Fenton Darien: Budget Debate 
Fenton Darien: Budget Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16512] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 Every time a Budget is presented I run a ruler across it in terms of fairness to the least well-off in our economy and particularly to the lowest-paid workers. Since Labour has been in power I have never been disappointed and this Budget more than meets that test. I am proud to be part of a Government that has delivered another Budget that first and foremost is about fairness and social justice for families modest-income earners and seniors. But we cannot consider the fairness of this Budget in isolation because this Government has continued to deliver year upon year. We have reduced the cost of seeing a doctor and getting a prescription. Do members remember what it used to cost? It used to cost $15 to get a prescription. Well it is not that any more. 
Sue Moroney 
: $15 per prescription. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: It cost $15 per prescription. We have expanded access to health services screening and immunisation. We have provided 20 hours’ free early childhood education. We have also helped 600000 Kiwis start saving for the future through KiwiSaver—I will get back to KiwiSaver as members will imagine. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: You’re not going to talk about Kate are you? 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Well I will get there. We built thousands of new State houses while restoring income-related rents. One thousand new jobs have been created every week since this Government came to power. That is remarkable—1000 jobs a week. Everyone on this side of the House acknowledges that after 8 years of unprecedented economic growth low unemployment and growing household incomes life is becoming a little bit more pressured for New Zealanders. That is because of this period of global uncertainty. It has created a triple whammy of food petrol and mortgage rate increases which is decreasing disposable income for many families. So although householders are wealthier in real terms than they were 8 years ago they will be finding it harder to make ends meet and some will have reason to feel poorer than they did this time last year. But because this Labour-led Government has managed the public books responsibly we have real choices as we work to confront these challenges. 
Despite the criticism and nagging about tax cuts from the members on the other side we have saved for a rainy day and because we did that we can deliver relief where it is needed without destabilising our economy. That has left National in a real pickle. Actually all that those members can do is to talk about cheese; now we have cheese and pickle. Oh my God I think that the National Party is going crackers! 
The people who will benefit from this Budget are those who are on below-average incomes on average incomes and on a little bit above that and they will benefit from the lift in tax thresholds. We make no apologies for giving families with children additional assistance. The increase in the family income thresholds will ensure that all 371000 families who qualify for Working for Families will receive a boost in income come 1 October. 
Some of my colleagues have talked in this debate about two low-paid workers Lisa and Paul. Lisa is a hospital cleaner and she earns $29640 a year and Paul works as a labourer earning the minimum wage of $24960 a year. This Budget delivers to Lisa and Paul an extra $1828 per year as a result of the 1 October changes to the tax thresholds and the Working for Families indexing but for this couple and their child there is so much more. When Labour became the Government Lisa’s wages were $9.50 an hour but today Lisa earns another $160 a week. Why is that? It is because this Government has delivered an extra $4 an hour into Lisa’s pocket and to all public hospital cleaners through specific funding in last year’s Budget and we have also made sure that pay rate can be tied down through collective bargaining through her union through fair employment laws. But the news is even better than that. Paul is on the minimum wage. I ask members how much that has gone up by since Labour became the Government. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Five bucks. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Five bucks an hour—it is $5 an hour more under Labour. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: And what about if it’s a 16-year-old? 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Well that is right. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: It’s over $7. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: That is right. Paul is not 17 but his children will benefit from that as they grow up. It is $5 more an hour than the miserly $7 an hour it was when National was last the Government. That is another $200 a week that Paul is getting under a Labour-led Government. Even before the tax relief under this Budget 2008 this couple are $360 a week better off because of this Government. Thousands of low-paid workers know that. They are glad there is a Labour-Progressive Government in power and they will fight to keep it that way. They know which party is on their side and it ain’t the National Party. 
It is really hard to say much about the National Party in this debate. Its members seem to be in a parallel universe. They certainly do not seem to be in touch with the people whom members on this side of the House have been talking to. They do not even talk to each other. Poor old Kate Wilkinson; poor straight-up Kate. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: She’s the one who told the truth. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: That is right. She got herself into a bit of trouble by pre-announcing National’s policy to scrap the employer contributions to KiwiSaver. What a bungle! Actually John Key wasted no time in dropping her in it on national TV. We will watch out for her rapid demotion. But we believe Kate do we not? She told the truth. One minute National members believe in compulsory employer contributions to KiwiSaver and then the next minute they do not believe in them. This is just typical of the National Party. It shows that its members cannot be trusted. 
All through this Budget debate I have been hoping to hear National members come up with just one policy. How hard is that? But they have gone all sulky on us because their one idea of tax cuts is now looking rather feeble and lonely. Everything they come up with Labour is already doing. It just goes to show that Labour is the party of change in this country. It is Labour that takes the country forward and leaves National scrambling to catch up. But that is the way of the National Party. Its members do not tell the public what National stands for—perhaps they do not know themselves—or what it will do if they ever get the chance to become the Government. They do not tell voters anything because they think voters are stupid. I have been hearing that they are already writing legislation for the first 100 days in Government. One can only guess what the purpose would be. Should workers start counting the 90 days before they get the sack? It is such arrogance when they continue to keep their policies secret—except of course tax cuts which now look pretty sick. 
The other thing that has offended me in this debate is the right old go they have been having at workers in the Public Service. If I were a civil servant I would be extremely offended by the denigration of civil servants’ work by John Key who described it as paper-shuffling form-filling and navel gazing. Actually I think that is a really good description of National Party members. If the cap fits wear it. Civil servants should be extremely worried because if National ever gets the chance it will be taking the knife to their jobs. It will be the night of the long knives again. How many public servants’ jobs will they cut? Is it 100 is it 500 is it 1000? Well 1000 jobs will not be enough because all that will do is deliver 70c a week in a tax cut. It is not enough. We are back into cutting the number of nurses doctors teachers police border control officers and social workers and back into that parlous state that the National Party left the Public Service in in 1999. It is well known that the reason that counting the votes in the 1999 general election took so long—remember we were up all night waiting for the results—is that National had run down the State so much that there were no trained workers to do the job and there was no infrastructure. 
While I have the chance I want to applaud the new investment in Budget 2008 of $168 million over 4 years to implement the New Zealand Skills Strategy and the work currently being undertaken by the Government the Council of Trade Unions Business New Zealand and the Industry Training Federation. The strategy moves the focus on to the skills of those already in work. Eighty percent of the workforce of the next 20 years is already working so this investment is a critical element in ensuring the skill development of the existing workforce and the future of our economy. I am not really sure having listened to National Party members that they understand how a skills strategy like this contributes to productivity. It is a bit too sophisticated for them. There are workshops going on around the country so perhaps those members could go along to one. They might learn something. I am not even clear who the spokesperson is on skills in that party. 
Sue Moroney 
: It could be Kate. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Is it Kate? Maybe it is Colin King or Lindsay Tisch. Who knows? 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: He retired years ago. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Oh did he? This is indeed the rainy day Budget that Dr Cullen has very astutely provided for. It can be delivered because past surpluses were not frittered away on rewarding a few. It has been delivered fairly to strengthen our communities and rebuild the critical infrastructure deficits from when National was last in power. Budget 2008 addresses both the pressures of the day and the needs of tomorrow. I congratulate Dr Cullen on once again delivering a true red Labour Budget.