Sio Su'a William: Budget Debate 
Sio Su'a William: Budget Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16559] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour) 
:  
Malo lava le soifua. Talofa lava. Kia ora tatou katoa. As the newest member of Parliament having been here 2 months come 1 June I have achieved something for my community of Manukau that Mr Key and the National Party can only talk about and wish for. With the first Budget of my term I have been able to proudly say to all our communities in Manukau City that Labour with its coalition partners and supporters is not just talking about tax cuts; this Government is delivering tax cuts for all New Zealanders. This Government says what it means and means what it says and when it has said it it delivers on it for everyone. 
I have had the privilege of observing this House and its processes and I have met many of the people from all sides and by and large everyone seems to be sincere in genuinely wanting to do the right thing for this nation. It comes therefore as a surprise that this week in the Budget debate National has been absent in terms of questioning the Minister of Finance on the Budget. One has to ask why that is. What are those members afraid of? What are they hiding? John Campbell on  
Campbell Live 
 on 22 May had this to say about Mr Key and the National Party. John Campbell speaking to John Key said: “I also think that you are as slippery as a snake in wet grass.” The young people ask me what National and Mr Key are really like and I have to say they are hard to pin down when it comes to policy. The young people tell me that it must be like trying to catch eels in the creek. 
Earlier in the week Kate Wilkinson the National Party spokesperson on industrial relations revealed that she believed—and I think she honestly did believe it—that it was National Party policy to scrap compulsory employer contributions to KiwiSaver. That has traditionally been National’s philosophy—to be against compulsory employer contributions. Sadly for Kate Wilkinson Mr John Key has trashed her and trashed her statements. The public are now asking what they are to believe of Mr Key and the National Party. They ask what Mr Key will really do. Can he be trusted? I suspect that ordinary Kiwis listening to Mr Key will be holding up Tui signs that say “Yeah right!”. 
National still has not come clean regarding tax cuts. National still says it will provide tax cuts “north of $50” a week but it will not tell us exactly what they will be. Nor will it tell us how it will pay for them. The public of New Zealand have every right to be asking Mr Key and the National Party what their policy on tax cuts is and how they would fund it. Who would they favour? Would it be the ordinary working families of New Zealand? I doubt that. Would it be big business? I am sure it would be. Does National stand for anything real or are those members hollow men as written in some book? What is their policy on industrial relations? Will they scrap the Employment Relations Act? Will they look at driving down the wages of the workforce of New Zealand? What is their policy on housing? Will they sell off State houses again as they did in the 1990s? What is their policy on health services? Will they remove the subsidies that support children and the elderly? How do they propose to pay for the tax cuts of supposedly “north of $50”? 
What areas of the public sector will they cut or will they borrow first then cut the public sector later? If Mr Key and the National Party do cut the public sector will they cut the Government’s investment in education of about $10.8 million? Will they cut the Government’s investment in housing of about $950 million? Will they be cutting the health investment of about $12.6 million? Or will they look at cutting the $50 million of new spending on arts culture and heritage that this Government is providing? Or will they cut the new spending of $3.1 million on law and order? Or will they look to cut the Working for Families tax credits of about $2.7 billion? 
To all New Zealanders listening to this debate National is refusing to come clean. It would seem to me that Mr Key and the National Party are still tinkering with the details. What are they hiding we must ask. Can we trust them? What does National really stand for? For National and Mr Key to continue along this line of saying a lot without saying anything of promising the world without anything to show smacks of disrespect and contempt for the citizens of this great nation of ours. It is not good leadership. Good leadership is saying what you mean and meaning what you say then acting on it. 
Through Dr Michael Cullen this Government is proudly showing strong and clear leadership for the future of our nation. Budget 2008 will invest in the Government’s plan for a strong sustainable future for New Zealand. The Budget brings tax relief for individuals and families managing cost of living pressures. Labour with its coalition partners and supporters has been a careful steward of the economy. With global economic uncertainty the strength of our economy enables us to prioritise the needs of Kiwi families and continue to invest in our common future. 
The Budget enhances public investment in education health care social agencies and other important services. Major investment includes the roll-out of a world-class broadband network; the largest-ever public investment in science and research to boost innovation and sustainability in the food and pastoral sectors; and significant investment in upskilling our workforce in sustainable homes and communities in planning for our response to climate change—building on work already under way—and in the promotion of our arts culture and heritage which are so critical to New Zealand’s unique national identity. Luamanuvao Winnie Laban I and the Minister of Arts Culture and Heritage will be attending the Pasifika Festival which is evidence of the investment that this Government puts in our arts. It will be held this Saturday at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre along with the Pacific Music Awards. 
Budget 2008 is a Budget that addresses both the pressures of today and the needs of future years. The Government’s economic goal is to deliver sustainable and balanced economic development that results in more jobs lower unemployment higher real incomes and more equal distribution of wealth. New Zealand’s economy has begun to feel the effects of a challenging global environment. Global increases in commodity prices have seen the cost of food and petrol increase significantly here at home. Internationally there are fears that the same increases could impoverish tens of millions of people in developing countries. The continued fall-out from the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States and the resulting global credit crunch has led to higher mortgage rates and a weakening of the housing market domestically. As a result the budgets of existing homeowners are being squeezed and there is a reduction in household spending and in investment growth. The weakness of the United States dollar has been an important driver of the very strong New Zealand dollar which is making life difficult for some exporters. 
Those challenges are significant but the New Zealand economy faces them from a position of remarkable if not unprecedented strength. This Government has managed the public purse responsibly. It has not squandered resources in times of greater optimism. I want to give members an example of the benefits that will come from the provisions starting on 1 October. Let us consider the case of Alapati and Teresa from Mangere in the centre of Manukau. Alapati and Teresa are both 35 years old and have two children: Joe aged 9 and Daniel aged 5. Alapati works full-time and earns $45000 a year and Teresa works 3 days a week and earns $20000 a year. Through personal tax cuts and additional Working for Families tax credits Teresa and Alapati will benefit from new tax savings of up to $85 per week or $4397 per year. 
This Government says what it means means what it says then acts on it. That is what we have done with Budget 2008.