Peachey Allan: General Debate 
Peachey Allan: General Debate 
[Volume:665;Page:12766] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I am sure that New Zealanders out there who have been listening to and watching these proceedings must be wondering whether that is it. They must be wondering whether that is all that the Opposition—the Labour Party which was in Government for 9 years—has to offer in the great debate as to the economic future of New Zealand. 
I suppose that New Zealanders could take one or two things from this debate. The first is that they have had reaffirmed in their minds just how irrelevant the Green Party is to any debate on the future economic direction of New Zealand although we already knew that. The second thing they would have taken out of the debate is that the Labour Party has absolutely nothing to offer this country. The speakers opposite did not for one moment begin to acknowledge the serious deep economic problems that they left this country with when they were thrown out of office in 2008. Not for one moment did that party acknowledge that fact. Not for one moment has that party acknowledged the broad wide all-embracing approach that this Government is taking to moving New Zealand forward to moving us out of the stultifying going-nowhere attitude that held us back for so long. The contrast between that party and this Government could not be more marked. 
As far back as 2002 there were no net new jobs in either agriculture or manufacturing in New Zealand— 
Dr Cam Calder 
: Since when? 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Since 2002—unbelievable! Labour tried to hide that fact by building up the Government sector. Let me tell the House what did grow under Labour from 2002 onwards until the great day in 2008 when the people of New Zealand threw Labour out of office. This is what grew: first and foremost the size of the Government grew. This Government is committed to cutting back the role of the Government and the State and to putting taxpayers’ resources into areas where they are most needed and will be most productive. Taxes rose under Labour. Many of us well remember the rush that the previous Labour Government had in 2000 to put up the taxes of the people— 
Chris Tremain 
: The top marginal tax rate. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
:—at a time when the Government did not even need the money and we remember that much of that money was squandered. Red tape is another thing that the Labour Government specialised in and which this Government is cutting away. 
Illiteracy rates rose under the previous Labour Government. As early as 2005 that Government was being warned that a fifth of our children were not learning to read write or do mathematics. That Government was being warned about that as early as 2005. Frankly if the previous Labour speaker Mr Jones wants to do something useful with his spare time he might like to pop out to the lobby and have a look at a few  
Hansard  
volumes. I would suggest that he start at November 2005 December 2005 and the early months of 2006. In the index he should look up the name “Maharey” and acquaint himself and share with his colleagues the spin that Mr Maharey put on that figure of over a fifth of New Zealand children not learning to read and write. The first explanation was that no that was not how the situation was at all and it was actually a statement that a fifth of New Zealand children were not reaching their potential. Well that did not wash so then he tried to float the figure of 11 percent of children not learning to read and write. That did not wash either if for no other reason than that he was contradicting what his own officials were saying to him. 
At long last New Zealand has a Government that is determined to get to grips with the poor literacy and numeracy rates of this country and that effort will underpin the economic recovery of this country. The effort of putting in trades academies of widening the educational opportunity for children and of tightening up on the standards for entry to university will pay off for the economy of this country. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.