Goff Phil: Budget Debate 
Goff Phil: Budget Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16405] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 We have just listened to Pansy Wong who started her speech 10 minutes ago by saying when she was challenged to present some policy: “Hold your breath.” Well anyone in the House who was unwise enough to follow that advice would have turned blue in the face. We had the same lack of substance the same lack of policy and the same absence of vision that we have had from every National speaker in this debate. Pansy Wong cannot be blamed; she is a minion in the National Party. Why should we expect her to do better than John Key or Bill English her erstwhile leaders who equally failed to deliver any policy or any forward direction? 
You know the situation has got so bad for the National Party that the editorial in the  
New Zealand Herald 
—good old “Granny Herald” which has crusaded against the Labour Party for these last 8½ years—had this to say about John Key on the lack of policy in his speech: “That sort of double-speak fools nobody. We need to hear serious policy soon.” We have not heard that policy. Then there was the John Campbell programme on  
Campbell Live 
. Mr Key was on it for 10 minutes but he failed to answer question after question. Finally in utter frustration what did John Campbell say? He said to Mr Key: “you are as slippery as a snake in wet grass in terms of telling me where you are going to get the money from to pay for the tax cuts …”—as slippery as a snake in wet grass. And that sums the man up—that sums him up because people cannot get a straight answer from him. Is it because he lacks substance? Perhaps it is. Or is it because he has a hidden agenda? Is it the fact that as the National Party said in  
The Hollow Men 
: “Once you can fake [sincerity] you have got it made.”? We have seen that attitude time and time again. 
It is not good enough to have had a series of flip-flops on policy. It is not good enough that Mr Key said he was in favour of and voted for sending troops to Iraq and then claimed dishonestly that he never said that. It is not good enough that he said he always believed in climate change but the year before that he said he thought climate change was a hoax. It is not good enough that we heard from National members that they would fight the reduction in student loans and interest rates with every bone in their body but they then caved in. The truth is that nobody in this country knows where the National Party is at and that is not good enough for the party that arrogantly thinks it can sleepwalk to victory. People want to know what will happen to Working for Families which gives $190 a week to hard-working couples on a low wage with two kids—$190 a week. 
What about KiwiSaver? What did we hear Kate Wilkinson say today? She said that National will scrap the employer contribution on KiwiSaver. That is what she said to the 600000 New Zealanders who have joined that scheme—National will scrap the employer contribution on KiwiSaver. That is not what John Key is telling us so Kate Wilkinson has let the cat out of the bag. I tell New Zealanders in KiwiSaver and who receive Working for Families payments to be very very afraid and to look at history look at the record. The record from National members is to lie through their teeth in Opposition and to break every promise they make. What about superannuation? National said: “No ifs no buts no maybes” but then it put the surcharge up. Lockwood Smith who is still a front-bencher for the National Party said there would be no student fees and that he would resign if National did not scrap student fees. Then he doubled them and stayed on as Minister for 6 years. So I tell New Zealanders to be very careful about believing that slippery National Party because it will not tell them the truth. 
I am very proud of what this Government has delivered in this Budget. It has delivered $10.6 billion in personal tax cuts for all New Zealanders—$10.6 billion. In addition it has put another $1 billion into bringing forward Working for Families increases for those folk who have children. Why should we not look after those families with children? They need to meet the costs of food and transport and they need help. This Government has consistently delivered for working families. In this Budget Mike Cullen again delivers for them by giving them compensation for the increase in prices over which no Government has any control. National members might talk about petrol prices and food prices but they know they are set internationally and they know that they cannot bring those prices down. We know that so we have gone as far as we responsibly can in giving families compensation for those increases. We have done that without cutting social services. In fact this Budget puts $3 billion into our public health system—$3 billion over 4 years. That is $750 million a year. This Government has delivered on health. People in my electorate can go to their community health centre and see the doctor without paying for their kids and paying less than $20 for an adult. When they pick up their prescription it costs $3 per prescription. That is what this Labour Government has done. Let me tell members that if National ever got back into power with its hare-brained schemes such as those we remember from Simon Upton’s time as Minister of Health those things would go. Those things are not set in concrete. This country needs a Labour Government to protect its social services. 
This Government has provided those tax cuts without borrowing to pay for them. It is a matter of pride for this Government that although it inherited a country that had debt levels of up to 35 percent of the gross national product—35 percent—its responsible nature and its management of the economy have brought down that debt for all New Zealanders from 35 percent to something over 19 percent. Are we not pleased that because of that responsible management during the good times we have saved for a rainy day when the world economy gets tough? Supported by those that give out our credit ratings for financial management we can now responsibly deliver for families when the world economy is turning down because we governed this country sensibly when we were at a time of economic boom. 
The National Party promised tax cuts in 2005 when the economy was ripping along at first speed which would have translated directly into inflation and into higher mortgage interest rates. That is what those members cannot explain in the House today. They cannot explain how they can go further than Labour without putting pressure on inflation without forcing up interest rates without borrowing or without slashing public services. If they did that—if they ever got the chance to govern this country—then one of those things or all of those things would happen. 
This Government is committed to running the country to look after the needs of people to provide social services and to do so responsibly and that is what Michael Cullen has done. Let us look at what New Zealanders get out of this. On 1 October a typical working family will get between $12 and $27 a week and when the tax cuts are brought in fully that amount will be between $22 and $55 a week. That is real money. It is designed to help New Zealanders at a time when they need that assistance to pay their bills. If they are a working family with children then the sum goes up much more than that. A working couple on the average household income—which is about $72000 for a couple—will get $45 a week this October. That $45 a week will rise to $84 a week which is a real boost to the incomes of ordinary working New Zealanders. 
We have not forgotten about the elderly. On 1 October a retired married couple will get $45 a fortnight on top of the $27 a fortnight that they got on 1 April this year. That means that a married couple on superannuation will this year get a boost of $72 a fortnight. When they want to go out and use our public transport system they will be able to do that free of charge in off-peak hours because of the SuperGold card. This Government has looked after superannuitants and in this Budget it continues to do so. What does Bill English say about that? He says that we are too generous with the elderly. Bill English as we know is a man of his word. When he was a finance Minister in 1998 he cut the rate of superannuation. He cut it from 65 percent to 60 percent of the average wage and regardless of National members’ denials they would do that again. 
This is a good Budget—good for working New Zealanders good for retired people and good for our social services—from a good Government that deserves to be re-elected.