Robertson Grant: General Debate 
Robertson Grant: General Debate 
[Volume:671;Page:17547] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 On this side of the House we are very well aware of the Canterbury earthquake. We are extremely well aware of the impact it has had on individuals families communities and the whole of Christchurch city. We are extremely well aware of the impact it has on the New Zealand economy. It is offensive to have a member of the Government stand up and tell people on this side of the House that we do not understand the impact of the Canterbury earthquake. We know the struggles people in Canterbury are having every single day and we support them. 
But the problems in the New Zealand economy go back far further than the earthquake. The problems in the New Zealand economy stem from the economic mismanagement of Bill English’s 2½ years as Minister of Finance. That is the problem. This recession is National’s recession; this is the recession it has driven us into. New Zealand is going backwards under National. This recession lies at the feet of the National Government because it does not have a real economic plan. It looked as though Louise Upston was going to upstage Bill English and finally announce National’s economic plan but no she did not really go there. The best we have seen is asset sales. The best we have seen is a slash-and-burn Budget. 
I think there is one thing the House can come together on perhaps with the exception of Hilary Calvert. There is one thing we can come together on in terms of savings from the Budget and that is the end of the 2025 Taskforce. It can be done; I think we can come together across the House on this. However there is a bit of a problem for National in that plan in that the savings will get from that will probably not amount to much because Don Brash blew the budget in the first year. I think a whole lot of the money has gone. So unfortunately that will not be the answer to New Zealand’s economic woes either. This National Government does not have a plan. 
In question time today we saw just how out of touch this Government is with New Zealanders’ everyday struggles. Paula Bennett stood up in this House and said this Government is making tough decisions. I tell Paula Bennett that the people who are making the tough decisions in New Zealand are the families who have to decide whether they can take their children to the doctor or put healthy food on the table. That kind of decision is one that no family in New Zealand should have to face. But that is what is happening as the cost of living goes up as petrol prices go through the roof as rents go up and as the cost of power goes up. People are being faced with decisions that none of us would want to have to make. Some families have to spend 20 percent of their weekly food budget on a visit to the doctor as a person from the Kapiti coast wrote to tell me. That is unacceptable. 
On this side of the House we all know and New Zealanders know what a zero Budget looks like. It looks like cuts in areas of importance to New Zealand. Newspaper headlines like the one I have here: “Big Health Cuts On The Way” were for last year’s Budget let alone the cuts that will be in this year’s Budget. We know from the 1990s what a slash-and-burn Budget looks like in health: it looks like the increased cost of going to the doctor of prescriptions and of user charges. Those are the things that a National Government brought in last time there was a zero Budget. That is what we are looking out for. We know that despite the National Government’s spin that it will be spending more on health next year it will not be enough to make health spending stand still. It is a little like going to the supermarket and saying: “I spent more on my groceries this week but I didn’t get as many things in the basket.” Those costs have gone up and that is what is happening in health. The cost of actually delivering health care with things like an ageing population will mean that health cuts are on the way. 
Education cuts are on the way let alone the cuts to Working for Families and cuts to early childhood education. We need to see these things as an investment in our future. We need to invest in people in skills training and in innovation. Those are the things that Governments should be doing. They should be acting against the tide making sure that people have the skills to be able to grow our economy and to create jobs and opportunities for our children and our grandchildren. If we do not protect the assets that have been built up by past generations and use them for future generations what is the point of Government? This Government is taking a short-term view. 
Everybody in New Zealand knows that we have to be careful with the management of the economy but to slash-and-burn and to take money out of the pockets of people who need it and put it into the pockets of those who do not will not grow our economy and will not lead to the kind of future that our children and grandchildren will need to achieve their potential. Labour is focused on policies that will enhance the well-being of children and protect our assets not on slash-and-burn.