Robertson Grant: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Robertson Grant: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 07 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:96. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 There is a rumour going around actually that Gerry Brownlee is thinking of changing his name to Gerry Dotcom in order to get access to National’s economic plan which I understand is in a cyber-locker somewhere caught up in the Megaupload debacle. I say that because we have once again seen from the Prime Minister in the state of the nation speech—the so-called state of the nation speech—the absence of an economic plan.  
We also saw that in his response in the Address in Reply debate. I am not sure whether the Prime Minister is a fan of Ronan Keating the Irish singer who was in town last week but in outlining his vision for New Zealand the Prime Minister seems to have adopted the words of one of Ronan Keating’s favourite songs: “You say it best when you say nothing at all.” That is the Prime Minister’s approach—nothing at all. There was nothing at all in the state of the nation speech and nothing at all in the Address in Reply speech—nothing at all that is except for one thing: sell it off. The pathway to the PM’s heralded brighter future is paved with “For Sale” signs.  
Well the message for Mr Key is that you cannot sell your way to a brighter future. The Prime Minister is getting that message loud and clear from the 70-plus percent of New Zealanders who do not want their assets sold. He heard the message from Maori loud and clear this past weekend. From those at the flax-roots through to the iwi leaders they do not want these assets sold.  
You would have thought that for something that is the centrepiece of National’s programme for this year there might have been a little bit more thought given to the removal of the single most significant legislative clause for Maori in this area: section 9 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act. Goodness I was in form 4 in 1986 and I knew about the Lands case and the genesis of section 9. Mr Key was at Elders Merchant Finance at the time I think—too busy selling things I suspect to actually notice the significant political action. To claim as Mr Key has done that section 9 is symbolic and not relevant is not only a slap in the face to Maori but symptomatic of the shambles that now surrounds this asset sales process.  
Mr Key is looking for an elegant solution to the problem he has created. Well I have got an elegant solution for Mr Key: do not sell the assets. That is the elegant solution: do not sell the assets listen to New Zealanders and keep Kiwi assets in Kiwi hands.  
But there is a very good reason why this Government is so determined to press ahead with asset sales: it is that it is all they have got. The plan to lift our economic sights comes down to selling off our future hoping someone will dig up some wealth and cutting public services. Now whatever the merits of cuts to the public sector I can say this to the Government: it will not provide the answer to the lack of a plan for the economy.  
That is what the Government has in store for New Zealand: sell cut hope. That is the plan. That is the total of the strategy: sell cut hope. It is a tired old theory and it fails to grasp one of the core opportunities that lie in front of New Zealand: the opportunity to base our future on ideas and policies that see the economy and the environment as two sides of the same coin. The notion that in order to grow our economy we must compromise our environment comes from another century. It comes from the same century as the trickle-down economics practised by the party opposite.  
For Labour we recognise that our future lies in the development of companies and people who are smart clean and green. David Shearer has already talked about LanzaTech in this debate. In universities Crown research institutes and businesses throughout this country there are people who have the ideas that will propel our economy forward. We must invest in those people and we know that this can happen only if the economy and the environment go together hand in hand. That is Labour’s vision and we will continue to promote positive ideas in that space over this term.  
New Zealanders’ passion for our environment is something that I believe truly unites us as a nation. The horror that greeted the grounding of the  
Rena 
 and its impact on birdlife the coastal environment and our beaches and oceans resounded throughout New Zealand. Was it not interesting to hear Nick Smith today? Despite telling New Zealanders that he was going to throw the full force of the law at those responsible for the grounding of the  
Rena 
 it turns out that that amounts to a hope that the Bay of Plenty Regional Council might take a case. That is the full force of the law from Nick Smith. That is how much protecting the environment seems to mean to him. That is how much of a priority he wants to make it.  
In the wake of some of what happened at Waitangi it could be easy to focus on issues that divide us but I believe that the protection of our waterways and our coastlines is something that all New Zealanders—Maori and Pakeha alike—want to see made a priority and Labour will certainly be doing this. In the environmental space that priority must be seen in the management of fresh water. The Maori Council has a right to put a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal and we will await the court process as is the right thing to do with that. But let us be absolutely clear: this would not be happening if the Government was not selling assets. This would not be needed if the Government was not selling assets and the solution which the Maori Party knows which the Maori Council knows and which this Government should know is that this could all stop if the sale of those assets stops.  
There was an absence from Mr Key’s state of the nation speech—and indeed from his contribution to this debate—of the environment but there was also an absence of discussion on the pressing social issues of our time: inequality and child poverty. If Gerry Brownlee wants to find evidence of a bipartisan approach I say that three times in the last term of Government Annette King wrote to the Government and said we would cooperate on child poverty. David Shearer said straight after being elected as leader that we want to be part of a parliamentary committee that deals with issues of poverty and this year Jacinda Ardern has repeated the call. That is bipartisanship Mr Brownlee. That is where the opportunity is in this House for us to work together and address child poverty and it has been rejected by the National Government not by the Labour Party.  
When we look at child poverty the one reaction we have seen from this Government was its trying to stop New Zealanders hearing about it. It is outrageous that the showing of a documentary on child poverty just before the election would generate from Mr Key’s electorate chair a complaint and an attempt to stop it. The problem with the broadcast of that documentary was that it was the only one on those sorts of issues before the election. What we need prior to an election in New Zealand is more information for the public not less.  
Public broadcasting in this country is in serious danger. We need quality public broadcasting. It is good for democracy it is good for accountability and it is good for public participation. This Government is starving Radio New Zealand of funds and dismantling one of the few remaining pieces of public broadcasting in the form of TVNZ 7. It is not good enough and it is especially not good enough for New Zealand On Air to be used in such a political way.  
What that documentary on child poverty highlighted was the huge damage being done to New Zealand and the loss of the potential of those involved. It is simple stuff. If you live in a cold draughty damp home you will get sick. If you do not have food in your cupboards your kids will go to school hungry and they will not learn as well. If it costs too much to go to the doctor you just will not go. Child poverty is a moral issue. It is as David Shearer has said a human rights issue for those children and it is a shame on this Government that the Prime Minister in his state of the nation speech failed to even mention these issues.  
Six billion dollars a year is lost to the New Zealand economy through child poverty but of similar importance to our society is the loss of empathy that goes with growing inequality in our country. When the salaries of chief executive officers grow 14 percent in a year but the salaries of those on the factory floor grow by only 2 percent we have a growing problem. As gated communities grow around us we have a problem. We need answers that are sensible but that are also visionary. We must invest in our people.  
Many New Zealanders are facing tough times and when that happens we know that New Zealanders will come together and pitch in. We have got to use our brains and we have got to invest in people get them into education give people a chance to achieve their potential and allow them to live lives that will allow them to achieve their potential. We need sensible solutions; we need positive solutions. What we do not need is sell cut and hope and that is all we have seen from this National Government.