Tamihere John: Budget Debate 
Tamihere John: Budget Debate 
[Volume:608;Page:5960] 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE (Minister of Youth Affairs) 
: 
E te Kaihautu me te whakaruruhau ki a matau a Ross aroha ki a koe; Mr Speaker I pay special homage to you. As a Labour Party Minister and member I speak in favour of and commend the Budget to the House. I want to acknowledge as usual the real workers of the country in whose name we produce the Budget whether it is the Clerks of this House the messengers who run our errands the security officers out there or our VIP drivers who drive VIPs around the country. 
In that respect I want to pause and pay a special mihi to one of our VIP drivers who passed away last night—RichardMangu. E te rangatira ki a matau Richard e aroha ana ki a koe. Kare e warewaretia e matau me nga mahi maha ki te awhi i a matau. Kare e warewaretia. No reira Richard moe mai moe mai i te moenga roa. E te whanau pani he aroha ki a koutou mai i nga mema o te Paremata. E Richard he aroha. He aroha ki a koutou. 
[ 
To you Richard a noble one to us our affectionate regards. You are one whom we will never forget including the many cherishing things that you did for us. These things will never be forgotten. So slumber there Richard; sleep the long sleep. To you the grieving family affectionate regards from the members of Parliament. To you too Richard fond regards. Regards to you all 
.] 
I was paying homage to a great worker who used to drive a number of Prime Ministers members of Parliament judges and Cabinet Ministers regardless of their colour race or creed. He was a great bloke and I wanted to pay homage to him since he has passed away and been taken north to his people to rest in peace. 
This is what Labour Budgets are all about and this is what being a Labour member is all about. It is about acknowledging the real people not the big people in this country who can look after themselves fend for themselves organise lobbying at Parliament and always get a good deal. These Budgets are about the big masses of Kiwis—the good old Kiwi battlers. 
Just before I progress to giving some detail of the Budget I want to say a few things about the ACT party. It is great to have the ACT party in this House—absolutely great. I want to give a special acknowledgment this evening to all the drongos who vote for them because having wonderful honourable members like Rodney Hide in this House—the No. 1 scamster and crook from Fiji putting smear campaigns out— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member cannot use that word. He will withdraw and apologise. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: I accept that. I withdraw and apologise. 
Dail Jones 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I ask that the member be asked to withdraw and apologise. I could not hear because there was so much interjection coming from members on the Labour benches. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I remind members that it is unparliamentary and unacceptable to interject during a point of order. People have been ordered from the House for doing that. The Minister did acknowledge it and did withdraw and apologise. 
Dail Jones 
: I raise a further point of order Mr Speaker. When you are speaking I expect that all members should be seated including the Minister who refused to sit at any stage during my point of order and even when you were speaking. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you. The member is now seated and I call him. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: It is interesting because with the member coming from the wonderful ACT party we knew about those pyramid-selling programmes outside the precincts of this Parliament from one of its members Owen Jennings. We all knew that Mr Hide attended a scamsters hui worth $10 million in Fiji. He was first to the buffet over there had a wonderful trip on behalf of the organisers of that hui and gave it great credence. We also know that he is very interesting in the urinal particularly on Waiheke Island. 
Well I shall put that to one side and move quickly on to the Budget. I want to make the point very carefully and very clearly tonight that the record of Labour Governments is absolutely amazing and significant in the way in which they have set infrastructure in place. Labour Governments have set First World nation precedents in respect of the way our economy should conduct itself. The National Party has always tried to portray itself as the party of sensible economic management. History does not support that view. It is Labour Governments that have run surpluses; it is National Governments that have spent them. Labour Governments have done the hard work of setting in place structural settings. We have to sort out infrastructure right now—basic as it is—for roading and transport for airlines and all the way through the transport system. Labour Governments have to conduct the best economic management programmes that this nation has ever seen. 
It was the hard work of Nash and Nordmeyer that enabled Holyoake to surf the good times. History will show that this Budget under Cullen sets the platform— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Speaker’s ruling 6/1 (Supplement) says a member cannot be referred to by one name but should be referred to by his or her title portfolio or by the term “the honourable Minister”. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: As you please Mr Speaker. Moving along I want to make another point about numbers. National Party members opposite will struggle with it but here we go. I will try to give them a sort of a mathematics lesson in economics 101. In the year to June 1999 when the Labour-led Government came into power revenue was about 33.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Expenditure was about 33.3 percent of GDP. Government debt was 35.6 percent of GDP—very large. Net debt was 21 percent of GDP. In the year to June 2003—and I will labour this point because I know that Dail Jones does struggle; but for his benefit I will say it very slowly and he can read my lips—revenue is 33.2 percent of GDP and expenditure is down to 32.1 percent of GDP. Who says that Labour Governments spend surpluses in the light of what the Tories did? 
The evidence is not on the table. Government debt is down to an all-time low of 27.3 percent of GDP and net debt is down 7 percentage points. That is huge—$7 billion. I tell Dail Jones to get his mind around that. I know he will be struggling. Lindsay Tisch the National Party whip is nodding because he agrees with me. He is getting his mind around that and he understands it. 
Moving on again I ask what the response of the leader of the National Party is to that. He says to spend the surplus. Don Brash is the leader in waiting with Simon Power as his deputy. We saw that today when they walked into the Chamber together and there was definitely a clump of the National Party caucus in the Chamber. They say we are not to spend. So somewhere over in the National Party caucus one day its members might sing off the same song sheet but we should not hold our breath over it. 
What often happens is that they say to spend it all now and damn the consequences—that is Bill English for us—but we are a sensible Government supported by United Future. Simon Power asked us today why United Future members did not get on their feet and clap Michael Cullen for a great speech. Well I say they were too busy on their knees saying “Alleluia!”. That is why. I want to acknowledge United Future members because they knew where it is at. The United Future colleagues in this House great Kiwis as they are the stabilisers of the Government called “Alleluia!”. That is what I have to say to members. This is marvellous stuff! 
Just before I conclude because I am sure I have some injury time over from spurious points of order raised I want to acknowledge a great colleague of the Labour Party and former Deputy Speaker of this House who has just entered this Chamber—Geoff Braybrooke. On behalf of my colleagues I acknowledge his presence in the House today. He was a great Deputy Speaker who used to be able to put the Tories in their place. 
But moving along I say that the Budget shows why this party will continue to sit on the Treasury benches and why this party is the natural party of government. We can pick and choose amongst the liquorice allsorts over the other side of the Chamber as to how things work up and down but basically we are here for a long time. At the same time as promoting an exciting agenda of change and innovation we are keeping our eyes on the fundamentals. We are delivering economic management unrivalled by our trading partners. We are increasing social spending and building infrastructure but doing so in a prudent and appropriate manner. Clearly there is more to be done and this Budget is all about securing the foundations of the future and giving us a stable platform to build on. On behalf of the Labour Party my colleagues in Cabinet and members I want to say to all Kiwis out there that we are down here hunkering for them and I can assure them the Opposition is not.