Bennett David: Income Tax (Universalisation of In-work Tax Credit) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: Income Tax (Universalisation of In-work Tax Credit) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 17 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5963. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 That was actually quite a reasonable speech from New Zealand First. I was quite surprised and I thought it was pretty good from those members. But let us have a look at what we are dealing with in this House tonight. 
This bill the Income Tax (Universalisation of In-work Tax Credit) Amendment Bill is not so much about work. This is about increasing the welfare State or providing— 
Sue Moroney 
: It’s about communism! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: That is what this is about. That is what the Labour and the Green parties are about. They come to this House and they play holier than thou. They stand up and they say that the Government does not care about children that we do not have a heart that we do not make the right decisions that they do that they are standing on some pedestal and that they know what is right. What they are actually doing though—the Labour Party and the Green Party and the New Zealand First Party—is preying on the most vulnerable people and their emotions. That is what the left wing is all about. How dare they do that to our most vulnerable people! They are preying on their emotions—preying on their emotions. 
The National Government is doing the right things to build an economy that delivers the solutions. The solution is not giving more money to people so that those members can say that they have taken them out of poverty. I ask members of this House: are there members of our communities who are on benefits who are not in poverty? 
Hon Member 
: Yes there are. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: There are. There will be. There will be people who can manage their benefit to provide food for their children who can provide a roof over their head and who can provide shoes on their feet. Not all people on a benefit are in poverty. That is the assumption that the Opposition is making and it is a wrong assumption. Even the Labour Party came out today and said that 40 percent of the people in poverty are actually in work; they are not actually on a benefit. So that is a reflection of the need to get more income. It is not a reflection that welfare is the problem. 
What we are doing here is we are looking for a solution through welfare—a solution that does not fit the problem. The real problem is that we need to deliver an economic solution for New Zealand so that people can get good jobs can get a good education and can make their way in this world. There is nothing wrong with work as the way to get yourself into the better series of income and the Green Party can disagree all it likes but that is the secret. It will not come out of this place. It will not come out of this place giving $60 to certain families. That will not take those families out of poverty will it? 
Hon Members 
: Yes it will. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Is $60 going to be enough? Sixty dollars is all the Labour Party says we need to give to beneficiaries to take them out of poverty. Well how about working people then who earn more than beneficiaries and are still in poverty? Does it take them out of poverty? No it cannot. How can the Green Party say that $60 will take people out of poverty and yet working people who earn more have still got poverty with the $60? How does it work? Is that the Russel Norman approach to economics? Is it based on his theories? No. It is not true. It is not going to work. It is not going to achieve the purpose. Do not come into this House and try to say to the Government: “You’re mean. You don’t care.” Do not prey on people’s emotions to put your arguments across. That is all that the Green Party is trying to do. 
This is the Green Party the Green Party that before the last election said: “We never do personal attacks.” Its members went on TV and said: “We’re bigger than that. We never do personal attacks.” Here tonight what does a co-leader of the Green Party do in her speech? A personal attack on the Prime Minister. It is all the Green Party can do. Stick to the knitting look at what you should do as a green party and do not try to change the economic framework of the world. To the voters out there be aware. The Green Party does not put up bills about helping our rivers and our lakes; it puts up bills about spending other people’s money and that is all that it would ever do if it got into Government. The Green Party is all about social reform and it is all about spending other people’s money. It is a classic left-wing party; it is not a real green party. Those members should be ashamed to call themselves that and to be in this House under that name.