Smith Lockwood: Taxation (Annual Rates and Urgent Measures) Bill — In Committee 
Smith Lockwood: Taxation (Annual Rates and Urgent Measures) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:628;Page:771] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
: 
 On listening this afternoon to Mr Woolerton the former president of New Zealand First one realises how interwoven New Zealand First has become in the Clark-Peters Labour Government. New Zealand First is now totally in the pocket of Labour and I guess that is kind of sad for New Zealand in some ways. But Mr Woolerton was quite right. He said one thing I do agree with: I did design the student loan scheme as Minister of Education in 1991. It achieved a great deal for New Zealand by taking it from the bottom of the OECD in terms of tertiary participation to the top. In just 6 years we went from the bottom to the top. That was a very carefully designed student loan scheme with appropriate write-off provisions to make sure that no loan could escalate. 
We are now seeing that carefully designed student loan scheme being destroyed in an election promise that I have to say was the most breathtaking I have seen in all my time in this place. It was breathtaking for several reasons. One is that when Labour made that election bribe it had no idea of how much it would cost. It had no idea of the impact on the Crown balance sheet. 
Darren Hughes 
: That’s wrong. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: Darren Hughes says that that is wrong. On 23 November I asked the officials at the select committee for the full costs to the balance sheet of the policies in this bill. Their answer was that they did not know. That was from Treasury and Inland Revenue Department officials on 23 November well after the election. I asked the officials the full costs to the balance sheet of the polices in this bill. Their answer was that they did not know that. 
Darren Hughes 
: It must be a mistake in the member’s notes. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: They told us they did not know so I say to Mr Hughes he should not mislead this Committee by claiming that Labour knew the cost of this policy prior to the election. 
Darren Hughes should remember that Helen Clark the Prime Minister told Parliament that Treasury had not costed the policy. She sat in the seat in front of the junior Government whip and told this Parliament a lie. 
Darren Hughes 
: You can’t say that. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: Well what was it? 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member has been in Parliament for a long time. He knows that he cannot use the word he used. I ask him to withdraw and apologise. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: I withdraw and apologise. I am not sure how to describe what the Prime Minister said. She told this Parliament that Treasury had not costed it point-blank. That proved not to be correct because we revealed only a couple of weeks later that Treasury had costed it. Mind you when we consider she is someone who signed paintings that she did not paint someone who knifed a former police commissioner in the back to the media and denied it and someone who claimed she had no idea how fast she was being driven across half of the South Island I guess we should not be surprised at that. The integrity level of the leader of the Labour Party New Zealand’s Prime Minister is such that she would tell this Parliament that Treasury had not costed Part 3 when Treasury had costed it and there was no way Helen Clark could not have known that. She must have known that when she stood up from her seat in front of Darren Hughes and told this Parliament point-blank that Treasury had not costed it when Treasury had. We should not be surprised that a Labour Party led by someone with as little integrity as Helen Clark has members like David Benson-Pope who has no integrity whatsoever. 
I want to come back to Part 3 because this part was breathtaking for these reasons. Not only does it involve a massive hit to the Crown balance sheet but it is also a massive con job. Students who voted for Labour as a consequence of this policy thought they would get cash in their hands. In fact students will see nothing out of this provision until through the taxation system they have paid back their entire student loan and then through the taxation system they will not have to pay any interest. Students were conned. They did not realise that. When I have talked to students since the election they have asked me what I meant when I explained that. They were conned. There has been a massive hit to the Crown balance sheet and Labour has conned thousands of students.