Parker David: General Debate 
Parker David: General Debate 
[Volume:662;Page:10760] 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) 
: 
 In the next session of this Parliament Mr English will present his second Budget of this term of office—the second of three Budgets 1 short year away from the likely election. It is time to reflect on whether National is performing and keeping its promises. We have heard today Steven Joyce and during question time Bill English ranting unwisely that the prior Labour Government mismanaged the economy. I have  
The Economist  
magazine from this week in front of me—the world’s pre-eminent financial magazine. What is the front-page story? “Acropolis now: Europe’s debt crisis spins out of control”. It is not just Greece not just Portugal and not just Italy; it is all of those countries plus Great Britain and others albeit to a lesser extent. All of those countries went and did what National members when they were Opposition spokespeople said New Zealand should do. At that time John Key said that Labour should not be running those Budget surpluses and reducing Government debt; he wanted tax cuts for New Zealanders. After Bill English took over his position he said exactly the same. 
If we had made those decisions it would have left New Zealand in the same position as the countries that are highlighted in this week’s issue of  
The Economist 
 magazine. New Zealand’s Government debt would be out of control. Instead the Labour Government against the strident opposition of the National Party ran Budget surpluses until we had countercyclical tax cuts as we left office. Those Budget surpluses meant that we left Government debt low: gross Government debt at 17 percent of GDP and net Government debt at close to 0 percent of GDP. 
Instead if we look at Italy we see that Government debt is 116 percent of GDP—these are last year’s figures—and if we look at Great Britain we see it is 68 percent of GDP but heading very fast towards 100 percent of GDP. We in this country experienced the mismanagement of the economy under the Rt Hon Sir Robert Muldoon who left New Zealand’s debt at about 80 percent of GDP so we know that it takes a whole generation to get it back under control. I am sick to death of National members crowing about economic mismanagement by the Labour Party when they know we did it right and as a consequence we are not one of the countries that  
The Economist 
 is listing under the headline “Acropolis now: Europe’s debt crisis spins out of control”. We left the books in good order. 
I turn to the comparison with Australia. The National Government was elected on the promise that it was going to lift New Zealand’s fortunes and get back to the position of Australia. What is happening? The opposite: we are getting further apart. Unemployment is getting worse. You know people always ask what the big difference is between New Zealand and Australia and those members say it is mining. At one stage they were going to open up 467000 hectares of national parks which was going to get us to close to Australia. Well they have whipped that plan back to 7000 hectares which is obviously not going to get us to catch up with Australia and where is their plan? 
National’s Minister for Economic Development Gerry Brownlee has no other plan. The big difference between New Zealand and Australia is Australia’s savings record its access to capital which gives it the money to invest in productive enterprise to pay higher wages to sell smarter products and to have more manufacturing in its home country. But what does the National Government do? Well it does what National Governments have always done. In 1975 a National Government cut the savings scheme that would have had New Zealand in the same position as that of Australia. That was a Labour Government scheme designed by Roger Douglas and implemented by Norman Kirk. Since then this National Government has done the same thing again with KiwiSaver. The difference is savings; National does not have a plan. The gaps between us and Australia are growing ever larger.