Mackey Moana: General Debate 
Mackey Moana: General Debate 
[Volume:643;Page:13301] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I want to say that I do think it was a shame that about a year ago that member Lindsay Tisch was demoted. I think it was an unfair demotion because I have always thought him to be a good debater. Maybe Mr Tisch will tell us whether the National Party will get rid of all those things he has just complained about—KiwiSaver road-user charges excise tax. There is silence from Mr Tisch. You see it is easy to stand up in the House and pick out problems; it is a lot harder—as the National Party has found out from election to election—to actually say what one might do in any given situation. I think that his silence speaks volumes. I say to Mr Tisch that if he wants any credibility he needs to stand up in this House and tell the people of New Zealand what National tells its private financial backers behind closed doors what it will do after the next election if National becomes the Government—what policies it has agreed to in return for the anonymous donations that the National Party has always enjoyed and that it is fighting to hold on to. 
A year on nothing much has really changed in the National Party. We had the brave new hope of the brave new leader John Key and it has become clear that 1 year on the National Party is no better equipped to deal with 21st century problems. This Labour Government has faced up to all the major issues many of them created by that lot over there who although they cut taxes also slashed benefits slashed infrastructure spending closed hospitals and charged people to stay in hospitals. They cut the pension not just once or even twice. They cut the pension cut benefits closed hospitals and charged people to stay in hospitals—those that stayed open. They did not spend any money on infrastructure but this Labour-led Government with our support parties has been working since it came into office in 1999—with a mandate by the way—for an increased top tax rate in order to be able to address a lot of the deficits that were introduced by the National Party. 
The National Party has not changed. We often get criticised in this House by the National Party for talking about the 1990s. Of course the reason we do that is that its policies are exactly the same as they were in the 1990s. The failed policies of the 1990s gave us two recessions in the provinces which just about killed provincial New Zealand put cash registers on hospital doors and slashed benefits. Now National members have the gall to stand up and talk about the children of the 1990 “mother of all Budgets” benefit cuts. Those kids were suddenly forced into poverty by a National Government and the National members now have the gall to stand up and say that those kids are getting into trouble. Well surprise surprise! The Labour Opposition at the time told them that that would happen and they went ahead and did it anyway—and they will do it again. 
New Zealanders should take heed because as we know it is pretty hard to get assets back once they have been sold. No one believes that National would only partially sell assets. The National members do not partially sell assets. They will sell 40 percent then 45 percent then they will claim that the pressure of the market has made them sell all of it and they will say it will be good for New Zealand and bring efficiencies. Well privatisation certainly did not bring any efficiencies into our electricity sector. The promised cuts in costs the promised efficiencies and the promised better services—promised by Mr Bradford and the National Party—never came. They have all gone quiet now because they know that is true. 
Jacqui Dean 
: You’ve been in Government 8 years. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Jacqui Dean should just be quiet and drink her dihydrogen monoxide. She should know more than anyone else that we used to have an electricity sector that was responsive to the needs of New Zealanders. We used to have an electricity sector that New Zealanders could afford until National smashed it into little bits because of its ideological obsession with privatisation. We know National would do that again. 
We also know that Mr Bill English has said that current superannuation is too generous. We know that Don Brash before him said that anyone under 50 should not rely on being able to get New Zealand superannuation. Well I say to the people of New Zealand that there is a way that they can rely on getting New Zealand superannuation and that is to vote for the Labour Party. Labour is committed to the provision of New Zealand superannuation—absolutely committed. That is why when we came into Government in 1999 the first thing we did was to reverse the cuts that the National Government made. 
New Zealanders should not be fooled by the smiling face of John Key into believing they would not do it again. Earlier this year there was a moment of truth in this country. There was a moment of truth when John Key’s smiling mask slipped and the cold face of the market behind it was shown to all New Zealanders. He said we do not need to have caps on general practitioners’ fees because if people do not want to pay that much they could just go down the road to another doctor. Well they might be able to do that if they have millions of dollars and live in an area that has a lot of general practitioners. But many people know that that is not the reality for ordinary New Zealanders. New Zealanders should be very worried about having a Prime Minister who thinks that that is a reality for everyday New Zealanders. It is not.