Brownlee GerryHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam): Mr Chair I think it's appropriate that that Parliament does take a reasonably long period of time to discuss this particular part of the bill—the parts that are going to be proposed for insertion in the bill—and then ultimately the next part. The bill itself is one that New Zealanders need to understand a lot better and beyond the headlines that I think have been quite skilfully created over the last 12 to 24 hours or so. Essentially—essentially—this is the Labour Party rebranding what is already in the law when it comes to the Families Package. I just need to respond if I may to the interjections made by the Hon Andrew Little and Mr Greg O'Connor. So working in reverse Greg O'Connor is over there saying All your mates don't pay tax. They don't pay tax." Well firstly I think that apart from that being a dreadfully prejudicial statement to make and essentially a nasty and envious envy-based statement the reality in this country is that the vast majority of tax is paid by the higher-earning part of the tax base and if it were not for the extraordinary revenue picture I say to the Hon Andrew Little then this Labour-led Government would not have the funds necessary to enable this package. The fact is there is a very stable and sound economy working in New Zealand at the moment and providing significant revenue to a Government and it is this Government that has decided that somehow those who are contributing most to it are the ones who should be punished the most. So all of those people out there who have no children under the age of 18—young people who are trying to save up to get a first home essentially—get absolutely nothing out of this package. What is being overturned is a law that was saying to all New Zealanders who are in work that it was a good thing that those people kept more of the money they earn. Therefore it was a pretty minimal tax reduction for those people but it was significant in each case because it allowed them to do those things like save for their first home or whatever it might have been in addition to the efforts they were already making. That goes as of the passing of this bill and where it goes to is a suite of payments that are being touted as universal but that—as one of my colleagues will explain later in the morning—comes with significant terms and conditions. We all hear those ads on the radio that sound great and say "Let's get along to one of these appliance places"—or wherever it might be—"and buy at a hugely discounted price." and then at the end they say "T's & C's apply." Well this is very much the case with the programme that's been laid out. Mr Robertson sits in the Minister's seat smiling away knowing that he's got fine print all through this thing that won't work well for a lot of people. So going back to the fundamental question here about the—no no there are lots of fundamental questions. The fundamental question I want to have addressed as Mr Bayly has already raised—and has had no answers on this—is: how did the amount for the Best Start get selected? Why is it not a round number? Why is it not a higher number? Why is it not a lesser number? How is it that the magic number—well there he is. He just says "I plucked it out of the air and decided to put it on the bit of paper." When you look at the Treasury advice that was given on this then of course all they say is "Oh well that's the number because it was part of Labour's 100-day programme." Now that is a justification apparently for this huge expenditure. Couldn't there have been a mention about the fact that it is believed that it will help young couples as they get established as a family having been single prior to that time or as they bring a new child into their family? Those sorts of justifications might be a good thing to see to know that this Government works on a little bit more than just—as we saw from Mr Robertson's gestures—plucking all sorts of things from the air. So as we progress through the morning I hope that we do get answers to that. I think the bill can be enhanced by some of the parts that the National Opposition will be putting on the Table. They will all reflect what our policy is and I'm sure—[Time expired]"