Mitchell Mark: Budget Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mitchell Mark: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 29 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2616. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney) 
: 
 I have not heard anything new from my colleague Mr Faafoi. They are still talking about paper boys. I knew this was a good Budget when all I could hear coming from the Labour benches was “paper boys” and “search and rescue”. Mr Shearer needs the number for search and rescue. It is about the mixed-ownership model. Mr Faafoi we have limited capital in this country. We are a small country. The best thing we can do is take that capital and use it wisely—use it and invest it in other assets. We should grow other assets for the country and grow other assets for our children. It is about the best use of that capital—a mixed-ownership model.  
I tell Mr Faafoi that I am a parent as well. I have four kids. Three of them are in the public system and one of them is at an integrated school. I welcome the measures announced today by the Minister of Education because I want to see quality teaching. I want to see an increase in the quality of teaching in our schools.  
I hear a common theme emerging from the Opposition benches. They want the Prime Minister to deny the fact that our country has been impacted by the global financial crisis the world recession and the earthquake damage in Christchurch. This is exactly why Labour has been labelled “Planet Labour”. You would have to be living on another planet to say that none of these things has had a major impact or effect on our economy. I am proud of this National Government and that it has steered us and will continue to steer us through all these difficult times. I am thankful that we as a country are not being governed by a party that lives on another planet. Long-distance relationships are hard to manage at the best of times but it must be proving difficult for Labour to connect with the people of this country from that sort of distance.  
This Budget invests in New Zealand’s future. It will stimulate growth in new jobs while still keeping us on track for a surplus in 2014-15. Getting back to surplus is a very important goal for us as a country. When we see other countries buckling and failing under huge debt the last thing we should be thinking about is laying down more debt which ultimately will have to be paid for by our children. We are one of the few developed countries that will not be increasing debt over these testing times.  
I am pleased to report that for the people of Rodney our front-line health services have improved over the last 4 years. We are seeing more operations and shorter waiting-times. To continue with these great results a further $1.5 billion is being committed over the next 4 years as a part of this Budget.  
The Prime Minister spoke in the House last week and he talked about the Opposition and what it has been supporting in terms of our economic growth. He talked about the plan that we have for economic growth. I would like to just run through that list again just to remind everyone. Let us look at some of the initiatives that Opposition members have said no to. Do they support the future intensification and development of our agricultural sector? No they do not. They wanted to put the sector out of business last time. Do they want more mining or more oil and gas exploration? The answer is no. They get up and they complain about the amount of Kiwis heading to Australia. A lot of those people are going to work in the oil and gas sector in Australia—the mining sector. Australia has the will to develop that sector. When we develop the will to do it we will have a ready-made workforce of Kiwis wanting to come back and get involved in our own mining sector.  
Do those members even want Australian companies moving jobs to New Zealand? No they do not. Do they want welfare reform? No. Did they support the 90-day probation period for new employees? 
Andrew Little 
: No. 
MARK MITCHELL 
: No you did not—you did not. They do not want to support businesses and employers and put them in a position to hire more employees. Do they support any of our labour market reforms? 
Andrew Little 
: No. 
MARK MITCHELL 
: No you are right. Again you do not want to support the private sector and businesses—the people who create jobs and employment. Do they support the $1.5 billion we put into ultra-fast broadband? 
Hon Members 
: No. 
MARK MITCHELL 
: No. All our entrepreneurs and our small businesses that are working remotely need ultra-fast broadband. Do they support foreign investment in New Zealand? No they do not. Did they support the 3000 jobs that came of making the two  
Hobbit 
 movies? Why would Labour pick on hobbits? 
Why would it pick on hobbits 
?  
Does it want a less onerous emissions trading scheme? 
Andrew Little 
: No. 
MARK MITCHELL 
: No it wants to increase it. It wants to put our farmers under more pressure. It wants to attack our primary industries. Do those members want the irrigation of the South Island or parts of the North Island? Do they support roads of national significance? I heard an invitation being extended by my colleagues Tim Macindoe and David Bennett for Mr Phil Twyford to come and speak about roads of national significance. I would like to extend that same invitation because we have a road the Puhoi to Wellsford road that is actually pretty significant for the people in Rodney and the people in Northland. I would welcome Mr Twyford coming up there and we can arrange some meetings and he can tell everyone that this road is not important to the Labour Party.  
Darien Fenton 
: Yes that would be good.  
MARK MITCHELL 
: I hear the Labour benches saying that that is good. Well it is not good actually. I will tell you what the Puhoi to Wellsford road of national significance is all about. It is to enhance inter-regional and national economic growth and productivity. It is to improve movement of freight and people between Auckland and Northland. Northland has been under-serviced for ever in terms of having a main State highway. It is to improve the connectivity between the medium to long-term growth areas in the northern Rodney area and to improve the reliability of the transport network through a more robust and safer route between Auckland and Northland.  
For us to continue to grow as a country and continue to be competitive with our competitors overseas we need to keep investing in our infrastructure. That is a no-brainer. The great thing about this Budget and the great thing about this Government is that we have kept that investment in infrastructure going even when we have been faced with very tough times. What this Government is doing is actually setting us up for competitive advantage with those markets that have not had the capital and have not had the money to invest in infrastructure.  
The other thing in relation to the Puhoi to Wellsford road is the fact that we have one of the highest fatality and serious injury accident rates in the country on that piece of road and it comes down to a straight safety issue. So you would understand that the reception for Mr Twyford in Rodney and Northland would probably not be that welcoming when he arrives and refers to it as a “Holiday Highway” and says that it is not important to the region.  
Scott Simpson 
: Shameful.  
MARK MITCHELL 
: It is. I am running business forums in Rodney and they are proving to be very popular. We have got a lot of our local businesses—big small and medium-sized businesses; exporters and local businesses—coming there and what we are talking about is what this Government has done and what we are doing to help promote economic growth not just in Rodney but in the whole country. Let me go through some of these things. Let me go through some of the things that this Government has done in relation to assisting growth for our businesses. Sorry let me first cover what Labour proposes to do in terms of helping our businesses. It wants to implement a capital gains tax on all businesses. It wants a more than doubling of employer KiwiSaver costs—which is ridiculous—irrigation taxes a minimum wage increase that would cost thousands of jobs an acceleration of the 90-day trial period and a return to 1970s industrial relations policies. It wants a wind-back of National’s ACC changes meaning higher ACC levies extra transport charges and a lifting of interest rates caused by going out and borrowing billions of dollars. All that this would be is an anchor round the necks of our local businesses whereas the National Government is looking at ways of reforming the labour laws investing in infrastructure and continuing to help and promote our business overseas. I take great pride in standing in support of this Budget. Thank you very much.