Mallard Trevor: Budget Debate 
Mallard Trevor: Budget Debate 
[Volume:639;Page:9514] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Associate Minister of Finance) 
: 
 This Budget focuses on investing and saving as a way of transforming the New Zealand economy. It is a Budget that has vision; it is a Budget that looks forward; it is a Budget with a combination of KiwiSaver and a business tax package that will make New Zealand internationally attractive as a place to live to work and to do business. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Stadium boy! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I hear an interjection from Maurice Williamson. I want him to ask John Key whether he told me in front of five other people that he supported the waterfront stadium. Did he the same day tell a business breakfast that he supported the stadium? Did he tell a business lunch the day before that he supported the waterfront stadium? I do not mind fronting up for supporting something that did not work and that did not get there but what I do not like is John Key telling lies about it afterwards. That is what I do not like. A bit of honesty would be good. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: Please be seated. The member cannot accuse another member of telling lies. Please withdraw and apologise. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I apologise. I would like John Key to front up and say inside the House what he said previously. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I think you know what my point of order will be. The member is required to withdraw and apologise. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I apologise. I withdraw and apologise as well—all of that. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: Just withdraw and apologise. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I withdraw and apologise but I challenge John Key to front up in this House and tell the truth—to say what he said outside otherwise people will wonder where his backbone has gone. Where is his backbone or does he say one thing to people when they want to hear it up in Auckland and another thing when he comes down here? One of the things we know is that when people tell the truth in one place and say something else somewhere else they will get caught. I can tell John Key that there are people who like integrity. One of the requirements for being a politician is integrity and telling the truth and telling the same truth from one place to another is absolutely vital. I see John Key with his head down. He is not prepared to get up and deny that because he knows it would result in a breach of privilege. At least a hundred people have heard John Key support a stadium and for him to chip back on that issue is enough. 
I want to get on with KiwiSaver. Just like the Tories were on the fence with the stadium issue they are on the fence with KiwiSaver. I want them to get just a few facts straight. Members opposite seem to ignore the fact that when workers start a new job they worry about their take-home pay. Frankly it is the amount in the hand—the amount that goes in the pocket and the amount that goes into the bank account—that counts not what the gross is not what the accident compensation levy is and not what the PAYE is. Can anyone be more hypocritical than to oppose over $300 a week as part of the family tax credits? The Tories opposite wanted to stop workers from getting money then they say when people go to put $20 a week into KiwiSaver that they are opposed to it. How can they possibly say that it is not fair for families to get over $300 a week and to vote against it time and time again? How can they oppose something that would secure the future of a low-income family—a family on $500 a week gross pay before KiwiSaver—and triple their savings? Even a family on a higher income—around an average of $75000—in 35 years will have nearly $400000. In real terms that family will have its superannuation effectively doubled as a result of having KiwiSaver. 
And the Tories do not want it! No the Tories do want it but they are too chicken to say. I say to John Key that he should get a bit of backbone and say what he thinks. He should pretend for just a while that he has the gumption to stand up in this House and say what he believes. When John Key does that he will say: “I support KiwiSaver.” because he does. He supported the business tax cuts but he voted against them; he supported the research credits but he voted against them. It is about time that the National Party got itself a leader who is prepared to get off the fence. Fences are a very very uncomfortable place to sit for a period of time especially if one has dropped from a height through a trapdoor. No one has ever been left in any doubt as to my opinion on things. 
I also want to focus on the threat to universal superannuation. The last time Bill English was in Government and in a Treasury portfolio he cut national superannuation and he has signalled that he wants to do it all over again. John Key wants to take a different approach. John Key wants to put the age up and to put in a test—almost like the old universal test in the past. National members are dropping hints all over the place about scrapping universal superannuation. I look forward to having an election campaign based on that debate. Let us have an election campaign that is based on that debate. This side of the House says it will have universal superannuation and the Opposition side of the House says it will cut it. Bring it on! I will go around Eastbourne Naenae and Wainuiomata with National members. I will go to Tauranga. I would love to spend some time with “Bob the Builder” up in Tauranga and have an argument about whether we will have universal superannuation. I will go to the North Shore with one or two of the members over there because that is the sort of debate that I would love to have on the North Shore. Those are the people who for years and years have been contributing through their taxes in the belief—through a solemn promise—that they will have national superannuation and we have a Tory party opposite that has indicated that that policy is on the way out. It is on the way out. 
This is a very good Budget. It is a Budget not only for the present but for the future. It is a Budget that is visionary. And what do we have? We have a bunch of no-hopers who are not prepared to stand up in this House and say what they really think. We are not allowed to call them hypocrites so I will not do so but I say that they are a group of people who do not have the courage of their convictions. They will not come to this House and honestly say what they believe. Frankly they are stupid. If those members had come to this House cuddled up to this Budget and said “me too” they would have been all right. But the problem was that they listened to Bill English. He is a whinger. When asked what his position was on tax cuts he said it was a hypothetical question. Poor old Bill English! The question is not hypothetical at all; what Bill English means is— 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: He doesn’t want people to know what they’re going to do. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No what he means is that he disagrees with John Key. John Key and he cannot get a common position on tax cuts. It is better to say nothing and think one is arguing than to say something and have it absolutely proven.