Woolerton R Doug: Taxation (Annual Rates and Urgent Measures) Bill — Second Reading 
Woolerton R Doug: Taxation (Annual Rates and Urgent Measures) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:707] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
: 
 I am pleased that that speech has finished and that it was only 10 minutes long. From the way Mr Lockwood Smith was getting worked up I thought he would hurt himself have a cardiac arrest and Mr Tau Henare would have to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and I can assure members that I would not like to see that. 
 The Hon Dr Lockwood Smith made a technical argument and in the narrow confines of that technical argument he was of course correct. But in actual fact these people will be better off. These people whom the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith talks about being locked in a poverty trap at the bottom of the heap as he called it were put there many years ago by a National Government. They were put there by the people whom he sits with and represents in Parliament now. They were put there by a National Government under a right-wing experiment of the day. 
During the election campaign New Zealand First said that these people should have a pay rise and we agree with the National Party to the degree that we think a pay rise would have been preferable to this family package assistance. But that was not to be. Labour won the election and we support its Taxation (Annual Rates and Urgent Measures) Bill because we say those people trying to exist at the bottom of the heap need assistance. We would have preferred that assistance to be a pay increase and we fought for that in our supply agreement but short of that we will vote for this family package in order to give those people the relief they so badly need. That is why New Zealand First will vote for the bill and that is why we believe we should support it. 
It is true that the bill which went to the Finance and Expenditure Committee did not have submissions from the public but we are prepared to support it in spite of that fact because as Mr Clayton Cosgrove said—although he did not use quite these terms—Labour’s bribes beat National’s bribes at the election. Both parties went to work on the student loan scheme and they both set out to outbid each other. When National talks about the increases in interest rates that have been announced this morning it is right again. But National does not tell us that if its student loan scheme had been put in place and if its tax cuts had been put in place we would have seen exactly the same rise in interest rates because National’s promises its bribes were as unaffordable as the Labour ones—in fact more so in our view. I will just say that New Zealand First still believes that wage increases are the way to go on this issue. 
One would never know it but there are three parts to this bill. The first part sets the income tax rates. I am surprised seeing as National made an election issue out of income tax rates that it did not make an issue of that. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Or stay 
in the Chamber. Where are they? 
R DOUG WOOLERTON 
: That is right. National did not even mention the income tax rates. Its members were not interested; they are back in their offices talking to each other. So that is the first part of the bill and National which had made an issue of that matter did not even mention it. 
The second part is the family package which I have covered and the third of course is about student loans where there was a bidding war that Labour won. It was Labour’s promise to get rid of interest on student loans that—in my humble opinion based on many years of experience in politics—won Labour the election. I do not know what Labour’s view of that is but I think that is in fact what happened. That having happened that point of view having been accepted I think it behoves Labour—and we are here to support it—to put that measure in place forthwith before Christmas and this bill does that. 
There is no question that New Zealand First agrees with the things that Mr Clayton Cosgrove said. Student loans have kept many of our students away from the shores of this country. We want them to be educated. We want them to go to university. We do not deny them or begrudge them an overseas trip. We do not begrudge them that experience. We want them to have that experience. But we want students after widening their experience and building on their education to return home so that not only do we have the benefit of their expertise and experience but also the ones we love are back home with their families where we believe they should be and assisting our country on to greater wealth. So to that degree we agree with this student loan scheme interest write-off. 
Another thing that is not mentioned by the National members nor indeed by Labour is that those loans nationwide are building up—they are worth billions and billions of dollars—and they are not being paid off anyway. So one wonders how much of a gift to students this measure actually is. 
National says again and again that students in this country will borrow money that is meant for their education at nil interest and will spend that money or indeed invest it in the bank. I think the National Party was quite proud that there has been one case where a person did that. I do not believe that that loophole has been fully covered off but it has been covered off to a degree. But even if that were not so I believe that young people in this country are more responsible than that. Some will do that; some will try to take advantage of the system. I for one do not admire people who take advantage of the system. There are people in this country who take advantage of every system that we have in this country and we see that every day. However we in New Zealand First do not laud those people. We do not hold them up as an example and say: “Look at these people. This is going to happen right across the country.” [ 
Interruption 
] No we do not give them knighthoods I say to Mr Mark; we certainly do not. We believe that most people and most young people—students in fact—will treat student loans honestly and make their best endeavours not only to use them as they were meant to be used but then to pay them back as quickly as possible.