Huo Raymond: Taxation (Budget Tax Measures) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Huo Raymond: Taxation (Budget Tax Measures) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:4041] 
RAYMOND HUO (Labour) 
: 
 On the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar which fell yesterday Budget day Chinese people worldwide celebrated the Duanwu Festival or dragon boat festival. The dragon boat festival was also celebrated in Japan Viet Nam Korea and other east Asian nations. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: We have brought up other colleagues for straying well off the track. I ask the member to bring his comments back to the content of this very narrow bill. 
RAYMOND HUO 
: The reason why I cited the dragon boat festival is that it is very relevant to the Taxation (Budget Tax Measures) Bill. According to legend in 278 BC the Chinese statesman and great poet Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River to protest against the corrupt regime of the Chu Dynasty whose king had constantly broken his promises. To save the legendary statesman who had thrown himself in the river— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I have asked the member to come back to the bill. We are on a current bill. History is quite fine and I learn a lot from it but I ask the member to come back to the bill. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think the point that the member had just come to was that this was an ancient and very important case of breach of promise as this bill is. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I thank the member for the history lesson. We have had a minute and a half so far of his speech and as I said we are on a very narrow debate on the content of the bill. I would ask the member to continue in that vein. 
RAYMOND HUO 
: I will come back to the bill. I had two interviews yesterday afternoon with the Auckland-based World TV network and Chinese Voice Broadcasting before heading to the Finance and Expenditure Committee meeting—[ 
Interruption 
] 
I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. As a new member I am starting to enjoy the interjections but if Mr Paul Quinn— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. Interjections are allowed. I ask the member to continue. That is not a point of order. Could he please carry on. 
RAYMOND HUO 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a new point of order. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I hope the member is not trifling with the Chair. 
RAYMOND HUO 
: If Mr Paul Quinn wants to exercise his opera-singing skills he should return to his own seat. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. I ask the member to continue his speech. That is not a point of order. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a new point of order. You might have missed what my colleague was saying. He was saying that if the member opposite is going to interject on him in the way that he has been doing he should resume his own seat. That was the point Mr Huo just made. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I do not need any help. The slate is clean. We will start again. The member has 8 minutes left. 
RAYMOND HUO 
: Before heading to the Finance and Expenditure Committee meeting to discuss the allocation of the 2009-10 estimates I had interviews with the Auckland-based World TV network and with Chinese Voice Broadcasting. Inevitably we talked about the dragon boat festival its origins and yesterday’s Budget. According to legend local fishermen raced out in their boats to save the legendary statesman but it was too late. To prevent his body from being eaten by fish they beat their paddles furiously on the water and threw zong-zi which are large rice wrappers as a sacrifice to his spirit. One viewer called me during the dinner break last night and said he felt he was eating humble rice wraps. He meant to say he was eating humble pie because he had voted for National because of its tax cuts promises and he now felt let down and regretted doing that. 
In terms of the tax cuts for which National’s leader Mr John Key signed his personal guarantee we the members remember that in December this honourable House was rushed into urgency in order to have the tax cuts put into law. [ 
Interruption 
] I thank members for that. Now nearly 6 months later this honourable House has been rushed into urgency again for the introduction and passing of this bill which has the effect of cancelling those tax cuts. It was a key election promise—$4 billion of personal tax cuts over a 3-year programme. The  
Dominion Post  
correctly predicted before Budget day “Budget to break election promise” and today’s  
Dominion Post 
 has correctly described the Budget as giving “Cuts everywhere but not on taxes”. Gone are the tax cuts that National promised to deliver in 2010 and 2011. 
Gone too are the automatic Government contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund established by the Hon Dr Michael Cullen. I feel sorry for the baby boomers. I feel sorry for ordinary New Zealanders. Ongoing Government contributions to the Superannuation Fund are essential to guarantee future superannuation payments to New Zealanders. New Zealand’s baby boomer generation should be very afraid of what retirement holds for them. The future of superannuation has been thrown into doubt by Mr English’s 10-year freeze on New Zealand Superannuation Fund contributions. Brian Rudman said in the  
New Zealand Herald 
: “In the commercial world such an obvious breach of promise would be actionable in the courts. Unsurprisingly the legislators that draw up the laws to protect us from the business wide-boys carefully exempt themselves from similar sanctions.” Actionable in the courts? Probably not. Sanctions? Yes. We will see in 2½ years’ time. 
The biggest challenge facing New Zealand’s economy is worsening unemployment. Last week more than 1250 Kiwis joined the dole queues. National’s Budget will not stem the dramatic increases in job losses happening right now in New Zealand cities and towns. This Budget does not set out a coherent plan to keep Kiwis in work. It fails to take action for vulnerable New Zealanders who are on the brink of losing their jobs. It fails to adequately invest in skills training and investment to create new jobs and it fails to set out a clear path that will lift New Zealand out of the current economic downturn. 
Labour’s finance spokesperson the Hon David Cunliffe wrote in yesterday morning’s  
Dominion Post  
that “unemployment is a scourge that destroys people’s livelihoods homes and families. The real human cost of another 60000 Kiwis on the dole is appalling. … The fiscal cost is also huge. The unemployment benefit for 7 per cent of the workforce costs $800 million per year; for 9 per cent it is over $1 billion per year …”. A total of 24000 jobs have been lost in the last quarter but this Budget will not stem the dramatic increase in job losses that is happening right now in New Zealand. This is not a Budget for Kiwi battlers. It simply makes their struggle harder. 
On this occasion when the dragon boat festival is being celebrated another broken promise of the National-led Government is remembered. Thank you.