Horomia Parekura: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Horomia Parekura: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:647;Page:16334] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 Well well well! It was very interesting to listen to the previous speaker Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith talking about going back on pledges because in that same year—1990—he made a promise to students that if he did not get rid of interest rates on student loans and halve them he would resign. Did he? No he did not. He had to climb out of a window to escape the students. He is still here now. That is what the National Party is known for in the sense of the claptrap summary we heard yesterday by its leader. It was insincere and that member in his speedos does not want to remember that. That is the truth. 
This Budget will go down as one of the finest time-breaking platform-setting Budgets in this country’s history. Why? It is at the top of what this Government has done well in the last 8 years. One just has to understand basic financial ideology to understand that it is full of wisdom and carefully crafted. We have made sure the country does well going forward. 
Mr Chris Tremain talked yesterday of his fear when people keep talking about the past. I want to make this a “Do you remember?” speech. I want Mr Tremain to understand. Does anyone remember by how much the previous National Government in its 9-year reign increased the minimum wage? 
Hon Annette King 
: Zero. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: No; it raised it by 58c an hour. We have raised it nine or 10 times and lifted it up to $12 an hour so working-class people understand where they are at. That is one thing this Government needs to be commended for. That is one thing that Michael Cullen has made sure about and is consistent about in going forward. He has been very clear and he will be recognised as one of the greatest if not the greatest financial administrators of any Government or party in power. That is what we have done to make sure that it goes forward. 
We heard from Dr Lockwood Smith. I am thankful to Dr Smith for raising the matters he did as people are thankful to those who discuss health issues. I will not talk on obesity—and members know why not—but we are sure and safe when we visit our medical doctor. This Government has done more for the health movement than has been done at any other time by any other Government in this country’s history. It has done that in Hawke’s Bay. It has made decisions in Hawke’s Bay and the community is thankful that those decisions were made. 
Michael Cullen has shown clear courage in producing something that can be sustained. When Mr Key was asked yesterday “How much?” with regard to the tax cuts we just heard that member say: “That will be only a deposit or a first instalment.” It is fascinating to wonder where National will get the rest of that from. 
What is so bad about this Budget? Is it that it has built on 14 weeks’ parental leave? That is what working-class people want. That is what families want. Is it about under-6-year-olds getting free health services? Is that what is so bad about this—that more funds have been available made for the health sector? Is it about progress in early childhood education? We have said for a period of time that what is done for youth and for preschool children in whatever forum goes well. 
Is it about the global tenacity that Winston Peters has shown? National members pooh-poohed that. They pooh-poohed the fact that we have to address the impacts from the global world at the moment. They pooh-poohed the fact that we should strengthen the forum for exporters. Dr Lockwood Smith is a farmer. He breeds bulls—blue bulls. It is a bit weird but he breeds these bulls. What is really important is that this Budget sets up a great avenue on to the global stage to make sure that future Budgets can be paid for. 
John Campbell’s quote about a certain leader being as slippery as a snake on wet grass is something we have to take cognisance of. The grass does not even have to be wet for half of that crew in the Opposition to be slippery; they are slippery all of the time. 
I want to tell people about the tax cuts for superannuitants—the strengthening of superannuation. At least superannuitants in this country are guaranteed that they will be looked after and they will be cared for like the people on benefits. They will be looked after. 
I hear crocodile tears from members opposite who are saying: “Boo hoohoo I care for the working class. Boo hoohoo it is unfair that you have given tax support to those most in need rather than giving it based on principles of greed.” That is what they are saying. That is what they are saying clearly. We understand that if those members rifle up and exercise with the big corporates and they overplay then the purchasers and owners of newspapers and the media in this country can carry on their dastardly game of deceit but on the ground New Zealanders know what this Government has done for them. They know that this Budget is about going forward. They know that this Budget is futuristic. They know most certainly that this party in Government is a caring and sharing party not one that flip-flops whenever it wants to. It is not one that says it will give more tax cuts and by the way it will borrow the money from overseas. People already know that so the Opposition is making rash promises. 
Members opposite want to talk about broadband and the advent of taking our place into the future. They want to talk about Telecom. Maurice Williamson narrowed it so much that he is stuck with just a single band in relation to the initial band with Telecom. And National wants to narrow the market again. What sort of honesty is that? What sort of financial nous is that? If you grow up being a price-taker if you go about sabotaging the small people and picking the pickings and the profits out of the top closed-eyes earnings then you bring that practice into Government. 
That is what that leadership is doing on the Opposition side of the House. You attack the frail and the weak you attack those people most in need and you give it all up to these people— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: I am sorry Mr Deputy Speaker. Those members attack everybody else and we can hear the first initial stage of them knocking over the bureaucracy knocking over the Public Service and knocking over all those fine organisations that support the communities in their hour of need rather than greed. 
We certainly feel the hypocrisy when we hear there are 36 to 38 people in John Key’s office and half a dozen of them are there in relation to image correction. What is that about? Those members should not try to re-image themselves and make out that they care about the working class. Those members should not try to re-image themselves and make statements that Maori families are worse off than they were before. That is what that earlier speech from John Key was about. I am not too sure how he works his sums out because when we came into Government one out of three to four Maori families were unemployed and we have taken them off the unemployment list. The percentages were in double points—20 percent to 21 percent. We have put two-thirds of those people into work. 
John Key’s mathematics or that of the 36 advisers has told him that Maori families are worse off because they get less income in the household but the advisers have not said that by the way two-thirds of those who were unemployed before have been added to the workforce. That is how the sums are done. So we trust nothing that the Opposition is putting forward about the Budget. There are more Maoris in work and more Maoris in tertiary participation. There are struggles for Kiwis in this country but certainly this Budget has been very very good for this nation. It has been very good. 
I would be more than interested to see how National members will counter the Budget and whether somebody has the gumption and the nicety to tell us how much his or her tax cut will be. Dr Lockwood Smith has recognised that it has been a great Budget. He has accepted that. I say to Dr Smith that I am very very thankful for his support. I am very very thankful that he has recognised the greatness of Working for Families—something that was much needed. I am very very thankful to Dr Smith because Working for Families KiwiSaver early childcare funding free health costs for children under the age of 6 and all of those issues are real things that families want. They are real things that families feel the need for in this country. We will see those members at the next Budget and they will be over on the Opposition benches listening to us talk about what we are doing.