Jones Shane: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Jones Shane: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:632;Page:3726] 
SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 I follow the mokopuna of Granny Smith from the Hawke’s Bay otherwise known on the Finance and Expenditure Committee as “the Fossum in the headlights”. 
I rise to support the programme that has been outlined. I along with everyone else have heard a great deal of drivel from our friends in the Opposition—but I shall say more about that shortly. Some underlying themes inform our thinking in relation to the programme that as a consequence of our capturing the attention and imagination of the voting public we on this side are presenting. One of the key notions is caring; another is being prepared to invest in equity. What does that actually mean? It means looking at a person’s life identifying those who are unable always to fend for themselves and ensuring that they can rely upon the compassion and appropriate interventions of the State from the time they are very young. 
That is why we are very proud to introduce and sustain policies that will improve the prospects of those children before they go to school and assist the parents of those children to enrol them and to promote their education. This would be impossible if we were proceeding on the ill-founded thinking of the Opposition with indiscriminate tax cuts and attendant service cuts. 
Moving on from that we have invested substantial amounts of money in the school sector because we want a school sector that—unlike the unfortunate experience we saw recently in Vanuatu—is available to all people at minimal cost irrespective of creed colour or background. The State has an ongoing role to play in that regard. 
As we have listened to the various speakers during this debate and earlier debates we have witnessed the fact that no credible Opposition exists only a group of personalities here who treat politics as a hobby not a vocation. When they do not get their own way they sink very quickly into personality sniping. Of course they come off second-best there because we on this side of the House have some of the most able parliamentary debaters. What the Opposition particularly did not do during the election campaign—and we did which is why we are rolling out this fantastic programme—is talk about anything but tax cuts. For example what about something as important as the future shape form and funding of welfare policy? 
What do we find when we go to the Opposition’s website to try to find out what it would do about welfare in the unlikely event that it ever occupies this side of the House? We find the message “This domain is parked”. Well we know that as a consequence of leadership squabbles the Opposition is parked. The current leader is just about to move out of “park” mode but he is in a horseless carriage. We know that Mr Key with his fantastic ambitions is running on high-octane fuel in a very flash vehicle. But will that go down well with the Kiwis? No. The Kiwis do not like a smart alec approach to politics and people who feel they constantly need to wear either their wealth or their earlier prowess—enjoyed and demonstrated in another life—in this House. The Kiwis like a political culture and political personalities that care for people and bring a sense of humility to this very important vocation. So we see that the domain is parked. 
Recently Mr Key leader-in-waiting—in the unlikely event that he comes to enjoy that status; I am sure Bill English will deny him that as time goes on—presented his Budget ideas. He basically said that we needed to firstly increase infrastructure spending; secondly invest more in schools; thirdly have a competitive tax system especially in corporate affairs; fourthly encourage more research and development spending; and fifthly increase savings. He is not only an aspirant to the leadership but also a plagiarist of exactly what this Budget does. Firstly this Budget increases expenditure on infrastructure to a level that has not been heard of or seen for many a generation. Secondly this Budget revitalises skill training. 
I have recently been through the Tairawhiti and up and down the East Coast. One of the common complaints in that area is shortage of skilled staff—shortage of qualified tradesmen and related personnel. I will tell the House why. The reason is that during the 1990s some brilliant schemes—not the least of which was the Maori apprenticeships scheme—were smashed and nothing was put in their place because of a silly naive belief that somehow the market would deliver a suitable level of skills. On occasions of course the market works. I have had the pleasure of seeing it work to our benefit. But on the question of human capital training and skills it did not work. It has left us with a deficit. It has left us with a situation we are now scrambling to remedy—and fortunately we are in power and we are able to do so. 
I lament the day apprenticeships and skill enhancement strategies were smashed in the 1990s. Had fate dealt us a sinister hand and put the members opposite on this side of the House we would now be seeing a similar destruction decrease and undermining of the entire human capital strategy—a reversion to the 1990s. 
 I will talk very briefly about the third point; why Mr Key has flattered the Government by plagiarising what exactly this Budget proposes to do. Not least he overlooked the fact that in the OECD the average worker in New Zealand enjoys the status of having the third-lowest tax burden. Why and how do we arrive at that calculation? Firstly it is lower than Australia’s rate. Secondly there is a very competitive corporate tax system that does not involve stamp duty payroll taxes land taxes and a myriad of other obscure taxes that conveniently do not find a place in either the rhetoric or the dodgy narrative put forward by Dr Brash. 
I am sure listeners up and down thehau e wha the four winds listening to this level of oratory will not fail to notice that we have a business tax review coming up soon that will substantially improve our competitiveness. With assistance from our friends in New Zealand First there will be a particular focus on not only export activities but on identifying how businesses will gain greater efficiency and greater competitiveness. 
On the question of research and development it is beyond cavil. The evidence is clearly outlined in the various pages comprising the Budget and the different policies that we are rolling out that research and development is not only identified as a key component but also has been substantially and handsomely invested in. That beats the rhetoric of envy and deep disappointment. Those are the sorts of policies the Opposition had the time to put before the country chose not to and sought to cakewalk from Opposition into Government on the basis of promises of tax cuts. I am sorry it did not work then and it will not work in the future. 
My final point is on savings. Recently we had the Singaporean Prime Minister here and we also know that Mr John Key and a host of others have been to Singapore recently to look at how its economic miracle has been constituted. He did not need to go to Singapore to learn about the importance of savings. We have a Government with the character and courage to introduce a savings scheme that will be very soon faithfully implemented called the KiwiSaver. To all Kiwis listening I say kia ora tatou katoa.