Brown Peter: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Brown Peter: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:624;Page:19390] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Well we have heard the Minister of Finance and the chairman of the Finance and Expenditure Committee who is also a Government member and we have heard very very little about what the Government stands for and what it intends to do. We have heard everything about what the National Party is doing wrong or is supposedly doing wrong but we have heard very very little about what the Government will do. I will give the member a little credit. He spoke about Working for Families and he recognised that it was a targeted tax cut which it is. But there was not one mention—not one single mention—about the current account deficit. If I am correct it stands currently at $9.3 billion. That is up $4 billion from last year. There was not one mention of that. That was all fudged over. 
Put simply we are living too much on credit in this country. There is too much profit being made by overseas organisations based here that is being shipped back to wherever those organisations came from and there are too few savings being made by the average New Zealander. The average New Zealander likes imports and buys imports that maximise the value-added content; whilst going in the reverse direction our exports contain little value-added content. The average New Zealander is hurting. 
John Tamihere 
: Yes listening to you! Ha ha! 
PETER BROWN 
: The members laugh. Their own colleague has just said that a family on $55000 a year needs to have financial assistance. If people are hurting at that level how are they hurting when they get down to $18000 $19000 or $20000 a year? They are hurting. And what is the Government doing? Come April Fool’s Day it will put another 5c a litre on petrol. We have heard the Greens talk about the price of oil. When people talk about the price of oil they basically think of petrol prices. What will the good Minister of Finance do? He will make the price over $1.30 a litre for 91 petrol come April Fool’s Day. I say to the Minister that it is appropriate that he is doing it on April Fool’s Day because he is making fools of all New Zealanders. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Have you seen the price in Britain? 
PETER BROWN 
: I think the Minister said to look at the price in Britain—but we should also look at the wages in Britain. We should look at the price in the USA and in Australia and look at what the Government here is taking in terms of tax on a litre of petrol. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Five cents a litre in Venezuela. 
PETER BROWN 
: I do not believe that the Minister who is shouting out really believes what he is shouting out. I believe he shares my view that it is outrageous that in this day and age we are taking 18.5c per litre and putting it in the Government’s coffers at the expense of roading. 
Let us look at what is happening in the electricity industry. Let me read to the Committee a quote from Genesis Energy’s annual report: “Genesis Energy has been concerned at the lack of available information regarding New Zealand energy demand and implications for the industry.” That is a very telling statement. In other words Genesis Energy does not believe that anybody has a clue what is going on—so much so that it further states: “Genesis Energy commissioned a research report prepared by the Centre for Advanced Engineering to obtain accurate supply and demand information for future planning.” [ 
Interruption 
] I am telling the member that he should go to his own electorate particularly in the winter and ask his constituents whether they are happy with power prices and whether they are happy that prices will go up and up. 
He should ask his constituents whether they are happy that their wages are keeping pace with their electricity bill. I can tell members that I have had more photocopies of electricity bills sent to me in the last few weeks than I have ever seen in my life. [ 
Interruption 
] Those are the members who think Labour people will look after them. I can tell members that the average New Zealander is exceedingly concerned about the price of electricity. I am referring to the low paid and to people on fixed incomes and I have a great deal of personal sympathy for them but I am also talking about business people who are finding that the price of energy in this country is going through the roof. If this country wants and needs to be competitive—and New Zealand First supports all that—then we must stabilise the price of electricity at a reasonable level. Equally we must target roading in this country and use the money the Government takes from petrol motorists for roading. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: That’s what we do. 
PETER BROWN 
: The member is full of talk. If he took only 1 hour to read the Allen report he would be much more educated on the importance of roading in this country. 
Reports noted.