O'Connor Damien: Budget Debate 
O'Connor Damien: Budget Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:20819] 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 This year New Zealanders will have a clear choice: whether they want to continue with the prosperity growth vision energy and innovation of this coalition Government—Labour United Future and Progressive—or whether they want to go back to the failed policies of the 1990s under the National Party. I tell members that every New Zealander appreciates what we have done in the last 5 and a bit years. I do not think that they want to go back to the failed policies. But they have been offered a wonderful tax cut—a big benefit for them so they are told by Don Brash because we have had a Budget surplus. It is true that we have had a surplus and I applaud Michael Cullen’s management of this economy over the past 5½ years. It has been absolutely outstanding. He has not bowed to the pressure of every economic group in the country that comes to this Government saying it needs more money. We have spent money where we have deemed it necessary—in health education infrastructure and police. But Michael Cullen has managed this year to budget for a surplus. 
For those National Party members who fail to understand it the analogy is that if a household is getting $500 a week and it costs $400 a week to live to continue to pay for the kids—that is what a lot of our constituents have to live on—and there is $100 left over the $100 is not a surplus to be squandered around the place. It is usually allocated to things like putting new tyres on the car painting the house concreting the driveway and doing the kinds of things that every sensible New Zealander does to protect the assets they hold dear to their hearts. They want to move into the future through sound management. So the surplus on paper that Dr Cullen has accumulated is there to spend for the future—to invest in superannuation to put into roading and health and to drive this country forward with certainty and security. 
When Labour came into office in 1999 we saw clear examples of lack of vision and lack of planning and foresight because the previous National Government thought—and the National Party still does—that the markets would deliver to everyone that the trickledown theory worked. I do not know whether what we have now from Dr Brash is a promise. Frankly we are not quite sure what he is saying because he does so many flip-flops. He is saying that he will offer tax cuts—that we will have a mini-Budget before the end of the year with benefits for everyone. But hold on—John has tapped him on the shoulder and asked whether he realises that that might fuel inflation. Don Brash says that that is a very good point. John Key now says that perhaps they had better stagger the tax cuts. Whoop-de-doo! 
Don Brash should wake up. If he wants to find out something about managing the economy he should take a leaf out of Michael Cullen’s book. He should not promise what he cannot deliver he should be fiscally responsible and he should plan for the future. That is exactly what this Budget does. The so-called surplus is nothing more than the money left over from a household budget that needs to be put towards tyres for the car school fees for the kids—[ 
Interruption 
] That is right; we have a free education system we hope. That money needs to go towards painting the house saving for the future and all of those sensible things. I think New Zealanders understand that. They have not been hoodwinked by Don Brash’s promises. They also understand that if we are to invest in the future we must ask how Don Brash will fuel and fund his tax cuts. It is quite easy. Will he take the $1.6 billion from health? Where from health will it come? It is all very easy to say that it can be taken from the bureaucrats. The reality is that we have increased spending on the health system from $6 billion to almost $10 billion. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: Squandered! 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: Dr Hutchison says that we have squandered it. I say that we have put money into the pockets of nurses we have built hospitals and we have put money into the pockets of physiotherapists and radiologists. Do members know why? We know that we depend on those people. They deserve a fair wage and we are in a very competitive international market. If we do not increase their wages and salaries then they will pack their bags and go. From where within the health system will Don Brash take $1.6 billion? I can tell members that the cuts to services will be very very acute. 
He will cut superannuation. He along with Dr Hutchison and John Key—all those fairly well-heeled people—believes that people should look after themselves. He believes that he can simply cut the rate of superannuation. The fact is that many many New Zealanders have invested their lives in growing this country. They assumed that they would get reasonable care in their retirement years and we are committed to delivering that—not to cutting it as the National Party will along with its ACT mates to deliver tax cuts on the old disproved theory that trickle down will deliver to everyone. One can guarantee that the tax cuts will do all right for Dr Hutchison Mr Key and Don Brash. But what will they do for the people at the bottom? If we look at what happened through the 1990s we see that the disparity the gap between the rich and the poor in this country became a huge chasm. 
Hon Annette King 
: And it did in health as well. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: It did. It was all right for those who could afford medical insurance like most of the National Party but for those who rely on the public health system there was only one option. That is why we fund it properly and will continue to do so into the future. How else might Dr Brash fund his tax cuts? He will sell assets. If he had picked up the papers about 2 months ago he would have read that 82 percent of New Zealanders are sick and tired—have had a gutsful—of the sale of State assets. They do not want that. I tell Don Brash and Dr Hutchison to read the papers. New Zealanders do not want it. If the National Party wants to sell off State assets—and we have a whole list of them—New Zealanders will absolutely reject that. 
The other thing the National Party will do—and this is taking a leaf out of Mr Muldoon’s book—is borrow the money. It will borrow and load up every New Zealander with a debt so that it can provide tax cuts for its wealthy mates. Well I do not think New Zealanders will buy into that. They are not that stupid. Mr Muldoon did it. Lindsay Tisch should know Mr Muldoon—he was a good friend I am sure. Mr Muldoon promised tax cuts and huge benefits and destroyed what would have been the best superannuation scheme we ever had. 
Just when this Government is getting New Zealand to the point of moving ahead with funding for innovation growth capital infrastructure health and security the National Party is putting up a bribe to this country that it will deliver tax cuts. When? Initially they were to be delivered by Christmas; now of course they are to be staggered. The people of New Zealand will not be fooled. They should ask every National Party candidate on the hustings up and down this country how National will pay for tax cuts and when it will deliver them. The truth is that National will not deliver tax cuts to each and every New Zealander; it will deliver them as it always has to its mates. It will deliver them to the privileged few who are earning over $100000—and some of us here are among them. But what will it deliver to a struggling family on $36000 a year? Through Working for Families Labour will deliver to those families well over $100 in direct payment as a thankyou for their commitment to this country.