Bennett David: Budget Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 29 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2600. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to speak in regard to the Budget and a great Budget it is. It is a Budget that is going to be good for New Zealand and good for our voters and our constituents as they realise that we are building a more competitive and productive economy which is quite different from the Opposition on the other side of the House.  
I would like to start by congratulating Phil Twyford as that was probably his best ever speech. Everybody has left the Chamber and there is nobody left now. It is great to see Phil on form again here today. Phil did mention a few things that I think we should draw attention to: the deep dark secret of the Budget that is the roads of national significance. I would like to see Phil and his mates come to Hamilton and tell the people of the Waikato that the deep dark secret of this Budget is the roads of national significance and that Labour will not fund them. Will Phil come to Hamilton and say that he will not fund the Waikato Expressway? Will you do that Phil? 
Phil Twyford 
: Any time Mr Bennett any time. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Any time. Well that is the best news Tim Macindoe and David Bennett could hear because that guarantees us the next election if Phil Twyford comes to Hamilton and says what he said in this House that he will not fund the Waikato Expressway. The Labour Party will not fund the Waikato Expressway. Thank you Phil Twyford. I knew you were here for a reason. I knew we could count on you to give us that advice. And Phil—are you the spokesperson on transport for the Labour Party? Are you? Are you the transport spokesperson? Yes he is. We have got a winner. Phil Twyford is the winner. He is the Labour Party spokesperson on transport and he has said in this House today that Labour will not fund the Waikato Expressway. I look forward to ringing the  
Waikato Times  
when I leave this room and telling them that the great vision of the Labour Party transport spokesperson Phil Twyford for the people of Hamilton is that they will not get that investment. Thank you Phil. Thank you Phil. Tim I think you are going to have to thank Phil after I have finished here as well.  
It is good to see Labour members making policy on the hoof which is really unusual for them. They are making good sound policy on the hoof as well which is very unusual for them. And they are making policy where they have thought through the implications because the implications are what this Budget is about. The implications for when you invest in infrastructure are that you build a stronger economy. When you have that infrastructure there cities like Hamilton can take advantage of their links to Auckland and Tauranga. They can grow and they can become more successful. Phil Twyford shakes his head in this House. Well Phil come to Hamilton talk to our Regional Land Transport Committee and ask it what its priority has been for the last generation. For a generation what has been the priority? The committee has wanted one thing: the completion of the Waikato Expressway. Phil Twyford today has denied the people of the Waikato the one thing they have wanted for 30 years—30 years of waiting and we have finally got it. Then today the Labour Party tried to dash that hope and that is very sad for you Phil your party and any potential candidates you have in the Waikato at the next election. I think you need to take stock of your party and what it is about.  
The other thing that was interesting is that Phil went on and attacked the Future Investment Fund. That was great was it not? One of the things that the Future Investment Fund is investing in is an organisation called KiwiRail. KiwiRail is the dear favourite of the Labour Party. The Green Party prays to KiwiRail every night and the Mana Party is loving KiwiRail as well. The Opposition sees KiwiRail as the great saviour of the New Zealand economy. 
Hone Harawira 
: Sell it! Sell it! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Now the Mana Party wants to sell it. Well if you make a bid for it then you are quite entitled to it. The Green Party and the Labour Party will come into this House day after day and say that we need to invest in public transport and that we need to have all these rail connections throughout New Zealand for public transport. They will have no limit on what they ask for and they will never look at it objectively; they look at it believing that public transport rail is the answer. And when we invest in KiwiRail when we put money into KiwiRail like we are in this Budget what do we get? We get criticism. The Opposition does not want to invest in KiwiRail and yet it wants KiwiRail to be the answer for all our public transport issues. That just does not make sense. You cannot have a solution without investing in that solution. I implore Opposition members to look at what they say when they talk about things like KiwiRail and work out that you need to put some money in there. We are doing that. We are actually doing what is required to build that company into the beast that they all want in order to achieve the goals that they talk about.  
The Labour Party forgets that we have had a major recession—a recession that this country was in before the rest of the world due to the policies of the previous Labour Government. Labour members forget that— 
Chris Hipkins 
: That’s not what Bill English said. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: What did you say? 
Chris Hipkins 
: That’s not what Bill English said. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: So you disagree? Labour members now disagree that they put New Zealand into recession before the rest of the world. Well they should have a look at the growth figures. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: The Government accounts were in the black. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: There is Mr Phil Goff saying that they did not do that. They did do that. They put New Zealand into recession before the rest of the world. The Labour Government was a world leader. It was a world leader at putting a country into recession before the rest of the world. It put this country into recession before the rest of the world and we have had to pick up the pieces. We have had to pick up the pieces of a recessionary economy. We have had to pick up the pieces of Budget deficits going into the future which my good colleague from Rotorua Todd McClay talked about. He talked about how the New Zealand economy was facing years of large deficits as a result of the previous Labour Government’s policies of buying elections. The previous Labour Government put this country into recession. We had to come and take it out of recession. We have had to rebuild Christchurch we have had to invest in the future of New Zealand infrastructure and we have had to invest more important in the future of the New Zealand people. 
 We have done that in our education and health spending. I want to see Phil Twyford come to Hamilton and have a look at that great new beautiful hospital that is in the electorate of my good friend Tim Macindoe. That investment of $400 million in rebuilding that hospital which will serve the purposes of the Waikato Bay of Plenty and other regions is important for the future of our people. We are giving them that solid health care that they require and demand from a Government. We are giving them the standards in education that people require and demand. We are giving them the investment in other areas such as law and order that people want to see as the result of a good Government.  
Broadband is another example. When Mr Twyford comes to Hamilton to talk to the ratepayers and citizens of Hamilton to defend his action of not progressing with the Waikato Expressway I want to see him walk down the streets where you see these orange corner stands where they are putting in the broadband in Hamilton. Hamilton was the first city to get broadband in New Zealand. It is being put in there now under the good work of the constituent MPs and it is in the best interests of this country to make that investment.  
Kris Faafoi 
: Shameless! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: “Shameless!” you may say but we deliver for our constituencies Mr Faafoi—something that I am sure you will seek to do at some stage of your political career. That is happening on the ground. Our residents see that. Hamilton has even decided to change its vision as a city. It is looking at a technologically fast forward vision you could say— 
Hon Craig Foss 
:  
Tron 
. 
DAVID BENNETT 
:  
Tron 
. The city of the future will be the most linked city of the future and we will be head of the pack.  
Jacinda Ardern 
: With not a train in sight. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: What was that Miss Ardern? 
Jacinda Ardern 
: With not a train in sight. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Miss Ardern wants a train to Auckland. See look at this: on the one hand Mr Twyford does not want to invest in KiwiRail yet Miss Jacinda Ardern comes in here and wants the train to Auckland. Maybe Jacinda you need to take this back to Phil your spokesperson on transport. Remember you have campaigned two elections in a row on having a train from Hamilton to Auckland which is worth about $2 million and we have campaigned two elections in a row on having an expressway to Auckland which is worth about $2 billion and guess what the people of Hamilton want. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: What do they want? 
DAVID BENNETT 
: They want the expressway.