Adams Amy: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Adams Amy: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Advance Copy - Subject to minor change before inclusion in Bound Volume.] 
AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 Yesterday I sat here in this House and listened to the Prime Minister deliver one of the probably rarest things in politics which was an honest and very upfront assessment of where New Zealand is and what we actually need to do if we are going to get ahead. I think that is one of the reasons New Zealand is coming so strongly behind John Key and his Government because it is such a breath of fresh air to have a Prime Minister who does not play games and try to score points. He stood here and said very clearly to New Zealand: “This is what we need to do if we are going to build the sort of country that New Zealanders should have that New Zealanders want and that New Zealanders are looking forward to us delivering.” 
We could see that could we not when he stood up at our first caucus of the year and in front of the media and said: “Election: 26 November.” There was no mucking around hanging on until the last minute game playing or trying to give the other side a bit of an advantage. He said: “Look New Zealand needs to know. We’ve got a busy year. Let us make sure that everyone knows early on where they’re going.” I think New Zealand likes that. He stood up and said: “If you vote for me you won’t get Winston Peters in our Government.” He said: “A vote for Winston Peters is a vote for Phil Goff.” Why would he not? New Zealanders want to know what they are going to get. New Zealanders want to know what their vote will give them. New Zealanders can make that choice they can make a decision but at least they know with us what they will get. They will not get a whole lot of smoke mirrors game playing and desperate clinging to power. We will put out what we are doing. If New Zealanders want us to get this country back on track they will continue to back us as they have since November 2008. 
What is really interesting to me though is that if Labour members cannot debate with us on the merit of our policies which clearly they cannot they simply resort to misleading the public. They mislead the public on the grounds that if they say it often enough maybe people will forget that it is not true. Let us go through it—let us go through it. What have we heard over and over in this debate? We have heard about tax cuts for the rich. Let us look at that shall we? There were tax cuts for everyone actually. [ 
Interruption 
] I ask Mrs Chadwick to listen; she might learn something. Seventy-five percent of taxpayers in this country now pay half the tax and have half the top tax rate that they had under Labour. Seventy-five percent of all taxpayers pay at that rate. 
Then Labour members said that the tax cuts were funded by borrowing. They said the tax cuts were funded by borrowing. Let us look at the truth there. The tax cuts are fiscally neutral because they were paid for by putting up GST. Do members remember that or remember the “Axe the Tax” bus that they have conveniently forgotten about now because they will actually keep that new GST rate? 
Aaron Gilmore 
: What are they going to do about that? 
AMY ADAMS 
: Oh well they will be keeping that now because they need that. They need that plus a whole lot more tax. So rather than debate with us on what we are actually doing they mislead the public and hope that if they say words like “cuts” enough it will sink in. But you know I have more respect for New Zealand than that. I think New Zealanders know they are paying less tax now than they ever did. I think they know that when we lowered their tax we funded it through increasing GST to discourage consumption. I think they know that New Zealand cannot afford the sorts of reckless borrow-and-spend policies that are all Labour has. All Labour knows to do is to throw the money around and never mind about the debt. That will be someone else’s problem: “Let us just get back into power. We will deal with anybody we will get into bed with anybody and we will promise anything; we just have to get back into power.” 
That is not what National is going to do. That is not what this Government is going to do. The nice thing about this election campaign is that already we have a clear distinction between the two parties. We have a clear distinction between the two parties. If New Zealand backs National it will get sound financial management. It will get a Government that prioritises the spending of taxpayers’ money—because that is what it is: it is not our money; it is taxpayers’ money—as if it were our own. We will not throw it around; we will make sure we get value for every dollar. 
We will create productive jobs—productive jobs not jobs in the public sector and jobs the unions want. We will get jobs that actually add to the wealth of this country and raise incomes. Do members know how we will do that? We will do it by having an environment that encourages investment in New Zealand businesses. It is not rocket science but that is what we will do and what the other side has failed to do. Actually on that point one of the statistics that jumped out at me was the fact that thanks to the labour law changes that Kate Wilkinson has brought in and thanks to the 90-day trial periods 13000 new jobs have been created—13000 new jobs—because we are creating an environment that makes businesses have confidence to invest in New Zealand. What is Labour’s answer? Those members will put up the minimum wage. What will that do? It will cost 6000 jobs. Six thousand jobs will be lost but that is their policy for job creation. 
This National Government fundamentally gets the point that money has to be earned before it can be spent. It has to be in the bank. It is only when we get back to surplus that we will have any sorts of choices and any ability to start spending and looking at the wish list. If we cannot get back into surplus this country will be on a downward spiral. That is why we are working so hard to get us back there. 
Labour has promised to borrow and spend—borrow and spend. Already it is only early February and it has promised $5 billion more in spending than this Government. We are borrowing $300 million a week. I hate that; I hate that we need to do that. But we have a party over there that wants to borrow $5 billion more and it has not even started its campaign promises. Those members are clearly going to promise everything to everyone. The most amazing thing is that they obviously have a good source of magic beans to pay for it all. That is the fun bit—the pixies at the bottom of the garden making the money. But do members know what that really is? It is irresponsible it is self-serving and it is shallow petty politics at its worst. That is the message Labour has given to New Zealand: “Don’t worry about whether you can afford it; just keep spending. Just keep spending it. You want it? Go and get it. Don’t worry about whether you can pay for it. Live beyond your means. Get into debt. Keep spending and don’t spend it on assets. Don’t spend it on infrastructure and stuff we need. Spend it on consumables. Spend it on stuff that won’t work.” 
Do members know what Labour left this country with after 9 of the best economic years we have ever had? A decade of deficits—a decade of deficits! It left us with 5 years of recession in the productive sector and a devastated export sector. My electorate of Selwyn relies on exports tourism farming and manufacturing but Labour devastated those industries. It devastated them. It left us with an appalling shortage of infrastructure. My communities cannot get ahead with the poor state of roading broadband and cellphone coverage in our area. What do we have now under Steven Joyce’s Rural Broadband Initiative? Some 86 percent of rural households will shortly have high-speed broadband and cellphone coverage. That is the sort of infrastructure spending we need in order to get ahead. 
Labour’s management left families vulnerable it put workers at risk and it did just what it needed to do to cling to power. Everything Labour members have said since then makes it very clear that they have no intention of running things any other way. The external indebtedness of this country puts us on a par with Spain with Portugal with Greece— 
Kris Faafoi 
: Oh! 
AMY ADAMS 
: Kris Faafoi is laughing. He has clearly never looked at the numbers. I invite Mr Faafoi to come along to the Finance and Expenditure Committee one day and learn how perilous the situation is; Labour members could not care less. Are they really incapable of seeing the damage that their promises would do to this country? Are they really incapable of seeing it or do they just not care? That is what I wonder—do they just not care or can they really not see it? I find it interesting though that Labour is so focused on how much money we are spending on something: “How much money are you spending?”—as if how much we spend is the only good measure. 
Aaron Gilmore 
: They don’t care about the outcomes. 
AMY ADAMS 
: That is right. Do members know what I care about? I care about the fact that every year we now have 20000 more elective surgeries than there were under Labour. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: People are getting sicker! 
AMY ADAMS 
: I care about the fact that 20 percent of our children leave school with no future I tell Mrs Chadwick because her Government was happy to sit back and let the unions run the education system rather than having a system that prioritised children learning to read and write which is what this Government will give. Labour members can talk about cuts if they like; they are not happening. We are spending more on early childhood education than ever before and we will make sure the children of this country can read write and get ahead. We will not preside over wasted opportunities. First we will fix Labour’s mess and then we will turn this country into the best it can be.