Collins Judith: Taxation (Annual Rates and Urgent Measures) Bill — In Committee 
Collins Judith: Taxation (Annual Rates and Urgent Measures) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:628;Page:752] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 The member who has just resumed his seat would never let the truth get in the way of a good rant and that is what we have just had. One of the things that he said is that people should be able to keep their own money. That is what he said in his great ranting. He said that if people are clever enough to balance their own cheque books and their budgets they are clever enough to understand these economic issues. Well yes they are and I wish he would speak very carefully to the Minister in the chair the Hon Dr Cullen because— 
Darren Hughes 
: That’s why the people voted for Labour. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: We hear the member for Otaki the man with the smallest majority in Parliament. Poor Mr Hughes! 
Mr Cosgrove should talk to the Minister of Finance about how clever people are and that they can balance their own budgets and should be able to keep their own money. That is what the National Party believes in. 
I know it might be different in Dr Cullen’s situation but a lot of New Zealanders have a huge amount of debt. Many people spend more than they earn and one of the problems is that they are borrowing and borrowing. It is all very well for the Reserve Bank to say that it will put up the interest rates. In fact there have been nine increases in the last 2 years. [ 
Interruption 
] If the member opposite would like to repeat that statement outside the House I would be very happy to sue him and I suggest he do exactly that. 
Darren Hughes 
: That touched a wee nerve. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: No no. Some people actually have standards and I know that member does not. 
In terms of this hardship that New Zealanders are facing at the moment they are facing very high interest rates which this Government does not care about but encourages. It is all very well to say that that will stop them from borrowing more money. It does not help them with the debt they currently have. People were feeling quite good before because their interest rates were a bit lower but the values of their properties were going up. That was being driven by immigration. What we have at the moment are people who are very much hurting from the interest rate increases and they are hurting from the credit cards they have spent up on. I know it is something that the Prime Minister might not know about but most people are finding there are sales everywhere in the shops—they are not post-Christmas sales—because shopkeepers are starting to find it very hard. There is not enough cash to keep the economy going; there is not enough interest there. 
Dr Cullen’s excuse is that he will hold all the money for us and he will dish it out occasionally for little pet projects. He thinks he is the only one who is clever enough to use the money except it is not his money; it is the people’s money. Why can people not keep their own money? He says that National would cut all these services. There is a massive surplus that keeps on growing as he keeps on overtaxing people. What he should be thinking is that he should not be taking so much money from the pockets of hard-working New Zealanders and that maybe he should not be saying to people who are struggling on one income with a couple of kids to look after: “I Michael Cullen know best and I’ll dole out something to my favourite pet projects. And if you want your childcare I’ll say you can have 20 hours free childcare in a kindergarten.” The only trouble is the kindergarten teachers go on strike all the time because they do not trust this Government either. That is what they did. 
Of course what the Government does not want is for people to make their own choices about where their children go to school or whether they have childcare. The Government wants none of that. Of course we know why. This Government does not trust people. It tells everyone to be frightened and that although they might be good at being in charge of their own money they cannot trust themselves. Yet we have heard Mr Cosgrove today telling everyone how clever people are in their households. It is a shame that Mr Cullen cannot actually understand that people want their own money back. His reason for saying that is that he wants to dole it out. 
So we will have householders who at the moment are having to pay very high interest rates on their home loans and credit card debts and at the same time their teenage children will be getting absolutely interest-free money to spend pretty much as they want on anything they want. Now how is it going to be for the 40-year-olds and the 50-year-olds who have children in that age group who are trying to pay off their mortgages while their kids are living at home and getting interest-free money to have whatever tertiary education they want?