Baldock Larry: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Baldock Larry: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:10922] 
LARRY BALDOCK (United Future) 
: 
 I want to begin my comments in this debate by echoing the statement made by Peter Dunne yesterday and our spokesperson on finance Gordon Copeland that United Future is making it a priority this year to call for the Government to remove the GST on rates which is rightly called a tax on tax. This is a tax cut that makes sense and we often hear calls from members on this side of the House for a tax cut. This is a sensible reduction in the tax burden on New Zealanders. We frequently hear that local government is being constantly given more responsibilities by central government without the funding to assist it in carrying out its obligations. We know that this is often true. Councils have no option but to pass on the costs through increased rates and user-pays means. Removal of GST will give real tax breaks to ratepayers. It will reduce the tax burden on many families struggling to pay their mortgages when interest rates rise and on those living on fixed incomes like the retired who face heavy increases in their rate bills. It is good sense it is common sense and it is a tax cut that makes sense. 
Secondly I would like to talk about something that does not make sense in this country and that was not mentioned in the Prime Minister’s speech—that is what we are doing with our valuable fisheries resource which could be harvested for the benefit of our nation’s economy. Currently too many of our quota are being leased by overseas fishing companies through joint ventures in this country. The fish are harvested at sea by fishermen being paid almost slave-labour rates processed off shore in countries with cheap labour and processing costs then exported around the world with no benefit to the New Zealand economy apart from the price paid to the quota holders. Part of the mantra of the Government’s economic development initiatives has been that we should add value to our raw materials before we export. If we are to allow overseas companies to lease our quota we should at least require that their vessels land their fish here on our shores so that they are processed here create jobs here are exported as part of our export quota and play a part in remedying our balance of payments problems. Let us understand that these countries that come here to fish do not allow our fishermen to go to their waters to fish there so we are not talking about prejudice against these nations; it is simply a case of having a level playing field. The product of New Zealand seas is being sold overseas as a product of New Zealand yet it has never seen the shores of this country. That should not be happening. Every fisherman I have talked to so far and every New Zealander in the street considers it madness that we allow our resources to be flogged off in this way. 
Finally I want to talk about our environment and our conservation policy. New Zealanders love the outdoors—the beach the bush and the lakes. We are proud of what we have and we want to preserve it for future generations but we do not want to preserve it by locking it away and prohibiting access because of fear-based scaremongering ideas about what could happen if humans were allowed to enter the pristine environment we have been blessed with. United Future believes as do most New Zealanders that humans are part of the natural environment; that in fact we are at the top of the order and have a right to be in the environment to extract energy food and pleasure from it. Of course we want to be sensitive and to treat it sustainably but we have something to add to the whole picture with our technology and our science. In fact we suggest that sustainability is not possible without our technological innovation. The comments made after the recent diesel spill in Milford Sound that we may now have to look at restricting access and keeping the environment locked away are pretty scary stuff when the only response that may be required is to have lockable fuel caps on boats that enter the fiords. 
Together with our friends in Outdoor Recreation NZ over the next few months United Future will develop common-sense family-friendly people-friendly environmental policy and I look forward to presenting that to the people of New Zealand and to this House and advocating for its implementation throughout this year.