Quinn Paul: Taxation (Budget Tax Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Quinn Paul: Taxation (Budget Tax Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:4005] 
PAUL QUINN (National) 
: 
 Thank you—[ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: The member has not even started to speak and there is a barrage of noise from the cross benches. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I accept that but you should know that we were just so pleased you had called him to speak. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I thank the member. Well I am calling him again. 
PAUL QUINN 
: Thank you Mr Chairman and I do intend to address Part 1 in my short stint. But in so doing I want to comment on the rather gutless performance of the previous Labour speaker Pete Hodgson who lambasted a high-quality Maori leader— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I think you can anticipate my point of order. That was totally unparliamentary language. That was offensive and it has been ruled out many times. We cannot say that of other members of Parliament. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I ask the member to desist from making those sorts of comments— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: He should withdraw and apologise. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: —withdraw that comment and then continue. 
PAUL QUINN 
: I withdraw the comment and I say that that member— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: No the member cannot qualify the ruling I have made. I am asking him to just continue with his speech. 
PAUL QUINN 
: Thank you Mr Chairman. Can I say then that the member lacked the intestinal fortitude to face that woman one of New Zealand’s leading Maori women and look her in the eye while he lambasted her. He spent the whole time with his back to her looking at the monkeys behind him and looking for applause. He did not have the fortitude to look her in the eye and front up to her. That is the sort of person we have in Opposition. 
Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I would like you to ask the member to withdraw and apologise. I really feel truly insulted that we have all been identified as monkeys. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: The member has taken exception to the comments the member has made. I ask him to withdraw and apologise for those comments because a member has taken exception. That ruling is under Standing Order 116. I ask the member to withdraw and apologise for those comments and to then continue. 
PAUL QUINN 
: I withdraw and apologise. Now having said all that I will refer to Part 1 which relates to personal tax cuts. [ 
Interruption 
] Of course I see the so-called Opposition Leader of the House who cannot decide whether he is a young Trevor Mallard or an older Chris Hipkins because he does not have the ability to stand up against Trevor Mallard every time he gets up. He does not know how to act as the Opposition Leader of the House. 
Turning to Part 1 I say in terms of these tax cuts that this Government has changed its mind—right? I see that Darren Hughes got three black marks in school today. Oh the teacher has given him three bad marks on the chart he is holding up—not very good. Anyway we are prepared to front up which is a lot more than the members of the previous Government now on the Opposition benches were prepared to do in the pre-election fiscal update. They hid the accident compensation figures from the public and when the true costs were known they ran a mile. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: We have under 2½ minutes left. I would actually like to hear a little about the words “tax cuts” under Part 1 because the heading states: “Personal tax cuts and independent earner tax credits:”. So I ask the member—[ 
Interruption 
]—I am on my feet. I ask the member to seriously consider Part 1; otherwise I will terminate the speech. 
PAUL QUINN 
: Mr Chairman I can explain: my speech is focused on why we are prepared to front up to reverse these tax changes. It is because we have to meet a heavy burden of Government expenditure: a decade of deficits left behind by the previous Government. It would not front up to the truth which came out only after the election. That is why we are prepared to front up unlike the Labour Opposition. When Labour was in Government it hid everything to try to get another term in office. But National fronts up because we are honest and we have integrity and when the situation changes we are prepared to accept it and be honest with the public. 
We are not prepared to have a level of Government expenditure of $1 billion a week. If that level of spending was left unchanged it would leave a structural deficit in this country of $135 billion by the year 2023. The interest alone on that figure is $13.8 billion. We are not prepared to do that because $13.8 billion could go towards supporting hospitals. That is why we have changed the tax cuts. We are realists and we front up to the situation as it presents to us. As part of that process we will examine Government expenditure line item by line item so that the time before those tax cut changes are reversed can be kept to a minimum. We get rid of things like hip-hop tours. We get rid of wasteful expenditure in order to deal with the fact that the tax cuts are for the moment not as much. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I ask for some decorum from Moana Mackey.