Soper Lesley: Budget Debate 
Soper Lesley: Budget Debate 
[Volume:639;Page:9631] 
LESLEY SOPER (Labour) 
: 
 Tired tired tired words—that is about all we have heard from the National Party speakers who have risen to speak in this Budget debate. I do not need to wonder what people in Invercargill must be thinking. They are the people who greeted this Budget with open arms. Like me they are thinking “Same old Tories. Same old lies.” It is like being pelted with popcorn. 
There was absolutely no substance whatsoever—and in fact precious little style— in what we have heard from members on the Opposition side of the House. We have had several hollow rants from assorted fine upstanding Opposition members like Mr Power Dr Smith Mr Bennett Mr Key and the last speaker Anne Tolley. There was lots of name-calling hot air and sound and fury signifying nothing from them. There was not one new idea. There was not one decent piece of policy. There was not one reference to the fact that real Kiwis exist in Invercargill or Stratford or Napier or anywhere else in New Zealand. Those are the real Kiwis who appreciate that Dr Cullen delivered a Budget for all New Zealanders not just for the few that the National Party likes to talk to. Even 68 percent of business people are saying that they support KiwiSaver. 
Just yesterday I believe in this House a National Party member asked why Lesley Soper had bothered to enter Parliament. To that member who did not have the intestinal fortitude to say that to my face I say it is because I can do a better job than all the caretaker MPs on the Opposition side of the House. It is because I believe in things like equity fairness opportunity sustainability and social justice. Those are words that that member and his colleagues would not recognise but they are things that Dr Cullen has helped to further in his 2007 Budget. 
This Budget looks to a sustainable future for New Zealand over the long term. It delivers the most substantial changes to the business environment in 20 years. It will help to develop a more innovative and dynamic economy. It invests significantly in infrastructure like road and rail. It delivers business tax reform with the first cut to the company tax rate in 20 years from 33 percent to 30 percent. That is something that National for all its talk consistently failed to do and then—does my memory serve me right—it voted against such cuts. Dr Cullen’s Budget supports research and development. It supports further expansion into overseas markets—all good things. It supports strong public services and gives all New Zealanders a stake in society—something those National members would not know a lot about. It shares the benefits of economic growth. 
This Budget invests in health. There is a $400 million boost in funding for aged care; that is something to be proud of. One hundred and forty-two million dollars has been put into child health and there is more support for Plunket a final roll-out of cheaper doctors’ visits a boost to Health Eating – Healthy Action and $21 million going into primary mental health. Those are real delivery items. 
The Budget invests in education. More than half a billion dollars—half a billion—has been put into things like early childhood education into schools into more teachers and lower class numbers and into things like increasing the operations grant. That to a party that introduced bulk funding as its only education policy may be something to reflect on. There is real investment into real parts of New Zealand. The Budget invests $76.3 million into raising skill levels in the workforce. That is to answer the party that destroyed the apprenticeship system. Do the members on the Opposition side of the House remember that? Dr Cullen’s Budget invests $72.4 million for energy efficiency. Do those members the classic climate change deniers remember that—oh no there was a recent flip-flop on that one I believe. 
The cornerstone of Budget 2007 is KiwiSaver. KiwiSaver is the policy that National does not support. KiwiSaver talks about our future. It will make it easier to take the hard step of saving for all of our futures and to save for the sort of retirement we all want to have. KiwiSaver quite clearly is on top of the current Government superannuation. It is not a replacement for superannuation as the Opposition has tried to imply but is on top of it. KiwiSaver is about helping families. It is a helping hand to many people early in their working lives because hard-working young families actually and absolutely deserve support. It is a help for homeownership—something the party on the Opposition side of the House never thought to deliver. All it could think of was setting market rentals for State houses. Never in its policies did National do anything for homeownership or for people who live in State houses in this country. Did I hear that there was also another flip-flop on market rentals for State houses from the leader of that party? Is he trying to convince people with his softer look that National may actually change that policy? I think we might have heard something about that. 
Another advantage of KiwiSaver is family savings. Families actually want to build up more funds. KiwiSaver allows that; it encourages savings. That will reduce our overseas debt. It means we will build up domestic savings. It will help to retain a skilled workforce in this country because we have a competitive advantage over Australia. It provides the sort of support that we have been looking for for years and that the National Party has consistently failed to deliver at any level—economy-wise social-wise or in any other way. 
KiwiSaver is a brilliant scheme. And what do we hear from Mr Key? What is the only thing he can say about KiwiSaver at the moment? I will quote from a recent radio interview: “It’s our intention over the next few months to sort of … um … have a look through the full ramifications of it. It’s not immediately clear I think from documents … just all of the complicating factors around that.” That is indecisive. Mr Keys says: “and we want to … um … we want to … what … what … what we argued last Thursday …” and it trails off into “No guarantees about KiwiSaver.” 
For Labour members KiwiSaver is a cornerstone. It actually means that we have something positive to offer New Zealand. That is not the National Party approach of asset testing and the superannuation surcharge U-turn—do members remember that one? Bulk funding double-figure unemployment bed night charges—those were all delivered by National. We are talking about a positive future while National members talk about nothing substantial—“Same old Tories. Same old lies.” Thank you.