Cunliffe David: General Debate 
Cunliffe David: General Debate 
[Volume:662;Page:10549] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) 
: 
 What a wonderful couple of own goals from Bill English earlier today. First off he said that New Zealand has too much debt but today in question time he confirmed that the previous Labour Government had cut net debt to zero and it was only 5 percent when he took office. He has been in office for 18 months; New Zealanders think it is time that he grew up and took responsibility. Then he claimed that New Zealand was like Greece and Portugal. Well talk about selling one’s own brand down the river as they are the most indebted countries in the OECD. New Zealand’s debt is only one-third of the average so we cannot be the same as them. I say to Mr English that he should get his figures right. Then to top it off he said that Labour was fiscally profligate but that it would not promise to put down the rate of GST. Talk about a self-contradiction in one sentence. There were three own goals from Bill English before lunchtime. 
The difference between our two parties is that Labour does not want New Zealand to be a raw-log economy. Labour does not want to see a country so dumb that it earns $14 billion from the “100% Pure New Zealand” brand then mines its own national parks and drive away tourists. We do not want to see our primary industry dairying being sold off paddock by paddock to Fonterra’s competitors so that they can undermine Fonterra by getting their hands on the milk supply. Todd McClay the rising star of the National Party wrote in his column this week: “As a country we must be focused on tilting the playing field towards productive investment exports and new jobs. We need a balanced programme to achieve this… .” We agree but what is the Government’s record? Do members remember the Job Summit? It produced—wait for it—a cycleway which might get 200 jobs. What about the 9-day fortnight? It was such a miserable failure that the Government canned it in the middle of the recession. What about the rolling maul? That was a kind of Clayton’s plan—I say with no offence to Mr Cosgrove. It was a plan one has when one does not have a plan. 
What about catching up with Australia by 2025? The plan was dead on arrival as soon as it left Don Brash’s hands. There is no target for 2025 2020 or 2015 and not even 2010 because the Government does not talk about catching up Australia any more. Why not? It is because it does not have a plan. It is a Government adrift in a sea of focus groups and public relations spin. It is a Government led by a man who would sell his mother if he thought there were votes in it. It has a Minister of Finance with all the imagination of a Dipton farmer the vision of a Treasury analyst and the good judgment to claim housing allowances for both his houses at the same time. A series of short-term bits and pieces does not an economic plan make. That is why  
Exporter 
 magazine said: “Just digging up raw minerals or growing a few more sheep isn’t going to get us to the high wage high value economy that we need.” High-tech exporters are going broke while those guys are too scared to change monetary policy. Instead it drives them out of business with high exchange rates. The country’s leading sustainable businesses—the 100 percent plan—have been turned away by this Government rather than it getting behind clean jobs and clean technology. 
Ordinary Kiwis know in their guts that things have not been fixed. They feel increasingly insecure about their jobs and their families. Ordinary Kiwis know that if we are going to turn round this boat we have to pay our way in the world economy. To do that we have to fix the underlying triple deficit that is holding us back. New Zealand does not export enough it does not save enough and it does not innovate enough. That is the underlying problem with this economy but Bill English does not get it. He thinks it is all about the Budget deficit and his recipe for that triple deficit is just to cut cut cut social spending and hurt the most vulnerable New Zealanders. It is the wrong question; not only is it unfair but also it is bad economics because it does not go to the heart of the problem. Instead this is a Government with no answers. It stands idly by while Kiwis borrow from overseas banks to bid up each other’s house prices. It watches while we paper over current account deficits by selling assets and building up long-term debt. It is a Government with no answers and no hope.