Peters Winston: Budget Statement — Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Budget Statement — Budget Debate[Sitting date: 15 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17918. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First): Speaking on behalf of the fastest-rising political force in this country New Zealand First I say that in this National Budget cronies get cake; Kiwis get crumbs. This is an exclusive members-only Budget of the “National club”. There is little for the ordinary people. Mr Key got up like a choirboy then went to falsetto then started acting like a comedian which he is not and then he walked off. Unfortunately this Budget will not take the heat off Judith Collins—quite the reverse. It is so boring that it will bring that back on and so fast you could say that it will be over by lunchtime.Here we go. Where is the economic strategy to address the weaknesses of the economy and the growing inequality in New Zealand the shameful inequality which is clear and deeply troubling? The Budget will of course benefit National’s cronies. Everyone from Balclutha to Beijing now knows that the best blue-chip investment to make in New Zealand is a donation to the National Party—absolutely gilt-edged blue-chip.The weakness of the economy is there to see for anyone who lifts up the engine’s bonnet to look at what is happening within the engine itself. Despite the best terms of trade in decades we still have a chronic balance of payments deficit that the Budget pretends is not even there. National members call themselves economic managers. Where is the action on the fact that we have not had a balance of payments surplus for years? You see under National cronies get the cake; Kiwis get the crumbs.Over the period between the end of 2008 and 2013 Australia’s economy grew 13 percent. Singapore’s grew 28 percent. What was National’s record and New Zealand’s record?Hon Gerry Brownlee: I don’t know.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh Mr Brownlee says: “I don’t know.” He is No. 3 in Cabinet but he does not know which is no surprise to anyone over here. Well from 2008 to 2013 New Zealand’s economy grew by 8 percent. Do you call that a rock star performance? Do you call that a rock star economy?Le’aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor: Rock bottom.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: My colleague is right. Asenati Lole-Taylor says it means we are heading for the rock bottom. So there is a small highly contrived Budget surplus like some back-door bee-keeper’s—bookkeeper’s—balance. Have a look at the facts. Have a look at the facts.Hon John Banks: A bean-keeper’s balance.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: It is because they deal in small business. We are talking about a country Mr Banks where the Government’s income is over $65 billion. There are 100 ways to manipulate a surplus. I know because I was the Treasurer when we had real surpluses not these contrived ones. [Interruption] Oh they hate to be shown by comparison to be incompetent.Look at the facts. When National came into office guess what the Crown debt was? That is the debt the Government owes to the rest of the world. Well it was $10 billion. What is it now? It is $60 billion—up six times. That is all the work of the brilliant money trader from Merrill Lynch and the economic genius from Dipton who is so incompetent that a 24-year-old child can replace him. The debt went up six times because of a money trader and a brilliant economic expert who for 6 tawdry years have presented Budgets that take us nowhere. This is a “steady as you go when you are going nowhere Budget”. It begs the question of how the surplus was generated. If this was a private company the auditors would be in jail. If this was a private company with a balance of payments crisis and massive debt up six times—the national debt which includes everybody the public included is $150 billion. That sounds like Spain. It sounds like Portugal. If this was a private company the auditor would be in jail.Lots of smoke and mirrors and all sorts of cuts and devices have been used. We have a massive problem with hundreds of rotting school classrooms. Did the National members mention the rotting schools they must fix up first before they make this investment in education? Not a word but we all know they are there and the number is rising. There have been scores of cuts in crucial public services such as conservation and biosecurity. We are in grave danger on the biosecurity issue because as anybody inside customs and border control will tell you they are up against it—undermanned underwomaned and underfunded. But the National members sit there and say they are the ones who can be trusted to run New Zealand and our security.And what of forgotten Christchurch? What sort of Government holds back money deliberately nakedly and secretly from the Christchurch rebuild so that it can manipulate a surplus in Wellington? What sort of country—Hon Gerry Brownlee: That is a lie.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: It is not a lie Mr Brownlee and if you will close your big mouth I will explain how I got there.Hon Gerry Brownlee: The man is a liar.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh I see I struck a nerve. See when you arrest somebody in the street for burglary they get upset. When you catch a thief in the night they do not go calmly. Ask the police. When you tell Mr Brownlee “You’ve been stealing the money from the Christchurch people and staggering the rebuild so you can get an artificial surplus.” he goes berserk and starts shouting out.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Because you’re a liar.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: He cannot say that of course but I do not mind. It would take one to know one would it not? I will leave it to you Mr Speaker. Is that fair? Thank you very much. And Mr Brownlee smiles in confession—he smiles in confession.What about Christchurch? The Government holds back money to manipulate a surplus from the people in Christchurch. They have been suffering year on year on year with a man called Brownlee in charge of it. Is that any surprise? You do not have to tell the people of Christchurch who are facing another terrible winter. They know that they have been sacrificed so the Government can boast about its books and the member from Christchurch in charge of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority is the No. 1 culprit here. Tell the Christchurch people—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Come and stand against me you wimp.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: How can you stand against Gerry when there is no room? Alongside him about a metre away maybe but I cannot stand against him. Tell the Christchurch people whose homes are flooded every time it rains that the federal books are more important than their lives. Go and tell the Christchurch people why the Government is staggering the rebuild. This is now a growing contempt for the Minister himself and for the system itself. [Interruption] Here we go—that is how they got there. [Interruption] Oh! I see I have struck a nerve. The truth always has that effect whether it be in a court of law or in Parliament. It strikes a nerve.Holding back on the vitally needed money to rebuild Christchurch to generate the so-called surplus amounts to a crime. It amounts to a crime against our own people. The facts are clear. The Government has jacked up the numbers from an insurance deal when AMI was taken over. AMI was turned into Southern Response Earthquake Services and there the fiddling started. The proceeds from that sale amounted to—listen to the figure—$252 million which was placed in Government bonds rather than being used to settle insurance claims. Do you smell a rat here? I do. The Government deal with Southern Response Earthquake Services requires it to put surplus cash on its books into Government bonds as well. This has been boosted by money coming in from reinsurance companies also going into Government bonds. How much? It now holds over half a billion in Government bonds. Does that sound a bit close to the surface to you? The surplus is $375 million and here is half a billion dollars in Government bonds. Bill English boasted of a surplus today. Mr Brownlee go back to Christchurch and apologise to those people because you know who is guilty of having fiddled the books.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Come and stand against me.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Stand against Mr Brownlee? Mr Brownlee I do not like taking candy off a baby. Let these economic gurus from National’s cronies club go and tell the Christchurch people in broken homes begging for relief what is happening to their relief. Under National cronies get cake; Kiwis get crumbs.What about jobs? Where is National’s real measurable action plan for jobs? There are still almost 150000 unemployed people in this country. If you add to that those who want to work but who are underemployed or who have just given up trying you get to 250000 or a quarter of a million people but the National members had the audacity to clap for the Minister of Finance. Unemployment is our single biggest problem. Kiwis cannot get jobs but tens of thousands of foreign students and immigrants are getting work visas in front of them. How does that work? Well under National cronies get cake; Kiwis get crumbs.Where is the action plan in the Budget for the cost of living? Over half of those employed in New Zealand had no pay increase last year —no pay increase. Wages are stagnating. Costs are going up. Electricity prices are soaring gouging the public without restraint. It will be another cold winter for pensioners and low-income families under National of course. Why would National care? Their cronies get the cake and Kiwis get the crumbs.There is a fire sale on assets that we used to own. The Budget does not take into account the loss of our productive asset base. Much of our primary agricultural land has gone to foreign ownership. Many New Zealand workers have ended up on the cheap scrap heap of labour for overseas investors to exploit. Why is there no action?Tim Macindoe: He can’t even read.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Why is there no action? The man from Hamilton tells you it all. He used to teach about ethics and principles in a school once upon a time. Of course he had to read it from a book because he did not know about it himself. He could not understand anything about it.Where is the admission that the housing crisis is due to National’s incompetence? Where is the admission that the housing crisis is all National’s fault? For almost 6 years it has blatantly ignored all the underlying causes. Anyone with half a brain—which rules out Gerry Brownlee—knows that tens of thousands of Auckland houses have been gobbled up by overseas buyers. It is a bonanza for foreigners. Foreigners come here and there are no restrictions on buying no requirements no taxes—come one come all.Treasury predicted just the other day that migration to New Zealand would go up by 41000 per year from here on in. The Government has got no plan to address the crisis—no plan at all. That is utter madness. It allows people to scoop up homes—50 60 or even 77 in one man’s case—and Mr English got up in the House yesterday and said “I know how many landlords there are.” but he has not got the wit to say how many properties each landowner owns. Even a moron could work that out. We have got 22000 landowners from abroad but how many properties do they have? Is it 22000? No siree. No siree. Treasury and now the Reserve Bank say we need a survey of overseas ownership. That is the last thing National wants because now it is exposed by its duplicity. It does not want facts; it prefers dogma. Under National cronies get the cake; Kiwis get the crumbs.Where is the real infrastructure plan that goes beyond building more motorways? There is nothing significant. Auckland is deep in infrastructure deficit. What happened to the rail loop? Nothing. What has happened to provincial New Zealand? Nothing. Where is the vision? National has not got one. No as usual National has taken the easy way out and kicked this vital project of the city rail loop straight into the long grass. Where is the plan to promote regional growth? Why is this Government busting the heart of heartland New Zealand? Again there is nothing substantial or meaningful from the Budget for the regions. They produce export wealth and in return they get exploited. Under National cronies get the cake; the Kiwis get the crumbs.This Budget has been weighed and has been found to be failing. It is shallow and it is empty. New Zealand deserves better and after 20 September—here is the good news everybody out there in TV land—Tim Macindoe: 3.7 percent—you won’t be here.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: After 20 September that man over there will not be here no because he is hopeless. You know what? I could ask the whole of Hamilton whether they know who he is and they would say no. I could ask “Do you know a guy called Tim?” and they would say “Well he can’t be our MP.”After 20 September New Zealand First will ensure that we get a real economic strategy for the challenges our country faces. We are going to go back to the glory days of New Zealand in the past to give you a better New Zealand for the future. We know that we were once the greatest country on earth. We know we still have the same people. In some ways we have still got the same political parties but they are barely alive now. Mr Banks is smiling. He knows what I am talking about. If Holyoake was around today he would not believe what he was watching. If Fraser or Savage were around today they would not believe what they were watching because they wanted back then what we want today.We want our resources to be used by New Zealand people to build New Zealand’s wealth and to expand the happiness of every New Zealander not this Cabinet club which is elitist where the wealthy get wealthier and the poor get poorer—dog eat dog law of the jungle. That is what National members stand for and they should be damned ashamed of themselves. They think they are going to win this campaign. Well stand back and watch because there is lots of motivation now for a lot of people who in 2011 had given up hope to turn out for this election.This party believes in some things that used to be ordinary beliefs but that are special today. We do not believe in selling our land to foreign interests. We believe that State-owned assets belong in trust to the people. We believe that the Government’s role is to protect and defend New Zealanders to be the guardian of the country’s resources. We must help people reach their full potential through enlightened policies—health education housing employment and above all sound economic policies. They all say it of course but New Zealand First believes in it and acts on it.We also believe in special obligations to the old and the young to society’s most vulnerable. We believe in one law for all irrespective of ethnic background. Others give a dog whistle when the election comes close but this is the party that stands by it. We were founded by these principles not by the crumbs of tokenism from the cronies from the “National Club”. We believe that Māori needs are the same as all New Zealanders’ needs: good education good housing good health facilities and most of all First World - paying jobs in our own country. New Zealand First believes we must train skill educate and employ our own people first. There is no excuse for the hiring of cheap labour from overseas when so many of our unemployed are on the scrap heap back here. On the issue of foreigners speculating on housing for New Zealanders we have got the courage to say it and to stop it. New Zealand suffers economically from not having a practical plan for its people and blind ideology is not a substitute.In the quiet of the National members having been sublimated by sound argument I want to close by saying that the current economic vision is simply the Auckland housing bubble increased immigration creating consumer demand the staggered and retarded Christchurch rebuild and milk powder to China. We cannot survive without a much more diversified economy. Very soon there will be an election and I want to tell everyone watching this debate today that no matter how difficult and tiring and troubling things have been no matter what sacrifices you have had to make just hang on a bit longer. Just hang on for another 2 months because help is soon on its way in the form of New Zealand First.