Coleman Jonathan: Budget Debate 
Coleman Jonathan: Budget Debate 
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Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 I will start by paying tribute to the Hon John Carter who gave his valedictory speech in this House today after 24 years of fantastic service to the people of Northland and the New Zealand Parliament. I certainly wish him well in his new post as High Commissioner in the Cook Islands. 
While I was listening to the previous speech I was thinking whether it was showing us where Labour is going wrong. When we listened to the member Moana Mackey we heard a very garbled economically illiterate message poorly crafted in a totally unsaleable way. I was thinking that if we sent that member out to my electorate of Northcote on the North Shore of Auckland sent her down to Birkdale where people are not having the easiest of economic times but actually understand what this Government is trying to do we would find that that member with that message would be met with completely blank stares. There is a fundamental disconnect between the message that that crowd on the other side of the House thinks is saleable in New Zealand and the message that the people of New Zealand are actually hearing. People have seen with this Budget that we have a Government that has a clear direction that knows it has to balance the books and that is predicting clear economic growth in the years ahead. If people want a simple message it basically is that next year we are halving the deficit we are halving it the year after and then it will be gone. Who can argue with that? 
That member was talking about families struggling and families who are angry. Well I tell you what— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: —I tell one what—they will be pretty angry if they get a Labour-Greens Government. They will be pretty upset because in actual fact the cost of living will go through the roof. A Labour Government would put up tax rates and it would cripple our prime export earner farming with a punitive emissions trading scheme that would come in 2 years early. I tell the House that the average person in New Zealand will find it very very difficult under a Labour Government because Labour has absolutely no plan. 
But we see under this Government and we see here in this Budget a clearly laid out manifesto for the coming election. It shows that we will be getting rid of debt and growing jobs—170000 jobs. The Prime Minister in question time today clearly laid out where those jobs will come from. We will see more money going to the more vulnerable growth in vital public services and New Zealand returning to prosperity. Quite clearly the public of New Zealand will have a choice at this election. They will be able to choose between the sound economic management of a proven Government with a Minister of Finance who has delivered a fantastic sensible Budget that will get this country on the right track and with a Prime Minister who has worked in world business in the money markets and who knows how economies work and in contrast Phil Goff who has promised $5 billion in unfunded spending promises which that crowd over there should they ever retake the Treasury benches will be expecting the public of New Zealand to fund. 
What is even worse is that Phil Goff does not understand the details of his own policy. When he announced a research and development tax credit of $800 million he did not understand that fundamentally one cannot cap a tax credit and when it is actually fully priced out we find we are talking about $1.55 billion. So why would the public of New Zealand trust the possibility of a Labour Government whose members do not understand the books and who do not understand their figures when they know that under National things are getting better all the time? 
If members want to talk about a party rewriting history I note that those people over there keep on saying that the tax cuts were for the rich. Well the fact of the matter is that two-thirds of the tax cuts went to the lowest two tax bands; 75 percent of the tax cuts went to two-thirds of the population. So we can see that it is not actually as those people—[ 
Interruption 
] Members opposite get so angry because they do not like to be contradicted. They think they will be able to go around the country telling what one frankly could generously call untruths like that the tax cuts were for the rich like that we are selling assets when they know their talk is actually just a falsity. 
The question that the public will have to answer is if we do not progress with the mixed-ownership model which will raise between $5 billion and $10 billion how will those guys over there make up the difference in revenue? How will they do it? The revenue spokesperson should get up and say. Well the clear answer is that Labour would borrow more and more. It is not focused on the deficit and it is not focused on reducing debt. It is focused on borrowing more money so that it can fund more election promises. That is a reckless plan for economic failure. 
Moana Mackey was trying to make out that the last Labour Government left the books in a decent place. Well if we look at the fact that it spent $1 billion to buy KiwiRail we see that was nothing short of economically irresponsible for an asset that we would now struggle to get $100 million for. To think that the last Labour Government did anything other than fund election promises would be absolutely wrong. That is what it did all the way through. KiwiSaver had become unsustainable Working for Families was completely unsustainable and student loans were unsustainable. We have had to shape that back into a decent package that is sustainable and affordable for New Zealand in the long term. We can ask people in the streets; they know that we are on completely the right track. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: And it’s ageist. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Someone over there claimed that the student loan measures are ageist. I tell members that for every dollar lent to people over the age of 55 the State was getting back 3c. But suddenly because we have made a change to make the policy affordable we are ageist! Actually we have been completely practical about this and I can tell the House that in the long term people will thank us. 
If members want to look at how well the economy is actually doing I tell them that last month was a record month for New Zealand exports. Exports exceeded imports by $1.1 billion which is the biggest margin for a month in the history of New Zealand. Commodity prices are going through the roof and that is great for the New Zealand economy. 
Stuart Nash 
: That’s because the country is in recession. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: I feel sorry actually for really practical people like Stuart Nash who is left over there. He knows what is going on but he has the sad job of having to get up day after day and put up incorrect arguments to back up his failing leader Phil Goff. He is a loyal guy but he knows that he will go down with the sinking ship. The major danger over there at the moment—I know that Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson has a safe seat—is that half of those members will be gone. 
Darien Fenton 
: You wish! 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: As those polls continue to decrease people like Darien Fenton will get more and more desperate. They will be calling for more and more left-wing extreme socialist policies to try to shore up the base and the harder they try the lower they will go in the polls. 
Let us look at some of the really positive spending initiatives in this Budget. Health will receive $2.2 billion over 4 years. What an amazing difference we have made in health with 1000 extra nurses and 500 extra doctors since this Government came to power. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: People are getting sicker. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: That is not true. Mortality and morbidity rates have improved over time. Steve Chadwick knows that; I do not know why she would say something so ridiculous. New Zealanders no longer have to go to Australia for cancer treatment under this Government. There are 400 extra operations per week. The last Government culled people off operation waiting lists. Education will receive another $1.4 billion over 4 years. Members opposite will spread the falsehood that early childhood education funding has been cut but actually it has gone up by $550 million. Kindergarten teachers are getting a pay rise. 
We can see the theme: clear progress is being made the economy is growing and Treasury is predicting jobs to come. If members think Treasury officials are being optimistic they should go and talk to them for a while because they are economically some of the most pessimistic people one could ever meet. Talk to any bank economist and their forecasts for job growth are even higher. 
The crowd opposite will go around feasting on a diet of gloom and doom. They will tell New Zealanders how bad the situation is but ultimately they cannot fool the people. The people know who is on the right side of the argument and I have to say that it is the National Government.