Parker David: General Debate 
Parker David: General Debate 
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Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) 
: 
 As we all know tomorrow is Budget day. The Budget is being written against the background of sharply rising unemployment—shockingly rising unemployment—in New Zealand. Twenty thousand people have lost their jobs in the last 3 months. The Labour Government placed emphasis on two things. Closest to our hearts will always be high employment and low unemployment. As a Government we succeeded in bringing down unemployment in New Zealand to the lowest rate in the world. That is a position we swapped with South Korea from month to month—we were the lowest or second lowest in the world. 
Our other principle was that in a time of plenty—and there were boom times around the world and in New Zealand—we held out against National’s irresponsible calls for unaffordable long-term tax cuts. We focused our tax cuts on families with children and as a consequence we ran Budget surpluses year after year which reduced Government debt. The Government debt that this National Government inherited was amongst the lowest in the world and the third lowest in the OECD. So when we hear from the National Government that it has no room to move to moderate the effects on unemployment caused by the current recession we know it is not telling the correct position to the public. National inherited more room to move than virtually every other Government in the world. It inherited the third lowest Government debt in the OECD. 
National must be held responsible for its Budget. The Budget will not do enough for unemployment because National does not put as high a value on keeping people in work as Labour always does and as we did when we were in Government. That value was evidenced by the fact that we left the incoming Government with amongst the lowest unemployment rate in the world and more room to move than just about every other Government in the world because we also left them low Government debt. 
What has the Government been doing about unemployment? It has said its first priority is infrastructure. Let us look at what the Government is doing on infrastructure. One of the biggest areas of infrastructure in New Zealand is what we spend on the power sector. During the time of the previous Labour Government we increased the amount spent on transmission infrastructure tenfold from about $50 million a year to $500 million per year. What has the National Government done in that area? That is right: it has done nothing. Actually it has done something: it heralded its plan to bring forward the painting of some pylons. What a pathetic extra spend on infrastructure in that area! 
What about in the area of roading? Who increased expenditure on roading and public transport? It was the previous Labour-led Government. What has the National Government been doing on infrastructure in that area? It has been telling people down my way that increased spending on infrastructure is what will keep unemployment low. South of Christchurch in Dunedin Otago and Southland no extra infrastructure is being built—not schools hospitals roads or power other than painting some pylons. The message we are getting from the National Government is that the South Island does not matter. You are certainly not putting money into infrastructure. In fact you are already selling State houses in Dunedin. You are not even reinvesting the money in new State houses in Dunedin; you are taking it out of Dunedin. You are not reinvesting it even in Queenstown which has the highest housing costs in New Zealand. You are not reinvesting in even one State house. 
David Garrett 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think I counted the Hon David Parker using the word “you” five times. If members want to be picky the rules need to be applied equally. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I thank the member. The member is correct: the member speaking should not bring the Speaker into the debate. It is all very well to identify a person and then go on to refer to “you” but to constantly use the word “you” brings the Speaker into the debate. 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: I accept the point of order. 
The Government is not spending one cent of the money it is taking from the sale of State houses in Dunedin on other State houses. The Government is not spending one dollar on State houses in Queenstown which has the highest cost of housing in New Zealand. None of the money is going into South Island in infrastructure. 
What is National doing in respect of its Job Summit? We have heard about its much-lauded cycleway which is now being seen as a damp squib. I actually agree with cycling as a priority but it should not be sold as the big fix for unemployment because it is not. National members talked about the Job Summit being a “do-fest” and not a talkfest which is another bit of tortured grammar from the National members. They are not just ruining the employment market; they screw up the language at every point. But they are not doing anything to support the real economy.