Peters Winston: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Peters Winston: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 23 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2324. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 We have heard about the saga at AFFCO which begs the question: when the National Government seeks to lurch the industrial relations law of this country to the right will the Maori Party support it or not? It is one thing to have fine sentiments but the real nub of the matter is whether when that law comes before this House the Maori Party will be for it or not. 
You see Mr Key came to power offering the country a brighter future. He kept on saying that he was aspirational that his glass was always half full. He made promise after promise after promise and barely one has he kept. Today it was very insightful that he would not answer the question as to what the current growth rate is. He knows that it is 1.1 percent. It is not the 4 percent that was promised but he tried to evade even that plain fact. A bit like the way that Columbus discovered America he has now rediscovered the PIGS—Portugal Italy Greece and Spain—and that is the reason that the economy is going bad in New Zealand. 
This is amazing. This was all known back in 2008 because the real facts can be found—in terms of who is to blame—in a very little tight article on today’s front page of the  
Dominion Post 
. There is a man 73 years of age a Hamilton retiree who said this: “It must never be forgotten that the prime cause of current money problems was an international money crisis originating overseas prior to 2008.” That is a money crisis that the Prime Minister of this country should know lots about because his company his business Merrill Lynch was at the centre of it. It and others brought the Western economy to its very knees and he has the audacity to walk into this House and blame the PIGS and not the companies for which he used to work. And that is the way he has run this country ever since. Every forecast has been wrong but his style is to parcel up a political derivative and shove it down the road for some other person to pick up the responsibility and the guilt. 
The only person keeping this country going right now is a woman called Julia Gillard. She is keeping this country going at the moment. There are 52000 people a year heading off a massive number every day. What are they saying? That it was 53462 in 1 year. That is 146 people a day exiting this country—gone for ever. 
 We are within 24 hours of Budget day and we are a country that needs to have a Budget that understands some fundamental things. We are an export-dependent nation. The Budget should reflect that. There should be assistance for exporters. We are an export-dependent nation. We cannot go on with an inflated dollar that the IMF has said is up to 20 percent inflated.  
Brendan Horan 
: Who can live like that? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Who can live like that? Well no one can and that is why so many farmers despite high commodity prices are in financial trouble. We need a Budget that understands that jobs come from exports and research and development and some smart new products that the hands-off boys over there will never try like incentives for new market discovery— 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: Spend spend spend. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: —incentives for research and development and incentives to go offshore and bring money back to “Family New Zealand”. And as for the Minister of Police talking about what she is going to do well with the greatest of respect the first thing she is doing is cutting front-line police. Apparently having fewer police on the front line means it will be more effective. 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: Why don’t you read? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I can read unlike that member who has got no academic qualifications whatsoever—none whatsoever. That is how she got the job of Minister of Education. The most unqualified person became the Minister of Education in a National Government. Unbelievable! 
We want poverty addressed and we do not want any more stupid Rogernomics “Ruthanomics” and hands off when it comes to running this economy. Look the National Government is out of ideas it is out of excuses it is out of luck and sure enough it is going to be soon out of office. New Zealand will have a brighter future; that is a fact. But that is going to happen only when National and its cling-ons on the starboard bow are gone from this House. Here are the facts. Those members stand in the House every day saying: “Trust us. We know how to run the economy.” Debt is up by 700 percent right? Debt is now $50 billion - plus and rising to what $75 billion. But there they are. When anybody asks them what sort of economic management is that—