Sharples Pita: Taxation (Budget Tax Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Sharples Pita: Taxation (Budget Tax Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3968] 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tena tatou katoa e hui nei i tenei ahiahi. The first seven words of the explanatory note of the bill tell us all we need to know about Budget 2009. This day will for ever be recognised as a response to a “difficult fiscal climate”. The Minister of Finance has described this Budget as sitting within the context of a global economy that is experiencing the deepest most synchronised recession since the 1930s. What does this mean for us at home? We know that just in the last few weeks employers throughout the nation have had to lay off workers in the timber manufacturing telecommunications and textiles sectors. Just how dire this situation is can be seen in the numbers of unemployed benefit recipients. There are now 44000 New Zealanders actively seeking work with 14000 of these being Maori and with close to one-third of Maori job seekers in the 18-24 year age group. It is that group of some 5000 young people that has been on our minds as we have embarked on the road to recovery articulated in Budget 2009. These were not the lucky New Zealanders who benefited from the $1 billion allocated from the Government’s first round of tax cuts. These are New Zealanders all the same who deserve every opportunity— 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Welcome home! 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: I did not bring the member a Happy Meal! But these are New Zealanders— 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Hoki mai ki te kainga! 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: Hoki ki a McDonald’s! But these are New Zealanders all the same who deserve every opportunity for the light to shine in their eyes. They are New Zealanders who may well take up leadership positions in the future. They will be our scientists our entrepreneurs our teachers our sportspeople our tribal leaders and our parents. This Budget recognises that every New Zealander is entitled to enjoy the basic rights of citizenship to benefit from quality public services and to maintain a standard of living that we can defend despite the rigours of a global financial crisis. 
The Maori Party will support the Taxation (Budget Tax Measures) Bill on behalf of the young people and those to follow. We celebrate the fact that despite worsening economic and fiscal conditions the Maori affairs portfolio has been maintained intact. We believe that the decision to defer the second and third tranches of the personal tax cuts is a sign of responsible management thinking of the collective well-being of all New Zealanders and balancing the Budget in a way that will protect people from the sharpest edges of the recession. The Maori affairs budget has been rigorously scrutinised to ensure a careful yet secure footing from which whanau Maori can emerge from the recession. In many ways it mirrors the type of budgeting that we may see in Maori homes around the motu. [ 
Interruption 
] E kare koe i te whakarongo. It reflects a conservative approach to ensure bread and butter on the table while also enabling whanau to be opportunity-driven. We have given priority to whanau as the social structure that best provides protection and resilience during times of stress. Investing in whanau is not about what we will do to them; investing in whanau is about what they will do for each other. As Minister of Maori Affairs I have heard the call from whanau: “Let us create our own solutions.” So in early July I will be looking to announce a network of whanau advocates who can work closely with our— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Eighty percent of your constituents got nothing out of the tax cuts. 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: If you listen you might get educated. I will be looking to announce a network— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member is bringing the Chair into the debate; he cannot do that. 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: I think another member did that the other day but never mind. This reflects the conservative approach to ensure that there is bread and butter on the table. We have given priority to whanau because it is the social structure that is best provided to protect resilience during stressed times. Investing in whanau is not about what we will do for them; it is about what they will do for each other. As Minister of Maori Affairs I have heard their call and on 1 July I will announce a network of whanau advocates who can work closely with our whanau to ensure they have all the assistance they need to be strong. Resilient whanau are those who can ride out the storm because they are supported to be the best they can be. Resilient whanau need jobs. They need a spirit of optimism. They need education. They need healthy homes. They need a strong economic base to build their future on. This Budget will help to make that happen. 
The fact that our whanau who are earning under $40000 a year will now not have to cope with extra taxation—up to something like an extra $8 a week—is something that we welcome. The previous approaches to taxation were based on a trickle-down economic theory which says that boosting the incomes of middle to high income earners through tax cuts will create economic benefits that will trickle down to the lower-income earners from the spending that creates jobs demand for services and the like. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: That’s why you voted for it. 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: That is exactly right. If the member listens he might learn something. But we always had concerns that those who are already vulnerable might never gain from the trickle-down effect. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Who wrote this rubbish? 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: If members only listened until I finish they might get educated. The already vulnerable might never actually gain from the trickle-down effect because instead they will be watching the trickle-up effect which contributes to the growing income inequality with the well-off becoming wealthier and the lower-income families in their wake. Deferring tax cuts will instead save around $900 million a year which can be used to sustain— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: 836! 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: —the member should check his figures—and support New Zealanders in the times ahead. We must look forward in order to ensure that when the recovery begins our people are ready to respond quickly. So one of my first priorities as Minister of Maori Affairs was to establish the Maori economic development task force to develop a Maori-led response to the recession. The task of that ropu is to advise me on how to protect existing jobs and businesses but also to think about the long-term vision a vision in which our young will benefit from increased education and training and investment will be made to maintain and build a skilled workforce ready to go when the economy is recovered. It would be great if the task force were able to directly create jobs but my challenge to it is to take a longer-term view of Maori economic development opportunities and look at systemic change across its own areas of expertise to ensure that Maori and Maori assets can take a role in leading Aotearoa out of the recession. 
Also encompassed by the journey towards economic self-determination is the commitment I have taken up to strengthen the Maori economy by establishing the Maori Trustee as a strong independent accountable and sustainable trustee for Maori landowners and beneficiaries. I remind the House that that was the first bill put through this Parliament by the independent Maori voice of Parliament the Maori Party. That is another important legacy of this time and members should not forget that. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: The sell-out party! 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: Oh get a life! I want to point out just one more highlight in respect of the Maori affairs budget and that is the investment in whanau language development. 
This Budget initiates $4.5 million over 3 years for the retention and revitalisation of te reo Maori using te ataarangi kei roto i nga whare [ 
the Cuisenaire rods method in homes 
] 
  
and 
there is $1.2 million allocated to iwi Maori radio operating funding. 
All of these initiatives are ideas that are about creating opportunities for our people and for establishing a stable platform for growth to occur. But there are other opportunities right throughout the appropriations which I would like to point out in my closing remarks. 
In making the decision to defer further tax cuts the Government has acted responsibly. Such an approach is also reflected in the $22 million allocated to speeding up Treaty settlements. Settling past injustices is an important part of any future constitution reform for New Zealand as is restoring an economic base for iwi. I acknowledge my colleague Chris Finlayson for the constructive working relationship we enjoy. Similarly I am proud to have signed alongside my colleague Phil Heatley the fishing aquaculture settlement to which the Budget allocates $15.9 million for aquaculture. Kia ora ra Mr Deputy Speaker.