Hide Rodney: Budget Debate 
Hide Rodney: Budget Debate 
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RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 The ACT party rises to oppose this Budget. There is nothing in this Budget to make hard-working Kiwis better off. There is nothing in this Budget to improve the nation’s standard of living. Last year Michael Cullen underwhelmed a nation with his “chewing gum Budget”. Expectations this year were at rock bottom yet still Michael Cullen managed to disappoint. There is nothing in this Budget; it is a Clayton’s Budget. What we have now is no plan no policy no vision—nothing. We have a Government that is on automatic pilot where Government officials run Government policy and where the Government just gets bigger and bigger and takes more money each and every year. There is nothing in this Budget for the people of Epsom. There is nothing in this Budget for New Zealanders. 
Michael Cullen is clearly tired and this is a tired Budget. Michael Cullen has no ideas and his Budget has no ideas. Michael Cullen has no vision or plan and this Budget has no vision or plan. This Budget leaves New Zealanders with no hope—no hope for something better; no hope for a better tomorrow; no hope for getting to keep more of the money they work hard for; and no hope of becoming equivalent to then passing Australia or the other countries we like to compare ourselves to. 
The big dark secret in this Budget was leaked. How characteristic it is that the big dark secret of this Government’s Budget was the pinching of New Zealand’s largest company’s property rights. That is what unbundling the loop is all about; it is about taking control of something owned by other people. Then what did the Prime Minister follow that up with? She is going to split Telecom into two because she is such a wow of a business person. And then we had David Cunliffe the Minister of Communications saying: “Oh we will have to make Telecom’s dividend a bit smaller so that it puts a bit more money into infrastructure.” But what happened? This Budget’s big dark secret wiped $2 billion worth of equity off New Zealand’s largest company. That was the impact of this Budget’s big dark dirty secret. 
Michael Cullen talks about investment— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: How are those elevated heels? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: It must be sad to be Clayton Cosgrove must it not? He never gets a date; he has no one to go dancing with. He chased his secretary around Parliament and even she would not look at him. I feel sorry for that man. He sits there every Sunday night watching me dance just riven with envy and hate. Why? Because he is a dirty filthy socialist and he hates joy. He hates people having fun—what a miserable person! It is a shock that he is from North Canterbury where people stand proud and know how to enjoy themselves. I just feel sorry for him. If he gets a few dancing lessons maybe he too could get a date and not have to chase his staff around. 
Michael Cullen is all about wanting investment but why would people invest in New Zealand’s infrastructure? Why would they invest in a tolled road? Why would they invest in the energy sector when this Government can come along and pinch their investment take it off them tell them who can use it and tell them what price can be charged? I am sorry to say it but this Government with its unbundling of the loop has made a terrible terrible mistake for which all New Zealanders will pay. 
Of course we also have this problem: Michael Cullen thinks that the strength of the economy is measured by how big the Government surplus is. That is rubbish. The Government does not grow the economy; people do—the private sector. So we have “Scrooge McCullen” sitting on an $8.5 billion surplus generated by the people of New Zealand—Government spending is out of control but there is still an $8.5 billion surplus—and saying: “No tax cuts: not this year not next year and not the year after that.” But I say to New Zealanders: “Don’t worry—ACT is on the way!” That is right. We will have a tax cut. 
What about the Government’s roading? There is a ring road State Highway 20. Do members know where it ends? 
Chris Auchinvole 
: No. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: In Helen Clark’s electorate. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Really? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: But oh no—the road cannot go through Helen Clark’s electorate. It is held up there. Does that not summarise what this Government is about for New Zealanders? We have to wait—wait in the traffic wait for health care wait for justice wait for the police wait for everything. 
I see that old Clayton Cosgrove has gone off to have a cry now. He has just realised he is dateless and he cannot dance. Oh he has popped back. He has got over it. What a loser! 
Here are some of the things we should be doing in this Budget. First we should be cutting taxes properly across the board. We should have a timetable to produce a top rate of tax in New Zealand of 15c in the dollar—15c for personal tax and 15c for company tax. With GST that would leave all the money needed to run the essential functions of Government and to do a whole lot better than this shambolic Labour Government. Second we should have a taxpayers’ bill of rights. The Government taxes New Zealanders hard it spends New Zealanders’ money and New Zealanders get no say in it. We say that in the modern age— 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Who is we? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Mark Gosche wants to know who “we” is. That is how un-switched on that Government is. It has stopped listening to the people. We need a taxpayers’ bill of rights and we need a regulatory responsibility Act. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Where’s your caucus? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Do members not feel a bit sorry for those members sitting opposite? There is all that middle level. They have no chance of getting into Cabinet. 
The Government has a choice. The Government can promote policies that sap the wealth of the country and generate dependency—and that is what this big-spending hard-taxing big-government Labour coalition Government has generated—or it can develop the policies that allow people to prosper and that allow New Zealanders to stand up free proud and independent. That is what New Zealanders want because we are a free and proud people. 
People have had enough of this Government. They have had enough of its arrogance and they have had enough of its anti-fun attitude to life. That includes dancing—Lianne Dalziel does not like dancing and it is easy to see why is it not? But come the next election that crowd will be gone and we will see Budgets that will provide a vision for New Zealand. There will be hope for the people and a prosperous and free future.