Hobbs Marian: General Debate 
Hobbs Marian: General Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:3561] 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 The National Party needs to come clean about its real agenda for New Zealand. The only thing that National is excellent at is spin—and some of those members take a hell of a lot to spin round. But the people of New Zealand are very very wary of a party whose history is one of cuts. Would that party have funded the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary? Not on your life! Would that party have funded the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust? Not on your life! Would that party have funded the velodrome in Southland? Not on your life! Those members would not have had a bar of that because they would want to put the money into individual pockets. So the National Party is one that is full of cuts. 
The people of New Zealand have not forgotten National’s “mother of all Budgets” in 1991. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Did this member get an invite to Phil Goff’s barbecue? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: Maurice Williamson may have forgotten that but the people have not. It was the Budget that cut benefits. After the news about that Budget came out I was on a bus and a woman came on to the bus and burst into tears. She said: “Look what that Government up on the hill has done. Look what it has done to the people of New Zealand. Look at the benefits it has cut and the poverty it is about to induce.” The people of New Zealand have not forgotten that and the National Party has not changed its spots. It is still a party of cuts. 
This is the National Party that brought in market rentals with all the consequences for health and child poverty that followed. Do people remember the stories of the crowded homes and of three families living in one house? Do people remember the families who were living in garages? Where are those stories now? They are not out there. Why have we cut meningococcal meningitis? The reason is that we have done things about raising the standard of housing in New Zealand. That party is the same National Party that cut superannuation. It is the same party as my colleague reminded me that introduced the Employment Contracts Act. Have those members changed? 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: An excellent bill. 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: As Maurice Williamson has just indicated—no way! It is still the same party. Don Brash John Key and the bankers are leading the party instead of the farmers—Bolger Shipley and English. That was the old National Party but now we have a party of bankers out there. They are people who have an economic agenda that is about feeding out the rich. People may not believe me but they should listen to those members’ words. Dr Brash wants to succeed and take up where Ruth Richardson left off in 1991. This is his quote: “to talk of ‘the horrors of the 1990s’ is to talk cattle manure.” Dr Brash wants the 1991 job finished. Do people remember? It began with cuts and it will continue with more cuts. 
In May 2002 Dr Brash told the  
Dominion Post  
that reform that boosts work incentives by reducing benefit levels the longer someone remains out of work is desirable. He wants to slash benefits. Dr Brash talked of a lifetime limit for which an individual could gain benefits so if the individual cannot get work Dr Brash wants him or her to have no money. He wants people sleeping under bridges. That is the kind of world that Dr Brash wants. That is the real National Party. 
The 1990s agenda is not completed. Do people remember that it was Don Brash who demoted Katherine Rich—who is a good woman I have to say that. Why? It was because Mrs Rich objected to a section dealing with penalties for women who had more babies while on the domestic purposes benefit. That is the reality of the National Party. By contrast what is the reality of Labour? We have the lowest unemployment rate—300000 new jobs have been created since we have been in Government. That is something to be proud of. That says something about the health of the community and about having a united community. 
The extension to the Working for Families package means we have seen people drop out of having two or three part-time jobs and settle for one-and-a-half jobs because they can afford to as a family unit. That is what Working for Families has done. 
It has also made a significant investment in health. Labour has had the brilliance to move into primary health care instead of always being the bucket at the end of the drip dealing with tertiary care. The Government is building more homes and has removed market rentals. 
 National has a negative future plan for New Zealand. It is a future of cuts and despair. It is a future of raising the age of superannuation eligibility. That is what Dr Brash has talked about. National will provide a divided community. By contrast Labour builds a community and holds it together.