Bennett David: General Debate 
Bennett David: General Debate 
[Volume:663;Page:10979] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 Tomorrow we will announce the next Budget from this Government and it will be the Budget that will set the vision for this country in the next decade as we grow this economy. We take pride in the fact that we want to see our country grow and be successful. We do not want to see a country that has stagnated and has not achieved its goals and ambitions which is what we saw under the previous Labour Government. National sees a future for New Zealanders where they see the strength in getting a good education in working hard and in getting value and success from that hard work. We see in the future a country that has a strong economic base. We see a country that competes on the world market and delivers products. 
National members do not see the future that Labour sees where one just borrows money for whatever one needs to buy an election with. We do not see a future in killing growth in our country during our best economic times. We do not see the future in the way that Labour did. Labour spent recklessly and bought things on the basis of the ideological visions it thought this country should have. National members look at the economic reality—we need to build a country and deliver results for New Zealanders. 
I have great confidence in this Budget because finally we will have meaningful tax reform in New Zealand. We will give the right incentives to those people out there who work hard and who get a good job. They will get the rewards from tomorrow. They will know that the signals and incentives are there to do that. Under the previous Government the signals and incentives were not to work hard; the signals and incentives were to take advantage of the system. That is what the previous Labour Government set up. 
Labour’s finance spokesman talks about delivering for the many not the few. When did Labour deliver for all New Zealanders? Never. Labour members delivered only for those who got them back into power each time there was an election. That is all that they cared about whereas we are looking at what is constructive what is right and what is in the best interests of the New Zealand economic system. The tax reform that will come tomorrow will be crucial to delivering that future for New Zealanders. 
We have seen a country that has not achieved under Labour but we now have a country that can achieve under National and it will. We will see the investment in infrastructure pay dividends. Infrastructure investment is going on through all areas and sectors of the economy from broadband to roading infrastructure to rail and to public transport. 
We have seen the investment in the Waikato region in the Waikato Expressway—that great road that Labour did not deliver on and still would not have delivered on. It took a National Government and the National MPs in the region to deliver that great road and to provide that infrastructure so that we can grow the export heart of New Zealand. The people of the Waikato will also be pleased to know that as exporters and hard-working Kiwis they will get the rewards they deserve from this Government. They know that they go out there and earn some serious dollars for this country. This Government will enable them to earn more and to invest that money in this country not in things that are there just because of the way the tax systems and structures have been put in place. 
Kelvin Davis 
: Tell us about unemployment. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: OK I will tell members about unemployment. The unemployment rate is coming down because we are growing this economy. Members should look at the most recent unemployment figures. They are coming down. 
Let us look at what Labour did. It put this country into recession before the rest of the world went into recession. It increased debt before the rest of the world increased debt. It is only because we have had prudent financial management since the election that New Zealand has come through and it will deliver in the future. I look at what Labour would have done if it had been putting together a Budget with its Green colleagues. It would have borrowed incessantly just to keep its social spending going while thinking it was leading the country. Well New Zealand would have been in the category of Greece and those other countries because of Labour’s economic management. In fact Labour does not know what it would have done. It would have been listening to the Green Party because it cannot work out how to manage an economy since Dr Cullen left. Labour has no vision. It has no strategy to grow this country. 
We look forward to a successful Budget tomorrow. We look forward to a Budget that will show New Zealanders that there is a future that is based on hard work education and success. We believe that that is crucial for growing this country. It is a different message from that which New Zealanders have been given in the past by previous Governments.