Macindoe Tim: Budget Debate 
Macindoe Tim: Budget Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:4214] 
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) 
: 
 Along with my colleagues on this side of the House I pay a very warm tribute to the Hon Bill English for producing a prudent principled and responsible Budget in the most difficult economic circumstances imaginable. Tonight we have listened to Labour members resort to talking in this debate about everything they can think of but the Budget. Damien O’Connor was pretending that he was delivering his maiden speech in Parliament but he delivered lines that were so clichéd and corny that even his colleagues were wincing as he did so. George Hawkins rose to say he wanted to sing the praises of the National Government which I thought would be good. And then he did so as he proceeded to tell us why all of the members who have been on this side of the House tonight are fit for ministerial office and all the members over there agreed that indeed we are. Finally Carmel Sepuloni attacked the Prime Minister for spending time with Pasifika communities. I tell Ms Sepuloni that she may not like that but the Pasifika communities do and they welcome the Prime Minister every time he spends time amongst them. But none of those members have focused on the core messages of the Budget. As the Minister of Agriculture has just pointed out some of those messages should leave those members hanging their heads in shame. 
Let me fill in some of the gaps for the benefit of the Labour members. I am delighted to support a Budget that not only is right for the times but also demonstrates how responsible and appropriate the National-led Government’s measures have been since it took office just 7 or 8 months ago in the midst of the worst economic conditions faced in more than a generation. Labour members know deep down that that is true. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Ha! 
TIM MACINDOE 
: Let us go back to some of the sobering messages I say to Ms Chadwick that New Zealanders recognise and that even Labour members when they are away from this Chamber and behind closed doors do recognise when they are forced to. Those messages have made preparing this Budget a challenge and they really demonstrate what a great job the Minister of Finance has done. Let me remind members of some of the figures that he pointed out in his speech on Budget day. In the 5 years to 2009 core Crown expenditure will have increased by 49 percent and in the same period of time the tax take will have risen by only 25 percent. The nominal economy will have grown by only 25 percent. 
Anybody with even the most rudimentary understanding of economics knows that we cannot carry on like that. No household could carry on like that; no individual could carry on like that. In fact only a New Zealand Labour Government could believe that we can carry on like that. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Why did the Government promise tax cuts in October? 
TIM MACINDOE 
: I say to Ms Chadwick that Labour created this mess. The previous Labour Government created this mess. It may not be responsible for the global recession but it is responsible for the mess that National has inherited. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: I am asking about tax cuts for the wealthy. 
TIM MACINDOE 
: Now we have members like Ms Chadwick yapping from the sidelines with disingenuous criticism of National’s decisions. Those decisions reflect our responsibilities and our determination to clean up the mess that Labour created and to create the conditions that are conducive to economic recovery. I say “Good on John Key and good on Bill English and the other Cabinet members for facing up to that responsibility.” New Zealand could not have continued down the path that Labour was taking it. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Oh rubbish! Tax cuts for the rich only. 
TIM MACINDOE 
: Allowing debt to accumulate I say to Ms Chadwick would be the surest way to put in jeopardy the social services that that member constantly harps on about. 
We have shown our commitment to the district health boards and to core health spending. We have shown our commitment to the sectors of education that are absolutely crucial through a Budget that is responsible and focuses on those important areas. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Tell us about health camps. 
TIM MACINDOE 
: We have a message from a cracked record coming from the member on the other side of the Chamber. Ms Chadwick is struggling to identify the measures in the Budget that she disagrees with. When we scratch beneath the surface of these Labour members we find that they will admit that we got the core decisions absolutely right. They squeal about cuts because they want to ignore the achievement of a Government that has safeguarded the interests of the most vulnerable people in our society. This is a Budget from a Government that is focused on retaining and creating jobs. This Government has increased its spending—let us hear that again; this Government has increased its spending—on essential social services and has directed it to the front line to the services that are most important. That will make a positive difference— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Rubbish! 
TIM MACINDOE 
: Mrs Chadwick calls out “Rubbish!” but let me remind her that her Government created an explosion in bureaucracy that saw all sorts of money being spent in the back room while at the same time we had hospital waiting lists growing out of control. We had emergency departments that could not cope. We had our medical staff fleeing the country because the previous Labour Government could not see what needed to be done in order to create the conditions that would actually keep those people here. 
So we are focusing on turning those things around. We are retaining and valuing our medical staff. We are getting the major infrastructure projects under way that will create jobs and unblock the things that are holding our economy back. We are building schools and maintaining schools that were falling down under the previous Labour Government. We are increasing the resources that are provided for children with special needs and for the wonderful teachers who do such a great job of nurturing and guiding them. Those teachers have some of the hardest work to do in the education system. I say “Good on Bill English and good on Anne Tolley.” They are ensuring those teachers get recognition and get the resources they need in order to do their very important job. 
We have locked in superannuation and I want to repeat that message. The House will be rising soon so I want anybody who is listening to this debate on the radio or watching it on TV to be reminded of the fact that superannuation is secure under this Government and that all other important entitlements are also locked in. I say “Shame on the Labour members for trying to create the impression that that is not the case!”. They know that what they are saying is not true. Our superannuitants and those who are close to superannuation age need to have security about superannuation and they are getting that under the National Government. 
When members opposite talk about cuts being made in the Budget let us remember that core Crown expenditure excluding finance costs is actually projected to rise by $3 billion in the year to June 2010 despite the decade of deficits that we now face after Labour squandered many years of surpluses and demonstrated its economic illiteracy by allowing low-quality Government spending to spiral out of control at twice the rate of New Zealanders’ ability to generate revenue. Thank goodness that Labour was finally swept away at the election last year. 
The Minister of Finance Bill English has established clear priorities and my constituents in Hamilton West were telling me all last weekend from the moment that the Budget was delivered that he has got them absolutely right. As the Minister of Agriculture has said more than 70 percent of New Zealanders in every poll taken since the tax cuts were deferred have said this is a good Government that is delivering a responsible Budget and we got it right. The Budget outlines the first steps on the long road towards raising productivity lifting our economic performance and closing the income gap with Australia. Let us remind ourselves that world growth has weakened considerably: it is at its worst level for three generations. Our major trading partners are struggling to buy our products. Even our major trading partner Australia has an economy that is contracting. Overall the OECD forecasts that GDP in its member countries will drop by 4.3 percent this year alone. That is a devastating position to be in. This is an incredibly challenging circumstance for our Government but we have risen to the challenge and we have produced a Budget that creates the pathway to recovery. 
Ultimately—and Labour members need to remind themselves of this—better productivity growth is the only way to create jobs and sustain the high living standards that we all aspire to have here in New Zealand. The economic slow-down started in Labour’s term of office and it was a product in large measure of Labour’s irresponsibility in spending more borrowing more and ensuring that we all saved less. Yet we hear members like Carol Beaumont suggest that the tax cuts that came into force in April were not stimulatory. Well she should look at the retail sales figures. Of course we know that things are down but without those tax cuts they would be down a lot more. That is why tax cuts are stimulatory and why they are deferred not cancelled. They will be restored when the economic conditions are right. 
I also want to focus on the fact that Carol Beaumont deplored the Government’s honouring of its commitment to fund private schools. I remind her that the parents who pay school fees to independent schools contribute as much to the Government through the GST they pay on those fees as the schools receive from them in funding. 
Carol Beaumont 
: Is it fair that they got three times the funding? 
TIM MACINDOE 
: Of course it is fair because those parents are already paying through their taxes for the State system and they pay for their children as well. So the member should put her prejudices back in the box and actually thank those parents for their public spirit. 
Carol Beaumont 
: Is that fair? 
TIM MACINDOE 
: It is absolutely fair and it is very important to recognise the fact that every one of the schools that is forced to integrate—and I understand that a number of them are looking at integration because they are facing tough times as well—will be a major drain on the New Zealand economy. 
Debate interrupted.