Henare Tau: Budget Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Henare Tau: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 30 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2692. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 Kia ora to you too brother. What that was was atrocious. That was appalling. I expected more from Rino Tirakatene. You know why? Because up and down the north there is Hone Harawira there is Shane Jones there is Parekura Horomia and there is Rino Tirakatene and they all march up and down the streets of their electorates saying that we should not mine. But they are the first ones at the departure lounge waving goodbye to their relations whom they will not give jobs to in the north who are going to places like Pilbara in Western Australia or going to mine in other parts of Australia where they mine.  
Every one of those members has relations—brothers sisters you name it—who are on the bus to the mines where they are allowed to mine. Those members get up in this House and they ask where the jobs for our people are. I tell you where the jobs are: in the north and on the East Coast. You know it is the same people who jump in their four-wheel drives and drive out to a protest against drilling for oil—oil that makes the diesel that they put in their four-wheel drives. There is a word for that sort of person. Yes there is a word—[ 
Interruption 
] Well I was going to say the other word— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I said I was going to say the other word but the new word is “Labour MP”. Yes that is that what they are. They will walk up and down the streets of Whangarei—and there is another one; we will get to him in a minute—and they will walk up and down the streets of Moerewa talking to the poor people. All the poor people want is a job. But then those members say: “Good on you. Here is 10 bucks for your kitty to go to Australia to get a job.”—the job they will not allow you to have in New Zealand. That is the atrocious thing about the Labour Party. I can handle it from the Greens because that is their kaupapa. That is their kaupapa. If they want to do that on “Planet Green” that is fine. But I expect more from my relations across the way and I am not talking about Trevor Mallard.  
This Budget is about being responsible with New Zealand’s finances. That is what it is all about. It is actually about nothing more than being responsible in hard economic times. If Labour wants us to go down the road of Greece Spain Italy and so on and so on then that is fine. Go to the election and get elected.  
But here is the thing. Last year National went out to the people of this country and put forward a plan. That plan included some things like the 49 percent sale of State assets. The atrocious thing is that we get the opposition from the Labour Party which introduced not a 49 percent sale of State assets but a 100 percent sale of State assets. I can tell this House with my hand on my heart that if back in those days we had taken the road that we are taking now—a 49 percent sale and we keep the majority share—things may have been a wee bit different. So I applaud John Key Steven Joyce and Cabinet for making that decision and allowing us to go out and campaign for it. What happened during the November election? We put it out there. People voted for us. We are the Government. No amount of getting up on the hind legs is going to sway us from our path. 
Todd McClay 
: He was on his front legs. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: He was on his front legs—well that is nice. Our plan is about being responsible. It is about making sure that our finances are in good shape because who knows what is going to happen tomorrow? Who knows what is going to happen next week in Europe? I tell you what I hope that China does not go belly up and I hope that Australia does not go belly up and all of our trading partners because we need them as much as they need us.  
The young people in this country are getting a raw deal from those members opposite who will stop them getting the jobs and education that they so deserve. And while I am on education let me mention a 2 percent rise in the roll and a 12.5 percent rise in the number of teachers. Over the last—how long was it—10 years have we seen a discernible increase in the quality and the results? We have not.  
Hon Member 
: We have. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: We have not. 
Hon Member 
: Read the NCEA results. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: No we have not. Anybody who stands up in this House and says the results are going that way is talking porkies. I did not accuse them of talking porkies but they will if they do. It is a shocking indictment that Maori are still at the bottom of nearly every indicator. It is a shocking state of affairs.  
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He used to be Raymond before he was a bottler. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: We have been here what 3½ years—and see the personal attacks by “Mr Quackmaster”—the “Quackmaster”. The personal attacks do not even worry me. Oh no. I tell you what that sort of public attack is like water off a duck’s back. It is an indictment that they for 9 years oversaw the crumbling of Maori statistics. They are the ones and they get up in this House and tell our people that they cannot get jobs in the mining industry in their own areas. But they will wave them goodbye at the departure lounge. That is a horrible indictment on those people across the way.  
I hate it when those members get up and say how they feel for the poor old Maori boy who has not got a job up in the north or the poor old Maori guy who has not got a job down on the East Coast. But if we allowed mining in this country we could be like the Gold Coast and we could be like Western Australia. We could be as wealthy and as educated as our mates across the Ditch. It is an indictment that they sit there and blame National for what is happening around the world. I tell you what some of the members from Christchurch from the Labour Party need their heads read as well. The Christchurch earthquake is something that could have happened to anybody in good times or bad and we just have to bite the bullet and fix Christchurch. At least this side is doing the job. We do not talk about it; we get in there and do it. [ 
Interruption 
] That is right New Zealand First.  
Phil Twyford 
: That member doesn’t even get up off the couch. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Now we hear Mr Twyford the new MP for Te Atatu. He has already said that he will spend a billion dollars—a billion dollars—on a busway. Mr Twyford has already promised the people of west Auckland a billion-dollar busway. He has been in the electorate only 6 months and he wants to tax and increase the rates in our area. Not once did Mr Twyford front Len Brown and back the people of west Auckland. He did not. He went around the back and he patted Len Brown on the back and said: “Good on you Len. Spend all the money. These fellas out in west Auckland don’t give a hoot.” It is a great Budget and I will tell you what it is a great day to be a member of the National Party.