Foss Craig: Imprest Supply Debate 
Foss Craig: Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:628;Page:462] 
CRAIG FOSS (National—Tukituki) 
: 
 It is no wonder members opposite are looking so scared—there are 20 hungry ambitious new National MPs coming at them. They should keep an eye on their rear-view mirror and keep left unless passing as we move into the top half and further up the OECD averages. 
Obviously Mr Cullen who spoke recently did not listen to my maiden speech the other night—I can give him a copy if he likes—because I told him that tax was not his money. It is ours the taxpayers and it comes from all of New Zealand including the small businesses of New Zealand. Mr Cullen seemed to be able to do something that I cannot do—that is burp and speak at the same time. There is a nightmare coming. He is out there trying to browbeat everyone down and trying to browbeat the banks down but there is a nightmare coming. This is what it will be: the New Zealand dollar will plummet interest rates will rocket and confidence will be about six feet under. We are seeing one of those three factors right now in the confidence indicators out today. Those are not just my words; they are in the Reserve Bank’s most recent  
Financial Stability Report 
. It is all there and it does not sound too good. 
I have heard speakers earlier taking credit for the economic conditions over the last few years. But does the Labour Government set the price of lamb? Does the Labour Government set the price of dairy products? No they are part of a commodity boom it has ridden on the back of and by which it has siphoned money from the real and good New Zealand the rural and provincial New Zealand that it lost in the election—that National gave it the red card for. That is why there are so many new and ambitious MPs right here and coming at Labour. 
That report—which I tell everybody is scary—also talks about the risk premium coming on to New Zealand the Eurokiwi and Uridashi bonds which in my previous life I used to swap. Some of the things we used to note were to look for opportunities or for the mistakes that this Government is making right now. There is a nightmare coming. Mr Cullen knows it; he is an intelligent man. Obviously he has also read this report. 
I heard Mr Jones I think speak earlier about the dangers of borrowing and about debt or perhaps it was Mr Cullen. Well one borrows against the income stream of an asset. Can anyone show me someone in this House—or at least someone on the other side of the Chamber—who bought his or her house with a 100 percent deposit? No one did. One borrows against one’s future income stream and the life of the asset. That is the real world; that is how it works. 
There are three things in this bill. It will allow for the funding for superannuation the Working for Families package and the interest-free student loan policy. Mr Cullen noted that the superannuation funding is an administrative change only for as long as it is part of the agreement with New Zealand First—therefore it is only for as long as this Government survives. Does that mean the superannuation rate will go back to 65 percent in 18 months’ time when the Government gets kicked out? Going from 65 to 66 percent misses the point of how pathetic the New Zealand average wage is to start with. Going from 65 to 66 percent will not pay for much at all—not for the inflation that people on superannuation have to pay when electricity prices have gone through the roof when the petrol price has gone through the roof and when the consumer price index is increasing but we still see lower numbers now which is all about increased prices for whiteware and things that superannuitants do not buy all the time. Their inflation rate must be nudging something like 6 or 7 percent. 
Yes Dr Cullen may be right that the Working for Families package does increase some recipients’ income but it also increases dependency and decreases aspirations. Because of secondary tax it effectively controls net income. The Government does not care any longer about gross incomes—it controls via net incomes by those high and punishing marginal taxes. Again I remind Dr Cullen that it is not his money. 
The third thing in this bill is about student loans. The other day Mr Maharey talked about student loans as an investment. Well I just point out that an investment does not receive a zero percent interest return. Interestingly the Inland Revenue Department has penalty interest rates for not paying interest on student loans. Those rates are something like 26 percent. The logic is that people are incentivised by the higher interest rate to pay off their loans. Of course logic says that the lower the interest rate the more people will borrow and the less incentive they will have to pay it back. [ 
Interruption 
] I say to Mr Swain that provincial and rural New Zealand is now corrected politically. 
Most Labour MPs are out of town and out of touch. National has about 11 new provincial and rural seats—I thank New Zealand very much. Rural New Zealand is starting to shout; Labour should keep an eye on its rear-view mirror.