Pillay Lynne: General Debate 
Pillay Lynne: General Debate 
[Volume:646;Page:15285] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour—Waitakere) 
: 
 I have heard that member Heather Roy and other members in the House denigrating this Government for a lack of boldness. I will give them bold. Bold is when the minimum wage is $12 and we do not have youth rates—and I thank Sue Bradford for her bill. Her bill was supported by Labour but National voted against it. We bring in good policies. I was with a business group the other day and it was really great. It was 1 April and I said to them: “Isn’t it great about the cut in company tax?”. They said “Yep.” They said they were really pleased that we were now talking with National and that together we had cut the rate for business tax. I said to them that National voted against it and they said: “No no no. This is some sort of April Fool’s joke.” I said: “No it is not. They voted against the tax cut for business.” National—the friend of business—did not support a tax cut for business in this country. It is appalling. 
What are we looking forward to on 1 April? There are some pretty good things happening. One of those is the KiwiSaver employer contribution kicking in. So as well as the $20 a week tax credit that employees get in this country they also get a 1 percent contribution from employers. Do we see employers in this country bleating and grizzling like the National members do? No we do not because they can see that this is good for their employees and good for New Zealand. 
We also see superannuation going up under a Labour-led Government. Did that happen under a National Government? No superannuation went down. We also see interest-free student loans. When Labour came into power it cut the interest on loans when students are studying and then we got rid of the interest on loans when students graduate. Did National support that? No National voted against it. And we hear Opposition members telling us to be bold and to bring in new things. We lowered doctors’ fees and prescription costs but National voted against that. We brought in 20 free hours a week of early childhood education for every 3 and 4-year-old in this country which about 90 percent of parents have taken up and National voted against it. Working for Families I have talked about. We have brought in fairer labour laws but National voted against them. 
What did National do to accident compensation when it got into Government? It cut the lump-sum payment for accident compensation. National also scrapped the Apprenticeship Act. Those are the sorts of things that we saw under a National Government and I know that people in New Zealand are only too aware of what National did when it was in Government and what it would do if it got into Government again. National members will not tell us. What do they say? They say that they do not have a personal view. I have news for the National members. We have personal views in our party but our personal views—unlike some members in National’s caucus—are the same as our party’s views. That is because we have a vision of New Zealanders being able to reach their full potential. How do New Zealanders reach their full potential? They do it through good education good health and good opportunities in life and that is what this Government has delivered. 
We hear the Opposition members denigrating us but we have not heard even one policy from them except to send kids to boot camp. That is all we have heard from National members in terms of policy. We say to National members “Bring it on!”. On everything it opposed National is now saying “Me too!”. National vehemently opposed interest-free student loans. National members said that it was the worst policy and that is was irresponsible Government. What are they doing now? 
Jill Pettis 
: Having a bob each way. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: They are trying to have a bob each way. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Until after the election. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: What will they do after the election? What do we know? 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I was listening to Lynne Pillay’s speech and to the interjection from Steve Chadwick in which they said “Bring it on!” and let us have an election. I seek leave for the House to be wound up and for there to be a general election. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No Dr Smith you know that is a frivolous point of order. Please be seated. You know much better than that. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. For the benefit of the member by “Bring it on!” we meant bring on a policy. We would love to see a policy of any kind. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No that leads to disorder. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: We would like to see any policy from the National Party.