Williamson Maurice: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Williamson Maurice: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Advance Copy - Subject to minor change before inclusion in Bound Volume.] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (Minister for Building and Construction) 
: 
 I will start today with what I think is one of life’s most delicious ironies. It is just dripping in the most delicious irony. It is to do with the nomination of candidates in the Botany by-election. In Botany which is next to my electorate of Pakuranga as some people will know a debate has been raging for many years about the need for better roading networks. We do not have the luxury of a rail network like west Auckland does or a dedicated bus lane like North Shore does; we in east Auckland do not have those. But the Greens in particular and also others from the green movement have absolutely railed—and I used that word guardedly—against the building of the eastern motorway. They say we do not need it it is not necessary people should use public transport and we do not need new roading in east Auckland especially in Botany. 
Yesterday if people listened carefully they could hear the sound of flapping wings as the chickens came home to roost. Yesterday the Green candidate got caught in a dreadful traffic jam on Ti Rakau Drive and did not make it to the returning officer in time to get his nomination registered. Now sadly there is no Green candidate standing in the Botany by-election. Why is that? Because as people who know the area will know one can go out there and get stuck in unbelievable traffic jams. 
Simon Bridges 
: Was he not bicycling then? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: No he was not bicycling—that is true. Someone else asked why he did not take the train. There is no train out in east Auckland to take. I thought that if there is something in the world called delicious irony then it has to be when the Greens fail to even register their candidate. I do not understand why they did not get him to go the day before or the day before that. It was not as if he was told he had 10 seconds to get there—ready set go; no stop—and that is it. The Greens decided to leave it until the very last minute and their candidate actually did not get there at the last minute because the traffic jam cut him out. That is a shame because it would have been good to have had a Green candidate in the race but he could not even get there to register. It is more proof that in the eastern suburbs of Auckland more investment will be required in roading. 
One of the most fabulous quotes I ever heard from Maggie Thatcher—and she was my favourite politician—was when she said that the Good Samaritan did not do what he did just because he was good; he also had the money. I think that is so important for people to get their heads around when we are debating— 
Simon Bridges 
: Twyford doesn’t get it. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: No Twyford does not get it. But any other family in this country other than Mr Twyford’s understands that if they spend more than they are earning then the day of reckoning must come. Eventually if they are spending more than they are earning the day of reckoning will come. 
What Labour members who have spoken today have never never brought into their equations is the fact that something ghastly happened to the world a couple of years ago. [ 
Interruption 
] It was not their world; something ghastly happened to their world a long time before 2 years ago but 2 years ago something ghastly called the global financial crisis happened to the world. Just like any family who has a plan maybe to upgrade their house change their car or spend some money on a holiday would have to change all those plans if say the breadwinner in the family became unemployed and there was no income so this nation has to relook at absolutely everything being done and consider first of all how we buffer our citizens from the really harsh sharp edges of the global financial crisis. Bill English deserves unbelievable credit for what he has done as Minister of Finance to make that happen. 
Secondly we have to ask how we cut our cloth accordingly so that we can still keep spending money on essential services and also try to get some economic growth going in the market place. The socialists on the other side of the House—and this is how socialists think—say that what we should do is tax the rich. They say the rich have lots of money so let us tax them. 
Simon Bridges 
: What rich? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: No that is their attitude. What they do not get is that once we go past a certain level of taxation we actually get less money because any people worth their salt when it comes to the financial markets know they have green screens with keyboards. They can move money out of this country and they can change their circumstances accordingly. We cannot just tax the rich until the cows come home and say make it 60c in the dollar make it 70c in the dollar or how about 80c in the dollar. That is what the socialists would do. All I can say is that the old definition of socialist—somebody who has nothing and wants to share it with everybody—rings true to me because that is what we are hearing from members on that side. They say we should put up taxes. It does not matter that doing that will stifle economic growth; they say we should just keep taxing people. 
What this Government did which should be applauded as far as I am concerned was the whole tax shift that occurred last year. We said that we should move away from taxing the good things in life like earning income as quickly as we can and tax some of the not-so-good things in life like spending. Consumers can still buy a plasma screen they can still spend money on certain things if they wish but at least the Government is giving them the chance now to keep more money in their pockets. They can decide what to do with that: invest it save it or be taxed by spending it. 
I was gobsmacked again while listening to some speeches in this debate from Labour members because one of their mantras has been to ask where the Government is creating all the jobs. I have real news for that lot: the only place where jobs were created under their Government was in government. I agree. The bureaucracies of health education and just about everything else went through the roof. In fact I saw a figure that in 2008 the increase in floor space for core Public Service offices here in Wellington—core Public Service office space—was 14.5 hectares. That was the increase in floor space. 
Simon Bridges 
: Bob Jones will be happy. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Yes Bob Jones would have loved that Government. Accompanying that 14.5 hectares of floor space came all of the bureaucrats with their desks their computers and so on. That is where job creation occurred under Labour. Well I have sorry news for those members: that does not add wealth to the economy and it does not make the place function well. Yes there is a core Public Service that is vital. That is the front-line service: teachers nurses doctors health services are all at the very front end doing jobs. 
Grant Robertson 
: What about Biosecurity New Zealand? Customs officers—what about customs officers? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Customs officers—gotcha! Absolutely gotcha. 
Grant Robertson 
: Biosecurity officers? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Yes biosecurity. But growing the bureaucracy of the head office and having more desk space for all of the dead weight that is added is just not good enough. 
The real generator of jobs in this country is the private sector. If we get the fundamentals of the economy right and private sector companies feel that they can begin to employ and invest again they will and the benefits will flow. Kate Wilkinson gave a fantastic example of that today at question time when she talked about the 90-day probation period. The jury is already in on that measure because the survey results show that that has a created substantial number of new jobs. It has given employers the safety to go ahead and hire someone and to take the risk that that person will work out to be a good employee. So they have and it has worked. The dreadful old trade union - driven Labour Party mantra is that the 90-day probation period is evil and we cannot have it. Well it has worked and a lot more people are in work because of it. 
One of my other personal favourites that has come to light in the area where I live is what Judith Collins has done in the area of police. Counties-Manukau was in crisis. Counties-Manukau had more robberies more burglaries and more beatings than anywhere else in the country on a per capita basis and Judith Collins our Minister of Police saw that. She comes from the area so she knew it firsthand. I can tell members that the 300 extra police that this Government has delivered into my patch in Counties-Manukau have made a huge difference. 
Our candidate in the Botany by-election is Jami-Lee Ross. By the way he did get there on time. He got his paperwork in and signed up. Jami-Lee Ross—I will repeat his name because members will hear it a lot in this Parliament over the coming years—is a fantastic young man. He is already basking in the glow of things like the 300 extra police. I went out with him into the Botany shopping centre on the weekend and a number of people commented that one of the best things our Government has done in the last 2 years is putting the 300 extra police into this area. It has made those people feel safer; it has made them feel well. Jami-Lee Ross will win the Botany by-election. I tell members one person who will not even come in third place: the Green candidate.