 a week with the Inland Revenue Department as part of their tax credits and what is happening? John Key is taking the money off them. That money is theirs and is sitting in the Inland Revenue Department and this retrospective legislation is retrospectively picking the pockets of the kids who deliver papers. Is it the kids of the members opposite? No it is the kids of the poorest New Zealanders who need the money to survive. They thought they were saving up a bit of money with the Inland Revenue Department but the Government has reached in there and taken that money from them. It is cruel it is nasty and it is typical of Tories to pick on poor kids—to pick on poor kids who need the money. Some of them earn only 20 bucks a week. Their— 
Hon Chester Borrows 
: You’re a bloody bigot. You wouldn’t know what our kids did to earn pocket money. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Sorry? 
Hon Chester Borrows 
: You wouldn’t know what our kids did to earn pocket money. You’re just a bloody bigot. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Mr Deputy Speaker I think you were just called a bloody bigot.  
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! I was checking something out in the Standing Orders and I did not hear what was said or the context it was said in but it certainly sounded unparliamentary. I just caution the House that we will desist from that.  
Andrew Williams 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I clearly heard the statement from this point in the House. I was offended by it and I would like that member to stand apologise and withdraw. I was offended by it.  
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Speaking to the point of order just to make the Standing Orders clear to the member the only person who could object to it was the Deputy Speaker because he was the person who was described as a bloody bigot.  
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! I have just said it is inappropriate. We will desist from it. As for the context in which it was said I have to apologise to the House; my attention was somewhere else. Let us move on.  
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. I want to make it clear that the people who have little Tory pocket money schemes where the parents slip their kids the cash will not be taxed. So the people who go out to work and the kids who go out to work are the ones who will pay tax and the ones whose parents can afford to give them their allowances will not be taxed.  
Andrew Little 
: It comes out of their trust fund.  
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It comes out of their trust funds. They do not care where it comes from. We are voting against this legislation because of one rotten area in it.