Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: Budget Debate 
Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: Budget Debate 
[Volume:663;Page:11320] 
Hon LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Kia ora talofa lava and warm Pacific greetings. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this Budget debate and to offer some substance to the previous speaker the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs—to offer some facts versus her fiction. 
This Budget sets out clearly the Government’s economic direction for the next year and it clearly demonstrates whom and what this Government values. I had hoped to see a Budget that was fair to all New Zealanders; a Budget for the many and not for the few. But we have an unfair Budget a Budget for the “me” not the “we” and a Budget that is not fair for Pacific Island New Zealanders. It is a Budget that is not fair for elderly New Zealanders and a Budget that is unfair for most of the people in my Mana electorate. 
This Budget will hit Pacific Island people hard after what has already been a very difficult 18 months for Pacific families. The lion’s share of the tax cuts go to the wealthy at the top; for the rest the much more modest cuts will very quickly be swallowed up by the increase in GST and the highest inflation rate in decades. This is not good news for Pacific people whose average wage is $24000. The majority will feel themselves going backwards. By the Government’s own figures a family with two young children on an average income will be $55 worse off once GST inflation and cuts to early childhood education subsidies are factored in. On top of this the Budget has left a $1.2 billion hole in health funding over 4 years. This will mean reduced services for those in need and that will also hit our Pacific community hard. 
As well as this Budget’s general bad news for our Pacific communities what was truly offensive in Bill English’s Budget speech was his boast that New Zealand’s unemployment rate at about 6 percent was good news. I ask who it is good news for; it is not good news for Pacific Island New Zealanders. The unemployment rate for Pacific Islanders is more than double Bill’s “good news” rate of 6 percent. In the last 18 months under National the Pacific Island unemployment rate has shot up to 14.4 percent. This has undone all Labour’s good work during the last 9 years. Labour reduced the unemployment rate for Pacific people from 15 percent in 1999 when we took office to 6.3 percent in 2008. But in 18 months National has undone a decade of progress. If John Key really wanted to help Pacific Islanders in New Zealand to advance he would have focused on growing jobs for those who are out of work and on growing their incomes instead of robbing them through GST to help fund tax cuts for his rich mates. 
The only extra funding for the Pacific community in this Budget is now under question. It has been given to a private company that nobody in the Pacific community knows about nor whether the company has a track record of job upskilling job placement or creating jobs. Is this money for John Key’s rich Pacific mates? This Budget is unfair for Pacific Island New Zealanders. 
I turn to the people of Mana. By the time inflation GST increases and the increased costs for childcare are passed on most families in Mana will be worse off under National’s tax swindle. This Budget means that low and middle income earners in Porirua City and on the Kapiti coast will be significantly out of pocket at the end of the day. The many families in Mana with two young kids who will end up $55 per week worse off after GST inflation and early childhood charges are all taken into account. If they are renting the problem only gets worse. Property tax changes will result in higher rents. Infometrics predicts that rental inflation will be at 5 percent by March next year and will increase beyond that. How can these families possibly afford this? The reality is that people on very high incomes are much better off following Thursday’s Budget and people on average incomes are worse off. 
This year accident compensation premiums have gone up health services have been cut and now GST is being increased as are childcare costs. It is simply not fair that the majority of New Zealanders are paying for the tax cuts of a few people on very high incomes. To add salt to the wound in Mana it seems there is a drop of more than 80 percent in State housing acquisition and maintenance. Over $20 million will be lost with the demise of the Healthy Housing programme and the acquisition of new State housing units has fallen dramatically. Mana is an area that relies heavily on State housing. Of the 10000 people on the waiting list nationwide nearly 500 are in Porirua; that is one in twenty. To know that new units and further improvements to make houses warm and healthy will not go ahead will cause great concern and stress. With rents set to rise we should be supporting families into affordable accommodation rather than shutting them out. 
People who are already struggling will continue to struggle following the Budget. Labour strongly opposes the increase in GST the cuts to health services the cuts to State housing acquisitions and the increase in childcare costs for parents. In Kapiti people are losing their employment with local businesses. Last week over 50 jobs were lost when a call centre in Paraparaumu signalled it was relocating to the Philippines. In Porirua unemployment statistics have gone up by 500. 
Families in Porirua City and on the Kapiti coast realise that although National has offered them tax cuts price increases mean they will be no better off. The real winners in John Key’s Budget are the very highest earners because most New Zealanders’ tax cuts will be wiped out by inflation before they even get to the checkout. This is based on the Government’s own numbers. Inflation of nearly 6 percent will destroy most of the tax cuts and Kiwis will not be compensated for the GST rise. To fund these tax cuts National has massively increased borrowing. The Government will have to borrow an extra $1 billion over the next 3 years. This Budget is unfair for most of the people of my Mana electorate. 
I want to quickly talk about the elderly. In the last 2 weeks the first five of 19 Grey Power meetings were hosted around New Zealand. There is increasing concern about what is happening. Since we announced the investigation into aged care last month we have been inundated with calls of support from people of all ages from around the country. The sheer number of people attending the first five meetings further reinforces the pain and what is going on. The biggest concern coming through is the Government’s cutting of health funding to which several district health boards have responded by cutting home help for the elderly. We are hearing some horror stories. I am very worried about the standard of care some of our most vulnerable elderly are receiving in aged-care facilities and the way the Government is targeting the elderly and reducing access to vital support. Just this week we saw that MidCentral District Health Board is looking at cutting its overnight district nursing service. This will hit our elderly the hardest. People who have blocked catheters or oxygen supply break downs and patients lying in pain are among those who could suffer. The board is considering laying off 5.5 jobs. The most significant change will be dropping the 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. night shift. This feature is unique to New Zealand and it is important that the elderly even if they are unwell are supported as much as possible to stay in their own homes. This is too big an issue to ignore. Clearly there are deep-seated problems in this sector and we want greater scrutiny and accountability. 
The Budget is unfair for elderly New Zealanders. It is unfair for Pacific Island New Zealanders and for most of the people in my electorate of Mana. I had hoped to see a Budget that was fair to all New Zealanders that would lead us to a brighter future and that was for the many not the few but I was very disappointed with what Bill English and John Key dished up on Budget day. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Before I call the next speaker I want to apologise to the Hon Georgina te Heuheu. I think I omitted to ring the bell at 8 minutes. I want to assure the member that she got a full 10 minutes. I must have been distracted by her interesting fact about one in two births being Maori or Pacific Island. I was thinking about what New Zealand would look like after that. I was away in my own thoughts which were provoked by the member.