Shearer David: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shearer David: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 23 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2317. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 I actually find objectionable that reference to our members from Canterbury—that they are not pulling their weight and that they are not representing their communities. I can tell you that Clayton Cosgrove Lianne Dalziel Ruth Dyson and Megan Woods have stood up defended their communities defended their electorates and played the right role they should have played.  
I can tell you that I sit in this House and the only thing you can hear from members on that side of the House is excuses about why this Government cannot get any growth going. They have to go back 4 years to Labour which actually left them in a positive—in a surplus. It left you in a surplus—9 years of surplus followed by 3 years of record deficit—and we still get that same excuse trucked out over and over and over. When is that side going to actually stand up and produce a plan for getting this country going? They talk about “Planet Labour”; this is cloud-cuckoo-land National. I can guarantee that “Planet Labour” came from Moonbeam when she was last talking to the Prime Minister.  
Tomorrow we will get a zero Budget. A zero Budget means zero growth. Zero growth means zero hope. And zero hope means 53000 people go to Australia—that is the calculation. That is the calculation you need to be taking account of: 53000 people which is the biggest loss of New Zealand talent in our history. It has never been bigger. This is in complete contrast to what John Key promised in 2008. In 2008 that is not what he promised.  
We have had the worst economic growth in 50 years—50 years. There has been no year since then when we have had worse economic growth. I cannot believe that this Government is standing up and saying to us that it is proud of the fact that it is producing a zero Budget. I know what is going to happen when the Olympics come along very soon. We are going to have John Key watching his television and saying: “Go on New Zealand. Don’t worry about gold; just get ahead of Greece.” That is what the Government is going to be saying. That is where this Government is setting its sights. It is setting its sights at the bottom—at the bottom. This was supposed to be a party of aspiration. It is not about aspiration any more; it is actually just pointing at the bottom.  
We have the worst growth in 50 years we have got 53000 people moving to Australia we have got 50000 more people unemployed and we have got 50000 more people on benefits. That is a successful Government? Give me a break! Those are the numbers that count. Those are the numbers that relate to real people not this vague cloud-cuckoo-land National that Mr English is putting out there. A zero Budget equals zero growth equals zero hope equals 53000 people going off to Australia.  
Why people will want to believe this Government is beyond me. They will not. When I go around the countryside and ask them what they think is going to be in the Budget for them they say: “Well nothing actually.” They are not expecting anything. And they will not be disappointed. They will not be disappointed. That is one great thing about this Budget: people’s hopes are so low that they are never going to be disappointed with this Budget.  
In Budget 2010 what did this Government promise? “In the end this was a Budget about growth a Budget about jobs a Budget about the future of New Zealand”. That was in 2010. In 2011 after the Government failed to meet its forecasts it said: “the Budget is likely to see very strong growth in real wages for New Zealanders … very strong job growth; and a much stronger economic outlook for New Zealand.” It did not make that either. And now in 2012 here we go again. This is what the prediction is: “The Budget documents will show we are likely to experience…reasonably”—aha—“robust levels of growth in 2013-14”. It just keeps getting put out further and further.