Bennett David: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — First Reading Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — First Reading Second Reading[Sitting date: 09 December 2008. Volume:651;Page:105. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Mr Assistant Speaker congratulations on your appointment to the role and welcome to a new Parliament. I also thank the people of Hamilton East for re-electing me to this role.Today’s tax cut legislation was one of the strong points of the National Party campaign and it is essential to rebuilding this economy. The New Zealand economy is in a state such that it needs some serious help. The serious help is on its way through the National Government and through the 100-day plan that we will bring into play over the next little while.The key part is the tax cut programme. It is important because it will give the right signals and incentive to hard-working New Zealanders. It will give hard-working New Zealand families some relief. It will give individuals some relief. That is just part of what this Government and this country need to see happen.This Government intends to go out there and look after the New Zealanders who are in work and who see the right things and the good things they need to do to make their country and their families stronger. This programme of tax cuts is the first step that this Government will introduce in order to send that signal and provide that incentive.It is tough out there. New Zealanders are in a tough situation. The previous Labour Government has left us the legacy of an economy that is down the tubes. This Government will have to turn round that situation and this package is the first part of that turn-round. [Interruption] The Labour members sitting over there are all so prim and proper. They have all come out to fight have they not? Well it is too late.In a few days’ time on Thursday night the new members of this House will see only four or five Labour Party members in the House because they will have given up the ghost. They know it is all over. I see Michael Cullen over there—the sight of his face! It is not as red as it used to be before the election campaign but he will not be in the Chamber on Thursday night. Most of those members will not be sitting there and fighting on Thursday night. This is the last fight of the Labour Party and they know it. This is the old guard who have come out to show what they are made of. Well it is too little too late. It will not work because there is a new plan a new agenda and a newdirection for New Zealand. That is what the public wanted. The public of this country voted for that and the public of this country will get that. I say to New Zealanders that we will deliver not what you did for 9 years sitting there looking at yourselves trying to make yourselves look better and going—H V Ross Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know that the member has been in the House for just a short time but he again referred to you and he cannot do that. Using the word “you” refers to the Chair. I think you should ask the member to remember that.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker): The member is correct. The matter was spoken of by Mr Speaker earlier today.DAVID BENNETT: If we look at the Labour Party members we see that this is their last fight. This is the last we will see of those Labour Party members because they know that it is over for them. The New Zealand public will see a new direction and it will be something they like and something that delivers for them.Let us look at the economic legacy of the Labour Government. The leader of the Labour Party said today that Labour left New Zealand in a good financial condition. Well what was the rate of inflation? It was one of the highest in the OECD. What were interest rates? They were some of the highest in the OECD. Why does New Zealand now face a decade of deficits? He said he left this country in great shape! No he left it in a recession. The American and Australian economies are trying to avoid a recession and we have been in a recession because of the attitude of the Labour Government over the last 9 years.Today we heard from the new Opposition spokesperson on finance David Cunliffe. His line of the day was “the wrong tool for the wrong time”. I tell new members that they will soon come to understand that the Labour Party has one line a day and all its members are told to come into the Chamber and use that one line all day long. Well Mr Hodgson could not even remember his finance spokesperson’s line for the day and he had to stop halfway through his speech and ask what it was and what they were talking about today. They do not know what is going on on their side of the agenda.Let us look at what Labour members have been saying today. They say that tax cuts are bad for working New Zealanders. They say that tax cuts are hitting ordinary New Zealanders and hurting them. But Labour introduced major tax cuts this year so how can tax cuts be bad now but be fine 3 weeks ago? How can tax cuts suddenly change within a month from being in the best interests of New Zealanders to not being in the best interests of New Zealanders?How can the Labour Party suddenly change from being in favour of tax cuts to being against them? What is the difference? So did Labour’s tax cuts not affect ordinary hard-working New Zealanders? Is that what they are saying—that their tax cuts were somewhat different from other people’s tax cuts and this party’s tax cuts? Well they are not because they are tax cuts and tax cuts are good for all workers especially the people the Labour Party should be looking after. Labour members were voted out because they were not looking after those people.Hard-working New Zealanders knew who was going to look after them. They knew what the right approach was and they voted it in—and it was the National Party’s approach. One cannot say yes to tax cuts before an election and then say no to them after an election as the Labour Party has done over the last month.One of the previous leaders of the financial sector in this Parliament Sir Roger Douglas made a very good speech I thought. It was quite insightful into the possibilities of the tax realm. He made a very good point about economic management and about the fact that the Labour Government frittered away the good years of New Zealand growth. It would be quite interesting to add up how much the LabourGovernment lost in the last month. I wonder how much it lost through investments—money that was not invested in New Zealand. I am referring to those superannuation fund investments on the US stock exchange those Accident Compensation Corporation investments on the US stock exchange and the investment in buying the rail network.If we added all that up we would probably be looking at a Labour Government that lost $4 billion or $5 billion worth of New Zealand’s great growth over the last 9 years. It flushed down the toilet what this economy needed to get it through this time of economic dependency. That is not the kind of economic management that one would expect and the New Zealand people have better economic management now.The final issue we need to touch on is the research and development issue. The Labour Party went through the election campaign talking about research and development and saying that it is the party for research and development. Well let us look at it this way. What was it doing for AgResearch which was going to lay off staff just before the election? It did nothing. Labour members were going to let people in AgResearch lose their jobs at the same time as they were saying how rich Labour was about research and development. The people in the industry who need help with research and development are looking for venture capital. They are not looking for Labour Party tax credits.This measure is the first of a programme that will deliver the economic growth that New Zealand needs. The National Party will do it. We support this legislation.