King Colin: Budget Debate 
King Colin: Budget Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19210] 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to get to one’s feet and have the opportunity to speak to the Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill. On this side of the House we certainly see the Budget as being well-received and that is a mandate we take great comfort in. The speaker who has just resumed his seat Phil Twyford would make one slash one’s wrists—and I say that with some consideration—because the tone in which he would lead his constituents to support him in the future is so negative. It brought back to me the dialogue that occurred when the Government brought together the city of Auckland which has been so very successful. That person ridiculed and riled against every effort this Government made. 
I must say that one has to thank Labour very much. Many DNA traits exist within Labour members and one of them is to preach the politics of envy. I allude here to what happened about 3 weeks ago. An old farm saying—Mr Assistant Speaker Roy will understand it—is that we cannot stop a dog that bites. All we can do with a dog that bites is give it a bullet. Effectively that is what the New Zealand people did to the Labour Government. Labour members cannot prevent themselves from attacking the farming community which is the rural and provincial heartland of New Zealand. Labour members are running a line that connects with rural and provincial New Zealand that suggests that Labour policy on taxation would be to tax revenue not profit. They then went on to say that they would start gouging profit from farmers of at least $800 million just when farming is getting back on its feet after 9 years of oppression under Labour. What Labour would do with that $800 million which equates to about $30000— 
Hon David Carter 
: $33000 per typical farmer. 
COLIN KING 
: —$33000 per typical farmer— is hand it out to research and development. It would do what the member from Dunedin spoke about: creative accounting for research and development tax credits. But the research and development credits would be capped somehow. I do not know how Labour would ever bring that about. In fact when that became a question to the Leader of the Opposition Phil Goff he did not know either. That tells us a lot about Labour. We have a lot to thank the Labour Opposition for. 
Coming up to this election in November I was concerned that complacency would get into our voters in provincial and rural New Zealand and that they would not see the urgency to get out there and vote. However I can tell members that the fire is back in their belly in the rural heartland of New Zealand and they will be voting. I have spoken to my learned colleagues Shane Ardern who is the chairman of the Primary Production Committee and Minister David Carter who will be at the Fieldays. Farmers will be talking about the emissions trading scheme. They will be talking about the gouging of $800 million from their top line. It is very important. Sadly that is the legacy of Labour. 
The failed member for Waimakariri made the comment that the Labour Government had surpluses every year. That is nothing to boast about when it wasted them. That is the problem. When New Zealanders looked at the performance of the Labour Government when it was in office they saw that the problem was that the surpluses were wasted. During hard times when New Zealanders looked at what had been achieved they saw that nothing had been achieved that has endured the recession we face today. All the Labour Government did was create a debt-fuelled consumption binge.  
We saw that the export sector went into recession in 2004. Earlier in the debate Mr Hodgson raised the question of when inflation reached 5 percent. I can tell Mr Hodgson that it reached 5 percent in 2008. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It might be of some interest to the member that I have not taken part in this debate. 
COLIN KING 
: That was not a point of order. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: Sorry I missed all that. 
COLIN KING 
: What I wish to do with the rest of my time is concentrate on where we are at at the moment in the primary sector. We have the lowest interest rates in 40 years and effectively those interest rates will aid the rural community. Not only will they aid the rural community but also they will assist the 400000-odd small to medium sized enterprises that employ New Zealand workers.  
Another point which was made by Judith Collins—the wonderful Minister of Police Minister of Veterans’ Affairs and other things—is that if a young couple owe $200000 to a bank as their mortgage today under the environment that this Government has created they are effectively paying $200 less a week in interest. That is stunning. 
David Shearer 
: Ha ha! 
COLIN KING 
: When Mr Shearer is in Government he can take credit for the good things as long as he also takes credit for the bad things. We accept that these are hard times. What we are really seeing here—and it is probably a point for Labour—is that there is nothing wrong with getting one’s head in the clouds. But the problem with Phil Goff and Labour at the moment is that they have let their feet get off the ground. 
I will spend a few moments concentrating on the primary sector boosting rural growth and investment in irrigation. Those were opportunities that Labour passed over. I know that those who are informed adequately will be asking themselves why the Labour members were not able to win those arguments so as to be able to spend that money wisely and create headroom in our economy so that we could effectively grow this country’s economy create employment and go on from there. 
What has this National Government done? It has put together $35 million that will be spent over 5 years to help develop proposals to a stage where a business plan can be developed. One of those situations will be in the Ward-Flaxbourne area which is in Marlborough. It is remarkably dry and remarkably fertile country. Its soil temperatures at this time of the year are normally below grass-growing levels because of frost and suchlike but the opportunity to get water from the Ure River or the Conway River through to that area would change the opportunities confidence and reliability for those farmers.  
On top of that we have to thank the able Minister of Agriculture David Carter for his vision around water storage and for the $400 million that has been put aside for future investment. That is really showing leadership. In the Amuri Basin in North Canterbury there is a small area that has been irrigated courtesy of the National Government in the late 1970s. We have seen that small area become an oasis. One can see a mouse run across the paddocks with its own cut lunch. These are all opportunities that passed Labour by. When Labour is measured on how it squandered those surpluses and how it took money out of the pockets of hard-working enterprising New Zealanders and wasted it it will be kept in Opposition for many many years.  
In conclusion it gives me great pleasure to support the Budget and the motion moved by the Minister of Finance but I repudiate the amendment to that motion in the name of Phil Goff who has been tested and found wanting in the context of coherent and forward-thinking policy. Thank you.