Smith Lockwood: General Debate 
Smith Lockwood: General Debate 
[Volume:643;Page:13293] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
: 
 Pete Hodgson appeared at the New Zealand Export Awards the other day. Did members read the report about what happened? I think he thinks he is still there. He was described as being discombobulated. That was what was said about Pete Hodgson. Everything that he was meant to say he got wrong. The next morning he arrived half an hour late at the breakfast and had no idea what he was doing. I think we have seen why in the House this afternoon. 
The Labour Government has had a big win recently. It does not get many wins these days but it had a big win. Do members know what it won? It achieved a record in the number of people it has driven out of New Zealand. It is not quite an all-time record but I checked and for the last decade the highest number of New Zealanders were driven out—75143 long-term migrants left New Zealand. I checked back another decade and found that this Labour Government has driven the most people out of New Zealand for 25 or more years. 
The problem is that we are losing our citizens; 30000 New Zealand citizens net left New Zealand in the last 12 months. That was almost one-third more than the year before and in the last 4 years the rate is up 200 percent. In the last 4 years of a Labour Government 200 percent more New Zealand citizens have got up and gone. 
It is not hard to see why they are leaving. Most of them—87 percent—are going to Aussie. Across the Tasman the Australian Government has been cutting taxes and putting in place policies to increase economic growth. But in New Zealand the “Clark-Cullen Government” has been building the kitty. Do members remember that? Helen has told us that the Government has been building the kitty. What has happened to after-tax income as a consequence? When Labour came into office after-tax average income in Australia was 20 percent higher than in New Zealand. After 7 years of a Labour Government it has gone up to 31 percent higher in Australia—after-tax income is 31 percent higher in Australia. New Zealanders are now seeing more opportunity for them and their families across the Tasman because in New Zealand they are in an income trap. If they earn more money this Government taxes them. If they have dependent children over most of the income range this Government now takes with Working for Families more than half of any extra dollars these people earn off them in tax. 
But it is not just big Government taxing New Zealanders more and more that is driving them away. New Zealanders are starting to feel now that this Government seeks to control every aspect of their lives: controlling how they raise their children—Helen knows best—and controlling what children can eat through their school tuck shops. This big Labour Government knows best. 
But the latest one is that the Government wants to control who can say what in election year. That is the latest one—who can say what in election year. If a developing country sought to control who could say what in an election year we would say that was absolute corruption. If that were happening in this country we would say that was just corruption. We would say that is something that President Mugabe would be proud of. If a dictator was trying to do what Labour is doing in New Zealand we would call it corruption. But somehow here in New Zealand it is OK for a Labour Government to do it. It is OK somehow for this Labour Government to tell New Zealanders: “You cannot express your views in election year; you cannot express deeply held opposition to what your democratically elected Government is doing in an election year.” In any developing country we would say that was corruption yet somehow Labour thinks it is OK. 
The public does not think it is OK. The public in New Zealand have fought for the right to express their views freely. Our forefathers fought and died for the right to express their views freely and people of New Zealand reject totally this Labour Government having the audacity to think it can tell New Zealanders what they can and cannot say in an election year. It is corrupt.