Smith Lockwood: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Smith Lockwood: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:647;Page:16328] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
: 
 As we now debate the title and the commencement of this bill it is little wonder that the headlines running around the country today are saying “Too little too late”. When one comes into the Chamber with a Budget like this after 9 years of refusing even to consider—[ 
Interruption 
] Well when I say “consider” that is not true. Dr Cullen and Labour did consider personal tax cuts. That was in 2005 was it not the “chewing gum” tax cuts and of course Labour reneged on its promise. But after 9 years of no personal tax cuts for the average working New Zealander to be given a tax cut equivalent to the cost of a family block of cheese is an insult. It is an insult to New Zealanders and that is the way New Zealanders are seeing it because what difference will it make to their lives? As it now costs them more and more to fill the car with petrol—well over 100 bucks to fill the family car—and as it costs them more and more every time they go to the supermarket is that block of cheese going to make any real difference? Of course it will not and they find that insulting. But what is more insulting— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: You’re the only guy in this House who could eat a block of cheese sideways. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: I guess that member would know because he always told this Parliament that all he wanted to be was the MP for Tauranga. Well I can tell my colleagues that Winston never told the truth about that. He wanted to be the MP for Kaipara. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. There are some people around this country who are not known and never will be known and some who are known by his or her first name. I happen to be one of them but he cannot use it in this Chamber. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you Mr Peters. All I can say is that there has been a good exchange between both sides. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: Let me call him the Rt Hon Winston Peters. He always told New Zealand he only ever wanted to be the MP for Tauranga. What a lie. In 1983 he—[ 
Interruption 
] I said that statement was a lie. In 1983 he went for the nomination for selection for Kaipara and— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. Just so the public might know there is a bill before the Committee. That is the subject being discussed. But the member has lost the plot entirely just because of an interjection that he is the only one in this Chamber who can eat a block of cheese sideways. He got all upset and now he is running through my brilliant political career. Now I know it is scintillating but it is not part of the debate in this Chamber. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I think we have had our fun for the morning. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: Let me just finish the story to make sure the Rt Hon Winston Peters does not miss out any bit of it. Of course he got thrashed in the selection for Kaipara he did not even take me to a final ballot and with his tail between his legs he limped off to Tauranga and tried to con the people there that all he wanted to be was the member for Tauranga. 
Let me come back to the title and commencement of this bill. What is so insulting about it is that New Zealanders get the block of cheese this year and then if one looks at the provisions in the commencement clause it is 18 months before they get any more from these tax cuts; 18 long months. So we have had 9 years of Labour New Zealanders get a block of cheese and then it is another year and a half which will take it to 10½ years. Do members know how much more the average— 
Hon Member 
: Half a block! 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: The average worker gets half a block because they get $6 I think in that second tranche. So after 9 years we get the block of cheese and after another 18 months we get half a block of cheese. What an insult! 
Do members know why students are also angry? This is a Government that cares so much about low-income earners like students. Under the provisions of the Budget the tax changes and all that sort of thing students can borrow an extra 5 bucks a week. Instead of $150 they can borrow $155. Five bucks will not buy half a block of cheese. But even worse the age at which the means test on parental incomes no longer applies has been dropped by 1 year from 25 to 24. No wonder the students up and down the country feel absolutely betrayed by this Labour Government just as the average worker does because after 9 years it is an insult to give them just the equivalent of the cost of a block of cheese. 
I see that Dr Cullen is back in the chair. Last time he was a member of a Government that was going out of office in 1990 his Government ignored the Budget totally. Dr Cullen was the Minister of Social Welfare at the time; he had been the Associate Minister of Finance. The Government ignored the Budget totally. Dr Cullen and the Department of Social Welfare just spent money as he tried desperately to hang on in 1990. He spent money with no appropriation to spend it way beyond the supplementary estimates. Members can ask Jenny Shipley about it; she had to make legal Dr Cullen’s illegal spending in 1990. I bet he will do the same thing again. Labour will take no notice of the fiscal projections in this Budget. There are unquantified risks around this Budget and Labour will just spend it. I bet that Labour will do this if it stays behind in the polls. Annette King remembers; she was not so guilty. Her mate Phil Goff was guilty though. In 1990 he spent money willy-nilly leading up to the election—totally illegally.