Hutchison Paul: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Hutchison Paul: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:672;Page:18924] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 It is indeed a pleasure to speak on the second reading of this Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill. But I must say that perhaps it is a dubious pleasure to be following the Hon Shane Jones who is the quintessential example of the Labour work ethic. After all he was the man who on  
Make the Politician Work 
 went off through the Manukau Heads. But what happened to him? He slept. He was asleep. Out he went through the Manukau Heads but when the crew came looking for him they could not wake him up. In fact they had to turn on a fire alarm to wake him. If they had not had the fire alarm he would have gone out there for 3 days and come back having achieved nothing. 
I acknowledge firstly the Hon Bill English for delivering a highly intelligent and balanced Budget for the times. It is a Budget that is extraordinarily prudent and responsible and a Budget that ensures that health education and our justice services are well provided for. Indeed they are the core winners of this Budget and they are the core concerns of ordinary New Zealanders. The Budget delivered by the Hon Bill English makes a clear setting for our country to come out of deficit by 2014-15. 
Secondly I acknowledge the outstanding Prime Minister the Rt Hon John Key for the finest Budget speech I have ever heard. It was the finest Budget speech I have ever heard and it rebutted the Hon Phil Goff at every single point and clearly demonstrated the dire position that Labour is in. 
Thirdly I acknowledge the Hon Peter Dunne who is responsible for this bill that deals with the fiscal costs of the KiwiSaver scheme and the Working for Families tax credit programme. This bill is one of the reasons why health education and our justice services are winners in this Budget. 
I pay tribute by the way to the outstanding stewardship of Vote Health by the Hon Tony Ryall because in health alone we see that $54 million in this Budget will be delivered to maternity services including Plunket and Well Child checks. Those are hugely important for the potential of our children. There is $44 million in the Budget for dementia care. Again that area is often left out but this excellent National Government has put in that extraordinary amount in difficult times. There is $68 million more for elective surgery—and how we remember the days when Annette King grew the waiting lists to over 130000 and then culled them at the rate of 10000 at a time. There is $20 million more for medicines at a time when Governments around the world are cutting their budgets for health and certainly for medicines. 
There is a spectacular graph that shows the trajectory of where spending would have gone under a Labour Government from 2008 if its rate of spending had continued in the same way. The graph demonstrates that by 2023 the public debt would have ballooned to 60 percent of GDP. That is the sort of irresponsible trajectory that a Labour Government would have put on the people of New Zealand. Any sensible economist I have come across when talking about the New Zealand economy has said that we must curb our spending. We have heard the rhetoric of David Cunliffe the man of the people who runs his electorate downtrodden there in Grey Lynn— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: New Lynn. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
:—oh it is New Lynn—by remote control from St Mary’s Bay. We have heard him and the Hon Phil Goff talk about at least $5 billion worth of more spending and probably significantly more than that. 
In stark contrast to the spending promises of David Cunliffe and Phil Goff this John Key - led National Government will bring New Zealand’s deficits down to nothing by 2014-15 and if the same wise and prudential trajectory is followed the deficit will be down to 20 percent of GDP by 2020. If it continued on further it would possibly be down to no debt whatsoever which would be a huge achievement for New Zealand. 
It appears that Phil Goff is in absolute denial of reality. He claimed that this was a do-nothing Budget. He claimed that there was no plan yet this Budget is built on National’s 2008 election policy a six-point plan that clearly showed a sustained pathway to growth. First was changing taxation to ensure that we delivered a world-class taxation system with clear signals that those who were prepared to work hard would be rewarded. Second was reducing waste in the Public Service and that has happened palpably particularly in the health system. Third was reducing red tape and enhancing regulatory reform in the use of the Resource Management Act and fourth was bringing in legislation for a flexible labour market. The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research has shown that an extra 13000 jobs were created as a consequence of that legislation being brought in. Introducing standards in education was a further priority along with making science research and development central to Government policy. 
This Budget is indeed a well-crafted responsible and pragmatic Budget. Labour which opposes it must be kept out of office for a very very long time.