King Annette: Adjournment 
King Annette: Adjournment 
[Volume:676;Page:21841] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 Today I am taking the Leader of the Opposition’s traditional call in this debate because he has joined the Prime Minister at the funeral of Lance Corporal Leon Smith. I know that people in this House will be feeling for his family today. 
Too often as members of Parliament we get to this time of the year and we have a lot to say. We often leave the thankyous to last and we try to cram them in with a minute to go and we forget a lot of people. So I will start with the people we want to thank: our staff and the staff in this building. I start with a thankyou to you Mr Speaker and to your staff particularly Beryl and Roland. I think you have served us well in the last 3 years. But I have not always agreed with you Mr Speaker and funnily enough you have not always agreed with me. But I have figured out who has won the argument over the last 3 years. I wish you and Alexandra well over the months ahead. 
I thank the Clerk’s Office the Hansard reporters the library staff and especially our wonderful messengers—you are always cheerful you are helpful you are friendly and you even play along with the little game I play every day when I ask for a drop of gin to be put into my glass. I do not drink and that is yet to happen so Mr Speaker do not worry. 
I also thank the Bellamy’s staff. I particularly thank the education officers in this Parliament who are so wonderful at giving young people who come here an amazing experience learning about how this place works and the history of it. Today I remember Pat Siemonek one of the education officers who passed away in the last few weeks. I also acknowledge our security staff. They serve us well and they are very well-liked. Today I also remember Peter Stevenson who passed away just a few weeks ago who served in this House for over 17 years. 
I acknowledge the brave security officer who yesterday helped to prevent what could have been a tragedy. He was not only injured himself but he stopped the person who was attempting to jump from being injured and probably saved several of my colleagues from injury who were unaware of what was happening above them. I visited him last night at the emergency department—and I will have a chat to Tony Ryall a little later about how it is working! But I have to say that he was still as cheerful as ever. 
I thank our research unit our policy unit our media unit in the leader’s office and particularly my own staff Emma and Lloyd. Finally I thank the cleaners who come in here at midnight to clean up after us earning about $13 an hour. 
It seemed to me that that was a really good place to start in summing up the 3 years of a National Government—to give it a score card on how it has done over the last 3 years to see if it has met its national standards. I have measured it by three main measures: are we better off; are there more jobs; and does it have a plan to manage the economy? [ 
Interruption 
] Excellent—oh I am so pleased those members opposite are excited by this report card! I will take them back just 3 years to what was promised to New Zealand at that time. We were told there would be a brighter future. We are still told there will be an even brighter future—it is on the never-never. We were told they were going to do everything and give everything that Labour did and more but wait particularly for the people in “Struggle Street”. You know the people who were in McGehan Close where the Prime Minister—then the Leader of the Opposition—went down took the hand of little Aroha went in front of the television cameras and said: “These are the people who are going to be better off when we become the Government.” 
Well I have to tell members opposite who got a bit excited that they have not achieved the national standard on this. I can tell them why: the minimum wage this year went up by 25c an hour while the Prime Minister gained himself $1000 a week more. In fact the median wage in this past year has had the smallest increase in 11 years—well behind an inflation rate of 5.3 percent. But Mr Key said we cannot increase the minimum wage because we will lose jobs. Well I have to say that there is absolutely no evidence for that and that he is totally out of touch with what is happening out there. He is hurting the very people he said that he would help. He said: “I can’t interfere in the cleaners’ wages but I can interfere on what time  
Coronation Street 
 will be on television.” He is a big man for  
Coronation Street 
 but not for cleaners’ wages. 
I have to say to Bill English whom I have listened to week after week say that everybody is better off that the people of New Zealand do not believe that. It does not matter how much he says it; it does not make it true. Prices are outstripping wages people are working harder than ever and they are not getting ahead. We need only to look at the Otago University study that recently said that it cost an Auckland family mum and dad and two teenage kids about $300 a week for their basic food bill. The median wage for them is $529 a week. That does not leave much does it? It does not leave much for rent power clothes petrol and so on. 
What about the tax cuts that were going to make it all better? We were all going to feel better off. Well those who were given tax cuts already had the most. In 3 years of a National Government we have seen the widening of the gap between those who are rich and those who are poor. The 150 wealthiest New Zealanders have $7 billion in their wealth although the minimum wage has been reduced in real terms by $16.80 a week. What has that led to? Members should go and visit the food banks and the Salvation Army. They should go around New Zealand and talk to real people and they will see what has happened to many of them. 
Do we have more jobs? Let us go over that. In 2010 we were promised 170000 more jobs. We were promised 170000 more jobs in 2010 and that was after the global financial crisis was over—but we got fewer jobs. Then we were promised 170000 new jobs in 2011 and that was after the global financial crisis was over—and we got fewer jobs than we had before. In 1 month—the last month—we have lost 800 jobs from places like the Department of Conservation Tangiwai Mill Canterbury Leather Housing New Zealand Corporation The Warehouse the wood-processing industry and Alliance Group meatworks. It reminded me of a headline I saw in the  
New Zealand Herald  
in January 1993 which said: “Welcome to benefitville coming to your town soon.” I have to tell members it is happening again. There are marginalised communities industries in retreat lost jobs and lost wages. All the while the number of people on the main benefits has gone up by 21.8 percent in the 3 years under this National Government. This is the brighter future that was promised.  
What about the economy and the plan? I would leave it up to the rating agencies to give the Government the rating on that. There have been two downgrades the first in 13 years. I think Bill English was there the last time. That is how much they think of him. We were told it was very important that we did not have a downgrade. We were told that in 2009 and in 2011 National said it would be disastrous but now that it has happened it does not really matter and we are going to muddle our way through. National members have blamed it on everything and everybody—the global financial crisis the weather the earthquakes the bureaucrats and the beneficiaries. They never look at themselves in the mirror. I say to National that every one of the statistics we have now is under its watch. It is time it took some responsibility for what is happening out there and for what are the results of the policies that National put in place.  
This Government has borrowed $37 billion for no growth. We have 56000 more unemployed and National is too timid to tackle the real policies this country needs. National is too timid to put in place what we need in this country. I can tell members that this Labour Party is not timid. We will be out there at this election giving people a forward plan that is a plan and not some sort of made-up pulled together mishmash of policies that is taking this country nowhere.