Sio Su'a William: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Sio Su'a William: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:670;Page:16697] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Kia ora tatou katoa. To members of the House talofa lava I le paia ma le mamalu ua aofaga potopoto. I wish members of this House and all of the staff a happy New Year. I particularly wish the previous speaker Mr Bakshi commiserations. As he spoke I could feel how hard it was for him to say that he was happy to be with the National Government. He struggled through those words. I know that that is true because he lives in Papatoetoe in my neck of the woods in Manukau. He would be engaging with many of his community; and many of the Sikh community the Indian community and the wider Asian community would be telling him how awful this Government is. He will be struggling to face the people whom he purports to represent. He will be struggling to look them in the eye because in Manukau in Mangere and throughout the parts of Auckland that are listening to this debate many families are struggling and suffering as a result of the recession in the early years of this Government as a result of this Government’s stupid policies and as a result of this Government’s inaction. The Government is sitting on its hands and doing nothing and its focus is simply on the mega-wealthy of this country and also people from overseas. Those actions speak louder than the words that we heard in the previous speech and in the Prime Minister’s speech 2 days ago. 
In the short time that I have been in this House I have looked to the Prime Minister’s statement as something important. No doubt many people up and down this country look to the Prime Minister’s statement at the beginning of the year to give them some direction as to what will happen that year to give them some hope amid the struggles of life that they are experiencing to give them some vision as to whether they will have a better life the day after tomorrow and next year and to give them some sort of confidence in their bones that this Government and its policies will look after all New Zealanders. I have to say with sadness that that has not been the case. The Prime Minister’s speech was dull. It lacked any vision. There was no desire whatsoever to really connect with the community. In fact the Prime Minister did not even read out his statement; he simply tabled it. We tried to follow it but he was all over the place. He treated it with disrespect. When people of this country are struggling and having a difficult time making ends meet they look to the leader of the country to provide some sense of hope. I have to say that there was nothing of that sort 2 days ago when the Prime Minister made his speech. 
The media has been correct in reporting what the statement contained. The front pages of the  
Dominion Post  
and other newspapers have highlighted that the Government in this term will constrict further economic growth sell off State assets and sack a number of public servants. It already sacked 2000 public servants last time but now it is intending to do more because it believes that by constricting growth selling off State assets not addressing the unemployment numbers and sacking public servants we will somehow be better off with that sort of scenario. 
Every day people in my constituency come in and complain about this Government. Every day people in my constituency tell me about the difficulties they are facing. They ask: “What is this Government doing about it?”. 
At the start of the school period I took my daughter to buy a school uniform. There were parents there who struggled when they were told about the cost of a blouse skirt or pair of pants. The cost of some of those things was outrageous. In total the package that I bought for one child was $555. I was angry about that. As a backbench politician who earns good money like every other politician here I was able to afford that but that is not the case in my own family and in my community where the median income is about $40000 per year. I ask members how they think an average family with four kids feels trying to make ends meet. Some schools offer second-hand uniforms that are cheaper or half price but when I asked about those uniforms this particular school had none available. Other parents could afford to buy only one set of the uniform. That cost does not include the donations that schools now rely on. It does not include the stationery that children require. It does not include after-school activities such as sports piano lessons drama or music. All of those things cost money and for the majority of families that cannot afford it their children will miss out. Why is that? 
This Government is determined to focus on what I call the mega-wealthy. The mega-wealthy do not need money. More than 600 people on the Inland Revenue Department database earn $1 million a year and they got an extra $1000 a week that they did not need. For some reason this Government hopes that those people will spend that money and that the benefits that go to the mega-wealthy will somehow trickle down to the rest of us. The rest of us got only 25c extra an hour. I ask the Prime Minister whether he could live on $13 an hour. Could he live survive and provide for his children on $13 an hour? The answer is no. No family can live and provide a quality of life for themselves on $13 an hour but that amount is what many people throughout this country are receiving particularly within the Pacific communities. 
I am disappointed that the Prime Minister is out and about in the wider community telling Pacific people how good he is to them how wonderful Pacific people are that he will do things for the Pacific community and that he wants the Pacific community vote but he did not make a single reference whatsoever to Pacific people in his statement. Is that because the Government tried to buy the Pacific vote by giving $4.8 million to the Pacific Economic Development Agency without going through the proper authorities? For some reason or other after being asked a truckload of questions throughout last year and without giving the proper information to the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Mr Bill English who was responsible for this announced a few days before Christmas without going through the proper channels that the money was going out to four organisations. We still do not have an answer as to what that money will do for the Pacific community. 
High unemployment is what we have got from this Government. High cost is what we have got from this Government. GST is on the rise. Basic food prices the cost of power and the cost of living are staggering for ordinary working-class families up and down this country but all that Government members can muster is a smile and a wave. That is what we got for all of last year. I know that on 26 November people will be asking whether they are better off under the National Government and the answer will be no. People will vote out this Government because if we allow National to govern again after 26 November we will be worse off. That is National’s legacy. Everyone in New Zealand will suffer as a result of this Government.