Brownlee Gerry: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Brownlee Gerry: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:647;Page:16257] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) 
: 
 I am quite confident that the family in Hutt South said this Budget is great. I am quite confident that when Trevor Mallard rolled up in the 7-series BMW and got out of the car in his flash suit and his shiny shoes and said “We’re giving you tuppence-ha’penny after 9 years.” they said it was great. The word on the street already after a very short time is that Michael Cullen must be joking. After 9 years of claiming that the economy was under brilliant management after 9 years of claiming that he knew what he was doing that everything was going well and it has never been better all he can do is to deliver $16 a week to the average worker in this country and hold out the hope that if people are silly enough to buy into his scheme then in 18 months’ time he will give them a little bit more. What can the family that Trevor Mallard was talking about buy for $16? They could perhaps buy a block of cheese. They cannot buy a kilogram of steak. They could barely buy some sausages. That amount of money will not fill up a quarter of a tank of petrol. It will not meet much of the increased cost of the mortgage. It will not pay the average increase on the monthly electricity bill. 
When the Prime Minister spoke after the Budget today she said the Labour Government knows that dairy prices have gone up that petrol prices have gone up that other food prices have gone up that the cost of mortgages has gone up and that the credit squeeze is making things harder for families but she said none of that is the Government’s fault. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Oh petrol prices are the Government’s fault are they? 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: The puzzled little fellow on the other side of the House Daren Hughes says it is not. I can tell him that it is the Government’s fault that people cannot afford to meet the increase in prices. It is directly the Government’s fault. Why is it that those prices are rising? It is because other countries can afford those prices. They can afford to pay the prices of dairy products. They can afford to pay for petrol. They can afford to pay for rising food prices but that is not so here in New Zealand— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: And crude oil prices are set in New Zealand? 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: —and I say to Darren Hughes that is the Government’s fault. It is why people in the member’s electorate think this Budget is a joke. It is why they are saying Michael Cullen must be joking. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: The beneficiaries think it’s great. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Darren Hughes says he will survive the next election because of the pensioners. The pensioners will save the young white hope of the Labour Party because he will be able to go back to the pensioners of Otaki and ask them whether they have read the Budget. He will ask the pensioners of Otaki whether they read the Budget and noticed that there was extra money for them in it. When he has to explain that it is six lousy dollars for every year his Government has been in office they will join the other people and tell Darren Hughes he has to be joking. His time like that of the rest of those members is nearly over because people will not tolerate this. 
There is general anger in the community. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: You’re thicker than I thought. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: He has just yelled out: “Oh but you’re going to vote for him.” I tell Darren Hughes we are like the rest of the country. We have woken up. We are not stupid and we are not going to stop people from getting the 6 months or so of this tax cut that they deserve. I want to tell him one other thing: I hope that all the resources of the Government worked out that just those 2 weeks actually do line up with the pay cycles so that enough of the voters will go along to the cash-flow machine and find that they are a little less down on the overdraft than they usually are. If they do then one or two of them might say: “Oh that’s Helen Clark’s gift to me! Where’s the polling booth? Get me there fast! I’ve got to tick Darren Hughes.” 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: That’s right. They will. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Well I do not think that is going to happen. I think this measure will exacerbate the anger that New Zealanders have with this Government. It will make it a lot lot worse. 
The thing that really is galling is to have Michael Cullen come in here today and say he believes in social justice—that somehow he has a calling to do this work and that his principles of social justice have finally allowed him to give this tax cut. Well people should get this straight: a tax cut is not giving anybody anything. A tax cut is not taking as much in the first place because the money belongs to the worker. Michael Cullen talks about those people who do rough jobs tough jobs and dirty jobs working long hours. Well we care about them but we are not so darned arrogant as to say that we are going to tax the hell out of them for 9 years and then give them a lousy $16 back at the last minute just in the hope that they will vote for us. 
I think the decision that we have reached that we should vote for this tax cut is pretty obvious. We believe that New Zealanders—and we have said so for at least the last 9 years—should be keeping more of the money they earn in their pockets. That is a subtle difference from Labour’s position because Michael Cullen seems to think that he is keeping more of the money he should have and was making a case over all those years that he could spend it better than they could. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: No wonder he hates English. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I do not normally respond to hecklers right? Normally I cannot see that particular heckler but because he is so excited and red in the face he has suddenly become visible. I just want to say to him that all of the protestations he might make all of the little jokes he might make and all of the screaming yelling laughing waving and everything else he does will not make a blind bit of difference to the vote that goes to the Labour Party because what we will see out there is people doing exactly as I predicted. They will be saying: “Too little too late. Not on your nelly are we voting for you again.” I know Madam Assistant Speaker that I have just breached the Standing Orders by referring to you. I apologise. You fortunately are not up for re-election so you will not suffer the ignominy that the likes of poor old Darren here will suffer. 
I wanted to make a few comments about the extraordinary remarks from Winston Peters this afternoon but unfortunately his remarks were so forgettable I am not able to respond to them. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Get back to the policy Gerry. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I just want to say again to the member across the way that he has distracted me rather more than he might normally be able to do only by the breathtaking arrogance demonstrated by him and his ilk thinking they can build an entire Budget around this pathetic tax cut and expect that New Zealanders will re-elect them. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Read the whole thing. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Look it is a book full of tables. But there is quite a bit of space around the edges for the member to work his colour pencils on later on tonight. 
The arrogance of coming into this House before an election with a Budget that is so blatantly determined to try to buy the way back into Government is a total disgrace. The National Party as Bill English said will support this measure because we want New Zealanders to know that we are serious about tax cuts. But we also want them to know that this measure should be considered to be a bit of a start. Dr Cullen’s 18-month gap in his multi-year promise—which we believe is all about hoping firstly that $16 will be enough to get him back and secondly that 18 months will be enough time for everybody to forget about the next bit—is just a start. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: Before I call the next speaker Doug Woolerton I remind the two major parties that we are now to have speakers from the other parties in the Chamber and I would appreciate it if the level of noise came down. I may have to apply for a hearing aid under the new provisions in the Budget.