Woodhouse Michael: General Debate 
Woodhouse Michael: General Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19609] 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) 
: 
 I was fascinated by a tête-à-tête that took place a couple of weeks ago between Mr Mallard and Heather Roy over the costs of running our democracy in response to Mrs Roy’s criticism of Labour’s outrageous filibustering on members’ day. She estimated that that nonsense was costing the taxpayer about $453000 per hour. Mr Mallard replied that silly Heather Roy could not do the maths and that her maths was predicated on the assumption that Parliament had sat longer than it would have otherwise. He said she needed to brief her intern on the difference between average and marginal costs.  
Well I am a chartered accountant so I know a bit about marginal costs. If one picks up a textbook one finds it will say something about the costs attributable to the next unit of production. Here is the problem: on members’ day nothing is being produced—absolutely nothing. So Heather Roy’s maths was absolutely accurate and half a million dollars per hour is being wasted every single hour. The cost of the Te Tai Tokerau by-election which the Labour Party heavily criticised is being wasted by its members every single hour of members’ day. It is like that  
Yes Minister  
episode. Remember the empty hospital? It had all the staff the administrators and the doctors but it did not have any patients. Well this Parliament every second Wednesday has the members the security guards the clerks and the Hansard staff but we are not producing a single thing.  
We have also heard about the total stunt that Phil Goff’s member’s bill on asset sales is. Mr Bridges has already quoted the excellent article by John Armstrong about Namibia having more chance of winning the Rugby World Cup than that bill has of being enacted. But John Armstrong also said that even if Labour became the Government that bill could not pass. It is framed up as entrenching legislation which requires 75 percent of the House’s support so the Labour members know that it cannot pass even if they become the Government. It is a stunt. It would be silly if it were not for the fact that members’ day is a very important part of our parliamentary process where those outside the executive get to debate and raise the legislation and bills that are important to them and their constituents. I thought that Labour’s backbenchers would be pretty annoyed at the way in which that was going except that we have not had a member’s bill ballot this year. I went back to November 2010 the last ballot that we had. There were 25 bills in that ballot. Do members know how many there were from Labour? 
Chris Auchinvole 
: None. 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: One. There was one bill from a Labour member in the last member’s bill ballot that we had. Do members know whose bill that was? It was Darren Hughes’ bill on transport so who knows where that is? Labour is so keen to represent its constituency that its members cannot come up with a single bill except one that is a stunt. They know it is a stunt. That is how half a million dollars an hour is being wasted on every single members’ day.  
What are the Labour members doing if they are not actively participating in our democracy? Well they are alienating themselves from just about every sector. We have certainly heard about the farmers. I did not think that the Labour members would go and slap the Ratana Church which has been very loyal to Labour for a long time. The public tell me that they are sick and tired of the same old rhetoric: “There is no plan.” and “Where are the jobs?”. The public know; they are getting to it. They understand how hard things are and they understand that this Government does have a plan.  
The Government’s plan involves a providing a taxation system that works and rewards effort. The plan is also about having an education and skills training plan. It is about fostering free trade and innovation in science. It is about investing in infrastructure and billions of dollars are going into infrastructure not the least of which is in the South Island and in Canterbury. It includes putting a lid on Government spending. This Government makes no apologies for the fact that there are opportunities to continue to constrain spending and for expecting a lot more to come out from a little more going in. And the Government’s plan is about reducing compliance costs to business. One does not need to be a mathematician to work out that if nominal GDP growth of 8 percent is achieved that will produce a minimum of 200000 jobs in this economy. Those members ask where the jobs will come from. Well it is pretty obvious: they will come from a growing economy. They will not come from bureaucrats and the public sector. We might have to increase the number of jobs by 172000 in order to offset the very small reduction in public sector workers that has taken place. I am extremely pleased to put those plans and policies up against Labour’s any day of the week.