Peachey Allan: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Peachey Allan: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:660;Page:8900] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 What a debate on the Prime Minister’s statement this has been! It is significant because of what it tells us about the state of the Opposition. During the Prime Minister’s address it was interesting to watch the way the Labour members reacted. There were the usual shrill squawking squeaking members who as we all know speak up and shout out without putting their minds into gear and without thinking. But the great bulk of the Labour members spent their time looking down and shuffling their shoes because finally some of them have come to the realisation—and that speech last Tuesday by the Prime Minister really brought it home to them—that this country has had 9 wasted years. 
The Labour Party came into office during the best of times and was kicked out in the worst of times. New Zealanders understand that New Zealand was well into recession as a result of the Labour Government’s policies long before the international financial crisis set in. In 2000 Dr Cullen and Miss Clark could not wait to put up taxation—they could not wait. What was it all about? It was all about driving initiative out of the New Zealand economy. It was all about punishing people who were successful. That is the fundamental tenet of socialism: people must not be allowed to succeed. 
Socialism thrives only when mediocrity is imposed upon the people. Dr Cullen and the Labour Party were saying to New Zealanders: “We know how to spend your money better than you do.” I wonder how many New Zealanders were denied the opportunity to pay a little bit more off their mortgages and to do a little bit more for their children because the previous Government drove up taxation. 
The Prime Minister’s statement foresees significant adjustments in the way that taxation is paid. It comes down to one word that the socialists hate: “choice”. Socialists dislike any form of choice whether it is about how people spend the money they earn whether it is about where people get their medical treatment or whether it is what school people send their children to. Above all else Labour denies our citizens choice. 
The Prime Minister’s statement begins to open up choice for New Zealanders. I welcome the prospect of more New Zealanders having more control over the money they earn. On this side of the House we believe that the person who earns the money is the person in the best position to decide how it is best spent in their interests and in the interests of their family. I look forward to New Zealanders soon having greater choice and a greater opportunity to do what is best for them and their families. I look forward to reducing the ability of big Government—the big Government that the last Government created; the big bureaucracies—to control the lives of ordinary citizens. 
I must also comment on the contribution of the Green Party in this debate. It occurs to me that to describe that party as a green party is a major misnomer. Any elements of any sort of constructive environmental policy have gone—that is now the domain of this side the governing side of the House. I humbly suggest that it is time we rename the Green Party the deepest dirtiest “Red Party” which is in effect what the Green Party has turned itself into. It has turned into the extreme left-wing of the Opposition. Let me tell Labour members that New Zealanders have got it worked out. New Zealanders see no future at all in the sort of mediocrity “do as you’re told” no-choice policies that are advocated by that party. 
Let us for a moment very briefly turn to education. Why have Mr Mallard and other Labour members been so timid in their opposition to national standards? Let me tell the House why. It is because the teachers’ union does not like and do not want accountability. We know that when the teachers’ union speaks Labour jumps. It has happened so many times. When the leadership of the teachers’ union speaks—it does not matter what is good for the country the economy the parents or the children—Labour jumps. 
We know that Mr Mallard is committed to standards in education. In 2002 he said: “We need to keep the focus on high expectations for all students.” The problem was of course that teacher unions did not allow him to deliver on that statement. Well I can tell the House this afternoon that National will deliver on those statements. 
I will look now at another aspect of Labour’s desire to control the people of this country. It wants to control the people who create the wealth and the jobs who make the economy work and who generate wealth for our people. In 2005 Labour signed off on salary increases of 5 percent a year for 5 years for the chief executives of the Government ministries. It signed off on salary increases of 5 percent a year for 5 years for some of the highest-paid people in New Zealand. 
I invite any Labour member opposite particularly the member who is yawning to visit my electorate of Tamaki and tell the people of Glen Innes that the Labour Party cares for them. The good people of Glen Innes—who supported me so strongly in the 2008 election and I thank them for that—are sick and tired of having academics and union organisers telling them what is best for them and their families. All those people want is to live their lives make things a bit better for their families and be responsible. 
I repeat the invitation. Any member on that side of the House is welcome to visit Glen Innes and talk to the people about their aspirations and about the fact that they have moved beyond the socialist control of the previous Labour Government. In fact I will go further; I will escort them. I will escort any Labour members. I will put them in my car I will take them around and I will introduce them to the people whom the Labour Party has stopped meeting: the ordinary man and woman on the street trying to make a go of it and trying to support their families. 
What about the huge increase in the Wellington-based bureaucracy? One of the great difficulties that this Government has foreshadowed it has to deal with is how to shift the backroom bureaucrats into front-line services. There have been huge increases in the size of the health bureaucracy—huge increases—and they have in no way been commensurate with increases in the number of front-line health professionals. It is the same in the education sector. Huge increases have occurred in all the ministries here in Wellington but we have very few extra teachers. There have been huge pay increases for the bureaucrats but not a lot for the people working at the front line. 
I summarise by saying that this is a very simple matter in the eyes of the New Zealand electorate. The National Party—the governing party—and its coalition partners want a better New Zealand. National has a vision for a better New Zealand and it is delivering on that vision. The Labour Party the deepest dirtiest “Red Party” wants to hold New Zealand back. It wants to strangle and stifle economic growth and the initiative of the individual.