Rich Katherine: Future Directions (Working for Families) Bill — First Reading 
Rich Katherine: Future Directions (Working for Families) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:13426] 
KATHERINE RICH (National) 
: 
 One of the things I do agree with the Minister for Social Development and Employment about is that the evidence speaks for itself. So far the evidence is that the Government has got it wrong. [ 
Interruption 
] Government members may laugh. 
Government Members 
: Say it again! 
KATHERINE RICH 
: If Government members quieten down they might hear something. They might hear that the Minister has scuttled back up to his office and found that in fact he has got some of his figures wrong. In one of the “Working for Families” sheets—and this has kindly been confirmed by Mandy at the 0800 number that the Minister has kindly set up—there is a scenario that is wrong and misleads New Zealanders into thinking they will get more from this Budget than they actually will. I suggest that the Minister should go back to his office and check his figures to see what other errors are there. 
This legislation provides no vision for New Zealand. The only future direction signposted by this legislation is further welfare dependence and overtaxation of hard-working New Zealanders. Since when has making hard-working New Zealanders dependent on welfare constituted a grand vision for this country? Michael Cullen is happy to extend the tentacles of the welfare State into once-independent homes but one of his predecessors Michael Joseph Savage will be shaking his head up there as we speak. He would be shocked at the idea that people who earn $80000 a year are in a line for welfare support. 
Another former Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser would also be appalled. He was concerned that some people thought the welfare system would provide them an armchair ride to prosperity. If one believes that then Michael Cullen has not only reupholstered the chair he has added a couple of cushions. The benefits of this Budget go to one in five households the majority of which are supported by welfare. The remaining households—1.2 million of them—will get nothing. 
Extending the welfare roles is no vision for this country. Making middle-income Kiwis more dependent on Government handouts is no vision either. 
New Zealanders will see this Budget for what it is—a cynical attempt to buy votes. It is a lolly scramble but people will get their lollies in a few years’ time. It is: “Vote for us next year and we will deliver the lollies.” If this is not a lolly scramble about buying votes then why did it take the Government 5 years to get as far as this? Thanks to the best economic conditions in a generation this Government has enjoyed healthy surpluses for 4 years but it has not bothered to recognise the needs of people and to use those surpluses to meet them. Now we have the cynical multibillion-dollar handout most of which will come into play next year the year after or the year after that. 
Yesterday Labour congratulated itself on increasing funds for hip and knee operations. That self-congratulation offered no consolation whatsoever for those New Zealanders who have been waiting in pain for such surgery over the last 5 years. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: There is too much noise. There is just too much interjection. 
KATHERINE RICH 
: This Budget is a cruel hoax for hard-working New Zealand families. The money being handed back to them is the money they earned in the first place but lost due to overtaxation. I think that this Budget will backfire on the Government. New Zealanders can see through this cynical lolly scramble and see this Budget as a desperate attempt to claw back support and retain power. If it is not about buying a third term then why have the spend-up now? Why did this not happen years ago? Government members have no answer to that. 
This Government patronises New Zealanders and expects them to be grateful. Why should middle-income New Zealanders be grateful for being made more dependent on the State and joining the ranks of many of those who are already trapped by the benefit system which rather than empowering people actually entraps them? Why should they be grateful for receiving their own money in the first place? People seldom feel good about receiving State handouts. They feel good about providing for themselves and their own families through their own work. 
It is adding insult to injury to overtax people then place them in a position of dependency in order to get their own money back. It is obscene. People feel good about being independent and providing for themselves and their families. New Zealanders do not want handouts. They want to keep their own money that they have earned. Marilynn from Waihi said that this morning on  
Breakfast 
. People want a fair deal. They recognise and accept that there will always be those in the community who need support and help and they are happy to pay for that through their taxes. But they are not happy to have their hard-earned cash churned by a Government bent on creating larger numbers of dependent New Zealanders in order to meet some failed ideology—some dream of controlling everybody’s life. 
It is a sad comment on this country that educated professional people with good jobs cannot get by. They cannot because they are overtaxed and they are continually required by the Government to carry a growing number of State-dependent New Zealanders. The burden continues to fall on hard-working Kiwis paying that top tax rate. Labour promised that 5 percent of New Zealanders would pay that top rate. It is now 12 percent of New Zealanders and we are not talking about the wealthy or the elite. We are not talking about property moguls or millionaires. Many of those guys now pay their tax in other countries because they have left New Zealand. We are talking about teachers policemen and the other middle-income Kiwis who keep this country going. 
This Budget is not about making New Zealand a place where our children can see a future. This Budget is not about growing New Zealand’s economy or creating opportunities it is about redistributing income. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Oh no! 
KATHERINE RICH 
: I say to Dr Cullen that I do not think a teacher on $55000 is wealthy. I do not think a policeman earning $60000 is wealthy but Labour does. Labour thinks that that person is part of the elite and should be taxed accordingly. This Budget overtaxes the increasingly poor to give to the poorer. I say shame on the Labour Government for robbing growing numbers of hard-working New Zealanders of their independence—of their ability to take care of themselves and their own families by their own efforts. Even that family in Waihi wants to retain a greater amount of the money they earn. They do not want to be dependent on the Government for just another welfare handout. 
Since his time in Opposition Steve Maharey has talked about the universal benefit. Where is it? Michael Cullen talked about it in 1990. Where is it? Where are the changes? There is very little to crow about. There has been no talk today in any of the speeches about the rising number of people on sickness benefits and invalids benefits which by Treasury figures will grow at an alarming rate by 2007-08. 
 Labour in its term in office will be adding nearly 32000 New Zealanders to the invalids benefit and up to 19000 people on to the sickness benefit. That sort of increase cannot be explained away by looking at expected rates of disability and illness in our community. 
There is nothing to crow about in the Budget. The Minister wants to overlook the fact that he got some of his figures wrong in the first place. If he got those figures wrong how can we rely on the other figures that are in the pack? It is an absolute sham. It is a lolly scramble but people will get their lollies in a couple of years’ time. Gee that is really generous! But the thing about this Budget and one of the key themes that I think it is important to remember is that it makes some people who earn up to $80000 dependent on the State. Michael Joseph Savage will be turning in his grave. This Government has made families whom he would have thought of as hard-working independent people now dependent on the State. 
This is going to backfire on the Government because the main beneficiaries of this Budget are beneficiaries already. There is no vision in making welfare a more attractive part of this country. It is a sham it is a cruel hoax and nobody will get any benefit for some years to come.