Lotu-Iiga Peseta Sam: Budget Debate 
Lotu-Iiga Peseta Sam: Budget Debate 
[Volume:664;Page:11715] 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 I rise to speak in this Budget debate and to support what has been seen to be as advanced by many people a brilliant Budget and one of the most reforming Budgets of the last quarter of a century. May I congratulate the Hon Bill English for the work that he and his officials have put into stitching together a comprehensive Budget that will lift our long-term economic growth create jobs boost New Zealanders’ incomes raise our living standards and produce world-class public services. I also rise to congratulate the Ministers responsible for putting together the various departmental budgets and the officials who put in long hours in order to put this Budget together. It is really a piece of work that is to be commended. 
The taxation reforms that we have put in the Budget were really about making a more even and fair taxation system. Taxation reform was one of the biggest reforms. GST will rise to 15 percent but as I have stated people across the country will be compensated for that not only in terms of tax cuts to personal income but also in terms of the beneficiaries seeing their benefits rise in order to compensate for that rise in GST. One of the pieces of taxation reform that has not been spoken about much in this debate is the decrease in the company tax rate to 28 percent. When I visit the businesses in my electorate Maungakiekie—businesses like Masport in Mount Wellington and Sanitarium Health Food Co. in Royal Oak—they are without prejudice satisfied and happy with the measures we have taken in Budget 2010. 
The Budget is also focused very much on priority spending in Government and that priority spending is being moved towards those portfolios that require more attention. They are of course health education and law and order. The need for that attention is reflected in the work done in those areas in the 19 months that we have been in Government; the changes in legislation and the types of reforms in those areas have been comprehensive. 
I also commend the Budget for the work done in the area of infrastructure. Infrastructure as we know is the key to having a dynamic and successful economy. We inherited an asset a dud of an asset called KiwiRail. But this Government has indicated that it is prepared to invest $250 million in the next financial year to support that KiwiRail investment and to put that investment back on an even keel. That will not happen in the next financial year but it will happen in time. 
The other area in terms of investment that is critical is the investment in our schools. This Budget puts more than $177 million into new school property and certainly I am happy and local residents in Onehunga are happy with the investment being put into a new centre for Onehunga High School which will be built in the next year and a half. 
The Budget is about infrastructure and one of the projects in Maungakiekie that has been a beneficiary of the Government’s focus on infrastructure is State Highway 20. On State Highway 20 the bridge that is going from Mangere over the Manukau Harbour is to be opened in September. It is 6 months ahead of schedule and in terms of projects that is something that the previous Labour Government could not point to. It could not point to projects being ahead of schedule or to projects that were on time to specification and to budget. 
This Budget is about infrastructure and it is about education but it is also about health and the type of spending that this Government is putting into health resources in order to cater for the health needs of all New Zealanders. We are looking at $1.4 billion a year being spent on health and that is more than has come from any Government in the past. That record health spending is because we are prioritising elective surgery we are putting more money into disability services and we are also putting $24 million into a bowel cancer - screening pilot programme. So health is very much a priority of this Government. 
When we look at social development and housing we see we are putting in more than $134 million over the next 4 years to implement Whanau Ora. I had the privilege of going to a Whanau Ora meeting with the Hon Georgina te Heuheu and the Hon Tariana Turia to meet Pacific providers who are looking to Whanau Ora in order to apply their services. The response by the Pacific people and the Pacific services was hugely positive. It is a new way of doing social services. The previous Labour Government had no idea of implementing these types of services. 
This Budget is about recovery and this Government has had to work through the worst of a recession. This Budget forecasts that the economy will return to a surplus in 2016 which is 3 years earlier than was forecast in the last Budget in 2009. So in 1 year we have managed to control the debt burden that this country was experiencing. We have managed to control the excessive Government spending under the previous Government and we have managed to better focus Government services on to the front line. The packages that have been released in terms of tax mean that an average family that has an income of $76000 a year two kids and a mortgage and that is receiving Working for Families will be $25 a week better off than previously. This package has resulted in people looking to this Government for hope and for aspiration. It is a breath of fresh air that we have released this Budget and are moving the economy forward. We are creating jobs we are creating opportunities and we are making a better New Zealand. Thank you.