English Bill: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeEnglish Bill: General Debate[Sitting date: 25 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18872. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. In an effort to contain the spiralling downward credibility of its leader David Cunliffe the Labour Party today released a fiscal plan. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. It looked a lot like the 1996 one which looked a lot like the 2002 one which looked a lot like the 2008 one. They can all be summed up in three simple words: tax and spend. On the way into the House I was asked what I thought about it so I said that: “Yep nothing new—tax and spend. That’s what you’d expect.”Actually the truth is that what I think about it does not matter; what matters is what the Greens think about it. What matters is what the “German-Māori Billionaire Poverty Party” thinks about it. Why does that matter? Because there is no real plausible alternative Government where the Labour Party has much more than half of a Cabinet. So this plan does not represent what an alternative Government would do. For instance it leaves out the carbon tax. That is not in there. That is not referred to. So what the Greens think about this plan matters. It leaves out free tertiary education which apparently is the top priority for the “Billionaire Poverty Party”. It leaves out free tertiary education. What the Greens think matters.We have only had to see the spin that the Labour Party got into over Māui’s dolphins in the last 24 hours to see that Labour is the tail on a very green dog. The leader of the Labour Party had three positions on oil and gas explorationI can sum them up in one sentence that has been used before—it is not original—“I was against it before I was for it before I took a balanced position.” Or was it the other way round: “I took a balanced position before I was against it and then I was for it and then I couldn’t remember so I sent the media to ask Tamati Coffey.” who is clearly the new—Hon Members: Ha ha!Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well he is effective. He has been on TV more than the rest of the Labour Party put together.Hon Steven Joyce: He’s been consistent.Hon BILL ENGLISH: He has been consistent. He sounds authoritative. He has probably done more background homework than the leader of the Labour Party has done on the oil and gas industry—that is what a poor effort the leader has made.Whatever anyone thinks of Labour’s finely honed fiscal plan—as I am sure its architect Mr Parker thinks it is—does not matter because it is not the plan for an alternative Government. Nothing like it. So I am looking forward to hearing the Greens’ version of it. Their questions will be “Are the higher taxes punitive enough on the people we do not like?” “Is the spending wasteful enough to make it worth it or should there be more?” and “How can we hide the impact of a $25 carbon tax from all of New Zealand’s households who will have to pay one big new tax on top of Labour’s list?”. Then of course we will be waiting while the—oh yes the “Internet Billionaire German-Māori Party” is not here today so it will not be able to tell us.Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] No the member still has a minute.Hon BILL ENGLISH: Mr Speaker I thought you had had enough. This is the truth of the debate over the next 3 months: it is not about what is in Labour’s plans; it is about what the plans of the multi-headed hydra of the Opposition are. In no way does the Labour Party document that was put out today reflect the potential for more damage more spending higher taxes and more disregard for the livelihoods incentives and aspirations of New Zealand. The real shame of this document is just how out of step it is on its own merits with a New Zealand that is increasingly forward-looking—Hon Amy Adams: Positive.Hon BILL ENGLISH: —and positive that understands incentives for work and rewards for effort and that is flexible innovative and resilient. On top of that the Labour Party is planning to dump its view of big government and take more of your money because it apparently knows how to spend it better. We know that the Greens of course will do that with speed.