Yates Dianne: Budget Debate 
Yates Dianne: Budget Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:3314] 
DIANNE YATES (Labour) 
: 
 That speech was all whinge whinge whinge moan moan moan. I am pleased to start on a positive note. I congratulate Tourism New Zealand I congratulate the young New Zealand designer and I congratulate New Zealand because the New Zealand garden at the Chelsea Flower Show has just won the silver gilt medal. So there is something positive about New Zealand. New Zealand is clean and green and is succeeding overseas. New Zealand has won a silver gilt medal at the Chelsea Flower Show and that is something to be proud of. We can be proud of it because it is a New Zealand endeavour because it is an investment by Tourism New Zealand and because a young person is doing well for New Zealand. New Zealand is doing well. So I tell the member opposite to get off the grass and look at what is positive. He should praise his country and not be like his leader who is a total whinger and moaner. 
I will read a letter to the editor in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 today. It is headed: “Don Brash and patriotism”. Wayne Beverley from Auckland Central states: “As a loyal National voter I have one message for Don Brash—shut up. I am unimpressed by the anti - New Zealand rhetoric and offensive tax-rate billboard campaign. Let me give Don Brash some perspective.” 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Signed “Labour voter”. 
DIANNE YATES 
: This is a National voter. “I have family in Sydney. The husband left a $45000 job in Auckland for a $70000 job in Sydney yet the family is saving next to no more than it was in New Zealand. The reason”—says Wayne Beverley from Auckland Central a loyal National Party voter—“is simply a myriad of user-pays fees expensive sports club fees for the children huge stamp duty on house buying hugely expensive insurances and so on. The result? Five more New Zealanders will be coming home sooner rather than later. National’s tax-rate campaign is disingenuous at best dishonest at worst. Are you actually trying to make us feel bad for staying in this great country on purpose?” That letter was written by Wayne Beverley from Auckland Central. 
I will also quote someone I met recently—an Aussie who is living in Wellington. He said to tell Dr Brash to go to Sydney if it is so great—he should just get the ticket and go now. He said to me that to rent outside Sydney the equivalent of a State house in Lower Hutt is $800 a week. Sure he will get $10 but he said that the $10 tax cut will go on paying the fare to work because he has to travel at least 20 kilometres to get to his job. He said it ain’t so great in Sydney and that he had seen the lay-offs and the working conditions in Australia so he told Dr Brash to get real. 
Another person who is a fellow MP from another party in this House said to me today that under National he would receive about $250 a week as a tax cut. He spoke about his son daughter-in-law and grandchildren and said that under Labour with the family allowance it is his son daughter-in-law and grandchildren who will benefit. He said he did not need a $250 tax cut but that his son daughter-in-law and grandchildren did. Labour’s Budget is getting to families. 
I heard the member opposite going on about mums and dads in New Zealand. That is what Labour is about—the mums and dads of New Zealand. My mother used to tell me that we cannot have our cake and eat it too. National members cannot have their tax cuts and sit there like Tony Ryall bleating every day about more money for health more money here and more money there. Where are those guys going to get it from? They should get real. They cannot spend unless they have the sort of Budget we have here. Labour is putting money into New Zealand families—Labour is real about New Zealand families. 
I heard a member over there talk about housing. Let us look at all this stuff about weathertightness and leaky buildings. Where did we get the problems with weathertightness and leaky buildings from? Not from Labour. We got them from the deregulation brought in by the National Party which created a multitude of problems. 
Bob Clarkson 
: Oh what rubbish! 
DIANNE YATES 
: The member for Tauranga need not look at me and say: “Oh dear!” because I know that the ex-chairman of the National Party was the ex-chairman of the Building Industry Authority when this problem started. I know which party brought in deregulation. I know which party got rid of apprentices and brought on the problems we have now. That member should be thanking Michael Cullen for the roads in Tauranga and not screaming at me. He should thank Michael Cullen for getting New Zealand exports overseas and he should thank Michael Cullen for looking after the Tauranga electorate because he does sweet-all for it. That is what the member for Tauranga should be saying. 
Thank you is what a lot of people in New Zealand are saying today. They are thanking Michael Cullen for the family allowance and thanking him for the roads. We in the Waikato are saying thank you for the roads. Not only is $1.3 billion going into roads but $215 million is going into Waikato roads and that is very important. I thank my colleague Martin Gallagher for the work he has done on that. I thank the members of Environment Waikato. I thank the members of the Joint Officials Group for the continued work they have done on that roading. As we know we need roads for both Auckland and Tauranga. We need roads to keep us going and we need roads to get exports out of Tauranga where that member comes from. So I say a big thank you for the money that is going into our area and into the roads. One or two people on the opposite side of the House need to stop whingeing and say a thank you now and then for what is happening. 
Tony Friedlander who is not known for being a great supporter of the Labour Party has said that he thinks that getting $1.3 billion over 5 years in addition to what is being spent now is a very good step in the right direction. Simon Lambourne of the Automobile Association said that he thinks the Government deserves praise for this Budget. He said it was a fantastic Budget for transport it was the very best news that New Zealand motorists had had for a very long time and it invested in the infrastructure of our country. 
We have heard Maurice Williamson bleating over there. Maurice Williamson is envious. I have heard a few negative comments from Jeanette Fitzsimons but I say to Jeanette that there is $32 million for the Kopu Bridge. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member must use the member’s full name. 
DIANNE YATES 
: Jeanette Fitzsimons. There is $32 million going towards the Kopu Bridge and I thank you Mr Assistant Speaker for the opportunity to stress that. The other important investment is money going into the Maramarua expressway. We have seen some dreadful accidents on that road and thankfully we are getting that sorted out straight away. 
I turn now to research and development. I come from the Waikato and I am particularly pleased with the money that is going into research and development. I am particularly pleased with the money that is going into scholarships and into doctoral scholarships. Money is going into Crown research institutes and environmental research. An amazing amount is going into development and into growing this country. 
 I have just read an email from the Royal Society that outlines the money that is going into science. It states how pleased the society is that the money is going into endeavours that are building up the country and building up our exports. Members opposite need to stop their negative whingeing and moaning and their constant running down of our country. They should be praising New Zealand. I would find it embarrassing if I were a member of the National Party. 
The Budget is putting more money not only into health but into education. We are providing 455 more teachers. When did a National Government ever deliver anything like that? We are providing 3000 more apprentices. When did a National Government ever deliver anything like that? We are putting $100 million into science. There is one more thing that I am particularly pleased about. When Labour members think about “overseas” they think of their responsibilities—unlike the National Party with its grab-grab greedy-greedy me-me kind of philosophy. We think about our Pacific brothers and sisters. A member opposite is yawning and thinks that is tiresome. That just shows the sort of attitude members opposite have toward the world this country and other countries near us. I am really pleased that over $84 million is going toward overseas aid. Most of that aid will go to the Pacific area and I am very pleased about that.